360MagFALL2004 Front&Back/Web - SDSU

UpdateToward a Green SUVJim Burns’ mission – andh e ’s c h o s e n t o a c c e p t i t –is to beat engineeringteams from other top universities across the nationin building an environmentI l l u s t r a t i o n : To m Vo s sI l l u s t r a t i o n : To m Vo s sf r i e n d l y S U V. B u r n s , a na s s o c i a t e p r o f e s s o r i n S D S U ’sDepartment of MechanicalWhen They Build It .Engineering, is leading a group ofstudents competing in Challenge X:C r o s s o v e r t o S u s t a i n a b l e M o b i l i t y.Initiated by General Motors Corp.and the U.S. Department ofE n e r g y, t h e 3 - y e a r c o m p e t i t i o nwill pit SDSU against 16 otherrespected engineering programsto determine which group doesthe best job re-engineering a 2005C h e v r o l e t E q u i n o x c o m p a c t S U V.The task entails reducing energyconsumption and decreasingemissions while maintaining thev e h i c l e ’s o r i g i n a l p e r f o r m a n c eand utility features.10FALL 2004Montezuma Mesa continuesto buzz with constructionas the San Diego Trolley’sMission Valley East Extensionmoves toward completionand the College CommunityRedevelopment Project continues to gear up adjacentto campus.Sound barriers are down andlandscaping is under wayaround the handsome newunderground trolley stationfronting Aztec Green. AztecCircle Drive at CollegeAvenue, diverted for 3 yearsby trolley tunnel construction, has reopened, restoringa major campus gateway.Trolley service to SDSUwill begin late next year.Meanwhile, constructionhas begun on a new SororityRow located on College Ave.south of Montezuma Road.Two other major redevelopmentprojects are scheduled to breakground in 2005: The Paseo, amixed-use complex of housing,classroom and retail space, andThe Aztec Inn at San DiegoState University, a 4-story,74-room hotel. San Diego’s CityCouncil has selected the Paseoto serve as a “pilot village” inthe city’s revamped general plan,which aims to concentrategrowth in urban areas.Bringing Home the GoldYou’re reading an awardwinning magazine. 360: TheMagazine of San Diego StateUniversity took top honors inrecent national competition.The publication, formerly knownas SDSU Magazine, received agold medal for magazine publishing improvement in the2004 CASE Circle of ExcellenceAwards. 360 also drew a silvermedal for its handsome visualdesign. The competition issponsored by the Council forAdvancement and Support ofEducation (CASE).Adding to the Aztecs’ medalcount, the SDSU AlumniAssociation snagged a goldin the CASE competition forits successful membershiprecruitment efforts.Aztec AuthorsInspiring stories explain how 18colleges and universities movedtoward environmental responsibility and a more sustainablefuture in “Sustainability onCampus: Stories and Strategiesfor Change” (MIT Press, 2004),edited by Peggy Barlett andGeoffrey Chase, dean of theDivision of UndergraduateStudies and professor ofRhetoric and Writing Studiesat SDSU.“Kids Who Laugh: How toDevelop Your Child’s Senseof Humor” (Square OnePublishers, 2003) is the firstbook to examine the psychologyof humor in children and explorethe benefits humor has to offer.Written by Louis R. Franzini,SDSU emeritus professor ofpsychology, the book offerslots of fun and easy exercisesdesigned for parents to usewith their children.As the world’s only superpower,the United States is a potentialarbiter of war and peace betweenrival nations. But how can weprevent war and encourage compromise while remaining neutral?SDSU alumnus Timothy W.Crawford, assistant professorof political science at BostonCollege, examines this age-olddilemma in his new book,“Pivotal Deterrence: Third-PartyStatecraft and the Pursuit ofPeace.” (Cornell UniversityPress, 2004).Roeder Is New IVC DeanSan Diego State’s Imperial ValleyCampus has a new dean. StephenRoeder, a faculty member inSDSU’s College of Sciences for 35years, has assumed leadership ofthe Calexico and Brawley facilities.Most recently interim director ofthe university’s master of arts inliberal arts and sciences program,Roeder has also chaired the physicsand chemistry departments andserved as interim dean of theCollege of Sciences. At IVC,he succeeds Khosrow Fatemi,now president of EasternOregon University.“Steve’s vision and excitementfor the IVC campus, coupled withhis administrative experience andshared governance service to SDSUmade him an ideal candidate,” saidSDSU Provost Nancy Marlin. “Thestudents, faculty, staff and greaterImperial Valley community willgreatly benefit from his leadership.”360 MAGAZINE 11

HorizonsAlready, the Nu’s 5-ton electromagnet has become apowerful force attracting prominent scientists andpromising students to SDSU. Professors Tanya Furmanof Penn State and Julie Bryce of the University ofNew Hampshire, for example, came to the BaylorBrooks Institute to collaborate on an isotopic studyof volcanic lavas from the East African Rift System.They hope to identify what part of the crust andmantle melted to produce the volcanoes in thatregion, and to increase understanding of Africa’sgeological history.Fingerprints in the Earth.Isotope geochemists unravel themysteries of Earth’s earliest history.By Coleen L. GeraghtyIt’s a mystery hidden deep in the earth. Traces of chemical elements in theplanet’s crust and underlying mantle can help explain its formation. Andno one does a better job of dusting for these ancient geological fingerprintsthan the researchers at San Diego State’s Baylor Brooks Institute forIsotope Geochemistry.INTERNATIONALIsotope geochemists look at rocks, minerals and water for clues to Earth’s innerworkings, much as biochemists examine genes and DNA to understand how thehuman body functions. Using a sophisticated instrument called a mass spectrometer, isotope geochemists sleuth out evidence of past biological activity onEarth and potentially even on other planets.Researchers from as far away as Japan, Germanyand Turkey have also used SDSU’s mass spectrometryfacilities. Hanan believes the interaction betweenthese world-class scientists and San Diego Statestudents “encourages excellence among our youngscientists” and attracts accomplished faculty likeAaron Pietruszka, renowned for his research on thegeochemical evolution of Hawaii’s volcanoes.A mass spectrometer measures the atomic weight of a chemical element withsuch precision that it can identify the presence of isotopes – atoms with thesame number of protons but differing numbers of neutrons. Distinctivecombinations of isotopes can be used as fingerprints or tracers to indicateHired last year, Pietruszka is currently involvingSDSU graduate students in his work with researchersfrom Hawaii, Massachusetts and Australia to determine whether the magma chambers beneath MaunaLoa and Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii are connected.the origin and evolution of a given element.HARDWAREREVOLUTIONSDSU’s Baylor Brooks Institute is on the verge of installing one of the mostsensitive mass spectrometers yet invented. The Nu Plasma 1700 represents thebest of the best in the world of mass spectrometry. A Goliath occupying 400square feet of lab space, it is exponentially more sensitive than previous models.12COLLABORATIONPietruszka and Hanan will also collaborate with CarlCarrano, chair of SDSU’s chemistry department, inhis attempt to show that microbial activity affects theatomic weight of iron in a measurable and predictableThrough a combination of internal funding, grant money and corporate costsharing, San Diego State will become the first institution in North Americaand only the second in the world to acquire a Nu 1700. Barry Hanan, theinstitute’s director for the past 15 years, secured partial funding for the 1.2million instrument from the National Science Foundation; he also negotiated acorporate cost-sharing arrangement with Nu Instruments Inc. to defray about athird of the total expense. The College of Sciences contributed about 400,000to the purchase, and The President’s Leadership Fund has invested in one of theway. If so, the finding would hold exciting potentialin prospecting for signs of biological activity inextreme environments, such as Mars.first research projects to utilize the new spectrometer.it comes to geological science facilities.These varied and extensive projects – now aided bythe addition of a world-class instrument in the Nu1700 – place SDSU’s Baylor Brooks Institute and itsresearchers squarely on the international map when360 MAGAZINE 13FALL 2004Photo: Anthony Nelson

nita Lopez knows the roadmap toPhoto: Alan DeckerASuccessSquaredcollege as well as other 16-year-old girlsknow the lyrics to a Britney Spears song.For 4 years, Lopez and her classmates atSouthwest High School in thediverse San Diego neighborhood ofNestor have been coaxed, counseled and, for the most part, convinced to get serious about college– not just about going, but aboutgraduating. They are pioneers in anovel partnership between the SweetwaterUnion High School District and San Diego StateUniversity, a joint venture that is unique not only inscope, but also in its ramifications for the entire SouthBay community that is home to the Sweetwater schools.Compact for Success guarantees admission to San DiegoState University beginning in 2006-07 for studentsenrolled in the Sweetwater district from sevenththrough 12th grades who maintain a 3.0 grade pointaverage while meeting certain pre-determined academicbenchmarks. The program gives these students a clearroadmap to college – step-by-step instructions on howto prepare for education beyond high school.An important component of Compact for Success offersfinancial aid from a privately funded scholarshipaccount targeting the most needy students in eachgraduating class. The Ellis Foundation donated 500,000 for the class of 2006; the StensrudFoundation is financing students graduating in 2007.A novelapproach tocollege prepovercomesobstacles andmultipliesbenefits inSouth BayOther benefactors, including the Eller Foundation,additional 1.2 million. These gifts will guaranteescholarships to Sweetwater graduates through 2009.14FALL 2004“At some point, our obligation isnot just to train the teachers butto help change the schools,” Webersaid. “A lot of school districtswould like guaranteed access to SanDiego State for their students, butonly Ed Brand and the Sweetwaterstaff were willing to do the heavylifting required to make it happen.”Raising expectationsIn this case, “heavy lifting”involved pumping up Sweetwater’shigh school curriculum withadvanced placement and collegepreparatory courses. In the classroom, Brand faced a classic chickenand-egg situation: students performed marginally because teacherexpectations were low,and teacher expectationsDevin Banares, left, and Julian Zapata were amongremained low becausestudents failed to meethundreds of Sweetwater School District seventh-gradersthe academic standardswho visited the Mesa with their parents in March.achieved in wealthier SanDiego school districts.The unique collaboration that isCompact for Success originated in2000. At that time, only 15 percent of Sweetwater’s 5,000 eighthgraders were enrolled in Algebra1, a college-prep course; now thatfigure is almost 90 percent. Lessthan a fifth of 12th-graders wereheaded for 4-year universities; thecurrent number is 30 percent.Before the Compact, higher education just didn’t appear on theradar screens of many Sweetwaterstudents, particularly those whoseparents never attended college.Overcoming obstacleswhich gave 100,000, have together contributed anByColeenL.GeraghtyUnder Weber’s leadership, SDSUhas risen to seventh in the nationfor bachelor’s degrees awarded toHispanics in the last two annualrankings published by the HispanicOutlook for Higher Education.In many ways, the plight ofSweetwater, California’s largestsecondary school system, embodied San Diego’s broader struggleto ensure equal opportunities ineducation for a burgeoning nonwhite population for whomEnglish is a second language.Sweetwater Superintendent EdBrand understood that two daunting obstacles blocked the path tohigher education for his largelyHispanic student body – a perceived lack of access and limitedfinancial resources.Brainstorming ways to removethose obstacles, Brand sketchedthe outline of a program thatwould become the Compact forSuccess. His ideas resonated withSDSU President Stephen L. Weber.To break the cycle, Weber offeredthe resources of SDSU’s College ofEducation and Division ofUndergraduate Studies. Facultyfrom Mathematics and Statistics,Rhetoric and Writing Studies, theOffice of College ReadinessPrograms and the Pre-CollegeInstitute led professional facultyto-faculty mentoring programs forSweetwater teachers. Weber alsobuttressed the Compact with fundsallocated by the state to help CSUcampuses prepare their high schoolpopulations for higher education,about 750,000 over 3 years.Simultaneously, Sweetwater developed school leadership teams andnew teacher training models,including a master’s degree pro360 MAGAZINE 15

Compact for Successnot only go, but graduate. It’slike everyone in AVID is in a racewith the whole school trying toget where they want to go.”SDSU helps a community keep a commitment to its children.Enlisting communitysupportLopez and classmates AizelAgustino, Ulysses Vazquez andJuan Vera – all members of thefirst Compact for Success cohort –say they find inspiration in theirteachers. In particular, theyadmire math teacher Ken Boulton,AVID teacher Mark Carpizo andEnglish teacher Hilda Paul, allformer Southwest High studentsthemselves.Photo: Alan DeckerVisits to the Mesa – first in seventh grade and again in 10th –generate tremendous excitementamong Sweetwater students.Many have never set foot on acollege campus before their firstouting to SDSU. During thisyear’s visit, Juanita Salas, thenpresident of SDSU’s AssociatedStudents, led the crowd in a boisterous back-and-forth chant:“Where are you, baby?” “I’m atSDSU, baby!”Coming to campusSDSU campus with her Sweetwater classmates.gram that allows candidates toearn credits on-site. Already theseprofessional development opportunities are paying off in terms ofteacher recruitment and retention,as well as widespread recognition.“We have been watching Sweetwater closely,” said RafaelMagallan, an executive with theCollege Board’s western division.“The kinds of things accomplished there have been phenomenal. Certainly, having thepartnership with SDSU in placenurtures and reinforces initiativeswithin the district. It’s a supportive relationship.”Improving achievementThough the first class to join theCompact for Success is still 2FALL 2004years from graduation, studentachievement in Sweetwater hasimproved exponentially. Oneexample: about 6,200 AdvancedPlacement (AP) tests were administered in the Sweetwater districtthis year, in contrast to about2,000 in 1996-97, concreteevidence that more students aretaking AP courses to preparefor college.Another crucial ingredient inSweetwater’s recent turnaround isparent buy-in. Brand secured thisfamily support by heavily promoting the Compact for Successat the district’s regular educationsummits and by insisting that allseventh-graders who participatein the program’s arranged visit toSDSU be accompanied by at leastone parent or guardian.Brand sees these campus visits asa crucial component of theCompact. “The people at SanDiego State make us feel verywelcome,” he said. “Our studentsmeet successful SDSU students,and they begin to see themselvessucceeding in college, too.”“Giving back” is a seminal themeof the Compact for Success. EdBrand often invites South BayMeeting the challengeThis vision of education asa community responsibilityencourages real transformation inthe schools, according to LionelR. (Skip) Meno, dean of SDSU’sCollege of Education.“Programs like this do morethan get the school district towork,” Meno said. “They getthe community to work for itschildren. Compact for Successachieves results because thepeople have adapted it to theircommunity while maintaining itscore principles.”By allying with Sweetwater in theCompact for Success and makinga commitment to its children, SanDiego State University has becomea partner in the South Bay community. And 2 years from now, whenthe first class of “Compact” graduates enters SDSU as freshmen, theuniversity will assume responsibility for educating those students.Gonzalo Rojas, director ofCollaborative Programs in theCollege of Education and a campuslinchpin for the Compact, saidSDSU is prepared to provide bothacademic and personal support tothe Sweetwater students.“We made a commitment to do allwe could to help them graduatein 4 years,” Rojas said, “and we’regoing to meet that commitment.”Sweetwater School District seventh-graders and their parents gathered in Cox Arenalast March at the start of a half-day program and tour of the San Diego State campus.That is certainly true of AnitaLopez. A school-sponsored visitto San Diego State earlier thisyear reinforced her resolve to goto college, a sense of determination instilled during a life-changing tour of the UCLA campuswhen she was 12 years old. It wasthe first time she’d ever seriouslythought about her future.“I knew from then on that, nomatter what, I was going to workhard to get into college and bethe first one in my family to go,”Anita said. “In AVID(Advancement Via IndividualDetermination, a college-prepcourse) the teachers are alwaysreminding us about the percentage of kids that drop out of college, and they’re always comingup with reasons why we shouldPhoto: Alan DeckerBonita Wilson, an aspiring journalist, takes a break after touring the16Asked how these teachers haveinfluenced her, Lopez answeredsimply. “Their community gaveto them, and they struggledthrough school like we are, andnow they are giving back to theircommunity.”community leaders to visit theSweetwater schools as guest“principals” and share their lifestories with the students. Brandalso encourages Sweetwater students to consider careers inteaching. He has promised togive them posts as student teachers and, if they prove themselves,to hire them in the district oncethey complete their credentials.360 MAGAZINE 17

TheQUALCOMMInstitutefor Innovation and Educational SuccessEducating atech-savvywork forcefor the future18FALL 2004

Amiddle-schoolstudent is fascinatedb y h e r t e a c h e r ’sdemonstrations of basicengineering principles.Before this, she thoughthas pledged 2.5 million to ThePresident’s Leadership Fund, asource of unrestricted fundingestablished to provide SDSUPresident Stephen L. Weber withflexible resources to allow himto capitalize on emerging opportunities and reward meritoriousprograms and people.engineers drove trains.Whole classes of students arelearning more about math andscience than ever before, thanksto teachers who make the lessonsrelevant, even fun.Urban school districts in SanDiego and elsewhere across thecountry are discovering effectiveways to transform the educationalprocess and dramatically improvetheir students’ performance.Every San Diego State Universitygraduate is entering the globalworkforce equipped with thesophisticated knowledge andskills needed to succeed in atechnology-based society.In coming years, these hypothetical examples will cometo fruition as San Diego Statelaunches a comprehensiveand far-reaching new venturedesigned to transform the educational process and better meetthe current and future needs ofa rapidly evolving, technologybased society.The QUALCOMM Institute’smission is to identify andaddress major issues critical tothe long-term prosperity of theSan Diego region, also yieldingbenefits for other communitiesacross California and the nation.Beginning with education, theinstitute will pursue four keyinitiatives. The first three focuson developing a tech-savvyregional workforce by meansof enhanced math, science andtechnology curricula. The fourthestablishes a new national centerto help urban schools and schooldistricts find unique ways toimprove student achievement.In the words

boosting Aztec pride as part of his job. By Aaron Hoskins The QUALCOMM Institute A power partnership launches a longterm effort to educate a tech-savvy work force for the future. The Magazine of San Diego State University (ISSN 1543-7116) is published quarterly by SDSU Marketing & Communications and distributed to members of the SDSU Alumni