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July-November 2007: WISR News Items
WISR MA alumnus, Carole Morton, MFT, will now be
offering MFT program seminars on a regular monthly basis as a member
of WISR's core faculty. Here's Carole's brief bio:BA in American
Studies/Women's Studies, with honors, MA in Human Communication
from S.F. State University, 1989, MA in Psychology, Western Institute
for Social Research, 2001. Carole has been in private practice as
a communications counselor since 1990 and as a Marriage and Family
Therapist since 2001. She specializes in both Mind/Body Healing
and early childhood abuse issues. In addition to her private practice,
she writes, speaks and leads groups and workshops on these topics.
******
WISR PhD student and core faculty member, Larry
Loebig spoke at the Internet Service Providers Confernce (ISPCON)
in San Jose, October 17th. Larry's presentation was Guerrilla
Marketing for Service Providers. Here is the abstract of his
presentation:
There are over 200 marketing tactics available to promoting your
business. Expensive advertising is just one tactic. We will discuss
the importance of fusion and joint venture marketing - how to create
exponential vs. lateral growth. We will also look at how to deploy
marketing combinations Guerilla Marketing is based on behaviorial
science - we will also explore the research on the psychology of
instant influence and the 28 principals of attraction. Every participat
will have the opportunity to create a 7 step marketing plan. Here
is the Larry's bio from the conference program: Larry Loebig, Director,
Guerrilla Marketing Association, is only one of three certified
guerrilla marketing master trainers on the planet. He is also co-founder
of www.California.com, www.SFO.com and MasterCoach.com. He has run
a successful online service business since 1992. He earned a Masters
Degree in organizational development and management for virtual
organizations. He is currently working on his doctorate in virtual
and accelerated learning.
******
WISR PhD student, David Yamada, who is a labor
law professor at Suffolk University in Boston, was recently interviewed
on National Public Radio. In this short interview, he discusses
how businesses may sometimes offer students unpaid summer internships
in violation of Federal Minimum Wage laws. Here is the link
to the two-minute radio story, "Dodging the Summer Internship
Blues"; the last half minute includes the interview with David:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/07/24/AM200707242.html
******
At the end of the summer, we received this letter
from Dr. Anngwyn St. Just, WISR PhD alumnus.
"I am back in Switzerland after spending the first part of
the summer in South America. My book is being published in Spanish
and I have been teaching in Buenos Aires. This presented more cross
cultural challenges and yet another language and as usual, I learned
a lot. I have remained very involved with the systemic constellation
work here in Europe and internationally, as well. The founder of
this method, Bert Hellinger ,now 82 ,has 'moved on' as he says,
into a primarily spiritual focus and some of his students have gone
along in this direction, as well. The majority, however, have chosen
to continue to explore work with systems on other levels, such as
families, organization and larger social systems. I have been and
still am the liaison for this group to the field of social trauma.
I am forwarding a post from Sheila Saunders on that subject which
you may find of interest. We are having a cool and rainy summer
here at the Lake of Zurich which is perfect weather for writing.
My second book should be completed by the end of the summer with
the working title: A Question of Balance: A Systemic Approach
to Resolving Trauma.
January-June 2007: WISR News Items
WISR PhD student, David Yamada, who is a tenured
faculty member at Suffolk Univesity Law School in Boston, is
forming a non-profit dedicated to addressing the problem of Workplace
Bullying. His March 2007 seminar at WISR on
"Making our Workplaces More Humane and Inclusive: Possibility
or Impossible Dream?" provided an overview of some
of these issues. [For
more on the content of the seminar, click here.] David Yamada
has also founded The
New Workplace Institute, which is a new multidisciplinary, nonprofit
research and eduction centern promoting healthy, productive and
socially responsible workplaces.
******
WISR alumnus, Mary St. Clair, has passed her MFT
second exam (clinical vignette exam). She will therefore have
her license as soon as her paperwork is processed.
******
WISR alumnus, Risa Pervier-Sawhill, took the Standard
MFT written exam (forthe first time) on February 24 and passed.
She is now studying for the MFT Clinical Vignette Exam and plans
on taking that exam during the summermonths.
******
WISR PhD student, Shyaam Shabaka, and WISR Faculty
Member, John Bilorusky, teamed up to assist Neighborhood
House of North Richmond in Training a Dozen Community Residents
in the Skills of Interviewing and the Methods of Participatory Research.
The participating community-based researchers surveyed over
1,000 Richmond residents to gather information about the eating
and exercises habits as part of the "Healthy Eating, Active
Living" Project. Some training materials developed by
Shyaam and John for use in this project, along with an earlier training
article by Terry Lunsford and John:
Interviewing
Tips for HEAL Project Community Health Advocates
Self-Assessment
Quiz Questions
Sample
Scripts for Role-Playing
Notes
on Interviewing (by Terry Lunsford and John Bilorusky)
******
Makhosazana Fletcher, who just finished her BA
at WISR this past May, is publishing a newsletter,
with her husband, Steven Fletcher, to update everyone on their various
creative and social change activities. June/July
2007 issue (pdf) August/September
2007 issue (pdf)
******
WISR PhD alumnus, John Borst, has been teaching
at Antioch's campus in Santa Barbara. He is teaching an
online continuing education course, based on his dissertation and
subsequent work, on great teaching. See the introductory
page to "Action Learning: A path of professional growth and
renewal at http://web.mac.com/jborst1
Dr. Borst also presented a paper, "The Educator's Compass:
A tool for focused reflection and renewal of teaching practice,"
at the Central California Regional Conference on Excellence in Teaching
& Learning, held at Fresno State on April 13, 2007.
******
WISR
PhD alumnus, Dr. Diane Poole Heller, has a website that is promoting
her training materails on trauma resolution.
******
The following profile, taken off the Internet, provides
an overview of the many areas in which WISR
BA alumnus, Eli Rosenblatt, has been working for social change.
Eli's senior thesis resulted in the book he edited, Criminal
Injustice: Confronting the Prison Crisis, published by South
End Press.
******
An article, Participatory
Action-Research at WISR: Sound Research Goes Hand in Hand with Inclusiveness
and Empowering Community Action (doc)by WISR Faculty Members
John Bilorusky, PhD, Terry Lunsford, PhD, and Cynthia Lawrence,
PhD will appear in the forthcoming (Spring 2008) textbook, DEMOCRACY
WORKS: JOINING THEORY AND ACTION TO FOSTER GLOBAL CHANGE, edited
by Torry Dickinson and Terrie Clark, Boulder: CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Participatory
Action-Research at WISR: Sound Research Goes Hand in Hand with Inclusiveness
and Empowering Community Action (pdf)
Abstract of the article, "Participatory Action-Research
at WISR": This article outlines the evolution of some strategies,
methods and ideas about participatory, action-oriented, community-based
inquiry that have evolved over the past 40 years. The authors discuss
some of the highlights of their involvements in educational reform
and social change endeavors during this 40 year period, and how
these involvements have shaped and contributed to their approach
to participatory action-research. During this time, the authors
have lived and worked in California, while also having had the opportunity
to work and learn with people involved in communities throughout
the United States, and in a few cases, in other countries. The authors
focus on their vision of "participatory action-research,"
and how it has been developed and put forth as a central feature
of the learning in the alternative, community-based academic degree
programs at the Western Institute for Social Research. This article
highlights the main qualities of this approach, and more specifically
the role and techniques involved in: eliciting ideas and information
from others, the analytic uses of group discussion, learning from
others and in collaboration with others, and probing to look beneath
the surface. The authors note some of the intellectual currents
which resonate with this approach, including the work of Paulo Freire
and some of the very dynamic, rigorous and imaginative approaches
to cutting-edge inquiry in the biological and physical sciences,
as represented in Complexity Theory, for example. In discussing
these approaches, the authors note how we can go beyond the mechanistic,
simplistic versions of science and become engaged in claiming science
for all of us. With the help of strategies such as these, and by
further refining and improving on strategies such as these, we can
approach the local and global challenges of the future with some
measure of hope.
November-December 2006: WISR News Items
Many of us in the WISR community were saddened to
learn that Ida Baker recently passed away. Ida was a long-time
resident in WISR's neighborhood, and for many years, she enthusiastically
volunteered at WISR and participated in our interdisciplinary seminars.
Here is a brief excerpt from her obituary: "IDA BAKER passed
away peacefully, Sunday, October 1, 2006 in Berkeley, CA. Homegoing
celebration was held October 9, 2006 at Antioch Missionary Baptist
Church, 1004 - 14th Street, Oakland, CA. Rev. David Gray, Pastor.
Interment at Rolling Hills Memorial Park, Richmond, CA. Ms. Baker
will be dearly missed by those she loved and those who loved her."
. . .Those of us at WISR who knew Ida do indeed miss her.
***
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