It may seem that a visiting artist, a closet full of career clothing and a cloud-based appointment scheduling system have nothing in common, but each are at the core of innovative programs happening at Stanislaus State because they received IDEAS grants. 

As Stan State students, faculty and staff gathered around the newly planted young Valley oak tree near Naraghi Hall of Science on Monday, Oct. 14, the voice of Nototomne Elder Katherine resonated from the podium.

“This tree may be where, one day, many students will sit and enjoy the shade and enjoy the significance of this oak tree,” Perez said.

The first time Stanislaus State student Adrian Vega contemplated studying abroad, he spent his freshman year planning and saving for it.

He went to Spain, studied Spanish and took a surfing class in San Sebastian.

This time, when offered another chance to study abroad, it only took him a matter of days to decide to join guitar teacher David Chapman at South Korea’s Chonnam National University in Gwangju during the summer.

“One of the big things was David proposed we play a concert there at the university,” Vega said.

Stanislaus State has taken on a significant role in a Stanislaus County action team called StanFutures to help K-12 students become college ready and to help college students become career ready.

StanFutures is one part of the Stanislaus Cradle to Career Partnership, a Stanislaus County initiative that aims to create a community built on educational and economic success. The initiative is comprised of five action teams based on educational milestones: StanReady, StanReads, StanMath, StanFutures and StanCareers.

At Stan State, all students are not only welcome, they are celebrated and supported. This includes undocumented students.

Oct. 14-18, Undocumented Student Services hosted Undocu Week of Action, which included a lineup of events and activities geared toward helping undocumented students feel supported and connecting them with campus resources.

Undocu Week of Action started with the You’ve Got a Friend in Me event, where students, faculty and staff wrote postcards to undocumented students and their families.

From as early as she can remember, Sokcon Swing has wanted to be a teacher, but the road that led to her goal wasn’t always smooth.

“I’ve gone through so many trials and tribulations,” she said. “Unlike most of my childhood friends, my parents didn’t grow up here. I didn’t have the same resources they had,” she added.

Swing moved the U.S. from Cambodia with her family in 1982 as they fled genocide, and as a first-generation college student her parents couldn’t help her apply to colleges, nor did they have the resources to help her financially.

For the first time in its 39-year history, the Bay Area Discrete Math Conference will be hosted at Stanislaus State. Those involved in the conference, set for Saturday, Oct. 19, simply call it BAD Math Day.

“The acronym is kind of weird, right?” joked Jessica Se Silva, an assistant professor of mathematics at Stan State. “It grabs people’s attention though.”

What is BAD Math Day? She said don’t be fooled by the acronym.

“We use it in a different way than you would normally think,” she said.