Volume 53, Number 28   April 10, 2006         

Sen. Jackie Speier to keynote Commencement
State Senator Jackie Speier will deliver the keynote address at SFSU's 105th Commencement on Saturday, May 27.

"Senator Speier is a leader of great courage and determination," said President Robert A. Corrigan. "She exemplifies values that we hope will guide all of our students as they pursue careers and service to their communities."

Speier, a San Francisco native, began her public sector career as a legal aide to the late Congressman Leo Ryan, from 1972 to 1978. She accompanied Ryan on a trip to Jonestown, Guyana to investigate reports that cult leader Jim Jones was holding constituents hostage. Speier was shot five times and left for dead on the Jonestown airstrip where Ryan died. As she waited nearly 20 hours for help, she decided that should she survive she would dedicate her career to public service.

The State legislation championed by Speier includes the first consumer financial privacy law in the nation, other laws protecting consumers from Internet and telemarketing scams, and laws providing funding for early AIDS intervention programs, breast cancer and child abuse prevention. She is chair of the banking, finance and insurance committee, and serves on the appropriations, education, health, public employment and retirement as well as the transportation and housing committees.

Speier served on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors from 1980 to 1986. She was elected to the State Assembly in 1986 and served until 1996 when her husband was killed in a traffic accident and Speier relinquished her office to care for their two small children. She returned to public life when she was elected to the Senate in 1998, representing the 8th district. She holds a bachelor of arts in political science from University of California, Davis and a juris doctorate from the University of California's Hastings College of Law.

The University's plan will involve a thorough evaluation of physical resources, from buildings and green spaces to transportation routes and programmatic needs. It will result in proposed improvements that enable the campus to meet demands for access and provide a high-quality university education.

For more on the master plan, visit: http://sfsumasterplan.org/

The event is an opportunity for students to meet with faculty, staff and administrators to discuss a successful path to graduation, its impediments and strategies to improve it. For more information contact the Associated Students' Project Connect Recruitment and Retention Center at ext. 5-4048 or projectconnect@asisfsu.org or visit: www.asisfsu.org

Bowman taught in SFSU's Biology Department from 1955 until he retired in 1988. Known outside the University for his research centered on the morphology, behavior and song evolution of the Galapagos finches, he helped to found the Darwin research station in the Galapagos and received the Ecuadorian government's Medal of Honor in 1964 for his efforts. Bowman was a founding board member of the Oceanic Society and served on the boards of many other natural sciences organizations including the California Academy of Sciences.

"He was a great teacher and colleague and one of my heroes," Professor of Biology John Hafernik said. "He was one of the first to show that high quality teaching and research were not mutually exclusive at SFSU."

Bowman, a native of Saskatchewan, Canada, was a resident of Berkeley. He is survived by his wife, Margret, and two sons. Memorials are being planned.

The Bengiers' gift creates 15 University Scholarships of $2,000 each next academic year. Students may apply for the Gary and Cynthia Bengier University Scholarships by using the University Scholarship application form, available online at: www.sfsu.edu/~finaid/scholarships

Gary and Cynthia Bengier are retired from successful careers as executives in high technology and banking, respectively. Gary takes undergraduate courses in physics. Cynthia, who earned her bachelor's degree in marketing from SFSU in 1978, is enrolled in the graduate program in history.

To be eligible, students must be full-time sophomores, juniors or seniors for 2006-07, have grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher and demonstrate financial need, as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Two scholarships are designated for history majors and two for mathematics or physics majors.

The deadline is May 5. Winners will be announced in late May.

The Office of Academic Honors and Scholarships, located in Humanities 573, is available to help students with searches and applications for scholarships and fellowships. Office hours are 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Monday and Wednesday and 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Tuesday.

This month's Newsmakers include Brian de Vries, professor of gerontology, on Cindy Sheehan, parents and loss; Deborah Tolman, director of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality, on group dating among teenagers; Gretchen LeBuhn, assistant professor of biology, on bees and vineyard pollination; a San Francisco Business Times award for SFSU; and Eric Solomon, professor of English, on baseball, steroids and Barry Bonds.

Read the Newsmakers: www.sfsu.edu/~news/cmemo/spring06/april10news.htm

This Week
Student fundraiser
The campus community is invited to an activities fair and fundraiser for student organizations from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on the Main Lawn. Student organizations will be selling cuisine reflective of their organizations. There will also be music and dance performances.

All proceeds benefit the student organizations.

For details, contact Alberto Olivares at ext. 8-3887.

Bookstore events
The SFSU Bookstore invites faculty to a publisher fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday in Rosa Parks Rooms E and F in the Student Center. The fair features representatives from a variety of academic publishers as well as food and a free raffle. For details, call ext. 87377.

The Bookstore will hold its annual Clearance Sale Monday through Friday in the Student Center Lobby.

Wednesday
Satire in Germany
Volker Langbehn, assistant professor of German, will present "A Laughing Matter -- Visuality and Politics in Satire Magazines during Germany's Colonial Empire" from 3:10 to 4 p.m. Wednesday in room 473 of the Humanities building.

The event is part of the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department's spring foreign language colloquium series. For details, call ext. 8-1421.

'Geo-Jaunts' part three
The Department of Geography and Human Environmental Studies presents the final part of its three-part series, "Geo-Jaunts: Presentations of International Research in Geography," at 4 p.m. Wednesday in room 290 of the HSS building.

The faculty presentations will be "Densification on the High Ground: Balancing Ecological Sustainability and Social Justice in New Orleans" by Jason Henderson and "Landscape Change, Conservation and Livelihoods in the Cordililera Huanhursh, Peru" by Jeff Bury.

Coming Up
Foreign language lecture series
The Foreign Languages and Literatures Department's spring foreign language colloquium series continues next week with two events.

Mohammad Salama, Assistant Professor of Arabic, will present "'The House is Past': Edward Said and the Experience of Exile" from 1:10 to 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, in room 473 of the Humanities building.

Andrei Shkvorov, president of Tver InterContact Group, will discuss "Opportunities for Americans in Russia" from 4:10 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in room 473 of the Humanities building.

Community-based participatory research
The Center for Health Disparities Research and Training (CHDRT) invites faculty, staff and community partners to participate in "Building Partnerships: an Evaluation of CBPR," a symposium on community-based participatory research (CBPR) cosponsored by the Office of Community Service Learning. The symposium will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 28, at the Richard Oakes Multicultural Center in the Cesar Chavez Student Center.

Registration is free. Space is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Priority will be given to those attending with their community/campus partners.

For details and to R.S.V.P., contact CHDRT at rimi2@sfsu.edu or ext. 8-2978.

Budget meeting
The University Budget Committee will meet from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 18, in the NEC Room of the Administration building. Members of the campus community are welcome to attend.

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Last modified April 10, 2006, by the Office of Public Affairs & Publications