Julie Nagoshi is fascinated by human nature.

Nagoshi has devoted a career to higher education so she can explore why people do the things they do, particularly in regard to gender roles and identity and acculturation. Download Full Image

Graduating this May from ASU’s School of Social Work, in the College of Public Programs, Nagoshi will earn her doctoral degree in social work and continue her research on intersecting social identities and their impact on mental health and substance abuse.

“I’m researching how gender roles, masculinity and femininity, interact with acculturation to increase or decrease the risk for substance use in Mexican-American adolescents,” she says. Nagoshi’s research stems from her interest in gender identity, for which she earned a certificate from ASU in gender studies.

“My hope is to design a substance use intervention based on empowering individuals with intersecting oppressed identities,” she says.

Her studies also led her to work as a research associate at the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center at ASU – a center focused on conducting transdisciplinary minority health and health disparities research, training and community outreach.

A major question underlying Nagoshi’s research is whether our ideas about our own gender and related identities are the result of social expectations and enforcement or whether they are constructs of our own design.

Nagoshi received her master’s degree in social work, with a concentration in child welfare, from Arizona State University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a bachelor’s degree in family and human development from ASU.

What made her time at the university so significant was her exposure to multidisciplinary perspectives – reflected in her various degree programs – which have made her research and studies all the more dynamic, she says.

“I also appreciated the interactions I had with so many stimulating, caring and informative faculty, staff and fellow students,” she says. “I also enjoyed teaching as a graduate student.”  

Even though receiving her degree this spring represents an end point, Nagoshi says her work has just begun.   

“I am looking forward to continuing to be able to teach and do research.”

Tina Hakimi describes an ASU professor who has been among her most valuable mentors as “an amazing example of someone who takes on a lot of work but still does everything with a 110 percent effort.”

The description could fit Hakimi. On the way to earning her bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering, which she will receive this May, she has excelled in a range of challenging pursuits in school and beyond. Download Full Image

A graduate of Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee, she’s been a student in ASU’s Barrett, the Honors College, and among the top performers in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Outside of coursework, she’s assisted in research in a range of areas – among them, robotics, neuroscience, physiology, and medical treatment and diagnostic devices.

She won an ASU Presidential Scholarship and an Intel Corporation International Scholarship competition, and was a Mayo Clinic Premedical Scholar.

Hakimi’s accomplishments helped earn her a prestigious fellowship from the Whitaker International Fellows and Scholars Program, which sends emerging leaders in bioengineering or biomedical engineering overseas to undertake projects designed to build their expertise in these fields.

The fellowship will enable her to study at the prominent Brien Holden Vision Institute affiliated with University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

In pursuit of a master’s degree, she will conduct research in vision care improvement in hope of using that experience as a step toward a medical career specializing in eye care.

On top of all that, she made time to serve as a student mentor, co-found a student group whose members act as ambassadors for School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, and co-found a student venture to develop technology applications to help consumers do comparative shopping for health care providers. The latter project won a business startup grant from ASU’s Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative.

She has worked part-time jobs at a local hospital and a medical center, and volunteered as an ASU education outreach camp counselor and for an international nonprofit that delivers medical supplies to developing countries.

In the last year she co-founded – and is working to expand – a student group called Camp H.O.P.E. (Helping Orphans Prosper through Education) that organizes and runs camps for orphans and foster children designed to spark youngsters’ interest in higher education and careers.

Hakimi also was an ASU representative for Unite For Sight, which works to prevent blindness in Africa. She founded an ASU student chapter of the organization.

The faculty advisor for the student chapter is Jeffrey La Belle, an assistant research professor in biomedical engineering, and director of the lab in which Hakimi has gotten much of her research experience. La Belle is the mentor she lauds for giving “110 percent effort” to his work.

He sees the same drive in Hakimi.

“Even though Tina has led or been involved in diverse and varied projects, she makes a major impact in whatever she does,” La Belle says. “So I expect to hear only great things about her as she moves on to the next steps in her education and her career.”

Far afield of her other endeavors, Hakimi founded the Olympic Games-style Team ASU Taekwondo, which gave demonstrations and participated in competitions in the Korean martial art of self-defense.

“My parents wanted me to know how to protect myself,” Hakimi says, explaining why she began learning Taekwondo at eight years old. She eventually earned a Black Belt.

Her family’s “travel bug” also has aided her education. Trips to several countries have taught her “that there is so much interesting culture out there, and to experience it only makes you better.”

Hakimi credits much of what she has accomplished to those in the ASU community who have guided her and supported her efforts.

“I’ve found that if you want to try something new and different, ASU is not going to hold you back,” she says. “Some universities are more like, ‘This is what you will do, and this how you will do it.’  It’s not like that here, which has been really great.”

Her years at ASU, she adds, “have been infinitely valuable in shaping the direction for my future. I’m blessed to have spent the time here, and for the relationships I’ve formed.”

Hakimi says she never wants “to look back at my college years and say, ‘Why did I waste all that time?’ ”

There seems to be little chance of that happening.

Victor Diaz didn’t always believe that he would one day walk across the commencement stage and accept his doctorate in educational leadership.

“As the first person in my family to graduate from college, I can't put into words how special this is for my family and me,” Diaz says. “If someone had told me years ago that I would receive a Ph.D., it would have been like hearing I was moving to the North Pole and taking over Santa Claus' job.” Download Full Image

The first steps to higher education were daunting to a young person growing up in a lower-income community. He grappled with his dual identity as the son of a blue collar Mexican-American family and as a scholar at a university.

“Once I found that identity, I felt like all the financial and social challenges that come from being a first generation college student could no longer stop me,” he says.

After earning a bachelor’s in broadcasting from ASU in 2002, Diaz was accepted into Teach For America, and moved to San Jose, Calif., where he taught high school English and English language development for the next five years.

In 2007, he received a master’s degree in Educational Equity and Social Justice from San Francisco State University. Although he received competitive offers to attend other universities, Diaz felt a commitment to his home state of Arizona and wanted to earn his doctorate at ASU with Gustavo Fischman, a professor in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation.

Diaz was awarded the Graduate College Doctoral Enrichment Fellowship for 2008-2009. The competitive fellowship supports first-year doctoral students who demonstrate academic excellence and are underrepresented in their field of study.

Diaz was inspired to not only encourage students on the path to higher education, but to find ways to more effectively train beginning teachers, particularly those who teach in poor and working class communities.

For his dissertation research, Diaz developed an innovative and original model for teacher training by combining two educational concepts known as PCK (pedagogical content knowledge, or "how" to teach the required content) with CHAT (cultural historical activity theory).

“By coupling the study of PCK and CHAT, Dr. Diaz breaks new ground, overcoming the limitations of previous studies in the field of teacher education,” Fischman says. “It will allow policymakers, faculty, administrators and students to plan, assess and implement better training and retention policies for beginner teachers.”

At ASU, “I've had the opportunity to work with amazing scholars, and publish research both with them and on my own,” Diaz says. In the last year, he presented two papers at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association, and authored two book chapters that will be published in different volumes.

As he accomplished all this, he also became a new father in December.

“I can't wait to tell my son, Benny, about what I did in between feedings and diaper changings,” he says, “and about what a rock of support my wife and his mother was for me during this time.”

He will accept a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College on May 2.

After graduation, he has accepted a position in Teach For America's Teacher Preparation and Support team, where he will design professional development and training for staff, who in turn will train and support thousands of teachers across the country.

“I also plan to continue the research projects I started at ASU, and publish my research accordingly.”

“I hope this degree stands as a demonstration of the power of an education,” Diaz says. “I also hope that my biography can be a source of inspiration and motivation for other people from similar backgrounds. I know I would not be here without the influence of those who came before me, so I hope that I can serve in that role for young people as well.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Arizona State University signed a Memorandum of Understanding designed to increase their outreach to diverse and underserved communities by offering internships, joint projects, and scientific research opportunities to ASU students and faculty. 



“EPA will benefit from the tremendous pool of talent, energy and commitment offered by Arizona State students,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “This collaboration will enhance participation in environmental studies by students from every corner of the state.” Download Full Image

Arizona State University offers leading-edge research and education in fields that impact health, energy and environmental quality. ASU, home to the Global Institute of Sustainability and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, has earned national recognition for the number of degrees awarded to Native American and Hispanic students. ASU has been able to attract a diverse student body through recruitment statewide and at community colleges.

“ASU is pleased to engage with U.S. EPA, Region 9 programs to bring together great minds to problem-solve some of the grand challenges facing society, such as finding the best methods to bring clean, potable water to our local communities,” said Diane Humetewa, special adviser to the President on American Indian Affairs. “In the process, we hope to build opportunities for students to learn from experienced EPA professionals and to consider careers related to the environment and natural resources.”

Community colleges throughout Arizona feed students into ASU, including Diné College and Tohono O’odham Community College. In the Fall 2011 semester alone, more than 6,700 Arizona students transferred from community colleges to ASU. EPA will work with ASU to enhance outreach efforts in Indian Country, an area the Agency has identified as a priority in its strategic plan.

Arizona is home to more than 250,000 Native Americans, with 20,000,000 acres of tribal land comprising more than 25 percent of the state. Arizona has more Indian Land than any other state.

The agreement between EPA and ASU provides numerous opportunities for both partners including:

• EPA coordination with ASU to enhance ASU’s outreach efforts to recruit diverse students seeking degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics;

• EPA student internships during summer and academic year, and EPA staff members serving as mentors or coaches for ASU students;

• Agency participation in career fairs to make students, faculty and alumni aware of employment opportunities at EPA;

• ASU faculty and student participation in public policy forums, presentations and other events at EPA;

• EPA staff participation in lectures, conferences and other events at ASU;

• EPA expertise for environmental curriculum development and teaching at ASU;

• ASU faculty serving as visiting scientists at EPA, working on joint research projects.

Data from the U.S. Department of Education has shown that the number of students, especially students of color and Native American students, pursuing science and other related technological careers is decreasing. ASU, with a current enrollment of more than 70,000, supports several programs geared towards minority students, and increased its numbers of Native American students from 902 in 1996 to 1372 in 2010. 

This week ASU faculty were honored for their contributions in the classroom, on campus, and in their academic communities.

The 2012 Faculty Excellence Awards were presented by ASU President Michael Crow and Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi, in the Memorial Union, on the Tempe campus, April 17.
  Download Full Image

Faculty Achievement Awards

Ten outstanding faculty members, representing a wide range of disciplines, were honored with 2012 Faculty Achievement Awards – an annual recognition celebrating faculty members’ top intellectual contributions for Excellence in Defining Edge Research and Creative Work as well as Excellence in Curricular Innovation.

Awards for Excellence in Defining Edge Research and Creative Work are presented for a specific contribution in the last 10 years that meets the highest standards of the discipline or profession, as selected by a panel of Regents’ Professors.

The award for Excellence in Curricular Innovation is introduced this year to recognize an innovation that has changed the learning environment in creative and meaningful ways while improving students’ learning outcomes.

The Writer's Studio: Excellence in Curricular Innovation
School of Letters and Sciences
The Writers’ Studio team, consisting of Andrew Bourelle, Tiffany Bourelle, Sherry Rankins- Robertson and Duane Roen, all English and rhetoric and composition faculty in the School of Letters and Sciences, worked collaboratively to redesign first-year composition courses. The online learning environment they developed allows teachers to work as a team to collectively facilitate and assess the learning of a large number of students with an emphasis on multimodal instruction and learner-centered pedagogy.

Anne Feldhaus: Defining Edge Research and Creative Work
School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies
honored for Humanities/Literary Work
Anne Feldhaus’s extensive and groundbreaking research has shaped our understanding of Hinduism in Maharashtra. Her research has led to greater understanding of the larger topics of place and religious practice, and the relationships between pilgrimage and archaeology in general. With unparalleled mastery of Marathi literature and Sanskrit, she has gained unique insight into Marathi culture and opened new areas of study to the world through her translations. Her work has become a model for scholars working in every region of the Indian subcontinent.

Petra Fromme: Defining Edge Research and Creative Work
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
honored for Natural Sciences/Mathematics
Leading a pioneering international research team alongside professor R. Bruce Doak and Regents’ Professor John C. H. Spence, Fromme’s work has led to the development of a revolutionary new approach to determining atomic structures utilizing pulsed X-ray laser radiation focused on a stream of micro-droplets containing nanocrystals or biomolecules. Fromme is being recognized for her extraordinary contributions developing methods for the preparation of biological nanocrystals and biomolecules, as well as X-ray diffraction analysis.

T. R. Hummer: Defining Edge Research and Creative Work
Department of English
honored for Best Performance or Art Work
Hummer is an American poet, essayist and musician. The author of 12 books, hundreds of poems and numerous essays, editorials and chapters, he continues to produce new forms of art. Hummer is being recognized for his latest book, "Ephemeron," which presents a beautiful and haunting meditation on ephemerality, exploring the boundary of being and nonbeing. His next book of essays, "Available Surfaces," examines the making of music and poetry, as well as the concept of “making.” It will be published this year.

Ajay Vinzé: Defining Edge Research and Creative Work
Department of Information Systems
honored for Professional Application
Professor Vinzé has applied his research in information systems to create response models for public health crises based on business inventory planning. The models allow researchers and policy-makers to simulate strategies and make informed decisions in anticipation of crises to promote public health and efficient use of resources. The software he developed has been used to design flu vaccination strategies for Maricopa County, saving more than $100 million annually, while preventing the flu and saving lives.

R. Bruce Doak: Defining Edge Research and Creative Work
Department of Physics
honored for Innovation
Professor Doak’s exciting innovations in beam techniques have made possible new methods of atomic structure determination. The technique delivers micro-droplets containing nanocrystals or biomolecules to intersect with a pulsed X-ray laser. His leadership on an international research team, alongside Professor Petra Fromme and Regents’ Professor John C. H. Spence to develop what is being called the “diffract and destroy” method is widely anticipated to have revolutionary impact on the fields of biology and biochemistry.

Daniel J. Hruschka: Defining Edge Research and Creative Work
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
honored for Young Investigator
Professor Hruschka has been called the most exciting young cultural anthropologist in the world for his trailblazing scholarship that spans the fields of anthropology, mathematics and epidemiology. While the scope of his work is extraordinarily wide – ranging from public health research on topics like obesity and vaccine acceptance, to fascinating multidisciplinary and cross-cultural study of friendship, to a large collaborative multi-country investigation into human virtue – its singular and very powerful point is the question: When does culture matter for decision-making?
 

Institutional Inclusion Awards

For the first time, two faculty members were honored with Institutional Inclusion Awards – presented to full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty for excellence in scholarship that significantly advances understanding of diversity and inclusion.

C. Alejandra Elenes, director of the Social Justice and Human Rights master's degree program at ASU's West campus, won the Faculty Google Award for Diversity and Inclusion. Elenes is an associate professor whose research focuses on the application of borderland theories to study the relationship between Chicana cultural productions and knowledge as they relate to pedagogy and epistemology.

The Social Justice & Human Rights degree program is based on an innovative learner-centered curriculum that emphasizes team-taught, problem-based, and community-embedded seminars, as well as professional internships.

The Faculty Google Award for Diversity and Inclusion is supported by a grant from the Google Corporation in recognition of ASU’s past and anticipated accomplishments in diversity. The Faculty Google Award comes with a $750 prize.

ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication took home the College Award for Contributions to Institutional Inclusion. The award was accepted by the school's dean Christopher Callahan.

The College Award for Contributions to Institutional Inclusion is presented to the dean of a college for the unit-level efforts which reflect the value ASU places on inclusion. The award, which recognizes integrated efforts that align with the university’s diversity plan and its emphasis on people, programming and policies, provides a $5,000 account that will enable the college to host a multi-day visit from a renowned scholar who exemplifies the intersection of excellence and inclusion in higher education.

For more information on the Faculty Excellence Awards, visit provost.asu.edu/awards.
 

Professor of the Year Award

Ian Gould, professor chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was awarded the ASU Parents Association Professor of the Year – an endowed professorship honoring those who best exemplify a passion for teaching and who excel in both undergraduate teaching and in their area of research and/or creative activity.

Professor of the Year recipients are given life-long designation as a Parents Association Professor and receive a $20,000 cash stipend – $10,000 of which is distributed over two years to fund undergraduate student assistance. They also are invited to become a fellow in the ASU Distinguished Teaching Academy.

Alfredo Artiles, a professor of culture, society and education in the School of Social Transformation, is one of 15 individuals to be honored for their scholarly achievements by the American Education Research Association (AERA) at the association’s annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, April 13-17. Artiles will receive the Palmer O. Johnson Award.

This award has been given by AERA since 1967 in recognition of the lifelong achievement of Palmer O. Johnson, a dedicated educator and pioneer in educational research and methodology. It represents the highest quality of academic scholarship published in one of four peer-reviewed AERA journals during the prior year: American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Researcher, or Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics.   Download Full Image

Artiles’ is being recognized for his article, “Toward an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Educational Equity and Difference: The Case of the Racialization of Ability,” published in Educational Researcher in December 2011.

The paper was based on the Wallace Distinguished Lecture that Artiles delivered at last spring’s AERA annual meeting.   

In the paper Artiles calls for interdisciplinary study of racial disparities in special education to contribute to a new generation of scholarship on educational (in)equity and the transformation of schools’ responses to difference.

“Race, class, and ability differences have been historically intertwined, creating tensions and paradoxes in educational responses to race and ability differences,” writes Artiles. “For instance, people with disabilities benefitted from the momentum built by the civil rights victories of racial minority communities as federal policies gave them rights and entitlements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. At the same time, concerns have been raised for some 40 years about the disproportionate identification of disabilities among some racial groups. The civil rights response for one group of individuals (i.e., special education) has become a potential source of inequities for another group (i.e., racial minority students) despite their shared historical roots and agenda for equity.” 

Artiles says 77 percent of students in special education in the United States fall into the subjective category of “struggling learners” – intellectual disability, learning disability, emotional disability – where the underlying assumptions about what constitutes “difference” often are invisible and fluid across cultures and contexts. Yet, these labels have distinct consequences for students’ lives and identities and schools’ responses.

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916, AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.

On the faculty at ASU since 2004, Artiles is recognized as a thought leader in the fields of special education and educational equity. He co-directs the Equity Alliance at ASU with professor Elizabeth Kozleski and in May 2011 was appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

Flavio Marsiglia, director of the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC) in ASU’s College of Public Programs, will receive a national award in Washington D.C. next month for his outstanding contributions to advancing the field of prevention science.

The Society for Prevention Research will present Marsiglia with the 2012 Community, Culture and Prevention Science Award at its 20th annual meeting on May 31. Recipients of this national award are recognized for work to enhance understanding of and the development of, and adaptation of effective prevention strategies for traditionally underserved populations, including racial and ethnic groups. Download Full Image

“I am humbled by my peers’ recognition,” said Marsiglia, who is also a Distinguished Foundation Professor of Cultural Diversity and Health at ASU’s School of Social Work. “I am also happy because this award will bring attention to the work being conducted at the SIRC, the School of Social Work, the College of Public Programs and ASU. This is also an acknowledgment of the very rewarding and fruitful research community partnerships we have developed.”

The Society for Prevention Research is an organization dedicated to advancing scientific investigation on the etiology and prevention of social, physical and mental health, and academic problems and on the translation of that information to promote health and well being. The multi-disciplinary membership of SPR is international and includes scientists, practitioners, advocates, administrators, and policy makers who value the conduct and dissemination of prevention science worldwide.

"This award is so fitting because the applied research Dr. Marsiglia has advanced embodies the aspirations of ASU as an agent of change in the world,” said Jonathan Kopell, dean of ASU's College of Public Programs and director of the college's School of Public Affairs. “Under his leadership, SIRC has emerged as a leader in the field not only in terms of understanding health disparities but in innovating solutions to vexing problems that positively affect countless lives. We are fortunate to have Flavio Marsiglia as a colleague and proud of this richly deserved recognition."

Marsiglia is the founding director and principal Investigator of SIRC, a national center of excellence funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  SIRC’s mission is “To generate use-inspired research on the social and cultural determinants of health in partnership with communities of the Southwest to prevent, reduce and eliminate health disparities.”

He received his doctorate in social work from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and his MSW from the School of Social Work at the University of Uruguay. A prolific writer, Marsiglia has authored and co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed journal articles, numerous book chapters and has co-authored a book titled "Diversity, Oppression and Change: Culturally Grounded Social Work." He has received several NIH awards supporting his program of research and directs SIRC’s global health initiative.  He serves on numerous scientific editorial boards, NIH scientific review boards, and has been elected to serve on boards of national professional organizations such as the Society for Social Work and Research and the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research.

More than 100 American Indian high school students from across Arizona attended RECHARGE, an outreach event on April 3 at the Downtown Phoenix campus and Heard Museum. ASU’s Diane Humetewa, special advisor to the president on American Indian Affairs, welcomed the students and encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunities they would learn throughout the day.

The event included personalized tours of the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus and Heard Art Museum and one-on-one interaction with ASU faculty and students. Through a student panel, American Indian Students United for Nursing, a School of Nursing and Health Innovation student organization, shared their university experience and offered valuable advice on taking advantage of the student support services offered at ASU. Download Full Image

Jacob Meders, ASU adjunct faculty, contemporary artist and Mechoopda Indian Tribe member, brought an inspiring keynote speech about the importance of higher education. Meders is represented by The Berlin Gallery at the Heard Museum. His work is collected by major universities and other institutions in the United States and internationally. In his keynote, he challenged students to have a broader vision of what the future can hold, and for what they have to offer to their communities and families.

Jamillah Anderson, jamillah.anderson@asu.edu
Educational Outreach and Student Services

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2012 edition of ASU Magazine.

While economists vigorously debate the effectiveness of federal economic stimulus programs, Valley residents can glimpse physical remnants of 1930s New Deal programs from the Great Depression. Towns in the Phoenix metro area developed a host of infrastructure as a result of New Deal projects: city parks, streets, even curbs. Download Full Image

But perhaps the most surprising legacy of President Franklin Roosevelt’s economic recovery plan is the breadth of Arizona-based art fostered by the New Deal. According to Betsy Fahlman, an art history professor at ASU and author of the 2009 book “New Deal Art in Arizona,” the program’s cultural agencies, including the Works Progress Administration, were responsible for the creation of artworks and art organizations throughout the state, in the Valley and on the ASU Tempe campus.

This federal aid helped solidify the arts scene in the fledgling state, which was less than two decades old when the stock market crashed in 1929. The result was that an area long known for its “Five Cs” of cotton, copper, climate, citrus and cattle, grew in notoriety for a human-made quality: culture.

“The government bureaucracy that gave cultural support under the New Deal created a sense of community among the state’s artists where there had been none before,” says Fahlman. “It was during this era that culture emerged as a sixth significant C.”

Old Main's masterpieces

Old Main, on the Tempe campus, is home to three artworks produced through the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), an agency that enriched the state’s cultural legacy considerably, despite only existing for five months during 1933 and 1934.

“During that short span, Arizona received eight murals, 21 oil paintings, 30 watercolors, six oil panels and a design for a decorative fountain,” said Dianne Cripe, an ASU alumnus and expert on public art, who works for the City of Goodyear.

Two of the visual treasures that haven’t disappeared over the years are a pair of seven-foot by 16-foot murals by Joseph Morgan Henninger that reside in Old Main’s Tooker Boardroom and Basha Family Library. Trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, Henninger came to Phoenix in 1933 and was captivated by the geographic extremes presented by the Southwestern landscape.

“I find this part of our United States severe, austere and harsh ... it is all sharp in its outline. ... In a word, this country is dramatic,” he wrote in a letter home to his parents.

His painting “Industrial Development in Arizona” reflects several of the aforementioned economically important “C’s”: the raising of citrus and cattle as well as hard rock copper mining. Fahlman says of the painting: “The view he presents of modern Arizona ... (conveys) the strength of labor and hard work that symbolized the progress in a young state that would eventually triumph over the Depression.”

A less optimistic viewpoint colors Henninger’s other painting, “Spanish Influence in Arizona.” The painting is dominated by a dramatic central figure protesting the treatment of indigenous peoples. This figure is flanked by a scene portraying the baptism of Native American youth by Catholic missionaries, as well as a setting that depicts the use of native people as forced laborers.

A third PWAP-funded artwork on view at Old Main sits outside on the building’s front lawn. Emry Kopta’s three-foot stone “Kachina Fountain” replaced an earlier water feature in front of Old Main and featured four kachinas, considered guardians of well being in Hopi lore. Kopta, who came to the United States from his native Austria, designed a grand nine-foot-tall Hopi Flute Player sculpture to stand atop the fountain, but the project’s funding ran out before a casting of the bronze statue could be completed.

Luckily for art lovers, the story doesn’t end there. In 2002, in accordance with the wishes of the Hopi Tribe, ASU cast a six-foot-tall version of the flute player figure and installed it in the courtyard of the Music Building on the southwest side of campus.

Sixth 'C' still resonating

The impact of the New Deal on the arts in Arizona seems beyond dispute. Fahlman points out that the cultural components in the state strengthened by the New Deal play a significant role in attracting and retaining a well-educated work force today. She had the opportunity to buttress this point in 2010, when she was tapped to edit the “Capitalizing on Arizona’s Arts and Culture” report to the 98th Arizona Town Hall.

“There is a wealth of hard information that supports precisely why the arts are important to Arizona’s economy and what a huge contribution they make to the state as a whole,” Fahlman said. “The arts and culture dollar is often stretched very thin, yet it makes an excellent return on monies invested, revealing that supporting the arts reaps positive benefits for the communities that invest in them.”

Written by Oriana Parker, a Scottsdale-based arts writer

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the March 2012 edition of ASU Magazine.

It doesn’t take a lot of work to figure out that there was something special about Nina Murphy. It only takes a few phone calls to some of her former students at Arizona State University. Tell them you want to talk about “Murphy’s Girls” – the loose gathering that occurs every year around Homecoming to honor her – and you’re golden. Download Full Image

A few samples of the reactions:

“About Nina Murphy? You can talk to me anytime.”

“The minute you said, ‘Murphy’s Girls,’ you had me. It was like throwing a line and getting the big fish.”

“It’s a strong heritage.”

It is, and a lasting one. Most of these women, these "Murphy’s Girls," are in their 70s and 80s. Most attended Arizona State College before it became a university, including a few who call themselves "the ’49ers," because they graduated in 1949.

But the impression made on their lives by Nina Murphy, a coach, professor and guiding force behind the women’s physical education department from 1924 to 1969, remains as strong as ever.

The institution that became ASU during her tenure matured during her years here. She arrived fresh from an Iowa teacher’s college and accepted a $15-a-month job coaching girl’s basketball at Tempe Normal School in 1924. One of her colleagues in the early years was Sara “Sallie” Davis Hayden, the daughter of Charles Trumbull Hayden, who was a founder of both the City of Tempe and the normal school that grew into Arizona State University.

Murphy became head of the women’s physical education department in 1936, and made full professor in 1949. When she retired in 1969 after 45 years of service, she left behind an excruciatingly well-documented history of her department covering the period from ASU’s founding until her retirement.

Murphy’s students remember her as a force of nature in the P.E. world.

“She was a special lady,” says Eloisa Segovia, 84, who is among the '49ers. “She was almost an institution here way back when.”

Way back when, indeed. Most of Murphy’s Girls arrived on campus long before women’s athletics were a thriving enterprise at ASU, or any other college. This was before women at ASU won national championships in golf, softball and track. This was before such a thing even seemed possible. This also was long before Title IX, the landmark legislation that ensured women would have equality in sports and other areas of education.

“I don’t think anyone would disagree that Coach Murphy and her fellow female coaches – including Anne Pittman, Mary Littlewood and others – shaped female athletics for not only the Sun Devils, but for many other female teams of their time and the future,” said Bridget Arenson, the associate director for membership benefits and events for the Sun Devil Club.

But however large Murphy’s role in establishing women’s athletics and physical education, for someone like Marcia Olney, who found college daunting, her impact was much more personal.

“I was kind of a lost kid,” said Olney, 72, a 1961 graduate. “I didn’t really know where I was going or what I was going to do.”

Enter Murphy.

“I signed up to be a (physical education) major,” Olney said. “My first class was Introduction to Physical Education, and Miss Murphy was the professor.” Murphy didn’t alleviate all of her concerns, exactly. She just made sure those concerns were dealt with.

“She had a way of keeping an eye on people so that we didn’t fall through the cracks.”

If that sounds a little vague, perhaps that’s because, in addition to her administrative duties, Murphy played a different role in the lives of different women. For Olney, it was helping her feel like a part of a group – in this case, other physical education majors.

“We became a team, a unit,” Olney said. “We got ourselves through college. We studied together, we played together, we suffered together, we celebrated together.”

Murphy was what brought them together.

“You can’t put your finger on it,” said Shirley Schmitz, a 1949 graduate, who is now 84. “Her capability in getting to the bottom of your problems was extraordinary. ... She could be tough. She could be kind. She could be placid. She was strong in her purposes. She was very much an individual who took an interest in how you were doing in your other courses besides the ones with athletics.”

Many of the women who studied under Murphy went on to work as teachers themselves. Others took different paths; Schmitz, for example, became a successful entrepreneur.

Time and distance, as they often do, would separate the women. Then, according to Segovia, in 1987, with the help of the Alumni Association and fellow Murphy’s Girl Karen Maglich, they started getting back together. Invitations went out to a homecoming gathering. That first year, at the old Holiday Inn on the corner of Rural Road and Apache Boulevard, about 25 of “Murphy’s Girls” reunited. After moving their reunion from place to place, they settled on the Karsten Golf Course, where they have met for the last few years to socialize, catch up on news, and honor the woman who influenced them so much, so long ago.

“Those were happy times,” Olney said. “It’s human nature to seek out good stuff. The reason we get back together is to remember the good times.”

And, of course, to remember Murphy.

“She knew,” Schmitz said, “how to get the best out of all of us.”

Written by Bill Goodykoontz, a Chandler-based freelance writer