FEATURE
Transforming Longing into Belonging
By Julia Halprin Jackson
How can nurturing a sense of belonging contribute to student success at SJSU? In fall 2015, a group of San José State students and faculty members gathered in the Student Services Building opposite campus for an inaugural Student and Faculty Dinner. The event was organized by Lilly Pinedo Gangai, ’16 MA Educational Counseling, then an academic advisor and leader involved in the Chicanx/Latinx and African-American Student Success Task Forces, two collaborative committees, comprised of faculty, staff and students dedicated to enhancing the educational experiences of Latinx and Black students at SJSU through various opportunities for engagement and robust support systems.
Mike Espinoza, ‘16 English, ’17 Teaching Credential, ’25 MA Chicana and Chicano Studies, was among the student interns to attend that first dinner a decade ago. A transfer student from DeAnza Community College, Espinoza had struggled to find community at San José State until he got involved with the student task force. Each of the students who attended the dinner were encouraged to invite a faculty member as their guest. Espinoza chose Mary Warner, English professor and co-director of San José State’s English Teaching Credential program.
“I remember there being some discussion prompts printed out on our table,” he recalls. “The prompts pushed the professors outside of their comfort zones by asking them to get to know students on a personal level. Prof. Warner said that she appreciated the invitation and the opportunity to connect with students outside of the classroom.”
Warner was thrilled to be included in an evening designed to strengthen relationships between students and mentors.
“Mike invited me because he knew what it was like to be in class with me, and like me he understood how important it is to create a sense of community in your class,” Warner says.
Since 2015, Warner has attended nearly every annual dinner because she sees it as a great space for students to ask faculty members about their own career pathways — and the just as worthy opportunity for faculty to learn about what motivates their students. She’s dedicated her career to advising and supporting future teachers, and the event reinforces her beliefs about cultivating belonging through empathy and compassion.
“Empathy is a part of the premise that guides a lot of my teaching,” she says. “It’s the idea of learning other people’s stories.”
Mary Warner (far left) and Michael Espinoza (far right) attended the inaugural Faculty and Student Dinner in 2015. Photo courtesy of Lilly Pinedo Gangai.
Warner adds that when teachers learn their students’ stories — their motivations, fears, curiosities and passions — educators can be better prepared to support their learning. The same is true for staff members who interact with students. Espinoza saw this firsthand when he connected with faculty members like Marcos Pizarro at the dinner, then a professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at SJSU and leader in the Chicanx/Latinx community on campus. Espinoza went on to teach English at Branham High School in San José. Starting last year, he became a teacher on special assignment for Campbell Union High School District, where he partners with educators on curriculum planning and development.
“Marcos was always super relatable,” Espinoza says. “He deconstructed that fear that students sometimes have of professors as authority figures. His welcoming approach transferred over to how I connect with my own students.”
He’s never forgotten the impact of that sit-down dinner, which led to his months of service on the Chicanx/Latinx Student Success Task Force, experiences that helped him feel a sense of belonging at San José State.
“I feel very deeply connected to San José State, and that’s because of the work of the student task force,” he says. “I honestly don’t think I would have been able to accomplish what I have as a teacher without that experience.”
“I feel very deeply connected to San José State, and that’s because of the work of the student task force. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to accomplish what I have as a teacher without that experience.”
— Mike Espinoza
L-R: MyShaundriss Watkins, program coordinator of Black Leadership and Opportunity Center; Cheska Dolor, program coordinator of Mosaic Cross Cultural Center; Lilly Pinedo Gangai, senior director, Identity-Based Retention Centers; Elisa Aquino, program director of Native American Indigenous Student Success Center (NAISSC); Selene Ramirez, program coordinator of Chicanx Latinx Student Success Center (Centro); Jinni Pradhan, program director of Center for Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE); and Yesenia Guzman, coordinator of identity-based retention Centers. Photo by Grace Austin, '26 BFA Photography.
Establishing strong connections
The Student and Faculty Dinner has grown exponentially since Espinoza was a student. Nowadays, the dinner takes place each spring in the ballroom at the Ramiro and Lupe Compean Diaz Student Union at San José State.
“The dinner table conversations begin by inviting students and faculty to engage in ‘conocimiento,’ a process developed by cultural activists in the early 1970s and rooted in the influence of Brazilian educator and philosopher Paolo Freire, who believed we can teach one another about each other through dialogue,” explains Gangai. “This process encourages students and faculty to share experiences and cultivate connections through guided questions.”
She adds that to further deepen faculty members’ understanding of students’ unique lived experiences, a survey is distributed prior to the event that asks students to complete the sentence, “I wish my professor knew…”
“First introduced by the Chicanx/Latinx Student Success Task Force in 2015, the survey aims to improve the campus climate by helping faculty gain insight into the experiences, strengths and needs of students, fostering a more supportive and inclusive environment,” she adds.
During the dinner, survey responses are projected as students and faculty break bread.
L-R: SJSU Vice Provost for Faculty Success Magdalena Barrera; Biological Sciences Professor Katherine Wilkinson; Teacher Education Senior Lecturer Paula Oakes, '13 MA Child and Adolescent Development; and English Professor Mary Warner at the 2025 Faculty and Student Dinner. They were honored for their ongoing support of and participation in student success dinners since 2015. Photo: Grace Austin, '26 BFA Photography.
Lilly Pinedo Gangai. Photo: Grace Austin, '26 BFA Photography.
Michael Espinoza.
“Every time students visit Centro, including prospective and new students who visit during Admitted Spartan Day, we show them the resolution to let them know that students rallied for these spaces to exist, even though they themselves didn’t get opportunities to engage with the spaces before they graduated. This was a gift they left for us — not only for students, but for all of us, because now the spaces are utilized by students, faculty and staff to come together in community.
— Lilly Pinedo Gangai
“The annual dinner was born out of a critical need to transform the climate at SJSU, with the goal of helping faculty gain a deeper understanding of their students’ unique lived experiences, recognize their strengths and learn how to effectively support them,” says Gangai, who now serves as the inaugural senior director of identity-based retention centers.
The responses prompt conversation amongst students and faculty members of all years, majors, interests and backgrounds, and facilitate connections that Gangai hopes will last far beyond the meal.
And in many ways it has: The annual dinner, and the professional relationships it inspired, helped students, faculty and staff alike lay the groundwork for San José State’s identity centers. Espinoza couldn’t have predicted that those early conversations about cultivating community would lead to the creation of five resource centers housed centrally on campus: the Chicanx/Latinx Student Success Center (Centro); the Black Leadership Opportunity Center (BLOC); the Center for Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE) and the Native American Indigenous Student Success Center (NAISSC).
All of these centers provide innovative programming, offer student employment opportunities and host frequent social and cultural events. They all exist thanks to the critical ework done by the task forces that preceded the centers and the resolutions written for and by former San José State students in 2015. The original text of the resolution, which states the university’s need for physical spaces where students of all backgrounds can feel welcome and supported, is framed on the wall of Centro.
“Every time students visit Centro, including prospective and new students who visit during Admitted Spartan Day, we show them the resolution to let them know that students rallied for these spaces to exist, even though they themselves didn’t get opportunities to engage with the spaces before they graduated,” says Gangai. “This was a gift they left for us — not only for students, but for all of us, because now the spaces are utilized by students, faculty and staff to come together in community.”
The proof is in the pudding — or dinner: Ten years after the inaugural event, Espinoza dedicates the first five minutes of every class period he teaches to checking in with each of his students, asking them how they are and establishing a personal connection.
“For some teachers, the bell rings and boom! They’ve got chalk to the board,” he says. “That’s fine, but it’s also depersonalized. I focus on the connection with the kids first; that’s something I picked up at SJSU.”
Shonda Goward
Creating a student-ready campus
It can be hard to quantify a sense of belonging, and yet creating community is essential to student success, says Shonda Goward, associate vice provost for undergraduate advising and success. Since joining SJSU in 2021, she has developed innovative approaches to student advising in the 10 student success centers across campus and served as the campus lead for the American Association for State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Student Success Equity Intensive. A long-time academic advisor and higher education researcher, Goward focuses on holistic and data-informed approaches to supporting and retaining students.
Part of her goal at San José State is to focus advising and retention strategies on developing a “student-ready” campus (McNair et al 2022). While it’s important that high school and community college students prepare for a university environment, Goward argues that it’s just as important that campuses be ready to welcome students — which is where places like the college advising centers, Centro, BLOC, CAPISE, NAISSC, Mosaic, the Veterans Resource Center, the Pride Center and the Accessibility Education Center play a role. The centers offer ongoing events, resources and programs, as well as student employment opportunities. She adds that “the work of being student-ready is the work of the entire campus.”
“Students come from all walks of life,” she says. “They come from different K-12 environments. They have different life circumstances. They may be well-funded; they may be underfunded. Yet if we admit that student, we are saying they are ready for San José State, so then it’s our duty to best support, retain and graduate them. That is success for us.”
Once students are on campus, Goward says it is critical for them to establish a relationship with an academic advisor. She and her team have worked hard to reduce the caseload for advisors at SJSU such that each student, regardless of major, can access an advisor at least once a semester. Advisors can help students select classes, explore areas of study they hadn’t previously considered and inform them of campus resources like Peer Connections or SJSU Cares.
For Lilly Pinedo Gangai, who oversees the identity-based retention centers on campus, it is crucial to emphasize to all students — including first-generation, first-year and transfer students — that when they arrive at San José State, they carry with them valuable funds of knowledge from their homes and communities. She encourages students to recognize the wealth of experiences, perspectives and knowledge they already bring to the university.
“In academia, historically marginalized students are often viewed through a deficit-based lens, with their academic challenges attributed to their cultural backgrounds rather than considering the systemic barriers and societal inequities that shape their experiences,” she says. “This perspective unfairly places the blame on students for their struggles, rather than addressing the broader structural issues at play. Through the work at the centers, we introduce students to Tara Yosso's Community Cultural Wealth model, empowering them to recognize the vast knowledge, experiences, strengths, and abilities they bring from their communities and families — resources that will help them thrive and succeed at SJSU.”
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