Spring 2004

ASU received a $10 million gift in October from The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust to establish the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at ASU.

The gift is the largest ever to a human-ities program at ASU, and follows three other “largest ever” gifts to the university — a $50 million gift to endow the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU; a $50 million gift to endow the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering at ASU; and $5 million from Fulton to the College of Education.

The $10 million for creative writing helps elevate the Creative Writing Pro-gram from its impressive top 20 ranking to even greater national and international prominence, and solidifies metropolitan Phoenix as a hotbed for creative writing.

Original literary production and publi-cation have been encouraged at ASU since its beginnings. In establishing the Center for Creative Writing, the university will have a vehicle for developing and expand-ing innovative programs, including an annual writers conference “Desert Nights, Rising Stars,” presented March 11 – 13 at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort. Also being planned are an annual distinguished visit-ing writers series, new outreach programs

and an international writers exchange.As part of the gift, the Virginia G.

Piper Chair in Creative Writing is being established and will be held by Professor of Creative Writing and English Jewell Parker Rhodes, who also is named artistic director of the center.

The Piper Trust is the largest charitable foundation in Arizona and is committed to improving quality of life through pro-grams that support children, elderly, arts and culture, medical research, education, and religious organizations.

Jewell Parker Rhodes

ASU wins Army award for national Flexible Display Center

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Arizona State University has landed its largest-ever federal award– $43.7 million for Phase I and another $50 million expec-ted for Phase II — to establish the ASU-Army Flexible Display Center.

The award funds the develop-ment of flexible, low-power compu-ter displays that can be continually refreshed with new data and has the potential to be implemented in a wide variety of applications from command centers, to vehicle plat-forms, to individual soldiers.

This award — as noted by the 13 industrial partners that joined ASU in the proposal — lays the foundation for cultivating techno-logy clusters in key areas. These clusters, which the university ex-pects dozens more to join, will generate immediate economic de-velopment activity.

ASU’s success in this competi-tion — against formidable, top-tier institutions — was the result of well thought out planning, strate-gic partnering, selective risk taking and deliberate investing. Everything learned throughout the process of competing for this proposal will be applied going forward as ASU vies for additional research grants of this magnitude.

A major key to the success was the establishment of the Arizona Biodesign Institute (AzBio) at ASU. Under the direction of re-nowned scientist, George Poste, AzBio is growing into a prestigious research and development entity — with the opportunity and vi-sion to have a profound impact on health and well-being, our envi-ronment, disease prevention, and the entire future of science and technology.

Initiative draws top Hispanic faculty to ASUEight faculty members have

been recruited to share their innovative and global insights with ASU’s academic commu-nity as part of the Southwest Borderlands Initiative.

ASU announced the initia-tive in 2001 as a long-term fac-ulty appointment plan with two primary objectives: strengthen-ing existing ASU scholarly and instructional resources on the Southwest with emphasis on the region along the United States-

Mexico border, and enhancing institutional recruitment and retention efforts toward build-ing a faculty fully reflective of the Southwest’s diversity.

Designed with broad-based campus input, the continuing initiative seeks to integrate cur-rent ASU strengths in border-lands research with bold inno-vation in faculty recruitment.

Faculty members hired through the Southwest Border-lands Initiative include Ramon

Rivera-Servera, assistant profes-sor in the Theater Department of the Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts; assistant professors John Jota Leaños and Seline Szkupinski Quiroga, and spring 2003 visiting art-ist/lecturer Yolanda Lopez, in the Chicano/a Studies Depart-ment in the College of Lib-eral Arts & Sciences; Sarah Amira de la Garza, associate professor of communication/theater in the College of Pub-

lic Programs; assistant profes-sors Miguel Astor Aguilera and Daniel Ramirez, in the Depart-ment of Religious Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Alfredo Artiles who will serve as a professor of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education for the 2004–05 academic year.

To learn more about ASU’s Southwest Borderlands Initia-tive, visit the Web at (http://asu.edu/provost/swb/).

W W W. A S U . E D U / A S U N E W S

Flexible displays of the future

Young faculty stars win CAREER Awards

Creative writing soars with $10 million Piper gift

The Army Flexible Display Center at ASU will receive a five-year award of $43 million for phase 1, with an option for an additional five years at $50 million.

President George W. Bush has named ASU’s Laurie Leshin to the President’s Commission on the Imple-mentation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy.

Leshin, the Dee and John White-man Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences, is the only Arizonan appointed to the newly-formed critically important nine-member commission, and will play an important advisory role as one of only four scientists appointed.

Leshin is director of the Center for Meteorite Studies, which houses the largest university-based meteor-ite collection in the world. She is a cosmochemist primarily interested in deciphering the record of water on objects in our solar system.

President taps faculty expertise

A team of ASU researchers is com-bining non-invasive brain imaging techniques with sophisticated data analysis methods to help uncover new answers in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

The ASU team, led by Associate Professor of Psychology Gene Alexan-der and including Psychology Profes-sors Leona Aiken and Steve West, will join with other Arizona researchers in a $4 million research grant funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health.

At the heart of the research is the use of positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imag-ing (MRI), non-invasive brain scanning procedures. Using these techniques, researchers are able to identify physi-cal changes in the brain over time, including those individuals who have a gene considered a susceptibility fac-tor for late-onset Alzheimer’s.

Brain imaging aids Alzheimer’s fight

ASU researchers have received strong recognition from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the form of six 2003 Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Awards.

Receiving the grants are assistant professors Alyssa Panitch in bioen-gineering, John Shumway in physics and astronomy, Teresa Wu in indus-trial engineering and Dong-Kyun Seo in chemistry and biochemistry, Rob Gray, in applied psychology at ASU East and Junshan Zhang in electrical engineering.

The four or five year awards are given annually by the NSF to young faculty members, within the first five years of taking a tenure-track position, considered most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.

With this year’s six awards, ASU re-searchers have received 24 since 1999. From 1999 to 2002, ASU ranked 19th in the nation, tied with Harvard University, University of California – Berkeley, Ohio State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for the number of CAREER Awards over a four-year period.

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National Media

Movies and TV shows are tapping into kids’ fears of standardized tests, illustrating a high-pressure test culture that is pervasive in public schools. “What’s heightened now is the reper-cussions for not doing well,” said edu-cation professor David Berliner. “That puts a layer of stress they haven’t quite had before.” USA Today, Jan. 13.

A federal suit against the marketers of a weight-loss product raises ethical questions concerning radio personalities who give on-air product testimonials. “As a radio personality, an individual’s primary allegiance should be to the station and its listeners,” said Joseph Russomanno, journalism professor. He said striking a deal with product rep-resentatives causes conflict of interest. Good Housekeeping, July 22, 2003.

ASU researchers have found that a drop in brain wave activity precedes the onset of a seizure, allowing the abil-ity to predict seizures. Leonidas Jas-semidis, bioengineering professor, says within five years scientists may develop a computer chip to be implanted in the brain that could record activity and administer anticonvulsant medication or electric shock. Psychology Today, July/August 2003.

Now that jurors rather than judges must decide capital punishment cases, juries in Arizona have surprised many by meting out death sentences in 10 of the first 12 cases. Gary Lowenthal, law professor and criminal-law expert, said current fiscal strains may not give court-appointed lawyers enough resources to prove mitigating circum-stances. Wall Street Journal, Aug. 6, 2003.

Construction professor Howard Bashford shared his “tricks of the trade” for picking the right architect to build one’s home. To avoid clashes over the bill, lay out terms beforehand. And check blueprints carefully, paying close attention to areas for air-conditioning systems, water heaters and duct work. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen new buildings where there’s no way to get a duct from here to there.” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 12, 2003.

Major regional theaters are taking children’s theater seriously, as plays for young audiences win awards. Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis is a flagship program, said Roger Bedard, director of ASU’s top graduate program in youth theater. The CTC’s director is changing the way people think about children’s theater, using well-known stories “as a platform to broaden peo-ple’s perspectives.” Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 17, 2003.

Rush Limbaugh may have sabotaged his TV career with a racially charged observation, but a zero-tolerance ap-proach to controversy can have a nega-tive effect. “On the one hand, social progress is advanced by a certain type of blatant racist and sexist comments not being acceptable any more,” said law professor James Weinstein. But “we have to be careful we don’t pun-ish people for . . . asking hard ques-tions, or even saying offensive things that have some critical inquiry behind them.” Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 27, 2003.

Sixty-five Chinese government offi-cials and state executives have enrolled in ASU’s new MBA program in Shang-hai. “Any business school in their right mind would jump at the chance to be involved in something like this,” said James Boatman, accountancy profes-sor. “The students are the movers and shakers in the financial services sector in China, and they’re going to be our alumni.” The Chronicle of Higher Edu-cation, Oct. 3, 2003.

ASU Flight Research Center takes offASU is launching the ASU Flight Research Center to embark

on the next century of aerospace advancements. The new center is the nation’s only fully dedicated flight research enterprise aligned with a major research university.

Within a year, the center will deploy a fleet of three unique air-craft in interdisciplinary research on such issues as the control of air flow and the resulting turbulence across the surface of a wing as well as air quality measurement. Currently only large govern-ment labs are performing this type of research.

Led by ASU Aerospace Engineering Professor William Saric, the center includes experimental and computational researchers in aerospace engineering and air quality monitoring, with expected evolution over time to include other faculty researchers. Funding is provided from the office of ASU’s Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs and the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineer-ing, with $1.5 million in initial start-up costs and an additional proposed $3.6 million facility at the ASU East Campus to be shared with other programs.

Exper i-ments on the planes will be conducted on specially designed models, wing gloves or extensions that enable researchers to observe their character-istics in flight, but do not compromise the performance of the aircraft. By understanding issues such as how air flows over wings, turbulence can be prevented, creating greater fuel efficiency and range for the aircraft. Other researchers from ASU’s Environmen-tal Fluid Dynamics group, which has a long-established program of monitoring the air properties, based on the use of ground-based remote sensors, will use the aircraft to take their sensors directly into the air flow for a wealth of unique real-time data.

Interdisciplinary focus draws collaboration

Kellogg invests in ASU nonprofit work

Alpha Partnership forms to support educators As pre-K–12 education

emerges as a critical priority within ASU’s vision of the “New American University,” the spring 2004 launch of the first comprehensive univer-sity-school partnership, called Alpha Partnership, demon-strates ASU’s long-term com-mitment to supporting educa-

tors, schools and families in the important work of educating Arizona’s children.

The Alpha Partnership began taking shape last fall in collabo-ration with State Sen. Richard Miranda (D-District 13), the Tolleson and Phoenix Union high school districts, and their surrounding elementary feeder

school districts. Alpha is the first of several university-school partnerships to be established statewide within the next three to five years under the Office of University-School Partnerships, established June 2003.

The Alpha Partnership cur-rently provides a comprehen-sive menu of 18 programs and

resources for educators, schools and families and the list is expected to expand as addi-tional linkages are established. Schools within the partnership districts have the flexibility to pick and choose from the pro-grams, services and resources that are most needed to sup-port students and families.

Science policy group makes ASU home

ASU is the new headquarters for the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO), a science policy organization launched by ASU President Michael Crow when he was at Columbia University.

The consortium, which was founded in 1998, creates knowl-edge, cultivates public discourse and fosters policies to help decision makers and institutions grapple with the power and importance of science and technology as society charts a course for the future.

CSPO will cultivate strong col-laborative relations among inter-ested ASU faculty (including two new faculty hires) in natural and social sciences, while building a consortium of universities, founda-tions and other organizations in-volved in science policy.

Major planning effortsspur appointments

ASU has made two major appointments that will drive comprehensive university planning and the development of a new downtown campus.

Richard Stanley, former executive vice provost at New York University, has joined ASU as senior vice president and university planner. Stanley will coordinate and inte-grate university master planning, facility and capital planning, and academic plan-ning. Among the biggest challenges will be developing a road map for taking the university from 57,000 students today to more than 90,000 by the year 2020, implemented across multiple campuses in the metropolitan Phoenix area.

Nancy Jordan, ASU associate vice president of community de-velopment was appointed as a loaned senior executive to the city of Phoenix to work on a joint project to establish a 12,000-student ASU campus in downtown Phoenix.

Both Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and ASU President Michael Crow agreed the loaned executive exchange was just the first step in a joint venture that would benefit both the state’s largest city and largest university.

ASU In The News

The efforts of the ASU Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management to support and educate members of the nonprofit sector in Arizona and the region have received a strong boost with a $4.1 million investment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Since its establishment in 1999, the center in the ASU College of Public Pro-grams has served the nonprofit commu-nity as a resource for training, education and research. The four-year grant will greatly expand the capability of the center to provide topical training, assist in man-agement and nonprofit development and enhance the university’s already strong research and undergraduate and graduate education efforts in the field.

“This is a great opportunity to build our center,” says Center Director Rob-ert Ashcraft. “It really positions us as a knowledge and tools leader and enables us

to further help build capacity of the non-profit sector in Arizona and beyond.”

Specifically, the funds will help add several staff positions, aimed at improv-ing the interaction between the center and professionals working in the various non-profit organizations in the state.

Robert AshcraftTI

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Signature momentArizona Gov. Janet Napolitano hands President Michael Crow the pen after signing the research infrastructure bill on Oct. 9, 2003. Key legislators who supported the bill also were on hand for the ceremony. The bill includes $185 million for ASU to rapidly and dramati-cally increase its research space and capacity. The funds will be used in construction of five new interdisciplinary research-intensive buildings, slated for completion by the end of 2005.

Nancy Jordan

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Researchers at ASU are applying nanotechnology to the design of fuel cells.

Their work could lead to “sev-eral new ways of dealing with shortcomings of conventional fuel cells,” says Frederic Zenhausern, direc-tor of the Center for Applied Nanobio-science (ANBC) at the Arizona Biode-sign Institute.

At ANBC, Pro-fessor Don Ger-vasio and his team are developing micro-fuel cells for portable applications. Gervasio says the goal is to develop a complete micro-power system for battery applications that would include a fuel cell subsystem, a battery and controller. Pound for pound, it would supply more energy than batteries alone, Gervasio says.

Power outages in the United States have many people re-examining electrical generating systems that would be more flexible, cleaner and less prone to major catastrophic failure. One energy source that could fill these needs is fuel cells.

Fuels cells cleanly and quietly generate electric power by passing fuels like hydrogen over one electrode while passing air over a second electrode. But their development has long been dogged by costs of the technology as well as safety concerns.

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National Media

ASU has aggressively recruited pro-fessors whose scholarly work focuses on the U.S.-Mexican border, with its Southwest Borderlands Initiative. “We use this initiative to build a critical mass, across disciplines, and in doing so we hope we’ll create a magnet” for His-panic scholars, said Gail Hackett, vice provost. The sheer number of Hispanic faculty members at ASU makes it an at-tractive place for recruits. Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 28, 2003.

So many members of the ASU geol-ogy faculty are at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Mars rover landing and exploration, they decided to offer a Mars exploration rover class to be taught by three professors, said geolo-gist Ron Greeley. “At least one of us will be back on campus once a week. If the class falls during a time when we’re all at JPL, we’ll do a videoconference.” Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 23.

A writer and two photographers, including Regents Professor of Art Mark Klett, are studying wilderness by rephotographing scenes of some of the great landscape photographs of the 19th and 20th centuries in Yosemite Park. Photos by Ansel Adams told the story that people are bad, and nature is good, said Klett. “What we saw in the Adams photographs is: ‘This is nature. And it’s beautiful because you’re not there.’” New York Times, Sept. 2, 2003.

The Supreme Court has ruled that states can collect taxes from Indian tribes on reservation cigarette sales, but states cannot sue tribes for ignoring the ruling, said Robert Clinton, law professor. “The tax in the abstract may be lawful, but all the accouterments including the ability to sue the taxpayer are not in place. The tribes are immune from state enforcement.” New York Times, Sept. 28, 2003.

Democrats running for president are trying to emulate Sen. John McCain’s tactics and style, but they forget that he didn’t win the nomination in 2000. Mc-Cain is the kind of candidate Americans yearn for but will not elect, said Bruce Merrill, journalism professor. “The way the rules work, it’s still the ideologues who control the nomination process. If he could have gotten the nomination, McCain would have been elected presi-dent.” New York Times, Oct. 8, 2003.

An instrument on the Mars rover Op-portunity has detected the iron oxide hematite offering tantalizing evidence the site once lay in liquid water. “I think the preliminary evidence is consistent with hematite forming at low tempera-tures in chemical reactions with water,” said Phil Christensen, lead scientist for the instrument. New York Times, Feb. 1.

The two Mars rovers have landed on opposite sides of the planet in sites that are radically different from each other. Scientists had expected that Spirit would land on more interesting terrain in Gusev Crater and Opportunity would have to drive quite a distance to find worthy objects of study. “It’s just the opposite,” said geologist Ron Greeley, who is on the science team. New York Times, Feb. 3.

Giant dragonflies with wingspans of two and a half feet existed 300 million years ago, and scientists have long sus-pected that high atmospheric oxygen may have allowed bigger bugs to thrive. But insect physiologist Jon Harrison said higher oxygen levels may not have caused their size. “It’s still in the realm of speculation,” he said. He and other scientists are studying modern insects to test the question. New York Times, Feb. 3.

ASU In The News

ASU virologist Bertram Jacobs has received a $5.5 mil-lion, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Biodefense Partnership Program to develop and test a modified smallpox vaccine.

The current smallpox vac-cine, though very effective in providing immunity, relies on using the live vaccinia (once called “cowpox”) virus that is it-self deadly dangerous to a small percentage of the people that would be vaccinated. Jacob’s

modified vaccine is expected to be identical in effectiveness to the current vaccine while being “treatable” for dangerous reactions.

ASU will develop the modi-fied vaccinia virus and do pre-liminary animal testing; Virax Holdings Limited, an Austra-lian biomedical corporation will create a clinical-grade vaccine from ASU stocks; the New York Blood Center and Beth Israel Hospital will do further testing and human clinical trials.

Working with a strain of vac-cinia that is known to be highly effective against smallpox, Ja-cobs’ team aims to add genes to the virus that will give it a hidden weakness: susceptibil-ity to a common, widely tol-erated antibiotic or anti-viral drug. The modifications will not change the virus’s effec-tiveness in immunizing against smallpox, but will give doctors a sure and effective way to treat it in rare cases where it causes serious illness.

A team of ASU researchers has made several advances in the area of microfluidic component design, fabrication and integration, bring-ing technology to the point where DNA analysis can be done simply and in significantly less time than required today.

The researchers are borrowing ideas from the king of small-scale integration — microelectronic in-tegrated circuits (IC).

“We’ve basically taken some of the primary ideas of electronic in-tegration and applied them to mi-crofluidic devices,” says Robin Liu, project manager at the Center for Applied Nano-Bioscience (ANBC) at the Arizona Biodesign Institute.

Liu says the advantages of inte-grated microfluidic devices include being able to build sophisticated devices from relatively simple parts, modularity of components and standardization of microfluidic chips.

Top ASU Faculty Make Research Meaningful

Jacobs aims to fight smallpox safely

From the earliest planning stages, to the current activity on the planet’s surface, ASU scientists have played a key role in the twin rover missions to Mars.

ASU Regents Professor of Geological Sciences Ronald Greeley and ASU astrobiologist Jack Farmer were involved in picking the landing sites for the rovers, and a discovery by geologist Philip Christensen of hematite (a mineral that usually forms in the presence of water) led to the selection of a place known as Terra Meridiani for Opportunity.

The contributions of ASU will continue, as Christensen and his team will be operating an unprecedented four instruments simultaneously during the MER campaign. In addition, three other ASU faculty members, Greeley, Farmer and ASU research scientist James Rice are members of the MER science team. Greeley and Farmer are both chairs of important decision-making committees, which means that ASU has three scientists who are playing “mission-critical” roles on the rovers’ three-month-long odysseys.

Mission to Mars

ASU Regents Professor Philip Christensen lays out a huge image of the Mars surface for a photo shoot with Na-tional Geographic.

Spectacular images of Mars in infrared were taken by the Mini-TES instrument on the Opportunity Rover, directed by ASU geologist Philip Christensen. The colors indicate relative quantities of the important mineral hematite — the red areas are high in hematite, the blue and green areas are low.

Bertram Jacobs

Shrinking fuel cells may power future

Don Gervasio

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ASU researchers are trying to gain a bet-ter understanding of a physical decline in the elderly by systematically studying motor control deficits.

The main issue for Professor George Stel-mach, and his colleague Assistant Research Professor Natalia Dounskaia, is to determine why movements typically become slower and more variable in older adults.

Through a four-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, the researchers will use high-speed motion re-corders to analyze reaching and aiming movements.

He believes finding the root cause of seemingly subtle changes in movement could have long-term quality of life implica-tions. Given the importance and high costs of health care for elderly adults, technology that could improve health maintenance and health care, or reduce the associated costs, would be especially valuable.

“I think this could be an important breakthrough,” he says. “The better we un-derstand these declines, the better we can ac-count for them and improve people’s lives.”

Motor control research key to improving lives

Team simplifies tests through microfluidics

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ASU researcher Natalia Dounskaia (left) helps Aelita Baidoon complete a move-ment exercise in the ASU Motor Control Laboratory.

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International Media

People of fire-prone industrialized nations should embrace fire as a sci-ence and reintroduce it in a controlled manner, biologist Stephen Pyne told delegates at an international fire con-ference in Australia. “Fire, we have learned, is not simply a tool to be handled or discarded at will, it’s also an ecological process whose removal can unravel the tapestry of landscapes.” Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 6, 2003.

Whether a golfer chokes under pres-sure may depend more on how his or her brain processes increased brain ac-tivity, rather than on how much anxiety the person experiences, said Debbie Crews, sports psychologist. Crews sug-gests golfers use mental techniques such as visualization and positive thinking. Glasgow Herald (UK), July 25, 2003.

Eastern Media

Walking 10,000 steps to good health may be harder than it looks, and there’s nothing magical in the number, says Catrine Tudor-Locke, assistant professor of exercise and wellness. The important thing is the quality, not the numbers of the steps, she said. Thirty minutes of brisk walking might be a more beneficial goal. Newsday, Feb. 8.

Ancient tongues are fading away, and linguists are rushing to document them, because they say a society’s cul-ture and history die out when its lan-guage expires. “Part of the world is lost when you can’t name it,” said Stephen Batalden, linguist and history profes-sor. Baltimore Sun, July 14, 2003.

Researchers are studying how em-pathy is formed, and its importance in mental health. Some people empathize so much with another person’s pain that they develop “empathic over-arousal,” and must withdraw, said Nancy Eisenberg, psychologist. The focus then becomes one’s own feelings of stress rather than the other person’s need. Boston Globe, July 29, 2003.

The euphoria of baseball fans root-ing for a winning team is partly due to an increase in testosterone, studies have found. It is an evolutionary behav-ior that increases chances of survival. “People feel victorious themselves by basking in the reflected glory of oth-ers,” said psychologist Robert Cialdini. “If your surrogate warriors win a battle, you feel like you are personally better than a member of the tribe that lost.” Boston Globe, Oct. 14, 2003.

Students who repeat earlier grades are many times more likely to quit school later, even when they have caught up with their peers, said Mary Lee Smith, Regents Professor of edu-cational leadership and policy studies. “When you retain a kid, it’s like closing the barn door after the horse is gone,” she said. “It’s not solving the problem.” Washington Post, Aug. 24, 2003.

ASU’s new executive MBA pro-gram in Shanghai is part of the drive to turn China into a market economy. YuhChang Hwang, accountancy pro-fessor, said he was favorably impressed by the quality of his class. “My concern was they would show up here just to get a degree. It turned out to be exactly the opposite: They are very eager to learn.” Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2003.

Researchers have found that the life expectancy tables used for pen-sion payouts and insurance are flawed, overestimating average age of death. “While these new research findings mean higher costs to insurance firms, they mean lower cost to employers as pension payouts will be for a shorter period of time,” said Phil Reckers, accountancy professor. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sept. 16, 2003.

ASU In The News

In the Spotlight

Technology gives bacteria researchers new tools Developing new weapons against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

and fungi is the goal of ASU researchers working with technology donated from Hercules, Inc., a global manufacturer of chemical specialties used to make a variety of products for home, office and industrial markets.

Hercules has signed an agreement to transfer to ASU patents and know-how related to new microbiocides for developing poten-tial new biotechnology products.

“This technology package from Hercules is exciting because it is a new approach to microbiocides that gives broad-spectrum control of many species of bacteria and possible other microorgan-isms,” says Charles Arntzen, world-renowned plant biologist and

holder of the Florence Ely Nelson Presidential Chair at ASU. Stopping the growth of microbes, such as bacteria or fungi, has

wide applications in health care, agriculture and environmental decontamination. Antibiotics have been successful products for the pharmaceutical industry, but their enormous benefits must also be balanced against emerging problems of microbial resis-tance. Current sales of antibiotics and other biocides in the global animal health industry are estimated to be $12 – $15 billion, and biocide use in aquaculture is valued at more than $1 billion and growing rapidly.

The new technology area will be incorporated into programs of ASU’s Arizona Biodesign Institute (AzBio).

Construction continues on Phase 1 of the Arizona Biodesign Institute fa-cility. The institute and its groundbreaking research are one of the major initiatives funded through Proposition 301.

Prop 301 investment paying off for stateCutting-edge research activities in

biodesign, nanotechnology, information science, and high tech manufacturing benefited Arizona’s knowledge economy in 2003 by attracting new federal and private funding and by producing highly skilled workers, new products, and spinoff companies, according to a recently released study by Morrison In-stitute for Public Policy, a unit of ASU.

Morrison Institute’s 11-page report, “New Returns on Investment in the Knowledge Economy: Proposition 301 at ASU, FY 2003” analyzes results from ASU’s second year of science and technol-ogy research under voter-approved Propo-sition 301 funding. The full report is available at (www.morrisoninstitute.org).

“‘New Returns 2003’ crosswalks results from ASU’s Proposition 301-funded research with five types of activ-

ity relevant to the new economy,” says Rick Heffernon, author of the report. “These five categories are new money, new programs, new ventures, new skills and new talent.”

Among ASU’s reported Proposition 301 accomplishments in FY 2003:

• $9.1 million in new external fund-ing attracted by research projects;

• 13 new research collaborations formed with industry partners and na-tional laboratories;

• 17 new patents approved, 3 new products in the marketplace, and 3 new companies spun off;

• 33 newly degreed graduate students and 19 post-docs entered the work force; and

• An internationally recognized re-search leader, George Poste, recruited to direct the Arizona Biodesign Institute.

Students gain real world experience through tech clinic

A new venture clinic at ASU is accel-erating its technology commercialization efforts by tapping into the energy and expertise of top students, who will gain real world experience on the front lines of technology venturing.

The Technology Venture Clinic serves as a teaching laboratory, but is run as a robust market-focused enterprise driven by commercial metrics.

Some of the university’s brightest stu-dents, from several disciplines — includ-ing law, business, engineering and science — have been recruited to work as members of this technology transfer team, gaining firsthand knowledge of what works best in bringing new ideas to market.

The clinic functions as an interdisci-plinary enterprise, drawing students from the College of Law, the W. P. Carey School of Business, the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Arizona Technology Enterprises coor-dinates the clinic under the direction of venture capital industry veteran Char-lie Lewis, former managing partner of Arris Ventures. At Arris Ventures, Lewis, an ASU alum, focused on Arizona-based early-stage companies in the technology sector.

Activities of the clinic include identify-ing portfolios for technology venturing, analyzing technology portfolios, develop-ing commercialization strategies and busi-ness plans, analyzing markets and partners for technology venturing, and working with faculty to incubate tech ventures.

Grant expands ASU West charter school programASU West’s masters degree

program for charter school administrators is expanding, thanks to a $2.9 million grant from U.S. Department of Edu-cation Secretary Rod Paige’s Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE).

The three-year grant allows for tuition waivers for a second cohort of students, a mentor-

ship component and the po-tential creation of a center for school choice.

The program, Leadership for Educational Entrepreneurs (LEE), bridges the ASU West College of Education’s master’s degree in Educational Admin-istration and the School of Management’s MBA degree. LEE Fellows from around the

country learn online as well as face-to-face at ASU West and at regional sites.

Eleanor Perry, associate pro-fessor in the College of Educa-tion, founded the LEE pro-gram — the first program of its kind in the nation — after conducting six years of action research focused on charter school leadership.

“LEE gives participants both the education skills and busi-ness skills needed to success-fully operate a charter school,” Perry says.

Nationwide, 175,000 stu-dents in 40 states attend 2,300 charter schools. Arizona has nearly 500 charter school sites serving more than 75,000 stu-dents — the most of any state.

Fulton honors wife with $5 million college endowment

Less than two months after giving $50 million to endow and name the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University, Fulton announced his gift of $5 million to the ASU College of Education.

Fulton’s gift to the College of Educa-tion is in honor of his wife, former teacher Mary Lou Fulton, who earned her teach-ing degree from ASU. The gift is the larg-est ever given to the College of Education and makes Fulton the largest donor in the history of ASU.

The money will allow ASU to recruit a national expert in early reading develop-

ment and reading remediation as the first Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Chair. It also will endow fellowships for outstand-ing graduate students who are the future “stars” of the teaching profession, scholar-ships for high potential undergraduates preparing for teaching careers and a re-search fund for faculty.

Stardust grant launches ASU’s affordable housing effort

With a $2.5 million start-up grant from the Stardust Foundation, ASU is creating the Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family.

The center fills a void by focusing on affordable homes and family success as a

single issue. There are numerous programs that focus on either affordable homes or family success, but few, if any, are looking at both issues together.

Arizona’s shortage of affordable homes for working families has created a situation in which the living condition of more than one in 10 families is substandard.

Jerry Bisgrove, founder of the Stardust Foundation, wants to tackle the problem by tapping into the intellectual capacity of ASU to apply scientific research and technological advances toward solutions. The center will be a trans-disciplinary ef-fort involving faculty and resources from across ASU to research the problem and design innovative programs, services and technologies to help families succeed.

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A serial killer case in which police “dragnetted” for DNA evidence by taking samples from 1,200 individu-als may lead courts to decide whether such samples should later be de-stroyed. Law enforcement should be clear about how long the samples will be kept, said David Kaye, law professor and DNA expert. “Deceiving or misleading the public at large is a poor policy — even if the Constitution allows it.” Baton Rouge Sunday Advo-cate, Sept. 21, 2003.

Some TV viewers are angered by the station logos in the corner of their screens, but the logos serve legiti-mate purposes as guideposts for rapid channel surfers and reminders for rat-ings surveyors, said John Craft, jour-nalism professor. Viewers in the future may pay more for a clean screen with no commercials. “Probably the logo will be harder to turn off than the NASDAQ score, however.” Florida Today, Sept. 26, 2003.

Florida officials suspect several schools may have altered students’ scores on Florida Comprehensive As-sessment Tests because of stunning reversals from previous years’ scor-ing and other glaring discrepancies. “It’s implausible to think someone becomes that outstanding overnight,” said Tom Haladyna, education pro-fessor. “And when a gain isn’t cor-related by another measure, it makes it even more questionable.” Miami Herald, Feb. 8.

Midwestern Media

Stepped-up scrutiny and prosecu-tions of polygamy can make inroads in shaping the FLDS religion, said Linell Cady, religious studies professor. “You can look at the Roman Catholic Church and the issue of sex abuse and see how civil authorities are definitely making a difference in how the church is conducting its affairs.” Dallas Morn-ing News, Sept. 29, 2003.

Flirting is a mysterious but instinc-tive art with mate selection at its heart, said communication professor Jess Alberts. “We tend to be at-tracted to people who look reproduc-tively fit. But also, success is a signal. When men send women a drink, that signals, ‘I can take care of you.’” Dal-las Morning News, Jan. 9.

President Bush’s plan to push for a manned mission to Mars is an im-portant step, said geochemist Laurie Leshin. “What we can learn by send-ing humans is amazing,” she said, because robots work well scientifi-cally but can never gather as much information as astronauts can. Dallas Morning News, Jan. 14.

The federal government is question-ing $814,142 in salary and bonuses paid to the Kansas City Head Start executive director over three years. “That is way out on the upper limits,” said Robert Ashcraft, director of the ASU Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management. “If I were a board member, I would be calling it into question.” Kansas City Star, Oct. 11, 2003.

The state that gave the nation Barry Goldwater is becoming more moder-ate, just as the former senator and presidential candidate did as he aged. “You ask people if you are a Goldwa-ter Republican or a conservative Re-publican, and if you are a Goldwater Republican you are a moderate,” said journalism professor Bruce Merrill. Chicago Tribune, Jan. 31.

ASU In The News

The W. P. Carey MBA – Online Program, a Web-based distance-education curriculum, launched its first class, in January 2004.

The online program offers the quality and depth of the W. P. Carey MBA along with the convenience of Web-based delivery. Admissions standards and curriculum match the bar set for all W. P. Carey MBA offerings, and online program students study under W. P. Carey MBA faculty.

The program also retains the cohort structure characteristic of the W. P. Carey MBA, yielding the advantages of progressing through classes as a community of learners. The program began with an on-campus, five-day orientation. Students pur-sue the classes online.

The school has drawn many students from the metropolitan area as well as other parts of the country and around the world. Inquiries in the program have come in from potential applicants as nearby as Chandler, Ariz., and as far away as Macao, China.

For information about the online program, visit the Web at (wpcareymba.asu.edu/online).

Arizona families found much needed financial support from ASU, with need-based financial aid increasing 140 percent following the 2003-04 tuition increase. ASU made a systematic effort to reach out and tell families how to apply for financial aid, communicating in both English and Spanish to get the word out.

In more ways than increased financial aid, students have been the major beneficiaries of the tuition increase, though the additional revenues are lifting the entire university. The largest portion – about $14 million – is set aside for increased financial assistance for students.

Other improvements being funded with tuition rev-enues include expanded library hours, improved classroom facilities, better access to advising and increased availabil-ity of classes, as well as improved compensation for teach-ing assistants. Total revenues from the tuition increase are between $34 million and $39 million for Main Campus, and between $44 million and $50 million for the entire university.

Hours at Hayden Library have been expanded to 114 hours a week, another high priority expressed by students, who were surveyed library use. This places ASU third among peer institutions for library access and fifth among the 27 largest academic libraries. Cost is expected to be $170,000.

ASU and the Maricopa Community Colleges are forming an unprecedented partnership to enhance and increase the number of associate and baccalaureate de-grees awarded in metropolitan Phoenix.

The new “ASU-Maricopa Alliance” will move the institutions far beyond the tradi-tional “2 + 2” transfer model by offering new options to eligible students for where and how they learn. By working collabora-tively, the institutions will provide these co-enrolled students with programs and

flexibility that take advantage of the ben-efits of each institution.

Although the partnership is still in the development phase, the initiative could in-clude a variety of academic programs avail-able at education sites that are operated by either institution, or both. An “ASU-Maricopa Alliance Steering Committee,” is working to identify pilot programs to advance the program from concept to implementation. The steering committee also is working to develop a timeline and

establish working teams to get the pilot running by fall 2004.

The two institutions will prepare joint principles to address common concerns and goals, focusing on encouraging student retention and success, offering learner-cen-tered degrees and programs, meeting the needs of a diverse student population, making higher education accessible and affordable, and expanding opportunities for students that will support the new economy and work force needs.

Tuition increase improves student experience

New partnership to benefit students

W. P. Carey School launches online MBA

Addressing a student concern, ASU is using a portion of the increased tuition revenue to provide expanded hours at Hayden Library.

TIM TRUMBLE PHOTO

An ASU junior bioengineering student in the Ira A. Ful-ton School of Engineering was chosen as one of the top 20 undergraduates in the United States by USA Today. Lubna Ahmad of Chandler has been named to the 2004 All-USA Col-lege Academic first team in the February 12 issue.

Chris Tijerina of Casa Grande, a junior majoring in second-ary education and Chicano/a Studies, is among 20 named to the second team. The students are honored for outstanding intellectual achievement and leadership.

Nine ASU students have earned prestigious first team hon-ors in the past 12 years, the best record of any public univer-sity in the nation. Only Harvard and Yale have more.

Students earn spots on USA Today academic teams

Lubna Ahmad Chris Tijerina

Merit Scholars choose ASU

Arizona State University has vaulted to third in the nation among all public universities for the number of freshman National Merit Schol-ars enrolled in 2003 – 04, and seventh overall. ASU enrolled a record 173 National Merit Scholars in the fall freshman class. National Merit Scholars represent the top one-half of one percent of all high school students who take the Preliminary SAT. For the past four years ASU has ranked among the top 20 universities in the country.

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Midwestern Media

Prosecutors increasingly are level-ing criminal charges against pregnant drug or alcohol abusers. Good policy should focus less on public law and more on public health, said Student Health Director Mary Rimsza. “There is no evidence that prosecutions will do any good in terms of prevention of these behaviors, and it doesn’t do any good for the baby who’s already died.” Chicago Tribune, Nov. 23, 2003.

As the Arizona prison hostage situation dragged on, officials didn’t release details about the prisoners’ demands or their identities. Prison hostage situations are rare, so it’s difficult to say why the inmates got themselves into a seemingly hopeless situation, said Gaylene Armstrong, criminal justice professor. “It can be a very stressful environment for most people. Sometimes poor decisions are made.” Chicago Tribune, Jan. 23.

The boom in digital cameras and camera phones is as much a social and cultural phenomenon among young people as it is a sign of tech-nological growth, said Stephen Marc Smith, photography professor. “Young people are taking to this the way we took to e-mail when it was first introduced. People are realizing the ability of our culture to go from sending a written or an oral message to a visual message is really power-ful.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jan. 15.

People socialize with others who share similar interests and background to find comfort but also because of evolution, said biologist John Alcock, in a story on favorite gathering spots. “It has to do with the long history of people living in small bands that have their own characteristics,” he said. “The tendency to associate like with like promoted cooperation within the group and competitive ability against other groups.” Fort Worth Star-Tele-gram, Jan. 18.

After decades of research, evalu-ating the effect of abortion on a woman’s mental health is still diffi-cult. Psychologist Nancy Russo, who studies women’s issues, has found the most important predictor of depres-sion is violence, not abortion. “These women (who have multiple abor-tions) have horrible life experiences. It doesn’t help us to help them by trying to attribute their problems to abortion.” Toledo Blade, Jan. 22.

Scientists studying Mars snapshots from the rover Opportunity can’t tell yet if the dark, distant humps they see are rocks or outcrops. The un-certainty is killing astrogeologist Jim Rice, who’d like to be there with a rock hammer and magnifying glass. “The best geologist is the one who sees the most rocks,” he said jok-ingly, but for now, the rovers are “the only game in town.” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 8.

Michigan economist David Littmann was rewarded with the prestigious Klein Award for his forecasting ac-curacy and his refusal to look at the consensus predictions of other econo-mists. “He was about perfect on predicting the unemployment rate for four years, pretty remarkable because everybody predicted the rate would skyrocket. It never did,” said Lee McPheters, associate dean of MBA programs. Detroit Free Press, Feb. 11.

ASU In The News

In the Spotlight

MBA team is ‘Rose Bowl’ champ in Pac-10/Big Ten business competition

The W. P. Carey MBA student team aced the first-ever Pac-10/Big Ten MBA Case Competition, finishing first among six teams from major business schools.

The competition — the first to pit Pac-10 business schools against schools from the Big Ten — was organized and hosted by the W. P. Carey School of Business with co-sponsorship from Honeywell and Dial Corp. and support from Cardinal Health. Students, faculty and adminis-trators dubbed it the “Rose Bowl of case competitions.”

ASU earned the right to compete in the “Rose Bowl” at the inaugural Pac-10 MBA Case Competition in October.

The Big Ten was represented by the winners of the 2003 Ford Big Ten MBA Case Competition: the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, the Kran-nert School of Management at Purdue and the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Members of the W. P. Carey MBA team included Talli Brown, Matt Disbrow, Brian Martin and Chad Meyers and were

coached by Management Professors Amy Hillman and Gerry Keim.

Case competitions provide business stu-dents with a forum to exercise the knowl-edge and skills acquired in class by devel-oping solutions to hypothetical business problems within a set time period.

Cronkite School tops in nation in Broadcast News Contest

The ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication currently ranks first in the nation in the Intercollegiate Broadcast News Compe-tition of the prestigious Hearst Journal-ism Awards program.

ASU students Will Pitts, Risa Avila, Tom Murray and Brandon Rittiman led the Cronkite School to a top finish after the first round of competition in the feature reporting category. The second round of the Hearst Awards will focus on news reporting. Based on his top five finish in radio reporting, Pitts moves into the national semifinal competition in April.

The 2003 – 04 broadcast news com-petitions are held in more than 100 member colleges and universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and

Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs.

ASU sophomore art major wins scholarship for world study

Damian Stamer, an ASU sophomore majoring in painting and museum studies, won a prestigious Circumnavigators Schol-arship to carry out an around-the-world research project this summer.

Stamer will use the $8,000 award to travel to New York City, Canada, London, the Netherlands, Austria, Hong Kong and Australia, studying how international mu-seums recruit and retain volunteers in the wake of public funding cuts. He plans to interview volunteers, museum directors and visitors, and to administer question-naires and observe training sessions.

A talented artist who was recruited to ASU as a National Merit Scholar, Stamer is a volunteer and tour guide at the ASU Art Museum and has been extremely ac-tive in the docent program.

The scholarship is sponsored by the Phoenix chapter of the Circumnaviga-tors Club, an international organization founded 99 years ago to promote global fel-lowship and understanding. It is awarded every other year.

Recipients of the Millennium Interdis-ciplinary Dissertation Fellowship (MIDF) personify research that can best be ap-proached through multiple disciplines. ASU doctoral students Gram Jones and Eric Haas, winners of the 2003 fellow-ship, add new knowledge to multiple fields with their interdisciplinary disser-tation research at ASU. The Graduate College presents MIDF awards annually to promote interdisciplinary dissertation research at ASU.

Jones majors in physical anthropology and will combine that discipline with bio-mechanics in her dissertation work. Haas is majoring in educational leadership and policy studies and will bridge education, policy studies and English in his disserta-tion project.

“The Millennium Interdisciplinary Dissertation Fellowship supports ground-breaking, innovative interdisciplinary research by ASU doctoral students,” says Marjorie Zatz, associate dean of the Grad-uate College. “These students have proven ability to master the concepts and skills of multiple disciplines and to effectively bridge these fields. They are conducting highly original research and potentially quite significant research.”

Millennium Fellows are engaged in research with colleagues from different disciplines and from at least two different academic units on campus. They have al-ready defended their dissertation propos-als and will devote their award year to the writing of their dissertations.

An ASU researcher is part of a group of scientists reporting the first large-scale comparison of the human genome to 12 other vertebrates. The work is an important step in under-standing how vertebrate species are ge-netically similar or different from one another, and provides a glimpse into the evolutionary past of humans.

For example, the work shows that humans are more closely related to ro-dents than to dogs or cats.

The team, which includes Jeff Touchman — an assistant professor of biology and director of the sequencing facility at the Translational Genom-ics Research Institute in Phoenix — published its findings in the journal Nature.

The report, “Comparative analy-ses of multi-species sequences from targeted genomic regions,” details the comparison of one targeted region of the human genome (a segment of the human chromosome 7, which includes the gene mutated in cystic fibrosis) to

the same region of other vertebrates ranging from chimpanzees to zebraf-ish. Touchman directed the sequenc-ing effort of this work while he was at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

“This is a significant genomic achievement,” Touchman said. “We can learn a lot about the human ge-nome by comparing it to the genomes of other species.”

The team, which included 71 re-searchers from 10 institutions, made the comparisons of the human genome to that of the chimpanzee, baboon, cat, dog, cow, pig, rat, mouse, chicken, two species of puffer fish and zebrafish.

Touchman said the work is both a technical achievement in the amount of the genome sequenced (1.8 million base pairs in each of the 12 species), as well as for what will be learned by comparing these genome sequences together. It could provide clues as to how each vertebrate evolved.

ASU has been awarded two U.S.AID grants, totaling $600,000. These grants ($300,000 each) awarded to the College of Architecture & Environmental Design (CAED) and the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, set a new precedent for ASU, says Jorge de los Santos, executive director of the Office of Pan American Initiatives.

“We rarely receive funding of this mag-nitude from U.S.AID,” says de los Santos, who was instrumental in establishing ties with representatives of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The grants were submitted in partnership with Instituto Tecnolgico de Sonora-ITSON (Architecture) and Tec de Monterrey (Engi-neering), both located in Mexico.

In the history of ASU, the university has only received two U.S.AID grants, accord-ing to de los Santos, who hopes this will serve as an example for other colleges to follow.

A $300,000 grant was presented to the CAED, through a partnership with ITSON-Sonora Institute of Technology. Their proposal, “The Bi-National Partner-ship Consortium for Desert Environmental Development,” endorses the need to de-velop alternative, environmentally friendly energy systems, furthering ecotourism, and enhancing environmental protection while promoting sustainable micro-enterprises for the Sonoran desert region.

A $300,000 grant was presented to the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering at ASU, through a partnership with Tec of Monter-rey. The grant proposal, “U.S. – Mexico Partnership on Education and Technology Transfer for the Aerospace Industry,” en-dorses the need to train professionals for the aerospace industry in global logistics and productivity improvement via project-based, dual M.S. degree programs.

Millennium Fellows add new knowledge to multiple disciplines

U.S.AID awards two ASU programs

Researchers compare human genome sequence for clues to evolution

Gram Jones Eric Haas

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Western Media

NASA plans to launch a nuclear-pow-ered spacecraft to determine whether Jupiter’s moons have the potential to harbor life. “It is a most exciting and ambitious undertaking,” said Ron Greeley, geologist who co-chaired the mission planner teams. “It will demand new technologies, new instruments, new and more powerful ground sta-tions … and new power to get the spacecraft to its destination.” San Fran-cisco Chronicle, Dec. 9, 2003.

Both ASU and the University of Ari-zona are having a hard time filling nurs-ing faculty positions because of low sal-aries, but the state legislature has asked both to double the number of nurses they graduate. “The pressure is on the universities to expand the size of their programs, which we can’t do because we don’t have the faculty, the space or the resources,” said Barbara Durand, ASU nursing dean. Tucson Citizen, June 26, 2003.

The outdoors — including climate, cattle and citrus — drove Arizona’s economy in the 20th century, but its biggest industries are now services, aerospace, health care, transportation and technology. “Given the way the international situation is going, there’s going to be a steady stream of spend-ing on defense-related goods,” said economist Tracy Clark, Arizona Daily Star, Jan. 5.

Hunters and environmentalists are clashing over plans to improve artificial water holes for wildlife. “It’s an active management philosophy versus more of a hands-off philosophy,” said law professor Joe Feller. “Sometimes active management is needed because people have changed things so much.” Arizona Daily Star, Jan. 18.

Urban escapees who build homes in the backcountry don’t realize the need to clear brush away from their homes to prevent fires, something rural residents grow up doing. “They’re people with urban values, urban expectations, urban aesthetics,” said Stephen Pyne, biolo-gist and fire historian. But leaving the land as it is increases fire risks to their families and their neighbors. San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 8, 2003, and Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 9, 2003.

Cell phones and e-mail create new pitfalls in the area of social etiquette, especially in the business world. Many situations simply aren’t addressed in the manners books. “Technology has outpaced our ability to consider what’s appropriate in professional and personal relationships,” said Jeff Kassing, com-munication studies professor. “New communication technologies have seri-ous implications for politeness.” Olym-pian (Wash.), Nov. 11, 2003.

Children need at least an hour’s exercise daily, and parents need to set specific times each day for physical ac-tivity, said Charles Corbin, professor of exercise and wellness who drafted national guidelines with kinesiology pro-fessor Robert Pangrazi. “Perhaps the single most important time to increase physical activity and decrease sedentary activities such as TV and computer time is after school, between 3 and 6 p.m.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dec. 31, 2003.

A pair of spectacular criminal cases in Hawaii in 1931 – 32 involving the al-leged rape of a Navy officer’s wife and the subsequent murder of the accused laid bare long-standing racial and class prejudices in Hawaii and is the subject of a play and two new books. “This story continues to be told over and over again,” said John Rosa, assistant pro-fessor of Asian Pacific American Studies who wrote a book about the case. Ho-nolulu Advertiser, Jan. 11.

ASU In The News

In the Spotlight

ASU’s global engagement agenda moves forward

ASU President Michael Crow repre-sented the state’s higher education system during President of Mexico Vicente Fox’s first-time visit to Arizona last November.

Fox began a three-day visit to the south-western United States with a stop in Phoe-nix to discuss economic development and international partnerships with Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Crow spoke about the importance of building a bi-national partnership that would enhance economic and academic relationships between Arizona and Mexico. “It’s time for a regional economy between Mexico and Arizona to go to the next step,” Crow said.

ASU is currently strengthening its re-search efforts in biotechnology and technol-

ogy transfer through partnerships with uni-versities and corporations, in and outside of the United States — an effort that would strengthen the economy in the southwest-ern region, Crow said.

“Through biotechnology and technology transfer efforts we can develop partnerships to help this regional economy compete with those of other regions,” he said.

ASU strengthens partnerships with Mexico

ASU is expanding its role as an in-stitution of higher learning by building academic and professional collaborations beyond the borders.

ASU’s global engagement efforts are moving forward with the establishment of the Pan American Initiative, a series of pro-grams to promote teaching and research in

all aspects of Latino culture and society. Its reach extends south from the borderlands to beyond, where ASU will engage in produc-tive social, economic and cultural dialogue with Mexico and the rest of Latin America, and north toward Canada as well.

Newly named director of the Pan Ameri-can Initiative and special adviser to the president Jorge de los Santos will help lead this effort to enhance ASU’s academic land-scape and international profile.

“Because of the geographical proximity, Mexico and Latin America can enhance teaching and scholarship relevant to the region,” de los Santos says. “The interdis-ciplinary approach covers society and cul-ture, but also technological advancements, scientific understanding, poverty educa-tion and sustainable development. Similar beneficial collaborations will be sought with Canada.”

Trade between Arizona and one of the world’s most war-torn regions is bearing fruit because of the work of researchers in ASU East’s Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management.

Clifford J. Shultz, the Marley Foundation Pro-fessor of Agribusiness, is leading an ASU team trying to increase trade and decrease international tensions in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and other Balkan nations. Shultz is working with an international collaboration championing mutually beneficial trade between Arizona, the Balkans and the Black Sea Region, particularly trade in grain and processed food.

“Peace and prosperity through food marketing,” he says. “It makes sense for us to promote eco-nomic development and constructive engagement in the Balkans rather than military intervention. They don’t have to like each other in order to co-exist and co-prosper.”

The effort isn’t just altruistic, either. Shultz points out that the Balkans and Black Sea Region represent emerging economies with a potential market of more than 100 million consumers.

“These countries have a generally western ori-entation toward trade and commerce,” Shultz says. “We are working to enhance understanding of disparate cultures and systems at the same time we encourage regional cooperation and export development.”

The current focus of the ASU East/Morrison School of Agribusiness and Resource Management project is on establishing new links and strength-ening existing ones between educational institu-tions, trade associations and business interests in the Balkans and the United States, particularly Arizona.

ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business can lay claim to being the first U.S. busi-ness school to partner with the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to offer the new W. P. Carey MBA Shanghai. The program will be key to China’s efforts to prepare senior executives and government officials for global business competition.

In contrast to the proliferation of online degrees offered by U.S. schools in China, the W. P. Carey MBA Shanghai will be delivered face-to-face in Mandarin, pairing some of the world’s most brilliant scholars with a rep-resentation of China’s economic leadership.

The first W. P. Carey MBA Shanghai class includes many of the most senior executives and government officials in Shanghai. Two-thirds of the class of 65 hold the position of chairman, chief executive officer, or execu-tive/senior vice president in China’s largest state-owned enterprises. The program has

attracted senior officials of gov-ernment agen-cies who oversee Shanghai’s fi-nancial markets and state-owned companies.

The faculty is equally impres-sive. Internation-ally renowned W. P. Carey scholars lead a team that includes profes-sors from major U.S. business schools. W. P. Carey faculty who will teach in Mandarin include Professors Buck Pei, YuChang Hwang, Lin Zhou and former W. P. Carey faculty member Kalock Chan.

Other W. P. Carey faculty who will teach with the assistance of a translator include Professors Jeffrey Coles, James Boatsman and former W. P. Carey faculty member Michael Hitt.

While living for a year in China as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, Robin Haarr experienced life in a society in which women are traditionally considered second-class citizens, witnessed several instances of violence against women on the streets, and heard stories of wife abuse from her Chinese friends. Haarr, an associate professor of criminal justice and criminology at ASU West, was motivated to apply her expertise regarding violence against women to address the treatment of women in China.

Haarr’s most recent trip to China, in December 2003, took her to Beijing and three cities in northwestern provinces of the country. She de-livered eight presentations about wife abuse to academic researchers, gov-ernment and criminal justice officials, victim advocates and students. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing also coordinated Haarr’s participation in a Web chat, focusing on family violence, hosted by the Beijing Youth Daily.

“We weren’t sure how the subject of wife abuse would be received in these northwest provinces — we traveled to some rather remote areas,” says Haarr, who was accompanied by Darrell Jenks, director of the U.S. Embassy’s American Center for Educational Exchanges. “At first I kept my presentations focused on causes of wife abuse and developing com-munity responses to domestic violence, but as the trip went along I began talking about the feminist movement in the United States and feminist theories of wife abuse, which the audiences were extremely interested in discussing.”

Efforts to combat violence against women in China are complicated by the fact that the beating of one’s wife is often considered a natural and acceptable part of the marital relationship, along with the fact that size-able portions of the population are hesitant to “as they say, air their dirty laundry in public,” Haarr says. Her research interests focus on violence against women, particularly in East Asia and Central Asian Muslim soci-eties, as well as on women working in police organizations.

“I’m committed to doing all I can to facilitate education, research and capacity-building as it relates to violence against women in Asian societ-ies,” Haarr says.

Haarr served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in China during the 2001 – 2002 academic year. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing invited her to return in January 2003 to make three presentations in Beijing about women’s rights and wife abuse. The success of that trip prompted the December trip to Beijing and three provinces — Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai.

Haarr’s work in China led to an invitation from the government of Tajikistan to work on domestic violence issues in that former Soviet Re-public. She spent three weeks there during the summer of 2003 under the auspices of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Shanghai welcomes ASU MBA for executives

ASU East agribusiness program encourages food trade for peace

Professor travels to China to combat domestic violence

ASU President Michael Crow poses with students, mostly senior executives and government officials, enrolled in the W. P. Carey Executive MBA Shanghai program.

TIM TRUMBLE PHOTO

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In the Spotlight

Through partnerships with urban area school districts, the Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) program provides support to novice teachers. It provides a comprehensive induction and mentoring program serving school districts throughout Arizona.

The idea is to provide new teachers job-specific training and support, beyond their student-teaching experience, similar to what medical residents receive as new physicians.

Locally, BEST annually reaches more than 700 new teachers and 500 mentors in 11 formal partner school

districts. The program also serves more than 200 second-year teachers and teachers who are new to their school districts.

Understanding that they have a vested interest in the success of the BEST program, participating Valley school districts have agreed to release a team of veteran teachers from their regular classrooms to serve as mentors to novice teachers in their home school districts. The mentors continue to receive full pay and benefits from their district while they participate in the program. School district personnel meet monthly with BEST program

leadership from ASU who provide ongoing training and support focused in four key program areas — BEST for beginning educators classroom visitation support; BEST for mentors; and PEP (Professionals Evolving Practice) for second-year teachers and teachers new to districts in Arizona.

Currently, there is a team of 25 instructors and visitation coaches embedded in school districts throughout the Valley, providing BEST seminars and visits to hundreds of beginning teachers.

Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale and ASU have brought together clinical and in-vestigative interests and strengths in a collaborative framework for medical research and development.

Mayo Clinic has extensive clinical experience and expertise, as well as verti-cally integrated programs spanning basic science, laboratory-based clinical investi-gation, clinical trials and population sci-ences. ASU, through the Arizona Biode-sign Institute (AzBio), has outstanding multidisciplinary research programs in biologics and pharmaceuticals, nanoscale biosystems and devices, neural interface and rehabilitation therapies and genom-ics and bioinformatics.

While the specific research areas will continue to be identified by researchers at both institutions, the initial areas of potential collaboration include neuro-imaging, receptor biology, microdevices (both on-body and in-body) and vaccine development.

Arizona Technology Enterprises and Mayo Clinic’s Medical Ventures Depart-ment will work in partnership to bring technologies developed through this col-laboration to the marketplace.

With interest rising in the role of religion in public life around the globe, the ASU Religious Studies Department is helping Arizonans understand the roles different religions play in their own state.

Current Arizona social studies standards require schools to give academic and ob-jective instruction in major world reli-gions. But most public school teachers have not been adequately trained to give such instruction, says David Damrel, religious studies professor.

Damrel and the department hosted a program with 45 middle-school teachers from around the state for an outreach conference on “World Religions in Arizona Schools.”

It’s possible to teach about a religion, linking it to cultural traditions, music, art and literature, without advocating for the religion, Damrel says. Teachers can com-pare and contrast religions by categories: sacred texts, sources of authority and rules of behavior.

“Our challenge is to think about ways of discussing and comparing religions with-out front-loading the discussion,” he says. “Rumor, misinformation and the media shape our ideas about world religions, but this is too important to be left up to the media. It’s a complicated subject, one that we need to approach in a responsible way.”

The conference also was sponsored by the ASU Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and the Arizona Humanities Council.

A collaborative science education pro-gram is helping Arizona high school stu-dents get a taste of college-level research and science — with spectacular results.

The Research Experiences for High School Students program, offered by the Southwest Center for Education and the Natural Environment (SCENE), targets students considering a science major in college and gives them a firsthand look at the world of scientific research. SCENE, a non-profit organization affiliated with ASU’s Center for Environmental Studies, links students with ASU scientists and research projects for six months of each academic year.

Through the program, students are ex-posed to the scientific process, learn how to collect and analyze data using sophisticated scientific equipment and are active partici-pants in cutting-edge research projects.

The program culminates with a re-search poster presentation by the students. The students are encouraged to enter their research in the Central Arizona Science and Engineering Fair and other science competitions, where they typically excel.

Several students have won Regent’s Scholarships to ASU, and most have won cash and scholarship prizes at one or more science competitions. In addition, the pro-gram itself awards a small scholarship to each participant who completes the pro-gram successfully.

Center to improve technology-enhanced instruction

ASU is one of eight universities from around the world that will collaborate in the launch of the new Technology-Enhanced Learning in Science (TELS) center, one of 16 centers the NSF has established to understand more deeply what it means to be a good teacher and what it takes to help students be successful in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The National Science Foundation has awarded $10 million to support the center to study how instructional technology can improve science education and create class-room-tested technological tools that can be woven into science teaching as a result of their findings. The effort will bring together teachers, students, researchers, policy-mak-ers and high-tech designers from Berkeley to Boston to Haifa, Israel.

The ASU portion of the TELS center will focus on developing technologies to support English language learners studying science while simultaneously building fluency in English.

ASU plans construction conference for May

A first-ever “Construction in Indian Country” conference will bring together tribal officials from all over the United States with contractors and developers May 6 – 7. The conference, expected to draw more than 1,000 people, will be at the Sheraton Wild

Horse Pass Resort and Spa in the Gila River Indian Community and is sponsored by ASU’s Del E. Webb School of Construc-tion.

The goal is to prepare Indian and non-Indian constructors for the continually ex-panding construction projects in Indian country. The national conference will gather tribal officials, tribal construction personnel, contractors, suppliers, vendors and develop-ers, and federal, state and local agencies to discuss the issues of construction manage-ment for American Indians.

“Building trust between the Indian owner and the construction contractor, and ensur-ing quality construction of tribal schools, homes, hospitals, commercial buildings and roads is critical,” says Peterson Zah, adviser to ASU President Michael Crow on Ameri-can Indian Affairs. Zah says trust and qual-ity construction will be the major points addressed at the conference.

Construction by tribal government own-ers has increased significantly in the United States. Gaming revenue is projected to ex-ceed $15 billion in 2004, and with it tribes are building hospitals, schools, homes and commercial properties. Infrastructure con-struction also is increasing.

Plans are for the proceeds from the con-ference to be dedicated to establishing an en-dowment at the Del E. Webb School of Con-struction for American Indian construction management education and development.

For information, visit (http://construc-tion.asu.edu) or call (480) 727-3105.

BEST program supports beginning teachers

SCENE program links high school students with ASU scientists

Mayo Clinic, ASU forge new researchcollaboration

ASU professors discuss different roles of religion

Bioengineering freshman Chrissy Hobson works on a balance platform she created as a high school student

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The Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts community programs office, together with the academic units, participates in more than 90 community partnerships that provide art experiences for chidren and adults. Above, guest artist Marlies Yearby, third from left, teaches students from Herrera School for the Arts in Phoenix as part of Dance Arizona Repertory Theatre (DART), one of the afterschool programs the college offers that pairs ASU dance students with professional choreographers and local school children to create choreography and present concerts.

Fine Arts darts into schools

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