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Support equity-focused scholarships & programs
On Giving Tuesday, November 29, 2022, the Study Abroad & Away office launched the crowdfunding effort to raise our goal of $10,000 for our new scholarship fund named after our beloved former Dean, Dr. Ruth Huard. The first crowdfunding effort raised our first seed fund of $1,900. Thank you all who donated to this effort. View Updates 1/27/2023
DONATE YEAR ROUND: The SJSU Advancement Office has enabled us to continue to raise funds year round through the SJSU Tower Foundation online portal to support this equity-focused Study Abroad & Away priorities for our students. Donate Now
Funding Priorities:
- Equity & Inclusion Scholarships:We plan to offer scholarships to incentivize historically underrepresented minority
students to participate in any of our 350+ study abroad program opportunities around
the world. We especially want to help offset some of the expenses that are often required,
but are either prohibited by their financial aid assistance or before aid is applied
including required program or housing abroad deposits, student visa, international
insurance coverage, and others.
- Global Ambassadors Leadership Development: As we recover from the pandemic which greatly impacted global education, we are preparing
to launch a new Global Ambassador leadership development program for current and former study abroad students to engage
in the internationalization goals of the university.
- DACA Students Abroad: We want to level the playing fields for DACA students who have an additional required $575 filing fees for the USCIS Form I-131: Application for Travel Documents, which enables them to participate in international education programs and be able to return to the US.
How to Donate
Donations are accepted year-round through the SJSU Tower Foundation.
Online: You have the option to securely donate online in honor of someone special to you, anonymously, as a one-time, scheduled, or recurring gift.
Check: You can write a check made payable to the "SJSU Tower Foundation." Please download and fill out the Donation Deposit Form directing the donation to the Dr. Ruth Huard Study Abroad Scholarship Fund (Account #:034-1800-1140) and send with the check to:
SJSU Tower Foundation
Advancement Services, Clark Hall 3rd Floor
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0184
About Dr. Ruth Huard
The scholarship fund is named after our beloved former Dean, Dr.
Ruth Huard who led the College of Professional and Global Education (CPGE) until 2022. She served as the leader for multiple areas within the college: the academic departments in information and data science disciplines, professional and continuing education, global programs and services, and two research and training centers - Silicon Valley Center for Global Studies and the Silicon Valley Center for Big Data and Cybersecurity. As Dean, she also managed the administrative units of the college and was responsible for supporting over 11,000 students that participated in the professional education programs annually, as well as 3,000+ international students from over 100 countries.
With over 20 years of academic and professional experience in the areas of learning sciences and technology design, Dr. Huard had facilitated the growth of online teaching and learning opportunities for the SJSU community through academic entrepreneurship and accessible technologies. She also managed the development and implementation of professional education programs for SJSU students and the broader community, including launching the high-demand (bottleneck) courses programs as a means of increasing student access to critical courses.
Dr. Huard held a variety of academic leadership positions at SJSU and the University of Hawaii, Manoa. She was an SJSU Salzburg Fellow in 2013. As a former faculty member at the University of Hawaii, she enjoyed teaching courses in emerging technologies, research methods and applied organizational communication and leadership. She started her professional career in industry, applying her entrepreneurial skills at Silicon Valley startup companies. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University where she conducted research in human-computer interaction and smart learning systems in the School of Education and in the Computer Science Department–Knowledge Systems AI Lab. While Dr. Huard was excited by emerging technologies, her interests and focus were on the people that engaged with the technology.
Update: 1/27/2023
We are happy to report that together we have raised a total of$1,900for our three initiatives: 1) Diversity & Inclusion Scholarship, 2) Global Ambassadors Leadership Development, 3) DACA Students Abroad. While we are well short of our long-term goal of raising the initial seed fund of $10,000, we are grateful for your help in getting us toward that goal.
At this time we are not ready to disburse the fund until we have reached the minimum threshold of $10,000 required to launch a scholarship through our Financial Aid & Scholarship Office. Below is a summary of how we will continue our efforts in each area.
Ongoing Fundraising: We are excited to share that the SJSU Advancement Office has created a way for us to build upon your generous donation with ongoing fundraising efforts beyond the Giving Tuesday initial campaign. Donors are now able to donate one-time, scheduled, or recurring donations to our fund. Please consider donating today.
Global Ambassador Program: We are still committed to launching some components of our Global Ambassador program for our study abroad alumni. We will highlight the participants in our program on our Study Abroad Blog.
DACA Students Abroad: While we are not able to financially support our DACA students with their filing fees through the USCIS process to study abroad, we are excited to receive the commitment of the Immigrant Legal Defense (www.ild.org) to work with us to provide legal support to any DACA student who wishes to study abroad.
SHARE: Please share this link (bit.ly/support-equity) with your networks and encourage them to support our fundraising effort.
*Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Please consult with your tax advisor.