[Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote Deadline: April 12th
Ashkan Ashrafi
ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu
Wed Apr 12 17:25:37 PDT 2017
Hi Donovan,
Do we have a written policy on how the valedictorian is selected? If we
don't have a policy, the voting among the honor students of the
departments may not be quite legitimate because some faculty members
could be biased toward a particular candidate who is less qualified than
the others.
I suggest that our Constitution and Bylaws Committee look into this and
come up with a policy or revise the existing policy (if any) to have a
fair selection process.
Best,
Ashkan
On 4/12/17 2:46 PM, Donovan Geiger wrote:
> 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
> <mailto: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 <tel:%28619%29%20594-3703>
> Fax:(619)594-2654 <tel:%28619%29%20594-2654>
> email:ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu <mailto:ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu>
> URL:http://jason.sdsu.edu/~ashrafi <http://jason.sdsu.edu/%7Eashrafi>
>
> 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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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 <tel:%28619%29%20594-6079>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> 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 <tel:%28619%29%20594-5723> - voice 619-594-2654
>> <tel:%28619%29%20594-2654> - FAX
>>
>>
>>
>>
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