Class Notes

The Fall 2017 issue of Class Notes has been published. This edition contains more than 125 updates from Rossier alumni, looking at what they are doing out in the world and what impact they are making.

Operation Dissertation Acceleration (ODA) Applications Now Available – Due November 14

There are limited seats remaining in the Operation Dissertation Acceleration retreat.

ODA is an intensive writing retreat. It’s designed for doctoral students who need / want to set aside a serious block of time to make a significant push toward the next step of their dissertation.  The retreat is targeted toward students who:

  • Have research question(s) but have not been able to complete chapters 1, 2 and 3 (the proposal);  OR
  • Have defended their proposal and collected data, but have not completed chapters 4 and 5.

Retreat participants will be selected and assigned to work directly with a DSC writing instructor. The ratio of advisor to students will be 1-to-4, meaning students will have a great deal of support and interaction on their project. In addition, participants will exchange papers and support each other through peer-to-peer feedback.

Workshop Dates: Thursday – Sunday, Nov 30 – Dec 3, 2017 at USC Orange County Campus
Application Deadline: Tuesday, Nov 14
Acceptance Notification: Friday, Nov 17

For more information email Dr. Ilda Jimenez y West at ijimenez@usc.edu.

To apply:  https://usceducation.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dmwwuxb1yWPbG9D

 

Last Spoken Justice for the fall semester on 11/16!

Hello Rossier students,

On behalf of the Center for Education, Identity and Social Justice, we invite you to attend our upcoming Spoken Justice event next Thursday, November 16, at a new on-campus location: Tommy’s Place! This Spoken Justice event is a collaboration between our Center, GSG, and USC Residential Education. Spoken Justice events have a focus on identity and social justice issues.

This FREE event is open to anyone who wishes to attend and/or perform. Sign-ups to perform spoken word begin at 6:15pm and the event will kick-off at 6:30pm and end at 8pm. Pizza will be provided. Come out and support the artists and hear some amazing student poetry as well as our feature artists, Lyrical Opposition!  For more information, see the attached flyer, visit our Spoken Justice website page or check out our Facebook event page.

During the spring semester, we will be hosting two Spoken Justice events on February 1 and April 19, both at Tommy’s Place. Save the dates!

Thank you for your time and we hope to see you next week.

Best,

Center for Education, Identity and Social Justice

USC Rossier School of Education, WPH 1003

Visit our website: socialjustice.usc.edu

 

 

AccessLex/AIR Grant Opportunity

Apply today to receive funding to conduct research on legal, graduate, or professional education with the AccessLex Institute/AIR Research and Dissertation Fellows Program.

The AccessLex Institute/AIR Research and Dissertation Fellows Program promotes scholarship on issues related to access, affordability, and value of legal education specifically, and graduate and professional education more broadly. Preference is given to proposals that utilize regional, national, or multi-institutional datasets, although research that focuses on a single institution is acceptable. Preference is also given to proposals that specifically address legal education; however, proposals that study access, affordability and value of graduate and professional education more generally are also encouraged. Researchers may analyze pre-existing data or include the construction of a new dataset in their proposal.

Two grant levels are available to support year-long research projects:

  • $50,000 Research Grants
  • $25,000 Doctoral Grants

The application deadline is November 30, 2017.

More information about the program is available on AIR’s website.

For questions and assistance, contact AIR staff at grants@airweb.org.

USC Trojans Care for Trojans (TC4T)

Dear students,

You and your peers are often the first to become aware when your friend, roommate or classmate is going through a difficult time. If you know of someone who is struggling with a personal challenge, exhibiting different or concerning behavior, and/or is in need of any assistance, we want you to be informed on where to go to seek help.

USC Trojans Care for Trojans (TC4T) is a program within the Office of Campus Wellness and Crisis Intervention that empowers students, faculty and staff to take action when they are concerned about a fellow Trojan. This private and anonymous request form provides an opportunity for Trojans to inform the University when a member of our Trojan Family needs help.

Each TC4T submission will be reviewed and researched by a staff member within the USC Support and Advocacy Office.

For more information, contact USC Support and Advocacy at (213) 821-4710 or visit them at Student Union suite 201.

Sincerely,

 

Lynette S. Merriman, Ed.D.
Associate Vice Provost for Campus Support and Intervention

 

Weekend Write: THIS WEEKEND!

The next Rossier Doctoral Support Center (DSC) Weekend Write is scheduled for Saturday, November 11 and Sunday, November 12 in WPH 400 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  For this session only, we will offer Weekend Write via Adobe Connect for a limited number of students Online Ed.D. Program in Organizational Change and Leadership, in conjunction with our regular on-campus programming.  We hope to provide students the opportunity to commit to writing while DSC advisors are available to support the academic writing process.

The purpose of Weekend Write is to provide the time and space for students to work on their writing.  Students, participating Weekend Write on campus or virtually may attend as little as a few hours per day or the whole weekend session.  Be aware that DSC advisors will not review drafts during these sessions.  We are there to provide support to improve academic writing only.  Any questions regarding content will be referred back to the instructor or faculty advisor.

If you are interested in participating in the on-campus session, please respond at http://www.doodle.com/mugk5tkh98nmz3m5In the meantime, I encourage you to review the following links below as you continue to refine and edit your drafts and work with the DSC.  Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free contact me directly.

Sincerely,
Evelyn

Evelyn Felina Castillo, Ed.D.
USC Rossier School of Education | Doctoral Support Center
3470 Trousdale Parkway, WPH 302B | Los Angeles, CA  90089-4033
t:  213.740.3845 | f:  213.740.8092 | e:  efelina@rossier.usc.edu
http://rossier-mis.adobeconnect.com/evelynfelina/ (by appointment only)

Helpful Links:     APA Style
DSC Blog
Doctoral Writing Guidance
Navigating the Dissertation
Purdue OWL
The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill
Understanding Track Changes & Comments for Word

 

USC Rossier’s new mission statement

Dear USC Rossier Faculty, Staff and Students,

 

I’m happy to report that USC Rossier has formally adopted a new mission statement. Darline Robles, who chairs both the Diversity Task Force and the Urban Education Planning Committee, presented the statement at the faculty meeting today:

 

The mission of the USC Rossier School of Education is to prepare leaders to achieve educational equity through practice, research and policy. We work to improve learning opportunities and outcomes in urban settings and to address disparities that affect historically marginalized groups. We teach our students to value and respect the cultural context of the communities in which they work and to interrogate the systems of power that shape policies and practices. Through innovative thinking and research, we strive to solve the most intractable educational problems.

 

Our new mission will be made public tomorrow, although we have already started updating our literature and website.

 

As you all know by now, this change has been the result of a multistage process that benefitted from the input of just about everybody at USC Rossier.

 

It began a year ago, with the Academic Program Review of our four doctoral programs. A team of external reviewers called on USC Rossier to clarify the meaning of the words “urban education” as used in our mission: “The mission of the USC Rossier School of Education is to improve learning in urban education locally, national and globally.”

 

This same goal was also identified as a priority in two subsequent reports: a set of recommendations from the Diversity Task Force in December 2016 and in a climate assessment report solicited from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race & Equity in Education in February 2017.

 

The Urban Education Planning Committee, under Dr. Robles’ guidance, then began the process of exploring the meaning of “urban education” by surveying faculty, staff and students and hosting a retreat in May 2017.

 

The outcome of this process was the recognition that we needed to reformulate our entire mission.

 

The Academic Program Review process helped us begin to identify what was most important to us as a school, and the subsequent efforts of our faculty, staff and students answered this call to action by drafting this essential new mission statement.

 

Advancing educational equity is central to everything we do — from ongoing revisions to our degree programs to the focus of our research to preparing students for roles as teachers, counselors, advisors and administrators.

 

While we should celebrate this milestone, our work continues. A mission statement is only as good as how well we carry it out. We will continue to address student suggestions, including changes to our curriculum, and we will continue to hold ourselves accountable.

 

Thank you to all for your input, and thank you also to members of the Urban Education Planning Committee, who gathered and analyzed ideas and suggestions from several hundred people: Shafiqa Ahmadi, Sonya Black‐Williams, Ross Brenneman, Darnell Cole, Joanna Drivalas, Rob Filback, Alan Green, Edna Martinez, Morgan Polikoff and Kristan Venegas.

 

Fight On!

 

Sincerely,

Karen Symms Gallagher, Ph.D.

Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean

USC Rossier School of Education

Waite Phillips Hall

Los Angeles, CA  90089-0031

Asst: hardison@usc.edu

213.740.5756 (office)

213.821.2158 (fax)