Kremen Equity Scholar Award Recipient, Brandon Gridiron

The Kremen School of Education and Human Development has created a promising new initiative, The Student Equity Scholar Award program, to help support Kremen students at all levels and blend activism and robust community service into their educational journey. This initiative is intended to assist four students at the Undergraduate, Credential, Masters, and Doctoral levels, allowing the selected  students to integrate issues of equity and social justice within their studies during the 2022-23 academic year. We are excited to feature one of the Kremen Student Equity Scholar Award recipients, Brandon Gridiron. He is currently enrolled in the Doctoral Program for Educational Leadership. 

Brandon was inspired to pursue his field of interest based on his passion of  fighting for social justice and civil unrest. As a professional, he wants to be a voice of change and use education as that vessel of change. He recognizes that the fight for injustice involves everyone and that we must be unapologetic for fair and ethical treatment of others. Brandon wants to bring a sense of urgency to this issue, noting that education has failed in its attempts to encourage social justice and civil rights awareness. 

Brandon’s personal experiences deeply ingrained these feelings that have driven his educational and professional pursuits. He grew up in a single family home that was dominated by poverty, gangs, and violence. He was not supposed to have any chance at success. Fortunately, his mother and other positive role models in his life gave him the encouragement, love, and support needed to prove society wrong about his life direction. Instead of the educational system helping people like him, he felt it was blocking his road to success. 

As a result of his experiences, Brandon decided to engage in social justice advocacy work. His motivation is driven by his desire to provide a better environment and learning experiences for his own children. He’s used his role to create a student inclusivity task force and youth-led equity forum that allow our youth to be at the center of social action to help drive change. This resulted in the high schools in his district to create youth-led equity forums focused on engaging in civil discourse to create inclusive environments, remove barriers, and create equitable outcomes for all students. 

Brandon is devoting his final year at Fresno State to understanding how African American students in the Valley experience belonging, connection, and engagement in the high school setting and the influence culturally engaging campus environments have on their experiences. He believes that if campuses are more open and acceptable to students, then they will be more successful. 

In order to address his concerns and field interests, Brandon will conduct a study that addresses how African American students deal with these challenges in the education system. His hope is that understanding the factors based off of the survey will help improve the educational experience for students of color. More specifically, he hopes to uncover a way to measure how culturally engaging K-12 campuses are for students. 

Brandon expects to complete a dissertation in May, 2023. He wants to have a fully developed framework for measuring K-12 campuses for cultural engagement, and to have enough data and info available to measure the success of African American students in the Valley. Brandon’s research includes creating more culturally engaging campus environments in K-12 schools. 

The fruition of the Kremen Student Equity Scholars and Kremen Equity Fellow Initiative represents an explicit way to continue meeting the aims outlined in Kremen’s mission, vision, and goals by: a) preparing students to be agile change agents who will work in racial, ethnic, and linguistically diverse communities and b) connecting community partners with student scholars who can lend support to navigating real-world complexities through the tools of research. 

Each of this year’s selected Equity Scholars will be provided with tuition support (up to $7,000) for one academic year. In return, the recipients are expected to engage in community service or partnership outreach. They may also participate in research connected with their studies to address a specific issue of inequity or social justice in the local community. 

(Written by Jason Smithberg, Communications Specialist, Kremen)  

Jonathan Pryor: Faculty Spotlight

Toward the end of Jonathan Pryor’s high school experience, he envisioned pursuing work aligned with the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. As a young person at the time, he had no idea what that would entail or look like, but he knew that he wanted to be able to advocate for the lives of LGBTQ+ people. He is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, teaching in the Higher Education Administration and Leadership Program (HEAL). He is also a core faculty member in the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. Higher education provided him with the experience to engage in LGBTQ+ activism at a college level and opened up his interest to work within a university setting, eventually working in Student Affairs for 10 years. Although he never worked toward LGBTQ+ rights in politics or non-profit organizations, his work on college campuses translated well to much of his career as a scholar of higher education and a former practitioner in LGBTQ+ Student Affairs.

Jonathan began his work at Fresno State in the Fall of 2018 after responding to a national search for an assistant professor position in the HEAL program. He was impressed with the Kremen’s commitment to supporting student success. He felt a genuine interest from colleagues and leadership toward support for LGBTQ+ advocacy and education on campus and in the community. Queer and trans communities in Fresno and the greater Central Valley continue to experience discrimination and harm. Jonathan believes that as educators, Fresno State and Kremen are well-positioned to advocate for equitable educational environments to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ students on our campus and in the region.  

His field of study is more broadly focused on higher education administration and higher education leadership. More specifically, Jonathan’s work has explored issues of equity for LGBTQ+ communities in higher education, LGBTQ+ campus climate and student experiences, and leadership strategies for advancing equity and social justice in colleges and universities. He has had two recent publications, one in the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice and the other in the Innovative Higher Education journal. His research is greatly informed through his 10 years of student affairs professional practice, six of those years consisting of managing the university LGBTQ+ programs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. As a former LGBTQ+ Student Affairs practitioner, it was important for him to get involved with the LGBTQ+ community at Fresno State. Upon arriving at Fresno State, he was recruited to support the development and implementation of the “Out At Fresno State” video series, and quickly became connected with numerous colleagues at CCGC and the LGBTQ+Allies Network. Jonathan eventually came to serve as Vice-President of LGBTQ+Allies before assuming the role of president this most recent academic year. 

As part of his work with LGBTQ+Allies, Jonathan helps coordinate Fresno State’s Rainbow Graduation Celebration program. Being able to celebrate and acknowledge the successes of our LGBTQ+ students is important to Jonathan personally, as rarely does the LGBTQ+ community experience such recognition from their institution, let alone society. Rainbow Graduation is a beautiful tradition that he hopes will only continue to grow as more students become aware of and comfortable participating in the program. Jonathan enjoys seeing the growth and success of his students—whether it’s witnessing their academic growth, their personal growth, or their professional growth. Being a part of a student’s journey and having an impact on their growth is incredibly fulfilling for him.  

For Jonathan, completing his doctorate was a point of personal pride. Having grown up in rural Kansas, where he felt academically unprepared to transition to a large state university, he had a lot of growth to accomplish to get to where he is today. He is grateful for the educators, scholars, and activists who have helped him get to where he is today. Kremen has provided an important platform for Jonathan to become engaged in the local Fresno State community, advocating for the continued support of LGBTQ+ groups on campus and in the community. 

Jonathan would love to see a stronger collaboration of LGBTQ+ scholars appearing on campus. Although he knows some colleagues on campus who engage in this work, he would love to establish a way to foster greater collaboration and connection across disciplines for other LGBTQ+ scholars. He also hopes to see more intersectional approaches to how scholars and practitioners support students in their work, ensuring that gender and sexual diversity are included when campus leaders are assessing measures of student success, persistence, support, and resources. 

(Written by Audra Burwell, a Creative Writing Student, Employed by The Kremen School of Education and Human Development)

Office of Clinical Practice Created to Meet the Needs of District Partners

In an effort to assist local K-12 district partners and the growing demand for counseling and mental health professionals, Kremen created the Office of Clinical Practice to address teacher shortages, educator burnout, and mental health issues at all levels of public education and in the community.  

The lack of staffing and capacity to serve Central Valley children and community members is at a critical juncture. The efforts to help local K-12 districts ease the strain of teaching shortages, counselor and coach placements, and education placement programs have ramped up tremendously. What can be done to support these issues? That is where OCP comes in.

All of the services that OCP provides are designed to strengthen the K-12 community through: 

• Teacher Education
• Counseling Education and Rehabilitation
• University Experts in their field
• Offering District Partners Best Practices
• Diversity in K-12 schools in the Central Valley 

Kremen’s role in assisting with this process is to help merge academics and social emotional learning in today’s post-COVID-19 climate. OCP was created to increase capacity to best meet the needs of our districts and stakeholders in teacher education and counseling education and rehabilitation; to provide a strategic infrastructure that is universal to all districts and community organizations; create a systematic approach that honors the new landscape of K-12 education; and understand the unique needs of our stakeholders, and help them make the necessary changes to support them.  

OCP provides a structured system that has experts in specific fields designed to address all of these needs in a professional and coordinated manner. We are excited to welcome the new experts who make OCP such an important part of Kremen’s support with our local K-12 district partners: 

• Annie Nunez – Field Placement Analyst: she works closely with both placement and program coordinators to ensure Kremen students are placed in their clinical sites.
• Chris Cooper – Teacher Placement Coordinator: Chris is responsible for teacher placement for all of the district partners in the Central Valley. 
• Imelda Dudley – Counselor Placement Coordinator: Imelda is responsible for coordinating internships and field placements for students within the Counselor, Education, and Rehabilitation Department. 
• Itzel Montoya – Department Administrative Assistant: Itzel is responsible for managing and supporting teacher education placement, teacher internship pathway, and counselor education placement.  

For more information about the Office of Clinical Practice, please click on this link. 

Faculty Continues to Support The Growth of Teachers of Minoritized Students in Central San Joaquin Valley

Having led the Ensenamos en el Valle Central project for four successful years, Dr. Patricia D. Lopez is expanding impact in the Valley with Fall Institutes for Intersectional Justice and Wellbeing. The Fall Institutes include speakers, tailored workshops, and affinity group sessions that are grounded in the day-to-day expectations that future and current community-responsive educators, counselors, and emerging leaders navigate as they aspire and commit to serving the in- and out-of-school needs of students and families. Participants receive resources and tools for strengthening culturally and linguistically sustaining, and healing- and ability-informed curriculum and pedagogies to facilitate greater college and career access and completion.  The Fall Institutes also provide tools for community-responsive engagement and advocacy to sustain healthy campus climates and student- and family-centered well-being—particularly among historically-minoritized youth and families across the Central San Joaquín Valley.  

Each Institute unpacks a thematic topic through various perspectives and each gathering will be held at a different location to help bring exposure to community-based identities, relevant organizations, resources, and support systems further expanding participant capacities to build upon the diverse assets of communities across the region.

Upcoming dates and sites include:

November 4, 2022 

Time: 8:00 to 4:00pm

Location: Reedley Community Center

100 N. East Avenue, Reedley, CA 

December 2, 2022

Time: 8:00 to 4:00pm

Location: Madera Unified School District

Kremen looks forward to working closely with our partners and community members in effort to better prepare tomorrow’s teachers. 

Institute: Fresno State Ensenamos en el Valle Central 2022 Fall Institute For Intersectional Justice and Wellbeing

For more information contact,
Dr Patricia D. López, Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction and  Director, Enseñamos en el Valle Central

Taking the lead in building the capacity of the ECE workforce in Fresno

Launching A New Early Childhood Education (ECE) 24-Unit Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Certificate Program to support district partners.

Recognizing the need of district partners to provide well-qualified TK teachers in the classroom, Kremen is launching a transitional kindergarten program through Continuing and Global Education that allows participants to obtain 24 ECE units within 9 months virtually over evenings and the weekends.  

The ECE 24-Unit Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Certificate Program is a user-friendly program that was created by Dr. Pei-Ying Wu, an assistant professor in the Early Childhood Education Program and the Fansler Chair leading the Joyce M. Huggins Early Education Center. Dr. Wu’s research interests focus on early childhood teachers’ professional development and self-efficacy, making her the perfect candidate to lead this program. 

The program came about as a result of the state of California investing $2.7 billion in the universal kindergarten program in order to include all the state’s 4-year-olds by the 2025-26 school year. It is open to teachers who have, or are obtaining a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and want to meet the state requirements while enhancing their ECE qualifications. It emphasizes hands-on experiences and provides opportunities for teachers to apply the knowledge learned from coursework to their classroom. 

This certificate program is a great workforce development option customized to the needs of current TK teachers who are looking for hands-on experiences and opportunities to apply the knowledge learned from the coursework to their classrooms. 

The Huggins Center serves as a regional model for some of the best practices in ECE. The Huggins Center provides services for children of university students, faculty, staff and to the community between the ages of 3 months and 12 years. The center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and is one of three centers operated by the Fresno State Programs for Children. Brittney S. Randolph is the Director of Programs for Children, a comprehensive early care and education program that holds a 5-star rating from Fresno County’s Early Stars. This center works in partnership with the larger community to provide opportunities for learning and for developing partnerships that will benefit young children and families. The center also provides training, demonstration and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in education, child development, marriage, child and family therapy, and other related areas as well as for professionals in the field.

Beyond supporting the current TK workforce, the demand projections for well-qualified ECE teachers also prompt Kremen to actively prepare for the development of a new credentialing program specific to early childhood educators. With the recent approval of the PK-3rd ECE Specialist Credential, Kremen faculty began to collaborate with other CSU campuses, ECE-related degree programs (e.g. community colleges), Fresno Superintendent of Schools and LEAs on pathways and program design, curriculum development, coursework articulation, accreditation, and recruitment. 

For those interested in the ECE 24-Unit TK Certificate Program or PK-3 ECE Specialist Instruction Credential program please contact the Program Coordinator, Dr. Pei-Ying Wu at peiwu@mail.fresnostate.edu 

(Written by Dr. Pei-Ying Wu, an assistant professor in the Early Childhood Education Program/Fansler Chair, and Audra Burwell, a Creative Writing student employed by the Kremen School of Education and Human Development.)

Kremen Graduate Wins Award for Dissertation About Anti-Racism

Rosemary Wrenn, a 2021 graduate of Fresno State’s Ed.D. program, recently received word that her dissertation about white female teachers committed to anti-racism transformation in the classroom was selected as the 2022 Outstanding Dissertation Award by the California Council on Teacher Education.

This is a distinguished and highly competitive award that honors the top doctoral dissertation in the field of teacher education in the state of California. 

The dissertation is titled, Towards Anti-Racism as Stance: White Women Teachers Committed to Transformationand it focuses on how white women teachers navigate issues of race and identity in the classroom. She found that today’s educators need more access to authentic and meaningful training and professional development surrounding critical conversations and culturally sustaining practices in order to be better prepared to serve their students. America’s teaching force not appropriately representing children in the classroom. 

It was Wrenn’s childhood experiences that inspired her to write this important dissertation to enact change, especially in the public school system, where the majority of teachers are white women. 

Wrenn grew up in a post-World War II neighborhood that was predominantly white in Long Beach, Calif. Her family lived on a cul-de-sac near two other families. One was African American and the other emigrated from Mexico. There was also a family that was Creole from New Orleans. She thought this was the typical demographic structure of all neighborhoods in suburban America back in the 1960’s.

But then, reality set in.

She also admits that her ideas about who belongs in education were influenced by her influential first grade teacher, who was African American. While this was unusual at the time, Wrenn believes this experience was formative. She was well-respected and revered, an established person in the community.

In 4th and 5th grades during the early 1970s, she participated in the voluntary integration of Long Beach school system attending school in the inner city.. She experienced and began to understand the anger that African Americans had towards white people during that time.

“I had experience with the anger that a lot of Black folks have towards white folks,” said Wrenn. “That was very humbling; it made me think a lot.” 

Wrenn started the collaborative online Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership in the summer of 2018 when it was offered as a joint program with CSU-Channel Islands. The coursework was very intense, but it allowed her to open up about her previous experiences and how they shaped her views about racial disparities in educational leadership.

Having begun her initial dissertation research in early 2020, she found the direction it took greatly influenced by the events following George Floyd’s murder.

She credits the intense coursework in her doctoral program for helping her find the comfortability to open up about her experiences, both as an educator and parent. 

“I did a lot of reflection about where my ideas of race come from,” said Wrenn. “I never engaged in it until I started this process.” 

Dr. David Low, an associate professor in the Department of Literacy, Early, Bilingual, and Special Education (LEBSE) was Wrenn’s doctoral adviser. He credits her teaching career and family legacy for the success of her work. 

“Dr. Wrenn’s dissertation went far and beyond the bounds of a scholastic exercise,” said Low. “Rosemary conducted a deep and rich study of how white women educators — including herself — understand, reproduce, and contest racial status quos in their curricular design, assessment, text curation, classroom layout, and disciplinary processes.”

Wrenn is tremendously grateful to Dr. Low, as well as Kremen assistant professor Dr. Selena Van Horn and Dr. Camille O’Bryant, the Associate Dean for Student Success at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, for supporting her and encouraging her to focus her ideas into her dissertation.   

The recognition of Wrenn’s dissertation has enabled her to expand her own teaching career. Until recently, she served as Faculty Lead for the Education Department and a part-time faculty member at Cuesta College and also as a faculty member in the School of Education and Liberal Arts department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. On October 3, she began a new full-time position as a Consultant in Teacher Preparation (Research and Policy) in the Professional Services Division in the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. 

Wrenn also conducts discussions and workshops about critical conversations, incorporating culturally sustaining practices in our learning spaces, representation in children’s literature, and integrating Ethnic Studies in K-12 settings. 

Wrenn is still amazed when she recollects about her award. In many ways, it’s the perfect validation for a life spent initiating change in the realm of public education. “I’m very humbled and honored they chose to recognize my work this way,” said Wrenn. 

At the end of the day, Wrenn wants her dissertation to serve as a reminder that teachers are the experts about what’s best for their students’ needs. And everyone-children, adults, parents, and teachers can learn to engage in critical conversations about race and identity to create just and inclusive learning spaces and a better future for our children.

Only then can the real change begin. 

Wrenn was expected to receive her award at the CCTE Fall Conference, which was held October 20-22 in San Diego.

(Written by Jason Smithberg, Communications Specialist for Kremen)

A Legacy of Devotion: Dr. Monke’s Contributions to the Kremen School and the Creation of the Teachers and Friends Honor Wall

In 1969, Dr. Robert Monke arrived at Fresno State as a faculty member in the School of Education, now known as, the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. Kremen had no idea at the time that he would soon become one of the most prolific and generous champions of education in the school’s history. Dr. Monke dedicated both his career and retirement to improving educational opportunities for students in the San Joaquin Valley by supporting the Kremen School and advancing teacher training opportunities. He prized equality, advocacy, justice, and community above all else and devoted his efforts to improving the lives of those who are underrepresented. Dr. Monke focused primarily on counseling, teacher preparation, gender equity, diversity, and community collaboration. In 1985, he was named associate dean of the Kremen School and served as interim dean from 1988-1989 and 1996-1997.

In 1993, after assisting with the relocation and construction of the Kremen School’s current building, he set his sights on a new mission. Dr. Monke became a driving force in the development of the Teachers and Friends of Education Honor Wall outside of the Kremen School. He also served as the chair of the Brick Campaign Committee for more than 20 years. These selfless efforts inspired his colleagues to establish a scholarship in his name to help support future counselors and teachers, a fund which has currently raised over $108,000.

Dr. Monke retired in 2002, however, he has not ceased giving back to the community and supporting Fresno State in every way he can. He currently serves on the Kremen Alumni Chapter Board, leading one of the most engaged alumni chapters at Fresno State. His legacy lives on most prominently through the continued expansion of the Teachers and Friends Honor Wall. The first completed wall has a total of 3,732 bricks, with wall #5 recently established.

Individuals who wish to honor teachers and other special members of the community can purchase a commemorative brick intended for placement on the wall. Many individuals have been impacted by an educator who made a difference in their life, and desire to show their gratitude in a meaningful way. They can do so with the purchase of a brick for $125.00. The recipient will receive notification of the gift along with a certificate. The donor will receive a “letter of appreciation” for remembering the honoree with this special gift.

All funds received from brick donations are used to improve educational technology for teachers and education specialists. These funds have been directed toward the purchase of computer laboratories and other technological equipment used in classrooms at the Kremen School. Technology is a dominant resource, whether students are learning how to teach by showing technology accessibility or by using multimedia tools. It is essential that students learn how to become innovative and creative with their teaching methods, something that technology makes possible. If you would like to donate to the Kremen School to assist with keeping the classroom technology current, please click here.

(Written by Audra Burwell, a Creative Writing student employed by the Kremen School of Education and Human Development.)