Cal Poly Update
The E-Newsletter for University Friends and Alumni

:: Alumni :: University News :: Today's Students :: Faculty & Staff ::Coming Up

Alumni
Cal Poly Names Agribusiness Alumnus
George Soares Advocate of the Year
Cal Poly has named alumnus George Soares, a well-known attorney and agriculturalist, as its 2007 Advocate of the Year. Soares will be honored at a California State University ceremony in Sacramento March 19. Soares is a 1966 agribusiness graduate and former Cal Poly student body president, and the 1987 Honored Alumnus of the Cal Poly College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. A Sacramento resident, he owns and operates a dairy and farming business in Hanford and is the founder and managing partner in the law firm of Kahn, Soares & Conway.
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Alum To Command
Next Space Shuttle Mission
'Rick' Sturckow (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1984) will command the next NASA Space Shuttle mission, scheduled to launch in April. This is the third space mission for Sturckow, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps in addition to his commission as a NASA astronaut. Sturckow was a member of the crew of the first International Space Station assembly mission aboard the shuttle Endeavour (1998) and 11th mission to the International Space Station aboard the shuttle Discovery (2001). He was also the College of Engineering's 2002 Honored Alumnus. What other Cal Poly alums are in the news this month?
Find Out

CPAA Alumni & Chapter Events
Honored Alum Speaking Alumni, parents, and friends are invited to the North Bay Cal Poly Alumni networking breakfast March 13 with '98 Honored alum Peter Oser (B.S., Business, 1979) speaking Event Details and Tickets	See Kings vs. Clippers with Sac Alumni Cal Poly Alumni Association Sacramento Area Alumni invite you to join them at the Sacramento Kings game at the Arco Arena Friday, March 30. RSVP by March 20. Details & Registration	Get in the (Golf) Game The Cal Poly Alumni Association Modesto Chapter is holding its 19th Annual Robert J. Cardoza Hall of Fame Golf Tournament Friday, April 27 in Turlock to raise money for scholarships Details & Registration

University News
Hoop Dreams
Mustangs Shooting at Big West Tourney
Men's hoops have a shot at "The Big Dance" -- the NCAA college basketball tournaments. A winning season has put the Mustangs at the Big West tournament in Anaheim going on now (March 7-10). Ready to join the Mustang Maniacs for March Madness at the Anaheim Convention Center? The men play Friday night in Anaheim, and depending on play this week are likely to face CSU Long Beach (the No. 1 Seed) or CSU Fullerton. The Women's team finished third in the league and play Thursday at noon in Anaheim. Two wins in the Big West tournament will give the men entry to the NCAA tourney. Buy your tickets now through the Mustang Ticket Office (click here for details) and get a reserved seat in the Cal Poly cheering section. Contact the ticket office at (805) 756-5806 -- or if you're close to campus, get them at the ticket booth outside the Rec Center at Cal Poly.
Read More about the Men's Basketball Season & Playoffs

Engineers Without Borders Founder
Urges Campus to Global Action
Bernard Amadei, founder of Engineers Without Borders and a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, spoke on campus in late February during National Engineers Week. Amadei's lecture topic was, “The Role of Engineers in Poverty Reduction: Challenges and Opportunities.” He focused on practicing engineering in the developing world and the importance of integrating engineering with non-engineering disciplines when addressing the needs of developing communities.
Read More about Amadei's lecture | Read About Cal Poly's Engineers Without Borders

Heidelberg, Kodak Donations Expand Tech GRC Department.
Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Department has beefed up its tech edge with several new equipment installations: a Heidelberg four-color Speedmaster CD 74 press and a Kodak Trendsetter 800 III Quantum platesetter. Both pieces were donated by industry. The press, a gift from Heidelberg USA, is key to introducing the newest sheet-fed technology to Cal Poly students. The eight-page thermal platesetter, a gift from Kodak, will work with both the Speedmaster and the department's four-high Goss web press.
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University Launches New International Exchange Program in Germany
This spring, Cal Poly’s international exchange program is broadening its horizons with the addition of the University of Education in Ludwigsberg, Germany, near Stuttgart. The Colleges of Education and Liberal Arts launched the new exchange program to offer students a low-cost study abroad experience in Germany. The University of Education in Ludwigsburg (Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg) prepares teachers at the primary and secondary levels with courses in general teaching methodology, early learning, special education, speech, educational psychology, and culture management.
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Study Business in Costa Rica
Cal Poly Continuing Education is hosting a summer program in Costa Rica focusing on that country’s biodiversity, ecotourism and international business operations. Costa Rica is emerging as a model for preserving natural habitats while encouraging economic growth and international business. The program will run from July 13-22. Participants will explore unique business practices in an international setting and will compare North American and Latin American corporate cultures and business.
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Gourmet Kendall Farms Crème Fraîche Now Made at Cal Poly Creamery
Goat farmer, cheese maker and chef Sadie Kendall is famous in the world of gourmet food and celebrity chefs. She's known nationally as "California's Grandmother of Crème Fraîche." An alumna of the Cal Poly Dairy Products Technology Center's short courses on artisan cheese making, she became the first person in the state to make the French-style cultured cream, now used by gourmet restaurants from California to New York -- including the Napa Valley's famed French Laundry. Sadie Kendall and her husband Jeff now produce 400 gallons of crème fraîche a week at Cal Poly's dairy plant under their label, Kendall Farms.
Read the KSBY Story

Today's Students
CE Building Bridges to Local High Schools
Engineering Professor David Jansen and Chris Pratt, a fourth-year civil engineering major at Cal Poly and vice president of the campus Society of Civil Engineers, helped revitalize an annual science contest that has local high school students building and testing bridges. Thirteen teams of high schools students from around San Luis Obispo County designed and built bridges out of popsicle sticks, with teams competing to build a bridge that carried the heaviest load. One withstood 1,300 lbs. of weight. SCE decided to revive the once-popular program this year. "I want kids to be excited about building things," Pratt said. "When it gets to that time of their junior year in high school and they can say, ‘Hey, I want to be a civil engineer.’ That’s our goal."
Read the Tribune story

Cal Poly Students Shadow Engineers at Raytheon
Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems hosted 25 engineering students from eight California universities as part of National Engineer’s Week. Students shadowed Raytheon engineers and participated in a Q&A session. Cal Poly students Ashley Evants, Jerad Ellenberger, Jeannie Goodson, Skyler Lassman, Gregory Attmann, Jeff Wheeler, and Abagail Liddle participated in the event.
Click Here for photos and details

Women Engineers Name The Best
Cal Poly's Society of Women Engineers, in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard, honored five of its members with the Outstanding Women in Engineering and Technology award. Winners were chosen from 47 nominees and were ranked using four criteria: faculty recommendations, demonstrated leadership, related work experience and grade point average.
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First Cal Poly Ballroom Dance Competition Draws Hundreds
More than 150 Dancesport competitors and 13 collegiate dance teams from across California waltzed their way to Cal Poly in February to compete in the first Ballroom Dancesport Competition. The weekend competition was held in Chumash Auditorium. Student dancers competed in international and American style ballroom dances at five different levels. Categories included events for newcomers on up to seasoned "open-level" competitors. Hundreds turned out for the event.
Read the Mustang Daily story | Click Here for Tribune story

Tribune slideshow

Landscape Architecture Students Planning Nipomo Park
Landscape Architecture students from Cal Poly will draft plans for a 1-acre park in Nipomo over the next month after surveying the community about what they want to see there. Professor Gary Clay’s class of third-year students met with Nipomo residents in February to tour the site and learn about Nipomo’s history. The lot is owned by San Luis Obispo County, and officials are working with the Nipomo Community Services District to brainstorm ways to fund the design, building and maintenance of the neighborhood gathering place. Students will spend the next four to five weeks drawing their plans before presenting them to the community in late March.
Read the Times-Press-Recorder story

Faculty & Staff
Professor National Geographic's 'Naked Science' March 14
Television viewers don’t have to leave their homes to get a free lesson on America's prehistory. Cal Poly archaeology Professor Terry Jones, a recognized authority on the prehistory of the West Coast of North America, will appear in a documentary at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 14. Titled “American B.C.,” the documentary is part of the “Naked Science” series that airs on National Geographic channel.
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Professor's Book Profiled in the Los Angeles Times
Cal Poly History Professor Kathleen A. Cairns has written a book on the first woman sentenced to death in California: Nellie Madison -- an unwitting pioneer of the battered wife defense. "The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison," is scheduled for publication this spring by the University of Nebraska Press. Cairns' research took her from Madison's birthplace in Montana to her forgotten grave in Southern California. "Nellie had been an ambitious, free-spirited young woman, full of optimism for the future," Cairns said in a recent interview. "She also had lousy taste in men."
Read the LA Times story | Visit Professor Cairns' Cal Poly Web Page

President Baker Receives UNM Rodey Award
Cal Poly President Warren J. Baker has received the University of New Mexico’s Bernard S. Rodey Award for his lifelong contributions in the field of higher education. Baker, who received his Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from UNM in 1966, received the award recently during a university awards ceremony in Albuquerque, NM. He was honored for his efforts to further science and mathematics education in the United States and for his achievements as president of Cal Poly over the past 28 years.
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Ag Professor Named to ‘Influential Latinos’ List
Cal Poly Agriculture Education Professor Robert Flores will receive recognition as one of the Central Coast’s “Most Influential Latinos” at an awards ceremony in March. Flores, a professor in Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences, is among 25 people to be honored as the 2007 Most Influential Latinos on the Central Coast, a program of Latino Today newspaper. Each year, the newspaper names the area's outstanding Latino leaders in preparation for its Most Influential Latino Awards Banquet. Flores will be recognized in this year’s ceremony March 10.
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Passings: Ag Professors Conner, Merriam
Two retired Cal Poly professors who spent many years teaching in what is now Cal Poly's College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences passed away last month: Wes Conner and John Merriam. During his 25 year tenure at Cal Poly, Professor Conner taught landscape drafting and Park Planning and Management. Part of the curriculum for this course was a three-day field trip to Yosemite National Park, now an established tradition at Cal Poly. A celebration of his life will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 11, 2007, at the San Luis Obispo Country Club. Agriculture Engineering Professor Emeritus John L. Merriam passed away at his home Saturday, Feb. 10, at the age of 95. Professor Merriam, a third generation Californian, member of the Methodist Church and graduate of Cal Tech, was an internationally known irrigation consultant who taught at Cal Poly for 20 years and was recognized with many awards.
Read more about them

Coming Up
Angela Davis to Speak on Campus
To Kick Off Women's History Month March 9
Angela Davis, one of the most influential feminist scholars and activists of the late 20th century, will be headlining Cal Poly’s Women’s History Month celebration. Davis is speaking at 7 p.m. Friday, March 9, in Chumash Auditorium. The UC Santa Cruz professor will speak on “Building Communities of Resistance,” focusing on her experiences in activism, prison reform, and her belief in non-violent resistance. Davis will recount her experiences being on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list for a crime she didn’t commit, as well as her role in the civil rights movement.
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California Wind Band Festival Concerts Continue March 8-10
The Cal Poly Music Department and the American Bandmasters Association are sponsoring a four-day concert series featuring seven of the nation’s finest wind bands. The California Wind Band Festival began Wednesday, March 7, and continues through Saturday, March 10. All performances begin at 8 p.m. in the Christopher Cohan Center on campus, and tickets are still available. On Thursday, March 8, the St. Cloud State University Wind Ensemble, Rikard Hansen, conductor, and the Arizona State University Wind Symphony and Chamber Winds, Gary Hill, conductor, will perform. On Friday, March 9, the San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra, William Johnson, conductor, Randy Brion, guest conductor, and the Ohlone Wind Orchestra of Fremont, Tony Clements, conductor, will perform. On Saturday, March 10, the United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own,” Col. Thomas Rotondi Jr., conductor, will perform. Admission free; seating is limited.
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Oxford University Brecht Scholar to Speak After Matinee March 10
Leading translator and scholar Tom Kuhn of Oxford University will present a free discussion session Saturday, March 10, following Cal Poly’s 2 p.m. performance of Bertolt Brecht’s politically charged play, “Round Heads and Pointed Heads.”  Kuhn is the series editor of the main English-language edition of Brecht’s works. At Oxford, he teaches German language and literature, and 20th-century literature. Cal Poly’s Theatre and Dance Department is presenting the play Thursday through Saturday March 8-10. Curtain time is 8 p.m. both evenings, with a matinee at 2 p.m. March 10 only. All showings will be in the Spanos Theatre on campus.
More on Professor Kuhn | More on the Play

Cal Poly Symphony Concert is March 11
The Cal Poly Symphony Winter Concert, "Student Soloist Showcase," begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 11, in the Christopher Cohan Center. Come hear the winners of the Music Department's annual student solo competition for a taste of Mustang musical talent. Also to be heard: music from the movies, classic and contemporary genres. Tickets are $10 & $12 general, $8 & $10 seniors, $6 students.
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'Old School Freight Train'
Barrels into Spanos Theatre March 27
Cal Poly Arts presents the Virginia quintet Old School Freight Train in concert Thursday, March 22, at 8 p.m. in the Spanos Theatre. By sporting a banjo, mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and bass, Old School Freight Train certainly looks like a traditional string band. But they mix lightning-fast bluegrass numbers and toss in jazz, Latin, Celtic, and pop styles. Listen for their outrageous acoustic version of Stevie Wonder's 1982 funk classic, "Superstition." The group is the hit of bluegrass festivals across the country, including Telluride and Rockygrass.
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Cirque Eloize Performs March 27
Cal Poly Arts presents Cirque Eloize at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, in Harman Hall in the Christopher Cohan Center. In its latest production, set in a theater where performers busy themselves rehearsing acts of juggling, contortion, and acrobatics, Cirque Eloize returns with a festive celebration of music and dance, a world of joyful, childlike characters and virtuoso circus performance.
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