JUST CAUSE
University names college of law after O'Connor

ASU recently named its College of Law after retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, in honor of her lifelong dedication to public service, her intellectual vigor and her sense of fair-mindedness. The school will be officially known as The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU.

Dignitaries attending the April 5 press conference introducing the name change included Gov. Janet Napolitano and Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor, a graduate of the College of Law. O’Connor participated in the event via a videoconference link from El Paso, Texas.

“I am very proud to be associated with the ASU College of Law in this way,” said O’Connor. “The College of Law and has been a pioneer and a leader in clinical law, and was among the first to start a center for law, science and technology. I am delighted, and hope to have many years ahead of
a happy association.”

University officials believe this is the first major law school in the country to be named after a living person solely on the basis of merit. O’Connor served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1981 – 2006), and she was cited by Forbes magazine in 2004 as the fourth most powerful woman in the United States – and the sixth most powerful in the world.

Because of her case-by-case approach to jurisprudence and her relatively moderate political views, O’Connor was the crucial swing vote of the court for many of her final years on the bench. During her time on the court, O’Connor was regarded as a consummate compromiser. Her votes were generally conservative, but she frequently surprised observers with her political independence.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to be the first law school named after a contemporary woman,” says Patricia White, dean of ASU’s College of Law. “One cannot overestimate Justice O’Connor’s importance as a role model for women, and how central her success has been to the acceptance of women in legal practice and the judiciary.”

TOP JOB
ASU names Elizabeth Capaldi university provost

Elizabeth D. Capaldi, vice chancellor and chief of staff for the State University of New York system, was named university provost and executive vice president at Arizona State University on May 17. She succeeds Milt Glick, who is leaving ASU to become president of the University of Nevada, Reno, and will assume her new post in August.

As ASU's chief academic officer, Capaldi will provide leadership to all of the university's campuses and academic programs, fostering excellence in teaching, research and service to the community. She will also represent the university to external agencies and constituencies and engage in ASU's fundraising initiatives.

"I am delighted to be joining ASU ... The energy and positive attitude of all I met at ASU attracted me to join the team," Capaldi said.

Capaldi received her bachelor's degree from the University of Rochester, and her Ph.D. degree in experimental psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She has contributed more than 65 chapters and articles to the scientific literature, co-authored three editions of an introductory psychology textbook, and edited two books on the psychology of eating.

Capaldi's research and scholarship are highly regarded in her field. She has been honored with the title of fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and she has served as president of the American Psychological Society.

MAC5 WORKS TO SPEED CANCER RESEARCH (back to top)

In terms of a medical diagnosis, nothing is more devasting than hearing the "C" word - cancer. But now, ASU and Mayo Clinic are hoping that five different C's will become the best arsenal against the big C. The organizations have teamed up to introduce a new research entity called MAC5.

MAC5 is short for the Mayo Clinic - ASU Center for Cancer-related Convergence, Cooperation and Collaboration. An agreement signed by the two entities establishes a physical space on Mayo's Scottsdale campus, in the Mayo Clinic Collaborative Research Building. The facility will include approximately 9,000 square feet of space for MAC5 personnel.

Several staff members will have joint appointments at Mayo Clinic and ASU. MAC5 will combine the efforts of Mayo Clinic physicians with the capabilities of several ASU programs, including the new School of Computing and Informatics and the Department of Biomedical Informatics, the Center for Applied NanoBioscience, the Center for Cancer Research and the Center for Innovations in Medicine.

The goal of the agreement is to revolutionize medical practices for cancer-related diseases and to shift medicine toward an earlier, preventative, and individualized approach to medical care. MAC5 represents the largest collaborative effort to date between Mayo Clinic and ASU. It builds on the historical research teamwork of ASU and Mayo Clinic that has grown in recent years to include a pilot research seed grants, joint faculty appointments, and shared educational programs.

EDUCATION POLICY GROUP TO REVIEW "THINK TANK" REPORTS (back to top)

Education reports released by private think tanks are now being scrutinized by expert academic reviewers, thanks to the just-launched Think Tank Review Project. The Think Tank Review Project is a collaboration of ASU's Education Policy Studies Laboratory and the University of Colorado's Education and Public Interest Center.

Within two weeks of a report's release, the project provides reviews to policy makers, the media, and the public. Reviews are posted at http://thinktankreview.org.

According to Education Policy studies Laboratory Director Alex Molnar, the project is much needed.

"Despite garnering media attention and their influence with many legislators, reports released by private think tanks are often of very poor quality," Molnar says. "Many think tank reports are little more than ideological argumentation dressed up as research."

Think Tank Review Project reviews and links to reports being reviewed can be found at the project's website. The Think Tank Review Project is funded by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

School of Global Studies formed to focus on quality of life issues (back to top)

Examining worldwide issues with the intent to improve quality of life for humans around the globe is the change of ASU's new School of Global Studies.

The launch of the school was celebrated April 20 with two days of events, including a lecture by former U.S. Ambassador Dennis Ross, who asserted that the school's problem-focused research on migration, violence, natural resources, governance, technology, health and culture "will transform the university and prepare our students to face global issues from a quality of life perspective."

The School of Global Studies is not bound by models of the past, in institutional and intellectual terms, says David Jacobson, director of the new school. "The school is a conscious effort to adapt to the world of today; to create an atmosphere that is intellectually fluid and nimble; to rethink how we think about the world and to ask ourselves if we can more effectively bring about change."

Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Buildings expand research possibilities (back to top)

Two nearly dedicated buildings are significantly expanding ASU's interdisciplinary research capabilities, providing state-of-the-art facilities for work that promises a strong boost for the university's stature as a major research institution.

Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Buildings 1 and 2 on the Tempe campus provide laboratories for a broad range of pursuits aimed at moving into the forefronts of engineering, physical sciences and life sciences. The Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are basing several projects, programs and centers in the buildings.

The $74 million, four-story ISTB 1 encompasses 180,000 square feet, containing 34 laboratory suites, 74 laboratory modules and office space. Two of ASU's newest research centers — the Center for Metabolic Biology, and the Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity — will be housed there, along with the social insect research group, the neural science and engineering group, and the cell and tissue engineering group.

Soil dynamics, environmental fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics and combustion research labs occupy the $18 million, two-story, 66,000-square-foot ISTB 2, along with geology and hydraulics, structure testing, transportation planning and advanced pavement research groups, as well as the Sustainable Materials and Renewable Technology group.

Both buildings have been constructed to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. The standards are based on the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability features achieved by building design and construction.

A Creative Exchange
Art museum to partner with Brazilian counterpart

The ASU Art Museum will participate in an exciting partnership with the Museu de Arte Contemporânea at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, according to an announcement by the American Association of Museums this spring. The association indicated that the ASU museum is one of 17 included in its International Partnership Among Museums program for the 2005-2007 cycle. The program helps American museums advance their mission by carrying out collaborative projects with partners institutions abroad.

Each participating staff member spends a month working on-site at the partner's museum. ASU Art Museum's Ted Decker, special museum initiatives manager, is working in São Paulo this summer; a staff member from the São Paulo museum will come to ASU to work in the fall.

The project will also link the two museums via Web technology. Visitors to the two museum Web sites will learn about each institution, university and community.On kiosks in each museum lobby, visitors will be able to view works of art from permanent collections and learn more bout the history of the works. Streaming video will provide live visual access to each museum's galleries.

The University of São Paulo's museum boasts a collection of modern and contemporary Latin American art that is considered one of the best in the hemisphere. The project is expected to augment the ASU Art Museum's programming initiatives in Latin American art. Six exhibitions are scheduled over the next three years, featuring work by artists from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico.

The ASU Art Museum is located on the southeast corner of Mill Avenue and 10th Street in Tempe. Exhibition hours are 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, call (480) 965-2787 or visit the museum online at http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu.

University wins campus ecology award (back to top)

The National Wildlife Federation granted ASU its coveted Campus Ecology Recognition this spring for its commitment to addressing the desert environment and restoring wildlife habitat.

The award was based on ASU’s Comprehensive Development Plan for ASU’s four campuses. The plan was completed after two years of extensive research with the help of Ayers Saint Gross Architects & Planners of Baltimore.

“We took a look at the needs of the university, such as parking, buildings, landscaping and access – everything you could imagine – and how the campuses would grow over time,” said Steven Neilsen, ASU assistant vice president of real estate and university physical planning. “The CDP is a road map for growth. If we need a new life sciences building, for example, we know where it will go.” Nielsen said the Wildlife Federation award recognizes ASU’s commitment to “the overall environment of campus – how we are addressing sustainability and the environment.”

The CDP calls for campus development to use appropriate desert landscaping, use and re-use water, and to develop attractive and comfortable outdoor spaces at each of its campuses. “The goal of the CDP was to require the university to be aware of – and sensitive to – the unique desert environment of central Arizona, and to plan and develop its campuses accordingly,” Neilsen said.

The Appointment Book (back to top)

The ASU foundation has announced the appointment of eight new members to its board of trustees, including Jim Armstrong, co-founder of JDBA Software Inc.; Doug Ducey, CEO of Cold Stone Creamery; Penny Gunning, former teacher and active community leader; Diane Halle, president of the Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation; Bob Johnson, former chair of Honeywell Aerospace Inc.; Anne Mariucci, partner with Inlign Capital partners; Tony Paoni, chair of the Arizona Technology Enterprises board of directors; and Gregg Tryhus, president of Grayhawk Development.

In addition to their duties on the board of trustees, Johnson and Mariucci also accepted appointments to the foundation's board of directors, which provides fiduciary oversight of the ASU Foundation...

Mari Koerner began her appointment as dean of the College of Teacher Education and Leadership at Arizona State University's West campus on July 1. Koerner was previously a professor and director of the Early Childhood Literacy Resource center Project at the University of Massachusetts, Boston...

Kwang-Wu Kim, an outspoken advocate of the arts and a proponent of rethinking the way artists are educated, has been named dean of the Herberger College of Fine ARts. Kim was previously president of Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass., and has also held artistic and administrative director positions with the El Paso (Texas) Pro-Musica and the El Paso Chamber Music Festival, which he also co-founded...

Paul Johnson, ASU's associate vice president for research, has been appointed executive dean of the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. Johnson will assist the incoming dean, Deirdre Meldrum, in continuing efforts to make the Fulton School one of the nation's premier engineering schools...

Former CNN Anchor Aaron Brown will join ASU's faculty in the spring 2007 semester as the John J. Rhodes Chair in Public Policy and American Institutions at Barrett Honors College. Brown served as news anchor of CNN's flagship show, "NewsNight," from 2001 to 2005...

Albert McHenry began his term as vice president of ASU and an interim provost for the Polytechnic campus on July 1. McHenry replaces Gerald Jakubowski, who was named president of Rose-Hulman Institute of TEchnology in March. McHenry has been dean of the College of Technology and Applied Sciences at ASU since 1997...

Student Affairs recently merged with University Undergraduate Initiatives to become a single support system fro ASU's 32 colleges and schools. Jim Rund, vice president for UUI, now oversees operations for both departments, with support from Sally Ramage, who is the organization's senior associate vice president, and Patricia Arredondo, who will continue her work in enrollment management as deputy vice president...

The Herberger College of Fine Arts appointed James Hudson director of athletic bands in the School of Music earlier this spring. He most recently held the same position at the University of Kansas...