The rows of plaques hanging on Dr. Shirley Weber’s office walls only hint at the enormity of her accomplishments. As a professor at San Diego State since 1972, Weber has been actively involved in multiple campus committees including the Academic Senate and the College of Arts and Letters Personnel Committee.
Apathy is not a term to be associated with Caitlin Seandel. Like many young women at San Diego State, she has a variety of hobbies. Some of these include reading, hanging out with friends and playing intramural kick ball. However, what makes Seandel noticeable is that this women studies and international security and conflict resolution junior is also an activist.
Most students prefer to party, socialize and hang out when they are 21 years old, but not business management senior Rex Brown Jr.
Imagine living in a small, elevated hut made of Sago Palms in the forests of Papua New Guinea or watching schools of manta rays breeding off the northern tip of Sumatra in Pulau We, Indonesia. For most people these experiences are out of reach. But for sustainable tourism professor Dr. Jess Ponting, they are a part of life.
When people hear the word “cowboy,” they often think of the hat-wearing, lasso-throwing, gun-shooting glamorized actors riding horseback in old Hollywood Western films. And while these portrayals may be close to the real thing, many do not realize the values of family, honor, hospitality and resourcefulness one can learn from a cowboy.
Sitting in his warm, Rwandan classroom, nine-year-old Emmanuel Rudatsikira remembers when his principal told the class to run for their lives.
“I had polio when I was three, but I ran as fast as my weak legs could take me,” associate professor and director of San Diego State’s Global Emergency Preparedness and Response Program Rudatsikira said.
Despite the large number of teaching awards he’s accrued in nearly 30 years of lecturing at San Diego State, Dr. Michael M. Stoddard is sometimes at a loss for explanation to why students find him engaging.
With career highlights that include serving five presidential administrations and being named an Oxford Fellow, this political science professor’s resume is captivating enough to motivate even the most apathetic students.
Tescia Deák decorates people with her designs.
Deák is an artist. Not the type who will paint a portrait or photograph an event. No, Deák is a jewelry designer — self-created, self-funded and the sole proprietor of her own company la t da.
To some, the ability to communicate seems like a right, while expression through speech is thought of as second nature like breathing, eating and drinking. However, for individuals who suffer from speech disabilities, communication is the biggest privilege of all — and the farthest thing from an absolute.
Look inside the chemistry labs at San Diego State and you’ll find something more profound than an experiment — you’ll find a petite brunette who’s making a big impact here on campus: Karina Kangas.
Do you know the key to success? Integrated marketing communications senior Howard Tu does, and because of his success at San Diego State, he’s graduating next month with more practical experience than many of his peers.
“A great attitude goes a long way,” Tu said. “You can be the smartest guy in the world, but if you’re cocky no one will want to work with you.”
If someone had told you that nine years ago, the writing department of San Diego State’s television, film and media studies program existed as a menial subdivision of the thriving communication department, how justifiable would you find that statement?
Considering the sheer competitiveness of the program as well as the many honors and awards students have received, such as the Jury Prize that current student Destin Cretton brought home from this year’s Sundance Festival, one might find such an assertion to seem rather implausible.
Being a woman doesn’t come easy.
Most women agree, including studio art senior, Jaime Lyerly, who has learned this as an active feminist, a young mother and blooming artist, who never painted until she was 21 years old. With a refreshing point of view, Lyerly is a sculptor who explores her artwork through many mixed media; however, she has learned to take her artwork to the next level with an objective approach as she studies the psychological aspects of motherhood and the female body.
In what seems like the biggest room in the Professional Studies and Fine Arts building, professor John Eger sits in his office surrounded by framed articles covering the walls. These articles aren’t clips that he has collected because they have simply caught his eye — they are articles about him.
Lectures, homework, exams, bills, tuition, loans — it's difficult dealing with the stresses of being a college student. Getting an education isn't a walk in the park, and civil engineering junior Pamela Ndagire understands that better than most.
“Suddenly it happened, one day it said, Victor Clark is going to prison.”
Victor Clark-Alfaro, part-time professor for the Latin American Studies program at San Diego State, leads anything but an average life. When he isn’t busy taking his two classes on adventures through the unseen side of Tijuana and spending time with his family, Clark-Alfaro runs a successful and active human rights office in Tijuana.
"I got bit by the bug, and once you've been bitten, you just can't get rid of it."
Amy Fritsche, a San Diego State musical theatre graduate student, is neither on the cover of Rolling Stone nor has she won a Grammy. But Fritsche has been a dancer, singer, actor, producer, student and teacher for years, and has enough experiences to write an autobiography at the modest age of 28.
Roughly 30 feet above sea level sits one of India's most prized gems: Kolkata. This Eastern Indian port city rests on vast wetlands, has humid and tropical climate and is home to about 5 million Calcuttans. This city has seen its fair share of violence through war, and its wounds from colonization are still healing slowly. It is here more than 30 years ago that Professor Dipak Gupta was asked to commit the unthinkable - take another human's life.
It isn’t every day that you run into someone remarkable. It isn’t every day that you find someone willing to take the time out of their busy schedule to listen to your problems. And it definitely isn’t every day that you meet someone who takes on more than they can chew and exceed in every aspect in which a task entails. However, for the students who reside on the third floor of Chapultepec Hall, they know and live with a person who exemplifies all of these characteristics.
The English language is a beautiful thing, and when put in the right hands, it can have a powerful effect on the soul and mind. Professor for the creative writing graduate program at San Diego State, Ilya Kaminsky, understands the significance of that beauty and power as an award-winning poet. His book, “Dancing in Odessa,” has won numerous awards and was named Best Poetry Book of the Year in 2004 by ForeWord Magazine.
On a warm Friday night, a curious woman hears sweet voices and slowly navigates her way to an auditorium filled with young South African students. The song is a familiar one. “Swing low, sweet chariot...comin’ for to carry me home.”
Students in the Yacoya Learning Community, a program supported by the Office of Educational Opportunity Programs and Ethnic Affairs at San Diego State know more than diversity –– they know adversity.
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