University News
Mustangs to Join Big Sky Football Conference
Cal Poly will join the Big Sky Conference for football beginning with the 2012 season, officials for the university and conference announced today. UC Davis will also join the expanded Big Sky Conference, which is a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) for football.
The Mustangs will maintain membership in the Big West Conference for the majority of their other intercollegiate sports.
“The geography of the Big Sky Conference makes perfect sense for Cal Poly. It gives us a consistently competitive schedule and a great opportunity to grow long-term, stable rivalries with well-respected teams,” Cal Poly Interim President Robert Glidden said.
Read more here on Cal Poly moving to Big Sky
NASA Signs On with Cal Poly’s Picosatellite Deployer
NASA has just announced a five-year contract award to Cal Poly to provide a broad range of Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD) services for NASA’s CubeSat program. The contract’s maximum cumulative potential value is $5 million.
The contract will ensure out-of-this-world, hands-on opportunities for Cal Poly students, who will be involved in actual launch campaigns working with launch providers, the NASA launch team and all universities developing CubeSats.
Cal Poly and Stanford University created the CubeSat Standard to provide developers with guidelines to interface with the P-POD, which is a tubular, spring loaded mechanism easily integrated into any launch vehicle. CubeSats are research spacecrafts measuring 10 cm square with a mass of up to 1 kg.
Read more here on the NASA contract
Business, Engineering Grads are Best Hires In
the Nation, Wall St. Journal Reports
Cal Poly is among the top universities in the nation at producing the best graduates to hire in business and engineering, according to recruiters polled by the Wall Street Journal as part of a special report.
Cal Poly business grads are on par with Stanford, Harvard, Penn State and UC Berkeley, while engineering grads those of top UCLA, Rensselaer, Carnegie Mellon and more.
The rankings are part of a Wall Street Journal report on 'Paths to Professions' released earlier this fall.
In the WSJ report's 'Rankings by Major' breakout, Cal Poly was named No. 23 of the 'Top 25' private and public universities for producing business/economics grads in the nation. Cal Poly was named No. 18 of the 'Top 25' best private and public engineering grad producers in the nation.
Read more here on the WSJ rankings
Top Guns Again: Aerospace Students Win AIAA Design Competition
For the eighth time in the past nine years, Cal Poly aerospace seniors soared above the competitors at the national Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design competition, taking both first and second places at the contest sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation (AIAA).
Designing “Alternate Fuels and Environmentally Friendly Aircraft Systems,” 34 teams from 12 universities competed in the 2010 contest. Cal Poly’s “Much Better Planes Introduces the Bearodactyl” won the $2,500 first place award, while Cal Poly’s “GFX-50” won the $1,500 award for second place. USC’s “Egret” team earned $1,000 for third place.
Led by faculty adviser Bruce R. Wright, Cal Poly’s first-place team Bearodactyl included Dominic Surano, Jake Armstrong, Chris Choi, Jake Gaunt, David Guerrero, Ben Naravage, Dan Shehan, and Kyle Thoma. Cal Poly’s GFX-50 team, also led by Wright, included Kasey Johnsen, Simo Alberti, Brian Borra, Erin Hambrick, Kevin Hougen, Peter Huang and Casey Regan.
Read more here on the students’ victory
Athletic Director Alison Cone to Retire
Alison Cone, Cal Poly’s director of athletics since 2004, announced that she will retire in December after 16 years at Cal Poly.
“This is the right time in our execution of our strategic plan for me to move on,” Cone said. “We have reached a stable position within the NCAA at the Division I level; we have great coaches in place, and they have the right focus on developing our student-athletes for success on the field, in the classroom and in their professional lives.
“And with football’s coming entrance into the Big Sky Conference, we will have all of our teams competing in appropriate conferences in order to give our student-athletes the best possible competitive opportunities,’’ said Cone, 57, who came to Cal Poly in 1994 as senior associate director of athletics.
Interim President Robert Glidden said a national search will be conducted over the next few months and timed so the next Cal Poly president, expected to be named by year’s end, can select Cone’s successor.
Read here for more on Cone’s retirement
Cal Poly Appoints Architect as Director of Alumni Relations
Architect Tracee de Hahn is Cal Poly's new director of Alumni Relations. She joined the alumni office Oct. 1, after serving as the assistant director of advancement for Cal Poly’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design. In her new job, de Hahn will lead and direct the work of the Alumni Relations Office and university events planning staff. She will also serve as executive director of the Cal Poly Alumni Association.
“Tracee’s blend of talents should prove invaluable in our efforts to expand engagement of our alumni and to bring a more integrated, university-wide approach to all alumni relations and fundraising efforts,” said Chip Visci, associate vice president for University Advancement.
She takes the reins from outgoing director Kim Gannon, who was appointed as the Alumni Relations Director of Texas State University, San Marcos, in September.
Read more here on de Hahn
Fred Sweeney to Lead Alumni Association
Fred Sweeney, a Cal Poly architecture graduate and principal with PMSM Architects in Santa Barbara, is the new president of the 14,000-member Cal Poly Alumni Association, the voice of more than 144,000 living university alumni.
Sweeney received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Cal Poly in 1974. He is currently a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. He led the $1.5 million fundraising campaign for the George Hasslein Endowed Chair in the college.
Sweeney has more than 20 years experience designing higher education projects and is a member of the Santa Barbara Hispanic Achievement Council and the Santa Barbara Art Museum’s Collectors Council. He is the founding president of the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara and has served as past president of the Santa Barbara Chapter AIA and past director of the California Council AIA.
He will serve as the CPAA president until June 2012.
Read more here on Sweeney
Cal Poly Alumni Association Establishes Award In Honor of Sandra Gardebring Ogren
The Cal Poly Alumni Association Leadership Award is being established in memory of its inaugural recipient Sandra (Sandee) Gardebring Ogren, who memorably served the university as Vice President, Advancement.
Ogren came to Cal Poly from Minnesota, where she had worked as vice president for institutional relations for the University of Minnesota. Before her career in higher education, Ogren served on the Minnesota Supreme Court from 1991 to 1998 and on a state appeals court from 1989 to 1991.
Her public service in the state also included service as a commissioner with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, director of the EPA’s enforcement division, and commissioner with the state’s Pollution Control Agency.
Ogren personified the values and accomplishments the Alumni Association seeks to honor and celebrate. Throughout her life as an accomplished jurist, dedicated public servant and leader of philanthropic endeavors, Ogren blended high ideals with a pragmatic focus on achieving results.
Graphic Communication Department
Earns
National Re-Accreditation
After completing an extensive self-study and hosting a site visit by a three-member team of industry and education experts, the Graphic Communication Department has received national re-accreditation effective Sept. 1, 2010-Aug. 31, 2016.
The Accrediting Council for Collegiate Graphic Communications, Inc. (ACCGC) awarded the academic accreditation. The council is an independent body professionally supported by collegiate leaders and management personnel in the graphic communication industry. A formal presentation was made and a recognition plaque was given to faculty and administrative representatives from Cal Poly during the Oct. 3 annual ACCGC Board of Directors meeting.
“ACCGC accreditation has further established the credibility of our Graphic Communication Department as an important academic program with a vision for educating future professions and leaders,” said department Head Harvey Levenson. “The university administration respects the views and recommendations of independent bodies such as the ACCGC and has provided the Graphic Communication Department with resources for growth and development because of its re-accreditation status.”
Read more here on the re-accreditation
Engineering Donor Endows Project-Based Learning
Paul R. Bonderson, Jr. is such a staunch supporter of Cal Poly’s learn-by-doing educational focus that he donated the money for the $8 million Bonderson Projects Center dedicated solely to student projects. Now, the 1975 electrical engineering grad has given Cal Poly an additional $550,000 to generate ongoing funds for those projects.
The gift establishes an endowment that will provide salary support for technicians who staff the Bonderson Projects Center as well as grants for equipment and materials, faculty expenses and team travel to conferences and competitions such as the National Concrete Canoe Competition, the Shell Eco-Marathon, the Formula Hybrid Competition and the Solar Decathlon. Cal Poly teams consistently perform well in these contests. The Cal Poly Concrete Canoe team, for example, won a national championship in June.
“I believe students get so much out of these national contests,” Bonderson said. “I love coming back to campus and seeing all the great student projects, especially the cutting-edge vehicles,” Bonderson said. “And I’m especially interested in supporting club projects.”
Read more here on the Bonderson’s gift
Architectural Engineering Student Pablo Ramos is 2010 Cal Poly Hearst Scholar
Architectural engineering student Pablo Ramos, a young father who grew up in Santa Maria, has been named Cal Poly’s 2010 Hearst Scholar.
Ramos grew up in a single-parent home in Santa Maria, where his mother worked hard to provide him with a solid foundation. However, living in a tough neighborhood made it difficult for him to focus on high school or think about the possibility of attending college. It was during an internship at an architectural firm while attending Allan Hancock College that Ramos discovered his career path.
“In times of need, you have two choices: You can give up and go home, or you can challenge your mind and strive to better yourself,” said Ramos.
One student from each of the 23 CSU campuses was selected to receive the award.
Read more here on Ramos’ award
Architecture Professor Receives Fulbright Award to Teach and Research in Italy
Cal Poly Architecture Professor Jonathan Reich has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant for a teaching and research position in Italy in a year of intense competition by distinguished faculty.
Reich will serve at the Facoltà di Architettura - Sede Collegata di Ascoli Piceno of the Università degli Studi di Camerino (UniCam) in Italy during the 2010-2011 academic year. He will teach an upper division/graduate student seminar called "Sustainable Environments: An American Perspective."
In addition, Reich will co-teach a design studio with Professor (and "Superstudio" founder) Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, and conduct research in Florence and Ascoli on the recent history of Italian influence on contemporary American Architectural thought.
Read more here on Reich’s award
