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Movers and shakers of ASU honored for changing the world for the better


close up of President's Recognition Reception awards
April 14, 2015

From harvesting oranges grown on campus, to spreading the importance of sleep in two languages, to creating engineering excellence half a world away, Arizona State University faculty and staff are helping to change the world for the better.

Those efforts and others were honored at the April 14 President’s Recognition Reception, where ASU President Michael M. Crow awarded university movers and shakers with the President’s Award for Innovation, the President’s Award for Sustainability and the President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness, as well as the SUN Awards for Individual Excellence.

Speaking at the reception, President Crow cited three key things the efforts of ASU faculty and staff are accomplishing: inspiring people through innovation, using those innovations to achieve university goals and demonstrating the model of enterprise.

“We have to move forward, adjust, be creative, leverage. All the things that you all do are a part of all that,” Crow told the crowd at the reception. “We are trying to inspire the rest of the institution and we are trying to inspire the rest of the community to be creative, to be adaptive, to move forward.”

President's Award for Innovation

Vietnam is home to the Intel Corporation’s largest test and assembly site in the world. To a company that is the world’s foremost producer of devices that make computers possible, having a staff of expertly trained engineers is essential.

In 2010, Intel approached ASU to pursue a USAID Global Development Alliance grant, which would bring co-investment from a consortium of higher-education, industry and government partners, allowing Vietnamese engineering faculty to train at ASU as well as participate in ASU-led, in-country workshops.

One of this year’s recipients of the President’s Award for Innovation, the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) is giving Vietnamese engineering faculty the knowledge and skills to graduate work-ready students who possess the applied and technical communication skills required by multinational corporations.

“It is gratifying six years into this project to see the transformation in the classroom by the faculty bringing a lot of the active-based, applied project and team-based learning approaches to their instruction,” said Jeffrey Goss, project director for HEEAP, executive director for the Office of Global Outreach and Extended Education and assistant dean in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Other recipients of the President’s Award for Innovation

• ASU Compressed Gas “Under Pressure” Program – This program raises the awareness of the serious hazards inherent in compressed gas use. Compressed gases are used in about 700 research laboratories at ASU.

• Ensuring High Quality Colonoscopy Through Innovative Informatics Solutions –  In collaboration with Mayo Clinic, the Imaging Informatics Lab in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at ASU has developed use-inspired innovative solutions to help reduce the polyp miss-rate of colonoscopy.

• The Cronkite Public Insight Network Bureau – Through this unique collaboration between ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and American Public Media, students work with professional newsrooms across the country to develop new ways of engaging communities in their reporting.

President’s Award for Sustainability

As a university known for its commitment to sustainability, it’s only natural that the ASU community would find several ways to implement sustainable practices on its campuses. One of them is the Seville Orange Juicing Partnership, which was one of the recipients of the President’s Award for Sustainability.

ASU Facilities Management Grounds Services, Aramark, Campus Harvest and local company Sun Orchard Juicery all work together to make the partnership possible.

This past year, volunteers and Facilities Management Grounds staff harvested 10,000 pounds of Seville oranges from the Tempe campus, and Sun Orchard processed and bottled 380 gallons of juice. Aramark then purchases the juice for their chefs to use in a wide range of dishes and drinks throughout the year in ASU residence halls, restaurants such as Engrained, the Pods and catered events. Even the orange peel is processed and used by local farmers as a healthy, all-natural feed for cattle and hogs.

“The campus harvest program is beneficial to the ASU community because edible landscaping combines form and function in an innovative way,” said Krista Hicks, a sustainability manager with Aramark at ASU.

Other recipients of the President’s Award for Sustainability

• Clinton Global Initiatives University Zero Waste – In March 2014, ASU hosted CGI U. During a two-day period, 3,000 pounds of solid waste were generated, but only 127 pounds went to the landfill; the rest was composted, recycled or donated to local food banks. ASU was the first host institution to achieve zero waste for the annual conference.

• Sustainability Science Education Project – This project from the Biodesign Institute partnered with the Teachers College to develop a new and innovative hybrid course called Sustainability Science for Teachers. This course is required leverages the power of digital storytelling to convey difficult concepts in an engaging and approachable manner.

President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness

Poor sleep is a lifestyle factor that plays a significant role in the development of obesity and diabetes; however, lay and professional health workers receive little training in sleep disorders, sleep health promotion or the importance of good sleep to encourage health and well-being.

“People generally emphasize diet and physical activity, but don’t realize that sleep is just as important a lifestyle factor,” said Carol Baldwin, ASU associate professor and team leader of the Your Sleep/Your Life; Su Sueño/Su Vida project, one of this year’s recipients of the President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness.

To address this issue, a bi-national team from the ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovation and community partners from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, Harvard Division of Sleep Medicine and the University of Guanajuato, Leon, Mexico successfully developed, implemented and evaluated an evidence-based sleep health training program tested with "promotores" (Hispanic lay health workers), ASU nursing students and health professionals in Mexico.

Other recipient of the President’s Medal for Social Embeddedness:

• University Service-Learning – This program connects ASU students with community agencies through academic coursework. Students in these courses complete 70-100 hours serving non-profits, high-needs schools and government organizations in the greater Phoenix area.

SUN Awards for Individual Excellence

Four employees are singled out for this extraordinary honor based on the quality of their work as recorded in the SUN Awards they received from ASU faculty and staff during calendar year 2014, and by their managers’ commendation of their exceptional performance.

• Mary Bauer, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.
• Susan Metosky, Research Integrity and Assurance.
• George Mulloy, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Student Services.
• Karina Richardson, School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Student Services.