Recent News
New Assistant Dean for Development
Dec 1, 2020
Adam Jarman joined the college as assistant dean for development in March. He has been a member of Cal Poly’s development team for 15 years, having served in a variety of positions.
Jarman is well known on campus and brings a breadth of experience in major gift fundraising, gift planning, donor relations and volunteer management.
He has a deep personal connection to the College of Liberal Arts as a two-time alumnus with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism (minors in psychology and public administration) and a Master of Public Policy degree. As a student, he was editor in chief of Mustang Daily.
“This is an exciting homecoming for me, and I look forward to building positive relationships with college supporters to advance our priorities,” he said.
Six CLA Students Are Participating in Munich University of Applied Sciences Virtual Abroad Program
Nov 28, 2020
By Sophia Lincoln
This fall, six of twelve Cal Poly students selected to the Munich University of Applied Sciences’ (MUAS) International Virtual Innovation Challenge are from the College of Liberal Arts.
Communication studies student Amanda Smith is participating alongside anthropology and geography students Camryn Haubner, Mehr Loomba, Sean Reigelman, graphic communication student Justin Pioletti and communication studies student Kailey Wachhorst.
Smith first came across the program while scrolling through Cal Poly’s Study Abroad site and was drawn to it because of how the challenge aligned with her academic and career interests.
“I decided on a whim that I didn’t have anything to lose so why not just apply,” Smith said.
Smith is currently working with other students in the program to address how municipalities can motivate companies to act on climate protection even in times of crisis.
According to Cal Poly Study Abroad Coordinator Leanna Jenkins, Munich University of Applied Sciences is an established exchange partner with Cal Poly and has launched this exclusive program for students at four strategic partner universities including Cal Poly.
The program is part of the MUAS GlobalXChallenges project, which aims to internationalize academia and share knowledge between different universities internationally, according to GlobalXChallenges Project Coordinator Andrea Schramm.
“The initial idea [of this project] was actually to have joint student innovation projects and student work placements in both directions with Munich students and our strategic partners, Cal Poly students being one of them,” Schramm said.
When the COVID-19 pandemic limited travel, Schramm's team had to pivot to provide virtual opportunities for the students “and that’s how the whole idea of this international virtual innovation challenge evolved,” Schramm said.
The International Virtual Innovation Challenge teams up students from Austria, Finland, Germany, Switzerland and the United States to solve real-life problems proposed by German organizations, according to Schramm.
The best teams compete for a €300 prize on the student idea competition MachWeiter! and the best performing student of each strategic partner university will be awarded a travel stipend to Munich in 2021.
“It’s a really unique opportunity for our students to still gain some really valuable skills here at Cal Poly,” said Jenkins. “I think this has been a really amazing slam-dunk opportunity for our students to still have a great intercultural experience in the virtual format.”
“The main thing that this program focuses on and tries to teach us is first of all, working in an international team and developing those intercultural team skills, which is really valuable especially now since everything is getting globalized,” Smith said. “The program covers a wide range of things, but all of it is really valuable knowledge to carry on as you graduate.”
Smith hopes that this opportunity will allow her to build connections in Munich that she can carry with her if she ever returns to Germany in person and to continue to build on the German language skills that she has.
“Also, the challenge aligns with my interests in communication, sustainability and communicating risk, which are all parts of my academic curriculum,” Smith said. “I found that it was a really good way for me to apply those skills and demonstrate my capability with it.”
This year’s program started on October 13, 2020 and includes weekly live sessions online.
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Packaging and Graphic Design Students Win Gold at National Competition
Nov 18, 2020
With their focus on highlighting the joy and interactivity of unboxing a product, three interdisciplinary Cal Poly teams received first place, honorable mention, and shout-out awards at the Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA) 2019 Student Design Challenge.
Cal Poly Packaging "Party Box"
The PPA event is considered perhaps the most rigorous packaging design competition in the nation. The challenge is open to universities throughout North America and seeks to foster awareness and appreciation of paperboard packaging with university educators and the next generation of packaging design decision-makers. This year more than 50 student teams from 13 universities—including Fashion Institute of Technology, Indiana State, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rutgers, Ryerson University, San Jose State, University of Florida, University of Wisconsin Stout, and Virginia Tech—submitted entries.
Students were challenged to design packaging for a gaming platform that enhances the unboxing experience and can be used while playing the system. Winners were chosen by a panel of paperboard packaging industry professionals, which rated submissions based on their response to the competition scenario, innovative structural and graphic design, functionality, and the quality of the finished product.
Cal Poly Packaging "Oblivion Impact"
The university’s top entry earned first place with “Party Box,” an innovative portable packaging system for a gaming console that becomes a projector and gameboard. The design was created by a student team consisting of Sam Baber (Art and Design, Graphic Design concentration), Morgan McKean (Graphic Communication, Packaging minor), Vance Perkins (Industrial Technology and Packaging), and Samantha Phan (Business Administration, Consumer Packaging Concentration, and Packaging minor). The team presented its project to executives from top North American paperboard packaging manufacturers at the Paperboard Packaging Council’s annual fall meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 24.
A second Cal Poly team designed the entry “Pokémon Battle Arena” and earned one of the two honorable mention awards. The project was the work of Amber Huang (Graphic Communication, Packaging minor), Briana Jackson (Art and Design, Graphic Design concentration), Marilyn Nguyen (Industrial Technology and Packaging), and Evan Williams (Industrial Technology and Packaging).
The top three student teams received cash prizes, while their respective schools also received a cash award to support academic programs, with first-place earning $5,500 for the team and $5,000 for the university.
Cal Poly Packaging "Battle Arena"
All award-winning Cal Poly teams were advised by professors Javier de la Fuente (Associate Professor of Industrial Technology and Packaging), Irene Carbonell (Lecturer of Industrial Technology and Packaging), and Mary LaPorte (Professor Emeritus of Art and Design). The projects were the result of an ongoing collaboration between Industrial Technology and Packaging (ITP 408) and Art and Design (ART 437) students. In previous ITP-ART collaborations, Cal Poly teams finished in second place at the PPA Student Design Challenge, both in 2018 and 2017, and in first place in 2015.
The program has been using the income from their past and present victories to outsource printing services for their projects. They’ve also been banking the leftovers to save for a $45,000 Roland plotter, capable of printing directly on paperboard. They’re hoping to find a donor in the near future to match those efforts, putting a tool that would allow teams to be even more creative within reach. “These victories are the results of a lot of hard work for all the parties involved,” say Professor de la Fuente. “No special magic is enabling them. Just dedication.”
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Cal Poly Joins Network to Help Ensure Technology Creates Public Benefit
Nov 18, 2020
In January of 2020, Cal Poly joined the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), a partnership that fosters collaboration between universities and colleges committed to building the field of public interest technology and training a new generation of civic-minded technologists.
The public interest technology field is dedicated to leveraging technology to support public interest organizations and the people they serve. At Cal Poly, research projects related to this field are being funded by the university’s Center for Expressive Technologies, including research into using image classification technology to formulate better public health messaging on social media. Another project works with a group of multidisciplinary undergraduate research assistants to develop virtual reality scenarios meant to increase bystander behavior to reduce sexual harassment among college students.
In the university’s first year in PIT-UN, an interdisciplinary team of Cal Poly faculty and staff will establish the groundwork to build a field called “ethical technology” — comprised of inquiry and training that bridges humanistic and technical domains to create innovation that is equitable in both process and outcomes. This team will be led by Matthew Harsh, an professor in the Interdisciplinary Studies in the Liberal Arts Department and the director of the Center for Expressive Technologies.
“Cal Poly has made tremendous progress in building trans- and interdisciplinary opportunities for students and faculty, including four minors in science, technology and society; the interdisciplinary studies major; a data science minor and a computing for interactive arts minor,” Harsh said. “Building upon these, we can train the next generation of technologists to think with a humanist frame of mind and the next generation of humanists to gain technological skills.”
By joining PIT-UN, member institutions commit to launching or strengthening initiatives on their campuses that enable interdisciplinary education of students, develop experiential learning opportunities, support students who want to pursue careers in public interest technology, and provide faculty with the support and resources needed to build public interest technology as an area of inquiry.
PIT-UN has a total membership of 36 colleges and universities, including UC Berkeley, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, among other top-ranked institutions. The network is funded through partners in the philanthropic and public policy sectors, including the Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, and New America, a think and action tank dedicated to public problem solving.
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Journalism student Omar Rashad offered paid fellowship at the CalMatters College Journalism Network
Nov 17, 2020
By Sophia Lincoln
Cal Poly journalism student Omar Rashad is one of 14 college journalists to be selected for a paid fellowship with the CalMatters College Journalism Network.
Omar Rashad joins CalMatters College Journalism Network
CalMatters first launched the network earlier this year with the intention of both improving their higher education coverage by focusing on student voices and providing training and career opportunities for student journalists from underrepresented communities.
Rashad has been a part of the CalMatters team since March of 2020, and he was also selected for one of their summer 2020 internships through the Dow Jones News Fund.
According to Rashad, the network has been focusing on the varying impacts of the pandemic as well as state legislation on higher education since he was first selected in March.
“Since March, I’ve been reporting on California higher education,” Rashad said. “I’ve written about several topics, many of them focusing on students underrepresented in the media.”
Some of Rashad’s articles have also been distributed to other news organizations including CAP Radio and KCRW.
Rashad also had the opportunity to speak at and co-moderate CalMatters panels focused on community college education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rashad says the fellowship has given him the opportunity to report on under-reported topics. “You don’t typically see stories about community college students in the mainstream [media],” Rashad said. “Community college is not covered as much as it should be in California. So, a lot of these stories just go untold.”
Rashad also covered a story about Muslim students practicing the month of Ramadan during the pandemic, the ethnic studies requirement disagreement between state legislators and the California State University system, and the University of California suing the Trump administration over its visa guidelines.
“I think much of my coverage at CalMatters follows that baseline of writing about people and issues that aren’t discussed enough in the media,” Rashad said. “I think it’s important to intentionally ask yourself what stories are missing from today’s coverage and which communities are not represented well when we talk about education.”
As a journalism major, Rashad is grateful for the real-life reporting experience he is able to gain through his fellowship. He hopes to continue to communicate with students across California and listen to their differing experiences and perspectives.
“Colleges and universities are microcosms of everything going on in the world right now,” Rashad said. “There’s something about the news gathering and reporting process that is equal parts educational and grounding.”
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Two College of Liberal Arts students have been selected to represent Cal Poly on the Western Psychological Association Student Council
Nov 17, 2020
By Sophia Lincoln
In October, Cal Poly psychology students Rebecca Luenser and America Romero were selected by the Western Psychological Association (WPA) Student Council Executive committee to represent Cal Poly on the WPA Student Council for the 2020-21 academic year.
The WPA is an academic and professional association and a regional affiliation of the American Psychological Association (APA), according Luenser. The association hosts an annual conference where students and academics may present papers, check out various presentations and listen to distinguished guest speakers. This year, the multi-day conference was held virtually from Oct. 28-31.
"It is unusual to have two members of the council from one campus," wrote a member of the WPA Student Council Executive Committee. "The committee was impressed by both of you, and after discussion we decided to experiment with two representatives."
“This is the first time they’ve had two representatives, and I think it’s great to have a partner where we share ideas in promoting interest and supporting students' experiences,” Romero said.
Romero first heard about the opportunity from her Beacon Scholars mentor Professor Kelly Bennion, whose previous research assistant was chosen for the position last year. Similarly, Luenser heard about the position from Professor Laura Freberg.
Both students have the role of representing the WPA at Cal Poly, which includes speaking to students about the WPA and their resources, hosting workshops to prepare for the conference, attending the WPA Student Council meeting at the convention and innovating new methods to highlight what the WPA has to offer, according to Luenser.
Luenser and Romero both hope to expand their experience with psychological research through this opportunity.
“Personally, my biggest hope in joining the WPA is to extend my professional network, whether at Cal Poly or outside of it,” Luenser said. “My undergraduate years are quickly coming to an end at a strange time. As I begin the process of applying to graduate programs and planning my next steps, it is important that I pass on the insights and knowledge that I've learned along the way. The world of academia can be quite daunting as a first-generation student, and it is my goal to make the path a little smoother for those who travel behind me.”
Romero is particularly interested in cognitive psychology and specifically memory while Luenser is interested in studying animal behavior and cognition.
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Cal Poly’s Mustang Media Group Wins 19 National Awards
Nov 3, 2020
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Mustang Media Group, the Cal Poly Journalism Department’s student-run integrated media organization, recently won 19 national awards at the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and the College Media Association (CMA) virtual awards ceremony.
The group’s honors included three first-place awards, two second-place awards, one third-place award, and four honorable mentions from the ACP. The CMA awarded the group two first-place awards, five third-place awards, and one honorable mention.
“The students at Mustang Media Group have done amazing work all year in all multimedia formats,” said Jon Schlitt, Mustang Media Group general manager. “I’m thrilled to see their efforts from before the onset of the pandemic recognized — and especially pleased to see many of their efforts after the onset of the pandemic recognized. It shows amazing versatility and the ability to put forth nationally recognized work no matter the circumstances and challenges in front of them.”
ACP is a national organization consisting of collegiate journalists and journalism advisers. It has more than 570 members that focus on supporting students and teachers through journalism education and professional development. The awards that Mustang Media Group received from ACP are:
- First Place, Best Audio Ad — Sylvester’s
- First Place, Best Special Section — Adventure Awaits
- First Place, Best Rate Card — Steven Nguyen
- Second Place, Best Multimedia Sports Story — Adam Birder
- Second Place, Best Video Advertisement
- Third Place, Best COVID coverage — Samantha Spitz
- Honorable mention, Best Print Ad — Von Balanon
- Honorable mention, Best Newspaper Design Spread — Solena Aguilar
- Honorable mention, Best Interactive Graphic — Lauren Walike
- Honorable mention, Best Breaking News Story — Aidan McGloin
CMA’s Pinnacle Awards focus on honoring various college media organizations and individual projects. All print, broadcast and online outlets that were produced by college media organizations can be entered to win. CMA is a national organization with more than 700 members that help advise collegiate media across the U.S. The awards that Mustang Media Group received from CMA are:
- First Place, Best Special Event Audio Coverage — KCPR
- First Place, Best Video Sportscast
- Third Place, Best Feature Photo
- Third Place, Best Sports Multimedia Story
- Third Place, Best Video Entertainment Program
- Third Place, Best Video Promo
- Third Place, Best In-House Advertisement
- Honorable Mention, Best Newspaper Photo Page Spread
At the virtual awards ceremony, Mustang Media Group earned the following Best of Show awards:
- First Place, Multimedia News
- Sixth Place, Website (enrollment higher than 10k)
- Ninth Place, Newspaper (weekly)
- Ninth Place, Social Justice Reporting
Mustang Media Group is Cal Poly’s award-winning student-run media organization, which includes Mustang News, KCPR-FM, MNTV and MN Public Relations. For more information about Mustang Media Group, go to www.mustangnews.net.
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Cal Poly Sets Virtual Bandfest for Nov. 15
Nov 3, 2020
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Nearly 300 Cal Poly students virtually presented the annual Bandfest concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15.
Cal Poly’s Wind Ensemble, Mustang Marching Band and Wind Orchestra performed works ranging from the sublime to the evocative. Bandfest began with the Wind Orchestra’s performance of Julie Giroux’s “One Life Beautiful” and John Philip Sousa’s “Hands Across the Sea.” The Wind Ensemble then continued with Jennifer Jolley's “Lichtweg” and Richard Strauss’ “Serenade for Winds,” Op. 7.
The Mustang Band concluded the concert with Cal Poly school songs and other examples of work they have been rehearsing this quarter.
The Wind Orchestra was conducted by Nicholas P. Waldron, Cal Poly’s associate director of bands. Director of Bands Christopher J. Woodruff conducted the Wind Ensemble.
“Fall quarter has brought significant challenges to how we normally operate,” Woodruff said. “Our students and faculty have moved mountains to meet those challenges — not only with social distancing and extra personal protective equipment — but with a sincere eagerness to make music and share it with one another.”
Tickets to the virtual event were $5 and could be purchased online from the Performing Arts Center.
To order by phone, call 805-SLO-4TIX (805-756-4849) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The event was sponsored by Cal Poly’s Music Department, College of Liberal Arts and Instructionally Related Activities program.
For more information, visit the Music Department’s calendar website , email music@calpoly.edu or call 805-756-2406.
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Cal Poly Collaborative Seeks Pandemic Stories from Underrepresented Community Members
Nov 3, 2020
SAN LUIS OBISPO — A group of Cal Poly faculty and staff members have established the Central Coast Public Humanities Collaborative to support storytelling projects that cultivate greater understanding of communities on the Central Coast, especially from those whose voices have not been heard historically.
The team includes Farah Al-Nakib of the History Department; Padma Maitland of the Architecture Department; Steven Ruszczycky of the English Department and the Women’s, Gender and Queer Studies Department; Tom Trice of the History Department; and Grace Yeh of the Ethnic Studies Department.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the collaborative focused on gathering and sharing Central Coast residents’ stories during the outbreak through its Central Coast COVID-19 Snapshots project.
The team is inviting community members to share their experiences through interviews, online submissions or a collective journaling project to help create a space for communities to process such a significant and world-altering period.
Additionally, the team offers community members workshops in which they can learn about resources and receive guidance on ways to document their experiences.
Community members can sign up for the journaling project, submit stories and learn more at centralcoastsnapshots.online.
“How people have experienced the last few months with the pandemic, the stay-at-home orders, and the different working conditions is incredibly varied based on race, economic status and where they live,” said Yeh, who coordinates the Central Coast COVID-19 Snapshots project. “There is no singular experience during this time, and we need to be sure that we understand how our underrepresented and marginalized communities have been affected.”
Looking forward, the team hopes to the lay the foundation for a stronger culture of collaboration within the humanities at Cal Poly, with other academic fields at the university, and with the community at large.
The team is also collaborating with the Kennedy Library’s Special Collections and Archives and Creative Works.
Through work with students and community researchers and storytellers, who will be trained to share their practices with their fellow community members, the collaborative will ensure that their work is done “with” rather than “to” the groups that they serve.
“As the Central Coast has become more well-known over the years, we have been lax in sharing the experiences and voices of individuals from historically marginalized communities,” said Renee Reijo Pera, Cal Poly’s vice president for Research and Economic Development. “Amplifying these voices is central to our efforts to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community that reflects and serves the diverse people of California.”
The project is funded through Cal Poly’s Strategic Research Initiatives (SRI) program, a partnership involving Academic Affairs, Research and Economic Development and University Development. The SRI program identified proposals from Cal Poly faculty and staff that addressed problems facing the Central Coast, California and the world as a whole that also placed an emphasis on the role of undergraduate and graduate student research experiences. For more information about the SRI program, visit https://research.calpoly.edu/strategic-research-initiatives.
What Does a Congressional Internship Look Like Without Trip to D.C.? Panetta Intern Shares What He Learned
Oct 27, 2020
Panetta Institute Virtual Internship
WRITTEN BY KEEGAN KOBERL
Earlier this year, Imahn Daeenabi, a fourth-year political science major from Menlo Park, California, was selected as Cal Poly’s 2020 representative to the Panetta Institute’s Congressional Internship Program.
The Panetta Institute, founded by former United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and his wife, Sylvia, provides a variety of study opportunities to students in the California State University System and other schools.
Since 2001, a Cal Poly student has represented the university in the internship program, which includes two weeks of training at the Panetta Institute at CSU Monterey Bay and 11 weeks in Washington, D.C., working in the capitol office of a California congressional representative.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Washington, D.C., portion of the internship was canceled, and the two-week session was moved to a virtual format.
Despite the change, Daeenabi found the experience to be a positive one.
Cal Poly News spoke to him about the experience.
Fourth-year political science major Imahn Daeenabi recently
completed the Panetta Institute's Congressional Internship
Program virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What was your reaction to having the Washington, D.C., portion of the internship canceled?
It was disappointing for sure, but not completely unexpected given the circumstances. I could tell that the institute was doing everything it could to try and make the experience happen for us safely, but ultimately going to D.C. wasn’t possible.
The Panetta Institute moved all of the speaker sessions and seminars typically offered over a 13-week period into the two-week virtual session. What was that experience like?
It was an incredible learning experience! We had four speakers a day over the two-week period, and they covered all the topics that we would’ve gone over in our seminars in Washington, D.C. We heard from Secretary Leon Panetta, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the House of Representatives Parliamentarian Thomas Wickham, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, multiple members of Congress, representatives from federal agencies, former Supreme Court clerks and so many more great speakers. I was able to soak in so much information, and I feel like I learned just as much as I would have being in D.C. Getting to hear so many viewpoints, sides of issues, and facts about our government in such a short amount of time is really a credit to the institute and the Panettas.
Was there a speaker or presentation that stood out the most to you?
Hearing from Admiral William McRaven on national security and defense policy was fascinating. He had worked on the Osama Bin Laden raid and had a lot of great insight on leadership and decision-making. All the speakers really were fantastic though, and they covered an incredible range of topics, from social justice reform and the Supreme Court, to the role of a free press in democracy. It was a great opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of issues and get a start on issues that I hadn’t really thought about or researched before. One of the highlights of the experience is meeting all the representatives from around California.
Were you able to make some connections with your fellow interns virtually?
Absolutely. We’re able to stay connected via group chats and on social media and talk about how our classes are going this year and what we’re looking to do in the future. We are also connected to the network of former Panetta Interns, and it’s really a benefit to know so many individuals across the state who are motivated by public service.
What are the next steps for you?
I’ll be graduating from Cal Poly in June 2021 with my B.A. in political science, and I am planning to attend law school. This has always been my goal, but my time with the Panetta Institute has really solidified and reaffirmed that. I absolutely want to get involved in government as well, and I feel so much better prepared and even more motivated to get engaged sooner now. Even though I didn’t get to go to Washington, D.C., this year, I know that I want to be on Capitol Hill in some role or another one day. I’m truly grateful for the Panettas, the Slevin family, and everyone at Cal Poly and the institute who made this experience a positive one.
Story originally appeared in Cal Poly News