Justice Studies - Department of Chemistry - San Jose State University

volunteers in Superior Courts to assist clients who are using Self-Service Centers to representthemselves in a variety of litigation. Volunteers complete a minimum of 300 hours over anacademic year. The program was brought to Santa Clara County last year, and placed its firstvolunteers in the local courts this fall; 26 Justice Studies students are members of that inauguralgroup of volunteers. Students of Professor Timmons also serve underperforming elementaryschools (e.g., Gardner Elementary) to assist children with reading comprehension and mathskills.All three of our student groups engage in community service and fundraising activities forcommunity groups. For example, Alpha Phi Sigma (APS) students volunteered at the SecondHarvest Food Bank in Fall 2006, and regularly participate in the “toys for tots” drive with theSJSU police department. In Fall 2007, APS students gave a workshop about transferring toSJSU, WST information, internship info, financial aid, and APS to students at San Jose CityCollege, and plan to offer similar workshops to other local community colleges. Three Chi PiSigma (CPS) members went to Washington DC in Fall 2006 to walk in memory of slain SJPDOffice Jeffrey Fontana (B.S., Justice Studies, ’00) in the Concerns of Police Survivors walk.CPS also conducted fundraisers in 2006-2007 to help organizations and individuals in lawenforcement, and brought speakers from local justice organizations to speak to students. TheForensic Science student group also brought speakers to campus, toured the Santa Clara Countymedical examiner’s office, volunteered at the 2005 and 2006 California Association ofCriminalists semi-annual meetings, co-sponsored a Red Cross blood drive, held a bake sale toraise funds for Katrina disaster relief, and volunteered at numerous department events includingthe career fair, the 75 th anniversary celebration, and the department Open House.JS graduate student Nathalie Goldrain tutored and mentored at-risk youth, inmates in San MateoCounty’s Juvenile Hall, and inmates at Central California Women’s Facility; worked with at-riskand gang-involved youth at the Restorative Justice Project at Santa Clara County JuvenileProbation; taught at CHOICES Vocational Charter School (for youth released from CaliforniaYouth Authority and local Detention Centers); taught life skills to women at Central CaliforniaWomen’s Facility in Chowchilla; volunteered at Amnesty International; served on the board ofdirectors of the YWCA; and founded “Free from the Inside Out,” a program bridging inmateswith educational services and the community.4.6 Goals and PlansUndergraduates. As noted in section 4.3.b., one key goal is to institute central advising, studentsupport and directed retention efforts through the hiring and training of a new staff advisor. Asecond goal is to establish a fund to enable students to engage in research. The department hasattempted to raise funds for such a program in its last two alumni newsletters, but has insteadprimarily received donations for scholarships.Graduate students. Although the current cohort of graduate students is not dominated by whites,in past cohorts whites have been the largest ethnic group. As a result, one department goal is toincrease the representation of students of color in the graduate program through informalrecruiting by individual faculty, and more formal recruiting at the career/internship fair. Should21