Campus Community Comes Together To Share Knowledge and Concerns

Campus and community members gathered recently at three events to share information, and concerns on issues of how to better serve foster youth, the state recall and peace and unity since Sept. 11, 2001.

Jennifer Rodriquez, top photo, legis- lative and policy coordinator for the California Youth Connection, was the keynote speaker at “Growing Success: Empowering Foster Youth Through Higher Education,” a one day symposium on the development of the Guardian Scholars Program that encourages and supports young people exiting the foster care system and striving to earn a college degree. Rodriguez, a former foster youth, is completing her final year of law school at UC Davis.

Five faculty members debated candidates and issues of the Oct. 7 recall election in a Sept. 29 discussion sponsored by the Division of Political Science and Criminal Justice and Pi Sigma Alpha Honor Society. Participating were Keith O. Boyum, associate vice president for academic programs and professor of political science, and Stephen J. Stambough, assistant professor of political science, pictured in center photo; as well as Alan L. Saltzstein, division chair and professor of political science; John W. Bedell, chair and professor of sociology; and Raphael J. Sonenshein, professor of political science.

Don Will, director of Chapman University’s peace studies program, bottom photo, addressed participants during the three-day Unity and Peace Conference. The event, held in commemoration of the Sept. 11 tragedies, featured several speakers, yoga and tai chi classes, workshops and music and was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion in American Life, Department of Comparative Religion, Center for the Study of Successful Aging and Division of Kinesiology and Health Promotion.