Cal Poly Update - March 2009
Alumni News
Cal Poly Hosting Job Search, Resume Workshop March 20
Cal Poly’s Career Services office will host a free resume and job search workshop Friday, March 20, for San Luis Obispo area residents. The event, set to run 9 to 11 a.m. at Career Services in Building 124, is aimed at Central Coast residents affected by recent business closures and the downturn in the economy. Cal Poly alumni are always eligible for free assistance at the university's Career Services Department, and the private Mustang Jobs listings. PolyLink member alumni have access to the PolyLink job boards, which combine postings from alumni and Mustang Jobs. Both are free for job posting and recruitment, as well as job searches. Watch for an article with tips on career networking in a tough economy in the next edition of Cal Poly Magazine - coming soon.
More on the March 20 job search workshop
Go to the Cal Poly Career Services Web site
Go to the PolyLink Job Boards (login required)
Alumni: Not in PolyLink yet? Click Here to request your first-time login code
PolyLink Alumni Photo of the Month:
Spring Wildflowers on the Carrisa Plains
Alumna Lisa Marrone (B.S., Natural Resources Management, 1980) is the PolyLink Photo of the Month winner for a beautiful photo of spring wildflowers on the Carrisa Plains north of San Luis Obispo. 'I took it in spring of 1998, after the heavy 1997 El Niño rain season. It's off Highway 58 east of Elkhorn Road," she says. "When the newspapers report the wildflower show every year at Shell Creek on Highway 58, the flowers are typically starting up at Carrisa Plains," she added. Marrone is just one of the 10,800+ alumni in PolyLink, Cal Poly's free, private online community at www.calpolylink.com (login required).
View more Photo of the Month winners in the PolyLink Photo Gallery (no login required)
Alumni in the News --
Breaking Cold Cases, Taking Charge at NBC, in the State Senate, and More
An alumnus cop-turned-college-professor helped break the Chandra Levy D.C. cold case. An alumnus is now the chief Republican in the California State Senate. Another is a top exec in charge of digital programming at NBC. Scores more Mustang alumni were in the headlines recently -- moving up at companies, starting restaurants, playing music and more. Do you know any of them? Find out.
Read about Alumni in the News recently
Get an Inside Tour of the Golden Gate, Take a Santa Cruz Train Ride
Join Cal Poly alumni, parents and friends March 14 in San Francisco for a fun and informative look at the Golden Gate Bridge and an up-close tour of the Pt. Bonita Lighthouse. Top it off with a Molly Stone's lunch at the Wallace Batter picnic grounds overlooking the bay and the Marin headlands. Organized by the CPAA North Bay Chapter -- parents, friends and guests are welcome. On April 5, alumni and friends are invited to Cal Poly's Swanton Pacific Ranch just north of Santa Cruz for train rides and a barbecue at the annual Al Smith Day at the ranch. Only 500 tickets are available -- if you're interested get details and tickets early.
See more in the Alumni Events Calendar in PolyLink (No Login Required)
Details on the Golden Gate event | Details on Al Smith Day at Swanton
Visit the Swanton Pacific Web site
Longtime WOW Coordinator is Grand Marshal for Poly Royal Parade April 18
Lisa Bruce, a Cal Poly financial aid counselor and former assistant coordinator of the university’s Orientation Programs, has been named this year’s Open House Poly Royal Parade Grand Marshal. Open House is set for Saturday, April 18 this year. Thousands of students, their families, community members and alumni attend Open House every year. Alumni: Come back for Open House and the Poly Royal Parade -- and don't forget to stop by the Cal Poly Alumni Association booth on Dexter Lawn for a welcome and goodies.
More on the parade and Lisa Bruce
Visit the Open House 2009 Web Site
University News
'History Detectives' Turn to Cal Poly Engineering
for Help on Amelia Earhart Mystery
Crews from the PBS show 'History Detectives' landed at Cal Poly for filming on a new episode investigating Amelia Earhart. Earhart, among America's first female pilots, captured headlines and hearts in the 1930s. She went missing over the Pacific in 1937 during an attempt to fly around the globe. The famous aviatrix came to Cal Poly in 1935 and 1936 for repairs to her airplanes. For the 'History Detectives' episode, Cal Poly tested a piece of landing gear found off the coast of Hawaii to see if it could be connected to Earhart.
More on Earhart and Cal Poly | See photos of filming at the library
Read the Mustang Daily story on the testing
Visit the 'History Detectives' Web site
Orfalea Business College Breaks into
Business Week's Top 100 Tier
The Orfalea College of Business at Cal Poly is one of only two public universities in California to rank in the Top 100 undergraduate business programs in the nation, according to a recent ranking by Business Week magazine. Cal Poly and UC Berkeley are the only public universities in California to make the list. This is the first year Cal Poly's Orfalea College of Business has been included in the Top 100 rankings since Business Week launched the feature in 2006. “We have an unusual depth and breadth of business education at Cal Poly,” said Dave Christy, dean of the college. “We offer a comprehensive curriculum, from accounting to packaging and logistics, with an emphasis on team project-based learning."
More on the Top 100 ranking for OCOB
OCOB To Offer New Distance Learning Master's Degree
Beginning in fall 2009, Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business will offer a new distance learning graduate degree program designed specifically for working professionals: a Master of Science in Business and Technology. This new graduate program incorporates both the convenience of distance learning and laboratory access to Cal Poly’s Industrial Technology Department. Spread over six academic quarters, the part-time degree program includes two on-campus weekends per quarter. The balance of coursework will be delivered online.
Details on the new grad degree program
New 'Learn by Doing Lab':
Teaching Future Teachers How to Teach Science
Cal Poly now has a new 'Learn By Doing Lab' to teach future teachers how to teach science. The 1,500-square-foot laboratory provides a hands-on environment for Cal Poly science majors interested in teaching. Cal Poly students will host more than 1,600 fourth-through-eighth-grade students on campus this school year, teaching them inquiry-based science lessons. For the lab's grand opening, local elementary school students were treated to College of Science and Mathematics Dean Phil Bailey's famous 'Chemistry Magic' show.
More on the new science learning lab
Cal Poly Dining Operations
Turn Trash into Treasure with Composting
Cal Poly Corporation entered into an agreement with Engel & Gray Inc. to compost thousands of pounds of post-consumer waste from Campus Dining operations into premium soil. Biodegradable matter such as food remains will be composted rather than thrown away, diverting more than 300 tons of solid waste per year from entering local landfills. The program is one of several sustainability measures being developed by the corporation.
More on the composting effort
Going on a Bug Hunt:
Cal Poly Sustainable Ag Battling Invasive Insects
Cal Poly’s Sustainable Agriculture Resources Consortium is aiding a statewide coalition in battling bad bugs invading California. Cal Poly's SARC will gather and examine data on economic impacts of quarantines on growers in Sonoma and Kern counties hit by either the light brown apple moth or the glassy winged sharpshooter. Apple moth larvae photo courtesy California Department of Agriculture
More on the invasive pest quarantine project
Faculty & Staff
New AVP for Strategic Communications Announced
The Cal Poly University Advancement Division has announced the appointment of Chip Visci, former newspaper publisher and executive, as the new associate vice president for strategic communications. “Chip will be a valued addition as he provides leadership for Cal Poly communications at a time when we are reviewing and updating the university’s strategic and master plans,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Bob Koob. “In addition, his experience and knowledge of the local area and state politics will serve Cal Poly well as he oversees government and community relations.”
More on new AVP Visci
Professor Writes Book on Central Coast Wine Appellation
Cal Poly Communications Professor William A. Ausmus and his guide to California's Central Coast wine appellation is making headlines. "Wines & Wineries of California's Central Coast: A Complete Guide from Monterey to Santa Barbara" was released in fall 2008 by the University of California Press. Ausmus is a lecturer in the Cal Poly Communications Studies Department. The guide is organized into county-by-county alphabetical listings for the region and profiles nearly 300 wineries.
More on the book
Professor Looking into Central Coast Ocean Health
Cal Poly biologist Lars Tomanek and others from Cal Poly are investigating what chemicals might be finding their way into Central Coast waters. They tested gobies because they’re bottom dwellers and a good indication of what’s in the sediment. The Cal Poly biologists found liver tumors in the Morro Bay goby fish.
Read the story in the San Luis Obispo New Times
Philosophy Prof Speaks Nationally on Ethics of 'WarBots' and Bionic Bods
Cal Poly Professor Patrick Lin, director of The Cal Poly-based Ethics + Emerging Technologies Group, has been invited to give the first presentation on an international war-robots panel. Lin spoke at the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Annual Meeting March 7. The event is the largest applied ethics conference in the world. Lin recently released a report commissioned by the U.S. Navy: “Autonomous Military Robots: Risk, Ethics, and Design.” Also in March, Lin and Cal Poly's Nanoethics Group are co-hosting a conference at the University of Michigan on the ethical and social impacts of human enhancement technologies. The conference is set for March 27 and 28 and will cover sports, the military, government policy and religion issues posed by "bionic" body enhancements.
More on Lin and the international 'war bots' conference
More on the artificial human enhancement conference
Engineering Professor Bekey Brings Tech Take on Military Robots
Can military robots obey the Geneva Conventions, the “Laws of War” and the “Rules of Engagement?” Cal Poly Professor George Bekey gave his answers during a talk on "Military Robots and Their Ethical Implications" recently. Bekey is a research scholar in residence and adjunct professor at Cal Poly, as well as emeritus professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California. At USC, he developed the Robotics Research Laboratory and the academic program in robotics.
More on Professor Bekey's talk
Prof Helps Launch Research Center on School Governance
A Cal Poly professor is one of four scholars from around the nation recently given the OK to establish a national research center that focuses on school board governance and district superintendency.
More on the new center and Cal Poly's role
Passings:
Mustang Coach Mel Kaufman
Cal Poly assistant coach and two-time Super Bowl champion Mel Kaufman died Feb. 7, at his home in Santa Margarita. He was 50. A funeral service was held in Santa Monica. A memorial service is being planned in San Luis Obispo. Details will be announced. Kaufman was a linebacker for the Cal Poly Division II national championship team of 1980. But he had his greatest success with the Washington Redskins, where he won Super Bowls XVII in 1982 and XXII in 1987.
Read About Kaufman on GoPoly.com
Read the Mustang Daily story on Kaufman
Read the Associated Press story on Kaufman in Sports Illustrated
Passings: Associate Dean Edward Sullivan
Cal Poly's College of Engineering is mourning the loss of Professor Edward Sullivan, associate dean for research and graduate programs. Sullivan died Feb. 16 at age 64. A member of the Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty since 1989, Dr. Sullivan taught transportation engineering classes emphasizing traffic analysis and modeling, evaluation methods and traffic collision modeling.
Details on the College of Engineering Web Site
Read the news story in The Tribune
Passings: Longtime Preschool Lab Professor Bette Tryon
Bette Jean Tryon, a longtime member of the Psychology and Child Development Department, passed away Feb. 1. Tryon came to Cal Poly in 1976. Her professional interests included Montessori education, parent-child relations, personal development, and the application of developmental theory to the school environment. Colleagues in the department remember her as a well-loved instructor for the preschool lab and advisor to many parents, students, and faculty.
More on Professor Tryon
Today's Students
Society of Women Engineers
Honors Five Outstanding Members
Five members of the Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (SWE) were chosen to receive the Outstanding Women in Engineering and Technology award at SWE’s annual Evening With Industry banquet in late January.
More information on SWE Awards
Students Serving Dinner to Homeless Every Month
Students with Cal Poly’s Beyond Shelter program are serving dinner once a month at the Maxine Lewis Memorial Homeless Shelter in San Luis Obispo. Student volunteers serve dinner to 75 to 150 people at the shelter on the third Friday of every month.
More on Dinner at Maxine Lewis
Cal Poly Grads Volunteering for Peace Corps Duty
Twenty-one Cal Poly alumni are now volunteering overseas through the Peace Corps, according to numbers the national organization released recently. It's the continuation of a long relationship between Cal Poly and the Peace Corps.
More on the Peace Corps and Cal Poly
Coming Up
Dervish Brings Irish Music to the PAC March 13
Direct from the Borough of Sligo comes the hauntingly passionate vocals and dazzling instrumentals of Dervish – the pre-eminent band of Ireland’s “Wild West” who has shared center stage with legends such as Sting, James Brown, and the Buena Vista Social Club. Dervish creates a myriad of tones and moods, played with fluidity and intuition, in a warm celebration of the spirit and artistry of traditional Irish music.
More on Dervish
Hear the Brass Perform
'From Russia with Love' March 14
The Cal Poly Wind Bands' Winter Concert: “From Russia With Love” is set for Saturday March 14 at 8 p.m. in the Cohan Center, featuring the Cal Poly Wind Orchestra & Wind Ensemble. From the memorable melodies, strong colors and uninhibited emotionalism of Tchaikovsky, to the inner power and technical invention of Shostakovich, this concert will bring you a basket of bold, brassy blockbusters by some of Russia’s greatest composers.
More on the Wind Bands' Winter Concert
Cherryholmes Brings Neo-Bluegrass to Life March 19
Nashville’s dynamic “first family of bluegrass” stormed the music world with award-winning shows and a Billboard chart-topping album. Just nominated for its second Grammy, the six-member band has hard-driving instrumentals and tight vocal harmonies that explode through a mixture of original songs and carefully chosen classics, filled with stellar twin fiddles, Irish step dancing, classic country yodeling, and old-time claw hammer.
More on Cherryholmes
Spend an Evening with Marvin Hamlisch March 22
Pulitzer Prize-winner Marvin Hamlisch has won virtually every major award: three Oscars, four Grammys, three Emmys, a Tony, and three Golden Globes. The evening will feature his jazz combo and a guest vocalist joining him at the grand piano with stellar selections from his Broadway successes ("A Chorus Line"), his award-winning movie scores ("The Way We Were"), a tribute to Scott Joplin ("The Sting") – and much more.
More on Hamlisch
Ending 'Mindless Eating' is Lecture Topic April 2
Brian Wansink, national bestselling author and recent executive director of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (2007-2009) will speak on campus at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 2, in the Performing Arts Center. His topic -- the same as his most recent book -- is “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.” The evening will feature a question and answer session as well as a book signing. Wansink is an expert in nutritional science, healthy eating, behavior change, environmental cues, food psychology, consumer behavior, food marketing, and grocery shopping behavior. His award-winning academic research has been published in nutrition, marketing, and medical journals across the globe.
See 'Altar Boyz' April 2 and 3 at the PAC
Full of spot-on spoofing, spectacular dancing, sweet harmonies, and irreverent humor, this Off-Broadway mega-hit about a heavenly heartthrob Christian boy-band from Ohio is destined to rock on. With an extraordinary mix of sidesplitting, MTV-worthy songs and lighthearted, affectionate fun, join Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan, and Abraham (a Jewish boy!) on the Boyz’s last night of their awesome “Raise the Praise” tour and become part of their faithful followers.
More on Altar Boyz