O The Magazine of San3 Diego State University60 F a l l 2 0 0 9 Welcome to 360 online! To increase the type size for easier reading, change the percentage field in your toolbar or use the settings found under the “view” tab. To jump from one article to another, use the “table of contents” or “thumb- nail” links under the tabs to the left. If no tabs appear, click on the navigation symbol in your toolbar to reveal them. Hearing with the Heart e are at a critical crossroads in the Whistory of California and of San Diego State University. The obstacles that confront us are perhaps the most challenging we have ever faced. California is not “them;” It is us. So if we Last year California withdrew $18 million of its are to be the land of opportunity so many support for our work. This year the state took of us believe in and aspire to, then we—you away another $55 million. and I—must pick up the challenge and rebuild our state. Because of that, there are approximately 600 fewer faculty and staff on campus as we begin this fall It is our collective responsibility: to students semester than a year ago. who are developing their talents and abilities for future leadership of California; to faculty Most of those employees who remain are being and staff who work so hard to serve those stu- forced to take unpaid furlough days. dents; and ultimately to the state of California. Each of our approximately 34,000 students will If California is to have any hope of a viable be paying $1,000 more in fees this year, but that future, that hope lies in a well-educated work- additional revenue will not come close to offset- force, to which San Diego State and our sister ting the state funding we have lost. CSU campuses hold the key. Even more appalling, reduced funding from the I encourage you to visit the university’s web- Directionsstate forced us to turn away 22,197 qualified new site—sdsu.edu—and sign up for our eAdvocacy and transfer applicants who were seeking admis- tool that can send a letter on your behalf to our sion to San Diego State University. state’s elected leaders. At two feet per person, the 22,197 students we We are not powerless. We have a voice. Use it turned away would form a line 8.4 miles long— to save California. from campus to Balboa Park. But California has slammed the door on them and on its own future. This is a deep and fundamental wound, not only to the students who have been denied the opportunity to learn from and work with our extraordinary Stephen L. Weber, president faculty and staff, but also to their families and our society itself. The human carnage from this San Diego State University fiscal train wreck will be felt in California for a generation. Higher education and the opportunity it represents are worth fighting for. 360 The Magazine of San Diego State University (ISSN 1543-7116) is published by SDSU Marketing & Communications and distributed to members of the SDSU Alumni Association, faculty, staff and friends. Editor: Coleen L. Geraghty Editorial Contributors: Sandra Millers Younger, Michael James Mahin, Gina Jacobs, Nicole K. Millett, Tobin Vaughn, Golda Akhgarnia, Gregory Block Additional Editing: Sandra Millers Younger Art Director: Lori Padelford 360 Graphic Design: John Signer Cover Photo: Lauren Radack SAN DIEGO State UNIVERSITY Stephen L. Weber, President DIVISION OF UNIVERSITY RELATIONS & DEVELOPMENT Features Mary Ruth Carleton Departments Vice President - University Relations and Development Jessie Brooks Alums, it’s Time to Come Home Associate Vice President - Development The Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center takes Gregory Levin Aztec Pride to a whole new level. Directions Giving Back Chief Financial Officer From the President The Campanile The Campanile Foundation 14 Foundation Jack Beresford 2 Associate Vice President - Marketing & 34 Communications \A Proud Tradition Jim Herrick Compass SDSU’s commitment to educating military Executive Director - Alumni Association Campus News Alumni Angles veterans is as enduring as ever. We welcome mail from our readers. 6 Class Notes 360 Magazine By Gina Jacobs 37 Marketing & Communications 16 5500 Campanile Drive Aztecs in Motion San Diego CA 92182-8080 E-mail: [email protected] Operation Education High Hoops By Degrees Read 360 Magazine online at A partnership with Nangarhar University opens 32 Katie Martin www.sdsu.edu/360 hearts and minds in Afghanistan. 44 Periodical postage paid at San Diego, CA Volume 16, No. 3, copyright 2009 18 By Coleen L. Geraghty San Diego State University Circulation: 85,000 Postmaster: Send address changes to: If I had a Hammer Information Services, San Diego State New people, new tools power an University, 5500 Campanile Drive established San Diego industry. San Diego CA 92182-8035 By Michael James Mahin Opinions expressed in 360 Magazine are 24 those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Special thanks to the staff of the university administration nor those of The Hearing with the Heart California State University Board of Trustees. Lindsey Higgins never imagined that her SDSU Children’s Center for their help with this issue. Gold medal winner, Council for Advancement audiology studies would get so personal. and Support of Education (CASE) 28 By Sandra Millers Younger Compass Old Quad, New Traditions Flu Fighters Thousands of SDSU freshmen As Student Health embraced a new Aztec tradition this Services mobilizes to inoculate SDSU fall when they completed a ceremo- students against nial walk through the arched portal to swine flu and other Hepner Hall and into the Old Quad, strains of influenza, signifying their passage into the researchers on cam- Aztec community. pus are working to develop more effective flu vaccines. While a group of alumni cheered, the newcomers paused in the Quad to Of five prominent immunolo- record their hopes and expectations gists who joined SDSU’s research in books that will be on display again faculty this summer, two are “flu fighters.” Ed Morgan is pursuing when these students graduate. Colorized influenza virus images courtesy novel approaches to vaccine devel- opment for influenza and cancer, of SDSU Electron Microscope Facility. It was all part of Welcome Week and and Joy Phillips is developing an Aztec Nights, sponsored by Associated influenza vaccine adjuvant effec- Students and organized by the Office tive in the elderly population. explored here, and our students of New Student and Parent Programs. will benefit from their knowledge Phillips, Morgan and three and mentorship.” The programs, which provide alcohol- others, formerly of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, came to The researchers will be located in free alternatives to new and returning SDSU with active grants from the Donald P. Shiley Center for students during the first five weeks the National Institutes of Health. Cardiovascular Research within of the semester, have been desig- Their work intersects with heart the SDSU BioScience Center. nated as national models by the U.S. disease—the primary focus of Darlene Shiley donated $1.25 Department of Education. research at SDSU’s BioScience million last year to establish Center. the center in her husband’s name. Though final numbers are not yet “The vision of the in, Aztec Nights 2009 is expected to BioScience Center San Diego State’s rival the success of last year’s event, has always been to BioScience Center said Randy Timm, director of Student bring in top-level No university is an innovative Activities and Campus Life. researchers,” said research facility Roberta Gottlieb, has been more with the mission M.D., director of to understand how In conjunction with a five-week ban welcoming to the BioScience our veterans infections contrib- on all fraternity house parties, Aztec Center. “These new ute to cardiovas- Nights 2008 helped reduce the number “ colleagues will than SDSU. cular disease and of alcohol citations to students from help us expand other chronic, age- Michael R. Lehnert the science being related diseases. 487 during the first five weeks of the Major General, fall 2007 semester to 209 during the Marine Corps. same 2008 period, Timm said. 6 FALL 2009 | sdsu.edu/360 Photo: Sandy Huffaker [email protected] | 360 MAGAZINE 7 Compass A Heavyweight in its Class The Cost of College San Diego State University students have been doing some heavy lifting this year. The sharp decline $ in state support for higher education means that SUNY Albany ...................... 6,698 students are shouldering more than 40 percent of SDSU’s operating expenses. Ten years ago, the students’ share—comprising tuition and fees—was about 25 percent. Arizona State, Tempe .......... $6,528 While CSU fee increases do place a heavy financial burden on students, SDSU remains among the top universities in the country in terms of value for U of Colorado, Denver .......... $5,712 money. Undergraduate fees at most peer institutions are $1,000-$2,000 above SDSU's fees—even with this year's increases. $ Nevertheless, some students and families struggle SDSU ................................ 4,902 to meet the cost of college, and to help them, SDSU Photo: Sandy Huffaker has launched Fuel Potential, a campaign to increase 2009-2010 tuition and fees for undergraduate state residents living on campus scholarship and fellowship funding for young Aztecs. Go to sdsu.edu/fuelpotential. The Fire Danger is High acreage burned and lives lost— Diego’s tourism industry, as looked at factors not typically well as damage to infrastructure, It’s wildfire season again analyzed after a major wildfire. according to Matt Rahn, direc- and California is on alert. They found that the actual eco- tor of research and education at nomic impact of the Cedar and SDSU’s Field Stations Programs, Of the 20 largest fires docu- Paradise fires was $2 billion-plus who led the study.