Cal Poly Update: January 2011
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Alumni News
Two Rose Float Trophies Launch the New Year
The Cal Poly Rose Float club took home two trophies from the 2011 Tournament of Roses. The Cal Poly float won the Rose Parade "Viewers' Choice" award for the third year in a row. The judges also awarded Cal Poly the "Fantasy Trophy" for the best use of imagination and fantasy. This year's "Galactic Expedition" float was decorated with more than 12,000 roses, 8,500 mums and 9,500 carnations. The Cal Poly float drew nearly one of every four votes, garnering 10,802 online and text-message votes out of the total of 44,730 votes submitted in the Rose Parade's "Viewers' Choice" balloting. This was the third straight year the Cal Poly float has earned two awards.
More on the 2011 Rose Float awards
See the Viewers' Choice Award Video
Watch a slideshow of 2011 Rose Float photos
Alumni Events: Warrior's Night in Oakland, Fork 'n' Bottle in Modesto
Join Cal Poly Rugby alumni, family and friends for an evening of basketball and fun Jan. 26 when the Golden State Warriors face the New Orleans Hornets in Oakland. A portion of each $30 ticket sold will support the Cal Poly Rugby team, which is heading to the 2011 USA Rugby College Division Premier Championships.
On Feb. 24, join the Modesto Alumni Chapter for their annual Fork ‘N’ Bottle wine tasting event at the beautiful Gallo Center for the Arts in downtown Modesto. This evening will feature fine wines, cheese, appetizers and a silent auction. Proceeds benefit incoming Cal Poly students from Stanislaus and Merced counties. Parents and university friends are always welcome at Cal Poly Alumni Association events.
Event details
Cal Poly Alumni Photo of the Year 2010: Vote Online Now
Vote online now in the Cal Poly Alumni Photo of the Year competition. Which of the 2010 Photo of the Month winners should receive a $50 El Corral gift card good for Cal Poly gear? You decide. Each of the winners has already received a Cal Poly Alumni window decal for photos they uploaded to their photo albums on PolyLink (www.calpolylink.com) the free, private online Cal Poly Alumni Directory. More than 17,500 alumni have expanded their profiles in the directory -- 500 of them with photo albums.
Cast your ballot by 5 p.m. San Luis Obispo time Friday, Jan. 21, 2011.
Click here to vote online in the 2010 Photo of the Year competition
Click here to see Photo of the Month galleries
Alumni in the News:
LA Times Discovers Ag Alumni,
The Iceman Retireth, and More
Two Cal Poly agriculture alumni were featured in the Los Angeles Times in recent weeks. Jay Ruskey was profiled for doing something no one has ever successfully done before in California: growing coffee beans commercially. And Horticulturist Cassy Aoyagi was profiled for her campaign to preserve and restore the state's native plants. Meanwhile, accounting alum and former UFC champion Chuck Liddell decided to retire from the ring and step into a new role in Ultimate Fighting: league administration. Other alumni were in the headlines for their art exhibits, worldwide treks, rodeo standings and more.
Read about Cal Poly Alumni in the News
University News
Kiplinger's Names Cal Poly to Its
'Best Values in Public Colleges' List — Again
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine again named Cal Poly as one of its “100 Best Values in Public Colleges 2010-11.” The list was published in its February magazine. Cal Poly retained its spot at No. 50 on the list of 100 best-value universities for in-state students. Cal Poly moved up 14 spots to No. 33 as a best value for out-of-state students. Cal Poly was among seven UC campuses to make the latest Kiplinger's list; two other CSU campuses also made the list. Some 900 new graduates already know Cal Poly is one of the nation's best values. The new grads were honored in three commencement ceremonies Dec. 11. They join more than 140,000 living Cal Poly alumni around the world already making significant contributions to their professions and their communities.
Click here to view a photo gallery from December Commencement
Read more about Cal Poly's Top 50 ranking in Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Incoming President Jeffrey Armstrong and Wife Visit Cal Poly
Incoming Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong and his wife, Sharon, visited Cal Poly in mid-January for an initial orientation tour of campus and the community. Armstrong met informally with several groups on campus, including students. In a brief follow-up e-mail to the campus community, he expressed his eagerness to to get started and commented on the campus’ genuine optimism. "There was a consistent theme in all the conversations that could best be described as 'genuine optimism' about Cal Poly’s future," he wrote. "At the same time, I was pleased that everyone was clear-eyed and realistic about the difficult challenges that public higher education faces in California. I’m excited about what we will accomplish together, and I can’t wait to get started." Armstrong, currently the dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University, will assume the Cal Poly presidency Feb. 1.
Read the CSU News Release
Read Armstrong's Bio | Read Armstrong's CV
Passings: 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, passed away Christmas Day at age 95. Kennedy joined the Cal Poly faculty in 1940 as a journalism professor. In 1967, he was named president of what was then known as California State Polytechnic College in 1967, and retired in 1979 as president of California Polytechnic State University. As the institution’s seventh president, he oversaw a period of significant, concentrated growth.
More on Kennedy | See the Kennedy Library tribute page
Click here to view a photo slideshow
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Donations can be made to the Robert E. and Mary Kennedy Endowment for Special Collections, Kennedy Library
Graphic Communication Department
Hosting 2011 International Printing Week Jan. 25-28
Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Department has announced the lineup for its 2011 International Printing Week, set for Jan. 25-28.
The theme of the four-day event is “Graphic Communication – The Production of Knowledge.” The program will include seminars by industry leaders, laboratory dedications, demonstrations, a career fair, a banquet and the department’s winter advisory board meeting. All seminars and demonstrations are conducted on campus. Industry members are invited to attend the seminars.
More on the International Printing Week Program
Today's Students
Society of Women Engineers Earn National Awards
Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a perennial winner at the organization’s national conferences. This year, 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 competitions at the conference. Current Cal Poly SWE president Stephanie Smith won the award for Scholarship, and past president Lesley Telford and recent graduate Katherine Gage won two of five national Outstanding Collegiate Member awards.
Details on SWE awards and success
National Title for Undefeated Field Hockey Team
Cal Poly’s club Field Hockey finished its undefeated 2010 season in December by capturing its first ever National Field Hockey Coaches Association national championship. The Mustangs amassed a 15-0 regular-season record and then hosted the Western Collegiate Field Hockey Conference. Two additional victories – including a WCFHC-title-clinching 1-0 win over UC San Diego – sent the Mustangs to the inaugural national championship competition in Goleta the weekend of Dec. 3.
Details on Field Hockey success
Men’s Soccer Club Wins Nationals
with
Six Victory Tournament Sweep
Cal Poly’s Men’s Soccer Club B-team completed a six-victory sweep through the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association’s National Tournament in Phoenix to capture the Open Division Championship at the close of Fall Quarter. Meanwhile, Cal Poly’s A-team finished second in their pool in the Championship Division of the tournament.
Details on soccer championship
Faculty & Staff
College of Engineering Announces
Faculty Awards and Outstanding Staff
At its year-end reception, Cal Poly Engineering announced the recipients of two endowed professorships, two industry-sponsored faculty awards, the college-sponsored Societal Impact Award, and Outstanding Staff Awards. Aerospace engineering professor Kira Abercromby and electrical engineering professor Lynne Silvovsky received two-year, $40,000 Lockheed Martin Endowed Professorship awards. And David Marshall in aerospace engineering won the $1,000 Raytheon Excellence in Teaching and Applied Research Award.
Details on faculty awards and outstanding staff
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, over winter break. The trip is part of the final phase of a five-year Engineers Without Borders effort working with the residents of six remote mountain villages to create sustainable water filtration systems. The villages – with a total population of 5,540 – represent the only settlement of Akheau people in Thailand. Teufel documented the project and for a multimedia presentation.
Details on Thailand trip
Passings: Professor William Martínez Jr.
William (Memo) Martinez Jr., chair of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department, passed away unexpectedly Dec. 23, 2010 at age 49 in Valladolid, Spain. Martínez had taught at Cal Poly since September 1993. A strong proponent of international education, Martinez started and maintained the Cal Poly summer language program in Mexico and participated in and fortified Cal Poly’s Spain Study Abroad program in Valladolid, Spain. He was active in CSU International Programs, serving as the CSU Academic Council chair in 2001-2003 and as the Cal Poly representative to the council. He also helped develop study abroad programs in Chile and China.
More on Martínez