Now that I've officially worked at SJSU longer than I attended any university, I feel like I can recognize the Spartan spirit when I see it. But how do we capture that essence?
The spring 2026 issue of SJSU Magazine offers many different expressions of Spartan spirit, including:
💫 State-of-the-art augmented reality (AR), projection mapping and motion graphics experiences that have lit up our region during the Super Bowl, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, and will continue this year when the FIFA World Cup attracts sports fans to the Bay Area. Many of these installations, which you may have already seen in downtown San José, involved our fantastic faculty members like Rhonda Holberton, Gary Craig Hobbs, and Esteban Garcia Bravo — as well as alumni like Lou Jimenez, SJSU King Library leaders like Lacey Nein, and current students Christopher Velez and Phuong-Trang Vu.
💫 SJSU Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts' Sukanya Chakrabarti's translation and literary adaptation of "Tasher Desh," a play by Indian polymath Rabindranath Tagore — a project supported by San José State University College of Humanities and the Arts and the SJSU King Library's South Asians in Silicon Valley initiative led by Mantra Roy, and performed (starting THIS WEEK!) at Hammer Theatre Center. Taught as a two-semester class with support from Chakrabarti and Matthew Spangler, the production (translated as "Kingdom of Cards") offers students insight into the creative process while exposing them to one of the work of a Nobel prize-winning thinker.
💫 Real-world research experience at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, where SJSU scientists, student and local fishermen study marine reserves through the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program.
💫 Hands-on field research in partnership with the J. Gordon Edwards Museum, where SJSU students and faculty are making a valuable contribution toward understanding and preserving insect species across California.
💫 Setting Guinness World Records! The inimitable Judi Oyama, member of the USA Slalom Skateboarding team, visited campus to share her insight and experience with the SJSU Skateboarding Club. I also got to produce my first-ever skateboarding video of her cruising our ad-hoc slalom course on campus.
💫 Stunning photography. I had the opportunity to meet Charles Cramer, a protégé of Ansel Adams, as well as classically trained pianist. My colleague Robert C. Bain and I had the chance to meet Charles and his former SJSU professor, Aiko Onishi, and see his landscape photographs up close.
This is just a handful of the many stories we published this spring. Please take a gander at the full issue to learn more.