[Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote Deadline: April 12th

Wed Apr 12 14:46:43 PDT 2017

Hello Ashkan,

I'm always interested to hear recommendations on ways to increase
participation in this voting process as it has been a reoccurring issue. As
for the faculty selecting the candidate with the lowest GPA, I cannot
comment on that.

Best,
Donovan

On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 1:51 PM, Ashkan Ashrafi <ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu>
wrote:

> Hi Donovan,
>
> It is interesting that the student with the lowest GPA among others has
> been selected as the valedictorian by the vote of less than 1/3 of the CoE
> faculty. This raises a lot of question marks above the whole process.
>
>
> Best,
> Ashkan
>
>
>
> Ashkan Ashrafi, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor
> Director, Signal Processing Research Laboratory
>
> Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
> San Diego State University
> 5500 Campanile Dr., E-410A
> San Diego, CA 92182-1309
> Tel: (619)594-3703 <(619)%20594-3703>
> Fax: (619)594-2654 <(619)%20594-2654>
> email: ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu
> URL: http://jason.sdsu.edu/~ashrafi
>
> On 4/12/17 1:33 PM, Donovan Geiger wrote:
>
> Hi Andy,
>
> This honor is the College Outstanding Graduate, but we internally use the
> term Valedictorian as a more recognizable label for students and to
> differentiate it as a higher honor than the Outstanding Graduates at the
> departmental level.
>
> Thanks,
> Donovan
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 12:58 PM, Andrew Szeto <aszeto at mail.sdsu.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Donovan:
>>
>> Can you please clarify?  To most people, the honor of being the
>> Valedictorian is different from being the "Outstanding Engineering
>> Graduate."  What exactly is this honor?  Thanks.
>>
>> Andy Szeto
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 12:41 PM, Donovan Geiger <dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> COE Faculty:
>>>
>>> Please join me in congratulating Victor Ortega as our Engineering Class
>>> of 2017 Valedictorian!
>>>
>>> The vote tally was:
>>>
>>> 10 Ortega
>>> 6 West
>>> 2 Reyes
>>> 1 Akers
>>>
>>> Thank you,
>>> Donovan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 5:35 PM, Donovan Geiger <dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Engineering Faculty and Staff:
>>>>
>>>> As the departmental outstanding graduates have been selected, voting
>>>> for Engineering Valedictorian will now take place. Please select one
>>>> and email your choice to me by* 12:00pm, Wednesday April, 12th.*
>>>>
>>>> The candidates are:
>>>>
>>>> __________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *Joseph Akers Major GPA 3.93, SDSU GPA 3.95 Environmental Engineering *
>>>>
>>>> I am a Marine Corps Veteran. I was living in San Diego since 2010 at
>>>> MCAS Miramar. I chose the major I wanted about a year before I left the
>>>> military. During my research, I learned that an ABET accredited school was
>>>> going to be as important to me as an Environmental Engineer as learning how
>>>> to be an Environmental Engineer. I found several schools that fit the bill
>>>> but after a few searches where google filled in the blank after SDSU with
>>>> "best party schools" I knew that I would at least have a few years of fun
>>>> if I couldn't cut it. San Diego State actually became my favorite choice
>>>> really quickly. Everything about it just made sense such as the location
>>>> and the teacher reviews. But it was February. Admissions were full and I
>>>> was going to be stuck waiting a year or so to get a spot. Looked like I was
>>>> going to Ohio State.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> There was a Marine Corps Program called the Leadership Scholar Program
>>>> that allowed me to get into SDSU where my only competition for admission
>>>> was other Marines. The spots were actually filled but through sheer luck of
>>>> someone dropping out of going to SDSU and with my Marine Corps
>>>> accomplishments, I was able to get a spot to start school in fall 2013. I
>>>> quickly joined the Student Veterans Organization and even helped start
>>>> their intramural sports teams. I met some good friends through there but
>>>> decided to try more professional organizations like Engineers Without
>>>> Borders and American Water Works Association.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> School was challenging but I benefited greatly from the GI Bill which
>>>> paid for my schooling and gave me the freedom to keep my grades up.
>>>> Unfortunately for me, I had to start with classes like Precalculus and
>>>> would be playing catch up to My Map. Engineering requires a couple more
>>>> credits than other degrees so I would be here for a few summer sessions as
>>>> well. There were some challenging teachers, some unorganized ones and some
>>>> amazing ones like Professor Smith and Professional Mladenov. Overall it was
>>>> a great experience.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> During my time at SDSU I have become a Big Brother volunteer for Bigs
>>>> of San Diego and I have been the recipient of several scholarships,
>>>> including the Sinegal Veterans Scholarship. I am currently working with
>>>> SPAWAR because of San Diego State's veteran's programs in a research
>>>> fellowship. I can only look back and thank SDSU for the experience granted.
>>>>
>>>> _________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> * Victor Ortega Major GPA 3.81, SDSU GPA 3.91 Aerospace Engineering*
>>>>
>>>> Victor Ortega graduated valedictorian from Monte Vista High School in
>>>> Spring Valley before being admitted to SDSU’s Aerospace Engineering program
>>>> in the Fall of 2013. He will be earning his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering
>>>> with a 3.919 cumulative GPA this May. He has shown a dedication to helping
>>>> other students succeed through being one of the first to participate in
>>>> Monte Vista’s peer tutoring program as a math tutor and later working as a
>>>> college advisor at an inner city high school in City Heights. As a
>>>> first-generation college student and son of immigrants who originally
>>>> attended school in City Heights.  Since 2016, he has been working as
>>>> an undergraduate research assistant looking at resin injection methods of
>>>> repairing internal delamination in carbon fiber laminates in the Aerospace
>>>> Engineering Department. He has been accepted to the SDSU-UCSD Joint
>>>> Doctoral Program in Structural Engineering and awarded a 5-year fellowship
>>>> by UCSD.
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> * Karl Reyes Major GPA 3.87, SDSU GPA 3.93 *
>>>>
>>>> *Mechanical Engineering *
>>>>
>>>> Karl is a senior mechanical engineering student, and will be graduating
>>>> in May 2017. As a student at SDSU, he was a member of numerous
>>>> organizations, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
>>>> (ASME), Design/Build/Fly (DBF), and Tau Beta Pi – The Engineering Honor
>>>> Society. In Spring 2015, Karl worked with a team to design and manufacture
>>>> a wall-mounting mechanism of an all-terrain vehicle for the ASME Student
>>>> Professional Development Conference (SPDC) student design competition. In
>>>> Spring 2016, he contributed to the manufacturing of a prototype aircraft as
>>>> a manufacturing team member for the American Institute of Aeronautics and
>>>> Astronautics (AIAA) Design/Build/Fly competition. Currently, he is an
>>>> officer in Tau Beta Pi California Xi. Outside of his extracurricular
>>>> activities, Karl has also had internship experience with Solar Turbines
>>>> Incorporated, where he was a Mechanical Engineering Intern in the
>>>> Combustion Department. He has accepted a position with Northrop Grumman,
>>>> and will be working as a Mechanical Engineer in the Vehicle Engineering
>>>> Department after graduating in May.
>>>>
>>>> _________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> * Stephen West Major GPA 3.97, SDSU GPA 3.94*
>>>> * Electrical Engineering *
>>>> We nominate Stephen West as our outstanding graduate for his top 3.94
>>>> GPA that includes 97 units taken at SDSU.  Faculty who had the privilege to
>>>> teach him in EE430 and other courses recall West to be a quiet studious,
>>>> smart, and respectful student. He has involved in student organizations and
>>>> extracurricular activities.
>>>>
>>>> __________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Once again, the deadline to vote is this Wednesday, April 12, at noon.
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>> *Donovan Geiger, MBA*
>>>> Student Affairs Officer
>>>> College of Engineering
>>>> San Diego State University
>>>> 619.594.6079 <%28619%29%20594-6079>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Faculty mailing list
>>> Faculty at engineering.sdsu.edu
>>> http://engineering.sdsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/faculty
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrew Y. J. Szeto, Ph.D., P.E.
>> Professor and IEEE Fellow
>> Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
>> San Diego State University
>> 5500 Campanile Drive  MC 1309
>> San Diego, CA. 92182-1309
>> 619-594-5723 <%28619%29%20594-5723> - voice   619-594-2654
>> <%28619%29%20594-2654> - FAX
>>
>
>
>
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