On Friday, March 16, 2001, 70 students from a Salinas, CA middle school came to SUSE as representatives of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) after school program. They were hosted by SSPEP doctoral students PERCY ABRAM ‘01 and GEORGE BUNCH ’06, who are working with SUSE faculty members RACHEL LOTAN, GUADALUPE VALDÉS and ELIZABETH COHEN on a project that is attempting to document growth in academic English among English Language Learners using group work strategies. The purpose of the field trip was to take motivated students to a university campus and expose them to what life is like for Latino students at a highly competitive university.

Also, on March 16th, at a special ceremony, Governor Gray Davis recognized twelve SUSE master students who will receive their degree in June. These students are recipients of Governor Teaching Fellowships. The fellowships are awarded to students preparing to teach in low-performing schools in California for four years. The $20,000 fellowships help pay education and living expenses for future teachers enrolled in full-time post baccalaureate study. SUSE congratulates: HEATHER CARY, BRANDY COHEN, KATHRYN HARRISON, JOSEPH KIM, RISHA KRISHNA, CLIFFORD LEE, CORY MALEY, TREVOR NEEB, ESTHER NOH, JENNIFER RUSSOW, JENNIFER STEELE, and BENJAMIN ZELINSKY.

HEIDI CHANG, AM ’01, JOHN WONG, AM ’01, and JEE PARK, AM ’01, are working at Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose in the Information Technology Learning Group. They are working on a New Employee Technical Orientation, which will be a web-delivered course. It will eventually be rolled out to all employees in the US and versions will be customized for the other geographical theaters.