Alumni Newsletter - Connected
Braggin' Rights
September 28, 2009
Visiting Scholar is National Expert on Gratitude and Positive Psychology
The President's Visiting Scholar at California State University, Chico for this fall is UC Davis Professor Robert A. Emmons, a nationally known expert on the importance of gratitude and one of the leaders of the burgeoning field of positive psychology.
Emmons is editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology and is author of THANKS! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, published in hard cover in 2007 and paperback in 2008.
Emmons' campus visit Oct. 27–29 will include speaking to undergraduate classes, working with graduate students, and giving a public talk Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. in Holt 170. The working title for his address is “Gratitude and Emotional Prosperity During Trying Times.” The talk is free and open to the public.
Emmons is also the author of The Psychology of Ultimate Concerns: Motivation and Spirituality in Personality (1999) and co-editor of The Psychology of Gratitude (2004).
September 25, 2009
Hearst/CSU Trustees' Award Honors Future Teacher
Ger Thao, who is pursuing her teaching credential through the Integrated Teaching Core program, has received the prestigious 2009 William R. Hearst/CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement.
The Trustees' Award provides financial support to students who show superior academic performance, community service, and accomplishments in the face of personal hardship and challenges.
Thao was born in Thailand to Hmong parents and immigrated to the United States at an early age. She started kindergarten in Gridley, not speaking any English. With the assistance of her teachers and the encouragement of her family, Thao not only learned English, but had a distinguished high school academic career and received a President's Scholar award upon her enrollment as a freshman at California State University, Chico.
September 22, 2009
CSU, Chico Zipcar Launches in Line with Climate Summit
While world leaders gathered in New York to discuss the many issues concerning our earth's climate, California State University, Chico was launching a revolutionary solution to the many vehicles that congest the Chico community.
Zipcar, a national car-sharing service, launched its CSU, Chico location on September 23. The band Brass Hysteria, brought to you by AS Presents, played at noon, followed at 1:00 p.m. by special guest speakers from the University, Chico City Council, and Butte County.
Statistically, every Zipcar replaces 10-15 personal cars that would be on the road otherwise. Zipcars were on display outside the Student Services Center, and a team of Zipcar representatives was on hand to answer any questions future Zipcar users might have. With a network of over 7,000 Zipcars in the United States and United Kingdom, Zipcar is the world's largest car-sharing network.
September 11, 2009
Long-Standing Rawlins Merit Award Honors High-Achieving Students
Twenty-one California State University, Chico students with multiple achievements in the classroom and community were honored Thursday, Sept. 17, at the 28th annual Rawlins Merit Award Reception at 4 p.m. on the Kendall Hall lawn.
The prestigious awards are named in honor of Lt. Robert Merton Rawlins, who died piloting a B-29 over Tokyo Bay during World War II. Wishing to leave a legacy in the name of her son, Mrs. Fern Rawlins established in 1981 the Lieutenant Robert Merton Rawlins Merit Award endowment.
Including this year's awards, more than $1 million in scholarships have gone to 868 CSU, Chico students. Each award-winner receives $3,000.
Awardees this year include an entrepreneur who started her own successful business as a teenager, a volunteer who has helped orphaned newborns, a student who created a special major in environmental journalism, and a Marine veteran who has increased student interest in physical education teaching.
September 11, 2009
Farm to School: Organic Vegetable Garden Supports Community
The Organic Vegetable Project at California State University, Chico has increased production to accommodate students at CSU, Chico as well as local schools in partnership with the program. The Organic Vegetable Project (OVP), initiated in 2007, has expanded their garden area from a quarter-acre pilot project to a full acre in the last two years.
With their recent expansion in production, the OVP hopes to attract more funding, volunteers, and interest in the program to grow more organic produce on the land made available to them.
The OVP is committed to growing healthy and nutritious organic produce using small-scale agricultural techniques. “Our primary market is Chico State students, and we hope to grow into serving local schools,” said Katie Fugnetti, field manager for the Organic Vegetable Project. “With the farm-to-schools approach we can teach the benefits of small-scale organic farming to students and provide nutritious and wholesome foods to them.”
Through an award of a $10,500 grant from the Associated Students Sustainability Fund, the OVP has begun the process to hire a market manager to oversee the sales and distribution of organic vegetables to Associated Students (AS) Dining Services including Whitney Dining, Marketplace Café, AS Catering, and the community. Organic Vegetable Project was started with grants from the Foor Foundation, the Agricultural Research Initiative, and the Institute for Sustainable Development.
September 11, 2009
Events for 2009-2010 Book in Common, The Soloist, Start at Chico City Plaza
Events complementing the 2009–2010 community Book in Common begin in Chico on Thursday, Sept. 17 when Mayor Ann Schwab and Supervisor Maureen Kirk read proclamations declaring Steve Lopez's The Soloist a community read.
Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Chico City Plaza with cellist Will Buchholz playing music from the book and others reading excerpts.
The book is an ideal choice, as CSU, Chico President Paul Zingg said in his notice to the campus: “In the process of reading The Soloist we explore issues of homelessness and mental illness, and the difficulties that result when these two conditions coincide. Homelessness has been a persistent issue in our own community, though nowhere on the scale of Los Angeles, where an estimated 60,000 people live on the streets. The current economic downturn is sure to increase those numbers and strain the resources—public and private—available to help the homeless cope. The Soloist uses a powerful narrative to increase our understanding of the scope of this problem, as well as provide insight into conditions like schizophrenia and other mental illnesses that are poorly understood and often stigmatized.”
A calendar of Book in Common events is available at www.csuchico.edu/bic and includes information about films, lectures, town hall meetings in Chico, Oroville, and on the CSU, Chico campus, as well as many other events.
September 3, 2009
15th Annual CSU, Chico CELT Conference—October 7-9
California State University, Chico Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching presents the 15th Annual CELT Conference, Oct. 7–9 on the CSU, Chico campus.
CSU, Chico faculty, staff, and students and educators throughout Northern California will gather to explore new ways to create high-quality learning environments.
This year's CELT theme, Change, Continuity and Collaboration, will offer participants a wide variety of sessions and networking opportunities that will address the teacher/scholar model, teaching techniques and classroom management, internationalization, sustainability in the 21st century, and using technology to enhance student learning.
The University is proud to host Dennis K. Pearl, PhD, professor of statistics and biostatistics, Ohio State University. Pearl will present the CELT keynote presentation, “Cooking for the Buffet: Individualizing Core Content to Improve Learning.” The keynote session is scheduled Friday, Oct. 9 at 8:30 a.m. in Meriam Library, Studio A. After the keynote, Pearl will be available to share his expertise with participants and host a Course Transformation Workshop.
September 1, 2009
Associated Students Pledge Zero Waste
The Associated Students (AS) at Chico State has made a formal commitment to become a Zero Waste organization by the year 2015. With this goal as their beacon, the AS will gradually reduce waste generated by the organization each year in order to achieve a waste diversion rate of 90 percent or better by 2015.
No other campus in the California State University system has made a commitment to Zero Waste. Already leaders of the sustainability movement in the CSU system, CSU, Chico's Associated Students organization hopes to use this corporate goal as an example, encouraging the University and other CSU campuses to commit to a zero waste resolution as well. The University of California system adopted a Zero Waste resolution in 2008, with their complete diversion goal aimed for 2020.
While the AS and CSU, Chico are separate entities, the AS board believes the enactment of a Zero Waste commitment for AS could soon encourage the University to do the same. This would make CSU, Chico the first state university in California to adopt a formal commitment to Zero Waste and uphold its position as a leader on the campus sustainability front.
Source: CSU, Chico Public Affairs and Publications
