University News
Cal Poly Retains Top 50 Ranking on Kiplinger's Best Value List
Washington, D.C.-based business publication Kiplinger’s Personal Finance again named Cal Poly as one of its “100 Best Values in Public Colleges 2010-11.”
Cal Poly retains its spot at No. 50 on the list of 100 public universities from around the U.S. for in-state students and moves up 14 spots to No. 33 for out-of-state students. It joins seven University of California campuses (San Diego, UCLA, Berkeley, Irvine, Santa Barbara, Davis and Santa Cruz) as well as Cal State Long Beach and San Diego State from the CSU.
Kiplinger develops its list on a combination of academics and affordability, through a mix of its own reporting and existing data on more than 500 public, four-year colleges and universities.
Read more on the Kiplinger’s ranking
Art and Design Students Produce New Universal Healthcare Symbols
Art and Design students, advised by assistant professor Kathryn McCormick, will have their work featured in various hospitals and health care facilities around the country. The Society for Environmental Graphic Design and Hablamos Juntos, an organization that develops solutions to language barriers in health care, recently unveiled new Universal Symbols in Health Care, many of which were designed by College of Liberal Arts’ Art and Design students.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the project through their Pioneer Portfolio grant. The students researched and created new designs and also modified existing symbols, which were then submitted for evaluation for cross-cultural effectiveness.
Cal Poly participated along with University of Cincinnati, Iowa State University and Kent State University. The winning designs will be introduced soon at four partnering healthcare facilities: Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, R.I.; Seattle’s International Community Health Services; Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Hospital; and Atlanta’s Grady Health System.
Read more here on the healthcare symbols
Society of Women Engineers Scores National Awards
Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a perennial winner at the organization’s national conference and did not disappoint at this year’s event Nov. 4-6 in Orlando, Fla.
The group came home with first-place awards for the national Team Tech design contest, Outreach for a Large Section, and Membership Retention for a Larger Section. In addition, current Cal Poly SWE president Stephanie Smith won the award for Scholarship, while past president Lesley Telford and recent graduate Katherine Gage won two of five national Outstanding Collegiate Member awards.
The winning Team Tech project involved designing a small-scale mobile patient monitoring system that sends direct wireless alerts to the emergency team when a patient goes into cardiac arrest or other emergency situation. Developing a successful prototype required that the multidisciplinary team of 12 students focus on electronics, computer-aided drafting and biomedical applications.
Read more here on the Society of Women Engineers awards
Graphic Communication Professor Teaches in Russia and the Ukraine
Cal Poly Graphic Communication professor Ken Macro recently completed a sabbatical in Russia and the Ukraine, teaching at Moscow State University of Printing Arts, St. Petersburg University of Technology and Design and at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Ukraine. Macro was accompanied by Regis Delmontagne, formerly CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies. The two provided an introduction to American philosophy on conducting business in the printing sector (both domestic and abroad), and current trends in management principles and production control methods for print and digitally imaged products to students and faculty at the three universities.
Read more here on Macro’s sabbatical
Cal Poly to Help Build New Haiti Built Environment Resource Center
Cal Poly’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design will join several national organizations to help the State University of Haiti construct a new Haiti Built Environment Resource Center, to provide educational courses related to constructing safer buildings (particularly schools), and disaster resilient communities for Haitian officials and builders.
The US National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) will lead a team in charge of creating the center. NIBS and the Advanced Research Institute of Virginia Tech invited Cal Poly to join the group because of the university’s hands-on learning approach, as well as faculty expertise in seismic safety and planning for disaster-resilient communities.
William Siembieda, a professor in Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning Department, will coordinate the college’s effort during the current academic year. Faculty member James Mwangi, a certified disaster safety worker, is also part of the team.
Siembieda expects student to be involved in the project following the construction of the Haiti Built Environment Resource Center. “Our students will get hands-on experience with the project through coursework and field trips,” he said.
Read more here on the Haiti project
Cal Poly Journalism Professor Takes Skills to Thailand
Brady Teufel, assistant professor of journalism at Cal Poly, accompanied the university’s student chapter of Engineers Without Borders to the village of Huai Nam Khun, Thailand, in December.
The trip was part of the final phase of a five-year Engineers Without Borders effort working with the residents of six remote mountain villages on sustainable water filtration systems. The villages – with a total population of 5,540 – represent the only settlement of Akheau people in Thailand.
Teufel was invited to accompany the team to assist in documenting the experience through multimedia storytelling, which he teaches in Cal Poly’s Journalism Department. Teufel also teaches courses in visual communication, multimedia reporting, photojournalism and writing for the media, and he is the adviser for the Mustang Daily – Cal Poly’s student-run newspaper.
“As part of my contribution to the team,” Teufel said, “I plan on applying the techniques that I teach in my journalism classes to accurately capturing the spirit of the community, its people, the project, and the Cal Poly team’s ongoing efforts.”
Read more on Teufel’s Thailand trek
IN MEMORIAM
Cal Poly President Emeritus Robert E. Kennedy
Cal Poly President Emeritus Robert E. Kennedy, who led the university for more than 12 years and who remained engaged with Cal Poly for decades after his retirement, died Christmas Day 2010 at age 95.
Kennedy was named the president of California State Polytechnic College in 1967 and retired Feb. 1, 1979, as president of California Polytechnic State University. As the institution’s seventh president, he oversaw a period of significant, concentrated growth.
Kennedy led the campus through a key period of transformation, when it became a university and significantly expanded both its physical campus and its academic offerings.
Kennedy became head of Cal Poly’s Journalism Department in 1946. Three years later, he also took on the role of the school’s public relations director. He served as assistant to President Julian McPhee from 1950 to 1957; dean of the Arts and Sciences Division from 1957 to 1959; and vice president of Cal Poly from 1959 to 1967, before his 12-year tenure as the campus’s leader.
In recognition of his dedicated service to and profound influence on Cal Poly, the California State University trustees voted upon his retirement to name the campus’s then-new library building the Robert E. Kennedy Library.
Read more here on President Emeritus Robert E. Kennedy
William (Memo) Martínez, Jr.
William (Memo) Martínez, Jr., chair of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department, died unexpectedly Dec. 23, 2010 in Valladolid, Spain.
Martínez came to Cal Poly in 1993. He served as chairman of the Modern Languages and Literatures twice – from 2000-06 and from 2009 until his death. He volunteered on numerous committees at the college and university level. He was a founding member of Cal Poly’s Chicana Latino Faculty Staff Association and served as an adviser for various student clubs and organizations. He also served as a Scholar in Residence for the San Luis Obispo Arts Council from 1997-2000. He received the Cal Poly Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001 and the College of Liberal Arts’ Service Award in 1998.
A proponent of international education, Memo started and maintained the Cal Poly summer language program in Mexico and participated in Cal Poly’s Spain Study Abroad program in Valladolid. He was also active statewide via CSU International Programs, serving as the Academic Council chair in 2001-03 and as the campus representative to the council. He also helped develop study abroad programs in Chile and China.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Modern Languages and Literatures Department with the designation “For the W. Martínez, Jr. Memorial Fund.” The funds will be used to establish an award/scholarship for Cal Poly students who wish to study in Spain.
Read more on William Martinez, Jr.
