[ Music ]
>> [Background music]
From the capitol campus
of California State
University Sacramento,
this is Made at Sac State.
>> Welcome.
Welcome to Made at Sac
State, the video magazine.
I'm Gloria Moraga.
We are here to share
our university's story
and to celebrate
academic excellence.
Our faculty and our students
who are redefining the possible
in the region and beyond.
>> The College of
Social Sciences
and Interdisciplinary Studies
is redefining the possible.
Our capitol campus
is just a few miles
from California's state capitol.
The College of Social Sciences
and Interdisciplinary
Studies provides students
with quality programs
in the traditional social
sciences including government,
family and consumer sciences,
and environmental studies.
SSIS also has a portfolio
of outstanding centers
including the prestigious Center
for California Studies.
>> The Center for California
Studies really known
for fellows [inaudible].
Every year we choose 64
graduates to come here
to Sacramento and work in the
legislature for a year or work
in the executive branch or
work in the judicial branch.
>> SSIS faculty teach
a broad range
of subjects employing
social science
and interdisciplinary
perspectives and methodologies.
Our students are
learning to analyze
and make informed decisions
regarding issues, problems,
and policies at the
capitol region and beyond.
[ Music ]
>> And joining us now is
the Dean of the College
of Social Sciences
and Interdisciplinary
Studies, Dean Orn Bodvarsson.
Thank you for being
here Dean Bodvarsson.
>> It's a pleasure to be here.
>> And we have two
wonderful students joining us
and I'm going to have you
guys introduce yourselves.
Nicole.
>> My name's Nicole Hisatome
[assumed spelling] and I'm part
of the assembly fellowship
program.
>> And Matt.
>> My name's Matt Reed
[assumed spelling].
I'm also part of the
assembly fellowship
and I was Made at Sac State.
>> Yay. And we're
excited to have you here
and can hardly wait to
get into some information
about what's going on at
the state capitol right now
in your fellowship.
We're going to start with
Dean Bodvarsson and ask him
to tell us a little bit more
about the College of SSIS
and how closely connected
is your college
to the legislature
and the capitol?
>> Well Gloria, all of the
colleges at the University are
in some way connected
to the state government
and specifically the
state legislature.
Our college however is really
the epicenter of that connection
with state government.
We are the Capital
University at Sac State
but our college has
got all of the policy
and governance programming
and we are in the policy
and governance town
of California.
So it's natural that our
college would have the
deepest connections.
We have many faculty
that engage in some way
with the state legislators.
We have centers such as the
Center for California Studies
which hosts the assembly
fellows program
which you'll hear more about.
And then we have
internship programs.
We have the Sacramento Semester
Program, the LegiSchool Project.
Those are all examples of ways
in which the college
is connected
to the state legislature and
more generally state government.
Okay, we're going to
get to Nicole and Matt.
Tell us what you do.
>> We both work for members
of the state assembly.
For four and a half days a week
we work in their office working
on policy for them,
staffing bills that,
if they have a bill
idea they'll let us know
and then we'll make
sure that it gets
through the legislative
process properly.
And then for the second half
of Fridays we attend
a graduate seminar
with Professor Bruce Snyder
from here at Sac State
where we learn more
about political science
and we have discussions on
topical issues of the day.
>> And how exciting
is this Nicole?
How much do you enjoy this work?
>> I really like it.
When I first started I didn't,
I thought I would enjoy it
but I didn't realize how
much I would enjoy it.
The office that I was placed
in is a really great office.
They give me a lot of
responsibility which forces me
to kind of dive into state
politics, dive into the issues,
and really come out
understanding what I'm working
on as well as understanding the
political process an idea has
to go through to become a law.
>> What are your
long term goals?
>> If this fellowship
has taught me anything,
it's that I really
love working in policy.
I'm not quite sure how
that'll happen but I really
like working towards making
California a better place.
>> It's some of the most
important work that's going
on and it's--
>> Yeah.
>> thank you for
your work there.
I'm glad you realize that.
You're so smart.
And Matt, long-term goals?
>> Yeah I'd love to stay in
the world of politics or policy
and lucky for us and for
students here at Sac State
and the College of SSIS we
have a lot of opportunities
to do that, whether it's getting
involved as a student here
with an internship or like as
fellows it's a great way to get
into the world of public policy,
make connections and find
which area we'd like to work
in and gain experience in it
and then make a career
out of it.
>> That is one of the wonderful
things about our university.
And Dean Bodvarsson you
have some plans for a school
of public affairs that would
be located near the capitol.
Tell us about that.
>> Well yes, and this is
a very exciting project
that is gaining a
lot of traction now.
There are a number of
universities around the country
that are located
in state capitals
and they have got public
policy, public administration,
or public affairs units
that are remotely located
from the main campus.
And we would be the third
such example of that.
And the plan is that we
would move the policy
and the governance programming,
elements of some of our centers
and other elements of the
college that have connections
to state government,
downtown into one facility
and it would be a one-stop
resource for state government,
local government, non-profits.
It would provide
instructional programming.
It would provide expertise.
And it would provide also a
public event space for hosting,
for example, public dialogues
and important policy
issues of the day.
>> Thank you all so
much for being here
and sharing your
stories with us.
And we didn't even get into the
fact that we've got a democrat
and a republican and
they debate one another.
[laughs] That's for
another time.
Thanks for being here.
>> Hi everybody, my name's
Lisa Herr [assumed spelling]
and I'm a sociology major
and I am made at Sac State.
[music]
>> My name is James
Cevita [assumed spelling].
I am a professor of ethnic
studies and I teach students
who are made at Sac State.
[ Music ]
>> Basic principle of aquaponics
is to combine aquaculture,
the cultivation of fish
in closed environments,
with hydroponics,
the cultivation
of plants without soil.
The marrying of those two
processes solves nutrient
problems and waste problems
because each system
uses the byproducts
and the waste products
of the other.
>> So one of the
things we've done here
at Sac State is we have
taken the bio waste,
the food waste primarily from
campus and we raise worms on it
to raise our own protein source.
And combining food waste
with the vermiculture
with aquaponics, we have
what we believe is very close
to a truly sustainable system.
[ Music ]
[ Pause ]
>> This is Made At Sac
State the video magazine.
I'm Gloria Moraga and we have
three exciting gentlemen here
to tell us a little bit more
about aquaponics research here
on the Sac State campus.
Please, introduce
yourself Professor.
>> Hi, I'm Dudley Burton,
professor in environmental
studies.
>> Hi, and I'm Brook Murphy,
professor in environmental
studies and biology.
>> And I'm the student,
Rob Hogan.
>> And Rob, what's your area of
study and how are you working
with these two professors?
>> My area of study
is aquaponics.
Been really interested in
it and have, I met these two
and they started this
program and I'm studying them
from compost tea and trying to
integrate that with aquaponics.
>> All right well we
have watched a video.
We know a little bit more
about aquaponics now
than we did before.
Tell us the significance
of this research.
What exactly are you doing here?
>> We're trying to create a more
sustainable way of growing food,
especially high protein
foods and high quality fruits
and vegetables in a system that
also saves an enormous amount
of water per unit of production.
>> And how are you doing that?
>> Well what we're doing first
of all is we're combining
two farming methods.
One is aquaculture and
the other is hydroponics.
And by coupling those two,
we're taking advantage
of the fish excrement to
be used as fish fertilizer
which grow the plants.
And the plants help
filter the water
and circulate it back
clean to the fish.
Hydroponics in general,
although it uses water
and the plants are
grown in water,
it actually consumes relatively
small amounts of water.
Only about one tenth of
traditional agriculture.
And on top of that you
get fish production along
with the plants.
>> It uses something on the
order of one tenth the amount
of water that traditional
agriculture uses
and then the fact that we
can produce very high quality
fruits, vegetables, and fish
protein using that small amount
of water is very important.
Plus we're using these
materials that are often wasted
or not used effectively.
So we're combining several
environmental benefits
in this process.
>> Actually you need water
for the plants to grow,
they're not growing in soil.
How does that save water?
>> Well normally in traditional
agriculture when you irrigate,
the vast majority of the
water is lost to the soil.
That that's on the surface of
the soil just evaporates off
and is another source of loss.
And the third is the actual
transpiration from the plant.
The plant that uses
for its physiology.
In our aquaponics systems
we only have one loss.
That's due to the transpiration
by the plants themselves
and a small amount
of evaporation.
We don't lose any water
to the lower water table
so therefore basically we
can grow the same plant
with only 10% of the
water that we would do
in a traditional farming system
or even in your garden at home.
>> Thank you all for being here
and sharing your
stories with us.
>> Hi, I'm Corrine Jones
[assumed spelling].
I'm a psychology major
and I'm made at Sac State.
>> My name is Kevin Weir.
I'm a professor of
sociology and I teach students
who are made at Sac State.
[ Music ]
>> This is fun for us.
This is actually our
cardiovascular wellness program.
>> [Background music] The
lifestyle that we've come
to know, we're more
sedentary, we eat more,
we're eating out more.
Today we're talking about
dining out so we'll be talking
about how just by
dining out you're taking
in more fat and more calories.
We're a higher paced,
stressed lifestyle.
>> I first had a heart attack
[inaudible] happened in 2000
and they were saying
generally with people
who have one heart attack will
get a second heart attack,
about 60% within 10 years.
And the second one
I had was 2013.
>> [Laughs] Well I had a
heart attack when I was,
oh about three years ago.
All kinds of little factors,
eating the wrong foods,
gaining a lot of weight,
living a sedentary life,
and having genetics
working against me.
And then turning 60.
Suddenly the metabolism
isn't clicking along.
[ Music ]
>> This is Made at Sac
State the video magazine.
I'm Gloria Moraga, and thank
you very much for being here
to our three guests,
and we're going to talk
about Sacramento State's
cardiovascular wellness program.
But we do want the guests
to introduce themselves.
We'll start, ladies first.
>> I'm Lynn Livingston.
>> And?
>> And I'm Jim Livingston.
>> I'm going to start with
Diane and have Diane--
what is this program
first of all?
>> So this program
was the brainchild
of the late cardiologist
Tissa Kappagoda and we wanted
to find a better way to
provide healthcare on a campus
which is sort of a unique idea.
And tap into the
expertise on the campus.
So we came up with the
idea of offering it here,
involving faculty and students,
and the cardiovascular wellness
focus is on diet, exercise,
psychology, and nursing.
So we've been able to integrate
those students into the program.
>> Now Professor Livingston,
you were a professor
here at Sacramento State.
>> Yes.
>> Tell us your story.
What happened here with the
possibility that you were,
might, maybe gonna
have a heart attack?
>> Well this goes back
to the early 90's.
I had blockages in
my carotid arteries
and I had some blockage
in my heart.
I had not had a heart attack
and Lynn who's been my supporter
for 55 years heard about
this program at the hospital,
the UC Davis Hospital,
that Dr. Kappagoda had.
It was a cardiac risk
reversal program.
>> Um hum.
>> Two year program.
Go in and you do exercise and
diet and diet and all kinds
of tests and so we, they got
me into the program and thanks
to Dr. Kappagoda and his program
and my wife Lynn and Diane
who provided the nutrition
advice, I'm still here.
>> We're going to take one
quick moment here and listen
to a interview, a video
interview with Dr. K.
>> There's no magic formula
to this because a lot
of the time you're asking people
to do fairly mundane things
like you know take
care of what you eat.
Take care of your weight.
Make sure you're active.
And you know [inaudible] a
reasonable amount of exercise.
Make sure you're, if
you're being treated
for high blood pressure,
make sure you take those
pills as prescribed.
So it's not a lot of you know
major complicated issues,
but what we want to do is
to convince the patient
that every little thing
is important and that's
where you know much
of the [inaudible].
This is not really
doctoring as such.
You know any one of these people
here can make a significant
contribution to what
the patients need.
>> Now Dr. Kappagoda brought
his program here to Sac State
and tell us what
exactly does this entail?
>> So we've worked together
for a long time, Dr. Kappagoda
and I, in a hospital
based setting.
And as resources declined,
those programs tend to go away.
There's not much money in
prevention and we wanted
to find alternative ways
to deliver healthcare
and a campus just
made sense to us.
So that's really how it evolved.
We talked to deans.
We got a lot of support.
We got space in Folsom Hall
and we have a lot of interest
in providing this program.
So people come in to the program
two or three times a week.
You'll walk in anytime
and see people exercising,
talking about diet.
We've got psychologists
that come in and talk
about stress reduction.
We've had a Buddhist monk come
in and talk about meditation.
We've talked about shopping.
We're now having cooking
demonstrations over there.
So this program takes
the elements of a program
in a hospital but it's
not profit driven,
it's training driven.
So students are involved
with all those levels too.
We've always known the value
of having a patient drive their
own care and also the value
of support people which
is why you see Lynn
on the couch beside Jim.
The support people in the life
make an incredible difference
to the success of this program.
>> Now I have seen
Lynn at the center.
Lynn tell us what you're
learning and how you help in all
of this and how it's
benefitted your health.
>> Well thank you.
I was concerned about
our whole family
because Jim's family
particularly had a very
incidence of heart disease.
So when we learned
about this opportunity,
it became of a benefit to him
and to me and to our children
as well because we learned
about varied disciplines
that would be, support
our good health.
>> Now what's kind of
shocking is the numbers
in the United States of obesity.
And also the fact,
and I learned this
at the cardiovascular
wellness center
that someone has a heart
attack and then second
or even the third that
proves fatal because--
>> Right.
>> they forget to eat healthy.
They forget to exercise.
How does this help?
>> I think we, putting
the patient
at the center of it is critical.
It has to be, they have
to understand what's
going on with them.
They have to be able to
believe that it can be managed
and they have to, it has
to be meaningful to them.
So if talk to someone about
changing their lifestyle
and they are charged with taking
care of a grandchild at home
for example, that's going
to be their priority.
I have to learn about that
person and how their world,
what their priorities
and barriers are.
And the whole team is
on board with that.
The other beauty of doing it,
we've always had an integrated,
multidisciplinary approach
but students who come
into this program and learn are
working with the participants,
they're learning that
it takes a group.
It's a team effort.
And Dr. Kappagoda was way
ahead of his time in terms
of crossing disciplines.
So we have two colleges
involved.
We've got four core programs
involved, academic programs.
But peripherally
there are many others.
We've got physical
therapy students coming in
and gerontology and sociology
and many other disciplines
that don't see themselves, until
they come into the program,
how they can benefit patients.
[sound effect]
>> For more on this
story, visit our website.
[ Music ]
>> Well the PPA is a masters
in public policy
and administration.
It's offered here
at Sacramento State
and it's a little bit unusual in
that it has both a policy side
and an administration side
and most masters degrees
are either a masters
in public administration or
a masters in public policy
and we made a conscious decision
when we formed the
program to try to do both.
So it's a little bit longer
than a usually masters program,
requires a thesis,
and we're really proud
of what the students are able
to do at the end of the program.
>> This is Made At Sac
State the video magazine.
I'm Gloria Moraga, thank
you for being here.
Talking about the
College of Social Sciences
and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Thank you both.
Two excellent masters degree
students are joining us now.
Please introduce yourself.
>> I'm Tara Thorn
[assumed spelling].
>> And?
>> Brent Houser [assumed
spelling].
>> And Tara, tell us a little
bit about public policy
and administration,
one of our great,
great programs here
at Sac State.
>> Right. Well I think the
program's really unique
in that it really
bridges both public policy
and administration, something
not a lot of programs do.
And by doing that they really
give students a skill set
that allows them to succeed
in the public sector.
>> Wow. And Brent, just give
us a little bit of overview
and your thoughts on PPA.
>> Sure, I think what Tara
said is a great point.
The variety in skills and
education that we receive,
it blends technical components
of economics with also how
to be a leader in
an organization
and that's really what
I take from the program.
>> All right.
I want to talk a little bit
about, you know you're here
on campus taking class with
our wonderful professors,
but tell us what you do
as part of the program.
You have internships and
you work on side projects.
What-- Tara, what do you do?
>> Yeah so every student's
required to do an internship.
If they work in the
public sector already,
that internship is waived.
So I work in the public sector.
I actually work at Sac State
running a program called
LegiSchool, so.
>> Want to talk a little
bit about LegiSchool.
What--
>> Yeah.
>> this is so much fun.
>> Yeah.
>> What exactly is this?
We have high school students
who write papers and get kind
of delve into policy and
we're here at the capital
and this is great that
they're doing this.
>> Right. Yeah I have the
best job in the entire world.
[laughs] I get to work with high
school students throughout the
state, not just one classroom,
and we provide civic education
opportunities for the students.
So whether that's an
essay that they're writing
or if it's a town hall
where they get to talk
to local lawmakers
or state lawmakers,
we really encourage them
to dive into the topics
and really try to
understand them.
>> Brent, we want to talk a
little bit about what you do,
you know, besides your studies,
in addition to your studies,
you have a job and it's
in the public sector.
What is that?
>> Yes. Yes I'm currently
a manager for the Office
of Statewide Health
Planning and Development.
It's a Health and Human
Services Agency for California
and what we're tasked with is
pretty much implementing the
Affordable Care Act,
which as you may know,
is a huge topic right now.
Many people are aware
of it and we're actually
on the front lines
developing policies
to implement healthcare
workforce shortages.
So getting doctors
serving people
in underserved communities.
So I'm really focused on taking
what I learned in the classroom
and applying it to policies
that will be developed
for Californians.
>> How serious is that issue of
affordable healthcare or workers
for people in rural
areas or poor people?
>> It's very serious and what we
do is very important so I'm glad
to be a part of the program to
be able to learn these tools
to make sure that we're
implementing effective policies
because the healthcare workforce
shortage, with the influx
of individuals with insurance,
that means there's more people,
more providers that need
to serve them so we do need
to address this in a
culturally responsive way
so it's not just
one type of provider
as there's different needs
that Californians
need to be addressed.
>> Want to talk about
professors and your faculty
and just give us
sort of a thought
about working with
professors here.
>> For me they've just
really been incredible.
And they're touchstone
not just in the classroom
but also outside the classroom.
I'm lucky enough to work
down the hall from a lot
of the professors that I have
class with and so I really rely
on their wisdom, not just
for what we're learning
in the curriculum that we're
covering, but also just in life.
And I don't think I'd be where
I am today without the help
of the faculty in the program.
>> And Brent?
>> I think obviously their great
intelligence and experience
in the public sector and
the different policies,
but they're very
personable and approachable.
In fact they want us
to come talk to them
and really run different
things by them whether it's
in the classroom or things
that are going on in work.
They're really there to advise
us and educate us on more
than one way than
just in the classroom.
And that's the great
thing about the program is
that everything's applicable
to what you're doing
in your workplace or
life outside of it.
So we're truly fortunate
to have the faculty
that we have and
their expertise.
>> And thank you both for
being here and joining us today
on Made At Sac State
'cause you're both made
at Sac State [laughs] and PPA.
All right thank you,
thank you both very much.
[ Music ]
>> Hi, I'm Ryan Cove.
I'm a psychology major
and I'm made at Sac State.
>> My name is Mari Tess [assumed
spelling] and I graduated
with a degree in ethnic studies
and I'm made at Sac State.
>> My name's Robert Hogan.
I'm studying environmental
studies
and I'm made at Sac State.
>> I'm Nicole Hisatome and I'm
in the assembly fellowship
program.
>> I'm Matt Reed and I am also
in the assembly fellowship
program--
>> And we're made at Sac State.
[ Music ]
>> Hi, I'm Robert Nelsen
president of the university,
and I'm so proud of all
of my students who are--
>> [shouting] Made at Sac State!
>> The College of
Social Sciences
and Interdisciplinary Studies.
We leave you with scenes
from Sac State's faculty
and students, scenes from
commencement and so much more.
>> My name is Rula Omary
[assumed spelling].
I'm a dietetics major.
While my experience at Sac
State is very exceptional,
I had all the resources
needed to succeed whether
through the faculty member
that were very supportive,
particularly those in the
family and consumer sciences,
and the chemistry department
because a large portion
of my major has some chemistry
classes and I have a couple
of professors that
were really supportive.
My dream was to get
a bachelor's degree,
particularly in nutrition.
My ultimate goal is to
get a doctoral degree
in nutrition and
chronic diseases.
Hi, my name is Rula Omary.
I'm a dean's awards winner
and I made it at Sac State.
[ Music ]
[ Applause ]
