[Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote Deadline: April 12th
Ashkan Ashrafi
ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu
Thu Apr 13 08:57:59 PDT 2017
I agree with Andy. It would be utterly discouraging and disappointing to
our hard working student who has a GPA of 3.97 to find out that the
selected valedictorian has a significantly lower GPA (3.81).
What kind of message are we sending to our students?!
It is time to change this unjust practice and adopt a more reasonable
way to identify our valedictorian.
Ashkan
On 4/12/17 5:25 PM, Andrew Szeto wrote:
> Hi Donovan:
>
> If you desire to have greater participation in the voting process, you
> might wish to allow more than 41 hours for the faculty to read your
> message and vote. E-mail voting, by its very nature, results in low
> turn-outs. Furthermore, I presume that you gave the Chairs adequate
> time to solicit their faculty for nominees and to also compose
> accurate descriptions of them.
>
> This whole process seems a bit rushed. In the past, we actually did
> this in person in a regular College of Engineering Faculty meeting to
> award which student (after 5 years of very hard academic work)
> deserved the honor of being the Outstanding Engineering Student.
>
> Andy Szeto
>
> On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 2:46 PM, Donovan Geiger <dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu
> <mailto:dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu>> 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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> --
> 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 -
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