Issue 5, Fall 2009

Ruben Velazquez’s interest in how things work goes back to his childhood when he en-joyed playing with his remote-controlled cars and wondered what made them go.

“I would always want to modify cars and switch out the tires,” Velazquez said. “I just liked it ‘cause it peeled out better.”

The fascination grew for the 22-year-old mechanical engineering major who even

The STaTe horneTOne COpy Free September 30, 2009 CaliFOrnia State UniverSity, SaCramentO eSt. 1949

HORNETINSIDE

Opinion A5

Questions, questions, questions. So many

some students are over-whelmed. Future FAFSA

forms won’t have so many. In the meantime

there are workshops available to help you.

FINANCIAL AIDMADE EASY?

Think it’s hard to afford to be here on campus? Try not being able to

afford to be anywhere. If anybody needs support, it’s those being punished

for living in poverty.

Online Opinionstatehornet.com

WHAT’S THE REALCRIME?

That is what four mem-bers of the women’s ten-nis team will be shoot-

ing for on Oct. 11.

Sports B5

A IS FOR ACE

ONE BOOK

What inspired this year’s One Book author to explore the misery of Japanese-American

World War II internment camps?

News A4

The STaTe horneTIssue 5 | Volume 62| No. 5

Features B2

MORE NANNY GOVERNMENT?

Should we be required to sterilize our pets. What happens if we

don’t?

ryan Greenleaf State Hornet

Paulius Rekasius, senior studio art major, worked past midnight at school on Sept. 15, in order for the ovens to be just the right temperature to salt the ceramics kiln. The oven can get to temperatures as high as 2,200-2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

The California State Universi-ty system is continuously look-ing for ways to save money and the environment at the same time. The newest proposal is a plan to implement the Smart Grid technology system.

The CSU Board of Trustees

proposed a plan to imple-ment Smart Grid technology in 934 buildings on all 23 CSU campuses using a $77.5 million federal grant. The US Depart-ment of Energy will vote on the proposal on Nov. 3.

Smart Grid technology, invented to find and eliminate energy inefficiencies, is part of the Energy IQ demonstration

project. It is predicted to cut CSU utility expenses by 15 to 20 percent.

This advanced system will use digital technology to give staff and system operators an accurate look at exactly how much energy is being used on each campus.

When the energy source is targeted, the system evaluates

where and how much energy can be reduced or eliminated. This process is how the system will ultimately reduce energy costs.

“Tighter budgets and the availability of state funds to pay for energy efficiency initiatives in lieu of other vital non-energy repairs, like life safety, roads and roof repairs, are an

example of the difficult, if not impossible, choices campuses have to make,” said Len Pettis, CSU chief of plant, energy and utilities.

The federal grant money will come from the American Re-covery and Reinvestment Act. Matching funds would come

By Gina [email protected]

see Grid | page A4

UEI to get $4.2 million

Sacramento State gave nearly $5 million to Univer-sity Enterprises, Inc., to lease and improve a new facility for academic programs, such as nursing, speech pathology and audiology, and physical therapy.

Sac State paid $4.2 million to the nonprofit auxiliary business to lease the former California State Teachers Retirement System building. According to the University Budget Ad-visory Committee, an addi-tional $600,000 will be spent on renovating the former office space into classrooms, labs and storage rooms.

Marilyn Hopkins, dean of the College of Health and Human Services, said the new building will provide much needed space for these programs.

The nursing department is

currently housed in El Do-rado Hall.

“It’s an absolutely horrid and abominable space. This move is critical because nursing is a large program that needs a new space, whether it is this building or another,” Hopkins said.

Because of the limited space the El Dorado building offers the nursing program, halls are crowded with gurneys, simu-lation dummies and other classroom tools.

“Nursing requires extremely important hands-on training,” said Amanda Saindon, fresh-man nursing major. “We need more room to learn and space for our supplies.”

The new building, located at 7667 Folsom Blvd., will provide nearly 200,000 square feet of new space for the pro-

By Brittany [email protected]

see UEI | page A6

Velazquez takes first place at conference

By Julia [email protected]

see Velasquez | page A3

Funding made easier by DOC Committee

Associated Students, Inc., is giving a new incentive for Sacramento State students to get involved in campus clubs and organizations by increas-ing the maximum amount of funding.

Legislation to increase the Dollars for Organizations and Clubs grant from $1,500 to $3,000 per academic year was passed on Sept. 9.

The DOC grant funds club functions and help to host special events such as guest speakers, and can be obtained

by submitting an application to the DOC Committee.

The legislation was co-authored by Terry Martin, vice president of finance, and Shawn Smith, executive vice president.

“The DOC grant gives finan-cial ability to put on events that promote our same values with ASI and the campus,” Smith said.

Also, the ASI board members passed on a unanimous vote Sept. 23 to give an extra $1,000 to clubs that are collaborating to host an event.

This increased the maximum DOC grant amount for club collaborations from $3,000 to

$7,000.When he took office and

started to reform the DOC funding, Martin said he in-corporated other club leaders’ opinions on how to make the DOC funding process easier and more accessible.

In addition to making changes in the operating rule, there were two other changes made. Clubs can now send any member, not limited to a board member, to the DOC meeting and clubs may use the fund for promotional purposes and food

By Miyu [email protected]

see DOC| page A6

nallelue VeGa State Hornet

The nursing department is moving to a new building be-cause of limited classroom space in its current location.

SALT AND WOOD KILNS GIVE SAC STATE CERAMIC STUDENTS AN ADVANTAGE

CSU hopes to join the Smart Grid

J.P. ryan State Hornet

Ruben Velasquez, junior mechanical engineering major, studies in the Sac State library.

WedneSday - September 30 neWS SeCtiOn StatehOrnet.COmA2

Editor in ChiefTodd Wilson

(916) [email protected]

Print Managing EditorNatalie Flynn


Online Managing EditorAdalto Nascimento


News Editor Leidhra Johnson(916) 278-5567

[email protected]

Assistant News EditorMitchell Wilson(916) 278-7248

[email protected]

Opinion EditorDavid Loret De Mola


Sports EditorAndrew Hazard(916) 278-5145

[email protected]

Online Sports EditorNick Hunte


Features EditorChristina Li


Assistant Features EditorAnne Morrison (916) 278-5148

[email protected]

Photo EditorNallelie Vega


Graphics EditorMegan Harris


Video Editor Edson Guillen(916) 278-5590

[email protected]

Web Designer Sam Pearson


Copy ChiefBenjamin R. Schilter


Advertising Manager Diane Kauffman(916) 278-6583

[email protected]

Advertisement DesignerMatt Erickson


Professional Journalist in Residence & Adviser Holly Heyser


The STaTe horneT | STaff

The first copy of this newspaper is free. Additional copies cost $1. All views expressed herein are the responsibility of The State Hornet and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sacra-mento State Journalism Program, the Communication Studies Department, administration, student body or ASI unless oth-erwise noted. The State Hornet is copyrighted, and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of The State Hornet.

Signed articles, letters and artwork express the opinions of the authors and illustrators. Unsigned articles are the responsibility of The State Hornet. The State Hornet reserves the right to reject or edit all submissions.

The appearance of an advertisement in The State Hornet does

not constitute an endorsement by the newspaper of the goods

and services advertised therein. The State Hornet reserves the

right to reject any advertisements deemed inappropriate. An

advertisement is not considered accepted until publication.

Further, The State Hornet shall not be liable for any omission on

an advertisement ordered to be published. By written request,

The State Hornet will reschedule and run the advertisement at

the advertiser’s cost. In no case shall The State Hornet be liable

for any general, special or consequential damages. Claims for

adjustments of any error must be made no later than three days

after publication date upon which said error occurred.

Health and Human services dean leaving

Marilyn Hopkins, dean of the College of Health and Human Services has been named the provost and chief operating officer at Touro University - California in Vallejo. Touro is an independent institu-tion that focuses on health care and educa-tion.

Dr. Hopkins is an alumna of Sacramento State and was appointed Dean in the fall of 2000. Hopkins earned her master’s degree and doctorate in nursing from UC San Francisco.

No replacement has been announced at this time.

Wine tasting trip Students over the age of 21 have the

chance to visit wineries in Napa Valley on Saturday. Peak Adventures is offering the trip for students, faculty and the public.

The cost of the trip is $84 for students, $108 for faculty and $120 for the general public. A lunch is provided along with the trip.

Free comedy show

The San Francisco International Comedy Competition will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the University Union Ball-room and will feature five comedians dur-ing the show. The comedy show is spon-sored by UNIQUE and admission is free.

Pulitzer Prize winner speaks on campus

Eugene Robinson, a Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, gave a speech at Sacramento State on Monday. The topic was “The Obama Presidency: Is More Than Race at Issue?”

See the video at statehornet.com.

▶◀ ▶◀ ▶◀ Contact Mitchell Wilson in

the News department at (916) 278-7248.

▶◀ ▶◀ ▶◀

NEWS ROUNDUP Sac State’s weekly news briefs and campus events

Correction

Last weeks front page graphic contained an error on President Alexander Gonzalez’s salary.

Gonzalez actually makes $295,000 in annualy salary with a $60,000 housing allowance.The accompanying article also claimed that

Gonzalez was unavailable for comment. This was due to a miscommunication between The State

Hornet Staff and Public Affairs.

The State Hornet apologizes for the error.Please contact Natalie Flynn print managing

editor, for corrections at (916) 278-7300 or [email protected].

Marilyn HopkinsDean of the College of Health and

Human Services

Eugene RobinsonPulitzer Prize winning journalist

rebuilt an old dune buggy when he was still in high school. Now Velazquez’s curiosity is taking him places like Texas, where last month he won first place at the National Institute for Lead-ership Advancement conference held in Dallas.

The annual NILA conference

is a leadership training event run by the Society of His-panic Professional Engineers, of which Velazquez is the Sacra-mento State chapter president.

Velazquez called the expe-rience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and explained how getting there was not so easy.

Born in Mexico, he moved to the United States with his family when he was young and settled in Arbuckle, a small town near Woodland. Velazquez graduated from Pierce High School in 2005 and chose to attend Sac State for practical reasons.

“It was the closest university … and it had a lot of outreach

programs,” Velazquez said. Velazquez said while he loved

working on cars, he knew that he would have to attend college in order to one day have the kind of life he dreamed about.

“You have a lot of options when you go to school,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez started out improv-ing his educational outlook in learning skills programs and joined the fraternity Nu Alpha Kappa.

“That really developed my skills in leadership,” Velazquez said about his time in the fraternity.

Recently he has taken on many leadership projects, in-cluding creating one for Math-ematics Engineering Science Achievement with his friend Laura Gonzalez.

“I had an idea to start a men-toring program using MESA,” Gonzalez said. “The plan was to find students that were part of MESA during their high school career and were in four-year or community college and connect them with MESA high school students.”

Gonzalez and Velazquez’s program targets Latinos and other minority groups to increase the numbers attending higher education.

“We do work a lot with programs that advocate for higher education,” Gonzalez said. “That’s been a reoccurring theme and issue that we always advocate for.”

It was Velazquez’s com-mitment to mentor younger students that caused him and Gonzalez to meet three years ago. Both were a part of the College Assistance Migrant Program, a first-year counseling program with courses focused on introduction to college life and career or personality build-

ing. “Students always come back,

alumni always come back, so I met him as an alumni,” Gonza-lez said.

Gonzalez’s observation of Velazquez being a serious stu-dent is one that he might agree with.

“It takes me a while to learn things - it’s the reason why I’m in the library most of the day,” Velazquez said.

Velazquez continues to gain engineering experience with his job as an engineering techni-cian at Folsom Dam.

He has been working there for nearly a year and a half, assisting other engineers with research and development.

Recently he helped design a safety platform for his work-place, but is restricted from discussing the details of its conceptual design because it is a federal government project.

Mariana Rivera, Velazquez’s former MESA adviser, predicts he will one day use the skills he has learned at Sac State working for a company that gives back to others.

“He brings the skills he’s learned over the past few years to the SHPE chapter,” Rivera said. “It’s something (students) take with them when they leave the community.”

Velazquez’s colleagues say that he can expect to have a really good year and are excited to see him continuously reach every goal he has set for him-self.

“I admire him a lot as a friend and I know he’ll be doing great things once he leaves Sacra-mento State,” Gonzalez said.

Velazquez, in the meantime, continues to pursue his dreams and has more or less summed up his success to one simple factor: hard work.

WedneSday - September 30 neWS SeCtiOn StatehOrnet.COm A3

Kilns distinguish theceramics department

The availability of ceramic kilns at Sacramento State dis-tinguishes this school’s ceramics program from other universities in California.

Megan Mitchell and Jessica Thompson both went to Sac State to gain work experience and improve their portfolios. Mitchell is now a Master of Fine Arts student at Utah State University and Thompson is at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, a premier graduate school for ceramics.

“I’m definitely proud of the fact that in the last three years, we’ve had students go to really good schools, and all of them are getting scholarships,” said Scott Parady, professor of ceramics. “And there are more students who are on their way to that path.”

Mitchell said her coursework at Sac State allowed her to be accepted to Utah State, which accepts fewer students each year.

The department, through grant funding, had built two kilns, a salt kiln and a wood kiln.

In 2005, the California State University Sacramento Founda-tion awarded a $1,000 grant to Lori Lockamy, a Sac State student at that time.

Lockamy used the grant money to build the salt kiln as part of her independent study coursework.

Under Parady’s supervision, she and about six other students spent two months building the kiln.

In fall 2008, the art depart-ment awarded Parady a $10,000 grant, which he used to build the wood kiln. In spring 2009, the kiln was built as a project in two of Parady’s advanced classes and took about three months to finish.

“We’re sort of the only uni-versity in California that has a wood kiln that works well,”

Parady said. “It’s something that distinguishes our program.”

The department currently has two ceramics professors, Parady and Robert Brady. Brady will retire next semester.

“We haven’t been able to hire anybody for several years because of the budget,” Parady said. “I’m really hopeful for be-ing able to hire at least one after he’s gone because it’s going to be really difficult to just have one professor.”

With the budget cuts, having kilns in the department is ben-eficial, Parady said.

“The wood kiln actually saves money for the univer-sity because we collect all the woods, and we’re working with the Grounds (and Landscape Services) to recycle,” he said.

Ceramic kilns are used to fire clay materials that have been shaped and dried. The final products are pots, porcelains and sculptures with earthy colors.

Parady said working with both kilns take an immense amount of work. The wood kiln fires for about two days and the salt kiln for a day.

“The one thing about it that is kind of unique is that it’s smokeless, so it’s actually very green-friendly,” Parady said.

Sac State students have not been given the opportunity to learn how to build and fire kilns

since the mid-1980s.“Back then, they never had

a wood kiln and salt kiln,” said Trent Burkett, who got his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees, both concentrated in ceramics, at Sac State in 1993 and 1998, respectively.

Over the years, the depart-ment has produced graduates who have gone on to teaching careers.

Burkett has been a ceramics professor at the University of the Pacific for 10 years.

“Robert Brady and (former ceramics professor) Peter Van-denberg were really key people for me that really supported and helped me get better,” he said.

Linda Gelfman, ceramics instructor at American River College, got her master’s degree in 1993.

“Sac State gave me a good place to work for four years,” Gelfman said. “It was inexpen-sive at that time, and I had great peers. I got a good education not necessarily from the teach-ers, but because of the students.”

Gelfman taught at Sac State in 1999 and has been a ceramics instructor at ARC since 2001.

“I think the ceramics program has a lot to offer in terms of facilities and faculty,” Mitchell said. “Students have an op-portunity to work in the studios any hour of the day and use the equipment.”

By Kristine [email protected]

Women encouraged to join STEM fields

The National Science Founda-tion recently awarded $250,000 to Sacramento State to create Fast-Track Math for Women, a program that will increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields.

The researchers of the program are Mridula Udaya-giri, sociology professor, and Madeleine Fish, director of Sac State’s Mathematics, Engineer-ing and Science Achievement program.

“I wanted to focus specifi-cally on gender in STEM areas,” Udayagiri said. “I found that there is a great deal of under-representation of women in the sciences and mathematics. The STEM fields tend to be mascu-linized.”

Fast Track Math for Women aims to provide K-12 public school math teachers and com-munity college professors with classroom techniques designed to create a friendlier environ-ment for female students and to encourage them to do well in math, Udayagiri said.

“If a woman or anybody is going to go to these technical fields, the key classes that they have to do well in and keep tak-ing are math classes,” Fish said.

This summer, the researchers will train up to five teams of math teachers and professors from public schools and com-munity colleges. The training will involve flash-animated and web-based modules, training manuals and a two-week on-site practicum.

“What we’re hoping to do with this project is to put out some kind of manual or prod-uct, like a toolbox that math teachers can use in the class-room,” Udayagiri said.

The intent of the program is to make teachers more aware of

gender issues in the classroom, Udayagiri said.

Research trends have shown that girls do well in math before they reach middle school, Udayagiri said.

“By the time they enter middle school, they stop getting interested in math,” Udayagiri said. “One of the reasons why girls are disengaging has a lot to do with what teachers are doing in classrooms. A lot of times, teachers don’t pay as much at-tention to girls.”

Research has shown that girls lack confidence in math classes. This lack of confidence comes from a lack of knowledge, Udayagiri said

“By the time they go into high school, they don’t have the proper preparation for pre-cal-culus and calculus,” Udayagiri said. “That means they opt out of taking those classes and once they opt out, they’re not going to think about pursuing a career in a STEM field.”

The program will also teach math teachers how to improve students’ math skills by focus-ing more on their weak areas.

“We believe that a lot of stu-dents, after taking a lot of years in math, very often end up with gaps in their math education, and those gaps make it impos-sible for them to really be math thinkers,” Fish said. “We have a math program that we think can help repair those gaps. What we’re doing is we’re isolat-ing each student’s problem area or gaps and we’re filling those. So we’re going to teach math teachers how to administer that math program.”

Udayagiri and Fish said the program will not train univer-sity professors.

The NSF has an annual budget of $10 million devoted to STEM and gender-related programs and research, said Jolene Jesse, program director of NSF’s Research on Gender in

Science and Engineering.“We aim to reach practitio-

ners with intervention strategies for women and girls,” Jesse said. “We’re reaching out to teachers with strategies that get women and girls into STEM careers.”

The NSF requires that programs funded by grants be evaluated. Sac State’s Institute for Social Research will conduct evaluations while the program is being implemented.

Sac State’s Institute for Social Research will assess the materi-als presented to the teach-ers and will conduct surveys throughout the program to measure change over time.

It will also conduct pretests and post-tests to teachers to assess how their knowledge of and attitude toward gender is-sues have or have not changed, said ISR director Ernest Cowles.

As part of the program, the teachers who attend the sum-mer training will eventually train other teachers in their schools and districts.

The grant will be disbursed through University Enterprises, Inc.

“The campus takes an over-head that is used to compensate the campus for use of facilities and financial stewardship of grants,” Fish said. “For an NSF grant, this is about 30 percent ($75,000) of the total award.”

The other 70 percent of the grant will be spent on salaries for teachers, videographers, software designers, techni-cal and curriculum writers, training supplies and travel expenses. The researchers are not compensated for their time on the project, Fish said.

“In this country, we just need more people going into technol-ogy, and we can’t exclude half the population,” Fish said. “We have to make an effort to get women and underrepresented groups all to consider careers in technical fields.”

By Kristine [email protected]

“I found that there is a great deal of underrepresentation of women in the sciences and mathematics. The STEM fields tend to be masculinized.”

Mridula Udayagiri, sociology professor

Sac State’s ceramic department offers students hands-on experience and access to wood and salt kilns.

KriSTen SmiTh State Hornet

Velazquez: Determination leads to student success

Continued | page A1

J.P. ryan State Hornet

Velasquez studies when-ever he can find the time.


FAFSA forms redesigned to reduce errors

Students hoping to receive fi-nancial aid next year may be in for an easier experience when filling out the financial aid ap-plication. The U.S. Department of Education is working on making the Free Application for Federal Student Aid more accessible and easy to use for students struggling with the lengthy, complex FAFSA form.

The FAFSA is the form used for all federal financial aid programs, as well as for many state, regional and private aid programs. The streamlining of the application is part of the Obama Administration’s plan to increase post-secondary en-rollment, particularly among low- and middle-income students.

According to a June press release by the U.S. Depart-ment of Education, “Starting in January 2010, students ap-plying for financial aid for the spring semester will be able

to seamlessly retrieve their relevant tax information from the IRS for easy completion of the online FAFSA.”

Secretary of the U.S. Depart-ment of Education Arne Dun-can also plans to make the ap-plication shorter by removing redundant questions. In the 2009-10 FAFSA, for example, students are first asked for their birthdate, then asked if their birthdate is before Jan. 1, 1986. These kinds of questions are not required for the needs analysis of students, and only serve as ground for errors, said Craig Yamamoto, Sacramento State director of financial aid.

If Duncan’s proposal to shorten the FAFSA is approved by Congress, 26 questions that have little to no impact on aid awards will be removed from the FAFSA.

The expected changes will only affect the online version of the FAFSA. The paper form, which currently consists of 109 questions totaling six pages, will remain unchanged.

“Linking the IRS informa-tion directly into the FAFSA will be great because then the information would have al-ready been verified by the IRS and all the tax information we know is coming from a very accurate source,” said Kylee Keroher, Sacramento State financial aid assistant director. “Part of the problem for most students and parents is that they get confused on which line we’re looking at, which return we’re looking at, what we are asking.”

Yamamoto said there has been a 30 percent spike in the number of FAFSAs submitted this year compared to prior years. Last year, 17,258 Sac State students received some form of financial aid.

With this many student fi-nancial aid files to process, the work of the financial aid office on campus can pile up quickly.

“We are required to verify certain data elements on the FAFSA and most of that is the tax information. If a student

is selected for verification, we have to collect tax forms, then we have to make sure that the figures on the tax forms are correct on the FAFSA and if they’re not, then we have to go through a correction process,” Yamamoto said. “That will delay a student’s ability to get their financial aid award and financial aid disbursements.”

Yamamoto hopes that the FAFSA simplification will con-tribute to faster disbursement of awards for students since there will be less verification for the office to do.

Students also agree that changes to the FAFSA are necessary.

“It’s a good idea. (Students) will be encouraged more to fill out the FAFSA and it won’t be such an overwhelming experi-ence for them,” said Christina Tamai, senior kinesiology major.

Even students like Britney Magyarosi, senior liberal studies major, who think the FAFSA is more straightfor-

ward than people make it seem, agrees that simplifying the application will be helpful.

“I think it’s kind of pointless to ask the same questions over and over again. If it’s simpler, more people won’t be so afraid to attempt it. It must seem scary if they have to do like a workshop on how to do it,” Magyarosi said.

The FAFSA workshops pro-vided by the Sac State financial aid office are not meant to make the financial aid process scary. Instead, they are an ef-fort to increase student aware-ness of available financial aid and to provide assistance for students struggling with the application process.

“We put on workshops for students where we actually do the FAFSA with them here on campus,” Keroher said. “We’ll walk them through the whole thing in about half an hour and that usually eliminates a lot of the headaches for students because we’re there to help them answer everything.”

By Inna [email protected] FACTS

There was a 30 per-cent raise in FAFSAs submitted this year.

17,258 Sac State stu-dents received some form of financial aid last year.

26 questions that have little to no im-pact on aid awards will be removed from the online verson.

The paper form con-sists of 109 questions totaling six pages.It will remain unchanged.

Grid: Technology to eliminate energy inefficienciesfrom local agencies.

“The aim of this grant is to demonstrate the great advances in Smart Grid technologies, build a Smart Grid home on the Sacramento State campus and conduct research in support of Smart Grid and the energy and utility companies in California,” said Emir Macari, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences.

The Smart Grid Center at Sac State is used as a demonstra-tion site for the system. It is responsible for demonstrating and evaluating how the system works and will determine the benefits of Smart Grid technol-ogy.

Once the benefits are de-termined by the Smart Grid Center, the information is sent to SMUD and is used to solicit customers’ support for the technology. Although SMUD is primarily an investor in this project, it will have staff members assist in the evalua-tion process of the Smart Grid technology as well.

There were two separate pro-posals sent to the Department of Energy in August. Macari was the principal investigator for the second proposal, “Fund-ing Opportunity Announce-ment 36.” It was submitted on Aug. 26 and focused directly on Sacramento State as a Smart Grid demonstration site.

The first proposal, submitted

on Aug. 6, FOA 58, requested the funds to purchase Smart Grid equipment. This invest-ment funding request would al-low SMUD to install Smart Me-ters in almost every residence in Sacramento. SMUD predicts between 2009 and 2011, they will install more than 600,000 advanced two-way meters in the homes of their customers.

FOA 58 has already passed through the administrative evaluation process where the application is evaluated on its completeness. Now it is on its way to be technically evaluated for specifics, said Jim Parks, SMUD program director of En-ergy Efficiency and Customer Research and Development Group. There is no word yet on

the status of FOA 36.The awareness to the benefits

of smart grid technology has steadily increased in the past few years. It has gained more support from different organi-zations in the energy industry. The CSU has multiple Energy IQ partners for this project including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Energy Network Operations Center, the California public and private utilities and Galvin Power, which are all leading companies in the energy industry.

According to a press release from the CSU, once fully operational, the smart grids are estimated to save system wide energy use by 90,000 megawatts per year and save the CSU $20

million annually. The CSU also predicts the generation of more than 60 megawatts of power from ultra-clean or renewable sources by 2011.

“Our world-class faculty will be developing new course cur-ricula for students to support the new clean-green economy,” Pettis said.

“This grant would allow us to hire many undergraduate and graduate students to help us with this research and their work would count for their the-sis projects or senior design and independent research projects,” Macari said.

Last year, under the direction of Macari, the California Smart Grid Center was created at Sac State.

Continued | page A1

CSU Smart Grid technology

If approved, a $77.5 million federal grant

will be used to implement Smart Grid technology in 934 buildings on all 23 CSU cam-

puses. It is predicted to cut CSU utility

expenses by 15 to 20 percent. The vote for this proposal will

be on Nov. 3.


UEI: Department gets more spacegram. This space will include more labs and will allow the nursing program to expand in size. This expansion will also allow staff and students to offer community medical clinics for the uninsured.

CalSTRS approached the university about purchasing the building in 2007. Since Sac State is unable to purchase real estate on its own, UEI pur-chased the building for $35.3 million in July 2007 for future use by the university.

After the transaction, Cal-STRS leased part of the build-ing from UEI until July when it moved to its new headquarters in West Sacramento. The small remaining portion of the build-ing was leased to University Transportation and Parking Services.

Alfredo Orozco, assistant to the director of UTAPS, said UTAPS has been the only tenant in the building since CalSTRS left in July.

Sac State will be renting the

space previously occupied by CalSTRS from UEI. The major-ity of this building will be used for academic programs.

According to the University Budget Advisory Committee, Sac State has a $9.5 million budget hole for the 2009-10 fiscal year. It also has cut cam-pus spending by more than 6 percent. The university will be paying $400,000 per month to occupy the new building in ad-dition to the cost of renovating the space.

“What you get when you come to Sac State is quality,” said Gloria Moraga, associate vice president of Public Affairs. “I know financial times are tough, but President Gonzalez is a builder and he’s doing great things for this campus.”

Recently appointed UEI Di-rector James Reinhart said the CalSTRS building was acquired at the expense of UEI, not from the university’s general fund. Once the mortgage is paid, the building will belong entirely to Sac State.

UEI is currently facing budget problems of its own. It reported an $8.79 million shortfall in projected revenue for the 2008-09 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Along with property in-vestments, UEI operates the campus bookstore, copy and food services and assists with student employment services through state agencies. UEI saw shortfalls in revenue in every area. Reinhart said he expects future student enrollment cuts to affect UEI even more.

“The cut will have a ripple effect across all levels,” Reinhart said.

In spite of the budget cut-backs everyone is experiencing, the campus is still trying to do its best to improve the quality of education students are given, Moraga said.

Sac State’s lease with UEI

Sac State paid $4.5 million to UEI to lease the former CalSTRS building.

It is expected to pay $600,000 more on renovations and $400,000 a month.

Sac State has a $9.5 million budget hole from 2009-10.

DOC: ASI grants are appreciated

Continued | page A1

Continued | page A1

New DOC grant funding levels:

$1,500 to $3,000 to clubs per academic year$1,000 to clubs that are collaborating to host an event$200 from ASI in urgent cases where clubs are unable to meet the DOC grant application deadline

for general meetings.Clubs can also get funding of

up to $200 from ASI in urgent cases where they are unable to meet the DOC grant application deadline.

The main purpose of these changes is to get more students to join clubs and increase the overall student involvement in the campus community, Smith said.

One of the main promises Martin made to voters while he was campaigning during the student elections last semester was to make the DOC grant more accessible to club mem-bers.

“The reason why I ran for ASI was because, as president of Student Economics Associa-tion, I had difficulty securing funding from ASI,” Martin said. “It was tedious and overly bureaucratic.”

The DOC grant application and filing information is avail-able on the ASI website for club members to download.

By increasing the maxi-mum funding, it would help clubs achieve more success, said Joseph Ross, president of Rotaract.

“I think it’s great. They are do-ing a smart thing by making the changes,” Ross said. “It allows us to do more activities and increase projects that were once unable to do because of budget constraint or lack of fundraising ability.”

Rotaract is a service club consisting of students who

provide community service to the campus and Sacramento communities.

With more funding, Ross said, Rotaract would be able to contribute more to the commu-nity as a philanthropy club and have more members.

“By the fact that we can put out more events and com-munity service awareness, and spread philanthropy on campus, it allows us to get ourselves out there and that we are doing good for the community,” he said.

Smith said promoting the DOC will help promote ASI and the work that its officers are doing for the campus commu-nity.

“We are looking forward to getting the word out about the changes to DOC and get input from the students in general about what they think about ASI and what we could do for them and how we could work better,” he said.

Rather than having the grant money go into the reserve because of surplus, Ross said he hopes to see more clubs get active.

By having more clubs host larger events, Smith said he hopes to encourage students to be part of the campus commu-nity and organizations includ-ing ASI.

“Board of directors are a small amount of students, and we try not to do everything by our-selves but to look to empower other people and leverage all the other club members’ strength,” Smith said.

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Documents

Issue 5, Fall 2009