Campus News

21 Things To Do Before Graduation
By University Communications | in Campus News, Teaching and Students

When that first step is briskly taken onto the University of Arizona campus, we undoubtedly feel the air of excitement, a sense of independence and a desire to leave our own marks on the UA by getting involved, making new friends and discovering more about ourselves, our world and our passions. 

Upon graduating from the UA, we feel proud to have accomplished and grown so much, nervous about landing that first job out of college and excited for the future and where our lives will head. But, we're also left feeling a bit cheated because those four (or five, or six – and sometimes more for graduate students) years went by faster than we ever could have imagined.

University of Arizona football game crowd. (Photo credit: Jacob Chinn)

To help mitigate those feelings and allow students who still have a couple years left or freshman who are just embarking on their academic career at the UA to make the most of their time, we asked Wildcats to tell us what students should do before graduating. These are their responses:

1. "Sit in the ZonaZoo section at a game," Nataly Q. recommends.

2. "Drive a snowman down [to campus] from Mt. Lemmon," says Jennifer S.
   
3. "Explore Fourth Ave., eat as much Beyond Bread as possible and go to Gates Pass," Kate M. responds.

4. "Write a well-crafted essay," challenges Edward P.

A Mountain at the University of Arizona
A Mountain looks over the City of Tucson near the University of Arizona campus. (Photo credit: Jacob Chinn)

5. "Go up A Mountain and look down on the campus, at night and in the daytime," proposes Agnes G.

6. "Eat, eat and eat some more!" says Robbie K. "[Go to] El Guero Canelo, Lindy's Diner, Frankie's, Brushfire, Bison Witches, The Hub, Eegee's, Blanco, Guadalajara Grill, Zona 78, Jerry Bob's....The list goes on and on!"

7. "See a laser show at the Flandrau Planetarium," Charlene O. responds.

8. "Sit on the Mall in the sunshine and do absolutely nothing!" suggests Renee L. "Seriously, slow down for a bit, enjoy your time and enjoy being outside."

Pride of Arizona marching band.

The Pride of Arizona marching band. (Photo credit: Jacob Chinn)

9. "Experience the Pride of Arizona," answers James A.

10. "Take a class that's completely outside of your major or typical interests to discover something new, change your opinions and views and make yourself a better trivia game player," challenges Tyler J.

11. "Go to Tempe and watch us beat the school up North in their house," suggests Troy C.

12. "Eat at Sausage Deli. If you don't, you will regret it deeply," Danica S points out. "Also, thank your lucky stars you are graduating from the UA, a wonderful institution full of amazing people, in one of the best towns on the planet." 

Cats in the Community, volunteer work at the U of A

Cats in the Community, is the UA's volunteer day of service, which is held annually. (Photo credit: Patrick McArdle/UANews)

13. "Complete a community service project that strengthens the greater Tucson community," Erik O responds.

14. "View a sunrise or sunset at Gates Pass, hike in any of the local mountains, eat breakfast at Frank's or The Cup, see a show at The Rialto or Club Congress, eat sandwiches at Baggins, drink slushy drinks at Eegee's, have dinner and drinks at the Arizona Inn and visit Nogales one last time," Cheryl R. recommends.

15. "Go to a pool party," suggests Jon S.

University of Arizona students gather at Old Main. (Photo credit: The University of Arizona RedBar)

16. "Meet a lot of people in your major," proposes Erk T. "It's best to keep those contacts for networking."

17. "Camp for a weekend with friends," adds Justin P.

18. "Go on a ZonaZoo road trip," says Erin J.

19. "Dominate the scene at The Buffet," answers Greg S.

20. "Go to Bobo's," Anthony G. points out.

21. "Graduate," Andrew P. declares.

U of A Graduation, Commencement

Commencement is one of the pivotal UA events of every year. (Photo credit: Patrick McArdle/UANews)

For those of you who have already completed the 21st item, and hopefully many other things, on this list of UA must-dos, you can reconnect with your university by joining the University of Arizona Alumni Association.

Tags:
Students, Student Life, Education

UA's Megdal Elected President of National Institute
By Jessica Schlievert in Campus News, Science and Technology

Sharon B. Megdal, director of the UA Water Resources Research Center, WRRC, has been elected president of the National Institutes for Water Resources, NIWR. 

Effective in October, Megdal will serve as president-elect for a one-year term, after which she will serve as president for a year.

"It is an honor to represent the Arizona WRRC at NIWR," said Megdal, whose duties as president-elect include planning and presiding over the organization's 2014 annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

"This is a great opportunity to work in a leadership role within an important network of water research and information transfer centers across the country," Megdal said. "Our work helps build an understanding of real-world water challenges while developing solutions to them."

Megdal is the C.W. and Modene Neely Endowed Professor in the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and also holds the titles Distinguished Outreach Professor and professor in the department of soil, water and environmental science.

NIWR is a national organization of Water Resources Research Institutes established under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964.

Its 54 member institutes – one located in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam – work closely with the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, and other partners to carry out their mission of objective research and communication of information on issues relating to the nation's water supplies.

NIWR provides a national platform for researching efficient and responsible water resource management and water quality, infrastructure, technology and policy. The member institutes also provide scientific and engineering education opportunities to help create a skilled workforce able to create and maintain sustainable management of water resources.

"I look forward to working with my NIWR colleagues, the USGS and others as I assume the responsibilities of president-elect,” Megdal said. "Our nation is facing critical water challenges that NIWR will play a key role in addressing. We will be considering all aspects of emerging and long-term problems within our water systems, including institutional and technological issues, which calls for an understanding of local cultures, physical conditions and regional socioeconomics."

Megdal sits on NIWR's board and has served as a member since 2004, when she was named director of the UA's WRRC. She has also been elected to the Board of Directors for the Universities Council on Water Resources and serves on the Board of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District.

Her current water resource projects emphasize achieving water policy goals within institutional structures and include: comparative evaluation of water management, policy and governance in water-scarce regions; meeting the water needs of the environment; groundwater management; water pricing; and transboundary aquifer assessment. She holds a PhD in Economics from Princeton University.

The WRRC is a unit within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and promotes understanding of critical state and regional water management and policy issues through research, community outreach and public education.

Contact: Jessica Schlievert, WRRC Communications Specialist: 520-621-1472; jessica2@cals.arizona.edu

Tags:
Faculty, Science

Passive Harvesting for Mesquite Pods to be Introduced
By Liza Pluto, UA Community Garden | in Campus News, Teaching and Students

Felled mesquite beans – you see them most everywhere around the UA campus during the summer months.

In its third year, the UA mesquite harvesting project has worked to gather the beans, creating flour milled from the pods. Now, organizers are ready to launch a new passive harvesting design in an effort to even further reduce the littering of mesquite bean pods, using them in UA Dining Services menu items.

But mesquite trees not only decorate the UA campus. They also provide tasteful bean pods that can be stored, harvested and used for cooking. When mesquite trees bloom in the summer they dispose their bean pods, essentially littering the campus and ruin any potential of being harvested. Also, the pods create a risk of developing aflatoxin, a life threatening toxin produced by mold, once exposed to the ground.

After two years of actively hand picking mesquite pods, the UA Office of Sustainability has partnered with the UA School of Architecture to a create an efficient, low-tech net-based system for gathering the pods. 

The design will be presented May 4, during a workshop to be held 9-10:30 a.m. at the UA Community Garden, 1407 E. Mabel St. During the event, harvesters in the community will be able to try out their own nets and harvesting techniques while learning about the new passive mesquite pod harvesting system.

In the past, Facilities Management at the UA would regularly sweep the littered pods. Since it required so much extra work, the staff encouraged the UA Office of Sustainability to see if these pods could be harvested.

With the support of the UA Green Fund committee a project to preserve and harvest mesquite pods came into play.

Volunteers were organized to began picking and harvest mesquite pods, which were then used in the UA Dining Service menu items. However, volunteers would often run short and this active method became tedious. 

With the new partnership between the UA Office of Sustainability and UA School of Architecture, efforts to create a netting system were then introduced to passively collect bean pods. 

A universal net was created to mold to each mesquite tree and is able to collect most of the pods that fall from the trees. In addition to its efficiency, this netting system also reduces the risk of any aflatoxin.

Up to 10 workshop participants, a subset of those invited will be recruited to test the netting system, were given materials and instructions to construct their own passive system in their yards over the summer and the feedback provided will help finalize the design of the plans in the fall. 

Liza Pluto is a communication major in the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences who is slated to graduate from the University this month. The campus project is part of the statewide Linking Edible Arizona Forests (LEAF) Network. In order to create and maintain a network, this project will unite sites and people involved with planting, conserving and harvesting native and nonnative trees in Arizona.  In addition this project will increase the use and sustainability of edible trees in the state’s urban and community forests.

Contact: Joe Abraham, director of the UA Office of Sustainability, at 520-621-2711 or jabraham@email.arizona.edu.

Tags:
Students, Student Life, Education, Outreach, Guest Post

UA Community Completes the Moving Mural Project
By Vince Redhouse in Arts and Humanities, Campus News, Teaching and Students

When I was younger, I was an avid reader. In particular, I especially took to poetry and spent many summer days memorizing line after line of Pablo Neruda, George Santayana, W. B. Yeats and others. I and would recite them aloud as I walked through the grassy fields of a nearby park.

Of all the thousands of poems I sifted through, there is one passage that has always stuck with me. It came from the great American poet Robert Frost: "'Men work together,’ I told him from the heart, 'Whether they work together or apart.’"

In two simple lines, those words encompass everything that I wanted the Moving Mural Project to be, and everything that it has become.

For this project, the murals traveled across campus with stop at UA's African American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific Student Affairs, Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, Native American Student Affairs, the Disability Resource Center, the LGBTQ Pride Alliance, the Women’s Resource Center and the V.E.T.S. Center – a very diverse set of participants.

What I saw happen during this project was not diversity, but similarity. You see, even though everyone wanted to paint their own unique square, I often noticed similar patterns or designs across the murals. Less salient than the paint on the mural was the similarity of the people that chose to participate.

Despite differences in race, culture, gender, sexual orientation or anything else, the people who came together to make this project work all had a common trait: a willingness to be open. What I heard was encouragement and compliments between the students, faculty and staff who came to work on the project.

One reason the project is so valuable is that it allowed people to open themselves up; to not be afraid. Once that happened and the paint began the dry, the murals begun to take shape.  

In the end, the murals came to represent those old lines by Robert Frost because they showed people in those centers and around the campus that there are people just like them; people who struggle to fight, to persevere, to fit-in, to continue each and every day. And like themselves, those people fight for a better tomorrow; an equal tomorrow.

Knowing that there are so many people out there just like you is something that the students who view these murals and the students that participated in these murals will always be able to take solace in. The next step is to ensure that the dialogue between these centers remains active so that we can continue to work together.

One last note, a special, special thanks to UA art professor Alfred J. Quiroz for making this happen. Words cannot describe my gratitude and appreciation for that man.

Photo credit: Beatriz Verdugo/UANews

Vince Redhouse (Navajo) transferred to the UA from Pima Community College to pursue a degree in the Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law with a minor in Spanish. With help from UA art professor Alfred J. Quiroz, Redhouse launched the campus-wide Moving Mural Project Feb. 4 at the African American Student Affairs.

Tags:
Students, Student Life, The Arts, The Wildcat Way

Making a Difference, Daily
By University Communications in Campus News, Teaching and Students

You may have heard of the bystander effect, the phenomenon that explains how individuals opt to do nothing even in the face of another person suffering.

At the UA, the Difference of One Award was established to honor those UA students, faculty and staff who decide to stand up and make difference in another person's life, particularly when someone is dealing with a challenging situation.

Elizabeth Brewer, a UA student who is also a a yoga instructor, has been teaching a yoga through Yoga for Every Body, a UA-student run organization and class she helped to establish.

Presented by the University's SafeCats program in the Dean of Students Office, two individuals are being honored this year: Elizabeth Brewer and Cheryl Muller.

Alan Beaudrie, who nominated Brewer for her work with the now named Yoga for Every Body, a UA-student led organization that offers yoga that is inclusive of individuals with disabilities.

Beaudrie emphasized Brewer's unique qualities and characteristics and the importance of the organization she helped to establish at the UA.

"I have infrequently met someone who embodies caring as much as Elizabeth does. You can tell after only one conversation with her that she truly deeply cares about others, and her life revolves around helping others to the best of her ability.," wrote Beaudrie, the assistant director of undergraduate advising for the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

UA alumnus Jovan Ruvalcaba, who also wrote on Brewer's behalf, noted that she is persistently "stepping up" to aid in the development and evolution of the organization, adding that, no matter the location, she "is bringing students together who might not interact otherwise."

 

Of Cheryl Muller, nominator Katherine Snyder wrote: "Cheryl is clearly committed to student success and dedicated to assisting students though whatever means possible. My personal success as co-chair (of the and Behavioral Intervention Team) and the success of the team in general has increased due to Cheryl’s support, commitment and creativity."

Cheryl Muller, assistant director of the UA Disability Resource Center, also is being honored for creating inclusive learning and working environments and also facilitating access at the University.

Katherine Snyder has worked with Muller through their involvement with the UA's Behavioral Intervention Team and said Muller is "a critical resource for students, faculty and staff at the University of Arizona," Snyder, the team's co-chair, noted in her nominating letter.

"Her knowledge and compassion for students of concern or students in crisis contributes greatly to the team. She will go out of her way to determine if there is something Disability Resources can do that would assist our students," Snyder, senior coordinator for student assistance at the Disability Resource Center, also noted.

Also in the nominating letter, Sue Kroeger, the Disability Resource Center director, noted: “Cheryl is a tremendous asset to the DRC, the University and the students. Her sense of responsibility, fairness, and quality in addition to her good judgment serves us all so well."

Photo credit: Murphy Raine McGary

The Difference of One recipients will be honored at the Evening of Excellence, which will be held April 17 at 6 p.m. in the North Ballroom of the Student Union Memorial Center. Contact: Tricia Don, coordinator of special projects for student life in the Dean of Students Office, at 520-626-0807 or tdon@email.arizona.edu.

Tags:
Students, Student Life, Staff, Faculty, The Wildcat Way

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