Cal Poly Update | The E-Newsletter for Cal Poly Friends & Alumni

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Alumni
two couples at the 2006 Wine Tasting Homecoming on the Horizon
Cal Poly's Homecoming 2007 celebration and Parents' Weekend is set for Nov. 8-10. This year's event is Cal Poly's 100th Homecoming! The Cal Poly Mustangs will take on the North Dakota State Bison in the fully renovated Alex G. Spanos stadium. Tickets for the football game are already sold out.

If you're a Golden Grad from the Class of 1957 or earlier, reunion event tickets are still available. All alumni are invited to the Honored Alumni Awards Banquet Friday, Nov. 9. Some Parents' Weekend events are also still open, but require pre-registration. If you're thinking of coming to the annual CPAA-Athletics Tailgate BBQ and Wine Tasting on the O'Neill Green, get your tickets now -- there are only a handful of barbecue and wine tasting tickets left!
Visit the Homecoming Web Site for event details and BBQ or Wine tasting tickets

Weird Al at KCPR Alumni in the News
Weird Al Heats Up KCPR and the Cohan Center
'Weird Al' Yankovic returned to his roots at Cal Poly's student radio station KCPR Oct. 9. Yankovic (B.S., Architecture, 1980) trekked to the Graphic Communication and Journalism building for a special dedication ceremony at KCPR. Then he went on to wow a sold-out crowd at the Cohan Center that evening. Yankovic told reporters that his stint as a DJ at Cal Poly's KCPR changed the course of his career. What other alumni made headlines this month? Plenty...find out if you know any of them.
Read about more Alumni in the news recently

See exclusive video from the KCPR dedication
(For alumni only! Requires login to PolyLink, Cal Poly's online community)
Click Here for the Mustang Daily story and slideshow on Weird Al at KCPR

PolyLink: Are You In Yet?
Cal Poly Cap, Emu + Animal Science Grad = Winning Photo
Cal Poly Animal Science grad Matthew Leon (B.S., Animal Science, 1999) submitted the winning Photo of the Month on PolyLink. Not only is he wearing a cool Cal Poly hat in the photo, it shows him doing some hands-on work with an emu on the job at Green Chimneys Farm and Wildlife Center in New York. "Actually that is me and Nova, our imprinted Emu! Emu are native to Australia and a close cousin to the ostrich of Africa. Emu are much easier to handle than ostrich. Just ask the folks up at the Atascadero Zoo," Leon writes. He's just one of the thousands of alumni who have already logged in to PolyLink, Cal Poly's private online community for all alumni. If you are alumni and received Cal Poly Magazine this month, your secret first-time login ID code is printed on your mailing label. Are you in yet?
Go to PolyLink | Visit the PolyLink Public Photo Gallery

University News
Students on Concrete Flower Anonymous Alum Donor
Bequeaths $60 Million to Architecture Department
Cal Poly's Architecture Department is a nationally recognized program that has educated many of the professional architects who serve California and the nation. The department announced the pledged bequest of $60 million from an anonymous donor during a press conference Sept. 26. It is the largest single gift commitment ever made to a campus in the California State University System – the largest system of senior higher education in the country.
Read more about the gift
Read the SLO Tribune story on the gift
See the KSBY news story on the gift
See Quicktime video of the announcement
download Quicktime player free

Wild Week
Mustang Men Stomp the Aggies at Home and Away in Football, Soccer
2006 Horseshoe Trophy The Cal Poly Mustangs stampeded to a 63-28 victory over UC Davis on Saturday (Oct. 13) at Aggie Stadium. Wingback Ryan Mole came back from four weeks off to rush for 92 yards on just seven carries and caught three passes for 64 yards to earn Great West Offensive Player of the Week honors. The victory means Cal Poly continues to hold the "Horseshoe Trophy" -- the symbol of the friendly rivalry between the Mustangs and the Aggies.

Then to cap off a Mustang Power weekend, the Cal Poly men's soccer team shut out visiting UC Davis in a 3-0 win Sunday afternoon at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. The win kept the Men's Soccer Team undefeated in the Big West Conference and in a first-place tie with defending national champion, No. 14 UC Santa Barbara.

The Mustangs continued their victory stampede Wednesday (Oct.17), when the Men's Soccer Team trounced the UCSB Gauchos. A record 7,143 fans packed Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Wednesday night and stormed the field after the Cal Poly men's soccer team defeated 15th-ranked UC Santa Barbara 2-1. The win puts the Mustang Men's Soccer Team at No. 1 in the Big West League.

SLO Tribune story on the Mustang's football victory
The Mustang Daily story on the Mustang's football victory
See the Mustang Daily photos and the story on Mustang Men's Soccer victory
See the SLO Tribune story on the Men's Soccer Win over the UCSB Gauchos

avocado College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental
Sciences Moves into Next Generation
Changes in Cal Poly's College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (CAFES) were profiled recently in the SLO Tribune. The college is making a number of changes to reflect that it’s changing to meet the needs of its students and the agriculture industry. “We are rebranding ourselves as one of the ways of getting the message out: Agriculture is the applied science of food and the environment, and we live in the future,” said Mary Pedersen, also a Cal Poly associate dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.
Read the full SLO Tribune story on CAFES

Today's Students
Aerospace Students Dominate National Competition
Drawing of Mosquito aircraft Cal Poly Aerospace Engineering students upheld a longstanding tradition of victory by taking two first place wins and sweeping the Undergraduate Team Aircraft design category at the recent American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Student Design Competitions. The team included Collin Baukol and Brian Saponas from San Luis Obispo, Ken Thomas from Lake Forrest, Abagail Liddle from Lafayette, Patrick Wellman from Arroyo Grande, and Derek Geiger from Sacramento, advised by retired professor Ken Hall.
Read more about Aircraft Design Competition

Army Vet & Aero Engineering Major is Awarded Hearst Scholarship
Matthew D. Durham, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is an aeronautical engineering student. A school truant who changed his life by joining the army, he later was injured and was diagnosed with an illness that left him wheelchair bound. Surgery and rehabilitation work has given him some mobility and the hope of becoming an honors graduate and a productive worker. He was among 23 students to receive the Hearst Scholarship from CSU trustees in September. The award provides $3,000 scholarships to students who have demonstrated financial need, experienced personal hardships and have attributes of merit including superior academic performance, exemplary community service, and significant personal achievements.
Read more about Durham and the scholarship | Read the SLO Tribune story on Durham

EE Students, Alum Work to Improve Red Cross Disaster Response Mobile
Alum, students with Red Cross van Cal Poly electronic engineering alum Jim Medeiros is helping College of Engineering students partner with the American Red Cross to improve disaster response on the Central Coast. The project aims to improve mobile disaster communications and electrical systems for a Red Cross remote communications center. The center, a vehicle based in Monterey, is available to aid San Luis Obispo County if needed. "This will be a great opportunity for students to do creative thinking,” said Medeiros. “We want the systems on this communication center to be state of the art, ergonomic and user-friendly, making it readily usable for non-technical volunteers in a time of emergency.”
Read more about Red Cross Partnership

Faculty & Staff
Philosophy Professor Speaks at Yale University on Nanotechnology
Professor Patrick Lin, Ph.D., director of The Nanoethics Group and visiting assistant professor of philosophy at Cal Poly, was recently invited to speak at Yale University about the field of nanotechnology. His presentation was titled, "The Rise of Nanoethics: Emerging Issues in Nanotechnology and Society." Lin addressed Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies. He outlined a brief history of nanotechnology and its hype; lessons from the past, including the stem cell and genetically-modified food debates; predicted benefits from nanotechnology; and current, emerging, as well as predicted issues arising from nanotechnology, such as related to research ethics, environment, health, privacy, security, economics, and more.
Read the full story on Nanotechnology Now
Read the SLO New Times profile on Professor Lin

Hollywood in the Classroom: Rec Professor Says Movies Teach
Are "The Motorcycle Dairies" and "Bend It Like Beckham" appropriate teaching tools in the college classroom? Yes, says a Cal Poly Professor Marni Goldenberg. She writes about the benefits of using movies in the classroom in a recently published book for use in the recreation, sports, tourism and physical education fields. Goldenberg, a member of Cal Poly's Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration faculty, is co-author of “Teaching With Movies: Recreation, Sports, Tourism, and Physical Education.” The book is the result of more than two years of research conducted by Goldenberg and Teresa O’Bannon, a former Cal Poly professor who now teaches at Radford University in Virginia.
Read more about Goldenberg's new book

Professor Ruggles Receives
Industry Award for Lifetime Achievements
Cal Poly Graphic Communication Professor Emeritus Philip Ruggles was recently honored by the prestigious Walter E. Soderstrom Society for contributions to the printing and publishing industry. Ruggles was inducted into the Soderstrom Society during a special 75th anniversary gala at the Art Institute of Chicago. The society, named after one of the founders of the National Association of Printing Leadership, honors select printing and publishing industry leaders and educators for their lifelong contributions.
Read more about Professor Ruggles' award

Child Development Professor, Student Team to Create Film on Mental Health
Cal Poly Child Development Professor Mary Garcia-Lemus and psychology student Marie Hughes teamed up to produce a 30-minute documentary film illustrating what it’s like living with mental illness from family members’ perspectives. “It’s just like when families are afflicted with cancer,” Garcia-Lemus said. “There’s grief, denial, loss, despair, acceptance, hope and survival." The film tells the stories of 17 Central Coast families dealing with mental illness in one form or another.
Read the feature story in the SLO Tribune | Read the Mustang Daily story

Passings: History Professor, Sailing Club Advisor Robert Rosenberg
Retired Cal Poly history professor Robert Rosenberg died peacefully at home Sept. 27. In 1970 he came to Cal Poly to teach in the History Department and taught there until his retirement. He especially enjoyed teaching courses relating to technology and human values, and being faculty advisor to the Cal Poly Sailing Club.
Read the obituary in the SLO Tribune

Coming Up
Catch the Mustang Marching Band Oct. 20 at Colony Days Parade
Cal Poly Marching Band "The Pride of the Pacific," Cal Poly’s Mustang Marching Band, will be marching and playing in the Atascadero Colony Days Parade andd performing a concert in Atascadero’s Sunken Garden following the parade on Saturday, Oct. 20. It's the first time in several years the Mustang Band has marched in a community parade. The Mustang Band students want to spread the excitement of band music to local communities and children. If you're on the Central Coast Oct. 20, catch the parade. Or check "band dad" Walter Reil's Web site full of Cal Poly Mustang Marching Band photos anytime.
Click Here for Walter Reil's Mustang Band Photo Web

Hear Virginia Mountain Music at the PAC Oct. 24
Cal Poly Arts presents "The Crooked Road Project: Mountain Music of Virginia" Wednesday, Oct. 24, in Harman Hall in the Christopher Cohan Center. Appalachian guitar master Wayne Henderson, bluegrass banjo virtuoso Sammy Shelor, and family old-time string band, The White Top Mountain Band join the bluegrass band No Speed Limit and a young keeper of ancient mountain ballads, Elizabeth LaPrelle in concert.
More on the Crooked Road concert

San Francisco Art Institute Architect Lectures Oct. 24
Noted architect Paffard Keatinge-Clay, designer of the landmark addition to San Francisco Art Institute's historic campus, will present a lecture titled “Evolution and the Prototype” Oct. 24 at 4 p.m. in the Berg Gallery, Room 105. The free public lectures are made possible through a grant from the Hearst Foundation.
More on Keatinge-Clay's lecture

Cal Poly Choirs Cal Poly Choirs 2007
Debut Concert Set for Oct. 27
Exceptional choral works for organ and a variety of instrumental forces will be at the forefront of the 2007 Cal Poly Choirs Debut Concert Saturday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. in the Cohan Center. Enjoy the marvelous sounds of the Forbes Pipe Organ as PolyPhonics, The University Singers, and the Early Music Ensemble perform. This year's introduction to the three Cal Poly Choirs will highlight the new Forbes Pipe Organ.
More on the Choirs debut performance

Yahoo Exec Speaking in Chumash
Oct. 30 as Part of OCOB Series
The Orfalea College of Business Distinguished Speaker Series presents Hilary Schneider, senior vice president for marketplaces at Yahoo. Schneider will speak in Chumash Auditorium Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 9:10 a.m. in an event that is free and open to the public. Schneider joined Yahoo as Vice President in September 2006. She's charged with developing an overarching classified and listings strategy that includes new ways of handling transaction listings across Yahoo, as well as have day-to-day oversight of Yahoo's Marketplaces properties in the U.S.

Photo from exhibit shows painted face Alumni Artist's ‘retro•spective’ Opens Nov. 2
A new alumni exhibition, “retro•spective,” will showcase works by six Cal Poly alumni demonstrating a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. The free and public exhibit is scheduled to run Nov. 2 through Jan. 6 in the Kennedy Library Gallery at the Commons. An opening reception for the alumni artists is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, in the gallery. In the exhibit, the alumni artists take a look back on their undergraduate years, exhibiting a body of work that signifies Cal Poly teaching philosophies and influential professors and experiences.
To see alumni artists, click here

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