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RESEARCH FOR A CHANGING WORLD | 2017
Salud Carbajal: Alumnus in Congress
Now and for the Future: Fielding’s Academic Vision
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hen freshman Congressman Salud Carbajal takes office in the nation’s capital this month, he’ll be bringing many of the skills and perspectives he learned in Organizational Management at Fielding.
BY PRESIDENT KATRINA ROGERS & PROVOST AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT GERALD PORTER
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ielding Graduate University is an institution responsive to the demands of our time, and focused on graduate education in the social sciences. Fielding has accomplished its mission through a highly personalized experiential learning model that connects theoretical mastery with practical application.
The academic vision at Fielding is driven by our continued dedication to offering highquality graduate education that invites learners to craft their own research and scholarship agendas. The Fielding faculty practice andragogy, a learning approach that focuses on how adults learn and how they need to be supported in reaching their goals. This approach to graduate education emphasizes the unique cognitive needs of adults and supports the life circumstances that are likely to confront them. Fielding weds this andragogical sensitivity to academic rigor and the cultivation of new knowledge. Our senior leadership team and faculty leaders have implemented a comprehensive academic plan to strengthen current programs, build new programs addressing 21st century needs, and re-envision what a university can be for a new generation of learners in a global community. A new School of Leadership Studies (SLS) was launched in July, 2016, that brings under one umbrella the programs formerly housed in the School of Human & Organizational Development (HOD) and the School of Educational Leadership for Change (ELC). This merger strengthens the rigor of academic programs by exposing students to a broader range of Fielding faculty’s extensive expertise, and enabling students to pursue research questions that are not only relevant but systemic and multidisciplinary in scope.
Now more than ever, leaders in organizations, communities, and systems face complex problems—complexities that can be untangled with skills and capabilities taught in a Fielding SLS program. These programs offer a common doctoral framework so students can tailor their education across disciplines. The framework also focuses attention on the essential tools that graduate students build at Fielding: excellent writing, strong critical thinking, solid research skills, discernment of interrelationships between and among theories, and the ability to navigate diverse environments and work across difference. The faculties of the various programs within the school collaborate on course offerings and across disciplinary lines, serving students from other programs, enabling students to partake in a wider variety of learning opportunities and faculty expertise. One result has been to add new concentrations in diverse and distinctive content areas such as media, technology, and innovation; leadership for social and ecological sustainability; and reflective practice/supervision. Another expression of Fielding’s academic vision is our innovative programming in psychology. Our first academic program was the highly regarded PhD in Clinical Psychology, the only such program with a distributive model accredited by the American Psychological Association. The faculty are skilled scholar-practitioners, well versed in the distinctive needs of our students for a learning environment that builds community and is offered in a flexible way. Additional programs over the years, such as a post-doctorate in neuropsychology, graduate programs in media psychology, and a post-baccalaureate in clinical psychology have built on our reputation in behavioral science. Lastly, we seek to imagine the future of
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FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY | WWW.FIELDING.EDU
graduate education and Fielding’s role in this future. The students of the future need to be prepared for societies that are increasingly diverse, economically insecure, and global in orientation. Working professionals will need to be culturally competent, globally savvy, fluent in IT and computer applications, and prepared for rapidly changing technology and workforce requirements. Institutions themselves will need to be agile, flexible, and adaptive.
The students of the future, those born since 1995 (Generation Z), now make up 26 percent of the population. Eighty-one percent believe that a college education is necessary and more than a third near college age are worried about the affordability of college, while nearly half are worried about student debt. They also tend to be risk averse. In terms of learning styles, they prefer intrapersonal and independent learning over group work, as well as practical, hands-on instruction from engaged instructors. Fielding leaders are discussing how our institution can address these changing mores of the next generation. This exciting work of imagining the Fielding future necessitates a habit of mind that is creative while also grounded in the available data. The enduring and abiding elements of Fielding remain: a flexible, relational learning environment and a strong dispersed and diverse community with exemplary quality in all academic offerings. These elements will always be evident at Fielding. Thus, the work of building a better future continues.
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“It served me well throughout my many years in county government,” says Carbajal, who served on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for 12 years before being elected to Congress in November. “Fielding was a great foundation to lean on and draw from—a reservoir of knowledge.” Born in Mexico, Carbajal immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child. His father worked as a miner in Arizona, and then a farm worker in Oxnard, Calif. Carbajal attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, as an undergrad, and served in the Marine Corps Reserve for eight years, including active duty service during the Gulf War.
customer-service framework based on a lot of the things I learned.” He graduated in 2003—and was elected as County Supervisor the following year. During his years in office, he became known for championing environmental causes, health programs that benefit children and seniors, and school programs that help at-risk kids. He has received a Community Environmental Council Environmental Hero award; a Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties “Sticking His Neck Out” Award; a Jewish Federation Ambassador of Freedom Award; and was named a Community Role Model by Women’s Economic Ventures. Now Congressman Carbajal, a Democrat, will represent California’s 24th district— Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties and parts of Ventura County—in DC.
“I’m very well aware that I am a freshman and my party is in the minority,” he says, “but I am not deterred from trying to work with anyone and everyone, my party and the party across the aisle, to try to move legislation forward. I will continue to be a loud voice and an advocate for the residents of the Central “It had a very progressive mission and teaching Coast that elected me.” style. That was important to me,” he says. “It Indeed, he has a long list of issues he hopes also took into consideration the schedules of to address: economic opportunity for working working professionals.” families, access and affordability for higher education, comprehensive immigration reOnce he started, though, what he loved most form, sustainable social security and Medicare was the ability to apply what he learned to programs, civil rights, climate change … real-life situations. It was Santa Barbara County Supervisor Naomi Schwartz who encouraged him to pursue higher education. He was working as her chief of staff at the time, and Fielding appealed to him for a couple of reasons.
“We engaged in dialogue and invited people from the community to interact with us and provide insight,” he says. “It was relevant to our daily working environment—very practical, very germane. It allowed us firsthand to understand the theoretical concepts of what we were learning and apply those to different aspects of our job.” Carbajal was interested in thinking about the county’s role in terms of customer service. “What was it that drove customer service vs. the principles that undermined customer service—in government and from a public policy standpoint?” he says, and his Fielding studies helped him develop that idea. “It was very helpful. I was able to work on implementing a
It won’t be easy. But he’s ready. “Fielding always challenged us to think of diverse points of view, to try to really understand the humanity of our interactions with one another,” the Congressman says. “While we might have diverging views, there’s a guiding principle of working together despite our differences to find common ground for the greater good. It’s something I’ve always had as a value, and Fielding reinforced that.”
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