Growth of the Mental Health Consortium
The Alliant Educational Foundation(AEF) officially launched it’s highly collaborative “mental health consortium” in 2020, placing California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) graduate students in clinical psychology at a variety of youth-serving non-profit organizations throughout San Diego County. At each site, CSPP students bolster the capacity of existing organizations to better address the mental health needs of underserved children, youth, and their families.
Learn more by reading the Foundation’s brand new press release here!
New Scholarships for Students
Each March through May, the Foundation launches its newest round of scholarship funding. This annual round of funding is made possible, in large part, by the generosity of more than 50 donor-restricted scholarship funds aimed at helping Alliant students across all six California campuses. A total of $100,000 in tuition assistance will be available for the coming year.
In addition, the Board of Directors of the Foundation just approved a brand new, longer-term scholarship program aimed at providing multi-year tuition support for a smaller group of Alliant Ed Foundation “Scholars/Fellows.”
New Scholars/Fellows will receive an annual scholarship of $5,000 for either 4 years (PsyD) or 5 years (PhD). Their selection will be based on their alignment with the vision, mission and core values of the Foundation, their financial need, and merit as determined by the recommendation of the faculty admissions review panels. Preference will be given to applicants who meet these criteria and are first generation college/graduate school students.
Stay tuned for more information as this program unfolds!
Police Reform & Mental Health Salon Sessions
In the Fall of last year, AEF launched a new “salon” series to help bring alumni, donors, and other friends of the Foundation together to learn about timely issues of mutual interest.
Sessions to date have included a discussion with Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky of UC-Riverside entitled “Lessons from the Pandemic & the Pursuit of Happiness,” followed by a panel discussion on “Police Reform and Mental Health” which included Dr. Diana Concannon, Charles Dempsey, and Dr. Kris Mohandie.
Part two of this series on police reform and mental health just took place on June 15th, entitled “Community Voices on Police Reform & Mental Health.” The session included a wealth of insights provided by a four-person panel including Paul Kealoha Blake, Bishop Cornelius Bowser, John O’Malley, and Pastor Jesus Sandoval.
If you missed it, you can watch the most recent salon discussion here. Just be sure to “download” it from the top left option to view the presentation in its entirety!
A New Round of Innovation / Seed Grants
After two successful years of investing in new and promising programs, research, and training across the Alliant system, the Foundation launched a re-tooled third year of innovation/seed grants available to all faculty and staff at Alliant. The redesigned funding program encourages cross-disciplinary and cross-campus collaboration, a focus on the Foundation’s new vision, mission, and core values, along with a greater emphasis on student impact.
For the third year of this program, a total of five grants were awarded across three California campuses totaling just over $33,000 in support.
Dr. Leslie C. Jackson’s Legacy Giving to Support Future Generations
Dr. Leslie Jackson was a graduate of CSPP-LA in 1981 who went on to hold numerous teaching and supervising positions at colleges in the Los Angeles area, including lecturer and Associate Professor positions, coordinator of the Multicultural/Community Program at CSPP, and co-director of the Minority Access to Professional Psychology Program. From 1999 until her retirement in 2011, Dr. Jackson was a Clinical Professor at Georgia State University, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in multiculturalism in psychology, clinical supervision, and complex trauma.
In 2017, Dr. Jackson reached out to the Foundation to plan and author a future endowment fund titled the “Dr. Leslie Jackson Memorial Scholarship,” designed to provide scholarships for ethnic minority students seeking doctoral degrees at CSPP-LA with a focus on diverse multicultural populations through research and service delivery.
Sadly, the Foundation recently learned about the passing of Dr. Jackson in her home of Columbia, MD. While deeply saddened to hear this news, we are proud to help carry on Dr. Jackson’s legacy by launching the new scholarship fund in partnership with the CSPP-LA program and hope to award the first scholarship in her name this coming Fall.
The Foundation has been asked to manage several legacy/planned gifts over the past few years and is available to discuss how donors might wish to make a long-term impact through a gift that costs them nothing during their lifetime. Please let us know if you’d like to learn more. You can also access an overview of how these gifts work by reading more here.
A Special Note from Sarah Garro, Director of Alumni Relations at
Alliant International University
Alumni Community:
Are you attending the APA Convention in Minneapolis on August 4-6? Then stay tuned for more on how you can connect with our CSPP community in a variety of ways during the convention. Let us know if you are involved with the convention as a speaker, presenter, leader, or another role by emailing Alumni Relations at alumni@alliant.edu.
We can’t wait to see you!
A Fond Farewell to Several of Our Founding Board Members
Each June marks the end of the Foundation’s fiscal year, but this June was made bittersweet by wishing our best to several founding Board members who will leave a lasting legacy on the Foundation.
Due to term limits, our Board shared their deep appreciation to Immediate Past Board Chair Dr. Gonzalo Garreton, Board Development/Nominating Committee Chair Jim Cois, and long-time Program Advisory Committee member Dr. David Diamond. Each has made a tremendous impact on the influence and direction of the Foundation and we couldn’t be more grateful for their generous volunteerism and leadership!