Spartan Daily Serving San José State University Since 1934

WEATHER TECH SOCIAL MEDIA MULTIMEDIA FFollow us on TTwitter Bottoms up for A cry for Yelp @@spartandaily on your phone ‘KraftBrew Festival’ BecomeB a fan High: 69° oon Facebook www.spartandaily.com ffacebook.com/ Low: 47° PAGE 4 sspartandaily Spartan Daily Serving San José State University since 1934 Tuesday, April 26, 2011 spartandaily.com Volume 136, Issue 44 FEATURE Faculty award winners named for innovations Veggielution branches in teaching, research Wesley Dugle Jeffrey Gaines, this year’s out from humble roots Staff Writer recipient of the Outstand- ing Lecturer Award, said his This Wednesday, three department chair had been faculty members will be hon- nominating him for six years ored by interim President and was surprised to hear he Don Kassing and SJSU fac- won the award this year. ulty and staff members for “When the phone rang their contributions to the and it was Don Kassing on university, campus and teach- the other end it, I was very ing. exciting to get that call,” said “I was very touched to be Gaines, a management infor- recognized by the university mation services lecturer. for the many years I’ve been He said he uses a couple working here,” said Mary of different techniques to Pickering, the recipient of help teach his students both this year’s President’s Scholar inside and outside the class- Award. room. Pickering, a history pro- “In my classroom I tell fessor who has been working lots of stories, so that when at SJSU for 16 years, said she we look at something in the was grateful to those who book I try to make it real,” he nominated her for the award. said. “In the MUSE program, “I would like to thank the I take students to go camp- members of my department ing.” for nominating me and al- Gaines said the idea for ways being so supportive,” taking students camping she said. “I think we have came from the time he spent a great history department living with a friend in Colo- here.” rado where he did a lot of Nominations can be made backpacking and kayaking. by many different people, “One day I had an epiph- Kassing said in an April 19 any while coming back that news conference with stu- ‘You know with a little bit of dent media. exercise and clean air you can “They’re nominated a really look at the world dif- number of different ways — ferently,’” he said. “(My idea) they can be nominated by a was to get people away from colleague, dean or chair,” he their cellphones, get them said. “There’s four awards, away from video and all the four committees and typical- other stuff like Facebook and ly they are made up of people have a chance to just enjoy who have won the award be- being quiet but also to be Photo: Matthew Gerring / Spartan Daily fore.” with peers.” Veggielution volunteers sit down to a post-work potluck including food straight from the fi eld. Kassing said one of the Patricia Backer, this year’s awards this year, for out- recipient of the Distin- Matthew Gerring standing professor, will not guished Service Award, said Staff Writer be given out because of a lack working hard for SJSU car- of depth to the nominating ries no hardship for her. pool this year. “To me it’s not like an ad- t the end of a volunteer workday at Veggielution, a volunteer-run communi- “(The committee’s) feeling ditional burden — it’s a part this year is we didn’t have a of who (I am) and making Aty farm in San Jose’s Emma Prusch park, workers spread out the length of a deep enough pool so we elect- San Jose State a better place,” ed not to award it this year,” said Backer, a professor in planting row to cover the vegetables with white cloth. he said. “It’s disappointing, the aviation and technology I don’t know (if) we worked department. hard enough as an institution Backer said she has been see FARM page 3 to reach out and fi nd some extraordinary faculty.” see AWARDS page 2 U.S. NEWS WORLD NEWS Supreme Court delays Syria sends tanks to crack down on protesters health care hearing McClatchy Tribune offi cials apparently own few U.S. assets. David Schenker, a former Middle But the move signaled a notable shift by East adviser at the Pentagon, said steps the Obama administration, which has to isolate Syria, especially by European McClatchy Tribune of such “imperative public BEIRUT, Lebanon — With tanks worked hard to build better relations countries, would sting. importance” as to “require now patrolling the streets of a restive with Damascus, a regime it considers A U.S. offi cial said targeted sanctions immediate determination” Syrian city, the Obama administration key for security in the Middle East. probably would be imposed in the next WASHINGTON — The by the high court. is preparing to take its fi rst concrete European offi cials said they also are several weeks. Supreme Court refused The justices without steps against President Bashar Assad considering steps against Assad’s re- Even though he took over from his Monday to bypass the low- comment turned down an and his top lieutenants — the imposi- gime. Syrian offi cials maintain larger father a decade ago and has maintained er courts and take up an appeal from Virginia’s at- tion of sanctions for an increasingly investments in Europe than in the U.S., Syria’s authoritarian system, Assad has immediate challenge to the torney general, who insist- bloody crackdown on demonstrators. so economic sanctions or travel bans cherished the idea that he retains “an constitutionality of the na- ed the Affordable Care Act The regime in Damascus escalated there would have a more direct impact. international legitimacy and accept- tional health care reform has “roiled America” and the violence Monday, ordering army The Obama administration hopes ability,” said Schenker, now an analyst law and its requirement left employers and citizens tanks and troops into action against U.S. sanctions will help build pres- with the Washington Institute for Near that all those who can af- “mired in uncertainty.” protesters in the southern city of Daraa. sure on its European allies, especially East Policy, a nonpartisan think tank. ford it have medical insur- The court’s brief order The move follows a weekend in which France and Britain, to follow suit. Of- In Syria, heavy-caliber gunfi re crack- ance by 2014. apparently spoke for all the Syrian security forces gunned down an fi cials in Washington have consulted led at dawn Monday as tanks rolled into The announcement con- justices, since there was no estimated 120 pro-democracy protest- with counterparts in London and Paris Daraa, the fl ashpoint of the uprising. cerned only the timing of a indication that Justice Ele- ers. More than 200 people have died on how best to persuade Assad to show Amateur videos posted online appeared decision on the health care na Kagan had recused her- since the uprising began. restraint. to show bodies in the streets as protest- law and said nothing about self. Some conservative ac- Obama administration offi cials said Moves by British and French offi - ers came under fi re from the tanks’ gun- how the court may finally tivists have suggested that they are readying orders that would cials against Syria could be particularly ners and snipers on nearby roofs. rule. The justices rarely skip Kagan should not take part freeze U.S. assets of senior Syrian offi - important. France, the former colonial U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay over the lower courts before in the health care case since cials and deny them permission to trav- power, retains strong cultural and eco- demanded a halt to the use of excessive taking up a constitutional she served as U.S. solicitor el in the United States. nomic relations with Damascus. Assad force. question and have said they general before joining the U.S. sanctions are unlikely to pro- lived a number of years in Britain and “The killings must stop immediate- will do so only if a case is court. duce a dramatic impact because Syrian may have fi nancial assets stored there. ly,” he stated in a news release. 2 NEWS sPARTANDailY Tuesday, April 26, 2011 AWARDS are very much like my family,” she said. “It’s By: Alex Wara & Donovan Farnham really easy to do service when you think CAMPUS VOICES From Page 1 about how individual people helped your family.” working at SJSU for 20 years and has been Backer said she feels honored by the active on many university committees. This award but feels other faculty members on year she is working on writing grants. campus are just as deserving. What irritates you most about Backer said she is inspired by the stu- “I was lucky to get it this year but there dents on campus, especially fi rst-generation are so many professors at San Jose State San Jose State University? collegegoers, because her father was also a that probably deserve this award more than fi rst-generation student and faculty helped me,” she said “I don’t think I’ve worked the him get through school. hardest out of all the people here at San “A lot of the students at San Jose State Jose State.” Kristina Andrew Lum Phan Mary Pickering History Professor, Awarded President’s Scholar Award One of the most Received because of her dedication and exploration of history, “leav- I would probably irritating things ing no stone unturned.” have to say the slow about San Jose Earned her B.A.

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