Focus Magazine Summer 2021: PIVOT

FOCUS for students

|

faculty

|

alumni

|

staff

|

trustees

|

& friends of fieldiing

Summer 2021

FOCUS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Summer 2021

President Katrina S. Rogers, PhD Editor Carol Warner Production Manager Elena I. Nicklasson Art Director Rob Grayson, Boone Graphics Graphic Design Dolan Frick, Boone Graphics

4

5

6

8

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

BLACK FEMINIST ROOTS

9

FIELDING.EDU Please send reader responses to media@fielding.edu © 2021 Fielding Graduate University: All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from Fielding Graduate University.

PIVOTING INTO EDITOR MODE

10

STRATEGIES FOR WELLNESS

PIVOTING IN LIFE WORK & LEARNING

12

13

15

16

PIVOTING & TAKING FLIGHT

GLOBAL LEADING & LEARNING IN THE NEXT DECADE

18

Focus is published by Fielding Graduate University 2020 De la Vina Street Santa Barbara, CA 93105

TRUSTEE SPOTLIGHT

A CALLING TO WORK WITH CHILDREN

IN THE NEWS

19

2021 KIPNES AWARD RECIPIENTS

DARK CURRENTS

20

21

22

23

ALUMNI PUBLICATIONS

YOUR PHILANTHROPIC IMPACT

24

IN MEMORY OF DOTTIE BILLINGTON

BSA LEADERS IN MEMORY OF DR. RUFFINS

26

FIELDING SUPPORTERS

ALUM KERUL KASSEL, PHD

27

28

ABOUT FIELDING

29

MASTERS & CERTIFICATE GRADUATES

SCHOOLS & PROGRAMS

30

DOCTORAL GRADUATES

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT Events and experiences of humanity throughout this pandemic, as well as their impacts on the environment, will be subjects of research for decades to come. Times of crisis and significant happenings present opportunities for the work of social scientists, given the far-reaching impacts on areas of infant and childhood development, psychology, coaching, education, media, leadership, organization development, and change studies—all fields at Fielding in which our faculty are adept and original scholars. As scholars and practitioners, it is our responsibility to provide perspective, build understanding, and offer insight for others to make meaning. Given the global nature and complex events of COVID-19, this work will occupy our Fielding community for years to come.

This work will rely on not just delving into causes, but also exploring the intersectionalities of such phenomena as racism, mental health issues, economic inequality, and the climate crisis, all of which have long been present, but may be brought into sharper relief during social upheaval. Thus, this issue’s emphasis on the word “pivot”: pivoting away from difficult times, as well as pivoting towards a future that will be different, due to the events of the past year.

Perspective framing takes time. In a modern society that prides itself on speed, part of our role is to be deliberative and exacting in our research. We are the ones who can remind society that there are many opportunities for discovery and reflection that lead to action.

While it may be many months before our community gathers together in person, the pandemic has taught us that we are adept at continuing to build and inspire a learning community that grapples with deep and difficult questions, the answers to which help serve humanity.

I am proud of our students as they meet the intellectual challenges embodied in their work in the social sciences, and I appreciate the faculty for inspiring and supporting student work as well as their own.

Wishing you all a peaceful and beautiful summer!

With kind regards,

Katrina S. Rogers, PhD President

3

4

FOCUS | Summer 2021

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Karen S. Bogart, PhD, Board Chair President, Smith Bogart Consulting Santa Barbara, CA Gary Wagenheim, PhD, Vice Chair Adjunct Professor, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University Vancouver, BC, Canada Nancy Baker, PhD, Treasurer Diplomate in Forensic Psychology Half Moon Bay, CA Patricia Zell, JD, Secretary Partner, Zell & Cox Law Santa Barbara, CA Dorothy Agger-Gupta, PhD Faculty Trustee Victoria, BC, Canada Michael Ali, PhD Chief Digital and Information Officer Omega Engineering Norwalk, CT Manley Begay, Jr., EdD Professor, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ John Bennett, PhD Professor, Queens University of Charlotte Charlotte, NC Keith Earley, PhD, JD Principal, Earley Interventions, LLC Rockville, MD Zabrina Epps, MPM Student Trustee Laurel, MD

Michael B. Goldstein, JD Managing Director Center for Higher Education Transformation Tyton Partners Washington, D.C. Russ Goodman, MBA Retired Regional President, Sares-Regis Group Lake Sherwood, CA Anthony Greene, PhD Faculty Trustee Gainesville, FL Judith Katz, EdD Executive Vice President Emeritus The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group Washington, D.C. Katrina S. Rogers, PhD ex officio President, Fielding Graduate University Santa Barbara, CA Maria Viola Sanchez, MA Student Trustee Westlake Village, CA Connie Shafran, PhD Clinical Psychologist Malibu, CA TRUSTEE EMERITI Karin Bunnell, PhD Michael B. Goldstein, JD Russ Goodman, MBA Bo Gyllenpalm, PhD Linda Honold, PhD Otto Lee, EdD E. Nancy Markle Fred Phillips, PsyD* Margarita Rosenthal, PhD* Connie Shafran, PhD Nancy Shapiro, PhD

*deceased

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

5

TRUSTEE SPOTLIGHT MARIA VIOLA SANCHEZ

M

aria Viola Sanchez is a doctoral student in the Media Psychology Program and a Student Trustee on Fielding’s Board of Trustees. Upon becoming a student at Fielding, Maria immediately began being involved in the community. Maria served as Student Body President from 2018 to 2020 and was the recipient of the prestigious Mike R. Neal Legacy Award in Media Psychology in 2019. A native Californian, she has been a talk radio host for over 25 years. Her dissertation research is on female genital mutilation (FGM), a horrific practice that has affected 200,000 million girls and women worldwide. Maria is the proud mother of four children.

Her rescue dog Millie is a dissertation writing partner.

What brought you to Fielding?

I graduated with a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy, from Pepperdine University in 2017. I had a desire to continue further in the field of psychology. I did a Google search, and Fielding Graduate University landed on my radar. It appeared to be a harmonic convergence of combining two of my passions, media and psychology. Both of my parents attained a high school education and speak English as their second language. I will be the first PhD on both sides of my family.

What are the highlights of serving as Student Trustee on the Board of Trustees?

Serving on the Board of Trustees has been an honor and a privilege. It affords me a unique opportunity to be involved in some of the deeper workings at Fielding. The passion of the other trustees is palpable. The diversity is extraordinary. The leadership of President Rogers is outstanding. The guidance of Provost Snowden is invaluable. The mission, “Change the world, start with yours,” is evident. I am humbled.

Can you share with us your dissertation research?

My research is on media and how it can support the eradication of FGM. Globally, 200 million girls and women alive today are FGM victims, and another 70 more million girls are at risk of being cut. Every 10–11 seconds, a girl is undergoing FGM somewhere in the world. In the U.S., 500,000 females have been cut. FGM is a global health challenge that is both child abuse and violence against women, and it needs to be stopped.

What do you think the world needs to know about Fielding?

The world should know that Fielding consists of global scholar-practitioners. Its educational model accommodates different phases of adult learners’ lives.

Fielding is a university genuinely committed to social justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism.

6

FOCUS | Summer 2021

BLACK FEMINIST ROOTS

Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian, Heratch Photography in Waltham, MA

FACULTY MEMBER K. MELCHOR QUICK HALL NAMES ONTOLOGICAL AND ECOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS IN RECENT PUBLICATIONS

F

ocusing on the idea of a pivot allows me to consider the stable core of my scholarship, even as I turn toward projects that might be read as quite different. Fundamentally, my work engages questions of both ontology (i.e., the nature of being) and ecology (i.e., relationships among beings and nature).

My first book, Naming a Transnational Black Feminist Framework: Writing in Darkness, is a Black feminist intervention in the discipline of international relations (IR). Rooted in ethnographic research done in the Black, Indigenous, matrifocal, Garifuna villages of Honduras, the text displaces the discipline’s focus on global elites and the

governments they control or influence. The Transnational Black Feminist (TBF) framework has five guiding principles: intersectionality, scholar-activism, solidarities, attention to borders/boundaries, and radically transparent (author) positionality. Through the TBF principles, I name my existence as part of another world, in the majority yet marginalized by a powerful elite and the academies who do their bidding.

Intersectionality (i.e., the idea that marginalized peoples are impacted by simultaneous and interdependent systems of oppression) draws attention to a human existence

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

that does not come into being with assumptions of freedom, but instead is born into conditions that require struggle to get free of constraints defined at birth. In the context of a white supremacist academy that has yet to decolonize its curriculum, questions of ontology easily become questions of epistemology (i.e., science of knowledge construction). If there are persons who are born into conditions that sit atop social hierarchies, then there are also those people whose bodies constitute the very societal structures upon which others sit. Scholaractivism engages the tools of the academy to insist on the acknowledgment of “othered” beings within legitimized scholarly work.

Solidarities map the connections that allow some bodies to be seen and others to be desaparecidos, or disappeared. As example, consider that most US maps do not show federally-recognized Native American tribal lands. Herein lies the real tragedy of IR, as the discipline that guides the political mapping of the world, yet is so unapologetically colonial. Naming this obscenely violent disciplinary complicity requires shifting between (colonial) borders and other kinds of (Indigenous) boundaries that can be used to map people and place.

This is the fourth principle of TBF, that of attention to borders/boundaries.

The fifth TBF principle, radically transparent (author) positionality, insists that the inventors of these contrived realities show themselves to be quite small in the world.

It calls on all of us, especially those who are scholars and writers, to name our partial perspectives and limited views. Especially for academics, the challenge is to reveal the interdependencies that result in privilege and access.

My second book, Mapping Gendered Ecologies: Engaging with and beyond Ecowomanism and Ecofeminism, an anthology co-edited with Gwyn Kirk, highlights the ways in which gendered and racialized identities shape relationships among (human and non-human) beings and nature. Including perspectives from farmers, scholars, students, and activists, it explores multiple perspectives for understanding the natural and unnatural (often toxic) realities of our shared, interdependent existence. The co-edited project was fertile ground for collaborative work, resulting in my participation in four co-authored chapters!

7

As an example, “Cultivating Intergenerational Gardens with Judith Atamba: An Ecowomanist Analysis of a Transnational Black Women’s Gardening Collaboration,” documents a participatory action research project that responded to the global health pandemic, and was funded by a Fielding faculty research grant. I also wrote a single-authored chapter, “Darkness All Around Me: Black Waters, Land, Animals and Sky,” about being born to “Chocolate City,” the nickname given to Washington, DC (US) in the 1970s for its majority Black population. The city has shaped how I map my location and understand my relationship to the natural (and unnatural) world.

In highlighting Black geographies, I am pointing to the existence of other worlds, which is both an ontological and ecological intervention.

8

FOCUS | Summer 2021

PIVOTing INTO EDITOR MODE

By Fielding Faculty Member Karen Shackleford, PhD

P

ivoting can mean changing course in life, or catalyzing change through leadership.

As a social psychologist, I research and write about how stories and characters from popular culture can have resonance in our personal lives.

We think in story. We also spend a great deal of time imagining social scenarios, which include those we’ve experienced in story worlds. We may daydream of saving the world as a superhero or bringing down the house as Zaza singing I Am What I Am in La Cage Aux Folles.

Recently, Fielding University Press published a book I edited called Real Characters: The Psychology of Parasocial Relationships with Media Characters. This volume brought together a team of highly-respected scholars and practitioners whose work illuminates the psychology of fiction in human social life. From your crush on Matt Damon or Anthony Fauci to your memories of the way The West Wing restored your faith in government, the personalities and scenarios that come to us via media are part of our individual and collective imaginations. They can also be part of our own personal growth.

The psychologist Dan McAdams has written a number of works about

the psychological importance of story generally and redemptive story arcs particularly. McAdams’ books include Turns in the Road and The Redemptive Self. Whether a therapist uses redemptive life story in treating clients or researchers interview people about which films about personal redemption have inspired them, psychologists can make a difference by harnessing the value of story.

In my own personal development, turning 50 was a landmark I used to reassess my purpose as a psychologist and professor. For me, the pivot was toward more leadership, often in my role as editor. The week of my 50th birthday, I gave a TEDx talk (www. tinyurl.com/SherlockHarryPotter).

About that time, I became the editor of Psychology of Popular Culture, an APA journal, and started work on Real Characters.

This pivot to emphasizing my editorial role was a conscious choice; I saw it as a choice to move toward leadership and mentoring and away from focusing on my own research.

Fielding faculty are used to this kind of role. We are often support staff, metaphorically running alongside our athlete-in-training, shouting

encouragement, and keeping them on the path. In my editorial roles, I have the amazing good fortune of being able to help steer the ship in my field.

Doing research has always been incredibly compelling to me. Just as aging has its benefits, pivoting like this has also been incredibly satisfying. Life’s major turns in the road come with a certain amount of awe and reverence. Part of the excitement of my life is waiting to see what the next chapter reveals, sometimes literally as well as figuratively.

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

9

STRATEGIES FOR WELLNESS

By Fielding Faculty Member April Harris-Britt, PhD

T

he year 2020 was about more than one pandemic.

Yes, there was COVID-19. And simultaneously, we as a community were forced to address racial unrest, political angst, systems of oppression, economic stress, and the dismantling of workplace and educational routines. The cumulative and interactive effects of these challenges placed us all in the uncomfortable position of having to sit with “not knowing” in ways that stretched even the most resilient. The information, familiarity, and even reassurance that most of us relied on to propel us through our days and weeks was absent. And we were asked to not merely adjust our expectations, but to still function and be as productive as we had been before.

To move forward, I recommend that we first recognize that so many of us have fallen into the “Expectation Trap.”

Expectation looks for satisfaction from a predictable process, which will produce then what we feel “we have a right to claim.” Expectation means reliance on results that are planned and controlled. It seems simple enough.

But what happens when the order no longer exists and the path becomes unrecognizable? Many found themselves experiencing various degrees of different stress responses ranging from depression to anxiety and even traumatic reactions. And now, as we begin resurfacing after a year of social isolation and uncertainty, we are tasked with pivoting, so that we can reclaim our physical and mental wellness. But how do we focus on our wellness in unexpected times?

I recommend that we first acknowledge and normalize the disappointment, sadness, fear, sense of hopelessness, or whatever feelings might exist as a result of all that has been lost. I then encourage an intentional deep dive into self-compassion. Self-compassion means being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we are not able to do what we once could, have strong feelings, or feel like we have fallen short of expectations, rather than ignoring what we are feeling or being self-critical. When was the last time you gave yourself the gentle reminder, “I am doing the best that I can under these circumstances” or purposely treated yourself to a warm beverage? I also encourage the creation of a self-care routine that incorporates practices that will nourish the mind, body, and spirit. This can include revisiting old habits or trying out new strategies such as talking walks, finding an exercise partner, journaling, meditating, drinking more water, knitting, or virtual volunteering.

And in terms of mindset, a present and forward-facing perspective would encourage us to ask ourselves, “What are some ways that I have grown as a result of the chaos?” and “What new possibilities exist for me?” And, finally, note the focus on the word “practice,” meaning that we can keep trying new things until we figure out what feels most effective and becomes more automatic. In the end, it is important to remember that we can pivot, and take care of ourselves in the midst of the uncertainty.

10

FOCUS | Summer 2021

PIVOTING IN LIFE, WORK & LEARNING

By Barbara Mink, EdD Dean, School of Leadership Studies

M

y kids played basketball. My oldest daughter, Babata, started playing basketball at age seven and was a point guard at a Division I university. She grew up at Fielding’s in-person meetings, attending sessions with me at Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara and the Highlander Institute in Tennessee. So, when I was asked to reflect on pivoting in education, I knew something about what pivoting meant!

Fielding has always embraced a distributed educational model. Yes, we needed to adjust due to COVID-19, but those actions were not as drastic for us as for other brick-andmortar institutions. Fielding’s “anchor foot” is our mission and values. We continue to pivot, adjust, and plan for the future while staying committed to academic rigor standards and supporting adult scholar-practitioners to make positive differences in their personal lives and work settings and communities, both locally and globally.

When a person pivots in basketball, she anchors one foot firmly and moves the other foot to gain position, a good metaphor for life in our changing times. A pivot does not mean a complete change or abandonment of a position. Because of changing circumstances, the pivoting move is made intentionally from a central point which is solidly planted. I asked some people who have found

it necessary to pivot in their lives to tell me their stories.

Here are five that are all different but all successful.

A fun story. A dear Australian friend, Melissa Jacob, had a thriving business as a Wedding Officiant. She had 60 weddings canceled right after the pandemic hit. Then, she thought: “Why people could not get married in their cars?”

Eight days later, she launched I Do Drive Thru across Australia and the U.S. A perspective on inclusion Amanda, my youngest daughter, had her pivot foot in diversity and a desire for inclusion. She thought of diversity in terms of race and socioeconomic status. Amanda taught at a Title 1 high school and married a biracial man. In 2015, she gave birth to a Down syndrome baby girl named Edith. The inclusion concept had a new meaning and included being a parent of a neurodiverse child. Having a child with Down syndrome doesn’t change how you live with a baby much, but when Edith was ready for preschool, she was rejected because the preschool found her “not a good fit.” Our school system continues to face challenges in embracing neurodiversity, which became apparent during COVID-19.

Today, Amanda has her foot firmly planted in advocating for inclusion. She advocates with legislators on expanding funds for special education. She is also finishing a doctoral dissertation and building a website (www.myabundantly. com) dedicated to helping the parents of children with diverse intellectual needs in their struggles for inclusion.

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

11

Vivified classroom Dr. Lugene Kennebrew is an alum of Fielding’s Educational Leadership for Change program. He shared that Global Leadership Academy West, a school where he teaches, and Dr. Ghouldy Muhammad’s book, Cultivating Genius, played integral roles in inspiring the VIVIFIED Virtual Classroom.

Dr. Kennebrew’s vision was a virtual space where students could express their intellect, concerns, thoughts, and feelings. He engages students with lessons that vivify their knowledge, and affirm their lives and the lives of others. “In a virtual classroom, my essential mission is to advance students’ intellect by helping them understand and overcome oppression.”

Teaching teachers to Zoom Donna Farren is a Fielding’s Education program graduate student and distance learning experience creator in Rochester, New York. She found that shifting entire school systems from physical buildings to virtual locations called for a collective pivot.

“Helping everyone to change their thinking about school was my role as a distance learning specialist.

At the start of remote learning, I was doing technology triage. Teachers needed help learning how to teach on Zoom. I found myself working with dozens of teachers to demonstrate camera angles, screen sharing, and even playing music for physical education classes. Once they were underway, we talked about handling situations like a second-grade student coming to Zoom class in his underwear, siblings attending class, and the audio delay.

Fielding helped me stay agile and resilient despite all the worry and work.”

New pathways Carolyn Dickinson is a new student in Fielding’s Education program. She is a Career and Technical Center Administrator in Vermont. As the pandemic unfolded, her students had to step up and support their families financially. Many of them experienced mental health challenges: anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation. As conditions worsened, students were unable to participate in remote learning. The Center’s staff had to think outside the box. Carolyn shared: “We designed at-home learning kits that our transportation staff delivered. Instructors learned Google Classroom overnight. Students helped their teachers run Zoom. We set up meal pickup stations and offered that resource to all families. While formal governmental structures and authority lagged, looser organizational pathways emerged.”

12

FOCUS | Summer 2021

PIVOTING & TAKING FLIGHT

By Astrid Emond 2020 alum, Cohort 40 graduate, Evidence Based Coaching Certificate Program

O

ne way Merriam-Webster defines pivoting is “the action in basketball of stepping with one foot while keeping the other foot at its point of contact with the floor.” I pivoted back and forth quite a bit, staying connected to my pivot foot—my core—until I found my opening and took the shot. But, let me start at the beginning of my coaching journey.

At my core, I am an explorer and a learner. I learned about Fielding Graduate University and coaching while earning my MS in Organization Development at American University. After some research, I knew I wanted to be part of the Fielding community, and coaching was a natural fit.

My initial dream was to apply for a PhD program—that was in 2015. This was also when my benign brain tumor grew unexpectedly, and I was facing a myriad of other uncertainties. I pivoted and found my opening in the Evidence Based Coaching (EBC) Program at Fielding.

At the end of 2019, I was accepted into the EBC Program.

Because I am multi-passionate, I found Fielding’s multi-disciplinary approach a perfect fit. Additionally, I knew the program was accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and was a rigorous program in a collaborative and supportive environment. It was

everything I had hoped for and more. Every person I came in contact with was amazing-the Financial Aid team, Admissions, program directors, faculty, my cohort members. Much gratitude to Cohort 40 and its brilliant faculty. I felt supported and part of the community.

Since the beginning of the program, I have been working with different clients. One of my passions is working with military veterans who are transitioning to civilian life.

I’ve also enjoyed working with humanitarians and with women who are rebuilding their lives, confidence, and self-love after divorce. It brings me such fulfillment to connect with my clients and be part of their growth and pivot journeys. They are an inspiration to me.

As an added benefit, I now embody a coaching mindset and am connected with a whole community of gifted coaches, allowing me to explore my dreams. I learned that the credits I earned in the EBC Program articulate into a PhD program at Fielding. And so, I found myself pivoting again, found my opening, and took flight into a PhD program.

A CALLING TO WORK WITH CHILDREN

J

osh Metz is passionate about serving young children and their families as a licensed clinical social worker. During COVID-19, he continues to help his clients via Zoom. Josh’s interest in early childhood development started when a college friend visited his home. “My son was learning to sit up. I picked him up and sat him down facing another part of the room. I said to my friend: Check this out. His entire worldview just changed?!

That experience inspired my professional journey in the field of early childhood. I was fascinated with a child in development and my growth as a result of it.” Josh is a firstyear graduate student in the Infant and Early Childhood Development Program (IECD). In the interview, he discusses his work, research, and book choice.

Where do you live and work now? I live in Reston, Virginia. I work in private practice, serving families with children and adolescents with developmental differences and variations.

What brought you to Fielding Graduate University?

During my middle-age crisis, instead of buying a sports car or climbing a mountain, I decided to switch careers and go back to school. Dr. Stanley Greenspan advised me to look at Fielding’s programs. I chose a local program because it supported my quicker transition to becoming a clinical and family therapist. As a parent of a child with developmental challenges, I was able to separate my interest in supporting my child’s growth and my desire to help other parents and their children professionally. In my work, I noticed that children with autism experienced high levels of anxiety. This observation led me to research

13

where the anxiety stressors come from, how they impact children and their parents, and how we can reduce these stressors. I started to research this question: What is at the intersection of developmental trauma and developmental differences? I realized that Fielding’s IECD Program could help me organize research and my work with children and families.

What is the focus of your dissertation research?

When I became a doctoral student, I thought I would revolutionize how we think about early developmental differences and autism: we need a new language and a more refined lens. Is it possible to merge the fields intervention for autism and developmental trauma that removes stigma and embraces collaboration? Fielding faculty members helped me refine how I think about my research. Dr. Craig reminded me that research would be part of my life’s work, and that the dissertation is only the first step. I decided to study the father-child relationship within the context of autism, and the opportunities within that relationship that can help reduce stress and anxiety in the child and family system. While my doctoral journey has just begun, I can confidently say that Fielding is my place and that the Fielding community members are my people.

What are you reading? For my coursework, I am reading Developmentally Based Psychotherapy by Dr. Greenspan.

I am also reading Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul by Brandy Schillace. At Fielding, we learn the origins of “self ” and how the “self ” emerges. On the contrary, Shillaces’ book explores the end of “self.”

14

FOCUS | Summer 2021

THE FIRST ALUMNI ASSOCIATION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE WAS AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS FROM ATTENDANCE AND REVENUE , TO POST CONFERENCE SURVEY RESULTS. January 26 to January 30, 2021

400 attendees: alumni, students, faculty members, prospective students, staff, guests, and public trustees 34 sessions 85 presenters from 13 different countries

51 hours of content 7 keynote presentations

4 Clinical Psychology continued education sessions 4 Continuing Coach Education units sessions

15

GLOBAL LEADING & LEARNING IN THE NEXT DECADE

By Trevor Maber, PhD

A

s for many Fielding graduates, one of the most significant elements contributing to my doctoral learning journey was the incredible community of faculty, students, and alumni that convened on a semi-annual basis at Fielding National Sessions.

Since transitioning from student to alum in 2018, I have continued to look forward to the National Sessions. For me, it is a space to build and nurture relationships while evolving my scholarship and practice as a university professor, consultant, and speaker, as well as reporting on my work with the Fielding Institute for Social Innovation (ISI) Fellows Program.

Since the onset of the pandemic, we continue to experience and work through the unprecedented impacts and disruptions in our personal and professional lives.

Within this, the Fielding alumni community also faced the challenge of this unanticipated online reality. While restrictions ( for the time being!) on in-person conferences brought the loss of face-to-face connecting, the Office of Alumni Relations has demonstrated an abundance of innovation and creativity. The Fielding Alumni Association events shifted to a virtual format for the July 2020 Summer Session, and, for the first time, an expanded and standalone First Alumni Virtual Conference took place in January 2021.

Speaking to my own experiences during these events, the opportunities to connect and collaborate, surprisingly, grew in many ways through this new format. In July, I was fortunate to be part of a workshop entitled "Rethinking Resilience” with several Human and Organizational Development alumni colleagues. In January, I sat on a panel of alumni and faculty who revisited our 2019 sustainability leadership intensive that took place on Gabriola Island (British Columbia). Rather than being weighed down by constraints and limitations, Fielding repeatedly shone with its imaginative leadership and created possibilities, bringing together over 400 attendees and 85 presenters for the conference!

While I, like each of you, look forward to the day when we can gather in the same place and same space, I am also reminded that ultimately, the heart of any community lies within its people. Whether we are voyaging through the skies across thousands of miles or at our desks and tables in our locales, the collective call to our global alumni community to continue leading and learning remains the same.

16

FOCUS | Summer 2021

IN THE NEWS CREATIVE LONGEVITY & WISDOM AWARD The first all-female rock band of the 1960s, the Ace of Cups, receives Fielding’s 2020 Creative Longevity and Wisdom Outstanding Scholar Practitioner Award. Band members include Mary Alfiler, Dallis Craft, Denise Kaufman, Mary Ellen Simpson, and Diane Vitalich. The award presentation took place virtually.

AMERICAN UROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE Alum Christopher A. Womack, PhD, presented his dissertation research at the 2020 Mid-Atlantic Section of American Urological Association Conference. The study, “African American Men: A Critical Examination of the Dynamics Involving Their Decision to Pursue or Not Purse Screening for Prostate Cancer,” aims to understand the role of risk assessment by African American men in pursuing or not pursuing prostate cancer screening.

DISTANCE PROGRAMMING Psychology student Fiona Cunningham discusses the Canadian Psychology Association’s recommendation that professional psychology training should establish satellite and distance programming to facilitate access to northern, rural, and remote regions in Psynopsys, Canada’s Psychology Magazine.

SECOND WAVE'S ON THE GROUND The Southwest Michigan Second Wave’s On the Ground Battle Creek series features alum L.E. Johnson, EdD. His dissertation research is on Hip Hop Pedagogy.

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP Dean Emeritus and faculty member Charles McClintock, PhD investigates faculty and administrative leadership culture in relation to the pandemic health crisis in the essay, “The Two Cultures of Academic Leadership,” featured at The International Journal of Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Higher Education.

ELECTED TO SERVE Distinguished Senior Advisor to the President, Orlando Taylor, PhD, was elected to also serve as a board member on The National Accrediting Commission for Diversity and Inclusion.

CHANGING THE WORLD Alum June Klein, EdD, receives Women in Leadership: Changing the World Award from Mission College, Santa Clara, California.

FIELDING AMONG TOP 50 Intelligent.com announces Fielding Graduate University among the top 50 for Best Doctorate in Psychology Programs for 2021.

17

18

FOCUS | Summer 2021

MYISHA DRIVER & ELIZABETH SPECK 2021 RECIPIENTS OF THE DIANNE KIPNES SOCIAL INNOVATION AWARD The Dianne Kipnes Endowed Fund for Social Innovation was established in 2016 by Clinical Psychology alum Dianne Kipnes, PhD, to support alumni research and projects that lead to lasting change across sectors and social issues.

The prestigious award is in its fourth year.

Myisha Driver, PhD, Nurturing Psyches of Color

Elizabeth Speck, PhD, Organizational Change for Fair Chance Hiring in an Era of Racial Reckoning

Dr. Driver is a 2019 graduate of the Clinical Psychology program. The Kipnes Award provides funding for her project Nurturing Psyches of Color, which will support parenting Black and Latinx teens and young adults as they face ongoing racial, ethnic, health, mental health, socioeconomic, and demographic disparities. The program will meet youth where they are by primarily utilizing digital means (e.g., social media platforms, online communities, video conferencing) to provide psychoeducation related to mental health and parenting in a culturally relevant manner. While at Fielding, Dr. Bendell-Estroff and Dr. Nolan Penn encouraged Dr. Driver to leverage

her academic, clinical, and research experiences to achieve her educational goals in innovative ways. Dr. Driver used her experience of Fielding’s learning technology and community to develop the Nurturing Psyches of Color program.

Dr. Speck is a 2011 Organizational Development graduate. The Kipnes Award provides funding for her project Organizational Change for Fair Chance Hiring in an Era of Racial Reckoning. The project will partner with hiring managers to shape attitudes and skills necessary to increase employment of workingage adults with criminal records. In collaboration with MindOpen Learning Strategies and M.A.D.E. Transitional Services, consulting efforts will focus on adopting Fair Chance Hiring with an explicit anti-racist focus. She believes that her work can contribute to the shifts in power necessary to change structural inequality at its roots, as opposed to the waste and churn of more band-aid, surface-of-the-iceberg attempts.

Dr. Speck shares: “Fielding experience gave me the tools to have gravitas behind my assertions, to continually place social phenomena in the context of dynamic complex systems. Faculty members like Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey and Dr. Annabelle Nelson challenged me, exposed me to revelatory literature, and demonstrated unconditional faith in the integrity of my quest for knowledge. For me, Fielding was about weaving together the personal, professional, and political, in opposition to the false silos of our status quo knowledge economy.”

Dr. Driver shares: “I was raised in a family and community that provided me with love, nurturing, and support. My elders taught me that “WE” are the village and that everyone has something valuable to share with their community and the world.

I hope that the project Nurturing Psyches of Color allows participants to build on their strengths and in turn share them with their babies and the world.”

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

19

DARK CURRENTS: CASTE, CONFLICT & COSMETICS IN INDIA Photo: Sekar (left) & Dr. Willis (right) in 1971

I

n an age of growing racial tensions, Colorism: Investigating a Global Phenomenon is a powerful contribution that examines the roots of colorism in modern society worldwide. In this essential monograph, Fielding faculty member David Blake Willis, PhD, and his colleague, J. Rajasekaran, discuss colorism in Dark Currents: Caste, Conflict, and Cosmetics in India: Colorism as a Reflection of Privilege and Power.

J. Rajasekaran (Sekar) is a Field Director at the Chella Meenakshi Centre in Madurai, South India. Sekar and Dr. Willis met in 1971 when he went to India for the first time and was studying Carnatic music and the Tamil language. Fifty years later, Sekar and Dr. Willis continue to collaborate, research, write, publish, and teach together.

The article discusses colorism in India, which has regional and intergenerational dimensions with implications for practice, research, and policy. The conversation around color permeates society in India, from marriages to movies. An obsession with fair skin has resulted in a toxic bleaching syndrome. “Colorism is socially constructed. Because it is socially constructed, it can be changed. The Colorism monograph and our article contribute to the argument that colorism needs a serious reconceptualization,” shares Dr. Willis.

Speaking to a personal experience, Sekar shared: “Three years ago, I visited government offices because I needed a permit to film in a temple.

A friend with fairer skin accompanied me. The government clerks, when answering my questions, spoke to my friend and looked at him. They were more prejudiced about my skin color than my caste.” Despite the challenges of colorism in India, change is on its way, inspired by young people. In her YouTube viral spoken-word poem, “Brown Girl’s Guide to Beauty,” for example, Aranya Johar writes: “Forget snow-white/say hello to chocolate brown/I’ll write my own fairy-tale.” Sekar and Dr. Willis invite us to consider what we can learn from transcultural examples of colorism.

20

FOCUS | Summer 2021

Alum Marc Hanlan, PhD, is the author of Creating Effortless Change: Transactive Leadership in A Constantly Channing World (2020)

Valerie Malhotra Bentz, PhD, and alum James Marlatt, PhD, are the editors of Deathworlds to Lifeworlds: Collaboration with Strangers for Personal, Social and Ecological Transformation (2021)

The late Henry V. Soper, PhD, co-wrote Hidden Cultures in Clinical Psychology: Sensitivity to Diversity in Culture (2020)

Alum Marjorie Woo, PhD, and her colleagues are the editors of the monograph

by Fielding University Press, Leadership Coaching in China (2021)

ALUMNI PUBLICATIONS Sherry L. Hatcher, PhD, and Kristine M. Jacquin, PhD, are the editors of the student-led research in a monography

by Fielding University Press, Psychology Ethics in Everyday Life (2020)

Alum Stephen Snyder is the author of Stress Reduction for Lawyers, Law Students, and Legal Professionals: Learning to Relax (2020)

Alum Cooper R. Woodard, PhD, is the author of Where Does Autism Come From?: The Theory of “Almost I” (2021)

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

THE TRANSFORMATIVE QUALITY OF FIELDING

By Fielding Faculty Member Richard P. Appelbaum, PhD

D

ottie Billington, Fielding alumna extraordinaire, passed away peacefully at age 90 on January 8, 2021. She died at her home in Emerald Heights, a community for elders in Redmond, Washington. Dottie, a leader in her community, remained physically active until the very end. She is survived by her two sons, Paul and Mark, and three grandchildren. Her husband of 54 years, Bill, had passed away in 2007.

I first knew Dottie officially as her Fielding mentor, but she immediately became my teacher, counselor, and then friend for life. Her dissertation, “Ego Development and Adult Education,” drew on Jane Loevinger’s theories to address a question of personal interest, since she had entered Fielding at age 50: What educational conditions are effective in promoting emotional growth? Dottie compared ego development over time among adult reentry graduate students at more than a dozen traditional universities, with similar students at Fielding. Her results, based on both meticulous statistical analyses and in-depth personal interviews, found that “intellectual stimulation can foster ego growth in adults—if within an environment of acceptance and unconditional positive regard.”

Fielding’s adult students showed significant growth as a result of our emphasis on transformative learning; students in traditional universities did not.

Photo: Courtesy of the Billington family

After graduating, Dottie decided that her 375-page dissertation, dense with references and numbers, would hardly be accessible to people who were looking for ways to grow and develop. So she wrote an accessible and lively book that reflected both her scholarly conclusions and her own approach to life, entitled, appropriately, Life is an Attitude: How to Grow Forever Better. The book has since been translated into 17 languages, and is now in its 20th year of sales. Like Dottie, the book is unrelentingly positive; it resulted in her successful career of public speaking and writing articles that lasted into her final months.

Over the decades following Dottie’s graduation in 1988, my wife Karen and I often visited her and Bill—hiking trails above their dream home on Lake Sammamish or along the Tolt River, cross-country skiing on Mount Rainier, or just stopping by after bicycle trips or Fielding intensives in the Pacific Northwest. And when I find myself in need of an attitude adjustment, I just reach for Dottie’s book, always conveniently at hand, and any self-imposed clouds quickly dissipate.

Karen and I love you and miss you, Dottie.

21

22

FOCUS | Summer 2021

YOUR PHILANTHROPIC IMPACT

DEVELOPMENT

LISA BUCKLEY 2020 INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT I feel honored by your support for my dissertation research: “Hope Examined through a Developmental Stage Perspective.” Your belief in the importance of this topic underscores the timeliness and value of my research. Thank you for your financial support. In these extreme times, I do have concerns about my financial livelihood.

I consider this scholarship award a bond of trust: trust in the value of the research and confidence in my skills as a researcher. I look forward to honoring that trust and sharing my research findings in the future.

URGENT NEEDS Considering a contribution to Fielding, but not sure where to apply your gift? Several funds are in need of immediate support.

ADVANCEMENT SCHOLARSHIP Established by the Board of Trustees, this scholarship helps students who are near graduation but face financial circumstances that prevent them from degree completion.

ETHNIC MINORITY DISSERTATION SCHOLARSHIP This annual award supports doctoral students who have completed a dissertation draft on a topic related to historically underrepresented groups. $13,290,000 in charitable gifts received since Fielding’s founding in 1974

40 scholarship programs available

40% of scholarship requests are funded

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

SCHOLARSHIP IMPACT

BLACK STUDENT ASSOCIATION LEADERS REFLECT ON THE LATE DR. RUFFINS LEGACY The Black Student Association (BSA) was established to foster growth, inclusion, and awareness of the interests of the Black student community at Fielding. Most recently, BSA organized a Diversity Speaker Series, COVID-19 Roundtable, and peer support group.

The late Dr. Stephen Ruffins was a Fielding faculty advisor to BSA. When he passed away in 2019, the group hoped to establish a student scholarship in his memory. With the lead gift from another Fielding faculty member, Dr. Debra Bendell Estroff, and her spouse Dr. Ron Estroff, the Stephen Ruffins Memorial Scholarship became a reality. Since its establishment, many faculty, alumni, and Dr. Ruffins’ colleagues outside Fielding contributed to the scholarship.

"Dr. Ruffins inspired many students.

For Black students, he represented what we could become—a psychologist, a mentor, and an advocate. When he passed, BSA pivoted from focusing on the loss of our mentor to navigating how to pay his legacy forward. The Stephen Ruffins Memorial Scholarship became a reality. Every term, several students receive the scholarship in the name of a professor who promoted cultural inclusion and equity. Each is pivotal to obtaining social justice. Although the scholarship recipients will not have the privilege of studying under Dr. Ruffins’ tutelage, they will experience his legacy through the scholarship."

—Tahlia Bragg, PhD student, Clinical Psychology, BSA President "Being a Black female student in the light of Dr. Ruffins’ legacy has been a rewarding experience. While several challenges have arisen since starting my academic tenure at Fielding, finding a place where my voice is heard has been vital. This place is the Black Student Association, which, I understand, was Dr. Ruffins’ idea. It provided me with colleagues and mentors as I began my doctorate studies amid the pandemic. Dr. Ruffins’ legacy of Black

excellence lives on through BSA and each Black student who gets to experience the empathy, tenacity, and care provided by student-faculty leadership. I was not blessed to be in Dr. Ruffins’ presence, but his spirit lives on in me as I pray to give back to Black students who come after me the same way he gave to Black students during his time on earth."

—Donica Harper, PhD Student, Clinical Psychology, BSA Vice President "Although my experience with Dr. Ruffins was short-lived, I am grateful for the opportunity to have observed his brilliance in action.

Often feeling a sense of awe in his presence, I desired to mimic his clinical giftedness as my journey was just beginning. I can recall instances when his creative approach to teaching and willingness to have difficult or seemingly controversial conversations created a space where I began developing my own professional identity. In these moments, Dr. Ruffins challenged me to move to a place of transparency and beyond my comfort zone as his presence helped to cultivate skills that have since served me well in working with a diverse population of clients. I will be forever appreciative of these experiences as I continue to move forward not only in my journey of becoming a clinical psychologist, but a proud Black clinical psychologist."

—Shirreka Mackay, PhD Student, Clinical Psychology, BSA Treasurer The Black Student Association is an interdisciplinary studentled group. All students, faculty, and administrators at Fielding who identify as descendants from the African diaspora are welcome to join.

Please contact bsa@fielding.edu for more information.

23

24

FOCUS | Summer 2021

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF OUR STUDENTS, ALUMNI, AND THE UNIVERSITY AS A WHOLE. The following list in alphabetical order reflects all contributions and pledges received from October 26, 2020 to March 20, 2021. Contact Elena Nicklasson at giving@fielding.edu with any questions, corrections or feedback.

Marty Aden Dorothy & Niels Agger-Gupta Kymberly Akouris Pauline J. Albert Michael Ali Julie Anding & Lisa Kornetsky Dorothy Andrews Anonymous Carrie Arnold Nancy Baker & Cathy Hauer Sarah Barker Ana Barrio Richard Beaver Evelyn Beck Suzanne Begin John Bennett & Eric T. Johnson Valerie Bentz Muriel Berg Issis Betts-Jimenez Karen S. Bogart & Zac Bogart Judy Bordin Romagne Boucher Alma Boutin-Martinez Judy Boykin-McCarthy Deirdre Bradley Natalie Broderick W. Patrick Brown Deborah Bucci Barton Buechner Malgorzata Burchard-Dziubinska Joyce Burland Linda Burton Joseph Bush & Janet S. Hartin Tony Byers Dave Caplan Barbara Carnes Peri Chickering Eileen Cleary Kathryn Coates Connie Corley Kathie Court Jenene Craig Lorraine Crockford Elisheva Dan Douglas Day Yaya De Andrade Tara Devine Anna DiStefano & Deborah Karoff Daniel Distelhorst & Elsa Distelhorst Josephine Doherty

Keith Dorsey Lawrence Drake Patricia East Kathleen Edwards Maha Elnashar Fariba Enteshari Zabrina Epps April Fallon & Rao Gogineni Dino Ferrare Tiffany Field Janet Fiero Linda Ford & Gary Bunevick Melody Fortenberry Luann Fortune Myrna Frank & Howard Dubowitz Wendy Fraser Marilyn Freimuth Benjamin Fuller Jamie Gairo Michael Scott Garner Jeanne Gavrin & Edward Gavrin Tracy Gibbons Jill Goetz Susan Goldberg Michael & Jinny Goldstein Russell & Donna Goodman Joshua Green Anthony Greene Shania Greenwood William Gregory Sheila Gregory Terri Groening & Randy Morningstar Cheri Gurse Lisa Hall Marc Hanlan Mary Hanzel Elizabeth A. Hardy & Rick Omlor Isabelle Harman Kimberly & Don Harrison Steven Hassan Sherry L. Hatcher & Robert Hatcher Anne Hatcher Berenberg Laura Hauser Raymond Hawkins Karl Hebenstreit Paula Herring Carol Hirashima Jody Hironaka-Juteau Linda & Reynolds Honold Michael Horne

William Huffaker & Darin Severns Clifford Hurst William & Linda Husson Kae & Phil Hutchison Kristine Jacquin Alisha Jiwani Johnson & Johnson Marsha Kalina Victoria Kaplan Judith Katz & David Levine Gwen Kennedy D’Arcy King June Klein Toni Knott Zieva & Marc Konvisser Diane Lamont Joyce Langenegger Lois LaShell & Alan Guskin James Lazarus Tomás Leal, Jr. & José Cox Donna LeBlanc Christina Leimer Maureen Leupold Tracy Long Susan Love Katherine Welch Lui & John Lui Jacqueline Lynch Sarah MacDougall Paige & Don Marrs Barbara Mather Susan Mazer-Smith Charles McClintock & Carol Wilburn Susan McCormick-Hadley Andrew McCoy Katherine McGraw Robert McNaughton Michelle Mehta Elisabeth Montgomery Eileen Morgan Elizabeth Myers Adair Nagata Nina Newman Elena I. Nicklasson Carl & Dianne Oliver Monica Osgood Beverly Palley Jenne Palmer Gerald Patnode Ellie Peskosky Nicky Petersen

Shirley Peterson Cynthia Phillips Melissa Pierce Joan Read Rebecca Reese Leesa Riviere Katrina S. Rogers Frank Rojas Marcia Ruben Kjell & Janice Rudestam Jennifer Ruff Kimberly Rust Steven Schapiro Lori Schneider Judith Schoenholtz-Read Connie Schultz Jane Schuster Kesiah Scully Becky Seashore Nancie Senet Constance & Jay Shafran Martha Sherman Courtney Shoemaker Laura Shriver Junell Silver Judy Silverstein Lillian Simmons Juliann Smendzuik-O’Brien Monique L. Snowden Marie Sonnet & Robert Berklich C. Reid Spearman Rebecca Stafford Timothy & Sherry Stanton Neal Stehly Joseph Steiner Judith Stevens-Long & Laurence Severance Beverly Stevenson John & Jane Stromberg Drew Suss Ted Takamura & Raynette Yoshida Robert & Donna Tankard Amy Taylor Orlando L. Taylor The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. Loreli Thompson Gail Townsend Joseph Troiani Union Bank Sergej van Middendorp

Connie Veazey Mary Jean Vignone Harry Voulgarakis Gary Wagenheim Ericka Waidley Mary Warren Nancy Weisman Dennis White David Willis & Mika Obayashi Prema Windokun Christopher Womack Wanda & Lawrence Wong Marjorie Woo Sharna Wood Michelle Woods Tim Yamasaki Patricia Zell & Michael Cox Honorary and memorial gifts acknowledge important people in our lives and in the Fielding community IN HONOR OF Valerie Bentz Tisha Berg Book release: Deathworlds to Lifeworlds: Collaboration with Strangers for Personal, Social and Ecological Transformation Lindsay Cahn – congratulations on your doctorate!

Sherry L. Hatcher The Paradigm Shifters President Katrina S. Rogers Judy Witt IN MEMORY OF Anne Alonso Barbara Caparulo Marie Fielder Elaine Halter Patricia Hodges Eleanor Komet Will A. Kouw Charlie & Edie Seashore Evan Weisman William Yule

ADD YOUR VOICE TO FIELDING’S VIRTUAL TRIBUTE BOARD BY SUPPORTING THE TINER - WITT EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT SCHOLARSHIP. FOR DETAILS VISIT: GIVING.FIELDING.EDU

In honor of the founding faculty and administration of the ELC Program - Anna DiStefano, EdD, Provost Emerita Thank you, Dr. Tiner and Dr. Witt, for making my doctoral journey life-changing and forever special.

- June Klein, EdD Drs. Witt and Tiner were two of Fielding’s most dedicated leaders - and had the best laughs ever!

- Charles McClintock, PhD, Dean Emeritus Gratitude to Dr. Tiner and Dr. Witt for supporting alternative approaches to dissertation research and presentation. You both rock. - Sarah MacDougall, EdD

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

25

FOUNDERS CIRCLE Bequests & Other Planned Gifts We thank those who have generously designated Fielding in their wills or have made a planned gift to ensure Fielding’s future.

Anonymous Pauline Albert Natalie Ammarell Peggy Azad Nancy Lynn Baker John L. Bennett Valerie Bentz Dorothy Billington* Marvin & Linda Branch Lynn Bursten Don D. Bushnell Christine Clark Kelly Clark Anna DiStefano D’Ann Downey Nanine Ewing Jeff Frakes Leola Furman Kathy Geller Tracy Gibbons John Gladfelter* Michael Goldstein Sharon Hawley-Crum Linda Honold Roberta Jensen Anne Kratz Diana Kunkel and Trish Cleary Sarah N. MacDougall

Paige & Don Marrs Barbara A. Mather Charles McClintock & Carol Wilburn Sara Miller McCune Pamela S. Meyer Mary Lou Michael Eileen Morgan Donald Mroz & Susan Lapine Christi Olson Wendy Overend Marilyn Price-Mitchell Kathleen Randolph Katrina S. Rogers Rochelle Santopoalo Paul and Nancy Shaw Andrea L. Shields Judith Silverstein James E. Skibo Nicola Smith Carol Sommerfield Ted J. Takamura Roland* & Charlotte Troike Pam Van Dyke Marjorie Woo Patricia Zell

*deceased

Founders Circle Membership Benefits: • • • •

Free Fielding publication annually Updates directly from the University Leadership Team Invitations to special events at the university Recognition opportunities

The Flexibility Of A Planned Gift: • You are free to alter your plans at any time.

• You can structure your gift in different ways: a specific amount of money, piece of property, or percentage of your estate.

• You retain control over your assets should you need them during your lifetime.

CONTACT ELENA NICKLASSON, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, ABOUT HOW YOU CAN MAKE AN IMPACT AT FIELDING THROUGH A PLANNED GIFT: 805.898.2926 OR GIVING@FIELDING.EDU.

26

FOCUS | Summer 2021

LEADERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Alum Kerul Kassel,PhD, discusses what inspires her philanthropy & the vision behind the First Nature Foundation.

D

r. Kassel is a 2011 alum and adjunct faculty member in Fielding’s School of Leadership Studies. She is a sustainability advocate, graduate educator, leadership coach, and a scholarpractitioner at heart. The vision behind the scholarship and the Sustainability Advisory Council to President Katrina Rogers belongs to Dr. Kassel. Since 2016, she has been a champion and a major funder of the Alumni Award for Student Sustainability Leadership, which has supported 13 doctoral students and their research.

Lloydene Fay Hill was the 2020 recipient of the Award. She shared that the scholarship was vital in supporting her goals of completing the dissertation research that aims to bring new insight and methodologies to human and wildlife interactions, and to conservation using Indigenous knowledge.

When discussing sustainability recently, Dr. Kassel shared: “We must acknowledge the work of past scholars and practitioners by realizing that sustainability includes not only ecological but also social justice. We need to focus on adaption more than mitigation.” While sustainability is a co-oped word, Dr. Kassel believes we can breathe a sigh of relief because of the new political leadership in the U.S., which supports sustainable solutions more broadly. It means that we can now transform the work of environmental and social justice activists into policy. She noted that, in this climate,

we can achieve something personally, professionally, and organizationally.

To help connect people with the natural world and all beings in it, as well as offer a space for a visceral experience of the awesomeness around us, Dr. Kassel established the First Nature Foundation. The foundation’s vision is the world where the past, present, and future of leadership come together for all sentient and nonsentient beings’ dignity and benefit. Among the foundation’s goals is to promote 21st-century leadership, which encompasses self-leadership, including how to manage uncertainty, tension, and conflict. “Our society could benefit from shared leadership that brings to the fore everyone’s strength and talents and their ideas, so we have more engagement, and therefore better outcomes,” shared Dr. Kassel.

Her philanthropy is about giving back. “I feel blessed in so many ways. I trained myself to live within my means, and I have enough to share. If everyone were more philanthropic to the extent they can, the world would be a better place because people would be more accountable.” Dr. Kassel aspires to live her life so that when she passes, her legacy lives on. “My mother set the example for me. I support organizations that helped me on my journey. I love Fielding’s vision and mission, and I want to give back to the university that has contributed to my growth.”

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

VALUES ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

We commit to the highest quality scholarship, research, and practice.

COMMUNITY

ABOUT FIELDING VISION Educating leaders, scholars, and practitioners for a

We support a collaborative learning environment built on inclusion and mutual respect.

more just and sustainable world.

DIVERSITY

We provide exemplary interdisciplinary programs for a

We commit to having a faculty, staff, and student body that is diverse and inclusive. We embrace and celebrate the wisdom, knowledge, and experiences of our diverse community.

LEARNER-CENTERED EDUCATION

We create an interactive experience that responds to the interrelated personal and professional lives of our students.

27

MISSION community of scholar-practitioners with a distributed learning model grounded in student-driven inquiry and leading to enhanced knowledge.

ENROLLMENT:

981

WOMEN MEN

23%

AGE RANGE:

77%

21 -81

SOCIAL JUSTICE

AMERICAN INDIAN OR ALASKA NATIVE

3%

We commit to advancing equality and justice in our university, and in the local, national, and global communities impacted by our work.

ASIAN

3%

BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEARNING

WHITE

We inspire a re-examination of one’s world view and underlying assumptions to enable a deeper understanding of self and society.

RACE/ETHNICITY UNKNOWN*

15% 0%

HAWAIIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER

12%

HISPANIC OR LATINO

48% 6%

TWO OR MORE RACES

3%

NON - RESIDENT ALIEN

1%

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS*

8%

174 STAFF: 84

*Grouped together in IPEDS as Race/ Ethnicity Unknown. Aggregated data based on census data as reported to Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

FACULTY:

STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO:

6:1

28

FOCUS | Summer 2021

SCHOOLS & PROGRAMS SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES

SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY

CENTERS & INITIATIVES

DOCTORAL DEGREES

DOCTORAL DEGREES

CENTERS AND INITIATIVES

EdD, Leadership for Change

PhD, Clinical Psychology

The Institute for Social Innovation helps individuals, nonprofits, businesses, and government organizations create effective, efficient, sustainable and just solutions to social problems via research, leadership, and organizational development.

PhD, Human Development

Concentrations

PhD, Organizational Development & Change

Forensic Psychology Health Psychology

Concentrations

Neuropsychology

Community College Leadership for Change

Social Justice & Diversity

Creative Longevity & Wisdom Dual Language Evidence Based Coaching Inclusive Leadership for Social Justice Leadership of Higher Education Systems Media, Technology & Innovation Organizational Development Reflective Practice/Supervision Somatics, Phenomenology & Communicative Leadership Sustainability Leadership MASTER’S DEGREE MA, Organizational Development & Leadership CERTIFICATES Comprehensive Evidence Based Coaching Evidence Based Coaching for Organization Leadership Organizational Development & Leadership

PhD, Infant & Early Childhood Development Concentration Reflective Practice & Supervision PhD, Media Psychology

The Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education is a multidisciplinary research and advocacy center aimed at advancing diversity and inclusion throughout society.

Concentrations Brand Psychology & Audience Engagement Positive Psychology Social Impact of Mobile Media & Immersive Technology MASTER’S DEGREE MA, Media Psychology CERTIFICATES Clinical Psychology, Postbaccalaureate Media Psychology (Media Neuroscience or Brand Psychology & Audience Engagement) Neuropsychology Specialization Training Program Respecialization in Clinical Psychology, Postdoctoral

The Alonso Center for Psychodynamic Studies aims to expand the application of psychodynamic ideas, treatments, and principles both within the Fielding community and the larger society.

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

MASTER’S & CERTIFICATES GRADUATES OCTOBER 16, 2020 – MARCH 15, 2021

SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES

Certificate in Evidence Based Coaching for Organization Leadership

Master of Arts in Organizational Development & Leadership

Liliana Jurado Nicole Jenell Lomibao

Robert Balaam Kristin Linklater

Certificate in Comprehensive Evidence Based Coaching Amy Andrews Diane Elizabeth Bailey-Boulet Jillian Doty Coppley Pamela Cramer Ingrid Hu Dahl Allison Duffee Julie Renee Elving Astrid Eberhardt Emond Darius Ajai Frasure Jennifer Ann Guillaumin Pam Henningsen Susan Jane Horwood Marisa Lynn Latham French Paulette Valarie Lewis Nicholas Allan Lillo Allison Matlack Robert Laurence McLaughlin Catherine Lynn Meyers Hanako Lombardi Olmer Ingrid Orellana Candice Reffe Ellen Shulman Eva Steortz Levi Surls Jordan Edward Tinney

Certificate in Organizational Development & Leadership Erin Lyn Daruszka Erin Allyson Fox-Ramirez Cressida James Elizabeth Jean Kinsfather Nathalie Andree Salles Vasemaca Adivakamau Savu

Certificate in Media Psychology with an emphasis in Brand Psychology & Audience Management Shani Byard Jeanine Lara Riedl

Certificate in Media Psychology with an emphasis in Media Neuroscience Caroline George Mahir Meric

Certificate in Neuropsychology Specialization

SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY

Saule Buzaite-Hutton Tye Forest Hunter Prince Charles Oteng-Boateng

Master of Arts in Infant & Early Childhood Development with an emphasis in Mental Health

Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Clinical Psychology

Deidra Michelle Dent

Master of Arts in Media Psychology Nada Fawaz Anna Marie Piersimoni Magdaris Quiñones Otero Emily Elisabeth Umbaugh Ashley Marie Vargas

Shelly Buckingham Aimee D’Errico Janell Katherine Dulaney Jeffrey Duong Helen Grzeskiewicz Diana Kundrotaite Jasmine Shanay Shepard Sakina H. Spears

29

30

FOCUS | Summer 2021

Doctoral Graduates OCTOBER 16, 2020 – MARCH 15, 2021

SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Thulani A. DeMarsay, PhD

Gavan J. Howe, PhD Energized Work: When Choice is Really no Choice at All

A Qualitative Study Exploring the Lived Experience of Organizational Leaders with a Contemplative Practice

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & CHANGE

Taking the Drama out of Trauma: Evaluating a Potential Relationship between Trauma and Obesity

Kristi L. Richert, PhD

Steven A. Hassan, PhD

Christine Montemer, EdD

Danielle Sonnenberg, PhD

LEADERSHIP FOR CHANGE Kathy L. Albrecht, EdD

The Critical Middle: The Role of Arts and Arts-Integrated Technology in Engaging and Motivating the Disenfranchised Middle School Student

Ingrid Greenberg, EdD

Effective Instructional Design Practices for Online Language Learning: Emerging Trends and Implications

Perry R. James, EdD

An Autoethnography about Navajo Sweat House Leadership Teachings: Acquiring Traditional Identity for Restoring Traditional Leadership Perspectives

Lugene Kennebrew, Jr., EdD

Vivifying the Natural Genius within NeoIndigenous Scholars

Wedny J. Muhlhauser, EdD

Creative Play for Teaching Empathy to Young Children: An Inner Exploration of an Instructor’s Process, a Visual and Narrative Journey

Telletha Valenski, EdD

Dancing to Learn Navajo: Assessing Levels of Perceived Learning Enjoyment in Young Dual-Language Navajo Students Following a Short Session of Aerobic Dance

Regenerative Uprising: A Grounded Theory

The Emotional Challenges of Teaching Online

Victoria Verlezza, PhD

#WHOAMI?: An Exploration of Social Media’s Influence on Racial Identity Development of Emerging Adults

Margaret M. Warrell, PhD

The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law

Carolyn T. Meyer, PhD

Perceptions of Experiential Learning in a Graduate Practicum Internship

C. Reid Spearman, PhD Strategy in Small Information Technology Firms

Women Rising: Internal Facilitators to Lead from the Top

David P. Waggoner, PhD

HUMAN & ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS

Nicole M. Welch, PhD

Ann M. Alexander, PhD

The Accidental Phenomenologist: Becoming a Phenomenologist and a Schutzian Scholar

Mohamed Y. Amer, PhD

Contested Futures: The Emergent Faces of Nationalism in Egypt from Tahrir Square to Sisi’s Election

Lee Ann Avery, PhD

In Extremis Leadership as Experienced

by Offshore Sailing Captains and Their Sea Stories

Coaching Political Skill

Team Coaching: Influencing Work-Team Trust

Jianhui Zhang, PhD The Co-Evolution Process between Workgroups and Designed Organizational Change in the Context of Chinese Culture

FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | Fielding.edu

SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY INFANT & EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT WITH AN EMPHASIS IN MENTAL HEALTH & DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS

Nicole A. Dent, PhD

The Moderating Role of Pain Tolerance and Fearlessness about Death (The Acquired Capability for Suicide) in the Relationship Between Chronic Low Back Pain and Suicidal Behaviour

Jennifer C. Greb, PhD

The Importance of Art for Twice Exceptional Adults: A Kamilleon Case Study

The Moderating Effects of Personal Resilience and Social Support on the Relationship between Sexual Trauma and Suicidal Ideation among Active Duty Military

Brandi A. Kulikov-Ramirez, PhD

Julia A. Holdren, PhD

Christine Clark, PhD

Fathers’ Perception of Bonding with Their Exclusively Breastfed Baby from 0-12 Weeks

Frances D. Poteet, PhD

The Fever Effect: Do Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Improve when They Use a Device to Warm Their Blood?

Effects of a 6-week AVACEN Treatment Method for ASD

PSYCHOLOGY WITH AN EMPHASIS IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Althea A. Clark, PhD

The Impact of Acculturative Stress on the Mental Health of Filipino Nurse Immigrants Working in Emergency Rooms

Jamye C.A. Cruse, PhD

Does Self-Efficacy Moderate the Presentation of Secondary Trauma in Correctional Officers: A Study of Gender

An Examination of the Protective Factors that Reduce Risk Behaviors for LGBT High School Students in Massachusetts

Kellie L. Nesto, PhD

Impact of Intellectual Disability on Rates of Violence and Threats of Violence in a Juvenile Correctional Facility

Trenton Owens, PhD Exploring Internalized Transphobia and Coping through Photovoice Stacie Papineau, PhD

Stephanie D. Taylor, PhD

Making Meaning Post Mormonism

Jessica M. Woodell, PhD

The Effects of Childhood and Adolescent Abuse on Early Maldaptive Schemas

Nelly C. Yuen, PhD Factors Related to Length of Stay and Outpatient Treatment Adherence in Adolescent Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization PSYCHOLOGY WITH AN EMPHASIS IN MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY Corey E. Chapman, PhD

The #BLACKEXCELLENCE Mindset: Black Media Consumers’ Perceptions about Aspirations and Black Macro-Level Influencers

Tatyana Y. El-Kour, PhD

Digital Behavior Response in Augmented Reality versus Non-Augmented Reality Contexts: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Gregg A. Moore, PhD

Word Usage Bias in Facebook Communities: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Political Commentary

The Influence of Rape Myth Acceptance, Peer Norms, and Self-Efficacy on Bystander Behavior: Utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior with Bystander Intentions to Intervene in Sexual Violence as a Mediator in College Men

Elizabeth L. Murphy, PhD Meaning-Making, Connectedness, and Legacy: Examining the Benefits of Storytelling in an Aging Population

Julienne D. Shin, PhD

Olga Valentin, PhD Savoring Positive Experiences on Instagram

A Qualitative Exploration of the Military Mother during a Combat Era

31

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

2020 De la Vina Street Santa Barbara, CA 93105 Fielding.edu

PAID

Los Angeles, CA Permit No. 3828

CONTINUE

YOUR CONNECTION

WITH FIELDING ALUMNI A S S O C I AT I O N OPEN TO THE ENTIRE FIELDING COMMUNITY! Your membership supports vital resources our community relies upon, such as an alumni library, alumni directory, interactive locator map, job board, discounts on continuing education offerings, and more.

Multiple membership options are available!

Visit alumni.fielding.edu for information or contact Director of Alumni Relations Hilary Molina at alumnirelations@fielding.edu

Learn more and join today at Alumni.Fielding.edu