On January 27, San José State Psychology Professor Elena Klaw will accept the Wang Family Excellence Award for Outstanding Faculty Service , an honor bestowed by the California State University Chancellor's Office in recognition of her extraordinary commitment and dedication to student success through teaching, scholarship and service. The $25,000 award is given to four exemplary faculty members and one outstanding staff member across the 23-campus system each year.

"I believe deeply in the vital role of higher education in preparing the next generation to participate critically and effectively in a democratic society, and that if we are not providing our students with the tools to analyze data, to engage in civil discourse with people who have experiences that differ from their own, to understand and value equity and to apply what they learn to address social problems, we're not doing our jobs," says Klaw, who has taught at SJSU since 2000 and received the Distinguished Service Award at SJSU in 2024 .

"I am so grateful to the CSU System, the Chancellor's Office, the Board of Trustees, the Wang Family, San José State University and most especially the incomparable team at the Center for Community Learning and Leadership, for their excellent service to our students, to the faculty for making our community a better place. Thank you for the great honor of this recognition and for your support."

Amongst Klaw's many achievements are serving as the director of San José State's Center for Community Learning and Leadership since 2018, as well as from 2007-2013; establishing and leading the Veterans Embracing Transition (VET) project; securing support and creating an infrastructure for College Corps and AmeriCorps service learning fellowships and scholarships; and spearheading violence prevention programs such as Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) and the SJSU Chapter of Students Demand Action.

These efforts are all in addition to her work as a professor and academic. As a community psychologist she is widely published in her field, and in 2024 coauthored "Reframing Community Engagement in Higher Education" (Routledge) with CSU colleagues, including CCLL Assistant Director Andrea Tully.

"Elena is a steadfast and thoughtful mentor to students, colleagues and community members," says Tully. "The Wang Award for Outstanding Service is a testament to her decades-long, wide-ranging work overseeing and implementing community engaged practices at SJSU and within our local community. She truly believes and exemplifies that each of us has a responsibility to work together in service to our community to create a brighter future."

While each of these initiatives, projects and programs are noteworthy on their own, Klaw says she is most moved and motivated by unexpected correspondence from former students.

"I love being an educator, and I'm impacted every single day by students," she says. "But I'm particularly touched by the veteran students because they [often] struggle so deeply as a result of coming home from war. To see them succeed is beyond exciting."

Among Klaw's many mentees are veteran Connor Quinn, '18 Health Science, who earned a doctor of chiropractics and is a published author; writer and artist Emilio Gallegos, '19 Creative Writing ; sculptor John Contreras, '22 MFA Spatial Art ; and Joel Mendoza, '26 Pictorial Art, whose painting of veterans on campus hangs in the CCLL office in Clark Hall. These four are merely a fraction of the thousands of Spartans she has served in her 26 years at San José State.

"The throughline in my career is violence prevention," she says. "All my work is based on preventing human beings from harming each other while promoting peace and equity. I use a feminist framework to understand dynamics related to power and control, and seek to create equitable systems by educating students to serve as civic leaders who treat others with kindness and respect."

Her latest approach to violence prevention is through the Perspectives Peer Leader Team, a group of students who she is training to engage in productive dialogue using materials developed by the Constructive Dialogue Institute . Student leaders like Allen Ngo, '26 Political Science , evaluate constructive dialogue efforts on campus to reduce polarization and increase effective communication, critical thinking and mutual respect. They also work with SJSU Votes to conduct and promote civic engagement activities that foster the common good.

Klaw hopes to amplify these efforts by establishing a scholarship to support students committed to peacebuilding activities at San José State, using a portion of her Wang Award.

"I believe education is the ultimate form of violence prevention," she says. "Education should be about building compassion. In addition to getting grants, publishing papers, teaching content, training therapists and serving on committees, I hope that my legacy is that the students who have worked with me in any of these capacities go on to build a better world."

Learn more about the Wang Family Excellence Awards.