The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences

Keep Up with Faculty and College News

Congratulations to Jan O'Donnell
Jan O'Donnell, professor in the School of Social Work since 1974, has been awarded the University's 2006-2007 Outstanding Service Award. The award recognizes her many years of service to her department, our university and the community. She was instrumental in developing the masters in Social Work Program, which is now the largest graduate program on campus. She spearheaded it's successful movement through the accreditation process, wrote grants for funds to build the program and help support students with tuition costs, and developed so many important collaborations with community agencies all over Northern California benefiting the social work program and the students. O'Donnell has served tirelessly in so many leadership capacities that she was recognized by the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers as Social Work Administrator of the Year in 2000.

Other BSS faculty that have been honored by the university for their outstanding service include Dr. Paul Spear, Chair of Psychology, who was honored in 2003-04, Dr. Jane Rysberg, Psychology, in 1996-97, and Dr. Irv Schiffman, Political Science, in 1992-93.

Award received By Anthropology Department's Northeast Information Center
At the April 2007 meetings of the Society for California Archaeology, the Northeast Information Center, Department of Anthropology, CSU, Chico, received the Thomas F. King award for outstanding leadership in the field of Cultural Resource Management. For 30 years, the Northeast Information Center has been the primary repository for archaeological and historical site records and reports for eleven counties in Northeastern California. In addition, the NEIC serves as an integral part of the University and the local and regional communities, maintaining student internship and public outreach programs, and working with local Native American tribes.

Remembering Paul Persons
Dr. Paul Persons, professor of Political Science, passed away unexpectedly on January 17, 2007. Paul grew up in the Chico area. He graduated from CSU, Chico in 1973, moved to San Francisco to get a law degree at the New College of Law, and returned to his alma mater as a faculty member in 1979. He has contributed so much to the college, strengthening the legal studies and pre-law programs, working closely with students at the Community Legal Information Center (CLIC), and serving as president of the university's Adademic Senate. He was recognized as our campus' Outstanding Advisor in 1998. His sudden death at age 55 has saddened us all.

Eddie Vela Named Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)
Dr. Eddie Vela, professor of psychology, has been chosen as the Director for the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), effective Spring 2007. CELT, founded in 1994 on the Chico campus, is dedicated to enhancing the quality of the academic environment and committed to rewarding and promoting the ability of our faculty to teach well, improving the learning process, and providing faculty with the support, training, and mentoring needed to provide high quality learning environments on our campus. Dr. Vela has been a member of the psychology faculty at CSU, Chico since 1989. In 2000-01, he received the Outstanding Teacher Award and served as a faculty mentor through the Master Teacher program.

Chico Children's Center/Child Development Laboratory Receives Grant and Accreditation
Congratulations to Susan Toussaint, Director of the Associated Students Children’s Center /Child Development Laboratory, and Dr. Melissa Groves, professor of child development, who have just received their second 4-year grant from the U. S. Departmentof Education. Both grants provide funds to support the infant care offered by the Children’s Center. According to Dr. Groves, "Infant care isvery expensive and high quality infant care is very difficult to find. But, thanks to these grants, we have affordable, high quality infant careon this campus!" You can tell because the Center has been full since it opened and now hasa waiting list of over 70 families. Dr. Groves is also excited aboutthe opportunity that the Center, especially the infant care portion, provides for the child development students. "It gives our students the opportunity to observean age group that, prior to these grants, we had no available opportunities to work with, and with this grant, we’ll be able to hire additional students to work at the Center."

In addition, the Associated Students Children’s Center/Child Development Laboratory was accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in May, 2006. The children’s center, located on campus in the Modoc and Aymer Jay Hamilton buildings, serves the children of university students, faculty and staff, and families in the Chico community. The facility is divided into four classrooms by age group: infant-toddler, two year olds, three year olds, and four year olds. Child Development students observe and work with the children in all four classrooms. They can also participate in up to three internship programs where they get credit for working with the children in the children's center. Our students get wonderful first-hand experiences that support what they are learning in their classes about how children grow and learn. Founded in 1926, NAEYC is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children with nearly 100,000 members, a national network of over 300 local, state, and regional affiliates, and a growing global alliance of like-minded organizations.