Campus News

The Master’s of Social Work program at the Concord Campus originally was developed as a “quick fix” to an enormous workforce issue facing the Bay Area and the state of California. In 2001, the university contracted with Cal State Long Beach to provide the much needed program through distance learning to students. Since then, Cal State East Bay has developed its own two-year program which started in 2003.

A call from the CSU Chancellor’s office to then CSUEB President Norma Rees prompted the serious look at developing a program. Terry Jones of the university’s Sociology Dept. contacted John Cullen, Director of the Contra Costa County Department of Employment

and Human Services and began negotiations to institute a program assessable to county employees. The county was eager for a program and was very supportive in its development.

Each year 25 students have entered the two-year program at the Concord Campus. The program is designed specifically for people who are working fulltime. The courses are offered in the evenings with summer block field placements in the summer. Many of the students are county employees who are eager to take on higher level positions in social services.

Often finances discourage people from committing to a Master’s Degree program, however, Rhonda Smith is supporting her education with Title 4E funding. This funding supports educational expenses for students who agree to work in child welfare in the public sector for two years following completion of the program.

Rhonda earned her bachelor’s degree in social welfare at UC Berkeley in 1991 and began working at Child Protective Services in Richmond in 2000. She loves what she does, but is considering management positions and must have a MSW to attain this goal. She also is enjoying being back in school now that she has worked in the field. “I enjoy working with individuals, but I am looking forward to getting involved with larger-scale change, public policy and legislative advocacy.”

Having the program available in Concord has been a good thing for Rhonda. “I appreciate that the program is located in Concord. If it wasn’t available there, I don’t know if I’d be in graduate school right now.”

A typical Concord student, she has come back to further her education after a fifteen year hiatus. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been in school, but I’m actually happy that I delayed my education,” explained Rhonda. “Now that I’ve had experience in the field, I get so much more out of the program. The program is based on something I’m dealing with every day.” Rhonda continues, “I’m also used to strict deadlines in social work, so the coursework is just one more task to complete. There is a lot of reading, but since it is so relevant, it is much easier than I expected.”

Cheryl Woodie has spent the past few years working for Experience Corp., a national program that matches adults over 55 years of age with tutoring or mentoring opportunities at urban schools. She had earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology later in life after supporting her brother through his college experience, and was the first girl in her family to graduate from college (her mother and father had a eighth and seventh grade education).

Cheryl has focused her own educational journey on intergenerational studies. “I watch miracles everyday and believe in elders and youth coming together. We (older adults) look back and kids look ahead. The stories are there to be shared,” explained Cheryl.

She now supervises the Experience Corp. tutors and mentors at Sunset Elementary, Francis Scott Key, and A.P. Gianini Middle School in San Francisco.

When asked about her graduate school experience, Cheryl responded, “I love the subject and what I’m learning. It’s accomplishing exactly what is important to me, and is perfect for my needs.”

Two faculty have been “based” at the Concord Campus this fall and are delighted to be working with Concord students. Holly Vugia started as a field liaison in 2004, supporting students with their internships, and teaching courses focusing on student practicums. She then became the field director, and this fall became a tenure-track professor. Holly’s area of expertise is mental health, and she advises students with this particular focus.

“I grew up in a rural setting on a farm and feel at home on the Concord Campus,” said Holly. “The staff has been receptive and gracious, not only supporting my needs as a faculty member, but they also invite me to staff events. And the students, with some professional experience, clearly are focused on their goal. They are amazingly conscientious about wanting to do graduate-level work in this very challenging program.”

Holly explained that the students must take two courses at night each quarter for two years. They also must complete electives and do an intensive internship during the summer for 13 weeks/40 hours per week. It is a lot for students who are working full time, but they manage to juggle the demands of work, school and family.

Paul Wright also likes teaching at the Concord Campus. “ I enjoy working with the Concord students in the MSW program because many of them are older and returning students, and students who have families,” Paul said. “These students have been working for a while and are able to handle many of the ‘charged’ classroom discussions on racism and gay issues. These issues are very common in the social work profession because our primary purpose is to advocate for underrepresented groups, such as those I’ve mentioned.”

Paul’s area of focus is child welfare and foster children care issues. Paul explains his own career choice, “Originally I wanted to be a therapist myself. I quickly found that I could only work with a few people at a time. As a professor, I now can reach a far greater audience. I want to prepare and educate future social workers for work in the field, particularly in child welfare.”

The Master’s in Social Work program is currently recruiting for those who would like to begin the program in Fall 2007. Concord Campus MSW information sessions are set for Winter Quarter: January 22, Monday, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. in LB 149; February 12, Monday, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. in LB 149; and March 5, Monday, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. in CC265. For more information, call 510-885-2079 or visit online.

Dear Concord Campus community,

My family and I spent seven days over the New Year in Yellowstone National Park. It’s quite an experience to see the water vapor in your breath freeze into ice crystals as you exhale, coating your coat, eye brows and hair. Forty below does that. We went to see the “residents” and spent time watching bison, elk, river otters, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, golden and bald eagles, several different kinds of hawks, and, of course what we really went to see, the wolves. There’s a sign over the front desk of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge – “3 Million People Visit Yellowstone Annually – Only 3 Percent in Winter”. The “3 Percent” are right. It was quite an experience that I highly recommend.

Did you know there are no TV’s in Yellowstone? So in between watching the permanent occupants, you eat hearty meals, talk with your friends, read in front of roaring fires, and sleep. You also have the chance to reflect on what’s current in your life, and I spent time thinking about Cal State East Bay and the Concord Campus. Things have been tough over the past three years (budget cuts, staff loses, reductions in class offerings, lack of a vision and plan, etc.), things are looking up. Let me give a few examples:

• Our new Associate Dean, Donna Wiley, is working to stabilize our academic programs so that all course work necessary for the completion of degrees can be taken in Concord in a maximum of two years, making it unnecessary for students to make the grueling trip to Hayward.

• This year we began two new Bachelor’s degree programs in Nursing and History, added an Early Childhood Development Option in Human Development, and reinstituted a two-course per quarter Master’s in Public Administration.

• We have in place a strategic plan to guide the development of the campus over the next five years, and are in the process of master planning our 386 acres for facility development and traffic access.

• People in this area, particularly those in key civic leadership and decision-making roles, have begun to think of Cal State East Bay and its Concord Campus as “their” university.

• President Qayoumi, who took office a short six months ago, has demonstrated remarkable support for the Campus and is clearly committed to its expansion as a means of serving this region.

• The President has made it a priority to ensure that East Bay is a university that “works” for its students, staff and faculty. That means creating and utilizing policies and procedures that make sense, and processes that serve rather than obstruct students.

• Concord has an active Alumni Association Chapter headed by Krista Kohlberg, a 2004 graduate; and the Concord Campus Council, ably lead by President Mansoora Shah-Zaeem, is coming into its own as the representative voice of Concord students.

• The Cal State East Bay Associated Students, represented at the Campus by Board Director Joe Bruno, has become increasingly active and has made its presence felt.

• We have an active advisory group of civic leaders called the Board of Councilors who are charged with working closely with the President and me on the development of the Campus.

• Our Career Development program has grown in both services and quality due to the efforts of Barbara MacLean.

• Our administrative support area (Lisa Zachan, Cecilia Zefeldt, Gini Grewen, Celia Jimenez, and Stephanie Henderson) form an unbeatable team providing critical services to students, faculty, and staff.

• The process of “headquartering” faculty here has begun with three Nursing and two Social Work instructors.

• A special grant made available by Congressman Miller has enabled us to install smart classroom equipment in nearly all of our facilities, to up-grade our video-conferencing classroom, and install desk top conferencing equipment to connect critical services at Hayward with our campus, and our campus with Los Medanos College. And by Spring Quarter the entire campus will be wireless.

• And last, but certainly not least, last June we had our first Concord Commencement on the playing fields at the foot of the Campus. This year on Saturday, June 16th, at 9:00 a.m., we’ll have our second ceremony with Dan Ashley, anchor for Channel 7 (ABC) News in San Francisco as our speaker.

I’m sure I’ve missed some things I should have mentioned, but my point is that we – all of us - students, staff and faculty – have started to get Concord’s act together. Some serious problems remain, particularly in the academic advising area, but these are being addressed.

As always, I am vitally interested in feedback anyone might have about what’s happening at the Concord Campus and encourage anyone interested to drop me a line at peter.wilson@csueastbay.edu or call me at 925-602-6767. I welcome your thoughts and comments, and look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes to you and yours for a happy and safe 2007.

Cordially,

Peter A. Wilson
Dean

A $1 million endowment to continue the growth of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at California State University, East Bay has been awarded by the Bernard Osher Foundation of San Francisco.

The endowment follows four consecutive years in which the Osher Foundation has supported Cal State East Bay with $100,000 annually.

Designed for mature learners 50 years of age and older, OLLI has been offered to older adults since 2000. It features short courses, lectures, discussions, book groups, and travel and study programs.

The 2007 Board of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
at Cal State East Bay

Bette Felton, co-principal investigator for the endowment and the former dean of the university’s Concord Campus expressed great enthusiasm about receiving the endowment. "With a $1 million dollar endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation," explained Felton, "OLLI at CSU East Bay joins the expanding community of lifelong learning that includes Elderhostel, Senior Corps, and many others. The group of older learners in OLLI CSU East Bay can continue to enjoy lectures, panels, discussion groups and field trips that are in their own neighborhoods. They can now work confidently with each other, and a prestigious faculty, to further develop a seasoned community of learners."

Herb Eder, professor emeritus of Geography, was the person who began the program without any outside support in 2000. He currently is Chairman of the Advisory Board for OLLI at CSU East Bay. Eder said "What can one say when a dream comes true? It is the realization of a personal dream, as it is a celebration of all the people on the Concord Campus & the Hayward Campus of Cal State East Bay, especially Bette Felton & James Kelley, co-investigators of the Osher Lifelong Learning grant,  the retired faculty who have been members of the Advisory Board and its sub-committees, and the community who have become members of SCHOLAR-OLLI and have participated in our events.  The receipt of this endowment is the culmination of all of our/their efforts...and just the beginning of the self-sustaining ‘Learning in Retirement’ organization that is now known as OLLI at CSU East Bay!"

OLLI at CSU East Bay programs are currently offered at CSU East Bay's Concord Campus, Walnut Creek Senior Center, San Ramon Senior Center, Mastick Senior Center in Alameda, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living, and Pascal French Oven in Danville. For more information about OLLI at CSU East Bay and current offerings, visit their website or call 925-602-6776.

The Concord Chamber of Commerce and the Concord Campus joined together with Mount Diablo Unified School District to host "Ethical Decision-Making for Tomorrow's Leaders" on December 1st. Eighty high school students, thirty business leaders and ten educators joined for the annual event which focuses on the decision-making process and ethics.

Congressman George Miller presented the keynote speech where he discussed the challenges of political office and the importance of ethical decision-making for elected officials, today's business leaders, and the upcoming generation.

Participants then broke up into small groups where they discussed scenarios found in the workplace or at school. Various ways to address the issues were shared, creating much discussion and debate. At lunch, groups reported back about their experience. Each school group then planned how they could take the Ethics Day experience back to their own schools and share it with their peers.

The Concord Campus Chapter Welcomes You to Get Involved in 2007!

We encourage any graduates of CSUEB to join us at future meetings and events. Dates, times, and locations will be posted on our website as soon as the information becomes available. Please visit our website.

This Chapter was formed to meet the needs of the Alumni and community living and working in Contra Costa County. We encourage you to share your ideas and vision for the Concord Campus Chapter so that we can begin building a Chapter that’s just right for you! We would love to see more Alumni members get actively involved by participating in meetings, event planning, and event staffing.

The Chapter ensures to keep apprised of University-wide and Concord Campus events as a way of staying involved. We have a representative regularly attend all of the Alumni Association Board of Directors meetings, we regularly communicate with the Office of University Advancement to keep apprised of the events being planned at the University, we meet with faculty, staff, and students at the Concord Campus to keep apprised of the activity there, and we maintain an open line of communication with the, always supportive, Pioneer Bookstore.

We are in the process of finalizing dates, times, and locations for some upcoming events. All will be posted on our website so please make sure to check it in the next month or two. One event that I was pleased to attend with my husband, Keith Germain, was new CSUEB President Mo Qayoumi's University Gala and Fundraiser at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley on October 27, 2006. The well-attended event had student artwork on display and students providing the entertainment. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and renew old acquaintances and connect with staff. I highly recommend that other alumni consider attending next year as this was such a memorable event.

We hope to see you at our meetings and events in 2007! Contact me with any questions or need for additional information.

Julie Germain
Secretary, Concord Campus Chapter
CSUEB Alumni Association
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