Volume 57, Number 10    October 19, 2009         

Whirlwind Wheelchair awarded $4.8 million grant
SF State's Whirlwind Wheelchair program has been awarded a $4.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a blueprint that will guide organizations that design, manufacture and distribute technology products in the Third World and in American Indian tribal lands in the United States.

In operation for more than 20 years at SF State, Whirlwind Wheelchair designs and builds rugged, low-cost wheelchairs that are useful for people's daily lives and appropriate for the cultural context in poor countries.

Beginning this fall, Whirlwind will use its expertise and network of international partners to conduct a five-year study that will document how devices for people with disabilities currently move from the factory floor to the user's home. The grant expands Whirlwind's focus to include other assistive technologies besides wheelchairs -- prosthetics and hearing aids, for example -- and will help Whirlwind researchers to investigate why so few people with disabilities in poor countries have the devices that they need and what needs to be done differently.

Teams of engineers and researchers will be dispatched to Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia and Colombia as well as to American Indian tribal lands in the United States, where many tribes have limited access to assistive technology.

For more information, visit www.whirlwindwheelchair.org/

This week in Insiders: Associate Dean of the College of Creative Arts Ron Caltabiano gave a pre-concert talk and Professor of Health Education Adam Burke was appointed to a national advisory council.  

Read Insiders: www.sfsu.edu/~news/cmemo/fall09/oct19insiders.htm

This week in Newsmakers: Kenneth Monteiro, dean of the College of Ethnic Studies, discusses ethnic studies in the 21st century and Professor of International Relations Sanjoy Banerjee talks about Afghanistan.

Read Newsmakers: www.sfsu.edu/~news/cmemo/fall09/oct19news.htm

This week we remember Gary Ingerson, facilities project supervisor at the Romberg Tiburon Center and Chess Kittredge, former director of strategic technology architecture in the Division of Information Technology.

Read In Memoriam: www.sfsu.edu/~news/cmemo/fall09/oct19memoriam.htm

New way to submit events to CampusMemo
CampusMemo will now pick up event listings directly from the University Calendar to streamline the events publicity function for campus units. Departments interested in publicizing an event in CampusMemo simply need to register the event on the University Calendar by 10 a.m. on Wednesday of the previous week. To submit an event, go to http://www.sfsu.edu/calendar/ and click on "Submit an Event" in the left-hand navigation bar. This new procedure saves event sponsors the extra step of entering information specifically for CampusMemo, and the later deadline for submittal allows more time for event sponsors to submit their items to CampusMemo.

Monday
Workshop: The Role of Beauty, Art & the Deep Feminine -- Inspiring Change & Possibility: 4 p.m.

Fall 2009 Nursing Symposium: 11 a.m.

Recital: "Trio Fibonacci": 1 p.m.

Tuesday
Facilitating Large Classes with iLearn, facilitated by Cyrus Ginwala: 11 a.m.

Campus MovieFest at San Francisco State University: 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday
DIVA Overview: 10 a.m.

Recital: "Chamber Singers and University Chorus": 1 p.m.

Authors' Teaching Circle: 3:30 p.m.

Thursday
Neighborhood Empowerment Through Community-Based Scholarship, Part 2: 3:30 p.m

Champions of Sexual Literacy: 5:30 p.m.

SF State Orchestra concert: 8 p.m.

Coming Up
Oct. 23: Campus closed due to furlough days

Oct. 26: Campus closed due to furlough days

Oct. 27: Fall 2009 Japanese Tea Ceremony Workshop Series: 7:10 p.m.

Oct. 27: Student Chamber Ensembles concert: 8 p.m.

Oct. 28: Recital: "Student chamber ensembles" 1 p.m.

Oct. 29: Second Annual Edward Said Distinguished Lecture Series: 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: Recital: "Annual Scary Concert": 1 p.m.

Oct. 30: Lecture: "Peter Schumann": 2 p.m.

For more upcoming events, see the University Calendar

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Last modified Oct. 19, 2009 by University Communications.