Professor releases SJSU history book

By: Kyle Hansen

Posted: 2/28/07

San Jose State University began in 1857 as a place for teachers to be students. 150 years later, SJSU is still helping professionals improve their skills.

The history of continuing education, as this training is called, is laid out in a new book published by the university's International and Extended Studies office.

Emeritus professor James Walsh wrote the book, "One and the Same: The History of Continuing Education at San Jose State University 1857-2007," at the request of Associate Vice President Mark Nova of International and Extended Studies.

Walsh will be speaking about the book today in rooms 225 and 229 of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

"We wanted to showcase the history of continuing education," said Judy Rickard, who helped with the book and works for International and Extended Studies. "This is our sesquicentennial, and really the history of continuing education as the same as our history."

"I went to school here and I have been associated with the university for a long time, so it was neat to learn information I did not know when I was a student here," Rickard said. "It is a walk down memory lane."

SJSU started as a continuing education program, according to the book. Originally established as Minns' Evening Normal School in San Francisco, the school was designed as a place for teachers to improve their own educations. From Minns' school grew SJSU and the entire California State University system.

The book details the history of continuing education at SJSU. The first travel study program was established in 1909, and by 2006 SJSU had ranked second in the nation among similar institutions for the number of international students.

"SJSU and the entire CSU began as a continuing educational enterprise," Walsh said via e-mail. "What became the largest, centralized and most comprehensive system of higher education in the history of humanity … began with us. We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of our historic university."

Not everyone sees the book as being a must-read.

"I don't think it is that important," said Kevin Johnson, a junior majoring in aerospace engineering. "What makes more of a difference is what San Jose State has to offer me as a student."

Johnson said that while history can be interesting, it is not what makes one university better than another.

"The history of a college helps create what it is, so that part is important," Johnson said. "But I don't think it is important if San Jose State has been doing it (continuing education) for 150 years and other schools have only been around for 100 years."

Novak, the vice president of International and Extended Studies, said that understanding the history of the university and continuing education is important to SJSU and students today.

"When you go back, it enriches your present," he said. "(The book) changed my view of what history can do. This is the beginning of our next 150 years. Now we can go forward."

Walsh also said that understanding the history of the university is important to society.

"Understanding how our institutions began, evolved and now exist allows us all to function better as individuals and as citizens," Walsh said in an e-mail. "Educated persons normally share an interest in their own university. I offer my two volumes on SJSU history to address those interests."

Walsh wrote a previous history book about SJSU and said he was excited to research more about the university.

"In that book I had mentioned that the whole university, and the CSU for that matter, had begun as a continuing education enterprise," Walsh said. "Dr. Novak thought that this link should be explored more fully. I liked the idea too. Everyone seems to be pleased with the outcome."

Novak said that it has always been a priority at SJSU to provide access to education to people who would otherwise not be able to able to participate.

"We say: 'You want education, you want higher education,' - whether it is 1857 and you want to teach in the classroom, or it is 2007 and your family just got here from Vietnam and you want to be a professional - 'we are here for you.'"

The book attempts to put a human face on the history of the university. It begins not only with the reason Minns established his school, but with the story of some of his school's first graduates and their families.

Waynette Santos, who works for the International and Extended Studies department, said she enjoyed the history of the campus that comes out of the book.

"I was excited when we were reviewing the book to see the building names - they aren't just building names, they are people," Santos said. "It is nice to have a personality behind the names, not just concrete and steel."