Current Activities

Spring Colloquium

Faculty members Gwen Sanders and Amy Backos presented at the Spring Colloquium on March 28, 2013.

“Art Therapy in Nicaragua: An International Service-based Learning Class”

Gwen and Amy have undertaken a research project to understand the impact of international service work on therapists. In January 2013 they, along with Michelle Jones, accompanied eight Art Therapy graduate students to Granada, Nicaragua, to provide art therapy to residents of Solidaridad, in an economically impoverished neighborhood on the floodplain of Lake Nicaragua. This work was done in conjunction with Viva Nicaragua!, an NGO led by a Bay Area native, Carrie McCracken, and a leader in the Solidaridad community, William Wilson. The Art Therapy students focused on creating culturally appropriate art interventions and leading groups of children, women, and seniors to create a heartwarming art show expressing safety, resiliency, and strength in the community.  The data collected from the Art Therapy students regarding their strengths, expectations, and art response to the experience is currently being collated and analyzed.

International and Multicultural Art Therapy Service

Gwen Sanders and Amy Backos in the Art Therapy Psychology department have undertaken a research project to understand the impact of international service work on therapists. After receiving a faculty research grant from the Faculty Development Committee, they introduced a new class called International and Multicultural Art Therapy Service. They, along with Michelle Jones, accompanied eight Art Therapy graduate students to Granada, Nicaragua to provide art therapy to residents of Solidaridad, in an economically impoverished neighborhood on the flood plane of Lake Nicaragua. This work was done in conjunction with Viva.Nicaragua, an NGO led by a Bay Area native, Carrie McCracken and a leader in the Solidaridad community, William Wilson. The Art Therapy students focused on creating culturally appropriate art interventions and leading groups of children, women, and seniors to create a heartwarming art show expressing safety, resiliency, and strength in the community. The data collected from the Art Therapy students regarding their strengths, expectations, and art response to the experience is currently being analyzed. Results of the analysis and an art show are forthcoming!

Wiegand Gallery Catalogs

The Wiegand Gallery has published at least one art catalog a year for the past 25 years. Betty Friedman has designed 27 of them since 1997, as well as overseen their production. Robert Poplack has coordinated this effort with artists, lenders and gallery donors. Printed on archival paper, Wiegand catalogs are scholarly work that is used by others for research on Bay Area art and artists. Additionally, they have been carried by the SF Museum of Modern Art, Philips Collection in D.C., The Metropolitan Museum in NYC, Crown Point Press in SF and multiple commercial art galleries throughout California and the East Coast, contributing to NDNU's visibility and academic reputation.

You can see them on the Wiegand Gallery website: catalogs.

William Barry

Dr. Barry has been appointed to the editorial board of the Educational Journal of Living Theories, a web-based international refereed journal. His work is quoted and referenced in the recently published book, Qualitative Research in Education (London: SAGE), which can be found in our NDNU library. Dr. Barry recently was a guest lecturer on the topic of Transpersonal Living Educational Theory (TLET) action research to graduate students at Dublin City University (DCU), Dublin, Ireland. He will also be serving to examine master's theses in May 2013 at DCU. He is currently co-authoring a journal article with Dr. Margaret Farren of Dublin City University titled, "The Importance of Learning Fields in Co-Creating Collaborative Learning Spaces." Dr. Barry's most recent peer-reviewed journal article, "Is Modern American Public Education Promoting a Sane Society?" was published in the International Journal of Science.

Lu Chang

Dr. Chang's current research focuses on curriculum and instruction. She was invited to write an article on teaching Mandarin Chinese for NABE Perspective, a magazine of the National Association for Bilingual Education. Her article titled "Teaching Young English Speaking Children Chinese: Lessons Learned through an Experience" will be published in the Spring 2013 issue.

Kelly Delaney

Kelly Delaney is completing her doctorate on counter-narratives of Arab and Muslim youth. Her research focuses on social justice issues and culturally relevant pedagogy. In February she will be presenting at a Research and Pedagogy Symposium on Transformative Education in San Francisco on Confronting Islamophobia. In 2012 she was invited to present research done with Kim Glanville on Community Building in the Classroom at the International Conference for Intercultural Education in Vera Cruz, Mexico and at the Hawaii International Conference on Education.

Stephanie Demaree

Dr. Demaree is collaborating with Dr. Kelly Vaughn to research the ability of first-year teachers to make connections between their classroom practice and the activities involved in the Performance Assessment of California Teachers (PACT). She and Dr. Vaughn have been invited to present a paper on teacher reflectivity at the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Conference in Atlanta in February 2013. They are also co-authoring a book chapter in Reflectivity & Cultivating Student Learning: Critical Elements for Enhancing a Global Community of Learners and Educators, ed. Edward Pultorak (NY: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).

Judy Doktor

Dr. Judy Doktor was invited to present her research on "The Dark Side of Special Education" at the Council for Special Educational Administrators in Scottsdale, AZ in November 2012. She has been invited to program reviewer training at the annual Council for Exceptional Children pre-convention work days in San Antonio in April 2013.

Robert Ferrera

Dr. Ferrera is currently providing leadership and direction for the School of Education and Leadership's partnership program at Belle Air Elementary School in San Bruno. When this partnership began, Bell Aire was entering its 5th year in Program Improvement. As part of this program, NDNU credential students teach and provide tutoring at the school. The partnership program also involves faculty members and graduate students in scholarly inquiry and research at the school site. At the end of the past academic year, the school met the state standard for its scores.

Martha M. Harrison

Dr. Harrison specializes in designing strategic and collaborative university/community partnerships with the goal of strengthening teachers in training and teachers in the classroom. Her success with establishing university/community partnerships in Tennessee (Memphis City Schools System) and Florida (Hillsborough County Schools System) are helping change the attitudes of students toward school and learning, particularly in the areas of reading and the arts. Integration of the arts with reading and writing instruction has allowed Dr. Harrison to view firsthand the difference the infusion of the arts can make in raising reading and writing performance. She has been invited to contribute a book chapter in a forthcoming book published by Teacher's College Press on The Theoretical Dimensions and Practical Processes of Arts-Based Teaching and Teacher Training. She continues her ongoing research in the area of children's and young adult literature in reading development.

Anabel Jensen

Dr. Jensen was invited to give a keynote address in Vancouver, Canada at the Social Emotional Learning Special Interest Group (SIG) business meeting held in conjunction with the American Educational Research Association's Annual Meeting in March of 2012 on the subject of "The Need for Emotional Intelligence in Higher Education." Recently, she spoke in Singapore before an audience of 500 school principals on the topic of educational change. She has also presented at the Florida Association of Independent Schools on the topic of "Bringing Emotional Intelligence into Cultures & Curriculums." Anabel is co-founder of an innovative school for the gifted/talented; Synapse is located in Redwood City and is receiving educational buzz in the area. Anabel will be keynoting at the international Nexus EQ Conference held at Harvard on June 24, 25 and 26 and sponsored by Six Seconds.

Samuel Johnson Jr.

Sam Johnson, Superintendent Emeritus of the San Mateo Union High School District and Director of NDNU's Administrative Services Credential and Master's Program, serves on the boards of Bay Area businesses and philanthropic groups. He currently serves on the Silicon Valley Community Foundation's Board of Directors and is immediate past chair of Provident Credit Union's Board of Directors. Additionally, Sam serves as an ELS Group Senior Associate. The ELS Group LLC is a minority/woman owned and operated executive and mid-management search firm specializing in providing recruitment and placement services to colleges and universities nationwide. At ELS, Sam leads search and interim placement efforts for School Superintendents, Principals and Vice Principals.

Irvin G. Rollins Jr.

Dr. Rollins, Senior Lecturer in the Education Specialist Program, is currently serving as a Commissioner on the San Mateo County Commission for Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention. This organization is now sponsoring an initiative with the San Mateo County of Education with the aim of reducing the over-representation of minority youth in school suspensions and expulsions.

Lisa Simpson

Lisa Simpson is completing her doctorate and currently researching the effect of a class-wide peer-mediated social skills intervention on students with low-functioning autism. A recent article, which she co-authored with Dr. Kevin Oh, titled "Using Circle Time Books to Increase Participation in the Morning Circle Routine" has been accepted for publication in Teaching Exceptional Children and will appear in 2013. This spring, she will present a paper titled, "Examining the Perspective of Typical Students using the Autism Peer Perception Survey" at the Council for Exceptional Children Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas. She will also co-present a paper with Dr. Kevin Oh this summer at the International Association of Special EducationConference in Vancouver, Canada. Their paper is titled "Low-Tech Assistive Technology to Increase Participation in Classroom Routines."

Kim Tolley

Dr. Tolley's ongoing research focuses on the history of education. In the fall of 2012, she presented a paper on nineteenth-century female education and chaired a book session at the Social Science History Association Conference in Vancouver, Canada. This spring, she will present a paper at the American Educational Research Association Conference in San Francisco on her current research, which investigates the way antebellum schoolbooks depicted slavery and emancipation from 1795 to 1840. She has also been invited to speak at AERA at a mentoring session for graduate students in Division F. Dr. Tolley currently has a book manuscript under external review at University of North Carolina Press, titled Heading South: Education, Family, and Slavery in the Second Great Awakening.

Kelly Vaughn

Dr. Vaughn is currently the principal investigator for research on community-based work at Belle Air School. She and Dr. Demaree have been invited to present a paper on teacher reflectivity at the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Conference in Atlanta in February 2013. They are co-authoring a book chapter in Reflectivity & Cultivating Student Learning: Critical Elements for Enhancing a Global Community of Learners and Educators, ed. Edward Pultrak (NY: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014). Dr. Vaughn is also collaborating with Dr. Nancy Markowitz, Professor of Elementary Education at San Jose State University, on the implementation and research of Social Emotional Learning in teacher education seminar courses.

Jude Wolf

Jude Wolf is projected to receive her doctorate from USF in May 2013 in learning and instruction with an emphasis in special education. Her research is focused on the effects of semantic feature analysis and generative elaboration as an instructional pedagogy on the writing of students with disabilities in middle school. Jude has been a past presenter at the American Educational Research Association, the International Dyslexia Association, and the Council for Exceptional Children. Her research agenda includes effective supports for special education teachers, assistive technology for special education students, and universal design for inclusive education.

New Book Published

Enrico Beltramini (Religious Studies) has just had his book published by Lambert Academic Publishing. The title is The Church of Abhishiktananda: An Introduction to the Ecclesiology of Henri le Saux.

Fall Colloquium

Faculty members Ali Ferdowsi and Patti Andrews presented at the Fall Colloquium on October 19, 2011.

Ali Ferdowsi
My Discovery of the Oldest Manuscript of the 14th-Century Persian Poet Hafez and Its Implications

 
Patti Andrews
Meeting the Chumash: Periodization and Emphasis of Historical Experience among 21st Century Chumash

Betty Friedman

"Last fall I unexpectedly received an email inviting me to teach a short printmaking course for the Faculty from the Escuela de Arte de Cadiz. I was honored as there is such a great tradition of printmaking in Spain from Goya to Tapies. They knew about my work through a gallery that shows my work in Cordoba and a lecture I gave at the School of Art and Design in Cordoba during my sabbatical two years ago.

I gave this week-long course during our Spring break and Carnival in Cadiz. It was a pleasure to teach in their printshop, located in the historic city walls, at the spot where the Spanish fought and pushed back Napoleon Bonaparte's army in 1812, with the help of the British navy. It is obvious where parts of that wall had been breached. The rest of the school, located in a beautiful decommissioned palace, is one of the oldest art schools in Spain. Cadiz, thought to be the oldest city in Europe, was originally Phoenician.

The Spanish faculty learned monotype and drypoint printmaking techniques to produce prints with chine collé (collage). I shipped ahead Jin Shofu, Japanese wheat paste that I cooked for the Cadiz faculty during the class. There was only one very experienced printmaker in the course, the faculty whose shop we were using. The rest of the faculty were a range of artists including, painters, graphic designers, sculptors, fashion designers and wood workers.

This course was funded by a grant received by the Escuela de Arte de Cadiz from the European Union for faculty development. It was also a wonderful cultural exchange that we hope to continue."

- Betty Friedman, March 30, 2011

Spring Colloquium

Faculty members Melissa McAlexander and Cheryl Joseph presented at the Spring Colloquium on March 31, 2011.

Melissa McAlexander
Tales from the Creek: Engaging a Small Group of Students in a Water Quality
Research Project
 
Cheryl Joseph
Putting Sociology to Work: Practical Pursuits for Majors