by Jeff Wilson

The more that you read,
The more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
The more places you’ll go.
- Dr. Seuss

Oh, the places San Diego State University’s Children’s Literature Program is going. In 2002, the College of Arts and Letters opened the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature. Only a year later, San Diego State became the first university in the Western United States to offer a master’s degree with a specialization in Children’s Literature. What’s more, the program recently received a private contribution from two SDSU alumni, Raymond Sabin and A.K. Jones, in order to establish an endowed professorship in the National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature. (An endowed professorship provides funding for a faculty position in perpetuity.)

“This gift is incredibly generous,” said Dr. Jerry Griswold, Director of the Center, “The Raymond Sabin and A.K. Jones Endowed Professorship will bring faculty strength to SDSU’s Children’s Literature Program, adding credibility to our program as we become a nationally and internationally recognized center of excellence in the field.”

For Jones, the contribution is a perfect blending of her passion for teaching and her dedication to her alma mater. While earning her teaching credential at SDSU, Jones worked for four years in the library (her uncle, John Paul Stone, served as the university’s librarian when SDSU moved to its new site on Montezuma Mesa). Later, when her husband, Ray, came to campus to get his master’s degree, Jones began a career in elementary education that spanned the next 30 years. During this time, she learned the value that books hold for children.

“You can’t talk at children,” she said, “Kids learn through stories. Manners, morals, ethics – these things are caught, not taught, and a good teacher can take a book, wrap an entire lesson around it and make it soar.” So when she and Ray decided to express their Aztec pride by making a gift to their alma mater, the Children’s Literature Program emerged as the obvious choice.

Children’s Literature developed as a specialty within SDSU’s Department of English and Comparative Literature during the late 1970s as literary studies began to broaden to include such works as “Treasure Island,” “The Secret Garden,” and “Little Women.” Several years later, Griswold joined the department’s faculty as a specialist in Children’s Literature, and the program created the Children’s Literature Circle to make SDSU’s resources readily available to educators, alumni and enthusiasts in the discipline. Now the largest program of its kind in the country, approximately 17 full-time and adjunct faculty now offer courses in the field on San Diego State’s main and IVC campus, and they teach more than 1,100 SDSU students each year. Sabin and Jones’ donation stands as a public vote of confidence in the Center’s vision for the future.

“I hope the faculty member hired for this position will inspire others and encourage them to make children’s literature a part of their everyday lives,” remarked Jones. “Every once in a while my son will call and ask me to get out a book that we used to read when he was young. Then we’ll read through it together over the phone. These moments are so rewarding and meaningful.”

SDSU Month 2005 included more than 100 events from musical performances, academic lectures, exhibits and film festivals to sporting events. During the course of the day, 15,000 people came to campus for another successful Explore SDSU – Open House 2005 presented by The San Diego Union-Tribune and Time Warner Cable.

In a testament to our community ties, ten SDSU Month media partners supported a media campaign estimated at nearly $1 million. Highlighting SDSU’s “Minds That Move the World,” the campaign also acknowledged the support of our fourteen SDSU Month sponsors and partners.

This year we continued to build on the success of the SDSU Month Scholarship Challenge – the fund benefits the university’s outstanding scholars, and raised nearly $20,000. Eight corporate partners contributed to the success of this worthwhile effort.

Over 23,000 people visited www.sdsumonth.com during SDSU Month, accessing detailed information about events, the Scholarship Challenge, the extremely successful “When I Was At State” contest and “SDSU then and now” interactive features.

SDSU Month promotions and efforts by Marketing & Communications resulted in more than 75 positive news stories about the university – including 27 live or taped in-studio TV or radio interviews and 250 minutes of live broadcast news coverage.

Vice President of University Advancement, Theresa Mendoza summed it up by saying, "The many achievements of SDSU Month can be attributed to the campus wide effort of students, faculty, staff and alumni who truly came together to offer a month full of San Diego State University pride."

by Coleen Geraghty

According to the CSU’s report on 2003-04 external support, San Diego State led all CSU campuses in philanthropic support during the period, raising a total of $63.4 million.

The amount represents 22.4 percent of philanthropic funds raised in the entire CSU system. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was second with $32.5 million.

Parents, friends and alumni sharply increased their giving to California State University (CSU) campuses in 2003-04, while philanthropic support from organizations declined, according to a CSU report.

The numbers show individual support rising nearly 20 percent to more than $108 million from $91 million in 2002-03. Organizational giving dropped by about the same percentage to $119 million. Ninety-seven percent of all charitable gifts were designated by donors to support specific university and student needs.

In total, donors committed more than $283 million in new gifts, new pledges and testamentary provisions in fiscal year 2003-2004. These supporters followed a trend of stretching commitments over multiyear pledges during the state’s weak economic recovery. Looking to the future viability of the CSU, donors created a legacy of support by committing nearly $39 million to university endowments.

The other variable in external support – research grants and contracts – rose slightly at most campuses to reach a system-wide total of $1.05 billion in 2003-04. With these new numbers, external support stands at $1.3 billion and represents more than $3,000 per CSU student. SDSU faculty and staff brought in $122 million in research grants and contracts for the year.

A key objective of University Advancement is to help build a "culture of philanthropy" at San Diego State University. We want to encourage campus wide dialogue about philanthropy through this publication. Let us know if there is a topic that you would like to see covered in an upcoming issue of Advancements. You are invited to submit questions, comments, ideas or concerns here: Please open this page in your web browser prior to submitting form. Click here to open in web browser.

For more information on The Campanile Foundation please visit the TCF Web site.

Questions, comments or suggestions regarding Advancements are welcome. Please e-mail Allison Dolan at adolan@mail.sdsu.edu.