Public invited to attend

The U.S.-Mexico border region is one of the most important trade corridors for North American businesses – representing a $460 billion economic relationship between the two countries.  Download Full Image

A critical staging point for U.S. commercial activity with Mexico – where approximately 80 percent of America's exports pass through or originate in that region – the border region is the key to unlocking the true potential of the U.S.-Mexico relationship.

Arizona State University and the U.S. Department of Commerce will host an international conference to gather thought leaders and innovators from throughout the border region to define strategies and execute regional initiatives to create jobs and enhance economic growth. 

Participants will include government officials, thought-leaders from academic institutions, pioneers in the business community, and representatives from civil society and international organizations.

The conference, “Realizing the Economic Strength of Our 21st Century Border: Trade, Education and Jobs,” is scheduled to take place Sept. 23-25, at the Fiesta Resort and Conference Center, in Tempe. It is open to the public. Cost for general admission is $175 for early-bird registration until Aug. 31, $225 for pre-registration from Sept. 1-22, and $250 for on-site registration Sept. 23-25. Student registration is $50.

There also is discounted admission fee of $175 per person for groups of 10 or more. To register, visit the website regonline.com/ASUtradeconference.

As a means of facilitating a dialogue that will feed into ongoing border governors’, legislators’, mayors' and commissioners' policymaking processes, the conference will focus on identifying regional solutions to border-related challenges and priorities, such as workforce needs and educational development; trade facilitation and supply chain solutions for cross-border trade; border infrastructure needs and regional border planning; public/private partnership opportunities and new innovative technologies; and identifying cross-border economic development and job creation strategies.

Featured speakers include: Ambassador Anthony Wayne, Assistant Secretaries for Trade Michael Camuñez and for Homeland Security Alan Bersin, several corporate CEOs, and ASU President Michael Crow.

For more information on the conference, contact Rick Van Schoik at 480-965-1846 and for logistics information, contact Doris Rasmussen at dorisras@asu.edu or 480-727-8539. For booth information, contact Alejandro Figueroa at jafigueroa@asu.edu.

Prize-winning Japanese author Hirano Keiichiro will read from his work and participate in a free multilingual reading and discussion at 4:30 p.m., Sept. 6, in the Pima Auditorium of the Memorial Union, on ASU's Tempe campus.

That event will be followed by a free Public Craft Q & A with Hirano at 4:30 p.m., Sept. 10, in the University Club, on the Tempe campus. Download Full Image

The events are sponsored by the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation, the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, and the School of International Letters and Cultures at ASU.

Hirano's principal English translator, Brent de Chene, also will be present. Other discussion participants on Sept. 6 will be Souad Ali, Anthony Chambers, Sookja Cho, Anne-Catherine Dutoit, Xiaoqiao Ling, and Ileana Orlich.

Hirano, born in 1975 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, won the Akutagawa Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in Japan, for the novel “Nisshoku” (“Eclipse”) while he was still an undergraduate at Kyoto University, making him one of the youngest-ever recipients in the 77-year history of the prize.

Hirano graduated from the Faculty of Law at Kyoto University and continued his writing career. His books and short-story collections have been widely translated, including “Soso” (“Farewell to the Departed”), “Shitatariochiru tokei-tachi no hamon” (“The Ripples of Dripping Clocks”), “Kekkai” (“Dam Break”), “Don” (“Dawn”) and “Katachi dake no ai” (“Artificial Love”).

De Chene is working on an English translation of Hirano’s novel “Eclipse.”

Chambers, who will participate in the Sept. 6 discussion, has translated Hirano’s short story "Clear Water,” which begins: “Clear water is dripping, far away. The day was unbearable, the sun scattering incessantly from the morning on. Wondering at dawn where my slumber had gone (it has stubbornly resisted company for a long time), I gazed through the curtains, marveling at the scene outside as if seeing it for the first time.” (Read the entire story here.)

For more information about the reading, call Sybil Thornton, 480-965-6552, or visit asu.edu/piper.

Daniela Borgialli, a faculty associate in ASU's School of Dance, in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, is competing this month in the Buenos Aires Tango Festival & World Cup in Argentina.

Borgialli spoke with NPR's Viviana Hurtado, host of "Tell Me More," about the dance festival and the lure of Argentine tango. Download Full Image

"There are lots of myths around the origins of tango," Borgialli told Hurtado. She said that while some people say that the dance originated in the slums of Buenos Aires, others argue that it started elsewhere – in brothels, in the suburbs alongside the music, and in places other than Buenos Aires.

Tango history aside, Borgialli says she got her start in ASU's School of Dance, where she was introduced to Argentine tango while pursuing her graduate degree.

"I fell in love," says Borgialli, who teaches dance at ASU and whose father is from Argentina. "It came into my life unexpectedly and it's been this love affair ever since."

Speaking of love, Hurtado asked Borgialli about the tango's romantic, seductive nature, as seen in such Hollywood films as "Scent of a Woman," starring Al Pacino, whose character in the Oscar-winning film says that the tango is simple and not nearly as complicated as life.

Not so, says Borgialli.

"I wish I could say it's super easy. It tends to be a pretty complex dance. ... The people who are most attracted to it are the people who love a challenge always. So it's like, oh, they learn something new and then it's like, 'well, wait a minute,' and then 'how does this work,' and then there's more. The next thing you know like, three years have gone by, five years have gone by, 10 years have gone by and you're still going, 'wait, and there's more.'

"So, here we are in 2012, there's all these little evolutions that are happening in the dance form, so more arguments about how it should or shouldn't be danced."

To listen to the full interview, click the link below.

The Institute of International Education recently announced its selection of Arizona State University to participate in the 2013 India initiative of the International Academic Partnership Program.  

As a participant in this key program, ASU faculty and administrators will engage in a series of site visits and interactive discussions arranged by the Institute of International Education to help forge, implement and sustain new, innovative partnerships with tertiary institutions in India. The strategy-building program includes a study tour to India in early 2013 to learn about the Indian higher education system and meet with potential partner campuses. Download Full Image

“As one of the so-called BRICs countries, India promises to play an increasingly important role in the global economy in the 21st century. Many ASU faculty members are engaged, directly and indirectly, in the study of India affairs. India also represents the country with the second largest number of international students at the university, many of whom are working on master’s and doctoral degrees. We plan to develop collaborative partnerships with both public and private tertiary institutions as a key component of ASU's global engagements,” said Elizabeth D. Phillips, ASU Executive Vice President and University Provost.

ASU will form a faculty task force lead by Denis Simon, ASU vice provost for International Strategic Initiatives in the office of International Strategic Initiatives, that will work on prospective partnerships, conduct an inventory of activities pertaining to India and develop a strategic plan focused on partnering with Indian institutions. Partnership activities may include joint programs, additional student exchanges or faculty linkages for collaborative research and teaching to provide resources to build partnerships with India and other countries.

“This initiative will allow us to establish a range of new academic partnerships that will support our internationalization goals regarding student recruitment, research collaboration and institutional cooperation,” Simon said. “India is one of the world’s most populous nations, but it also is a country where a great deal of emphasis has been placed on higher education as a mechanism to advance the country’s economic development goals.  We believe we can play a meaningful role preparing Indian students for the globalized world of the 21st century.  We also believe that this initiative will help open doors for ASU students and faculty to study and conduct research in India.”

The Institute of International Education’s Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education developed the IAPP program in 2009 with an initial two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. The goal of this grant was to help jumpstart an academic partnership program in higher education between the U.S. and other countries that would grow into a self-sustaining program.

“Higher education is an important area of the strategic partnership between the United States and India because of its impact on fostering collaboration on critical issues that we face today,” said Institute of International Education President Allan E. Goodman. “This new phase of the International Academic Partnership Program and the strong group of campuses will strengthen the educational ties between our two nations and pave the way for students and scholars from both countries to gain important international perspective. We remain confident that academic partnerships will continue to be a core pillar of the relationship between our two countries.”

During the 2010-11 academic year, India remained the second leading place of origin for international students in the United States (after China) with 103,895 Indian students enrolled in U.S. higher education, according to Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, published by Institute of International Education  with support from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Students from India accounted for approximately 14 percent of the total international student population. "Open Doors 2011" reports that India hosted 3,884 U.S. students in 2009-10, an increase of 44 percent from the previous year, mostly due to the collective efforts of the public and private sectors to increase U.S. study abroad to India.

How psychotherapists define and use sexual orientation in talk therapy will be the focus of a study recently awarded $60,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Patrick Grzanka, Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University, and Joe Miles, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, are co-investigators for the study, which was funded by the Science, Technology and Society Program at the NSF. Under Grzanka’s direction, a group of undergraduate students from Barrett – called the Social Action Research Team – will assist with the study. A graduate research assistant from University of Tennessee also will participate. Download Full Image

According to Grzanka, the study will consist of the qualitative analysis of a recently released online archive of 20 educational videos that involve the topic of sexual orientation. The videos contain more than 1,200 minutes of actual psychotherapy sessions, simulated psychotherapy sessions, and documentary-style clips about sexuality and mental health. Professional psychologists developed the films to train other psychologists about sexual orientation issues in psychotherapy, also called “talk therapy.”

Grzanka said the films offer rare insight into how psychotherapists think about sexual orientation as a mental health issue or problem, and how they treat clients who have sought psychological help about sexuality and identity.

The study seeks to contribute to science and technology studies (STS) knowledge about psychology as an applied science. Grzanka and Miles will explore, using rigorous qualitative analyses, how therapists and their clients produce ideas about sexual orientation together, drawing on both scientifically grounded and cultural knowledge about what sexual orientation is and why it is connected to mental health. They also will explore the intersections of sexuality, as an object of psychological science, with other dimensions of identity, including race, gender and religion.

“We think our study will address some important questions in sociology of science, gender studies and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) studies about why sexual orientation has become such an important part of the practice of psychological science in the United States,” Grzanka said, adding that findings from the research also could have the potential to improve training of psychotherapists.

Grzanka said he and Miles will present their initial research findings at the National Women’s Studies Association conference in November in Oakland, Calif., and at an upcoming annual convention of the American Psychological Association. They also will write articles about their research for science and technology studies journals as well as develop a searchable database of relevant literature at socialactionrt.org.

How can music and art be used as a vehicle for building greater tolerance for cultural differences? How can we make the culture and history of the U.S. border region understandable to the average American?

These are a few of the timely themes highlighted in a documentary film by award-winning filmmaker Paul Espinosa, who is a professor in ASU's School of Transborder Studies. His film, "Chunky: The Making of a Social Activist," tells the story of Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, a southern California musician, composer and community activist. Download Full Image

“This documentary examines how Sanchez’ personal development as an activist is interwoven with the broader history of the Chicana/o community in the U.S. and the unique cultural dynamics of the U.S.-Mexican border,” says Espinosa.

Influenced by the social unrest he witnessed in his youth as both a child of farm working parents and as a student during the turbulent 1960s, Chunky became a central figure in the early days of the Chicana/o movement and continues to be instrumental in today’s immigrant rights protests.

Chunky's music captures the spirit of a generation driven to make significant changes in their lives and their communities. His music doesn't just reflect the struggles within the community since the 1970s, it has come to constitute and embody these struggles, actually shaping their trajectory, becoming synonymous with community pride, ethnic empowerment, and local autonomy in powerful ways that generate emotion and cultural connections.

The Institute for Humanities Research and the School of Transborder Studies will present a screening, Oct. 1, of a work in progress of the documentary, followed by lunch and a panel discussion featuring Espinosa and several scholars advising on the film including Luis Alvarez, associate professor of history at the University of California, San Diego; Estevan Cesar Azcona, adjunct assistant professor of Mexican American Studies at the University of Houston; and Michelle Tellez, assistant professor in ASU's New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.

The screening and discussion will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Alumni Lounge (room 202), in the Memorial Union on ASU’s Tempe campus. The event is free and open to the public, but admission is by R.S.V.P. only.

Espinosa has been involved with producing films for more than 30 years. He specializes in documentary and dramatic films focused on the U.S.-Mexico border region. Espinosa's major national production credits include "California and the American Dream," "…and the earth did not swallow him," "The Lemon Grove Incident," "The Border," "Taco Shop Poets," and "The U.S.-Mexican War: 1846-1848." His films have been presented at festivals around the country and have won many awards, including eight Emmys, five CINE Golden Eagle awards, and a Golden Mike award.

Espinosa and Michelle Tellez are the recipients of an IHR Seed Grant award for this project. The IHR competitive Seed Grant aims to launch new projects while also enhancing grant proposals with the goal of increasing the opportunity for external grant funding.  

To R.S.V.P., visit ihr.asu.edu/news-events/events/chunky-making-social-activist. For more information, contact the IHR at 480-965-3000 or ihr@asu.edu.

Arizona State University will travel to northeastern Arizona during the week of Aug. 13 to encourage youth to consider higher education. Led by the ASU President’s Office of American Indian Initiatives, current ASU students and staff will provide outreach, academic guidance and college preparation tips to American Indian students, families and communities.

In 2011, ASU received a College Access Grant from the Arizona Governor’s Office to bring information about higher education to tribal communities throughout Arizona. As a result, ASU’s Tribal Nation’s Tour (TNT) traveled to 22 schools in 17 Arizona Indian tribal communities, including the Tohono O’odham Nation, Hopi Tribe, Cocopah Nation, Gila River Indian Community, Yavapai-Apache Nation, White Mountain Apache Tribe and other tribal nations. Through these visits, TNT has reached more than 2,400 elementary and high school students, and more than 380 parents and school personnel.  Download Full Image

TNT recruits current ASU students to travel to some of Arizona’s rural Indian tribal communities to share their experiences through personal stories, skits and a variety of activities to encourage young people to go to college.

Many of these ASU students come from the very communities that the TNT visits. 

“I go out on TNT trips to encourage students," said ASU junior Diedra Vasquez (Navajo/Tohono O’odham), an active TNT participant. "But the tours also helped me realize that we need to support the youth. Many are our brothers and sisters, and we need to work to get them here – to higher education.”

ASU has one of the highest American Indian/Native American student populations in the nation. In the 2011 academic year, approximately 2,000 American Indian students were enrolled at ASU.

ASU also is a leading university in the country for awarding graduate degrees to American Indian students. ASU President Michael M. Crow has built ASU’s success around a new model for the American research university that is committed to excellence, impact and access. Ensuring access to ASU’s excellent educational resources includes working with tribal communities to ensure higher education is not a dream but a real possibility.  

The ASU Tribal Nations Tour kicks off the 2012 academic year next week with a visit to the Navajo Nation. Twenty-one ASU students and staff will embark on a six-day tour of Navajo Nation-based schools including Chinle Junior High; Many Farms Community Schools; Rock Point; Red Mesa Junior High; Kayenta Middle School; Monument Valley High School; Shonto Preparatory; Kaibeto Boarding School; Tuba City Boarding School; and Tuba City Unified Schools. 

For a future visit by ASU to your school or community, contact Annabell Bowen, at 480-727-8325 or annabell.bowen@asu.edu.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication received the inaugural Institutional Inclusion Award from Arizona State University in recognition of its efforts to advance diversity and inclusion at the institutional level.

ASU’s new College Award for Contributions to Institutional Inclusion was presented to Dean Christopher Callahan at the 2012 Faculty Excellence Awards ceremony. The award honors an ASU college whose efforts to promote diversity and inclusion align with ASU’s diversity plan and reflect the value the university places on inclusion. Download Full Image

The award includes a $5,000 grant to fund a visit to the school from a renowned diversity scholar as part of the university’s Diversity Scholar Series, an initiative established in 2004 by the Office of Institutional Inclusion to promote discussion of diversity issues.

In presenting the award, ASU Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi praised the Cronkite School’s “remarkable commitment” to inclusion, citing the school’s development of a specialization focused on reporting in Latino communities, its establishment of the first student chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and its outreach to minority high school and undergraduate students as well as its support of innovative faculty projects that explore diversity issues. Capaldi also noted that the school’s minority enrollment has increased in recent years.

"We're honored to receive the university's first college inclusion award," Callahan said. "It's a testament to the importance of news media diversity to our talented faculty, dedicated staff and passionate students."

The announcement comes as a group of Cronkite students, faculty and staff represents the school at this year’s UNITY Convention, a gathering of journalists of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender journalists; and media professionals and journalism educators interested in issues of diversity and inclusion in the news media.

A new national journalism awards program will recognize excellence in reporting on disability issues and people with disabilities.

The Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability is the first national journalism contest devoted exclusively to disability coverage. It is administered by the National Center on Disability & Journalism, headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, under a grant from Katherine Schneider, a retired clinical psychologist who also supports the Schneider Family Book Award. That awards program is administered by the American Library Association and honors the best children’s books each year that capture the disability experience for children and adolescents in three age categories. Download Full Image

Entries for the new journalism award will be accepted beginning early next year at http://ncdj.org. Each entry may consist of a single story or story package published in print or online or broadcast on radio or television. The first-place winner will receive an award of $5,000 and an invitation to speak at the Cronkite School. A second place award of $1,500 also will be given, and judges additionally may give $500 honorable mention awards.

Entries must be published or aired between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, and submissions will be due on Aug. 1, 2013. The inaugural winners will be announced shortly after that.

“I'm thrilled to sponsor these awards for the best of the best reporting on disability issues,” Schneider said. “The Cronkite School is the perfect place for these awards to be housed. I eagerly await the judges' selection of the first year's winners.”

Schneider, who has been blind since birth, hopes the award will help journalists improve their coverage of disability issues, moving beyond “inspirational” stories that don’t accurately represent the lives of people with disabilities.

“That kind of stuff is remarkable, but that’s not life as most of us live it,” she said.

NCDJ, which has been housed at the Cronkite School since 2008, offers resources and materials for journalists covering disability issues and topics.

Kristin Gilger, Cronkite associate dean and administrator of NCDJ, said an estimated 56.7 million people in the U.S. – about 19 percent of the country’s population – live with disabilities of some kind. But while there are journalism awards on virtually every other important societal topic, including religion, poverty, injustice, minorities, women and children, government, politics and health care, there is no comparable award recognizing work on the topic of disabilities.

“We hope to call attention to the really good work that is being done in this area and to encourage more of it,” Gilger said.

This is the second national journalism awards program operated by the Cronkite School. The Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism are administered by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, which is headquartered at the Cronkite School. 

Arizona likely will experience a dramatic shift in the state’s political landscape over the next decades due to the large number of younger Latinos coming of voter age, according to a new report by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy.

"Arizona’s Emerging Latino Vote" uses new data and projections to illustrate Arizona’s real potential for changing from a red state to a blue state over the next few decades. Some political observers say that change already is beginning to take place. Download Full Image

“Arizona’s Latino population is only 20 or 30 years away from dominating the state’s political scene – if they choose to do it,” said David Daugherty, director of research at Morrison Institute. “But, if they want a bigger and growing voice in Arizona politics they must register and vote in larger numbers than they do today. If they do that, their voice in Arizona will be very loud indeed.”

Data in the report includes Census information, as well as political party loyalty and voting tendencies among Latino voters.

The report evaluates various projection models that show, because of the large influx of potential Latino voters, Democratic Party rosters mirroring or surpassing Republican voter registration by 2030. Non-aligned Latino voters were considered in the analysis, as well, with the ranks of Independent voters – many of them Latino – soon eclipsing both major traditional parties.

The report summary notes:

Data and demographics tell us a change in the political face of Arizona is on the horizon with the emerging Latino voter. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

"Arizona’s Emerging Latino Vote" was co-authored by Bill Hart, Morrison Institute senior policyanalyst and E.C. Hedberg, ASU faculty associate. It is the first publication of Morrison Institute’s Latino Public Policy Center, which will officially launch later this fall.

“The voting booth is just one area that will be impacted and changed by the influx of younger Arizonans, a majority of whom are Latino,” said Joseph Garcia, director of the new Latino center. “But elections are a key and important area, with the results helping elected officials and other policy makers to more quickly respond to changing public policies shaped by demographics, specific needs and voter mandates.”