Spring/Summer 2012 Volume 29, No. 1
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY Graduate School of Education and Psychology
ONE BILLION
SEEDS
The Permacultural Revolution
INSIDE: Bridging the Gap | African American Aviator
L ette r From the D ean
While we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Pepperdine University, we recognize that for over 40 years, the Graduate School of Education and Psychology has been preparing students for lives of purpose, service, and leadership. Our programs have produced industry leaders in education and psychology. From principals and superintendents to best-selling authors and nationally celebrated therapists, our alumni have raised the bar in their respective fields. For example, alumnus of the Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy, Dr. James Sulton III (EdD ’08) founded AvEd, an organization of young aviation and aerospace professionals committed to inspiring the next generation to pursue their career goals through mentorship, educational programs, and experiential learning. He leads the charge in exposing young minority students to the field of aviation. Our Doctor of Education in Educational Technology alumni Dr. Chris Freeman (EdD ’03) and Dr. Eric Adams (EdD ’03) travel around the world supporting technological advancements in education for developing nations. Their work in Zambia and Honduras through the organization Lifesong is highlighted in this issue. Here at GSEP, we encourage our alumni to employ their degrees in a way that improves our local and international communities. We hope that they will share the knowledge they acquire and the talents they gain with those who may benefit from their experience. As our alumni apply this philosophy to their professional lives, we hope that it will inspire a culture of selflessness.
Margaret J. Weber, PhD Dean
F e at u r e s
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One Billion Seeds
Bridging the Gap
African American Aviator
The Permacultural Revolution
Departments 02 News 30 Class Notes 31 Self-Care
Technology for Developing Countries
Trail-Blazes a Career for Himself and Others
Perspectives 26 Mentorship Program: Enriching Young Women in South Central Los Angeles
By Ifeanyi A. Agbu
28 Tribal Education and Communities in Need By Crystal Jensen
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY Graduate School of Education and Psychology Spring/Summer 2011 Volume 29, No. 1
Managing Editor Jennifer Scharnikow Editor John Calvin Byrd III
Administration Dean Margaret J. Weber Associate Dean, Psychology Robert A. deMayo Associate Dean, Education Eric R. Hamilton
Director of Alumni Relations Claudette LaCour Creative Director Brett Sizemore Art Director John Ayers
The Pepperdine ColleagueŠ is published two times per year by the Graduate School of Education and Psychology and the Office of Alumni Relations. The opinions expressed in the Colleague do not necessarily reflect those of the University or its administration.
Production Manager Jill McWilliams
Please send address changes and alumni updates to:
Photographer Ron Hall Copy Editor Vincent Way Contributing Writers Ifeanyi A. Agbu Crystal Jensen Jennifer MacDonell Lynne Rafool Bidwell
Pepperdine Colleague GSEP Alumni Office 6100 Center Drive, 5th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90045 Tel. 310.568.5664 E-mail: gsepalum@pepperdine.edu To contact the Colleague editor, e-mail gsepedit@pepperdine.edu.
GSEP Colleague Summer 2008 1
GSEP NEWS GSEP Students Awarded California Council on Teacher Education Scholarships
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City Honors College Preparatory Charter High School. This is her second year there. Lohith and Sorkin have just begun their student teaching at Westside Global Awareness Magnet School K-8 in Marina Del Rey, California. Lohith is working on her multiple-subject credential and is currently teaching in a second grade class. Sorkin is working on her singlesubject math credential and is teaching pre-algebra and algebra in seventh and eighth grades.
Sydney Brazile, Maya Lohith, and Samantha Sorkin have been awarded scholarships for the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) through the Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Brazile, Lohith, and Sorkin are all in the Master of Education with Teaching Credential program.
All three recipients attended the CCTE spring conference March 29-31 in San Jose, California, to present on their action research project from the Teacher Identity and Vocation course, MAETC 611A, B, and C. They are working under the supervision of Dr. Reyna Garcia-Ramos.
Brazile is working on her single-subject credential in health and physical education and is currently teaching those subjects for the ninth and 10th grades at
Pepperdine University Announces 2012 Superintendent of the Year The GSEP Superintendent Advisor y Council is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. George J. McKenna III, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Local District 7 as the recipient of the 2012 Superintendent of the Year award. Dr. McKenna was honored on Thursday, January 26, 2012, at Tarpy’s Roadhouse in Monterey, California. Dr. George J. McKenna III began his career as an LAUSD math teacher and navigated his way to an appointment as principal of Washington Prepatory High School in south Los Angeles. In a matter of four years, he successfully changed an inner-city high school that had been torn by violence, low achievement, and lack of community confidence into a school with an attendance waiting list, and nearly 80 percent of the graduates enrolled in college. He left LAUSD to lend his expertise
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to several districts. He served as superintendent of the Inglewood Unified School District in Inglewood, California; deputy superintendent in Compton, California; local district superintendent in LAUSD; and assistant superintendent of secondary schools in Pasadena, California. In 2009 he returned to Los Angeles Unified as Local District 7 superintendent serving nearly 65,000 students in over 70 Title I-eligible schools in central Los Angeles. During his tenure, he was able to accomplish double-digit API test score growth in 75 percent of the schools with one achieving 900 and several exceeding 800, despite successive and severe annual budget and personnel reductions, increases in class size, and loss of professional development resources. Because of these accomplishments, Dr. McKenna is the subject of the award-winning CBS television movie entitled, The George McKenna Story starring Denzel Washington. GSEP is also pleased to recognize two Superintendents of Distinction for their outstanding service in school leadership. Dr. Larry L. Powell, Fresno County superin-
tendent of schools, and Dr. Susan C. Parks, retired superintendent of San Gabriel Unified School District, were honored at the January 26 dinner and reception. Referred to as “Reverend” by his colleagues, Dr. Larry L. Powell is distinguished by his well-rounded background. He is a minister, singer, golfer, gymnast, and motivational speaker delivering over 2,700 speeches throughout California. Powell also serves on 12 nonprofit boards and as a member of the board of trustees for Fresno Pacific University where he also taught as a member of the adjunct graduate faculty. He is on numerous advisory boards for California State University, Fresno. He is currently the chair of California’s Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT). Powell made headlines last year when he forfeited $800,000 of his salary over three years to help his struggling district. Upon graduating from USC, Dr. Susan C. Parks began her teaching career at LAUSD. She saw how important quality leadership was for the success of schools, teachers, students, and families, and set her goal to
G S E P news become a principal and eventually superintendent. Her first step towards realizing this dream was her appointment as principal of Walnut Grove Elementary School. Parks became K-12 curriculum director, elementary education director, assistant superintendent for educational services and personnel services, and deputy superintendent in Simi Valley, California. In 1997, she became superintendent of the Baldwin Park Unified School District where she established the “I’m Going to College” program. When she retired in 2002, she took on the responsibility of program director for Pepperdine University’s new Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy (ELAP) doctoral program, which was for her a valuable time of learning as well as teaching. In 2006, Parks gave up her retirement to become interim superintendent of the San Gabriel Unified School District. After over four years of service, she retired in December of 2011.
GSEP Faculty, Alumni, and Students Presented at Hawaii International Conference on Education Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology is a proud sponsor of the 2012 Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE). Several GSEP faculty and students presented over the course of a few days. • Susan R. Hall, JD, PhD, associate professor of psychology and Laurie Wiedeman (MA ’07), current PsyD student, presented a paper titled “Trainee Therapists’ Perceptions of the Helpfulness of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiosity/ Spirituality in Counseling.”
Past recipients of the Superintendent of the Year Award include: • Mrs. Cynthia Cervantes McGuire, superintendent of Azusa Unified School District • Dr. Gwen Gross, formerly with the Hermosa Unified School District • Dr. Robert Fraisse, formerly with the Conejo Valley Unified School District • Dr. Joseph Condon, formerly with the Lawndale Elementary School District • Dr. Jody Dunlap, formerly with the Oxnard Union High School District • Dr. Sharon McClain, formerly with the Del Mar Union School District • Dr. Trudy Arriaga, superintendent of Ventura Unified School District
Past recipients of the Superintendents of Distinction Award include: • Ms. Judy Burton, president and CEO of Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools • Mr. William Habermehl, Orange County superintendent of schools • Dr. Johanna Vandermolen, formerly with the Campbell Unified School District • Dr. Jeffrey Felix, superintendent of Coronado Unified School District
• Robert Scholz, MFT, assistant director of the Pepperdine Counseling Center and adjunct professor at GSEP presented a paper titled “Men in Mandated Treatment: What Counselor Educators Should Know About Client Experiences with the Counseling Process.”
come together and learn from each other. An additional goal of the conference was to provide a place for academicians and professionals with cross-disciplinary interests related to education to meet and interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines.
• Doctor of Education in Learning Technologies student Crystal Jensen presented “Culturally Sensitive Technology Integration for Native Americans / Indigenous Peoples and the Public Good.” • Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership alumnus Mike Moodian (EdD ’07) presented “Cultivating Cultural Intelligence: A Quantitative Study.” The main goal of the 2012 Hawaii International Conference on Education is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various education related fields from all over the world to
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GSEP NEWS
California State University, Northridge hired Dr. Joannie Busillo-Aguayo (EdD ’10) as an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling. Busillo-Aguayo has been a member of the CSUN community since 1991, when she transferred from Pierce College to complete a bachelor’s degree in child development; subsequently, she earned a master’s degree from the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences/ Family Relations-Child Development. She earned her doctorate in organizational leadership in 2010 from GSEP. Dr. Joannie Busillo-Aguayo’s research interests Busillo-Aguayo include identifying ways to strengthen and support families of young children, promoting campus-community collaboration, and enhancing service-learning partnerships between students and early childhood programs in the community. For 12 years, she was the assistant coordinator of the CSUN Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences’ Transdisciplinar y Early Inter vention Program, serving infants and toddlers with developmental challenges and their families. For the past five years, she has supported a community-based nonprofit organization in designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating a new community-based program serving young children and families in the low-income, predominately Latino community of Canoga Park in Los Angeles. As part-time faculty from 2004 to 2011, Busillo-Aguayo taught courses in child advocacy and theories of development for the Department of Child and Adolescent Development in CSUN’s College of Health and Human Development.
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Oklahoma Christian Names Mellor as Vice President of Community Engagement Oklahoma Christian University (OC) announced that GSEP alumnus Dr. Nathan Mellor (MDR ’05, EdD ’08) has been named vice president for community engagement and chief of staff. Mellor, who is currently executive director of the Academy for Leadership and Liberty on the OC campus, will continue in that role, but will take on additional responsibilities for building meaningful relationships with community and church leaders throughout the world. Other responsibilities include developing and implementing OC’s communications and image strategies, representing the president’s office in developing effective church relations and assisting in developing and communicating strategic vision and plans. Mellor joined Oklahoma Christian in 2006 and has served as an assistant professor of leadership in the university’s School of Business Administration. As executive director of the academy, he oversees several major programs, including Oklahoma Leadership Academy, Business Week OC, Peace Through Business Rwanda, the Southwest Youth Leadership Conference, the Hatton W. Sumners Distinguished Speaker Series, and the newly launched,
Dr. Nathan Mellor
Dr. Joannie Busillo-Aguayo New Assistant Professor at CSUN
$10 million Heart of America Campaign to revitalize Enterprise Square and expand OC’s 50-year commitment to free enterprise, liberty, and leadership education. Prior to joining OC, Mellor was assistant director for strategic planning at the Pepperdine School of Law’s highly ranked Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution from 2004 to 2006. Before moving to Pepperdine, he was the pulpit minister of the Hixson Church of Christ in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which almost doubled in attendance during his five-year tenure. From 1995 to 1999, he served as graduate assistant to the president and then as assistant director and cofounder of the Institute for Church and Family at Harding University. He holds a BA and MSE from Harding University, as well as an MDR from the Pepperdine School of Law. He recently completed the EdD in Organizational Leadership from GSEP.
Dr. Gregory Canillas Appointed to Commission on Youth and Children Adjunct faculty of psychology Dr. Gregory Canillas was recently appointed to the Commission on Youth and Children by Long Beach mayor Bob Foster, and was confirmed by the Long Beach City Council. In this role, Canillas will advise the mayor on services for children and adolescents in the city, especially projects that provide assistance for youth from underserved groups. The Commission for Youth and Children also helps to promote coordination between the city and Long Beach Unified School District, as well as other organizations and agencies. It makes policy recommendations to shape the city’s early care and educational system, and it recognizes accomplishments on behalf of Long Beach children and adolescents.
GSEP NEWS GSEP Awarded $420,000 Grant from National Science Foundation Dr. Eric Hamilton, associate dean of education for GSEP secured a $420,000 gr an t f r om t he Na tional Science Foundation (NSF) for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research. With a success rate of around 10 percent, this grant is highly competitive. Hamilton’s proposal seeks to carry out research and development by drawing students into an experience of codesigning mathematics media for peers in the same or earlier courses, as collaborators
Dr. Earnestine Thomas-Robertson Honored with Waves of Service Award Dr. Earnestine Thomas-Robertson (’69, MA ’73, EdD ’03), an alumna of George Pepperdine College, the Pepperdine School of Professional Studies, and the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, has been selected as the recipient of the second annual GSEP Waves of Service Award. The Waves of Service office presented Thomas-Robertson with the award at the GSEP Celebration of Excellence Dinner on October 21, 2011. “ T h o m a s - Ro b e r t s o n ’s P e p p e r d i n e University undergraduate and graduate degrees, and even her dissertation, show her early and clear realization of her purpose to globalize college education,” comments Greg Porter, director of the Waves of Service program. “Each of the dozen organizations who have benefited from Dr. Thomas-Robertson’s volunteer service are, in complementary ways, serving the same purpose. Her innovative leadership as a community college administrator has resulted in astounding
with their teachers. It likewise focuses attention on imaginatively using digital media to make mathematical structure more cognitively accessible to learners. This project also incorporates a significant international component, with students collaborating with peers and students both in Mexico and Uganda. “We expect teachers to have more locally contextualized resources instantaneously available to scaffold student learning, a greater sense of professional partnership with young adults, and more mental space and time for higher-order and imaginative effort in solving complex teaching challenges,” says Dr. Hamilton. “We expect student-tutors to become more effective communicators and mathematics users. accomplishments toward making a college education more accessible.” Thomas-Rober tson is the president of the Los Angeles-Lusaka Sister City Committee, vice president of business relations for Born Ready Industries, Inc., and Dean Emeritus of Los Angeles Southwest College. Her dedication to education and civic leadership has benefited both local and global communities and is the basis for her nomination and selection. As a leader of the L.A.-Lusaka Sister City Committee, she recognized the need for women entrepreneurs in Zambia, Africa, and initiated programs to provide microloans to fund business ventures that have enabled recipients to either start a viable business or improve an existing one. Under her direction, the organization has donated and delivered medical equipment and pharmaceutical supplies to hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia, as well as providing medical, selfhelp, and classroom textbooks to Evelyn Hone College in the same region. Among her global development pursuits, Thomas-Rober tson has been committed to local educational initiatives, empowering and teaching her students the importance of community involvement and participatory government. She
And we expect those using the media to have a greater repertoire of immediately usable resources produced specifically for their learning.” has conceived and implemented the Strategies for the Development of the African American Manchild Conference, held for over 15 years on community college campuses throughout Los Angeles County, which brought business, industry, education, medical, political, and motivational leaders together for one day to interact with members of the community. Her implementation of International Day at Los Angeles Southwest College afforded students and members of the community the opportunity to experience cultures from across the globe through food, music, dance, and history. T he Waves of Ser vice movement celebrates, supports, and connects Pepperdine alumni committed to volunteerism and careers of service worldwide. Developed by the Alumni Leadership Council at the encour agement of Pepperdine president Andrew Benton, Waves of Service commenced in 2009 with the unwritten motto: “Serve where you are.” Today, Pepperdine graduates are fulfilling Mr. Pepperdine’s founding vision around the globe. To learn more about Waves of Service, call (310) 506-4464 or visit the Waves of Service website.
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GSEP NEWS Sibongile Mkhabela of Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Presented at Pepperdine University
Mkhabela is scheduled to open NMCH in 2012. In a continent that has only four hospitals dedicated to children, this serves as a significant milestone. NMCH will be at the forefront of protecting the human right of every child to receive the best medical care available regardless of social or economic status.
On November 3, 2011, the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital (NMCH), Mrs. Sibongile Mkhabela, presented the GSEP Diversity Council Lecture “Giving Voice and Dignity to the African Child.”
Mkhabela gained worldwide visibility in 2001 with the release of her book Open Earth and Black Roses, which depicted her personal story of the Soweto Uprising in June 1976. Mkhabela has a wealth of experience in development issues nationally and internationally, from her work in senior positions at the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Education Program in South Africa, and the South African Council of Churches. Mkhabela served in the office of the then South Africa deputy president Thabo Mbeki as programs director responsible for overall programming, with specific responsibility for NGO/government partnerships and children’s programs.
She spoke about the development of Nelson Mandela’s legacy and how it was shaped by his remarkable life. Mkhabela also addressed the state of child health care, the future of medicine in Africa, and her long-time friendship with His Excellency Nelson Mandela. Pepperdine University was the first stop on Mkhabela’s tour of the West Coast—her very first visit to the western United States. She was accompanied by Ms. Nana Magomola, a trustee of the NMCH and chair of the Human Resources Committee.
Dr. Gallardo Launches Aliento: The Center for Latina/o Communities According to the latest census data, Orange County grew by 163,943 residents between 2000 and 2010. Of those, 137,394 were Latino. Latinos are the largest and fastest growing racial/ethnic minority in America, but due to economic, cultural and linguistic barriers, many are not able to take advantage of mental health services. Observing this phenomenon, associate professor of psychology Dr. Miguel E. Gallardo created Aliento: The Center for Latina/o Communities located at GSEP’s Irvine Graduate Campus. The center
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focuses on addressing the needs of the underserved Latina/o community through embracing a community-based perspective that recognizes the strengths inherent in the community that are often translated into or misinterpreted as deficits. “Many mental health professionals continue to struggle in building successful therapeutic relationships with Latino clients due to not fully understanding the multiple ways that members of Latina/o groups feel alienated and misunderstood,” says Dr. Gallardo. “Consequently, the quality of therapeutic interventions decline and Latino clients become more reluctant to seek out or continue receiving mental health services.” The center integrates a community service and outreach component to directly address the needs of the surrounding Latino
communities. The outreach efforts include working with local church communities
GSEP NEWS and other entities to provide preventative educational programs covering topics such as parenting skills, relationships, and stress management. This outreach will have the added benefit of destigmatizing therapy in the Latino/a community. Dr. Gallardo led a six-week research project in Mexico City, where he conducted a qualitative research study with Mexican therapists. He interviewed Mexican therapists in order to elucidate the therapeutic process. He also conducted a series of interviews in the United States with Latina/o therapists, who work with the Mexican/ Mexican American community. In total, Dr. Gallardo and his research team conducted 41 interviews. A major goal of this research study was to identify specific interventions Latina/o therapists employ to connect and therapeutically work with Mexican/Mexican American clients, and more importantly, to assess therapists’ understanding of the effectiveness of these interventions when working with this community. These national/international perspectives will provide a deeper understanding and a knowledge base of information for therapists working within a U.S. context with Mexican/Mexican American communities. In conjunction with the Aliento Center, Dr. Gallardo, in laying the foundation for the Latina/o Mental Health Emphasis in the MFT program, aimed at better preparing therapists to provide services to Latina/o communities. This new program will focus on enhancing students’ cultural and linguistic competencies, emphasizing compassion and responsiveness to help destigmatize therapy with Latina/o communities. According to a 2002 survey of 268 Latinos living or working in Orange County, the need to speak to a therapist in Spanish is extremely important. In the survey, 71 percent stated that they didn’t believe there were enough Spanishspeaking therapists in the area. The academic program will launch in the fall of 2013.
ALUMNI Authors Dennis Palumbo (MA ’88) Fever Dream There’s a sweltering heat wave outside. Nearly a year after Pittsburgh psychologist and trauma expert Daniel Rinaldi helped unravel a baffling murder, he finds himself drawn into another case. When a daring bank robbery goes horribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of all the hostages except one, Rinaldi is called in to question Treva Williams, the traumatized young woman who survived. However, what seemed a simple robbery soon explodes into a series of events that plunge the investigating officers, Sgt. Harry Polk and Detective Eleanor Lowrey—as well as Rinaldi himself—into a vortex of mistaken identity and kidnapping.
Lani Fraizer (EdD ’09) Developing Lifelong Changemakers Social entrepreneurs are “changemakers”-people who want to make the world a better place by problem-solving tough issues. They are socially conscious, forward-thinking, and strive for systemic solutions to social is sues they champion. Developing Lifelong Changemakers is a colorful “white paper” introducing the Lifelong Changemaker Framework intended for all educators supporting changemakers to champion the world and to lay the groundwork for future conversations. This work is based on a 2009 doctoral study on Ashoka Fellows from
the education and workforce sector, entitled 21st-Century Social Change Makers and Next-Generation Social Entrepreneurs.
Maureen Clemmons (MBA ’93, EdD ’98) Soaring Stones “It’s an unforgettable sight: innovation expert Maureen Clemmons can lift and ‘fly’ massive s tones, some of them weighing 16 tons, with little more than a steady wind and a good kite. But did the ancient Egyptians do the same thing when hoisting immense pyramid stones? Egyptologists say no. Clemmons, backed by a decade of field tests and a Caltech aeronautics team, isn’t so certain—especially when the Egyptologists make it clear they are unwilling to consider evidence from anyone outside their insular field. Buoyed by a tremendous groundswell of grassroots support, Clemmons’ stunning, blockheaving experiments generate national news coverage, a History Channel documentary, and a mention in engineering textbooks. Audiences from NASA, the American Institute of Architects, and a multitude of universities gather to hear her compelling presentations. In the span of just a few short years, she successfully advances a simple ‘Eureka!’ moment in her California backyard to the halls of academia, and eventually to Egypt’s Giza Plateau, site of the actual pyramids. She also proves an important point: that you don’t need a degree, just an inspired idea and some passion, to be a good scientist.” Written by Time science contributor Daniel Cray.
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GSEP NEWS
Dr. Michael Patterson (EdD ’09) Have a Nice Conflict: How to Find Success and Satisfaction in the Most Unlikely Places From the publishers of the popular Strength Deployment Inventory, Have a Nice Conflict follows one man’s fight to rescue his sinking career. Sales manager
John Doyle would consider his career a success—he’s his company’s top revenue driver, and his take-charge attitude gets the job done. However, when he is passed over for promotion—again—after losing two direct reports, who cite his abrasive style as their reason for leaving, John is forced to reassess how he approaches his relation-
ships. With the help of Mac, an expert in the art of Relationship Awareness Theory, John learns the three stages of conflict, and how he reacts in each.
contact with a client to the development of an effective, personalized treatment plan. Addressing the essential question every therapist faces—”How do I create a treatment plan that is the best match for my client?”—this unique resource provides a systematic and thoughtful method for integrating ideas, skills, and techniques from different theoretical approaches. It combines empirical research and clinical experience to create a case formulation that is tailor-made for the client.
Super vision: A Competency-Based Approach has become the standard, go-to resource on supervisory and clinical competence. Now the authors have created an empirically-supported yet practical book for student and interns. Written in an interactive style with “real life” case examples and reflection activities, this book shows students how to establish effective working supervisory relationships and understand and make use of formative and summative evaluations. Empirically-supported yet highly practical, this is an essential text that normalizes the anxieties and conflicts that typically arise during supervision.
FACUlty Authors Diana B. Hiatt-Michael Teaching, Curriculum, and Community Involvement This publication features Hiatt-Michael’s research and practice during 34 years as professor of education at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology. The chapters represent a range of her major thoughts on teaching, curriculum, and family-community involvement by the author. Her work has broadened the scope and understanding of the commonalities of teaching and curriculum across disciplines and professional work.
Barbara Ingram Clinical Case Formulations: Matching the Integrative Treatment Plan to the Client, 2nd edition Fully revised and updated, the second edition of Clinical Case Formulations provides stepby-step tools and insightful guidance for moving from first
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Carol A. Falender and Edward P. Shafranske Getting the Most Out of Clinical Training and Supervision. A Guide for Practicum Students and Interns Clinical training is challenging for supervisees, many of whom are unsure how to navigate the supervisory process and effectively build clinical skills and professional competence. While research and book-length texts on effective supervision have proliferated, these are typically directed towards supervisors and clinical educators. Since it was first published in 2004, Falender and Shafranske’s Clinical
Dr. Russell Hunter, Adjunc t Faculty, Psychology Heir Conditioning at Open Country Russell Hunter and two of his cousins were left the contents of a 29-room mansion that had been abandoned for 20 years. It had belonged to his cousin Margy’s very wealthy family. Hunter had known the estate as a child when the family was still wealthy and was both grieved and appalled to find out what had become of the home he once knew and loved.
In education and psychology careers, professional relationships are integral to growth and success. Recognizing this, the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) named its alumni organization Colleagues. The relationships that you formed as a student don’t have to end after graduation. Through GSEP Colleagues receptions, lectures, and enrichment offerings, we advance the spirit of collegiality between alumni, faculty, and current students.
Colleagues fosters meaningful connections with opportunities to mentor current students or recent graduates and to volunteer their expertise with some of GSEP’s community partners. Your annual membership in Colleagues helps GSEP with our most important initiatives: • Graduate student fellowships and scholarships • Recruitment opportunities to attract top students and faculty • State-of-the-art facilities, technology, and research library
Please join as a member of Colleagues by sending your gift in the envelope included in this magazine. Or, you may join online at our secure website: gsep.pepperdine.edu/alumni/giving If you have questions regarding Colleagues, please contact Claudette LaCour at (310) 568-5649 or via e-mail at claudette.lacour@pepperdine.edu or gsepalum@pepperdine.edu.
“The Colleagues are a vital part of the GSEP community. They provide scholarships and other forms of academic support for current students and networking opportunities to assist alumni in career advancement. Our alumni are critical to Pepperdine’s success and we look forward to continually advancing the influence and reputation of Pepperdine in our local community.” — Dr. Ed Shafranske, Professor, Psychology
Visit us online at:
gsep.pepperdine.edu/alumni/colleagues GSEP Colleague Spring/Summer 2012 9
ONE BILLION
SEEDSm
The Permacultural Revolution
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The mark of a great educator is the ability to create in a student the desire for deeper understanding. When a student actively pursues information, they are more likely to retain it. One method of inspiring independent learning is by applying classroom concepts in real world scenarios. Elementary school teacher Thomas Bangert (’97, MS ’09) does just that.
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At Westside Global Awareness Magnet School in the Marina del Rey community of Los Angeles, Bangert shows us how he uses nature as a catalyst for comprehension. He teaches his students science through permaculture—the practice of producing food using ways that do not deplete the earth’s natural resources. Bangert and his students grow food in the classroom and several places around the school. This hands-on learning embeds knowledge in his students, allowing them to literally partake of the fruits of their labor.
a
Although he works with less than 30 students in the classroom, he educates and empowers all ages through his company One Billion Seeds. There, he not only teaches children and adults to supplement their diets with homegrown foods, but to also supplement their income. We sat with Thomas Bangert to discuss his approach to education and sustainability.
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COLLEAGUE: Tell us about One Billion Seeds.
a Mr. B: The whole idea is, if you can change or affect a seventh of the world’s population, you can affect the culture on the planet. That number is one billion. I want to try to reach a billion children on this planet, get them to start to grow food so that they tap back into that instinctual agrarian self that we have lost, at least in the urban settings of America; but it’s still alive in lots of other places on the planet. If we can get to students when they start school, we can create a culture of cultivation. The whole idea is to give children seeds that will grow throughout most of the planet like carrots, sunflowers, pumpkins, peas, and onion seeds. If a child is able to grow a seed into a plant that produces another seed, they will have a new perspective that shapes them forever. Americans tend to lose touch with what we already know. Occasionally, a group of people will find that knowledge and bring it back to the mainstream. That’s what I aim to do. These aren’t new ideas. This is ancient stuff. What we need to understand is that times have changed, people are different, and we need to understand on a global level that while everybody should have an equal opportunity, not everybody does. There are places where seeds are controlled; there are companies that do this globally; and they are starting to do this in this country too, which is unbelievable.
costs range from $500 per week in Germany to $34 per week in Ecuador. So my students learn disparity while learning the difference between personally harvested and packaged foods. Within most industrial countries, the bulk of the food consumed is packaged. The rest of the countries are eating fresh produce and naturally raised livestock. One particular question comes up a lot: “How do groups that only grow two or three things get the rest of what they need?” I tell them that these families grow and raise what they can and trade for the rest. This method of teaching stimulates conversation and experiential understanding about the cultures and different peoples on this planet and leads to reasoning and the desire for more information. It also shows that while many cultures don’t have many of the technological conveniences or political freedoms that we have, they do have other freedoms like the freedom to produce and eat untainted natural foods. If you look at the family from Ecuador, most of what they eat is fresh, robust, and hardy. The tomatoes, potatoes and carrots are the size of your forearm. You just don’t see that here in the States.
COLLEAGUE: How do you facilitate this understanding from the confines of a classroom?
a Mr. B: One of the pieces of curriculum I use to supplement what I’m doing is the Hungry Planet. They basically put out a series that shows what people eat around the world. In my classroom I’ve got a number of posters, a family from Bhutan, a family from China, a family from Ecuador, Germany, Chad, Guatemala, India, Japan, Kuwait, Somali, Mexico, and the United States. So they have a picture of the family unit with all the food they would eat in one week. Whatever it is, they have it out in front of them. You can see where they live, where they cook or prepare their food, and what types of food are available to them. They also learn the demographic of the country: population, life expectancy, obesity rate, caloric intake, population living below the poverty line, etc. The one thing that usually gets them is the cost for one week’s worth of food. To feed an entire family,
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COLLEAGUE: How is what you’re doing different from the lima bean project that we all did in grade school science class?
a Mr. B: The lima bean experiment showed kids that they can turn a seed into a small bud with a leaf. Then they either take the plant home to die or throw it away; project completed. They never truly understand what it becomes; they don’t harvest seeds from it. They don’t do anything with it, it’s just an experiment. I want them to understand that they are producing something. They can grow in their front yard, balcony, and now it’s getting easier to do indoors.
We have a hydroponic experiment station where we grew four different varieties of lettuce. We recently had a “lettuce party” with four homemade dressings that we created. We did a taste test to see which ones they liked, very simple recipes, but very effective. The kids were profoundly changed by this because they can do it conveniently in the classroom setting. We have sunflowers that are two-to-three inches now. Spending 24 hours under lights, they are growing rapidly and the kids get to see this. You can do this with a 6-year-old or a 60-year-old, and it will change them for the better. But again, we should change the culture of education to resemble the way kindergarten was set up before. We introduce kids to nature first and they assimilate everything else through the understanding of nature.
COLLEAGUE: Where did this love for farming come from?
a Mr. B: I grew up in San Bernardino. There is an abundance of land for farming out there. We grew up very poor, too. So my grandparents and greatgrandparents had that knack. They were part of that generation that grew up during WWI and WWII, so they were used to the idea of having to provide for themselves when rations were low. It wasn’t necessarily for survival, but definitely to augment their situation in a positive way. So I learned experimentally as a child. I model that upbringing in my curriculum. I use the garden as a vehicle to teach science and social studies. It became apparent this was an excellent decision for teaching fourth graders; the curriculum standards all tend to blend right in. The garden was the right
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vehicle to teach and create that understanding and knowledge base so kids would be interested in science later in the form of botany or chemistry. I literally started with a little box on top of the blacktop at Walgrove Elementary. I found an old spare tire somebody had left, I suggested we grow a sunflower in it, and everyone said, “No, you can’t do that. Sunflowers have tap roots.” I said “watch.” I put some soil in it and the sunflower grew to be 12 feet tall. You can grow anything anywhere. That’s always been my point of view; if you have a seed, plant it there and see what happens. Just like people, plants are adaptable. They may not be suited for a certain place, but over a period of time they will adapt to it. That’s why we have so many varieties of food. Something might be suited for a certain place, but we don’t live in a subtropical zone. We have microclimates all over Los Angeles so when you’re talking to people who live in a higher desert type part of L.A., or in a beach community, you have microclimates. You can experiment in these areas, and find all kinds of things that will work, and some that won’t.
“
C
we all ought to have an equal opportunity, not all of us do. Because there are 200,000 people out of the 670,000 group that are being treated differently; being fed differently, that are being subjected to lower quality food. Without education, we have a huge disconnect. You can do anything you want to make the food program better, but if you don’t sit with the kids, and describe what they’re going to be experiencing, give them an introduction and show them why its beneficial, if you don’t do the teaching part, you’re not necessarily going to get them to make the changes on their own. They are only kids. We can’t control anybody, we can only influence. Trying to influence them is the piece that’s missing now. One point I kept trying to stress is that I’m here on behalf of children. I’m not here on behalf of my own agenda, or someone else’s TV show, or whatever. I’m an advocate who lives here in Los Angeles, who has seen this, who grew up with food issues. Somebody needs to stick up for these kids who just don’t have a voice, and I see myself as that person.
I use the garden as a
vehicle to teach science
”
and social studies.
COLLEAGUE: Does your curriculum conflict with what your students are being fed by the district?
a Mr. B:
It does in some ways, and that’s why I joined up with Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. We have something called the Newman Center in our district where they manufacture food, literally. They cook and prepack it with robotic arms. There are some people actually working there, but it is so mechanized it just got me thinking, did we go 20 years backwards? Why are we doing this when we have people that can work and make food rather than processing it. I saw this group making about 80,000 meals a day, for 670,000 children that are in our school district. Over the past three years, that has increased to over 200,000 meals a day. That tells me again that while
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Technology for Developing Countries
A friendship made at Pepperdine University has become a partnership for international good works. Dr. Chris Freeman and Dr. Eric Adams (EdD ’03), Doctor of Education in Educational Technology alumni, are using their learned skills and professional expertise to help underserved children in Honduras and Zambia.
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Former roommates, Freeman and Adams did their team dissertation on social network analysis. Their friendship continued long after graduation and includes working with Lifesong for Orphans, an international orphan-care ministry that helps families with international adoption funding and international orphan and highly-vulnerable-children care. Lifesong for Orphans focuses on three tenets for caring for children: helping children with their physical, spiritual, and educational needs. Besides Honduras
and Zambia, the organization works in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Liberia, India, and Ukraine. Freeman is vice president of academic affairs for Virginia College’s online division in Birmingham, Alabama, but when he steps away from his desk, his influence reaches far past Birmingham. He became acquainted with Lifesong for Orphans through his church and the international adoption of two of his five children. After joining the organization in 2011, he began focusing on their educational goal of break-
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ing the cycle of poverty which affects children and families for generations. He also brought Adams on board, a director of talent development with Bose Corporation in Framingham, Massachusetts. Some of Freeman and Adams’ duties with the organization include helping communities better utilize donated computers and learning labs so they can be integrated within school curriculums. According to Freeman, without a long-term, integrated approach that involves working closely with teachers and students, generously donated technology can go underutilized in developing countries: “I’ve seen story after story of computer labs with what seems like an inch of dust on them in Africa. They were great labs when they were put in, but there was not a sustainable approach . . . and they are going to waste.”
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Freeman added that donors mistakenly believe that donating the technology is enough; however, an essential component is helping schools fully utilize these learning tools for maximum educational impact, beyond just using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Also, since Freeman and Adams have been trained in education, they believe they can offer much more to these communities than simply technological implementation. After Freeman’s first trip to Honduras in January 2011 and their joint trip together in May 2011, Freeman said they were able to help teachers and administrators think about future plans by only “understanding their needs first” and by “serving alongside of them with the children.” Adams said the importance of face-to-face, relationship building is something they came to understand from Pepperdine’s EdD in Educational Technology program, and they continue to implement that learning today. “To carry the relationships into a more virtual or a synchronous approach . . . we need to show a level of commitment and build those personal relationships as a way to help manage the change initiatives that we are leading,” he said.
“We don’t just parachute in, help to build the lab up, give a couple days of training and say
Freeman and Adams indicated the importance of customizing their “dynamic design” to meet the specific needs of each culture and community. For example, in Honduras, they are working with seventhto 12th-grade students. In this location teachers are comfortable with technology; therefore, they are exploring different ways of implementation in the classroom. In Zambia, the children are prekindergarten to fifth grade. The teachers there have had little experience with technology, so one of the primary goals is to increase their proficiency and comfort level.
let us know how it goes.”
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Even though computers are integral to their work, Adams said their main goal does not directly involve hardware or software: “Our role isn’t so much about the technology.”
“It is ensuring that when these kids age out of the safety net that Lifesong is providing them, they will be able to get jobs and be self-sustaining.”
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“They don’t have a familial, federal, or social safety net.” Freeman added, “If they get to 13 or 14 and do not have an educational and spiritual foundation, they are almost assured to be dead or trafficked by the time they are 18.” Adams said integrating the technology within the fabric of the community is also something they strive for since it can impact lives well beyond the walls of the school by offering training, educational, and business opportunities for adults.
Most of Adams and Freeman’s challenges have not been associated with working in remote locations with unreliable Internet connections and hard-to-find computer parts. Rather, the majority of their challenges have been associated with the “human factor.” According to Freeman, training at Pepperdine prepared them for recognizing that technological infrastructure is often the easy part. Getting people to trust that you will follow through and help them integrate and use technology to solve problems frequently takes “more mind share and effort,” he says. And because their efforts have produced multiyear roadmaps for Honduras and Zambia, they said Lifesong for Orphans has been better able to obtain long-term funding and grants for these programs that will enable future upgrades and training. According to Adams, “Generally people want to give and support these types of ministries, but they want to make sure their money will make an impact. It gives people confidence that their dollars will be used to positively impact these students.” Freeman and Adams said support from their employers has also allowed them to do their international work while keeping their “day jobs.” According to Adams, working for Lifesong for Orphans has even become part of his individual leadershipdevelopment plan at Bose, as a way to facilitate his high level of engagement with the company and to encourage his growth in problem solving and partnering with others to produce successful outcomes. He is also helping Bose to create “world-action teams,” patterned after his work with Freeman. These teams would enable Bose’s next generation of business leaders to partner with global social entrepreneurs.
Freeman said his employer has also been supportive: “My organization has helped with fundraising. They know this is important to me, so they feel like it is important to them as well.” Freeman and Adams also sent out a call to action to their alma mater. “Some of the smartest people in the United States go to Pepperdine,” Adams said. “It certainly would be valuable for people to think about how they might leverage their skills and capabilities in ways they may not have anticipated when they started their journey in some of these programs.”
“It’s not always about monetary contribution. It’s about creating relationships. It’s about nurturing, comforting, and inspiring people.” Freeman agreed. “The payoff has been enormous,” he said. “We get a lot more out of this than we are contributing.
For additional information about Lifesong for Orphans, please visit: www.lifesongfororphans.org
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African American Aviator
Trail-Blazes a Career for Himself and Others
v
Dr. James Sulton III recently discussed his career in aviation and his commitment to providing aviation opportunities for other minorities.
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In 2008 Sulton earned his EdD in educational leadership, administration, and policy. He also obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Sulton said he thinks all 50 African American pilots knew about his dissertation and participated in some way, including contributing to his survey and being interviewed.
His interest in the field came naturally as his mother in 1979 became the first African American woman to be licensed as a pilot in the state of Georgia. Sulton said there are about 600,000 commercial pilots in the United States with 30,000 of them being women. Of the 30,000 female pilots, there are less than 100
When describing his time at Pepperdine, he said, “It was one of the most powerful educational experiences I’ve had. Not only were people like Linda Purrington, Susan Parks, and all of the instructors guiding me throughout my studies, but my cohort was like a family.”
“
My dream had been to become a high school principal and start an aviation program for minority students.
”
that are women of color with around 50 of them being African American pilots that fly commercially.
He added, “They looked at me like a little brother, and they took me under their wing.”
“The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) doesn’t keep numbers on race, but they do keep numbers on gender. Minority aviation groups have done studies to try and ballpark the figure to around 50,” he said.
While completing his EdD at Pepperdine, Sulton
v
Sulton spent much of his time at Pepperdine looking at the challenges facing African American, female pilots. “Many of them have faced extreme racial discrimination,” he said. The title of his dissertation is African American Women Pilots’ Perceptions of Barriers to Success in Flight Training and Strategies to Enhance Their Presence.
worked as an air traffic controller with Lockheed Martin Corporation and served on the school board for Aviation High School in Oakland, California, a school with predominately African American and Latino Students. “Just as I was finishing my doctoral degree at Pepperdine, the principal of the high school left, and I was asked to replace him,” he said. Sulton served as principal for two years, eventually helping to raise the school’s Academic Performance Index (API) by 50 points. He said he utilized resources and relationships from Pepperdine to help him in this new role, and New York’s Aviation High School was used as a model. “Every state has at least one aviation high school, but the school in Oakland was one of the most unique educational projects I’ve ever seen or heard of in that we had a charter school that was devoted to providing a typical high school education but also exposing at-risk youth to the career field of aviation.” Students took college courses at the College of
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Alameda in Alameda, California, concurrently with their high school courses for dual credit. Students also had the opportunity to earn FAA certification and gain internship experience at the Oakland International Airport. Sulton said that since his departure as principal in 2010, the school has “fallen on hard times,” and he has been working as an air traffic control specialist in training for the FAA at its Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility in Warrenton, Virginia. “It’s one of the most complex air traffic facilities in the world, handling approach and control from 3,000 to 20,000 feet,” he said. Sulton discussed the ongoing need to expose minorities to aviation since “the role models aren’t there in this field.” He personally experienced the absence of African American mentors as a 15-yearold student pilot, and out of the 160 air traffic controllers in his building at TRACON, less than 10 are African American with few African American women represented. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the need for air traffic controllers will increase by 13 percent through 2018, resulting in the creation of 3,400 jobs. Sulton said, “Many air traffic controllers got involved with aviation because family members are somehow involved with aviation, but it’s difficult to choose this profession when you don’t know the career exists.” Sulton said air traffic controllers can earn over $100,000 a year.
“
It’s important for educators to
consider unique career fields as they are impacting the lives of our nation’s youth and to not just think about
”
standard career fields.
“When kids come to you with a dream, especially when we talk about people who are guiding kids in a particular direction, you should remain open-minded when your responsibility is so great,” he added.
Despite his busy schedule as an air traffic controller, husband, and father, Sulton has stayed connected to students through his foundation, AvEd. For the past 10 years AvEd has offered a scholarship competition for at-risk students across the nation. Scholarship winners receive airfare, room and board, and tuition to attend a weeklong summer camp at Sulton’s alma mater, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Scholarship funding comes from a variety of individual and organizational donations. Sulton said he has enjoyed seeing four previous scholarship winners become students at the university, and the foundation committee will be offering three new scholarships for 2012. In addition to AvEd’s scholarship program, a college-readiness program is in development that will provide participants with tutoring, mentorship, and exposure to career fields that are centered on aviation and aerospace. Other long-term goals include helping students select the right courses so they stay on track for entering the field and offering support for families and guidance counselors. Sulton said he did not start his foundation to necessarily have kids fall in love with aviation; rather, he wants to build their confidence, self-efficacy, and potential: “The sky is not the limit; it’s the starting point.”
v For additional information about AvEd, please see the following: www.aviationed.net
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G S E P perspectives
Mentorship Program: Enriching Young Women in South Central Los Angeles By Ifeanyi A. Agbu Student in the Master of Arts in Education program
passion My passion for education derives
from my involvement with my church and community. I have been a member of Pilgrim Congregational Church U.C.C. located in Los Angeles, California, for over 14 years. I grew up participating with the youth ministry and working with a community outreach program, which allowed me to mentor young children within the South Central Los Angeles community. During the summer, I conducted a tutoring program for the children. It brings me pleasure to watch the young children whom I mentor follow in my footsteps. I believe that to whom much is given, much is expected. Therefore, community service is my number one priority and, as I continue in my pursuit of higher education, I want to give back my time, talent, and experience. For this reason, I worked to create a mentoring program aimed to inspire young women to obtain higher education, develop life goals, and provide them with the support to achieve their dreams and goals.
COMMUNITY Effective education requires
the involvement of students, teachers, parents, and the community. In the classroom, students and teachers must work together to make effective education possible. However, education does not stop in the classroom; it also extends into the home and environment. The student’s community plays an important role in the student’s life and educational journey. As an educator, I plan to collaborate with parents and have them involved in the education process. Learning occurs in the student’s environment, and it is my job as an educator to create four-part collaborations between the parents, students, teachers, and their environment. My role as an educator is to motivate my students. I want my students to discover value in the education they are receiving. This is done by clearly stating my expectation for my students within the classroom, school, and community. I want my students to be able to
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undergo a self-reflection period, which will allow them to assess their life and educational goals and reflect on how they can use their education to achieve these goals. By doing this, my students will view their education as an assistive tool that will help them reach their personal goals. Their motivation should be self-induced, not encouraged through incentives such as grades.
THINKING For students, critical thinking is
an important skill. They must be able to utilize their classroom knowledge in real-life scenarios. My aim is to instill in students community awareness. There is always someone with greater needs than ours, and we can individually find ways to assist others in our community. I will encourage my students to become active members of their community and seek ways in which they can use their time and talent to make a difference. Personal gain is good to obtain, but there is a special joy one receives when they help other people in need.
At the beginning of my educational journey at Pepperdine University, I was faced with the challenge of developing my personal philosophy on education. In a broad sense, I knew I wanted to make an effective change in my community. However, due to the courses I have taken at Pepperdine and my interaction with other master’s candidates, I was able to refine my concept on education. I found out that my passion is rooted from my personal experience growing up as a Nigerian, an American, and a woman. I have experienced that there is a negative connotation attached to all three of these labels. As a Nigerian native, I am aware of the lack of
G S E P perspectives
opportunity available to women in education and the workforce. As an American, I am aware that structural racism still exists within a nation that claims to offer equality for all its citizens. As a woman, I understand that I will need to work even harder to realize my dreams. I acknowledge that all children should be given the same opportunity and extra help in order to obtain higher education and pursue their goals. I cannot try to save the world if I do not first take the time to make a difference in my community.
FOCUS My primary focus has been to encourage
young women in the inner city to pursue higher education. This calling derived from my participation at Pilgrim Congregational Church U.C.C. on the corner of 46th and Normandie, in the city Los Angeles. This area is considered South Central Los Angeles and it is predominately a Latino and African American community. Being a member for over 14 years, I have watched young women I grew up with stray from their life goals due to environmental circumstances. We lacked strong role models to look up to and direct us through the right path leading to success. I count myself blessed to be one of the few that were able to take the “road less traveled.” I was fortunate enough to graduate from high school with honors, attend and graduate from a university, and now work on a master’s degree. I am living a life that most young women from this community believe is unattainable. For them, I am a beacon of hope.
MENTORING With the help of a few
friends from church, I created a mentoring program for young children. It started off as a summer camp at the church for the children ages 5-18. The program offered extracurricular activities and a day care center for children during the summer. I observed that the young girls who attended the program looked up to my sister and me. They loved the way I dressed and carried myself, so they all began to “act” like I did. I soon developed an interest in mentoring these young girls. I wanted them to do more than just “act” like me; I wanted them to achieve the things that I had achieved and more! I decided to add a supplementary program to the already existing church summer camp. Together with
my sister, we developed a mentoring program for young women. We select young, Christian, college-attending girls to serve as mentors. Our program consists of young girls ages 8-18. Each mentor is assigned a group of girls that they will work with over the course of the year. We meet with the girls twice a month to conduct multiple activities. The activities include Bible studies, outings, seminars, and college-preparatory courses. Our mission is to serve as role models to young girls in our community. This year I was fortunate to work with four high school students. Over the course of the semester, I was able to assist the young girls with SAT and ACT preparation courses, as well as assisting them with the college application process. I have worked with my group of girls for three years, and I am proud of the things they have accomplished. I also conducted a college information session and tour event. The girls made a list of their dream universities they hope to attend. I took them on a tour of some campuses here in California: UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, USC, California State University, Long Beach, and Pepperdine University. They actually attended my graduation and now many of the young women are interested in applying to Pepperdine.
ENCOURAGE My primary focus with the
mentoring program is to encourage girls to expand their goals past their societal expectations. I want them to discover that opportunities are not reserved for the rich or white. My goal is to expose the girls to the extra work they will be required to put in to attain their goals. I strive to encourage each girl to develop self-confidence, become a reflective thinker, be logical, and to always look for ways to give back to their community. This independent study course offered me the opportunity to develop new ways to impact change through the mentoring program. I was able to recruit more young women to serve as mentors, as well as young girls to participate in the program. I was also able to raise money through donations made from church members to help fund a trip to Santa Barbara with the girls. I am excited about the growth and changes I was able to make within this short period of time. An additional goal of mine is to now transform this mentoring program into a nonprofit organization.
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G S E P perspectives
Tribal Education and Communities in Need By Crystal Jensen Student in the Doctor of Education in Learning Technologies program The Doctor of Education in Learning Technologies (DELT) program at the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) has afforded me many personal and professional opportunities, as a result of its unique design and commitment to diversity and the success of all students. With the support from GSEP, my Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma chief Gregory Pyle and tribe, my family, and Greater Native American community, I have had the opportunity to stay connected to my family in Oklahoma, create two organizations that utilize learning technologies to empower Native Americans and other indigenous people in need, attend extracurricular scholarly conferences and meetings throughout the U.S., and connect with other faculty and students during scheduled trips for the program all while staying current with my course work. The DELT program, including the expert and altruistic faculty and staff, has created the space and support for me to journey on the trail to the roots of my existence, plant the seed of who I am, and begin to evolve into what I will become next on the journey to achieving my life’s purpose—for which I am eternally grateful.
Native American Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Heritage Over the past several years, the fully accredited Doctor of Education in Learning Technologies blended program model of 60 percent face-to-face and 40 percent online sessions has afforded me the opportunity to travel to my Native American Choctaw tribal homeland in Oklahoma to support my mom through her cancer treatments and eventual passing last month. These visits were a continuation of previous journeys home over the years to be with my family during important family gatherings. Each time, I was able to reconnect with many family members while conducting an archaeological expedition to “dig up the bones” of my family and cultural history by visiting key Choctaw historical sites.
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Choctaw Native American Boarding Schools Many of the sites that I chose to visit were Choctaw K-12 boarding schools due to my own experience as a K-12 technology teacher and coordinator working in diverse settings, Choctaw heritage, and desire to empower Native American education and communities. One such site is the Wheelock Academy. Wheelock was founded in 1832 to house and educate Native American children that were orphaned as a result of the Choctaw forced removal from Mississippi to southeastern Oklahoma in 1831. My great-grandmother lived at Wheelock in the early 1900s. Another school that I visited was the Jones Academy, which is a residential school for Native Americans located at the base of the Pocahontas Mountains in the Ouachita Mountain Range. It was founded in 1891 by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and was an all-male school until 1955 when Wheelock was closed and the girls were transferred to Jones. These cultural, family, and historical experiences deeply ingrained within me the profound legacy and responsibility that I have been gifted with as a Choctaw tribal member and educator.
Native American Schools in Need In contrast to the negative stories about historical Native American schools I was pleased to find a very modern and pleasant residential and educational environment during my visit to the Jones Academy last month. Jones has modern facilities, friendly staff, and many social, health, learning technology infrastructure, and life-skills support programs to ensure the success of the students. The students are taught using culturally relevant pedagogy with Choctaw history, art, music, language, and dance as a key component to the curriculum. A comprehensive successful reform model is needed as outlined by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) “Digest of Education Statistics 2008” report that was based on data gathered in 2005 that showed Native Americans have the highest dropout rates of any ethnicity in our country. Additionally, President Obama recently signed the Executive Order on Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities. This order reasserts
G S E P pe r spec t i v es
his “cradle to career” commitment to Native American and Alaskan Indians. My visit provided me with a model of what tribal education can be for all Native American children.
Fulfilling My Call to “Purpose, Service, and Leadership” To serve as a resource to support these educational advancement efforts and in alignment with Pepperdine’s core values of “purpose, service, and leadership,” I have established two organizations that will utilize learning technologies to serve Native American and indigenous communities in need—Integrity Technologies and the Community Empowerment Resource Center (CERCle). The Jones Academy is a stark contrast to my great-grandmother’s and other children’s reported Native American educational experience and a reminder of where we have been, where some tribes still are, and how far we need to go to provide an equitable quality and rigorous education for all Native American students.
Connecting Tribal Education, Policy, and Scholarly Leadership Less than a month after my visit to the Jones Academy, I was scheduled to fly to Baltimore to receive my award as a Phi Delta Kappan (PDK) Emerging Leader at their annual conference. This award was based in part on my educational technologies leadership, communities-inneed empowerment efforts, and research to support Native American’s civic engagement for the greater good, which are all aligned with Pepperdine’s mission. Similarly, PDK and Phi Lambda Theta (PLT), the most selective honor society of educators (of which I am also a member), seek to advance service, research, and leadership as the most highly regarded educational professional association. To that end, their magazine, The Phi Delta Kappan, is the number one education policy magazine. As I was about to book my flight to Baltimore for the PDK conference, I received an invitation to attend the National Indian Education Association Legislative Summit (NIEA) in Washington, D.C. Due to the close timing and proximity, I was able to attend both conferences. My previous visits to Wheelock and Jones Academy were also timely in informing my visit to the east coast for these two important events.
This journey to the Jones Academy and to the NIEA and PDK conferences occurred during the beginning of my last semester of full-time DELT course work. These events have helped inform my current classes Qualitative Research Methods, Educational Policy, and Ethical Leadership—a tribute to the larger vision of the DELT program. As part of the Native American Legislative Summit, I visited Capitol Hill and attended meetings with key Congressional representatives such as Senators Udall, Akaka, and Inouye; federal office representatives such as Keith Moore, director of the Bureau of Indian Education; and educational leaders such as the vice president of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen. During the PDK conference, I attended a keynote speech by U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan. These experiences connected me with high-level Native American and non-Native education and legislative leaders and will provide key contacts to support my future learning endeavors to empower others in need, in accordance with the Pepperdine mission. In addition to providing ample information for my educational efforts, my visits to Oklahoma, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore have helped to further inform my doctoral dissertation research topic of utilizing educational technologies to empower Native American community civic engagement for their tribal and the collective greater good. It is my honor and destiny to arrive at the “trail” intersections of my Native American community, my teacher heritage, and my growing identity as a culturally relevant and sensitive researcher, educator, and learning technology professional. I am honored to help advance a positive educational future for our talented Native American children that can serve as a model for other children and communities in need. I accept my purpose to serve others and nurture the seed of knowledge and cultural heritage that has been planted within me and help to continue to transform the cultural legacy of a trail of tears into one of joy and success for myself and others in need. So, in the words of Chief Sitting Bull, “Let’s put our minds together and see what kind of future we can create for our children.”
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G S E P C l a ss n o tes Alumni
’85
Gilbert Robles , (MA) has been appointed
by California governor Jerry Brown to the California Board of Parole Hearings. He retired as a parole agent from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after serving with the department from 1988 to 2010. He also served as a youth counselor in the California Youth Authority from 1984 to 1988.
’88
Sharon Burton retired after 32 years of teaching. She earned her single-subject credential from GSEP in 1988.
Students just south of the San Juan Islands in Washington State. It is a beautiful locale, with views of the Cascades. She is enjoying the outdoor life and ready access to mountain hiking.
DR. Jeanie Nishime , (EdD) was elected to the board of education for the El Segundo Unified School District in February 2012, capturing 30 percent of the vote. She serves as vice president of student and community advancement for El Camino College.
’03
Tyler Ream, (MS) is superintendent of the Central
Dennis Palumbo, (MA) is writing a new column for Psychology Today. Called “Hollywood on the Couch” it deals with the psychological issues, both personal and professional, with which creative types in the entertainment industry struggle. He is a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in Sherman Oaks. He is also a prolific novelist (see Alumni Authors).
’95
Dr. Patricia Jaffe (MS) will retire in June 2012 from the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD). She was named superintendent in 2012, served as interim superintendent and assistant superintendent of human resources. She has also served CCUSD as a principal and assistant principal, and for 25 years was a teacher at Culver City Middle School. She was also a mentor teacher for 11 years. She has been honored by the Culver City Chamber of Commerce as Teacher of the Year, and received the California State PTA Honorary Service Award twice. DR. Stacy Sinclair (MS ’95, EdD ’04) has coauthored a book titled Designing Healthy Communities with Dr. Dick Jackson. Designing Healthy Communities is the companion book to the acclaimed public television documentary, which highlights how we design the built environment and its potential for addressing and preventing many of the nation’s devastating childhood and adult health concerns.
’98
Elementary Zone for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS). CMS won $550,000 in college scholarships for high school seniors graduating in 2012 from the Eli Broad Foundation.
’06
Edgar Angulo, (MA) was honored with the 2012
Pepperdine CABE Visionary Award for excellence and commitment to the field of bilingual education. He served as president of Pepperdine’s CABE chapter and helped lead the group to win Chapter of the Year honors. CABE promotes bilingual education and quality educational experiences for all students in California.
’07
Robert Martellacci , (MA) president and
publisher of the MindShare Learning Report, has formed a new nonprofit organization called C21 Canada: Canadians for 21st Century Learning and Innovation. C21 Canada hosted an educational summit in February 2012 in King City, near Toronto, Ontario.
’08
Meghan Owenz , (MA) successfully defended
her dissertation for her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Miami.
’11
DR. Nancy Barker , (EdD) has been named di-
Kate Ambrus, (MA) retired to Camano Island in
2009, between Whidbey Island and the mainland,
30 GSEP Colleague Spring/Summer 2012
rector of curriculum and instruction at the Ventura Unified School District. She has most recently served as principal at Poinsettia Elementary School.
Current GSEP students Sydney Brazile, Maya Lohith, and Samantha Sorkin have been awarded scholarships for the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) through the Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Brazile, Lohith, and Sorkin are all in the Master of Education with Teaching Credential program. All three recipients attended the CCTE spring conference, March 2931, in San Jose, California, and presented their action research project from the Teacher Identity and Vocation course. They are working under the supervision of Dr. Garcia-Ramos.
Lisa Cooper, current doctoral student, has been selected as the new assistant principal of discipline, attendance, and activities at Culver City High School (CCHS). Prior to this position, She served CCHS students as an at-risk and guidance counselor
Crystal Jensen, current doctoral student, was selected as a recipient of the PDK (Phi Delta Kappa) Emerging Leader Award. PDK Emerging Leaders program recognizes top educators from around the world for their leadership. The PDK Emerging Leaders award is a respected honor within the education community.
Mark Orlando, current doctoral student, recently presented his published papers at the Intellectbase International Consortium (IIC) Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 16-17, 2012. He presented “Fostering Creativity in Higher Education and The Ultimate Fighting Advocacy for State Sanctioning and Sport Recognition” on December 16, and Leadership Implications and Ethical Solutions of Athletic Directors in Producing a Successful Division I-A Football Program on December 17.
In Memoriam Frank Edward Akins (MA ’75) passed away peacefully with his family by his side on February 19, 2012. He passed away at the age of 68, after a two-year struggle with pancreatic cancer. He spent his 38-year career as a math teacher at Rolling Hills/Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, and retired in 2005. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend.
Self-care
Hiking with Heart By Jennifer MacDonell
I
nspiration to start Hiking with Heart has come from years of practicing yoga and meditation and experiencing the positive impact on myself and others. While hiking with friends at Temescal Canyon, I thought of the idea to combine yoga and meditation with hiking. My vision is to allow others to experience these practices I have been doing for many years and that east and south Asian cultures have been practicing for centuries. Pepperdine has created an environment where I have been inspired to put forth my ideas and creativity in a unique way. The professors coming from different backgrounds with the ultimate goal to service our community in support of mental health has shown me that it is important to be adaptable and to be open to learning new ways of thinking and being. As a Pepperdine Waves of Service Leader, there has been tremendous support between the service leaders and organizations with intentions to help others. GSEP influenced me through sharing their experiences and providing insight into the practice of psychotherapy. Bringing mindfulness into everyday life and into the therapy room is becoming and has been an impactful aspect of healing. My goal through Hiking with Heart is to encourage others to experience a connection with themselves, others, and nature. If we go back to our innate ability to use our senses and awareness, we build new neural pathways that help in adaptability and resilience. Dr. Erica Ellis (physiological psychology), inspired me through her weekly meditations before class, and I really felt an impact on my ability in class after we took time to breathe for a moment—before we took in a lot of information. At the same time, I started developing an interest in alternative therapeutic techniques and healing. As Dr. Ellis brought mindfulness into the classroom it made me realize that it can be brought into all aspects of life. Hiking with Heart provides an avenue for internal healing and an opportunity for interconnectedness with others in the local area. I enjoy being able to share the experience of hiking and meditation—two things that I’m personally passionate about—and I like connecting people to each other. It provides opportunities for people to find new friendships over a shared interest and with the backdrop of a beautiful view.
Hiking with Heart is an organization which shares the experience of maintaining a healthy mind, body, and spirit through yoga, meditation, and hiking. Each group provides a venue for self-expression, inner connectedness, and connection with nature. The group is guided by individuals in the community who are also inspired and looking to inspire others around them. Hiking with Heart offers two core wellness programs: yoga and hiking, and hiking and meditation. Providing these experiences for groups and individuals helps to spread this loving-kindness and experiences in nature with the larger community. When engaging in programs like this as a work group, not only are you lowering stress levels of your employees resulting in healthier well-being, you are fostering collectivity and improving office morale. Yoga, meditation, and hiking can be a useful tool for people working in a high-pressure work environment. Hiking with Heart is even more than just a hiking, meditation, and hiking organization. We also work together to serve the community. Previous service projects have included using our loving and capable hands to help in the beautification of the Dubnoff Center for Child Development. Future upcoming projects include tree restoration with TreePeople in Coldwater Canyon and fruit picking for the hungry with Food Forward. Hiking with Heart cleans up trails throughout Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in support of “leaving no trail behind.” Incorporating exercise and meditation into your regular schedule is a great way to improve your mental health.
GSEP Colleague Spring/Summer 2012 31
Strength in Numbers Engage with more than 18,000 GSEP alumni on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Interact with the GSEP community and keep up with program developments on these new, official pages. Use these tools to contact GSEP Career Services for access to PepPro, the ultimate online resource for career guidance and support.
Reach out to 90,000 Pepperdine alumni worldwide through PAN Online. Pepperdine hosts hundreds of gatherings each year for alumni in areas near you. Visit this alumni network online to update your e-mail address and receive the monthly e-newsletter with details on events and other benefits.
Take full advantage of your Pepperdine University affiliation by joining these valuable social networking groups and online services.
Log on to gsep.pepperdine.edu and get connected today. Contact us at 310.568.5649 or gsepalum@pepperdine.edu.
What would I do if I were not afraid to fail? How much potential am I fulfilling compared to how much I have? As my professors taught me, when you become an “executive leader” the possibilities are endless.
Nicole Johnson EdD Student Graduate School of Education and Psychology Founder of The ABC Coach, Inc.
change lives. give today. www.pepperdine.edu/campaign
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