ASU News - University + University

ASU cites economics in reducing number of varsity sports

gcampbel — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:07:10 -0600

In response to economic realities experienced over a long period of time, Arizona State University announced May 13 the discontinuation of three varsity sports programs, effective immediately. The sport programs affected are men's swimming, men's tennis and wrestling. ASU President Michael Crow and Vice President for University Athletics Lisa Love made the announcement. With the budget cuts the University is facing, Intercollegiate Athletics cannot expect the University to make up the difference.

This move reduces the total number of varsity teams sponsored by ASU to 20 from 22. Currently, men’s swimming and men’s diving, compete as part of a combined team and this move will not affect the diving portion of the the team.

ASU will continue to fund football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field, women's tennis, women's swimming and diving, men's diving, women's volleyball, women's gymnastics and women's water polo.

"Our primary concern for the immediate future is the student-athletes and coaches that are affected," says Love.

The student-athletes in the discontinued sports who decide to transfer to another institution will be provided with full assistance from ASU regarding the transfer process. The student-athletes who chose to remain at ASU will receive the full benefits of their scholarship awards through their senior year.

"With a dedicated effort to a successful 20-sport varsity program in mind," says Love, "these three sports were selected with the following criteria: financial impact, potential competitive success, conference/regional support and gender equity. Our revenue trajectory has been positive, however, our ongoing financial challenges have been well documented by the media. The decision to discontinue sport programs is a last resort, yet necessary."

"These moves are extremely painful," says Love. "We have arrived at the realization that funding a 20 sport program is a better fit for our financial profile and will serve to secure and strengthen our future. It is our responsibility to operate a fiscally prudent varsity athletics program. The costs of doing business are escalating daily and the costs of maintaining excellence even more so."

At 20 varsity sports, ASU is in line with other major institutions around the country. In the Pacific-10 Conference, schools that compare favorably with ASU are UCLA and Washington 23 sports each, USC 21, Arizona 20, Oregon and Oregon State 18 each and Washington State 17. On a national scale, Florida, Georgia and Auburn sponsor 21 varsity sports, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and LSU 20 apiece, and Florida State 19.

"The profile of our operations budget and donation base does not lend itself to the sponsorship of 22 athletic teams," says Love. "While our revenue streams are achieving a positive trajectory they are simply not keeping pace with the current size and scope of the department.

"The decision to discontinue sports has been the most distressing and painful choice this administration has had to make. It is counter-intuitive to our administrative thinking. This decision impacts many people, both on and off our campus. The entire University, the Board of Regents, Sun Devil alumni and other universities will share in the loss of these sports and student-athletes and the contributions they have made to our University and to their sport.

"The action is in no way meant to diminish the dedication, effort or ability of these student-athletes, coaches and alumni. They have contributed greatly to Arizona State University athletics and to the vitality and history of the University," Love says.

As many as 70 student athletes will be affected by the elimination of these sports. Six full-time coaching positions will be eliminated. Head coaches will remain on contract through November, 2008.

The establishment of a 20-team varsity sport program will allow the department to realize a reduction in expenses that will total approximately of $1 million annually.

This is the second time in ASU's athletic history that programs have been eliminated. In 1993 ASU eliminated men's gymnastics, an NCAA-sponsored sport, and two club sports sponsored by ICA -- men's and women's and mixed archery and men's and women's and mixed badminton. Two sports have been added in recent program history, including women's varsity soccer in 1996 and women's water polo in 2002.

Million-dollar Osher Foundation gift assists ASU students

mattcrum — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:23:00 -0600

A $1 million endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation, plus an additional $50,000 bridge grant for the 2008-09 academic year, will provide scholarships annually to 20 or more Arizona State University students attending the West campus.

The scholarship fund targets adult students returning to school after a gap in their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. Unlike many other scholarships, Osher Reentry Scholarships are available to part-time as well as full-time students.

“This generous gift further solidifies our strong working relationship with the Bernard Osher Foundation,” says John Hepburn, dean of ASU’s College of Human Services, which also houses the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Arizona State University.

For the past two years the Bernard Osher Foundation has provided $50,000 annually in scholarships for reentry students in Human Services and the three other ASU colleges and schools located on the West campus – New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences; Teacher Education and Leadership; and Global Management and Leadership. Establishment of the $1 million endowment makes the scholarship program a permanent fixture on the West campus.

Of ASU’s four campuses, the West campus possesses the highest percentage of undergraduate students in the 25 to 50 age range (32.9 percent, as of Fall 2007).

“We’re interested in seeing more people earn a bachelor’s degree,” says Andy Lynch, program officer for the Bernard Osher Foundation. “Students returning to school later in life often have family and financial obligations greater than those of traditional students. At the same time, reentry students regularly receive less financial aid support. The Osher Reentry Scholarship is intended to fill that gap.”

Reentry students are a tremendous asset to ASU’s student body, according to Osher Reentry Scholarship faculty advisor Vincent Waldron, professor of communication studies and faculty research director of ASU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. “Most reentry students are bright, hard-working and well-organized, and they also possess life experiences that enrich classroom discourse,” Waldron says.

“The scholarship I received from the Osher Foundation helped me continue my education without delay, and I am very grateful for their support,” says Bonnie Wentzel, a previous scholarship recipient. “It took me 25 years to become a Sun Devil. As a lifelong Valley resident, a degree from ASU was always my goal.”

Wentzel says support from her husband and three children was critical to her pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. She graduated from the College of Human Services and the Barrett Honors College in May 2007. Wentzel now is pursuing a master’s degree in communication studies, working toward a goal of teaching at the college level and establishing a non-profit organization dedicated to helping other multiple-role students who return to college later in life.

As part of her master’s degree program, Wentzel is organizing an April 2009 conference at ASU’s West campus designed to “Celebrate Adults in the College Classroom.” Students, college and university support staff, and community organization representatives will be invited.

“Bonnie is a perfect example of the type of talented, enthusiastic reentry student who can benefit from an Osher Reentry Scholarship,” Waldron says.

Full-time undergraduate students in any of the four colleges on ASU’s West campus typically are awarded Osher scholarships worth $2,000 or more. Part-time students are eligible for smaller awards depending on the tuition bill they face. Recipients are chosen based on criteria including academic performance and financial need.

Middleton appointed to lead new education vision

sjkeele1 — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:30:23 -0600

ASU will be creating and executing a new vision for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in Arizona, and James Middleton, professor of mathematics education, curriculum and instruction, will lead the charge.

Middleton, a member of the ASU faculty for 14 years, has been appointed associate senior vice provost for STEM education improvement. He will be working with George Hynd, senior vice provost for education and innovation and dean of the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, on facilitating new directions for STEM education across the university.

Most recently director of the Division of Curriculum and Instruction, Middleton was responsible for leading approximately 100 faculty members in a department that is ranked 14th nationally and fourth nationally in research productivity.

“Dr. Middleton is exactly the right person to lead this ASU effort as he recognizes the critical economic and social importance of attracting more highly qualified students into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplnes,” Hynd says. “As an internationally recognized mathematics educator who has a reputation for attracting external funding to study best educational practices, he understands the critical importance of educating students in the P-12 arena so that they maintain their natural curiosities in science and mathematics.”

“Together with our teacher education colleagues at the West and Poly campuses, Dr. Middleton will work to bring together the intellectual resources in teacher education across ASU to increase the number of highly qualified teachers in mathematics and science education,” says Betty Capaldi, ASU Provost. “Our goal is a university wide vision that fosters new directions in STEM education in ways that benefit both the university and the larger public community.”

In the short term, Middleton will be meeting with faculty groups to learn about existing projects and explore new opportunities to design and deploy STEM teacher education programs.

Middleton’s office also will lead the university’s long-range planning regarding funding and research opportunities in STEM education and will support faculty in the procurement of external funding

“ASU is a unique place in this country. Nearly everywhere you look you find renowned faculty engaged in trying to improve our P-20 learning, instruction and public awareness of STEM principles and new scientific discoveries.” Middleton says. “I want my office to be a venue for faculty to dream up solutions to the problems of STEM education and to invent new possibilities for innovation in teaching, learning and technology. We will be a system of support ready to plug them into partnerships, will offer seed funding to pilot new ideas, and will provide an infrastructure so that faculty can offload some of the burden of administration and get to what makes them happy -- doing the intellectual and creative work of STEM improvement.”

In addition to working internally, Middleton will lead efforts to coordinate STEM outreach and community engagement in collaboration with research and academic units and will work with ASU Foundation to build private investment.

“ASU was a great place when I came here as an assistant professor, and it has gotten better each and every year,” Middleton says. “There is no other place that gives such license to take risks for the sake of innovation. We are designing my office to embody this sense of collegiality and commitment to creativity and impact.”

Professor’s book delivers facts on drug smuggling

mattcrum — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:00:00 -0600

The image of cocaine being smuggled into the United States from Latin America by sophisticated organizations with corporate-like structures is largely a myth, according to a new book co-authored by an Arizona State University professor.

Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling: Lessons from the Inside (Temple University Press) is based on interviews Scott Decker and Margaret Townsend Chapman conducted with 34 drug smugglers serving long sentences in federal prison. Decker is director of ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Chapman is an associate at Abt Associates Inc.

Interviewees were serving an average sentence of 18 years; all were arrested for smuggling at least 800 pounds of cocaine (one had 10,000 pounds of the drug). The authors learned details of how individuals are recruited into smuggling, why they stay in it, and how their roles change over time. Interviewees described specific smuggling strategies and how they previously escaped detection.

“One of our key findings was how disorganized Latin American smuggling operations really are,” Decker says. “Rather than having a complex pyramid structure, these are ‘flat’ organizations consisting of small, self-contained cells. Any one individual who is a link in the chain, from the grower to the processor to the transporter, knows only the other links in the chain he deals with directly.

“This is part of the strength of these groups. It’s not difficult to replace one link in the chain who may be arrested or otherwise eliminated. And he can’t provide information enabling authorities to take down a large smuggling network.”

“Scott Decker and Margaret Townsend Chapman have made a major contribution to our understanding of the underworld of international drug smuggling,” says Richard Wright of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. “Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling is a master work that must be read by anyone with a serious interest in the control and containment of illicit drugs.”

Adds Paul Cromwell of Wichita State University, “The study views the government’s efforts at deterrence from the perspective of the smugglers themselves, offering a unique approach to the issue.”

Decker and his co-author conclude their book with recommendations for U.S. law enforcement authorities. Among them are the need to publicize in the Caribbean and South America the long prison sentences awaiting smugglers who are apprehended, and to avoid being trapped by old operational models or fixed images of dynamic problems. Finally, the authors point to perhaps the most conspicuous and difficult way to reduce international drug smuggling – finding ways to reduce demand for illegal drugs in the United States.

The research Decker and Chapman present in their book was funded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Customs Service. “We also are indebted to staff at the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Bureau of Prisons, without whose cooperation the interviews would not have been accomplished,” Decker says.

Decker is the author of a dozen books on topics including gangs, juvenile justice, and criminal justice policy. He directs the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, housed in ASU’s College of Human Services on the West campus. Details about the school and its bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs are available at http://chs.asu.edu/ccj/.

Institute uses humanities to examine complex issues

sjkeele1 — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:31:14 -0600

What does a culture’s view of the human embryo say about its views of women, God and social power? Why do humans and societies continue to follow a certain path long after that path has proven to be a liability? Will money damn – or save – your soul?

These topics and others are the focus of the Institute for Humanities Research (IHR). The institute is a gateway for collaboration, bringing together scholars from across disciplines who are interested in exploring today’s most important issues from humanistic perspectives. Through the institute, faculty members and students conduct advanced research to address the world’s social, cultural, technological and scientific challenges through a humanities lens.

“Our goal is to make the humanities central to the research mission at ASU, to have them as equal importance as the sciences,” says Sally Kitch, the institute’s founding director and professor of women and gender studies. “The institute promotes, generates and supports innovative transdisciplinary research that helps people frame and understand the historical and cultural contexts surrounding an issue, to ask the ‘why’ and ‘what if’ questions.”

The institute supports scholars in traditional humanities disciplines as well as faculty in non-traditional fields who approach their research from a humanities perspective. One of more than 20 research centers and institutes in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the institute provides several funding opportunities.

The institute's Research Clusters bring ASU and visiting scholars together to explore a theme for further research. These clusters examine a vast array of topics including how African migrants have created cultures, as well as the interactions between urban values, systems, and those who inhabit cities. In addition, the inaugural Jenny Norton Research Cluster on Women, supported by the Rev. Jenny Norton, is centered on sustainability.

In annual fall and spring competitions, as many as 10 individuals are awarded up to $12,000 each through the institute’s Seed Grant Program. Research Cluster members often extend their collaborations through such grants, spending an academic year conducting research, developing proposals for submission to external funding agencies and planning conferences and publications.

The institute awarded the Embryo Project a grant that supported its first workshop. This helped the team formulate its ideas, drawing on an international interdisciplinary team of researchers, and it has been successful with National Science Foundation grant funding in part because of that investment by the institute, says Jane Maienschein, Regents’ Professor in the School of Life Sciences, who co-directs the project with Manfred Laubichler, a professor in the school.

“The project is historical and philosophical at heart and deeply humanistic in its approaches to understanding the science of embryo research,” she says. “What we are doing is richly multi-disciplined in a way that happens at ASU and not many other places. We have undergraduate researchers, graduate students and faculty members from ASU and beyond all engaged in the project.”

The Embryo Project brings together scientists, historians, philosophers, social scientists, lawyers, science policy advocates and others, Laubichler says.

“While it is clear that many of the disciplines that study science, such as history of science or sociology of science can benefit from close interactions with scientists, this project also has demonstrated that science itself can take advantage from this collaboration,” he says. ”The project is a showcase of how history can matter to actual cutting edge scientific research.”

Additional Seed Grant Programs are focused on examining transnational adoption in Arizona, building an online encyclopedia of Arizona, and examining the interaction of nature, culture, history and community on the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

The third major program supported by the institute is the Fellows Program. Organized around an annual theme, the Fellows Program brings together ASU faculty, visiting fellows who spend a semester in residence at ASU, and graduate student fellows doing related research.

This year’s Fellows Program is focused on “The Humanities and Sustainability.” In addition to several ongoing projects in this area, the IHR is working closely with the Global Institute of Sustainability to develop a Web page on humanities and sustainability, and promote collaborations between humanists and scientists.

Paul Hirt, associate professor of history, says that while sustainability is often seen as a technical enterprise in which scientists and engineers engage in ‘green’ practices and innovate solutions to environmental problems, just as powerful a force in shaping behavior and how humans collectively live on this planet are non-technical factors.

“The understanding of sustainability emphasizes the relationship between human and natural systems,” says Hirt, a historian who also teaches in the School of Sustainability. “Thus, ecological sciences and the humanities are deeply and necessarily coupled in the sustainability enterprise. While scientists look at physical processes and social scientists examine sociological processes, humanists focus on ideas, values, culture and history. We must integrate knowledge and policy across the disciplines to understand, inform and direct human development toward a responsible, sustainable future.”

Kitch says the Humanities and Sustainability project perfectly illustrates the mission of the institute – it both challenges humanists to do research in new ways and makes the humanities central to other fields.

“We want to make the humanities active, vital parts of the way people live their lives,” Kitch says.

For more information on the Institute for Humanities Research, visit the Web site: www.asu.edu/clas/ihr.

Education leader Duderstadt to receive honorary degree

cderra — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:00:25 -0600

James J. Duderstadt, president emeritus at the University of Michigan and a leader in the changing landscape of higher education, will receive an honorary doctorate from ASU at the university’s May 8 commencement ceremony.

Duderstadt was president of the University of Michigan from 1988 to 1996. Since he stepped down, he has focused much of his attention on the future of higher education. He is widely acknowledged for his significant contributions to science, teaching and higher education.

For example, Duderstadt founded and is director of the Millennium project at Michigan, where he has helped explore the future of higher education and how it will meet the needs of coming generations of students. The Millennium project acts as an incubation center, where new paradigms concerning the fundamental missions of university teaching, research and outreach can be developed and tested.

Duderstadt’s teaching and research interests have spanned a wide range of subjects in science, mathematics and engineering, including work in such areas as nuclear fission reactors, thermonuclear fusion, high-powered lasers, computer simulation, science policy, higher education and information technology.

Duderstadt received his bachelor degree in electrical engineering with highest honors from Yale University in 1964, and his doctorate in engineering science and physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1967.

After a year as a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1968.

Duderstadt became dean of the College of Engineering in 1981, and provost and vice president for academic affairs in 1986 before he was appointed president in 1988.

Duderstadt holds a faculty appointment as university professor of science and engineering, and he also directs Michigan’s program in science, technology and public policy.

Duderstadt has received numerous national awards for research, teaching and service activities, including the E.O. Lawrence Award for excellence in nuclear research; the Arthur Holly Compton Prize for outstanding teaching; the Reginald Wilson Award for national leadership in achieving diversity; and the National Medal of Technology for exemplary service to the nation. He has been elected to numerous societies, including the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Science, Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi.

Duderstadt has served on or chaired numerous public and private boards, including the National Science Board; the Executive Council of the National Academy of Engineering, the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences; and the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee of the Department of Energy.

ASU graduates record class

icsea — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:51:32 -0600

A record 8,000 students graduateed May 8 from ASU, a number that surpasses last spring by at least a thousand. The commencement ceremony held in Wells Fargo Arena was a full house.

Larger enrollment and an economy that still beckons college graduates may be pushing the increase. The demand for an educated work force persists, with more employers recruiting on campus this year and a 15 percent increase in online job postings, according to Elaine Stover of ASU Career Services.

The largest-ever class of 243 nurses will graduate, along with 900 teachers, 675 engineers, 210 lawyers, 600 business undergraduates and 550 MBAs.

From the School of Design will come 390 architects, designers and urban planners. The Walter Cronkite School has educated 188 journalists, and the Herberger College of the Arts is graduating 328 artists, musicians, dancers, theater and film professionals, and scholars and historians of the arts.

Political science is now the most popular bachelor’s degree in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which boasts more than 2,000 graduates from 41 majors. More students also are getting life sciences, psychology and communication degrees than ever before.

Overall, the West campus is graduating about 1,070 students, Polytechnic has about 550 graduates and the Downtown Phoenix campus is graduating 980, with almost half of these taking their classes on all four campuses through University College.

Speaker at the commencement will be James Duderstadt, president emeritus at the University of Michigan, who will receive an honorary doctorate at the ceremony.

Duderstadt has been a leader and influential author on higher education, helping to identify and address significant issues facing public research universities.

Among the students getting their degrees will be a social work graduate who was once homeless with her two boys, a woman who gave up a 21-year law enforcement career to go into teaching, a young disabled veteran who has helped other veterans access their benefits and a rising academic star headed for graduate school in London on a Marshall Scholarship.

Individual colleges and student groups also will have separate convocation ceremonies May 8-10 at various locations. A schedule is available online at www.asu.edu/graduation/spring.

Fresh food, healthy practices part of Eco-Fresh Café

icsea — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:46:17 -0600

Sustainability will be part of the dining experience at the new Eco-Fresh Café in the ASU Memorial Union next fall.

Locally grown food, organic produce and fair-trade coffee will be on the menu, along with cage-free eggs and chicken, free-range beef and sustainable seafood.

Chef Jim Jorgenson will use herbs, citrus and dates harvested on the ASU campuses, and will train his staff to educate diners about what they’re eating. It’s another move toward environmental stewardship and education that makes perfect sense at ASU, the first university in the nation with a School of Sustainability.

Jorgenson is director of culinary excellence at ARAMARK, which provides dining and retail food services at ASU. The company is working in partnership with ASU’s Department of Nutrition and the Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness on food choices, and with the Global Institute of Sustainability on a waste-stream management effort.

The Eco-Fresh Café and its adjacent Starlight Terrace will take up the space formerly occupied by the Maricopa Café on the MU second floor. Diners can expect American favorites in the form of salads, sandwiches, soups, appetizers and entrees, in addition to vegetarian items and Southwestern regional cuisine.

“There is a focus on healthier eating based on seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables, vegan and vegetarian options and local meats and dairy,” says Jorgenson. “Our first priority is local food, grown within a 150-mile radius of Phoenix, as much as possible.

“Eco-Fresh Café is as much about the experience of dining as the food itself. It is designed as an educational food experience surrounding sustainability and environmental stewardship, with a focus on what we are making, the ingredients used and how it is prepared.”

Customers will order their food from a daily menu of seasonal specialties, and can watch the chefs prepare their food if they desire. Servers will bring their meals to the table. In addition to tables seating two to four or more, there is a “community table,” where diners can join others for communal eating and discussion.

The new layout also will include a center island where customers can dine and watch meals prepared in a hearth oven. There will be seating for 200 indoors, with up to 150 seats outside on a patio which may include moveable shade panels.

The restaurant also features environmentally responsible construction practices utilizing renewable resources and energy efficient appliances where possible. Natural fibers, recycled concrete and cork flooring will be used.

The facility will open in time for the fall semester, and will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

ARAMARK has new programs and initiatives focused on ecology, conservation and environmental stewardship at many of the more than 600 colleges and universities it serves. The company recently announced a partnership with Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, to guide its practices of supply, purchase and consumption of sustainable seafood.

Elementary school welcomes founding principal

lambraki — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:19:34 -0600

University Public Schools Initiative, an affiliate of ASU, has been making significant steps toward the opening in the fall of its first school, the Polytechnic Center for Education Innovation.

UPSI has announced the appointment of Donna Bullock as principal for the new school, effective July 1.

Bullock has 17 years of experience in K-12 education. She taught in the Kyrene School District for 10 years and served as the Summer Academy Principal before moving to Christ the King Catholic School in Phoenix as principal. While there, she completed the Western Catholic Educational Association and North Central Association accreditation process for the school.

“Donna Bullock brings to our first school an understanding of the importance of working with families to meet the individual needs of the students and commitment to constant improvement in student achievement,” says Larry Pieratt, executive director of UPSI.

UPSI also is working with the city of Mesa to secure special use permits for a new facility to be used as the temporary site for the Polytechnic Center of Education Innovation. The facility is located about two miles north of the Polytechnic campus and will provide a safe, clean and secure environment, with all the amenities needed to operate a school. After the first year, this space will house the UPSI network office.

“This temporary space provides a less-disruptive environment, while construction of the new school building is under way at ASU’s Polytechnic campus for completion by fall 2009,” Pieratt says.

Construction of the new facility, which will be located on about 24 acres in the southwestern portion of the Polytechnic campus, is expected to begin in August. Once completed, the school will accommodate students from preschool age to 12th grade in fall 2009.

UPSI held a parent meeting May 1 at the temporary space to discuss policies, allow parents to meet Bullock, and for the parents to ask questions about the school and temporary space.

This fall, the center will welcome 234 students for K-6 classes. That’s enough students to fill two sections of kindergarten and one section for each subsequent grade and there is a waiting list, Pieratt says.

“The school is organized in clusters, so grades 1-2 will be together, 3-4 and 5-6,” Pieratt says. “This is a multigraded approach that groups and regroups students by ability according to skill, not necessarily content.”

The curriculum will be standards-based and delivered in various formats from question-based instruction to hands-on to inquiry. Whole group, direct instruction also will be used in a limited fashion, depending on content, Pieratt says. There will be particular focus on areas of the curriculum that have been developed by university faculty in collaboration with UPSI staff, using data from the state that demonstrated areas of need statewide.

ASU faculty from nutrition, physical education, fine arts, early childhood, speech and language, science and mathematics have contributed.

“The input from ASU faculty members is an important part of what makes this school unique, and we hope to continue to work with many more,” Pieratt says.

For information, contact Pieratt at (480) 727-1612.

Conference matches students with professionals

ckussala — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:47:09 -0600

More than 200 middle-school Native American students from Arizona will attend the Inspiring Voices Conference May 5 at ASU’s Polytechnic campus. The event will provide workshops and activities for the youngsters, as well as numerous opportunities to interact with 21 local Native American professionals from different industry fields.

Students also will get a chance to conduct panel discussions with speakers and have one-on-one interviews with professionals to discuss career interests and educational options. The conference will include a lively performance by Inspiring Voices speaker and well-known reggae musician Casper Lomayesva.

The conference is the result of a pilot program created in 2006 by the Office of Public Affairs’ ASU for Arizona and Americorp VISTA volunteer member Paula Stone.

The program began as a way to bring Native American middle-school children to campus for an opportunity to meet with Native American professionals. The experience was meant to serve as a way to encourage students to stay in school and pursue a college education. In 2006, the program reached 60 students.

Stone joined the ASU for Arizona team in February 2007. Her assignment was to focus on Native American youth outreach and help revamp the existing Inspiring Voices program.

Stone decided the best way to improve the program was to create authentic materials through video interviews.

“I suggested filming the life stories and career paths of local Native American role models in a variety of professional careers, in interview format, using youth as interviewers,” she says. “The films would then be taken to school classrooms four times during the school year by ASU staff, along with a brief related activity to engage the youth and reinforce themes brought out in the interviews.”

According to Stone, participating youths then would be invited to attend a conference at ASU to meet the speakers in person, receive mentoring, participate in career-oriented workshops, observe a speakers’ panel discussion, have lunch and enjoy the campus.

Over the past year, Stone spent her time reaching out to various Native American professionals, community leaders, school districts and ASU staff for help in shaping the new format for Inspiring Voices.

“I recruited 21 adults from the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas to give filmed interviews,” she says. “Many of the role models are from the science and engineering fields, and Club ASU program coordinator Lambert Yazzie was instrumental in securing the participation of these individuals. Other fields represented include education, business, government, public administration, architecture, music, art and telecommunications.”

Stone also recruited six outstanding Native American youths to serve as interviewers. She was aided by ASU student videographer Alex Delgadillo.

Once the interviews were complete, Stone faced the daunting challenge of editing and completing the videos. Stone has been so committed to the project that she learned video editing – with the help of ASU’s Learning Technologies Lab at the Tempe campus and its manager, Gemma Garcia – to complete the project.

“At the same time, I set out to recruit schools to implement Inspiring Voices, and secured seven schools to initiate the program – five reservation schools on the Salt River and Gila River Communities, and two urban schools with high Native American populations in the Tempe public school districts,” Stone says. “I designed activities to complement the films, and implementation began with about 450 participating students in September.”

Stone’s goal is to complete 16 films before her Americorp VISTA extension expires in June (she has completed 14 interviews so far).

According to Stone, the filmed interviews are essential to ensuring the sustainability and continuation of Inspiring Voices in years to come.

For her relentless efforts and ability to foster such a successful outreach program, Stone was awarded the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award in the National Service Category during a special ceremony April 30 at the Phoenix Art Museum.
AmeriCorps VISTA places professionals in organizations and institutions to build capacity and sustainability in anti-poverty initiatives within the United States.