Mahvash Guerami thumped his tombak drum and Pezhham Akhavass played the soft and delicate sound of a santour as Iranian vocalist Hossein Massoudi sang to a packed room Thursday in the Engineering Auditorium.

The trio performed to commemorate Norooz, the Persian New Year, and celebrate the community's culture and the commencement of the new Iranian studies program at SJSU.

Persis Karim, an associate professor of English at SJSU and one of the head coordinators of the event, said the new program can allow more students to become acquainted with Persian culture.

"I think it's really important for a place like San Jose State to recognize some of the surrounding communities and cultures that inhabit Silicon Valley," she said. "This program is aimed at not only educating American students but also helping the next generation of Iranian-American leaders to connect culture and heritage."

According to Karim, San Jose is home to the second-largest Iranian-American community in California, with Los Angeles being the largest.

Karim said Norooz is an important holiday for people of Iranian descent and from Persian-speaking countries because it's a celebration of the coming of spring. She went on to say the celebration is not religious and that events like these are meant to bring the Iranian-American community closer together.

"The idea is to share in the beauty of this community and also to make a bridge between the Iran of old and the Iranian-American of new," Karim said

Neda Nasr, a freshman biomedical engineering major who is currently helping Karim start the Iranian studies program, said a great deal of work went into getting Iranian-American students and community members to come to the celebration.

 "We (had) posted fliers about our event all over campus and in addition had clubs advertise our event," she said. "We also had teachers and students announce the event in classes, and of course we have a Facebook event for Norooz."               

Nasr is an officer for the Student Association for Middle Eastern Studies and next year will be taking over as its president.

The event featured Iranian-American speakers, poets, and singer Hossein Massoudi's musical group the Norooz Trio.

According to Massoudi, he and his fellow Iranian musicians, Mahvash Guerami and Pezhham Akhavass, had been playing together for only two months when Karim got them to sign on for the event.

"It's been a labor of love," he joked about the amount of time they have had together.

He also spoke about how good it is that SJSU is starting its own Iranian studies program.

"I think the fact that it's part of the curriculum is a big thing," he said. "It's really educational and good for the Iranians to reach out to the Americans."

Nero Parik, a graduate student in the materials science department, said he enjoyed the Norooz Trio's music because of its similarities to his Indian culture.

"I had no expectations when I came," he said of attending Norooz. "But after listening to the music my expectations got higher because I love that kind of music."

Mehrdad Pourfathi, a graduate student in electrical engineering who is of Persian decent, said he was unaware of the event but was excited when he found about it and got his friends to come along with him.

"I actually encouraged my friends who are non-Iranian to come over here and watch this," he said. "It was a good opportunity for the people to come over and get acquainted with the Iranian culture."

Pourfathi went on to say how surprised he was by the large turnout from the Iranian-American community.

"More people attended than I thought," he said. "A lot were from outside school and it was really amazing to see them here."

San Jose State University has received a $1.2 million federal grant to train Afghan professors to teach modern journalism. The effort will link San Jose State and Herat University in western Afghanistan for three years.

"A free press and professionalized journalism trade is critical to the stable and vibrant Afghanistan that our Afghan and international partners are working so hard to realize," Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. State Department Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in a statement. "Governments cannot do this alone, however, which is why I am truly inspired and heartened by this commitment by San Jose State University's journalism school.

"Herat, Afghanistan's third largest city, is close to the western border with Iran and of great cultural and historical significance. The future of Afghanistan depends on equipping the younger generation with the tools they need to rebuild their country, so I would like to thank San Jose State University for your role in making the future of Afghanistan a little brighter -- your commitment today will change lives," Holbrooke continued.

"San Jose State University welcomes the opportunity to help bring peace and democracy to Afghanistan by developing a program that will foster the growth of a free press and professional journalism," said William Briggs, director of the SJSU School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

SJSU Assistant Professor of Journalism Diane Guerrazzi and Lecturer Peter Young will co-administer the program. They will develop curriculum modules and train Herat University faculty and staff, traveling to Afghanistan when it is safe to do so. Subsequently, Afghan students will participate in internships at Bay Area media outlets.

"Our goal is to create a foundation of understanding between Afghans and Americans, with San Jose State at the center of ongoing relations," Guerrazzi said. "This grant also supports SJSU's globalization efforts, and fosters our ties with the South Bay's Afghan community."

Guerrazzi is a longtime TV news reporter specializing in educational exchanges with the Middle East. Young is a former Fulbright Scholar with a broad international background and multimedia expertise. The grant includes funding for the establishment of Internet-based radio and TV broadcast channels.

SACRAMENTO -- College students marched the rainy streets of Sacramento on Monday in protest of past and proposed budget and enrollments cuts.

Thousands of students from across the state gathered at the California State Capitol despite inclement weather waving signs and leading chants against the proposed fee increases affecting the higher education system.

SJSU had about 70 students at the march and joined the other schools at the start of the route located at California Automobile Museum.

Joe Tran, president of Students for Quality Education, the campus club that organized the event with Associated Students, attended the protest for the last two years and said he is still committed to fighting the budget cuts.

"I decided [that] it was very unfortunate [that] there are people out there who are less privileged than me," senior sociology major Tran said. "I wanted to make a difference because I know we can make a difference."

As students gathered prior to the march they started to bang drums, wave signs and sing chants that included, "Whose university? Our university!" and "Kick us out, we'll vote you out."

Student Harrison Wills from Santa Monica College said he traveled across the state with his school to attend the march.

"We left at 11 at night," Wills said. "We had very little sleep and lots of inspiration from students."

A taco truck and several portable toilets had been set up in anticipation of the crowd, and several people gave away free water in the crowd as they prepared to rally.

Alex Pader, president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, led a group of students in chants prior to leaving the meeting site.

Currently co-enrolled at Sacramento State and American River College, Pader said he was forced to enroll in the two institutions due to shortage of classes that he could take at either campus.

As State Senator at large he was asked what he would like to do in the future.

"I would like to seek public office," Pader said. "I think it is one of the best ways to make effective change in order to help people."

Students gathered in Sacramento to protest budget and enrollment cuts to the higher education system. Thousands of students in attendance marched through the streets of Sacramento, eventually reaching the steps of the capitol where they listened to speakers discuss how the cuts have affected them.

Students gathered in Sacramento to protest budget and enrollment cuts to the higher education system. Thousands of students in attendance marched through the streets of Sacramento, eventually reaching the steps of the capitol where they listened to speakers discuss how the cuts have affected them.

When the march started it began to rain but that did not stop the momentum of the students, who marched in the middle of the street as well as in the mud.

Sacramento Police and California Highway Patrol officers corked off the streets using officers on bicycles, mounted police, and parked cars to control the flow of traffic and protesters.

In addition to a visible police presence, clearly indicated "event staff" were new to this year's protests, keeping those that marched in designated areas, avoiding the train tracks and off sidewalks.

The control was necessary because approximately 80 busloads, about 4,000 people, of protesters arrived, according to Sacramento Police officer A. Johnson. One estimate inside the Capitol placed the crowd at 12,000 , however SQE President Tran placed his guess at 11,000.

The marcher's route took them past several downtown businesses and the headquarters of California state departments. Employees inside watched through the windows.

The march eventually made its way to the Capitol where protesters were met by other supporters. Rallying at the steps in front of the Capitol a podium was set up for speakers.

Pader and other student and faculty leaders spoke to the crowd on issues for the students to lobby, severity of proposed and past cuts and issues the related to students' rights.

Speakers included people who have been affected by the budget cuts directly and each speaker offered a solution to the problems at hand.

The speeches were delivered in English and Spanish, with a sign language interpreter translating to the side of the stage.

A speaker who identified himself as Jesus from Mexico, stirred the crowd in English and Spanish phrases, including si se puede, "yes we can."

When he spoke about proposed changes to immigration, several people moved from the area under the archway, behind the speakers' podium, and made a peace hand sign to the crowd, stirring excitement.

"We are the future," Jesus said. "We have to pass the DREAM Act."

Despite some topics that some students seemed interested in, the people in the back of the crowd found it difficult to hear the speakers and continued on with chants as people spoke.

SJSU students could still be found in attendance at the rally toward the end of the speeches. Instead of listening they continued chanting.

Students from Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., and San Francisco State University handed out leaflets about budget and enrollment cut issues and fliers for future events, including a rally in San Francisco for this weekend.

Dedicated to the military men who served their country during World War II, the Spartan Memorial Chapel was constructed from 1944 to 1952, according to the SJSU campus building records.

Lt. Kenneth C. Bailey, a graduate from San Jose State University in 1942, was killed during World War II in December 1943—a letter sent by his parents to the SJSU Alumni Association sparked the idea of the chapel, states a pamphlet in the SJSU Special Collections and Archives.

A pamphlet dating from before the Spartan Memorial Chapel was built states the school hoped to raise $50,000 for the building. Any extra money raised would go toward artwork and other items to beautify the memorial, which was meant to be “a permanent symbol of the spiritual values that are the foundation of American democracy.”

Although often referred to as the Spartan Memorial Chapel, the building was never for a specific religion but a place where all students can go to be spiritual.

“Removable and interchangeable symbols enabled the same building to be used successively by Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Christian Scientists,” stated another pamphlet supporting the construction of the Spartan Memorial.

Junior biology major Gabriel Dangtran said it's important for students to know the history of the memorial. “Students think it is a church,” he said. “That's what I thought until my teacher told me.”

Paul Lee, the manager of the Associated Students Print Shop for 24 years, said he was involved in the renovations of the Spartan Memorial.

One of the plans for the memorial was to collect letters from the parents of the fallen SJSU military men and put them into a time capsule in the ground, Lee said.

For an unknown reason the letters never made it into the ground, and Lee said he ended up in charge of them. “It (the letters) was passed down to A.S.,” he said.“The business office was going to throw it away. They didn't know what it is about.”

Lee said he took the letters, bound them in a book and gave the original copy to the library's archives. A different pamphlet states that during World War II the enrollment of male students at SJSU went from 2006 to 186.

“It has been suggested that this beautiful chapel in the heart of San Jose will serve as a shrine for the entire city as well as for the college community,” the same pamphlet states. Lauren Piganuwski, a senior forensic science major, said she didn't know about the history behind the Spartan Memorial.

“I don't think it would matter much to most people,” she said. Kristin Perez, a senior social work major, said she thought the school should make students aware of the history of the building.

She said she thought the meaning behind the memorial should be as important as the Martin Luther King Jr. Library.

Leanne LoBue, scheduling supervisor for the Student Union, said in the summer, alumni sometimes book the Spartan Memorial for their weddings.

“It will be a shrine to which faculty, students, alumni, parents may go for meditation and prayer,” stated another pamphlet. “It will be available for special student programs for which a chapel is appropriate.”

A group of San jose State students will be touring the United Arab Emirates for two weeks.

While touring the various locations that Emirates have to offer, such as the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa and the world&39;s fastest roller coaster in Abu Dhabi, the team will be visiting the American University and Various news organizations and filming a documentary about its travels.

The team members will be blogging on this site daily about what they’re seeing, smelling, eating and experiencing while on the other side world.

So make sure to check back in to see what they’re up to at Sjsudubai.wordpress.com