Caron Mellblom: To the Rescue

This is a place where I think you can make a real difference... I’m really proud to be part of that. - Caron Mellblom, professor of special education and director, CLASS

Caron Mellblom typically doesn’t appear in a superhero uniform. However, says the professor of special education and director of the Center for Learning and Academic Support Services (CLASS), “If you want to be a teacher, you sort of put that rescuer cape on.”

Mellblom, who was honored with the 2006 Excellence in Service Award, founded CLASS in the early 1990s as one of several programs she has developed that benefit students and tutors and allow her to combine her love of teaching with her interest in special education.

The daughter of a former dean of Cal State University, Fullerton and a kindergarten teacher, Mellblom was ingrained early on with a sense that everyone should be afforded the opportunity to learn. She also believes everyone should have the chance to teach, and so CLASS enables students to have a part-time job on campus, become tutors, and grow through the experience.

“We make an attempt when we hire the tutors not just to hire someone who has really good grades in the subject we’re looking for, but to find somebody who has flexibility, patience, understanding, and really good people skills,” she says. “A lot of our tutors started out as student assistants, and many of our student assistants started out as student users of the center.”

Mellblom’s passion for working with students, particularly those who hope to teach people with disabilities, was inspired by childhood friends who, although deaf, were able to function as well as their hearing playmates. The qualities needed in special-education teachers, she says, are the same ones needed to help all students succeed.

“Most of the students who request tutoring don’t have a diagnosis, although we do have a number of students who have identified learning disabilities,” she says. “My perspective is always to do what you can to help people be successful. It doesn’t matter so much what their label is, and I communicate that to our tutors.”

The New York native earned her B.A. in speech communication and disorders at CSU Fullerton. She followed that up with an M.S. in speech pathology from the University of Wyoming and a doctorate of education in special education from the University of Northern Colorado. It was while living and working in the Midwest in 1995 that she became attracted to her position at CSU Dominguez Hills. With the move to California came the opportunity to raise her family in a culturally diverse environment, and “a chance to develop the tutoring services from the ground up.”

“There had been some kind of learning assistance center, but with the previous budget crunch of the early 1990s, they closed it,” she says. “What sprang up after that were different departments, all needing to provide some kind of tutoring. When I was hired, my task was to create something that served the entire University. Our students come to us from pretty difficult academic environments. A center like this is important for retention. We went from one medium-size classroom and a couple of offices to occupying most of Building 11. It’s usually pretty crowded, which is a good sign that the students need what we offer.”

Though her expertise lies in helping students overcome disabilities, Mellblom is equally impressed with students who persevere in the face of other obstacles.

“The most significant quality of our students is that despite the fact that many come with deficiencies in the areas of basic skills, there is this stick-to-it-iveness, this drive, that’s pretty overwhelming,” she says. “That resiliency is impressive, and it’s infectious. You want to work with someone who wants to learn so badly. That’s the kind of person you have to help. You want to be part of their success.”

Celebrating students’ successes at commencement is one of the high points of Mellblom’s academic year, when she can see the fruits of her labors, as well as those of her tutors and colleagues.

“Every time I watch students whom I’ve known for three or four years, or even five or six, walk across that stage, I think about the changes in their lives and the maturity that I’ve seen happen over time,” she says. “It’s really heartening to watch the growth of a student from their beginning here to graduation and beyond. We’ve had a number of tutors who have changed their focus to include an education component so that they could give something back to the academic environment.”

In Mellblom’s office, she has a poster of the saying, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and feed him for life.” She teaches students to fish, so that they can thrive in the ocean of life.

“This is a place where I think you can make a real difference,” she says. “I’m really proud to be part of that.”

- Joanie Harmon