Professor, Psychology
Director, Center for Community Learning & Leadership
Director, Veterans Embracing Transition (VET) Project

Email

Preferred: elena.klaw@sjsu.edu

Telephone

Preferred: (408) 924-6961

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1998, VA Palo Alto, Stanford University School of Medicine
• Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology (Minor, Women's Studies), 1998, University Of Illinois Urbana Campus
• Master of Arts, Psychology, 1994, University Of Illinois Urbana Campus
• Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, 1991, Cornell University

Licenses and Certificates

• Clinical Psychologist, United States, 2000

Bio

Dr. Elena Klaw is a Professor of Psychology in the Clinical Division. She is passionately committed to violence prevention, community development and reducing trauma. She serves as the Director of the SJSU Center for Community Learning & Leadership, and Director of the Veterans Embracing Transition Project (VET). Dr. Klaw has served as principal investigator on multiple large grants awarded federal and state funding to design and implement AmeriCorps Programs involving SJSU students in community service. She also served as a co-principal investigator on the project, Exploring Intimate Partner Relationship Issues Among Veterans and Their Partners on College Campuses in California, funded by the Blue Shield of California Foundation. She has published in the areas of violence prevention, peer leadership, service-learning, mutual help, and mentoring, and has presented her work at many local, state, and national conferences and meetings.

Dr. Klaw’s first book, Mentoring and Making it in Academe: A Guide for Newcomers in the Ivory Towerexplores ways to succeed in graduate school in the face of isolation and marginalization. She is also lead editor on the book, Reframing Community Engagement in Higher Education, which according to California Governor Gavin Newsom “shows how programs like the College Corps can be replicated across the nation.” Dr. Klaw currently directs the Perspectives Peer Leadership Team and implements and assesses constructive dialogue efforts across campus.