San Jose State University | Silicon Valley Center for Global Studies

Message from the Director

After four enjoyable years directing the SVCGS, I am preparing to retire and pass the baton on to a new leader. An international search is underway for an outstanding grant writer and research manager. Meanwhile, our RFPs for interdisciplinary teams continue, with two outstanding proposals winning support for this spring, one on the history of Mexican-American civil rights in Santa Clara County and another on mitigating post-partum depression in Asian-American mothers. Finally, after receiving a grant for the formation of a consortium for Middle Eastern Studies, we are considering a broader initiative to study and disseminate information about the many Middle Eastern communities in the Bay Area.

Mike Conniff

Global Cities Research Underway

Several of our professors and collaborators are doing pioneer work on an issue certain to grow in importance, the emergence of global cities as economic and demographic hubs that organize life in the 21st century. Business School professor Herman Boschken chaired a global cities panel in the International Sociological Association World Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden, in July 2010. Meteorology professor Bob Bornstein gave a paper on big city pollution at the 2nd Megapoli conference on megacities in Hamburg, German, in November 2010. Research associate Sally Bachman has developed an index of the Bay Area's global economic links, to be published shortly by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. Click on the Current Center Research page for a preview.

Valued campus collaborators

A number of departments and units collaborate with the SVCGS, helping to leverage our research and training capabilities. The Survey and Policy Research Institute (SPRI) conducts many of our surveys. The Center for Healthy Aging in Multicultural Populations (CHAMP) consults with us on matters relating to elderly immigrants. The Global Leadership Advancement Center (GLAC) is a pioneer in training future executives for international careers.

What's New

Upcoming Events

The SVCGS will help sponsor the 2012 Gertrude Welch Peace and Justice Award on March 12. This year award recognizes the courage of undocumented students at San José State University, who have publicly testified to the obstacles they faced in seeking college financial aid and in qualifying for employment after graduation. The ceremony, to be held in Eng. 189 at SJSU, beginning at 4 pm, is free and open to the public. Among the distinguished attendees will be Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who will present a Congressional Commendation to the Student Advocates for Higher Education.

The SVCGS is also sponsoring a 2-day Immigration Symposium, on the theme of "Policy and Reality." It will take place in the MLK library, rooms 225/229, on April 12 and 13, 2012. Outstanding keynote addresses will be given by Andrew Lam, who has published and created documentaries on the Vietnamese in America, and by Kelly Lytle Hernandez, a renowned author on U.S.-Mexico borderlands issues. Click on the "Conferences and Events" button above for more information.

April 27 is the deadline for responding the current RFP for interdisciplinary research teams. See the link in "Launch Your Research."

News

SJSU has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Santa Clara County's Office of Human Relations for the transfer of digital archival data from the 2000 Bridging Borders immigrant survey. SJSU researchers will be able to re-analyze the data in light of new investigatory questions and do follow-up studies to document changes in the last dozen years. This is a major collaboration under a broader agreement struck by SJSU and the County last year.

Dr. Baltej Mann, former dean of the Punjabi University in India, will return to SJSU as resident scholar in April and May, in order to continue his research on the Indian and Sikh diasporas. His earlier participation was instrumental in setting up the Indian Diaspora Project.

The SVCGS research teams have achieved some notable successes. Margo McBane and Anne Fountain won a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for their historical exhibit project on Mexicans in Santa Clara before Silicon Valley. Dayana Salazar and Guadalupe Salazar received a grant from the Health Trust for studying diabetes in a high risk community. Persis Karim received a grant from the Parsa Foundation to introduce Persian Studies at SJSU, which will be pursued in collaboration with the SVCGS.