Sharma’s art brightens mental health center
Joan K. Sharma, an assistant professor of art and design, directed a mural project and other artistic decoration of the Fresno County Children’s Mental Health Outpatient Clinic in central Fresno. During the summer, she created the concepts, colors and mural that placed bright, uplifting color and bold images throughout the clinic’s waiting areas. Sharma directed a group of volunteers – mostly high school students – in the basic wall painting. In the summer of 2005, Sharma created a mural at the Poverello House’s Village of Hope.

National attention for Mediator Mentor program
The Fresno State-based Mediator Mentor program at Ewing Elementary School in the Fresno Unified School District was in the spotlight at a session of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s national convention in Philadelphia. Pamela Lane-Garon, an associate professor in the Literacy and Early Education Department, was joined in the presentation by a representative of a similar program in Lansing, Mich. The principal difference in the partnerships between a university and a public school district is that Fresno State’s program is aimed at future helping professionals, while the Michigan program helps develop lawyers. Click here for program details.

Mentor program targets juvenile offenders
Fresno State’s Department of Social Work Education and the Office of Civic Engagement and Service Learning are collaborating with community organizations on a new mentoring program at Fresno State. Faculty, students, probation officials and several service organizations will partner in the MOSAIC program to help young people in jail. MOSAIC stands for Mentoring to Overcome Struggles and Inspire Courage. It will involve part-time faculty supervising 10-15 trained students, who will work to develop juvenile offenders’ self-esteem so they can learn to manage anger and to resolve conflicts.  The youth will be exposed to art, music, creative writing, and yoga to help them become productive members of society. Click here for details.

Make a Difference Day
Members of the Fresno State campus community joined hundreds of volunteers in projects Oct. 28 on national Make a Difference Day. The event, conducted in cities throughout the United States, brings people together to complete beautification and other projects that help each community. In Fresno, the day included landscape cleanup at parks, on street medians and trails; tree-planting and graffiti-removal projects in different parts of the city. More than 400 people participated in the event. Fresno State’s effort was led by the Office of Civic Engagement and Service-Learning.