For some students, higher education opens doors that they didn’t even know were there. This is a fact that Victor Robles, a first-generation college student, knows firsthand.

Robles, who is graduating from ASU this month with a major in electrical engineering, comes from the small Arizona border town of Douglas, where he continually “flew under the radar” in high school. While not a bad student, he was not in the top 20 percent of his class.

“In Douglas, most people choose to either work for the U.S. Border Patrol, customs, or the state prison when they graduate from high school,” explains Robles. “I didn’t want to do any of those, so I decided to try community college.”

At Cochise Community College, Robles quickly learned that he had a strong affinity for math and science. He chose to major in physics, and soon discovered the possibilities within the field of engineering.

“My counselor at CCC was extremely encouraging. She made me feel like it’d be possible for me to take my education even further,” says Robles. “And as I progressed at CCC, my classes started to get smaller and smaller. I couldn’t fly under the radar anymore. In my Calculus III class, I was one of only three students. The professor literally taught us in the faculty lounge. While other teachers were in there making copies and drinking coffee, we were having class.”

As he prepared to graduate from CCC, Robles toured both ASU and the University of Arizona. “ASU was extremely welcoming, and I immediately wanted to become a part of this engineering community,” he explains.

Once at ASU, Robles became involved with the university’s Motivating Engineering Transfer Students (METS) center, especially since it was one of the things that drew him here in the first place. Anita Grierson, the METS center director, has become a great mentor for Robles, and he now works for the METS center as an outreach coordinator.

At METS, Robles stays busy planning presentations and recruitment activities for students at area community colleges and high schools—including his alma mater, Douglas High.

Grierson is quick to praise Robles and his hard work. “Victor is a role model for other students at the METS center and is giving other students some of that encouragement that was so essential to him,” she says. “He’s a great example for other students about what is possible and is a wonderful reminder to our broader ASU community about the value of giving students advice and encouragement along the way.”

Robles also joined the Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), both groups that have given him numerous opportunities to conduct research and present at conferences. In addition, he has worked with Professor Mary Anderson-Rowland on the National Science Foundation funded research and student support program. In that program, students are strongly encouraged to seek REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) summer positions.

Just in his time at ASU, Robles has researched and presented on a variety of topics, including wind generator simulations and laser direct-write fabrication of optical waveguides. Last summer, he participated in a photonics research program through REU called “Hooked on Photonics,” where he was able to spend long hours in the lab and really focus on his research.

Following graduation this semester, Robles will continue as a graduate student at ASU and is already looking ahead towards getting his PhD. He has become the vice-president of MAES at ASU and is excited to do more research and presenting as a graduate student.

“I’m very interested in optical engineering and telecommuncations, and plan to do more research into signal processing for holographic applications and medical imaging,” he says.

“Dr. Anderson-Rowland, Anita Grierson, and all the other professors I’ve been able to work with at ASU have showed me how many opportunities there are in engineering,” says Robles. “I’ve already come further than I ever could have imagined and I’m ready to take education to the highest level I can.”

Contributed by Jeanne Schaser Download Full Image

Margarita Jimenez-Silva, an assistant professor in Arizona State University’s Mary">http://education.asu.edu/">Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, was honored in October with the Higher Education Distinguished Teacher Award from the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE). The award was presented at the organization’s annual conference in Savannah, Ga.

The award, one of the most prominent presented by NCGE, focuses on teachers who “have made extraordinary commitments to the teaching and learning of geography at the post-secondary level.” Download Full Image

“I consider teaching to be the most important work I do, so to be honored with such a teaching award is especially meaningful to me,” said Jimenez-Silva, who weaves geoliteracy – the integration of geography content and language arts – into the courses she teaches that prepare tomorrow’s teachers to work with a diverse audience of students, including English language learners. “I love being able to provide teachers with resources that will not only develop English learners’ language skills, but also develop their understanding about the world they live in.”

Jimenez-Silva came to ASU’s West campus in 2005 after earning her M.Ed. and Ed.D. degrees in human development and psychology from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. She now teaches at ASU’s West, Polytechnic and Tempe campuses. As a middle school teacher in California, she had taught math and science in a newcomer program for recent immigrants. With classrooms of young students who spoke little English, she found that geography provided a means to develop their content knowledge and English skills.

“The themes of geography – location, human-environment interaction, movement, place, regions – had personal meaning to my students and allowed me to use what they already knew as a starting point; it was a natural bridge between the knowledge they brought into the classroom and what they needed to learn.”

At ASU, Jimenez-Silva, a recipient of the West campus Environment Team’s (CET) Excellence in Diversity award in 2009, leads the effort to adapt classroom lessons for English language learners, providing her with an opportunity to turn back to geography as an effective teaching tool.

“The lessons that focused on the GeoLiteracy program have been very successful. In fact, a study conducted by several of my colleagues and me found that the reading lessons were effective in helping our diverse learners’ reading comprehension,” she said. “The integration of language arts and geography, along with the resources and adaptations we made to the lessons proved effective.”

An advisor to Kappa Delta Pi at the West, Polytechnic and Tempe campuses – a community service and honors academic organization dedicated to educational excellence – Jimenez-Silva has a simple philosophy when it comes to using geography as a classroom tool.

“It is important to me that my students learn the content we are covering and make it personally meaningful,” she said.

“If students don’t understand why it is important, then they won’t apply the ideas, the strategies and concepts to their own teaching. I want my students to care about their future students and see how vital their role as teachers is and how everyday interactions with their students can make a world of difference.

“The most important lesson I try to impart to my students is that each of them can be that individual who changes the course of a child’s life. Our role as teachers gives us great power to affect how a child sees himself or herself, positively or negatively.”

Jimenez-Silva is also part of the ASU team that was recognized by the NCGE in Savannah last month for the creation of an online virtual workshop that provides educators an opportunity to learn about teaching geography without leaving their computers. Jimenez-Silva, Professor Ron Dorn (School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning/College of Liberal Arts and Sciences), Associate Professor Elizabeth Hinde (Teachers College), Assistant Professor Sharon Osborn Popp (Teachers College) and Gale Ekiss, co-coordinator of the Arizona Geographic Alliance were awarded Geography Excellence in Media honors for their program, “GeoLiteracy with ELL Adaptations: A Program for Integrating Tested Language Arts Skills and Geography Content for Grades K-8.”

The virtual workshop is modeled after Arizona Geographic Alliance actual workshops and offers 10 strategies that have proven effective in the teaching of geography to diverse learners. Each segment begins with a short strategy introduction by Hinde and is followed by Jimenez-Silva, who relates the educational research that confirms the use of the strategy.  Next, Ekiss demonstrates one of the 85 GeoLiteracy lessons as an example of how to apply the strategy in teaching geography. The final portion of the workshop features an Internet link to the lesson plan and any auxiliary materials need to teach the lesson.

“GeoLiteracy is a curriculum comprised of 85 lesson plans for kindergarten through 8th grade that teach geography while reinforcing reading and writing skills,” said Hinde, who also serves as the Teachers College coordinator at ASU’s Polytechnic campus. “Geography is not simply about capitals of states and countries or maps and globes. Geography is about understanding place in the world, including cultures and physical features of the earth.

“To be recognized by the NCGE for our GeoLiteracy program is humbling and rewarding. Many people are doing great things in schools and in social studies in particular; so, when my peers, who are doing incredible things themselves, are recognized, it is just very rewarding. Geography is and always has been a crucial element of schools.”

Arizona State University students who want to enhance their opportunities in the job market by learning advanced computer skills are joining the Software Developer’s Association (SoDA).

The student club’s membership has swelled to more than 600 in the past few years, attracting those interested in learning to use the latest computing technologies and collaborating on team projects.

SoDA is drawing more than computer science and engineering students. History, finance and English and art majors are among its members.
 
Yinong Chen, a lecturer in ASU’s School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, is the group’s faculty advisor.

Chen says students are drawn to SoDA’s hands-on learning approach and access to advanced software systems that most university computing classes are usually not equipped to provide.
 
For example, the club has a C++ practicum component. C++ software provides the capability to do both low-level and high-level computer programming, which software programs such as Java and C# (sharp) cannot.

Many information technology corporations want employers who know C++,    but because of time constraints in the classroom professors are not able to teach about it extensively, says SoDA president Travis Sein, a computer science major.

SoDa members are also learning about mobile device programming. One of the club’s projects using mobile device programs is a computer game called “Cruising at ASU.”

The game allows players to choose a “kart” – for example, a bicycle, scooter or skateboard.   Each kart has various capabilities.  The game is based on timed tracks. A player has to traverse from building to building in a designated time period.

 In the future, students hope to learn to add game accessories, such as multiplayer capability and story-based game-play.

“The game is largely focused on teaching incoming freshman the names and locations of various buildings on campus to help them get from one class to another,” Sein says.

The game allows students to input their class schedules, and provides them a map to the buildings they need to go to for each day’s classes. The club hopes ASU will be able to use the game as part of its freshman orientation program.
Club members are also working on projects involving Android, iPhone, game, web and C++ development.

All of this “will make students more employable, especially in the part of the information technology industry that involves the ubiquitous computing devices that are dominating the market,” Chen says.

SoDA vice president Jeremy Barr, emphasizes that club is valuable to students with a range of interests in various fields and careers.
 
“Computer technology has a growing role in everyday life, and it’s become more important for everyone to know about computer software development,” Barr says.
  
Sein says the club offers “a very friendly learning environment” and teaches students about computer software used by industry, as well as programming languages and concepts that not everyone will learn extensively in computer science and engineering classes.
 
“We really want to emphasize teaching students how to be leaders and team players,” Sein says, “and how to beef up their resume for when they start pursuing a career.”

SoDa meetings are Wednesdays from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Brickyard Building, at Seventh Street and Mill Avenue, in room 210.

For more information, visit the SoDA website: http://sodaasu.com/http://sodaasu.com/">http://sodaasu.com/ />
Written by Amy Lukau Download Full Image

7 p.m. Dec. 1, Old Main, Carson Ballroom

The founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture — the Smithsonian’s 19th museum — is tasked with building a special place to help Americans remember its history.  Download Full Image

“In many ways, there are few things as powerful and as important as a people, as a nation that is steeped in its history,” said director Lonnie Bunch, in a vision statement about the new museum, which is scheduled to open in 2015 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

Bunch, a public historian, author, curator and educator, will discuss the challenge of creating a national museum at 7 p.m. Dec. 1 at Arizona State University, Old Main, Carson Ballroom, on the Tempe campus. Presented by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, the lecture is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served; more information is at http://clas.asu.edu/lonniebunch. ">http://clas.asu.edu/lonniebunch">http://clas.asu.edu/lonniebunch.&nb...

In discussing the new museum, Bunch notes it “is not a museum that celebrates black history solely for black Americans. Rather, we see this history as America’s history. The museum will use African American history and culture as a lens into what it means to be an American.” 

Bunch is a highly accredited historian and scholar who has spent 30 years in the museum field where he is regarded as a leading figure in the cultural-historical community. He was named one of the 100 most influential museum professionals in the 20th century by the American Association of Museums. Last year, he was named one of the 150 most influential African Americans by Ebony magazine. 

A former Smithsonian curator, Bunch was selected in 2005 by the Smithsonian Institution to establish this new museum. 

“Lonnie Bunch, one of the nation’s leading public historians, is making history by helping give life to, and directing, what will become the preeminent African American museum and cultural center in the United States,” said ASU’s associate professor of history Matthew C. Whitaker. 

As its director, Bunch is working to set the museum’s mission, organize the fundraising and membership, create the collections, and oversee the design and construction of the museum, which is set to be built on a five-acre site on the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the National Museum of American History. To bring attention to the museum before its completion, Bunch is working on traveling exhibitions and public events involving panel discussions, seminars and workshops. 

“We are most fortunate to have Lonnie Bunch, the intellectual architect of one of the nation’s newest museums, visiting ASU,” said Quentin Wheeler, ASU vice president and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Museums play a vital and unique role in society. They serve as a collective memory of our heritage and preserve physical evidence of historical events that have made us who we are and that have contributed to our modern world. They are necessary centers of scholarship, research and learning.” 

In addition to the public lecture, Bunch will visit with classes and faculty while at ASU. 

“Lonnie Bunch provides students with a stellar example in response to the question we are most often asked: What one can do with a degree in African American Studies? Our faculty and students are looking forward to the opportunity to meet with him to learn more about the new Smithsonian museum and about the career of museum curator,” said Professor Stanlie James, faculty head for African and African American Studies in ASU’s School of Social Transformation. 

Myles Lynk, a professor in ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, believes Bunch has a challenging task ahead of him as founding director of a new Smithsonian museum. “I am delighted that he has chosen to visit ASU and share with us his vision for this new museum, his appreciation of the heritage it will celebrate, and that African-American history is indisputably American history,” Lynk said. 

Bunch was president of the Chicago Historical Society, one of the oldest historical museums in the country, when he was selected to be the founding director of this new Smithsonian museum. While working for the Chicago Historical Society, he led a successful campaign to transform the institution in celebration of its 150th anniversary. 

Previously, Bunch served in a number of positions at the Smithsonian, including associate director for curatorial affairs at the National Museum of American History where he managed a staff of nearly 200 and led the team that created the permanent exhibition, “American Presidency: A Glorious Burden.” He also was an education specialist at the Smithsonian’s national Air and Space Museum. 

Bunch is a published author who has written about topics as varied as museum management, the impact of funding and politics on American museums, black towns in America, blacks in the military and the American presidency. 

As an educator, Bunch has taught at the American University in Washington, D.C., University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, and George Washington University. He received graduate and undergraduate degrees in African American and American history from the American University.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established by an Act of Congress in 2003. During the pre-building phase, the museum is producing publications, hosting public programs and assembling collections. It is presenting exhibitions at other museums across the country and at its own gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. An array of interactive programs and educational resources is available on the museum’s Web site at http://nmaahc.si.edu.">http://nmaahc.si.edu/">http://nmaahc.si.edu.

MEDIA CONTACT

Carol Hughes, carol.hughes">mailto:carol.hughes@asu.edu">carol.hughes@asu.edu

480-965-6375

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences