Hello College of Education Students!
Welcome to the new academic year! The staff and faculty are so excited to be learning alongside you as we work together to imagine ways we can uplift each other and the communities we serve. Our college, as I always say, is the most important college, in the most important university, in the most important community in all of the Southland: Our programs and faculty are committed to supporting the holistic well-being and growth of every child and every community member.
I’m constantly inspired by our staff and their dedication to supporting you. While they each typically deal with just one part of a student's academic journey on campus, they strive to play that role in the most meaningful and impactful way possible, hoping that they can make your path easier to traverse, oftentimes knowing that you might not even notice the work they put in. They do this out of profound care and commitment to you and to our communities.
Our faculty are just as dedicated, as they spend countless hours building courses and supports outside of class to prepare you to thrive in your chosen professions. They engage in on-going professional learning, are always reading and exploring the latest insights from research and their colleagues across the region and country, and come together to share all of these learnings with each other so that they continue to grow as a collective. They want your time in their classes to be truly transformative.
And you, the students, are the reason we do what we do: we feed off your intellectual curiosity, find inspiration in your tenacity, imagine new approaches and possibilities through your questions, and find joy in learning from and becoming part of your incredible stories.
These are challenging times in so many ways and it can be unbelievably hard to pursue higher education in this climate; and so we need you to be part of our college now more than ever. This summer the college continued an envisioning process, where we are highlighting the strengths of who we are and have been, and imagining who we want to be in the years to come. The energy that students and faculty brought to this process was invigorating as we began to plot out a path toward a college where “everyone can develop a strong sense of belonging and dignity and where all experiences, ways of being and knowing, inform our collective learning.” As part of our movement toward this vision, we need to develop healthy approaches to collective care. This is always hard to do, and even harder in times of crisis.
Please take care of yourselves and each other. If you or one of your peers have unmet needs (educational, financial, emotional, social, or other) please reach out to any of the staff or faculty in the college (including me). Supporting you is our number one priority and we will share all the resources we know about, look for others that might be helpful, and be available to you for as long as you need so that you can continue to grow and develop your power. This is how we fulfill our emerging vision to “cultivate creativity, imagination and wonder as we work toward justice.”
In Community,
Marcos Pizarro
Dean – College of Education
KHD2069