Arizona State University

Morgan R. Olsen, executive vice president and treasurer at Purdue University, has been named Arizona State University’s new executive vice president and treasurer. He also will hold the appointment of professor of practice in the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education.

Olsen, who has almost two decades of experience as the top fiscal officer at four universities and a doctorate in higher education, will replace Carol Campbell, ASU’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, who is retiring from the university.

As executive vice president and treasurer, Olsen will oversee a $1.7 billion annual budget. His areas of responsibility will include treasury, accounting and financial functions, construction, capital planning, real estate, facility operations and maintenance, purchasing, auxiliary operations and human resources.

Olsen completes the upper management team of ASU, which also includes Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi, under President Michael M. Crow.

"Morgan Olsen possesses the wide range of financial expertise and experience and the management skills necessary to help continue ASU’s ascent among the nation’s leading public research universities," Crow said. "We are fortunate to have recruited someone of his quality who is not only respected for his solid business sense but also known for his initiative and creativity."

In his current position Olsen oversees finances and operations on Purdue’s main campus in West Lafayette and three regional campuses comprising more than 70,000 students.

Among his accomplishments over four years at Purdue, he oversaw the completion of 28 major new capital projects, reflecting a $409 million investment adding 1.8 million gross square feet; directed a campus master planning process to ensure that each of the four Purdue system campuses has a long-range physical development plan that enables its strategic plan and institutional mission; and implemented a strategy to fund Purdue’s substantial deferred maintenance backlog, resulting in over $139 million in funding to date. Olsen oversaw the successful $87 million OnePurdue project, implementing new enterprise computing systems for finance, human resources and student information.

As Treasurer, he also led the Purdue Endowment investment committee in diversifying the $1.8 billion Endowment’s asset allocation to include a broad, global range of investments, improving returns while reducing volatility.

"I am very fortunate to be moving from one great university to another," Olsen said. "I have truly enjoyed my work at Purdue University. It has been a privilege and an honor to be a part of this great institution and to work with so many talented people. I am excited about the many opportunities at Arizona State University. ASU is a dynamic institution that is growing rapidly and becoming even better under President Michael Crow’s visionary leadership, and I look forward to joining his team. On a personal level, my family and I are very excited about moving to a part of the country that we have always enjoyed visiting and where we have family."

Olsen serves on the board of directors of the United Educators Insurance Company, recently completed a seven-year term on the board of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), and is the immediate past chair of NACUBO. He is a past president of the Central Association of College and University Business Officers and also holds memberships in EDUCAUSE and The Society for College and University Planning.

Prior to joining Purdue, Olsen served as vice president for business and finance at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, vice president for business affairs and treasurer and associate professor at Eastern Illinois University, and vice president and chief business officer at Emporia State University in Kansas.

A Bismarck, N.D., native, Olsen earned a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) and master’s degree in public administration from the University of North Dakota, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Kansas.

Said Crow of retiring executive vice president Carol Campbell, "ASU has been privileged to have exceptional leadership from Carol Campbell, and her accomplishments in just a few short years have helped ensure the university’s future for decades to come. Her successor, Morgan Olsen, will continue her leadership in guiding the university through continued growth and expansion."

ASU has developed a new model for an American research university, one that focuses on access, quality and having impact on the larger community. Since 2002 ASU has advanced on many fronts, adding new faculty, attracting highly qualified students and growing in all its dimensions. In the last six years, ASU has:

* Grown enrollment by 10,000 students
* Increased undergraduate and graduate programs from 273 to 331, and total courses offered from 11,575 to 14,153
* Launched 16 new schools and 44 new centers and institutes
* Expanded the physical infrastructure by nearly 5.2 million gross square feet on its four campuses.

Law enforcement agencies across the country have a new resource at their disposal as they work to combat gang-related crime in their jurisdictions. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has published Strategies to Address Gang Crime: A Guidebook for Local Law Enforcement, authored by Arizona State University criminologist Scott Decker.

The guidebook is being distributed to police departments around the United States.

“A central premise of this guidebook is that gang problems are local, and solutions must be based on improving understanding of the nature of those problems and the immediate underlying conditions that give rise to them,” says Carl Peed, director of the COPS office. “Widely regarded in the field for his research on gang activity, Dr. Decker offers sensible information for local agencies to use in developing responses to their specific gang problem.”

Decker, professor and director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at ASU’s West campus, says flexibility is critical for police agencies in devising anti-gang strategies. “The reality is that most responses to problems such as gang crime do not succeed, at least in their first design,” he says. “It is therefore important to document the process of designing and implementing a response so that the responding jurisdiction – and others – can be more successful in the future.”

Decker’s guidebook describes the SARA model (scanning, analysis, response and assessment), a strategic problem-solving process that originated in the private sector. “All four components of SARA are critical; the model requires careful analysis before creating interventions,” says Decker, who visited some three dozen cities as he conducted research to write Strategies to Address Gang Crime.

“The gang problem is highly dynamic. It’s important to avoid developing a fixed image of a problem that does not change as the problem changes,” Decker says. “Growing evidence shows that sustained application of the SARA model greatly improves the law enforcement response to gangs and leads to safer communities.”

The latest available statistics show gangs to be a significant concern across the country. A 2006 survey estimated that some 26,500 gangs and 785,000 gang members were active in the United States. The issue is not limited to large cities. While more than 85 percent of large-city law enforcement agencies reported gang problems, more than half of suburban counties and approximately a third of smaller cities also reported problems with gangs.

“The good news is that many police departments are improving their effectiveness at developing and implementing problem-solving strategies,” says Decker, who has authored a dozen books relating to drugs, gangs, and crime. “We are seeing more organizations using data-based strategic responses to issues like gang crime, rather than simply ‘putting the same fire out’ over and over.”

Decker says his work on Strategies to Address Gang Crime is in keeping with the commitment of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice to address important policy issues and assist law enforcement agencies in implementing workable crime-reduction strategies.

The guidebook may be viewed online at http://chs.asu.edu/files/5/strategies_to_address_gang_crime.pdf.

Housed in the College of Human Services on ASU’s West campus, the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs. Details are available at http://chs.asu.edu/ccj/.

The Center for Health Information & Research (CHIR) at Arizona State University is now part of a coalition organized to improve the health of the Asian/Pacific Islander community in Maricopa County.

There are more than 120,000 Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans residing in the county, according to 2007 estimates by the Arizona Department of Economic Security and the Department of Health Services.

CHIR has been awarded a subcontract to work with the Asian Pacific Community in Action (APCA) group through a grant from the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

The grant, titled Health Through Action for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, represents the first time that a private national foundation has partnered with a national Asian and Pacific Islander organization to address health disparities.
 
APCA, the only nonprofit agency established to improve the health and well-being of the Asian/Pacific Islander community in Maricopa County, is one of eight community organizations in the United States to be awarded a Health Through Action grant of $600,000 each over four years.

APCA will use the funding to collaborate with CHIR, the Arizona Cancer Registry of the Arizona Department of Health Services and other partners to develop a data system to track the health status and needs of the Asian/Pacific Islander community and the utilization of health services. APCA also will develop and implement a cancer screening and prevention plan.

CHIR is a research group in the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the School of Computing and Informatics, a part of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.

The center, which focuses on studies of health and health care in Arizona, is the home of Arizona HealthQuery, a large database containing health information on millions of individuals who have received health care in Arizona.

By partnering with APCA, CHIR expands its mission of providing community-wide health information to assist efforts to improve the health of ethnic minorities.

“This effort is one of several CHIR projects devoted to the examination of disparities in health care,” says Bill Johnson, director of CHIR. “It also is one of many examples of the community-university partnerships forged by CHIR.”

“We are extremely fortunate to have CHIR as a partner in this project,” said Doug Hirano, APCA executive director. “One of the key components of our initiative is to build a solid understanding of the health behaviors and health care utilization patterns of the local Asian and Pacific Islander residents. With its massive database, CHIR will be a key source of this information.”
 
A full report on the health of Asian/Pacific Islanders in the county will be issued in the second year of the project.

For more information about the partnership or about CHIR and Arizona HealthQuery, contact the center at chir@asu.edu.

Opening Comments:
"This is always an exciting time for everybody in college football. Everybody is undefeated. You get a chance to talk about what’s going to happen in the future. It’s a fun time. For me, it’s as fun as there is. There’s nothing like college football, the anticipation, what TV game is on, who’s going to win the national championship, who’s going to go to the Rose Bowl and all those different things. That’s what makes it such a great sport. This is a great time. We’re excited about our football team. We’ve got a lot of returners back in a lot of different areas, and we’ve got a lot of areas where we’ve got to have people step up and where we’re going to be very young. I don’t know that it’s unlike any year that you’re going to have. You’re going to have people coming back and experience, and you’re going to have inexperience. To me, it’s a matter of how you come together, what happens during two-a-days, what happens in the fall, injuries, who steps up and all those different things. We had a very good summer, from what I understand, as far as the offseason workouts. That’s how it is anymore. It’s an all-around, every-month, everyday job anymore. There is no time off. Our guys spent a lot of time here with our strength coach and did a lot of things on their own. Hopefully it pays off for them."

On if having a full recruiting season helps in closing the gap with USC:
"We’ll continue to close that gap. We’ve had good players here, as I’ve said many times. Coach [Dirk] Koetter did an outstanding job recruiting here. We’re continuing to do that. We’re going to be very young at some positions. Our recruiting class that we got a year ago, we’re going to have a lot of those guys playing, particularly in the offensive line. This class coming in, it’s good on paper. They’re all good on paper, but we’ll find out tomorrow exactly where they’re at. We feel very good about some of those young guys. We really think that they can help us this year, but that remains to be seen. Where we’re at right now, we won’t know until we start. You don’t know how good you are until you start playing. A lot of times it takes three or four games to even find out where you’re at. Sometimes it takes longer than that."

On the importance of having an experienced quarterback like Rudy Carpenter:
"Having an experienced quarterback is huge. There’s no question about it. Quarterback is a very key position. Is it the total answer? Obviously it’s not the total answer, but it’s nice to have a guy like Rudy [Carpenter] coming back who’s played as many games as he’s played. There’s nothing like playing. You can have a guy that’s very talented, and there are a lot of them in our league, and a lot of new ones in our league that are going to be playing, but there’s nothing like having that experience on the football field. With Rudy coming back, I feel very good about that aspect of it. Not only has he played a lot; he’s been very successful. He’s a guy we’re depending on. He’s been a real leader for us since he’s been here. He’s been a real leader this summer for us, as far as organizing the things that needed to get done. We’re very fortunate."

On if he expects Carpenter to improve in his second year in this offensive system:
"I certainly hope so. I expect him being in our offense for a year and understanding what we want. We’re adding some things too that will really help him, in my opinion. We’re a little different team offensively, just because of our personnel, than we were a year ago. Just the experience of the rush, getting the football off on time when people are in your face, getting hit in the mouth - which he did a number of times - all that really makes a big difference."

On going to Camp Tontozona for only one day this season:
"I don’t know if it’s an advantage or a disadvantage. We made a decision a year ago that we were going to get a new facility here. It has nothing to do with Tontozona at all. It’s about our indoor facility. We really feel that we’ll have one of the best indoor facilities in the country. It wasn’t just about that. It was about being to work in there in the summer time, being able to work in there in the winter, being able to work in there in the heat, not just during training camp, but during the season when we need to. That is such a plus. When you look inside of it and go inside of it, we’ve got so much room, more than any of the places I’ve been, as far as practice facilities are concerned. It’s going to be a huge advantage for us. So in saying that, there was no reason for us to go up there because of weather. There’s an advantage to staying at home, as far as facilities, film work, our own weight room and all those different things. Tontozona has been great for this program over the years, and it was great for us last year. It doesn’t have to anything to do with wanting to go up there or not; it’s just our new facility."

On if he has ever faced a four-game stretch like the Georgia-Cal-USC-Oregon stretch this season:
"No, I don’t believe we have. I try to put those memories behind me, if we have. That’s tough. You look at our schedule, we play Northern Arizona [on Aug. 30] - Michigan-Appalachian State. Coach [Jerome] Souers has done a great job up there, and they’ve got a great opportunity to come down here. I’ve been on both ends of that. Stanford, to me, is huge, that’s our first league game at home. You can go on and on. It’s a tough stretch, there’s no question about it. The thing about schedules is, and I’ve grown to live with this the last four or five months, the schedule is the schedule and you go play it. You play them when they’re there and just go play them."

On being the only team in the country with both No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 USC on the schedule:
"I knew they’d be on top, and I knew we’d play them both. You knew what it was going to be like. Those are two great programs, and we just happened to play both of them. We happen to play both of them again next year, so that’s just how it is."

On what he feels is the biggest question mark about this team:
"We’ve got to establish our offensive front. There’s no question about that. We’re going to be young. In talking about that, Richard Tuitu’u, who was at right tackle for us last year, will not play this year. He decided not to play football. So, Adam Tello will be our starter. I’m excited about our offensive front, but it is an area that’s young. We’ve got [Shawn] Lauvao and Paul [Fanaika] coming back. They’re the two experienced guys, and everybody else is going to be new. They’re athletic, and it will be exciting to see how they come about. That’s a real big question. So, we’ll see what happens, but that’s probably the biggest one we’ve got right now."

On working with Rudy Carpenter in getting rid of the ball quicker:
"We’re going to be involved in some different things, as far as what we’re doing offensively. I’ve been in a lot of offenses in my coaching career, and spread it out before people were spreading it out. So, we’re going to do some of that, get it off quick and try to give him a little bit better opportunities. When you’re in three- and five-step drops, you get it off a little quicker. He’ll get rid of it. The offense will be conducive to him getting rid of it."

On what he expects from the freshmen this season:
"A lot of it depends on what our depth is. There will be some that will play. In my mind, there will probably be four or five of them, but who they are? I’m not sure. We need some help in the defensive front, to develop some depth, so that’s a possibility. Same thing in the secondary, at corner and/or safety. At wide receiver, Gerell Robinson probably has a chance to compete and play. It’s a good class. We’ll see where they’re at, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see four or five of those true freshmen play."

On the speed of the defense:
"We’ve got a lot of starters back, so we’re about the same as we were a year ago. I think we’re a little bit faster. We’ve got some young guys that will play and continue to improve our speed. We will continue to improve our speed all the time. That’s what we believe in defensively, to play fast and play very aggressive. Our defensive philosophy is based on guys that can run. So our defense every year will continue to get faster. We will continue to keep it simple, like we have. We really believe that if you don’t have to think, you play faster. That’s what we were able to do last year. Now, we’ll add some different things, maybe bring a little bit more pressure because we’re a little bit more experienced, but speed is the key on defense for us."

On the strengths of this team:
"Our skill areas offensively, at running back and wide receiver, is a strength for us. Any time you have Keegan [Herring] coming back, and Dimitri Nance coming back. We’ve got three or four guys, Chris McGaha, Kyle Williams, Mike Jones at receiver. So we do have some skill, and then you throw Rudy [Carpenter] in there, that’s an area that I like. Our experience at safety with Troy Nolan, linebacker will all those guys that played quite a bit last year, Mike Nixon, [Travis] Goethel, [Gerald] Munns, so we do have some experience, and I don’t know that there is anybody that’s got a pair of defensive ends like [Luis] Vasquez and Dexter Davis that we have right now. We’ve got to find a third one, but they’re pretty good."

On how equipped this team is to challenge USC in the Pac-10:
"We’ll find out. It’s hard to say. It kind of depends on how we grow as a football team. Our goal is going to be the same every year, and that’s to compete for the championship and to go to the Rose Bowl. We’re young and inexperienced in a lot of areas, so we’ll see how we grow and how we develop depth, and then go ahead and go from there. I like our team. They’ve had a good summer. They’ll compete and play hard, and then we’ll see what happens."

On his feelings going into this season compared to last season:
"We know each other. The players know the coaches, and we know the players. They know how we react to things. We know how they react to things. It’s nice being around them for a year. It makes a big difference. Last year, we weren’t sure what to expect, and I’m sure they weren’t sure what to expect of us. That’s the biggest difference."

On Adam Tello starting at right tackle:
"Adam had a good spring. It was a toss-up who was going to start at right tackle for us anyway. Adam is young, but he’s very athletic, a very good pass protector. I feel good about him. We’ve got Mike Marcisz, who can play over there too. [Tom] Njunge could flop from left to right [tackle], and we’ve got a couple of true freshmen that could end up helping us there too."

Graduate QB Rudy Carpenter:
On his weight this year compared to last year:
"Last year I never used to eat right. Now, I eat healthy and work out a lot. Last season I played at 205 pounds, and right now I’m 225, so I put on about 20 pounds. Hopefully it will help me through the long haul this season. I thought I was a little small at 205 and I worked out a little bit toward the end of the year, and I felt that if I put on some weight and muscle, I could maybe last a little longer and be stronger towards the end of the season. So, that’s pretty much my goal."

On the wide receivers:
"I think our wideouts are probably the most talented group we have on the team. Obviously, Mike Jones and Chris McGaha are our proven guys who made a lot of plays for us. I think Kerry Taylor is going to have a really good year this year. He has worked hard and he’s good. Kyle Williams is another guy who has had a great summer and is going to really help us this year. Also, our freshman, Gerell Robinson, is the guy who is the most ready to play. He spent a lot of time with us in the off-season and I think he will make a difference for us this year."

On the coach spreading things out more this season:
"I think it will really help us out. Like I said, we need to have all those guys in the field, like those wideouts because they’re our best group. We can’t have them sitting on the bench and I think if we can just get the ball in my hands and get it to those guys fast and let them make plays, that will be a key in our passing game and help from people blitzing us so much."

On avoiding blitzing this year:
"It’s hard to make a big play when you’re going through short routes and you have to get it out. I’m more worried about doing what is best for our team and helping the team out, so if they have to get it out of my hand, then that is what I am going to do."

On the high expectations:
"To be honest, I don’t really know. I do know we are ranked No. 16 in the coaches’ poll and No. 2 in the Pac-10, but expectations are expectations. I expect to have our team win as many games as we can. All the expectations will take care of themselves at the end of the year. I think we just have to be worried about taking one game at a time."

On the stretch of playing highly ranked teams:
"Part of me loves it, because it will be a great opportunity for us as a university and as a football team to show what we can do against some of the best teams in the country. We are going to be in front of the national media, which is going to get us out there even more than last year, if we can do well. Then again it’s pretty rough, because we have Georgia, Cal, USC and Oregon all in row and two of those four are on the road. So, that can be a pretty difficult stretch if you don’t take care of things, because we could be hurting by that time of year."

On how a kicker like Thomas Weber affects the offense:
"It’s unbelievable. Thomas is really a huge asset to our team because we can put points on the board from all over the field. He really helped us out last year, because we had trouble scoring sometimes, so it is great having a good kicker and it is great having faith in a kicker."

On the new wrinkles put in offensively:
"I think they will help, hopefully. We’ll find out when we start practice tomorrow. As soon as we start playing against our defense we’ll see if it is going to help us out. But, I think if we can run those new things we put in effectively; it will slow down some teams from really blitzing us like they did last year."

On staying in Tempe for preseason practices:
"I think it will be better, because we have all of our facilities here: technology for film, our weight room and our training facilities for when guys get hurt. We don’t have all that stuff up there, so I think it makes it a lot easier being here and it’s more convenient. Guys get more rest and sleep better without all the traveling. It will at least help make guys more enthusiastic during camp when it starts to get hard and we’ll be better because of that."

On the comfort level of being under Coach Erickson for the second year:
"I think we just know what to expect from the coaching staff. We know how they are, how they run practices and do everything on and off the field. They also know how we are. We all have a better feel for how things go and obviously it’s much different than from when Coach Koetter was here and we’re all adjusted to that. We’ve adjusted to the new teams on offense and defense and I think the second year will be better than the first year."

On his consecutive start streak:
"It means a lot to me actually because it’s rare that people start a lot of consecutive games. For a couple reasons, people always want somebody else and on top of that, injuries can happen, so I’m thankful and I’m grateful that I have had the opportunity to play a lot of games and I have been healthy to do that. I also know that experience usually helps a lot throughout the course of the season, especially at my position."

Junior LB Mike Nixon
On using the same base team defense, with a few wrinkles added:
"The less you blitz, the better off you are. You’re a little more sound across the board. If our front four can get pressure and we can sit seven deep, then that’s going to be great for our pass defense. It’s when teams keep six or seven in, that’s where we can get creative and find new ways to get pressure. We’re going to put a couple of blitzes in. Were definitely going to blitz and if we’re having trouble getting pressure then were going to create a little more. Hopefully our front four, especially with our ends, will be able to minimize that as much as possible."

On the progression of the linebackers unit:
"Spring helped quite a bit. Robert James did a lot of the blitzing for us last year and we need somebody to step up and fill that whole; be able to get pressure and create movement in the pocket. If we can’t find that in the fall, then were just going to have to find another way to get pressure."

On who he sees replicating the job Robert James did last year:
"A couple of the young guys with Ryan McFoy and Oliver Aaron. They really have that burst that Robert had. They just got to be a little more consistent throughout fall camp and they will be able to help us out a lot come fall."

Graduate DT David Smith
On what he has seen so far from fellow DT Jonathan English:
"So far over summer, he is making all the times. Jon is fast and he should help us, but he has a lot of things he needs to work on; like being disciplined and taking it all in. He’s also still young too, but he should help us a lot."

On the defensive tackle position:
"Usually you know before the play if you’re going to be doubled team or not, just by playing a shade or a 3. It’s tough, but at times you have to make a play and you’ll find a way to do it. Hopefully, I can make some this year."

On how he progressed with the playing time he received last year:
"Most of it is experience with the speed of the game. When you got a 12-play drive compared to a 3-play drive, it’s a lot different and it got me ready for my senior year. I just can’t wait and those long plays won’t even hurt me with the experience."

On the competition for the other defensive tackle spot:
"There’s a lot of talk about who is going to fill the left side and whose going to back me up on my side. There are no spots right now and I’m even fighting for a spot."

For Krista Long, receiving her bachelor’s degree in social work from Arizona State University’s College of Human Services may have been the easiest part of a journey that has included divorce, homelessness, a child with disabilities, countless starts and stops, and any number of other challenges that would test the strongest mother/parent/student.

Long, 34, came to ASU’s West campus in 2006. Her odyssey to that point included marriage at age 20 to a man later diagnosed as bi-polar; the birth of a son, Konal, who has behavioral problems that may be the result of the “chaos that followed us wherever we went”; the birth of twins, one of whom was stillborn, the other, Aidan, was born with hydrocephalus (once referred to as “water on the brain”); divorce after seven years of marriage and her own bouts with depression.

Along the way, Long, who graduated from high school in central California, enrolled at Glendale Community College in 1995 with an interest in library science and an eye on an associate of arts degree. During her two years at GCC, she worked at Best Western International Hotels’ Phoenix headquarters, advancing from a position in reservations to become the administrator of the chain’s training department.

Her new-found interest in hotel and restaurant management led her to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Her husband, Steve, fell ill with appendicitis, but received no sick pay. Savings dwindled and a reduction of her course credits at NAU led to the family being removed from campus housing. A local church pitched in to provide shelter, but in the spring of 2000, her husband was diagnosed with acute psychosis. Child Protective Services stepped in and removed him from the family.

“I sometimes wonder what I would do without crisis in my life,” says Long reflectively. “I’m one of those people, I guess, who, if it can happen, it will. But, you learn to deal with it and you have to be careful not to create another crisis.”

She has followed her own advice. Returning to the Valley, Long received her A.A. from Estrella Community College and transferred to ASU’s West campus, enrolling in its College of Human Services to focus on social work courses.

In May, Long graduated cum laude, earning recognition during commencement from faculty and classmates as the college’s outstanding student.

Already gainfully employed in the social services field, she has her sights set on working on the community and policy levels of social services where she hopes to help effect reform in Arizona’s mental health system for children. She has been on the board of directors of the Family Involvement Center since 2005, providing input to the family-directed organization that addresses ways to improve children’s mental health programs.

Long knows the lessons learned at ASU will give her an advantage and are already being put to the test at EMPACT Suicide Prevention Center, a community services provider where she works as a resource specialist. Her work at EMPACT-SPC includes collaborating with other community agencies, soliciting donations, and helping navigate Arizona’s entitlement systems to assist low-income families meet their basic needs.

“I learned from faculty and staff how to juggle my family’s needs with my own,” says Long, whose grandmother was a reference librarian at the old Matthews Library on ASU’s Tempe campus. “I’ve also had to mediate difficult situations at EMPACT-SPC, which is something I learned through the social work program. My internship with the MISS Foundation (a non-profit organization created by ASU assistant professor Joanne Cacciatore dedicated to providing support to grieving individuals and families) helped me learn to deal compassionately with raw emotion, such as grief, while staying focused on meeting the needs of the person and the family.”

Long’s long journey has been punctuated by her degree, but she sees even greater success ahead and wants to pursue a master’s degree in social work in hopes of being able to research the community care model, featuring a focus on keeping clients in the home and in the community, in relation to institutional residential treatment. Her life experience may include heartbreak, but her outlook is upbeat.

“What I have learned is that I can do it,” she says, referring to the balancing act she has performed over the years. “It may be hard, but you get there eventually. Even with my family – we’re not there yet, but we’ve come a long way.

“Even if I were in the same position now as I was 10 years ago, it wouldn’t be as overwhelming, because I have seen the support and where it comes from, and I have grown personally and I see the light. There was a time I didn’t know if there was a way out.”

She can rely on personal experience to carve her niche in the social work field.

“The basis of my work is my past experiences,” says Long, who is engaged to be married and describes her 10-year-old son Aidan today as a “typical child.” “But, the emphasis can’t be on me, because it isn’t fair to those you are serving. However, you can share the parallel to help them understand and to let them know you’ve been there.

“That’s where the social work skills come in. You find the needs and you know when to insert yourself or step back.”

At nearly 6 feet tall boasting a 300-pound bench and 500-pound squat, former Arizona State shot putter Jessica Pressley cuts what some might call an imposing figure. She defies the 8.8 pound implement to land less than 60 feet away, throwing a menacing scowl its way when it does.

Everything about Pressley screams tremendous power. She lifts iron. She throws iron… the girl practically sweats iron. What could possibly detract from the absolutely frightening image of this stupendous athlete? Did I mention her favorite color is pink?

Those who have not become personally acquainted with her may base their initial impressions on looks alone. The second anyone gets within about a 50-foot radius, however, they start to change their minds. She finished her career with two NCAA shot put titles, winning her first title in 2007 before closing out her senior year by defending her crown.

Pressley is sweet; infectiously sweet. You cannot help but smile when she talks to you. Go ahead, try it out. People have permanently altered their facial structure by resisting a Pressley inspired smile, it is that serious.

As she becomes more and more successful in her sport, she is garnering a greater amount of attention. Rather than pursue the image of the powerful thrower, Pressley would rather highlight her femininity. In her own words, she wants to avoid the image of the, "burly, man-thrower." Who would blame her?

Always the optimist, Pressley has made the best out of a very bad situation. According to her doctors, she has degenerative arthritis in her right knee equivalent to that of a 65 year-old. In order to avoid excruciating pain while throwing, she has to wear a rather awkwardly large knee immobilizer. Of course, in typical Pressley fashion, she managed to make the best out of a terrible situation and ordered a Breg knee brace in a custom color.

"Pink is my favorite color," Pressley said. "So, if I’m going to wear a ginormous knee brace, it might as well be my favorite color." Bad knees never looked so good.

If you think the pink insanity stops at the brace, you’ve got another thing coming; another 10 things to be precise. She says she began getting pink manicures right before this year’s regional meet, and since then, it has become a habit. When asked if she had any intentions of following in the manicured footsteps of 100m world record holder Florence Joyner, who became famous for her ridiculously long American flag acrylics, she pointed out the obvious physical limitations of the style.

"I can’t stand throwing with nails," Pressley said. "I tried and it wasn’t very fun."

Her cuticles may be short, but they are absolutely dazzling. She even has plans to find pink tape for her wrist, which I imagine would be a first in the track and field universe.

Arizona State women’s gymnastics head coach John Spini announces the hiring of two assistant coaches. Jamie Dantzscher and Jean-Luc Cairon will replace Maggie Ethier and Bob Peterson as assistant coaches. Ethier, who is expecting her first child at the beginning of September with husband Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre, will move into a volunteer coaching position while Peterson has decided to focus on getting his degree and explore other career option.

"I am looking at both Jamie and Jean-Luc to help with recruiting," says Spini who is going into his 29th year as head coach for the Sun Devils. "Although neither Jamie nor Jean-Luc has had much experience coaching within the NCAA, I feel both will make a huge impact in recruiting locally, nationally and internationally."

Dantzscher comes to Tempe with an impressive gymnastics resume. After competing in the 2000 Olympic Games as a member of Team USA, Dantzscher moved on to have a stellar career at UCLA. Dantzscher was a four-time individual NCAA National Champion while at UCLA and helped lead the Bruins to three NCAA Championships in four years. Dantzscher won the all-around, vault and floor at NCAAs in her sophomore season at UCLA and was the 2003 co-bars champion. She holds the NCAA record of 28 perfect 10s and is the first and only gymnast to have scored a 10.0 in her first-ever collegiate routine.

"Jamie brings winning ways wherever she goes. She is a winner," says Spini. "She is young and vibrant and, as a former NCAA Champion, she knows the system."

Dantzscher has been a club coach for the past seven years. Prior to coming to ASU, she coached at Diamond Elite Gymnastics in Chino, Calif., and has also worked at Club Champion in Pasadena. She has also coached at numerous summer camps. Dantzscher will oversee beam and floor for the Sun Devils.

"Coaching collegiate gymnastics has always been a dream of mine and I am extremely excited for this opportunity," says Dantzscher, "I cannot wait to begin my career with the ASU family and work our way to the top at the NCAA Championships."

Cairon comes to ASU after being one of the country’s top club coaches. A native of Forbach, France, Cairon has been involved in gymnastics since he was seven years old. He was a member of the French Olympic team for the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympic Games and holds three national titles (1983, 1984, 1987). Cairon has been a co-owner and coach at Krafft Academy in Tulsa, Oklahoma since 1990. Cairon owns a degree in accounting from Forbach University and a first and secondary degree in physical education from French Ministry of Athletics in Antibes.

"Jean-Luc’s responsibilities include vault, bars and tumbling," says Spini. "He is a fantastic technician and will help us in international recruiting."

The Sun Devils will return eight gymnasts from last year’s squad including All-Pac-10 seniors Ashlee Hinkle and Tiana Jean.

An anthropologist’s first-hand experience in an international social movement forms the basis of Networking Futures: The Movements Against Corporate Globalization (Duke University Press). The new book by Arizona State University professor Jeffrey S. Juris chronicles his experiences organizing and participating in protests from Seattle to Prague to Barcelona.

Juris’ book provides an ethnographic study of anti-corporate globalization movements. From his base in Barcelona, he followed their connections and movements around the world. A critical component of the workings of these movements, Juris found, is their use of technology.

“Because they use tools such as email lists, Web pages and free software to organize actions, share information, and coordinate at a distance, anti-corporate globalization networks have become models for emerging forms of directly democratic politics,” Juris says.

“These groups don’t need complex hierarchical structures to spread their messages or organize actions.”

The effects of this new type of political activism are evident in such examples as the influence of MoveOn.org and the success of the Barack Obama campaign at online fundraising, Juris says. “Through the same types of technologically driven mechanisms, protests are now being planned for the Democratic and Republican conventions, so it will be interesting to see what the scope of these protests turns out to be,” he says.

Juris participated in the November 1999 protest against the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. “I had never seen anything like it – thousands of protestors in the streets, confronting police and tear gas,” he says. “I knew immediately that I wanted to study this phenomenon.”

In 2001 and 2002, Juris took part in the Barcelona-based Movement for Global Resistance, an influential European anti-corporate globalization network. His experiences participating in hundreds of meetings, gatherings, protests, and online discussions form the basis for Networking Futures. In the book, Juris documents how activists are responding to growing poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation while also building social laboratories for the production of alternative values, discourses, and practices.

George E. Marcus, co-author of Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary, describes Networking Futures as “a terrific, deeply informed ethnographic account of the origins and activities of the anti-corporate globalization movement. Juris’ identity is as much that of an activist who happens to be doing first-rate anthropology as vice versa, and there is much for anthropologists to reflect on in the way this work is set up and narrated through these dual identities.”

Juris is an assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, located on ASU’s West campus. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004. Juris’ research and teaching interests include globalization, social movements, new media, violence, Spain, and Mexico.

Juris also is a co-author of Global Democracy and the World Social Forums. Most recently he has conducted field work at the United States Social Forum, and he is carrying out new ethnographic research on grassroots media activism and autonomy in Mexico City.

Jody Brannon, a digital media leader who has held top editor positions at MSN.com, USAToday.com and washingtonpost.com, will direct a 12-university, $7.5 million project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to explore new ways to produce in-depth multimedia journalism.

Brannon will be national director of the Carnegie-Knight News21 journalism initiative, which moved last month to the new Phoenix home of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

News21 was started by the foundations three years ago with digital media “incubators” at the University of California at Berkeley, Columbia University, Northwestern University and the University of Southern California. Under a new three-year grant recently approved by the foundations, four more incubators have been added to the program: ASU, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina and Syracuse University. Four other schools under the Carnegie-Knight journalism initiative – Harvard University, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska and the University of Texas – will send students to participate in incubators at the other eight schools.

Under the News 21 program, journalism students are enrolled in a spring course to explore a major news topic, and then in the summer they are fellows in the News21 incubators, traveling across the country to produce in-depth stories while experimenting with different multimedia forms.

Brannon, senior home page editor and ombudsman at MSN.com in New York and Seattle, has experimented with new approaches and entry points to content by incorporating user input. Before joining MSN.com in 2006, she served as executive producer for news at USAToday.com, directing breaking news and prime-time programming.

She entered the world of digital media in its infancy, starting as a copy editor for The Washington Post’s first online initiative, Digital Ink, in April 1995. She rose to become manager of news and production and later managing editor of washingtonpost.com. She also served as executive producer at Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive before joining USAToday.com as executive producer.

Under her direction, multimedia news staffs won national awards from the Online News Association, Editor & Publisher, the Newspaper Association of America, the National Press Photographers Association, Associated Press Managing Editors and the National Press Foundation.

She is on the board of directors of the Online News Association and on the advisory board of the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.

“Jody Brannon is the ideal person to lead the next generation of News21,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “She is highly collaborative, possesses great leadership experience and is a nationally recognized leader in the digital news industry. She will help promote collaboration and innovation at the highest levels among the Carnegie-Knight schools.”

Prior to her work in digital media, Brannon worked in magazines and newspapers, primarily as a reporter and editor at the Tacoma News Tribune and Seattle Times.

Brannon has journalism degrees from Seattle University and American University and a doctoral degree in mass communication from the University of Maryland, where she studied the early days of multimedia journalism. Since 1988 she also has regularly taught a wide range of journalism courses at the University of Maryland, Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle University and American University, including the capstone seminar in its master’s program in interactive journalism for the past six years.

“These young journalists, guided by so many seasoned educators and the deans at their respective schools, are poised to prove the future of journalism is bright,” Brannon said. “The fellows will focus on telling important stories in new ways, blending learning and teaching styles, new and proven. I’m excited about doing what I can to ensure some next-gen approaches will have resonance for decades to come, thanks to the Carnegie-Knight commitment.”

As announced by the Pac-10 this week, the Sun Devil Volleyball Team will be broadcast twice this fall on FSN in the 2008 season, with both matches being played at ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena.

The first televised game will be on September 27, as the Sun Devils face the Washington State Cougars at 3 p.m. PT followed by another televised match on Sunday, November 2 against in-state rival Arizona. Time for the Arizona match is still TBA.

The Sun Devils will kick-off their 2008 campaign Aug. 29-30 as they open the season hosting South Carolina, Dayton and UNLV in the ASU Sheraton Classic. For more information on the tournament, please click here.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is hitting the road to bring journalism to high-school students around the state.

The school recently equipped a hybrid SUV with the tools of journalism, including a television camera, microphones, audio recorders and backdrops, and is taking it to high schools in an attempt to get students interested in journalism. The program is funded by the ASU Foundation Women & Philanthropy and the Scripps Howard Foundation.

Anita Luera, who heads the Cronkite Institute for High School Programs, has taken the vehicle, which is wrapped in an eye-catching, full-color graphic depicting students with video cameras, computers and microphones, to a half-dozen schools in the past few months, including several on the Navajo reservation in northeast Arizona.

At St. Michael Indian School near Window Rock, Ariz., Luera talked about the need for minority journalists and explained opportunities at the Cronkite School. Then she gave the students a chance to practice in front of the camera, learn basic camera moves and watch their taped performances afterward.

Luera said some students “are itching to get the microphone,” while others have to be coaxed to get in front of the camera.

Playing a video back usually elicits nervous laughter. Luera said she addresses students’ concerns about how they appear on camera by explaining that in the real television world, the tape would be edited down to the best sound bites from a three- or four-minute interview.

St. Michael journalism teacher Joan Levitt, who arranged for Luera to visit, said that many of her students have never thought about careers in journalism, and they’re intrigued by the idea.

“Journalism offers a wonderful opportunity to combine interest in the world around us with writing,” she said. “Plus, the advances in technology offer more choices for students in that field.”

The ASU Foundation Women & Philanthropy program funded the purchase of the vehicle. The program brings together women to support educational, research and public outreach missions.

The program also is funded in part by a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the corporate foundation of the E.W. Scripps Co. The Scripps Howard Foundation seeks to support quality journalism education while advancing the cause of free speech and promoting excellence in journalism. To schedule a free visit to a school, contact Luera at (480) 965-5477 or at anita.luera@asu.edu.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded two three-year grants totaling $2.1 million to the ASU College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation. The grants bring the college’s funding total from HRSA to $3.7 million since July 2007.

HRSA, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for the uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.

In the first grant award, the ASU nursing college received funding from HRSA for “KySS Fellowship for NPs in Underserved U.S.: Improving Child & Teen Mental Health.” The college’s dean, Bernadette Melnyk, is the principal investigator and project director, and Michael Rice and Ann Guthery are co-project directors.

The grant funds the development and implementation of a KySS (Keep your children/yourself Safe and Secure) fellowship program aimed at preparing primary care pediatric and family nurse practitioners, as well as physicians and allied health professionals, to screen for, identify and deliver early evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents experiencing common mental health problems.

The fellowship program, the first of its kind in the United States, is a collaborative effort between the ASU College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation and the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners’ (NAPNAP) KySS program, a national initiative that promotes the mental health of children and teens.

The initiative will enhance advanced practice nurses’ knowledge and skills to identify and implement early evidence-based interventions with culturally diverse high-risk children and teens that have common mental health problems in rural and urban settings. The KySS program will provide an Web-based fellowship program that integrates clinical practice experiences in clinical practice settings to provide opportunities for health care providers to put into practice the content from the online educational modules.

One out of every four children and adolescents (about 15 million) in the United States has a mental health problem that interferes with functioning at home or at school. Just 20 percent to 25 percent of these children receive treatment, according to the American Psychological Association. Primary care providers are in a unique position to identify and manage common behavioral and mental health problems among children and teens, since about 75 percent of children with mental health disorders are seen in primary care settings.

Significant health disparities exist in the receipt of mental health services, with a disproportionate number of Hispanic and African-American children affected. A nationwide shortage of 30,000 child psychiatrists contributes to the severe gap in child and adolescent mental health services. In Arizona, the psychiatric physician-to-population ratio is less than the national average, with 134 child psychiatrists practicing in the state in 2004. One-third of the counties in Arizona have no child psychiatrists.

The KySS fellowship program is a continuing education program designed to prepare nurse practitioners, physicians and other health care professionals to identify and implement early evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents with common mental health problems. The KySS fellowship program consists of 20 Web-based modules designed to be completed at the participant’s own pace and will be complemented by clinical learning activities and post-tests. Upon completion of the program, participants will receive a KySS fellowship certificate of completion from the College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation and the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.

The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners is the only national organization dedicated to improving the quality of health care for infants, children and adolescents and to advancing the pediatric nurse practitioner’s role in providing that care. The association serves almost 7,000 members nationwide.

The second HRSA grant awarded to the College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation is titled “Leveraging Educational Technology for Evidence-Based Practice.” Its goal is to improve the quality and delivery of nursing education through expanding use of educational technology for pre-licensure students. Debra Hagler is the principal investigator and project director, and Beatrice Kastenbaum and Ruth Brooks are co-investigators.

The Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine has set a goal for 90 percent of clinical decisions to be supported by the best available evidence by 2020.

This innovative approach expands use of educational technology to promote student learning through dedicated development of faculty expertise, creation of effective instructional design, mentorship for clinical preceptors and collaboration with interdisciplinary partners.

Efforts to address the nursing shortage by increasing student enrollment have led to challenges in contracting enough appropriate clinical learning sites, which affects clinical practice opportunities. The project goal is to employ educational technology simulation for focused learning in conjunction with planned clinical experiences to expand clinical experiences for students while providing culturally responsive, evidence-based clinical decision-making.  

Arizona State’s victory over California from last season will be featured as one of FSN Arizona’s "Greatest Games of 2007," which will air throughout August.

The one-hour cutdown of the Sun Devils’ win will air on Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 23 at 2 p.m. and Aug. 27 at 5 p.m.

In that game, No. 4 ASU rallied from a 13-0 deficit after the first quarter to defeat No. 21 California by a 31-20 margin and improve to 8-0 on the season. The win was bolstered by the rushing of Keegan Herring and Dimitri Nance, who combined for 181 yards, and the Sun Devils’ tough defense that held the Bears scoreless in the second half.

It was ASU’s first win over a ranked opponent since a 44-7 victory over Iowa on Sept. 18, 2004.

The Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University has developed a new process for manufacturing high-performance flexible displays on transparent plastic.

FDC researchers, working with industrial partners DuPont Teijin Films and E Ink Corp., have developed a method for making high-performance amorphous silicon thin film transistors on planarized Teonex® PEN films. The FDC team integrated 3.8-in. QVGA arrays of these transistors with Vizplex-100™ imaging layer film from E Ink to fabricate glass-free high-performance flexible electrophoretic displays that are only 15 mils (375 micrometers) thick.

The displays are quite rugged and readily withstand severe vibration and impact tests performed at industry partner General Dynamics’ labs. To download video highlights of these tests go to http://flexdisplay.asu.edu/Flex-display-test_revB.wmv.

The FDC process uses a proprietary technique for temporarily bonding the planarized Teonex PEN film (from DuPont Teijin) to a rigid carrier using a specially developed adhesive. Amorphous silicon circuits then are fabricated with conventional flat panel display manufacturing equipment. Despite exposure of the bonded film to temperatures as high as 200 C (392 F) during the fabrication process, essentially no plastic substrate distortion is observed. The film bearing the completed transistor arrays is removed from the carrier using a mechanical force that is gentle enough to permit automation of the process.

“Most of the technology development in our pilot line environment is realized through steady improvements over several cycles of learning,” said Greg Raupp, director of FDC. “In this case, integrated learning came together as we viewed the entire flexible substrate system of carrier, adhesive, substrate, planarization and associated process protocols to point to a directed solution that yielded a dramatic technical advance.”

The FDC thin film transistors are produced using the highest semiconductor and gate-dielectric deposition temperatures reported for a process on Teonex PEN. The higher temperatures permit the fabrication of transistors with higher on-off ratio, better sub-threshold slope, and – most importantly – greater bias-stress stability. These performance characteristics translate directly into higher pixel densities for enhanced display resolution and an enlarged number of grey levels for improved image quality.

The ability to produce high quality arrays of thin film transistors with low defects is aided by the use of DTF’s planarized Teonex PEN, which has been developed to meet the needs of demanding display applications. The temporarily bonded Teonex PEN with its newly developed planarization coating provides a surface smooth enough and sufficiently defect-free to enable the fabrication of micrometer-scale electronics.

Development of methods for the handling of mechanically flexible substrates such as Teonex PEN in automated manufacturing equipment has been a significant challenge to creating practical and economical processes for flexible displays and electronics. The FDC advance in temporarily bonding plastic films to a carrier is a significant move forward for advancing engineering prototypes of flexible displays to commercial manufacturing.