April 2006Alumni Association News
1. MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 
After more than five years at our temporary offices in downtown San José at 84 West Santa Clara Street, I am very pleased to report that your SJSU Alumni Association has returned to campus! In late March, we moved into a wonderfully renovated office suite on the third floor of Clark Hall (formerly the Clark Library) along with rest of the division of University Advancement.
I am very excited about the opportunities that our new
location will provide us to strengthen our connections with students, faculty,
staff, friends and especially, you -- our graduates. The next time you are
visiting the campus, please stop by our office and say hello. If you ever need
to arrange a tour of campus for a family member, friend or yourself to see the
newest facilities, let us know and we will be happy to schedule a tour for you
through the SJSU Welcome Center. View the complete message.
2. GRADAPALOOZA A SUCCESS
Nearly 500 graduating Spartans attended a two-day graduation event sponsored by the SJSU Alumni Association and Spartan Bookstore. The event focused on gathering all the necessary information to become a successful member of our alumni community and included free food and fun. Liberty Mutual and Nelnet, both partners of the SJSU Alumni Association, provided an opportunity drawing. The winners of this year’s gifts include:
 Cyrstal
Sioteco
, B.S. Marketing ‘06 - Flat Screen TV, sponsored by Liberty Mutual. After graduation, Cyrstal plans to take a break and spend some time in Greece. She is currently employed at Xringer and hopes to advance within the company. Crystal stated, “The event made me so excited! I realized that all the obstacles put in front of my degree were worth the effort.”
Dana Werdmuller , B.A. Pictorial Arts ‘06 - Digital Camera with Printer
Docking Station, sponsored by Liberty Mutual. Dana returned to finish her B.A.
degree after a twenty-year break and is excited to reintroduce painting to her
daily life. Dana thought, “This event showed that the Alumni Association really
does care about students and alumni.”
 Cheryl
Burks , B.A. Sociology with Concentration in Corrections ‘74, M.S.W. in Social Work ‘06 - Digital Camera with Printer Docking Station, sponsored by Liberty Mutual. Cheryl intends to continue working with the Santa Clara County Department of Family & Children Services. She went on to state, “The event was a nice experience. I was able to gather some pretty valuable information for the main commencement ceremony.”
Thomas Le , B.S.
Business Management ‘06 - Portable DVD Player, sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Thomas currently runs his own Tennis Academy, located at www.officialnorcal.com He is considering other business related avenues. Thomas stated that “the information provided by the Commencement Committee and the Career Center at the event was quite inspiring.”
 Felicia
Grandson
, B.A. Criminal Justice with a minor in Sociology ‘06 - $50 gift certificate to Spartan Bookstore sponsored by Nelnet. Felicia plans to attend SJSU in the fall to pursue a M.S.W. After completing her master’s degree, Felicia would like to pursue a career working with abused children and women. Felicia stated that the “Commencement Committee booth got my heart pumping, seeing that I’ll be a part of something wonderful!”
 Connie
Daniels , M.S.W. in Social Work ‘06 - $50 gift certificate to Spartan Bookstore sponsored by Nelnet. Connie will be working in California for at least two years because of her Title IV E grant. She will be looking for a job in child welfare. Connie stated that, “I never thought about joining the Alumni Association but was impressed with the benefits.”
Carla Rounds , ‘06 also won a free GMAT Course sponsored by SJSU Alumni partner, KAPLAN, valued at $2500.
Events and Programs
3. ANNUAL “HIT & GIGGLE” GOLF TOURNAMENT
Join the Santa Clara Valley Alumni Chapter in their annual "Hit & Giggle"
golf tournament. Come out and meet fellow Spartans living in the San Jose area
and learn more about how to get involved locally! The Santa Clara Valley Chapter
is open to all alumni and friends and strongly encourages your participation.
Santa Clara County houses the largest SJSU alumni population anywhere in the
world.
 WHEN: Sunday, April 23, 2006; Check-in: 11:00 a.m.; First tee time: 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Santa Clara Golf & Tennis Club, 5155 Stars and Stripes Drive, Santa
Clara, CA 95054
FORMAT: Four Person Best Ball Scramble, teams to be drawn by organizing
committee
COST: $95 per person, includes
green fees, 1/2 cart and prizes.
To learn more
about this event, contact Bruce Bane at 408-244-6796, bruce7240@aol.com. Soft Spikes
only - metal spikes not allowed. 4. FOURTH ANNUAL EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN EXECUTIVES GOLF CLINIC
 SJSU’s Exceptional Women Executives will offer a golf clinic for professional
women on Thursday, May 4, 2006 from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. John and Dana Dormann
and the Spartan Women’s Golf Team will lead this popular yearly event. We
encourage alumnae to join us for this exciting day of golf and an evening
reception at The Golf Club at Boulder Ridge. The course offers spectacular views
of the Santa Cruz Mountains and overlooks the Silicon Valley. The clinic offers
an opportunity for personal instruction at beginning, intermediate and advanced
levels. Registration is $90 per person, which includes the clinic and reception.
Proceeds from this event will benefit the National Golf Coaches Association’s
Habitat for Humanity Project in New Orleans.
WHEN: Thursday, May 4, 2006 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: The Golf Club at Boulder Ridge San Jose, CA
FORMAT: Led by John and Dana Dormann and the Spartan Women's Golf Team, and
sponsored by PriceWaterHouseCoopers
COST: $90
registration fee includes golf clinic and reception. Register today! 5. SANTA CRUZ WINE TASTING & TOUR
Presented by the Santa Cruz Chapter of the SJSU Alumni Association. The Santa
Cruz Chapter is open to all alumni and friends and strongly encourages your
participation.
 WHEN: May 9, 2006, 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Bargetto Winery, 3535 North Main Street, Soquel, CA 95073 831-475-2258
COST: The price to attend is only $5 per person.
To reserve your space and
for more information, contact Donna Ziel at 831-336-5043.
6. SJSU ALUMNI NIGHT AT TEATRO VISION
 "The Cook" by Eduardo Machado - "Time changes…time is always moving…
(but) the cookbook is always the same” is the tantalizing recipe for Eduardo
Machado’s "The Cook." Set in a Cuban mansion on New Year’s Eve just prior to
Castro’s take over, Gladys, the beloved cook, is left to look after the estate
while a panicked mistress rushes to leave the country. Dreams come and go with
time, but only the enchanting aromas from Gladys’ kitchen and her unwavering
hope for the past remain the same. A tender tale of loyalty and hope, despite
hardship, "The Cook" will have you coming back for seconds. This play contains
strong language and will be presented in English only.
WHEN : May 11, 2006, 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Avenue, San Jose, CA 95116
COST: The price to attend is only $15 per person for members, $20 per person
for non-members. To reserve your space and for more information, contact Sandy Moran at 408-924-6519.
7. ALUMNI TRAVEL PROGRAM PROFESSOR WINS AWARD
 The SJSU Alumni Association has partnered with the Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute to offer our latest adventure, a cultural excursion
to China. SJSU Professor and renowned China
scholar, E. Bruce Reynolds will
accompany the trip.
Professor Reynolds has also recently been awarded the
Austen D. Warburton Award of Merit from the College of Social Sciences. Do not
miss out on this once in a lifetime chance to experience China with this
renowned scholar. Visit the China Travel Program page and learn more about this wonderful trip.
8. DISCOVER TUSCANY WITH FELLOW SPARTANS
 Ever wanted to see the cities that started the Renaissance?
To see Chianti growing on the vine? To see
if the Tower of Pisa
really does lean?
Well here is your chance to travel with fellow Spartans
to visit the Tuscany region of Italy for an amazing 11-day adventure. Visit the
Tuscany Travel Program page and learn more about this wonderful trip.
Alumni on the Move
9. ALUMNA PROMOTED TO COLONEL
A promotion for Diana (Prunty) Ruzicka, ’82
Nursing
- Newly promoted Colonel Ruzicka, Chief Nurse of the
U.S. Army Health Clinic in Hanau, Germany, is the only nurse commanding an outlying clinic
in the Heidelberg Medical Activity area.
She serves the European Command, Special Operations Command Europe and other
units in Stuttgart, Germany. This summer she and her family will move to
Colorado, where she will assume duties as the Chief Nurse of Evans Army
Community Hospital at Fort Carson.
10. ALUMNUS WINS “GOLDEN APPLE” AWARD
A Golden Apple award for journalist Michael
Murphy, ’64 - Former Spartan Daily staff member Mike Murphy received a Golden Apple Award, presented by the Mayor’s Educational Roundtable of San Bernardino. He has worked as CSU San Bernardino’s sports information director since 2000, and before that was a reporter/editor at the San Bernardino Sun for 35 years.
11. ALUMNUS WINS DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD
 The
Karl Buchrucker prize for Erol Gurian, ’88 Photojournalism
- Born in Munich, Germany, Erol returned to his home country
after receiving his SJSU degree to “freelance in the magazine world,” he writes.
Last month he was honored with the Karl Buchrucker Award
in documentary photography for his photo essay on the widows of Srebrenica. The
Buchrucker Prize honors outstanding reportage on social care issues in the
fields of radio, TV and print journalism. Check out his photographs at http://gurian.de/special.html.
Share Your News with Fellow Spartans
Do you have alumni success stories to share? Share
your stories here.
Tell Your Own Legacy Story
Do you have multiple generations of SJSU graduates in
your family? Share your
SJSU Legacy stories with other Spartans now.
Chapter & Network Corner
12. NEW & EMERGING ALUMNI NETWORKS
Over the last year, the Alumni Association
has collaborated with regionally-based volunteers to offer new alumni networks. Our
newest groups are as
follows:
- Las Vegas Area Network
- Washington DC Area Network
- San Francisco Area Network
- LLDAA
- Art, Design, Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations
To see a full list of chapters, networks and
college-based alumni groups, go to: http://www.sjsu.edu/alumni/about/chapters/.
MEMBER BENEFIT SPOTLIGHT
13. SJSU ALUMNI GRAD EVENT SPONSORS
Liberty Mutual – CA residents save 20% by being an SJSU
Alumni Member.
Nelnet – Providing the only SJSU Alumni Loan Consolidation
Program.
KAPLAN – Offering $75 off
for Alumni Members on all test prep courses.
Campus News
14. SJSU NAMES 2006 OUTSTANDING LECTURER
 Stanley
J. Underdal of the history department and American Studies program at San José
State University is the recipient of the 2005-2006 Outstanding Lecturer Award.
This award is one of the top four faculty awards given annually at SJSU. View complete
article.
15. SJSU PROFESSOR RECEIVES FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR AWARD
 Roberta Ahlquist, professor of secondary education at San José State
University, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant by the U.S. Department of
State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Ahlquist is at the
University of Turku, Finland, during the spring 2006 academic semester. Her race
relations course, "Challenging Racism and Privilege: Teaching for Social Justice
and Worlds of Difference," has attracted international doctoral students as well
as prospective and working teachers.
She will also speak at the University of Tampere in
Finland. For her research she is visiting schools, childcare centers and a
professional development school to assess their curriculum and teaching
practices. She will also travel to Lapland to meet indigenous leaders and
teachers. View complete article.
16. SJSU NAMES 2006 OUTSTANDING PROFESSOR
 Jonathan P. Roth, chairman of the history department, is the recipient of
the 2005-2006 Outstanding Professor Award. This award, which recognizes
excellence in teaching, is one of the top four faculty awards given annually by
San José State University. "Dr. Roth's teaching excellence has been exemplary
since his arrival on our campus in 1994, as evidenced by his consistently high
scores on student evaluations, his laudatory peer evaluations, his recognized
professional scholarly activities, and his mentoring and advising of his
students," President Don W. Kassing said.
"He is the personification of an outstanding professor."
Roth is an expert in ancient and military history who has made high standards
and superb lectures hallmarks of his 12-year tenure at SJSU. View complete
article.
Spartan Sports
17. MEN’s GOLF FIFTH AFTER TWO ROUNDS AT THE U.S. INTERCOLLEGIATE
Morning rains washed out the final round of the U.S.
Intercollegiate men’s golf tournament. San José State University, fifth after
the first 18 holes and fifth after 36 holes, posts its second top-10 performance
of the spring season with its fifth-place finish. The Spartans posted a 36-hole
team total of 592 on the par 70, 6,742-yard Stanford Golf Course and were the
only team to break up a logjam of Pacific-10 Conference teams that were one
through six in the 17-team tournament. Overall, San José State finished ahead of
four of the eight Pac-10 Conference teams entered, as well as ahead of San Diego
State, ranked 22nd nationally in the April 11 GolfStat rankings. View article.
- UCLA 578
 - Southern California 579
-
Stanford 580
-
Washington 583
-
San José State 592 -
Oregon State 594
-
San Diego State 594
-
UC Irvine 595
-
Northern Colorado 599
- Oregon 600
-
Kansas 601
-
Washington State 609
-
California 609
-
UC Davis 610
-
Rice 611
-
Long Beach State 612
-
Hawaii-Hilo 619
18. OFFENSE EDGES DEFENSE IN SPRING FOOTBALL GAME
 Quarterbacks
Adam Tafralis and Sean Flynn each threw a pair of touchdown passes leading the
Offense to a 27-25 win over the Defense in the annual San José State University
Spring Football Game held in Spartan Stadium to climax the “Spartan Sports
Spectacular.”
“We got out without anybody getting hurt. That’s a big
thing when you scrimmage as much. We had about 70-80 plays on offense/defense. I
think there was a lot of hard hitting out there. When we look at the film, we’ll
find there are some guys who really emerged and showed themselves in a positive
light,” said San José State coach Dick Tomey. “I know the competition was good.
The Offense won. We got a lot of things done in the kicking game. View article.
19. CROSS COUNTRY BOOSTERS OFFER DINNER CELEBRATION
It's time once again to come out and enjoy a nice Italian dinner with family
and friends and support San José State's Cross Country team at the same time.
Join us all on May 1 at Giorgio's in San José from 4:00 p.m to 10:00 p.m. at
1445 Foxworthy Avenue (408-264-5781). Print out and bring the attached flyer to
turn in with your dinner receipt. For more information, contact Augie Argabright
at 408-978-3439.
|
