It’s not “all work and no play” at the Fulton Schools! In addition to your academic activities, we hope you’ll also take some time to have fun. We make sure our Freshmen get a spirited start to their Fulton Schools journey with E2, but the fun doesn’t stop there. And if you hadn’t noticed already, on Fridays we wear gold.
Faculty and staff are an integral part to making many of these traditions and spirit events and programs possible for our students. Take note of a few traditions you shouldn’t miss out on!
Kristin Olafs
Kristín Ólafs, Special Events Manager, is a key figure in coordinating special events for the Dean’s office, including our big traditions of the Homecoming Block Party and Convocation and many more events throughout the year. She keeps it all running smoothly by making sure all the pieces fall into place from scheduling to volunteers to catering.
Along with Kristín, Jade Silva, Hope Parker and other staff make these great events and programs fun for everyone involved.
Homecoming
Join us for the Homecoming Block party on Saturday, October 22, 2016. Entertainment starts four hours before kickoff with a parade and block party. Student orgs and other groups can sign up to be part of the parade.
Faculty, staff and students can share their Sun Devil pride at the Block Party three ways — show your Fulton Schools pride as an exhibitor, help make the party great as a volunteer or be our guest for some great barbecue! Show students, alumni and all of the Sun Devil community what awesome things you’re working on with demos and hands-on fun.
Sign up to exhibit at the Homecoming Block Party by October 14!
You can also sign up to volunteer at the Homecoming Block Party. It’s the place to be to show your love for engineering and technology! You can also network with faculty, staff, students, alumni and the local community. Volunteers who work more than three hours get free BBQ at the end of their shift!
Want to volunteer? Contact Elizabeth Cross at elizabeth.cross@asu.edu.
If you’re not ready to be an exhibitor or volunteer, we hope you’ll be our guest at the party. Everybody can join us for activities, but only ticket holders receive a free meal!
Sign up to attend the Homecoming Block Party and get free BBQ!
Learn more about ASU’s Homecoming festivities
Krisín Olafs is working hard to throw the best party on the planet on the last day of Homecoming Week. Be sure to thank her if you see her at the event!
Elizabeth Cross, special events attendant who reports to Kristín Olafs, assists in the coordination of logistics for all Engineering Deans Office events, including Homecoming, Convocation, Night of the Open Door, Football and Basketball Tailgates, and serves as Floor Manager for Engineering Convocations. She is also the volunteer coordinator for all Dean’s Office events. Elizabeth started working at Fulton Schools as a student worker for Engineering Technical Services in 2010, before joining the Dean’s Office events team as a special events assistant in 2012. As of May 2014, she is a full-time staff member of the Dean’s Office events team.
Study Abroad
Experiencing a new culture and learning professional engineering practices from around the globe are valuable experiences that make students competitive in the job market. Students can choose from exchange and partnership programs and faculty-directed summer or semester programs. Promote study abroad opportunities to your students, and create your own! Work with the Study Abroad Office (SAO) to plan, create, and teach a study abroad program. Leading a study abroad program provides global competence for you and your students, adds experiential learning to your courses and is a great opportunity to better connect with your students. It also enhances your teaching, research and service, and provides a fully supported method to travel and conduct academic work abroad.
Find out more about study abroad and how you can get involved
Brittany Martin and Jade Silva
Jade Silva, Coordinator Senior – Student Engagement, currently oversees the Fulton Schools Study Abroad programs — Coordinator for Student Engagement Brittany Martin will resume her leadership position in Study Abroad when she returns in December. Jade and Brittany help to get students connected with opportunities, review scholarship applications, work in collaboration with study abroad on providing experiences for Fulton Schools students and provide information on the various types of study abroad opportunities that meet students’ specific needs.
Outreach
At the Fulton Schools we like to share our passion for STEM education with the wider community and help young students see engineering as a path they, too, can pursue. This year, DiscoverE Day is reinvented as Field Trip Days, and still involves days throughout the academic year where elementary, middle and high school students explore a day in the life of our engineers through hands-on activities with Fulton Schools students and tour our facilities. Night of the Open Door invites all of the local community to see what’s happening in our labs and other facilities, participate in hands-on activities and demos and learn about engineering, technology, aviation, construction, design and more. Students can help inspire the next generation of engineers in these events, and outreach programs like FIRST® Robotics, which also help build valuable mentoring skills.
For faculty, outreach opportunities are a great way for you to strengthen your proposals, especially National Science Foundation proposals, and your K-12 STEM education initiatives. They’re also a great volunteer opportunity for faculty, staff and students to inspire future Sun Devils and STEM professionals.
See all the outreach events and programs we put on, and look for announcements on how to get involved in In the Loop.
Tirupalavanam Ganesh
Assistant Dean Tirupalavanam Ganesh works with university students, P-14 populations, engineering faculty and teacher candidates/mentor teachers. As a Tooker Professor he is working on developing several outreach programs. Young Engineers Shape the World is a two-year program aimed at female high school students enrolled in advanced placement/international baccalaureate programs to enhance their interest in engineering and enroll in an engineering program. Engineering Futures a pilot for a subset of our 2016 freshmen aimed at building a network of peers, alumni, and professionals to help the class build greater awareness of the workplace and entrepreneurship/Internet of Things skills. Engineers for Education a program for undergraduate engineers to inspire middle and high school youth to become more aware of engineering as a socially relevant profession.
Hope Parker
Hope Parker, associate director, advocates awareness, education, social and personal impact, and inspiration for our next generation and our future. Along with the fabulous P-14 Engineering Education and Outreach team, Hope helps to build engineering and social entrepreneurship based programs and opportunities for preschool through community college students. From summer camps to FIRST LEGO League robotics to EPICS High to SPARK App league to faculty support, the team has something for everyone!
Hilary Mitchell
Hilary Mitchell, coordinator sr., runs the FIRST Lego League and Jr. programs — more than 430 teams across the state of Arizona! Ask her about how to incorporate robotics into your program or volunteer for one of many events!
Jennifer Velez
Jennifer Velez, coordinator sr., has the awesome pleasure of managing the EPICS High program for middle school, high school and community college students. Contact Jennifer to learn how you can support this social entrepreneurship program in your community.
Lauren Preble
Coordinator Lauren Preble coordinates various P-14 events at both Tempe and Polytechnic campuses. The main ones are Summer Fulton Academy summer camps, A Day in the Life Of…Field Trip Days, Girls’ Makeathon and Gear Day (with the help of SWE and WiSE), Night of the Open Door, plus others! She also works with Ganesh with his Engineers for Education and Young Engineers Shape the World programs, which work to provide outreach experiences to high school students and professional development training to students in Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s College.
Convocation
After cheering on your students at ASU Commencement on Monday, December 12, it’s time to recognize your students at the Fulton Schools Convocation ceremony. Convocation is a high-spirited event to celebrate undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in the six Fulton Schools. All graduating students will walk across the stage to receive congratulations from the deans and program chairs. Faculty advisors will place hoods on their doctoral students, but master’s students will not be hooded on stage.
Make sure your graduating seniors, master’s students and doctoral candidates know about Grad Fair events in October. This is where they can get their caps and gowns, announcements, class rings and more.
Don’t forget your own graduation regalia (watch for announcements in In the Loop later this semester on how to rent or buy) and save the date for convocation: Tuesday, December 13, 2016.
Convocation is a success every year for thousands of students and their friends and families thanks to Kristín Ólafs’ monumental efforts to throw the best graduation celebration at ASU.
Order of the Engineer
Graduating seniors and alumni from ABET-accredited programs and professional engineers can make a lifelong commitment to the engineering ideals of integrity, pride and responsibility through the Order of the Engineer. Professor of Practice Steven Trimble was the first to organize an Order of the Engineer event for his Senior Design class graduates, and it soon grew to be an entire Fulton Schools tradition. This commitment is symbolized by a ring worn on the small finger of your working hand.
Watch In the Loop for registration and event info for the Fall 2016 event.
Jade Silva oversees the Order of the Engineer event activities. She coordinates registration, invitation and event logistics. Jade also finds guest speakers and sponsors, and works with the Alumni Association on this event.
