2007-2008 News & Events Archive

CM Professor and Student Create New Course and Earn President's Service Award

At the 22nd Annual President's Community Service Awards on May 15, 2008, Construction Management Professor Phil Barlow, senior project advisor, and CM Student Brett Mullinax were both recognized for developing the course CM 400 – Service Learning in Construction Management. Four interdisciplinary projects benefiting senior citizens, low income or disabled people were undertaken as a collaborative effort by students in the CAED’s architecture, construction management and landscape architecture departments.

Read more in the Service Awards News Release (pdf) including generous funding that was provided by CM firms.

CAED Ranks High in Survey of Best Architecture and Design Schools

The college earned top rankings in several categories in the 2008 DesignIntelligence survey of the nation’s university design programs. The undergraduate architecture and landscape architecture programs were selected as Best in the West by Western firms. The architecture program was ranked fourth nationwide, and landscape architecture at 15th. Cal Poly’s Landscape Architecture Professor Gary Dwyer was singled out as one of the nation’s most respected and admired educators.

To read the Cal Poly news release, search the Public Affairs section of Digital Commons at Kennedy Library.

ARCE Student Shakes National Competition with Award-Winning Earthquake Essay

Architectural Engineering student Alma Garcia’s essay titled “Experimental Seismic Fragility Assessment of Nonstructural Components” received first place in the undergraduate category of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s Student Paper Competition.

Read more about her acceptance of the award at the EERI’s annual meeting in New Orleans Feb. 6-9, 2008 by searching for this article in Public Affairs section of Digital Commons at Kennedy Library.

CAED Students Present Smart European Energy Practices

Students from the Empower Poly Coalition will present findings from the European Smart Energy Study Tour on Monday, June 2 at 11 a.m. in the Berg Gallery in the Architecture Building. Shown from left are Chad Worth, Neil Bulger, Nancy Cole, and Eric Veium. The panel will present findings and suggestions for implementation at Cal Poly and in San Luis Obispo County. A group of students, educators, policy makers and business leaders toured European model cities that exhibit best-practices in smart growth, green building, innovative transportation, renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation.

Read more in the European Model Cities Tour news release. Search for this article in the Public Affairs section of Digital Commons at Kennedy Library.

Architecture Graduates “Unleash” Designs

More than 150 of Cal Poly’s fifth-year architecture students will exhibit their thesis projects at the design exhibition “Unleashed.” The opening reception is Friday, May 23, from 3 - 6 p.m. in Chumash Auditorium, and continues Memorial Weekend, May 24-25, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The largest of its kind between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the exhibition features final projects that range from the Central Coast to the moon.

Read more in the Unleashed news release found in the Public Affairs section of Digital Commons at Kennedy Library or visit the Unleashed web site

Expert on the Great Pyramid Speaks April 10

World-renowned engineer and author Craig B. Smith will present a highly rated, illustrated talk about the design and construction of Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza on Thursday, April 10, at 11 a.m., in the PAC Pavilion. Smith has appeared on the History Channel, A&E, and PBS, and has been featured in National Geographic magazine. He has nearly 40 years of experience in engineering and construction. The event will have complimentary admission, refreshments and a book signing.

Read more in the Great Pyramid news release. Search for this article in the Public Affairs section of Digital Commons and Kennedy Library.

CAED Poly Royal Alumni & Friends Brunch April 19!

The college is celebrating its 60th Anniversary with a "CAED Poly Royal Alumni and Friends Brunch" on Saturday, April 19, 2008. Festivities begin at 9 a.m. with the Poly Royal Parade followed by the brunch at 9:30 at Vista Grande Restaurant. Festivities begin at 9 a.m. with the Poly Royal Parade followed by the brunch at 9:30 at Vista Grande Restaurant. Festivities begin at 9 a.m. with the Poly Royal.

Highlights for CAED Open House April 18-20, 2008

You’re invited to take a journey back to campus to enjoy this year’s Open House celebration “Destination Cal Poly.” The college will host several events on Friday, April 18, for new Fall 2008 students, and on Saturday, April 19, for the general public. On Saturday ride a free shuttle up Poly Canyon to see the Design Village Competition with teams embarking on a “Mission to Mars: Sojourn to Station.” Also enjoy tours of the award-winning Solar House, student exhibits, an alumni brunch and much more!

CAED Faculty and Students Participate in National “Focus the Nation” Event

College students have been prominent organizers and leaders linked with hundreds of other universities across the nation in a one day “Focus the Nation” teach-in on global climate change and strategies for reducing carbon emissions, Thursday, January 31, 2008. With the built environment accounting for almost half of the non-renewable energy use in the US, students and faculty of our college have been actively involved in both local and national event planning. Representing the CAED perspective are Dean Tom Jones and architecture faculty members Margot McDonald and Sandy Stannard. They have provided featured presentations for the Cal Poly event, in concert with dozens of faculty and students from all five departments who helped develop the presentation materials and resource list.

Continuing in its leadership role on sustainability education, the CAED under Margot McDonald’s leadership will also be playing a lead role in mounting the 2008 Sustainability Conference on the Cal Poly campus, which combines representatives form the CSU, UC, and Community College Campuses across California. This event, the first ever on a CSU campus, is expected to draw more than 800 participants next July, and will also be the largest single conference ever held on the campus.

Images are of two of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Green Building Award winners, 2007

New CAED Connections Magazine

The college’s new “Connections” magazine celebrates 60 years of success! It features alumni profiles, a photographic view of the college’s history, a message from the dean and more.

Download Connections from the CAED Alumni and Friends web page.

Donor Achievements Noted in LA Times Article

Mr. Harold Hay, a chemist and inventor, began his work with Cal Poly architecture and engineering faculty in the mid-1970s when his innovative Skytherm House was built in Atascadero, CA. This house was recognized in the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial and has yet to be surpassed for its outstanding performance in passive solar heating and cooling through the use of movable insulation and water bags on the roof, appropriately named a "roof pond" system. The Evelyn and Harold Hay Fund was established at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in the early 1990s to support research and teaching related activities of students and faculty in the areas of passive solar building design and water in architecture.

Architecture Students 'Steel' Away With Top Design Awards

Cal Poly Architecture students Kristian Fosholt and Greg Taylor took top awards at the 2006-07 ACSA/AISC Steel Design Competition. Fosholt, working with Architecture Professor Jonathan Reich, earned a third place and cash awards in the Student/Open Category for his visionary design called “Of A Freeway,” which proposed integration of a multi-modal transit center into the large amount of single-use land occupied by the I-405 and I-105 freeways near Los Angeles International Airport. Taylor's project, called Pulling Tendons, earned an honorable mention for his proposed design for a Museum of Steel in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Read more in the Steel Design Awards news release. Search for this article in the Public Affairs section of Digital Commons at Kennedy Library.

Architecture Receives $60 Million Pledged Bequest -- Largest Single Gift Commitment in CSU History

Architecture Department Head Henri de Hahn, Cal Poly President Warren Baker and CAED Dean R. Thomas Jones (left to right) announce a pledged bequest of $60 million from an anonymous donor. It is the largest single gift commitment ever made to a campus in the CSU System – the largest system of senior higher education in the country.

Read more in the Largest Singular Gift Committment news release. Search for this article in the Public Affairs section of Digital Commons at Kennedy Library.
Read the SLO Tribune story (pdf).

Architecture Students Earn Prestigious SOM Internship

Rachel Glabe and Katsunori Shigemi were selected from a global pool of nearly 300 applicants to participate in a prestigious summer internship program hosted by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Read more in the SOM Internship News Release (pdf).
Visit SOM’s web site.

ARCE Student Receives Scholarship from SEAOSC

Marga Lamoreaux, a senior architectural engineering student, received one of two scholarships awarded by the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) and the Structural Engineers Auxiliary.

Read more in the SEAOSC Scholarship News Release (pdf).

CRP Student Awarded Fellowship with Hispanic Caucus

Esther Valle who just received her master’s degree in City and Regional Planning is one of fewer than 20 students in the nation to be awarded a Public Policy Fellowship with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington, DC.

Read more in the Esther Valle news release. Go to Digital Commons at Kennedy Library and search for Esther Valle.

CM Honor Society Helps Remodel EOC Shelter

The Construction Management Honor Society, CM students and members of Sigma Lambda Chi volunteered to improve the Maxine Lewis Homeless Shelter in San Luis Obispo. Remodeling to the kitchen, storage and landscaping benefits nearly 200 people daily.