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To these ends, Dr. James Kitchen, Vice President for Student Affairs, along with Student Life and Leadership, announces the 26th annual Vice Presidential Student Service Awards. Under the theme of “Quest for the Best,” these awards seek to recognize outstanding student leaders who have typified and promoted this broader mission of the university.

Applicants will be evaluated in four areas:
1) Academic excellence, including grade point average (a minimum overall G.P.A. of 3.0 is required), individual research, participation in professional and academic societies, involvement in departmental activities, etc.;
2) Student involvement and commitment, including student organizations, student government and college councils, The Daily Aztec and KCR Radio, housing, fraternity/sorority life, athletics, honor societies, etc.;
3) Community service outside the SDSU campus, including volunteer work with medical, social service, theatrical, artistic, cultural, political entities, etc.; and
4) Leadership qualities and development, including the degree of involvement and initiative within activities, the furtherance of intercultural understanding, and evidence of the development of positive, ethical decision-making.

Nominations are open to regularly enrolled SDSU students who have completed at least one year at SDSU and at least 75 units of college work. The submitted application materials will be screened by a selection committee. The finalists will be invited for an interview.

As a faculty or staff member who works closely with student leaders, I invite you to encourage students who are deserving candidates of this award to apply. Students must complete a “Quest for the Best” application along with supporting documents. Applications can be found at www.sdsu.edu/quest or in Student Life & Leadership, Student Services West, Room 1661. A completed application package must be submitted no later than Monday, February 13, 2012 at 4:00 pm.

The “Quest for the Best” awards will be presented at a gala banquet in April. The ceremony will be attended by winning students, two special guests of each winner, and faculty/staff honorees.

If you have any questions, contact Dr. Robyn Adams at (619) 594-5221 or by e-mail at robyn.adams@mail.sdsu.edu. Thank you in advance for your assistance in recognizing San Diego State University’s outstanding student leaders.

Quest Application 2012
Quest Nomination Form 2012
Quest for the Best poster 2012

For summer research specifically in ocean sciences:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/oceanscience.asp

For summer research specifically in engineering:

http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/engineering.asp

For mentoring and professional development support, please take a look at AGEP alliances:

http://www.agep.us

Want to be more productive and get your focus back? There are no secret tricks here… do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking—it’s just another form of distraction.

Easier said than done, I know.

Recently I sat down with Tony Wong, a project management blackbelt whose client list includes Toyota, Honda, and Disney, to name a few. He’s an expert in keeping people on task, so I thought he’d be a good person to ask.

Here are his tips for staying productive:

http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/7-things-highly-productive-people-do.html

http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/list_result.cfm?unitid=5048

WASHINGTON, July 25 — Arguing for more urgency, businesses with tens of millions of workers are hoping to prod the nation into improving its math and science education.

Covering every sector of the U.S. economy, the business coalition aims to convince policymakers and the public that America’s place in the world is at stake — “the leadership of our country, our ability to compete on a global basis, and our ability to create jobs for American workers,” said John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable.

Castellani’s group, an association of chief executive officers from major U.S. corporations, will lead a campaign to be launched publicly on Wednesday. Other prominent members of the effort include the U.S Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and TechNet, a network of technology CEOs from leading firms.

Although the United States remains a dominant force in innovation, a series of indicators, from academic scores to flagging interest in science careers, spell trouble. The problem is on the radar of the White House, Congress and state leaders, but business leaders say the nation’s efforts are piecemeal and lacking a compelling sense of attention.

Thomas Donohue, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the emerging campaign will aim to show people how declining science performance undermines everyone.

“Do you want your kids to get a decent job?” Donohue asked Tuesday in a group interview with The Associated Press. “Do you want them to have a high quality of life and opportunity? Do you want them to live in a good house?”

Without a renewed U.S. commitment in science and math, he said, even successful students may never get those things “because they’re going to be operating in a system that’s falling behind in the global economy.”

The business groups hope their effort will shift attention toward a set of goals they culled from a mounting body of reports on U.S. math and science.

Support for teachers, incentives
The priorities center on improving the nation’s public schools, including more support for teachers and incentives for students to become scientists and engineers. The groups also back more research funding and faster security clearances for foreign scholars.

Another central goal: doubling the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in science, technology, engineering and math by 2015, from roughly 200,000 a year to 400,000.

Even creating accurate and timely measures of how students are performing is essential, said John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. The country’s data on such matters as graduation rates and enrollment data are often seen as flawed or dated.

The business leaders plan to begin by lobbying lawmakers and governors and by helping their millions of employees understand how they and their kids can access science and math. Other efforts in coming months will be targeted at parents, teachers and students outside their businesses.

The design of the outreach effort has not been completed. The coalition is leaning against advertisements or public service spots, fearing those would be ignored, but will try to learn from whatever model appeals to students — even video games, Castellani said.

The coalition’s report, “Tapping America’s Potential,” differs from previous calls for action because of its scope, said Lezlee Westine, president of TechNet and a former political adviser to President Bush.

“It makes clear that all of us — those of us in industry, the educators, the citizens, the policymakers — have a role to play in this effort,” Westine said.

Vido link: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388127n

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57319098/freeman-hrabowski-focused-on-education/

Video – “As seen on” NBC 7, Tuesday, November 22:
Bridging the Gap: There are high paying, professional jobs for college graduates, but not enough qualified people to fill them.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/video/#!/on-air/as-seen-on/Bridging-the-Gap/134372433

Article – Forbes Magazine, Tuesday, November 22
Are Hispanics America’s Next Great STEM Innovators?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2011/11/22/are-hispanics-americas-next-great-stem-innovators/