Requiring student vote is right for success fees Opinion Tuesday February 3, 2014
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
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CSUF’s Ravizza taps into athletes’ psyche Sports
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Volume 97 Issue 4
‘Dinner’ will bring Titans together New program will allow students, alumni to connect CECILY MEZA Daily Titan Cal State Fullerton students will have the chance to network with CSUF through the CSUF Alumni Association’s new Dinner with 12 Titans program. The program encourages students to network and be mentored by alumni who have developed careers and a life after graduation. The concept of the program was derived from the idea of Dinner for 12 Strangers and will give students and alumni the opportunity to come together and connect in a more intimate setting. Dinner for 12 Strangers, a program that takes place at multiple universities across the country, brings university alumni together with students and faculty to create relationships across generations and give students the chance to network with successful alumni. The program will use $2,000 of the Alumni Relations office’s $53,000 budget for the year. The funds will be used for marketing tools such as flyers and banners to promote the program and encourage students to sign up. The alumni who will be hosting the dinners will fund their meals personally, with food either catered or cooked by the host. Dianna Lopez Fisher, executive director of Alumni Relations, played a part in bringing the program to CSUF after she was involved in implementing similar programs at UCLA and UC Irvine. Fisher said she hopes the program will help expand the Titan community and give students the chance to get out and meet new people. “There is something bonding about sharing a meal together,” Fisher said. “This type of event provides a unique opportunity to get students out meeting new people from the Titan community.” Fisher also believes this will give students the opportunity to connect with alumni on a more intimate level with a home-cooked meal. Although students may be hesitant to sign up to eat in a stranger’s home, Assistant Director of Alumni and Campus Communities, Justin Gerboc, said the alumni hosts are feeling the pressure as well. “It’s funny, they’re a little bit nervous,” Gerboc said. “It’s fun to allow for some of that human connection because I imagine as a student, going to alumnus’ home whom you don’t know, you may not know the other students who are there … all of that creates this unique atmosphere of vulnerability, but also then opens up the door for connection.” Gerboc emphasized that the program’s main focus is to encourage students to build connections and relationships. SEE DINNER
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HEAVEN OCAMPO / DAILY TITAN
The “History of Botanical Illustration” class arranged by Cal State Fullerton alumna Tania Marien focused on plant documentatin and the appreciation of plantae in everyday life. Attendee, Dolores Fournier, above, sketches attentively.
Visualizing nature through art Illustration class helps to create plant awareness HEAVEN OCAMPO Daily Titan Nature is all around us and plants exist everywhere. But very few actually spend the time to learn more about the different plant specimens that populate the world around them. Driven to make a change, alumna Tania Marien, is working to change how students visualize nature— through the process of illustration, science and interpretation. Moreover, Marien has made it her mission to eradicate, what she refers to as, “plant-blindness,” which she describes as people being more familiar with animals than they are with plants.
On Jan. 29, Marien offered one of many classes to assist in her mission. The “History of Botanical Illustration” class had 11 students with sketchbooks, ready and eager to learn about plant documentation. Not everyone who attended had experience with botany, but all shared a common interest—a desire to learn about the plants around them. The course consisted of an introduction to botanical illustration, followed by an exploration of the Fullerton Arboretum to sketch out different plant life within the gardens. Marien led her class to a banana tree and gave them a demonstration on banana flowers and all their various parts. Students had the opportunity to walk along the paths and draw specimens that were unfamiliar to them. After becoming a botanist-artist-explorer,
students learned how sketches of plants are made into prints for field guides. Marien has a large array of field guides she has collected over the years, which she displayed at the back of the classroom. “There is an art element to all of my classes,” Marien said. “The objective is to provide multiple points of entry to learn about plants and to use drawing to observe.” Recently-retired forest ranger and resident of Yorba Linda, Steve Segreto, discovered the class through the Arboretum website. “All my years of being in the forest, I never really learned to draw very well,” Segreto said. Segreto explained that he has carried an interest in nature since he was a child, and hoped the class would help him learn more SEE BOTANICS
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HEAVEN OCAMPO / DAILY TITAN
Instructor Tania Marien shows the class a banana tree. The class then illustrated and made prints of the tree.
Gathering change for the better Students hope to raise thousands for pediatric charity ELAIZA ARMAS Daily Titan The Student Athlete Advisory Committee started collecting coins Monday as part of a returning competition between Big West Schools to benefit various charitable causes. The competition—the 8th annual Big West Coin Drive—runs through February. During this time, the committee must set up a location on campus to collect coins for their chosen charity. Three-quarters of the money raised will be donated to the school’s charity, and the other 25 percent will go to the winning institution’s charity, according to the Big West Conference website. Cal State Fullerton has
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previously donated its funds to the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, which devotes its resources to children who have suffered neglect, abuse or abandonment. This will be the first year the committee donates funds to a different cause, the Pediatric Cancer Research foundation. “I think that this year we wanted to expand the horizon of who we’re donating to, and cancer research— especially pediatric cancer research—found me close to home,” said Adriana Gjonovich, vice president of the committee. Pam Newton, life skills coordinator for Titan Athletics, said the committee wanted to support adolescents fighting cancer in the hopes of providing better opportunities for the patients. The connection between a young cancer patient and the athletes made the charity choice appropriate. SEE COIN
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The Student Athlete Advisory Committee will raise funds for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation during the 8th annual Big West Coin Drive. VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM