SubscribeNews
Top Stories
Sustainable Ag Resource Center
Starts Fall Season with Tours, Speakers
Cal Poly’s Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium (SARC) is reaching out on campus and off to increase visibility. The program, part of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, is working to advance sustainable agriculture across the West. SARC held a tasting tour featuring sustainably farmed Cal Poly wines, cheeses, grapes, strawberries, mushrooms, salads and more in late September at the campus Organic Farm. It also held its fourth annual fundraising dinner Oct. 2, featuring guest speaker Timothy J. LaSalle, CEO of Rodale Institute. The dinner featured dishes prepared by a host of the area's top chefs on the Central Coast.
Visit the SARC Web site
Read a SLO Tribune story on SARC
CSU Approves Cal Poly Tech Park Funding
The California State University Board of Trustees approved Cal Poly’s request to design and build the proposed Technology Park Project Building at their meeting Sept. 16. The Trustees accepted the design-build proposal of $4.5 million submitted by Rarig Construction of San Luis Obispo. Another local firm, Omni Design Group, is the project architect. The project will be a 25,000 square foot, two-story building on Mount Bishop Road. The building will be leased to private high-tech firms seeking to locate their businesses on Cal Poly’s campus, enabling them to work closely with the university’s renowned faculty and students. Construction is expected to begin this fall.
More on the Cal Poly Tech Park
Cal Poly Students Volunteer $5M in Community Service
Nearly 10,000 Cal Poly students volunteered in and around San Luis Obispo last year -- performing more than 200,000 hours of community service work worth nearly $5 million locally and elsewhere. The estimates on student volunteer hours were calculated by Cal Poly's Student Community Services office as part of student applications for the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, said Adam Serafin of The Community Center at Cal Poly. A total of 9,500 Cal Poly students volunteered for a total of 223,525 hours of community service work during the 2007-08 academic year, Serafin said.
More about Cal Poly student volunteerism
Alumni
Space Interview: Engineering Alumnus Greg Chamitoff in the News
Cal Poly Engineering Alum Greg Chamitoff (B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1984) has a great perspective on the world. He's currently in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Cal Poly Magazine caught up with Chamitoff aboard the space station, where he hung out in zero gravity with his crewmates - two Russian cosmonauts -- and took questions. What does a Cal Poly T-shirt look like in outer space? Find out in the interview -- which was picked up by Central Coast news broadcasts.
See the video interview with Chamitoff in space
Students
Paralympian Mark Barr Returns from Bejing
to Start Senior Year
After competing in the Paralympic Games, Mark Barr is back at Cal Poly to start his senior year as a member of the Mustangs' swim team. Barr lost his leg to a tumor when he was 14 years old. He competed in six events in Beijing in August, despite having his appendix removed in June. His best finish was eighth place in the 100 meter butterfly. "The Paralympics history is growing, but it's just as much as competing in the Olympics. It's a huge honor to compete at the Paralympics and do that," Barr told KSBY news in an interview just after the fall quarter started at Cal Poly.
See the KSBY story
Read the Cal Poly Magazine Story on Barr (pdf)
Senior Named National Intercollegiate Men's Polo Player of the Year
Horse polo player Cooper Hibbard was recently named the U.S. Polo Association’s 2007-08 Male Intercollegiate Player of the Year. Hibbard is a senior at Cal Poly planning to graduate in December with a degree in AgBusiness; he started playing polo in his freshman year. “When Cooper first started out with us as a freshman, he was pretty green,” said Cal Poly Mustangs’ coach Megan Judge. “But he was a natural horeseman and a born team leader. By his sophomore year, he was mentoring the newcomers."
Read the story on the HelenaIR Web
Faculty & Staff
Professor Hoffman Publishes Research on Magnetic Field
The Earth’s magnetic field may be more complex than we originally thought. That’s according to groundbreaking research by Cal Poly Physics Professor Kenneth Hoffman and colleague Brad Singer, who published an article on their evidence in this week’s Science Magazine. According to Hoffman and Singer, two independent sources of Earth's geomagnetic field – one generated deep within the outer core of the planet and the other generated in the shallow core – are responsible for the ever-changing magnetism of our planet.
More about Hoffman article
Professor Receives Top Award from National FFA
Agriculture Education Professor Robert Flores is the national winner in the Community/Business Leader category for the H.O. Sargent Diversity Award program sponsored by the National FFA Organization. Flores is the head of the Agricultural Education and Communication Department at Cal Poly. He was nominated for his leadership promoting professional agricultural careers to minority students, scholarship fundraising, establishing strength training and teambuilding programs among youth leaders, and teacher training to accept and incorporate diversity in student populations. Flores first won the state competition in order to advance as a finalist for the national award.
More on the award for Flores
Professor Writes on Ethics and Science
"What responsibilities do scientists and engineers have toward society? I’d like to challenge science and engineering students at Cal Poy to have some awareness of what societal impact their research may have." That's just part of a column written by Philosophy Professor Patrick Lin, founding member of the Nanoethics Group.
Read the full piece in New Times
Events
Simply Ballroom Dances into PAC Tuesday
If you loved the movie, give the stage musical a try. This glitzy ballroom dance spectacular dazzles on the live stage, hosted by the legendary Debbie Reynolds and featuring the popular American Idol singing stars Anthony Fedorov and Vonzell Solomon. Ballroom indeed meets Broadway in a lavish production filled with glamour and breathtaking performances by international world-champion ballroom dancers. From the waltz and foxtrot to the tango, quickstep, cha-cha and beyond, Simply Ballroom is simply sensational.
More on Simply Ballroom
See Jazz Great Branford Marsalis at the PAC Thursday
In a celebration of revered Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, Grammy Award- winning jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis joins Maestro Gil Jardim and the renowned Philarmonia Brasileira in an innovative new project commemorating the 50th anniversary of Villa- Lobos’ death. The Orchestra is known for its remarkable work with the composer’s oeuvre, which is uniquely suited to Marsalis’ mastery of jazz and classical music. The collaboration promises to be a truly musically-sumptuous evening.
More on Marselis in Concert
See the Bungee Jumpin' Cows Saturday
The Bungee Jumpin’ Cows – described as “the Far Side” of music – deliver cool, funny, hard-driving, and original science education music. In a wide variety of energetic styles, including rock, funk, pop, surf, and rap, a Cows concert is a feast of visual imagery with wild characters and crazy costumes plus fun audience participation and shenanigans.
More on the Cows Concert
Millenia Consort Brings Brass, Percussion Sunday
With a wide-ranging repertoire, California’s premier “organ plus” ensemble presents a unique concert experience featuring brass and percussion accompaniment to the Forbes Pipe organ. The afternoon will feature Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky and new works by Bay Area composer/organist John Karl Hirten, including a set of four Irish tunes entitled Ceathair and a premiere performance of The Pinot Suite.
More on the Millenia Consort
Swanton Pacific Ranch Hosts Annual Cal Poly Day Sunday
Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch will host the annual Al Smith Day Sunday, Oct. 12, at the ranch, just north of Santa Cruz. Friends and Cal Poly alumni are invited to come and join in the festivities. The all day event includes train rides from 10 a.m. to - 4 p.m., plus a Santa Maria style barbecue. Barbecue tickets are $15 for adults, and $8 for children 8 years and under.
Visit Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch Web site
Orfalea College Brings
World-Renowned Expert
in Online Gaming and Security Oct. 16
The Orfalea College of Business is hosting a free lecture by Gary McGraw, a global expert in the economics of online gaming, piracy, cheating and software security. McGraw will speak at Cal Poly Oct. 16. McGraw is the first speaker in the Fall Distinguished Speaker Series hosted by the Orfalea College.
See details to attend McGraw's presentation
Read about other events in the Orfalea College of Business
Order Tickets by Oct. 31
Travel to Wisconsin
to See the Mustangs take on the Badgers
Looking for a real autumnal experience? The Mustang Football team and fans are headed to Madison Saturday, Nov. 22, where the Mustangs will face the University of Wisconsin Badgers. Join the Cal Poly Alumni Association for a pre-game tailgate and then cheer on the Mustangs in Camp Randall Stadium at UW. Ticket purchase deadline is Oct. 31. CPAA's pre-game Tailgate starts at Union South roughly three hours before kick-off.
Click here for details and to order tickets online
More Campus Events & Entertainment