It's Free! Fitness Center Opens
for Faculty, Staff Workouts

The valiant efforts of Tom Ormond, chair of the kinesiology department, has resulted in the opening of a free fitness center for faculty and staff in PE Weight Room 6. Hours of operation are Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 1-3 p.m. and Tuesday, Thursday from noon - 2 p.m. The facility is located off the hallway alongside the main gym near the dance studio.

"I just want everyone on this campus exercising," says Ormond who solicited funds from every major department and school on campus to ensure the center could be opened. To join the fitness center, bring your SSU ID card for identification and sign in at the front desk with your name, department, school, time of arrival. Work-out clothing should be worn with gym shoes.

If there are people waiting, only 20 minutes of cardio on the treadmills or elliptical machines will be allowed. "We've got a skeleton crew to manage and maintain the facility and support of this new program is imperative," says Nancy Crosat, administrative coordinator of the department. 

Those interested in acquiring a locker, should contact kinesiology equipment technician Gloria Allen at the central issue room located between the men's and women's rest rooms near the swimming pool.

Outdoor Leadership Symposium Offers
Look at Unique Career Field, Oct. 22

"More and more people are looking for outdoor opportunities that provide a safe yet thrilling experience, " says Rocky Rohwedder of the Department of Environmental Studies and Planning. The answer these days is the unique career field of "outdoor leadership" which can be found everywhere from ecotourism to corporate training to programs for "troubled youth."

An introduction to this field is slated at an Outdoor Leadership Symposium from 2 - 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 22 in the Environmental Technology Center at SSU. The symposium will consist of short student presentations on a wide variety of topics as well as a panel of outdoor leaders from around the Bay Area.

The symposium is open to the public and is free of charge. For more information, contact Rocky Rohwedder, professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Planning, at 4-2249.

New Location, Evening Hours, and Toys
for New Media Lab and Web office

Information Technology's New Media Lab has moved to a new room, Schulz 1058B, just across the hall from Media Services. Also home to the IT Web office, the NML is the place where faculty and staff can get hands-on assistance with a variety of new media applications, web development and WebCT support.

The new location lets the NML add evening hours to the schedule. Student assistants are on-duty in the NML Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings until 7 p.m. The full schedule, including daytime hours, is posted. Evening access is through the 24 hour lab, to the back door of the NML.

The NML has some new gear and software, too. In addition to all the software found in IT Labs, the NML has Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, In Design, Illustrator, Acrobat Professional), Respondus, StudyMate (makes flash study games), RoboDemo, Camtasia, SnagIt, Impatica, Dreamweaver MX 2004, Flash MX, GarageBand and more. A Smart Classroom cabinet duplicates the computer, data projector and AV equipment found in all the smart classrooms. Faculty can come to the NML for an orientation on smart classroom gear, or just drop by and practice with it.

Drop in or make an appointment with barbara.moore@sonoma.edu.

Agilent Gift to Engineering Science Dept. Agilent Technologies recently donated photonics and testing and measuring equipment valued at more than $150,000 to SSU's new Engineering Science Department. On hand to accept the gift from Agilent's Public Affairs Manager Jeff Weber (left) and Technology Strategy Manager Kenn Wildnauer (center) was Saeid Rahimi, dean of the School of Science and Technology. This new gift is in addition to Agilent Technologies' previous $1 million equipment donation to engineering science programs at SSU (Photo by Shahram Marivani.)

Theresa Alfaro Velcamp, History, presented a paper entitled, “Trachoma and Traversing Borders in Early Twentieth Century Mexico,” at the annual Latin American Studies Association conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 9.

Brian Wilson, Music, has completed a work for women's chorus and string orchestra which will be featured by the Harker School Conservatory (San Jose) during its upcoming tour of Vienna, Prague and Budapest. "Prayer for Peace" was commissioned by the Harker School and is based on the poem "Whispers from Eternity" by Paramahansa Yogananda. Wilson is currently working on a tone poem for klezmer band based on the Gollum legend.

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