Dr. Marty Jones and Dr. John Taylor were selected by Adams State College students to answer the questions, "If this was the last lecture you would ever give, what would you share?". The Adams State Autumn@Adams "Last Lecture" event starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15, in Adams State Porter Hall room 130. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

In April 2010, on-campus Adams State surveyed students selected the two professors, from past and current Presidential Award recipients, to participate in the event.

In his talk, "Acting Heroic: Lessons from a Life in the Theatre", Taylor will share the three "Big Picture" lessons that he has learned as a student and teacher while living a life in the theatre.

Jones' lecture, "Things I Learned Without Going to Kindergarten", was partially inspired by Robert Fulghum's 1990 book "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten". Without attending kindergarten, it wasn't offered in Jones' hometown, he said he still learned most of the kindergarten rules. "The focus of this presentation, though, will be lessons that are not explicitly mentioned in Fulghum's rules." Jones calls them the Four Es: Enthuse, Engage, Entertain, and Embrace Change. "Because of my particular profession, the presentation will have a definite slant toward applying the four Es to education, but I hope you'll find that the four Es apply equally well to other professions and to life in general."

Adams State Autumn@Adams Last Lecture event is modeled after Carnegie Mellon University's Last Lecture series, which became nationally recognized in 2007 when Dr. Randy Pausch was selected to give his lecture. Pausch, a computer science professor, conceived of his lecture after he learned that he had terminal cancer. His lecture has been viewed by millions since and is incorporated into school curriculums worldwide. For more information on Pausch's lecture visit www.TheLastLecture.com.

The goal of the Last Lecture event is to connect students, faculty, and community in an informal setting that will encourage reflection on the everyday convictions, actions, and challenges of a life journey. There are no predetermined standards or boundaries for this program which is designed to be entertaining, emotional, and inspiring.

The 2010 Autumn@Adams theme, "Everyone Has A Story To Tell/Todos Tienen Una Historia Que Contar" is an opportunity for community and campus to experience art, literature and food. For a complete schedule of events, visit http://www.adams.edu/autumn_at_adams/, or call 719-587-7827.

Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL), the largest and oldest student business organization, held its National Leadership Conference in Nashville July 9-12. Participants from around the country, and the world, were in attendance for this conference and the FBLA-PBL Institute for Leaders.

A.J. Webb and Nick Karpilo from Adams State College received national recognition at the PBL Awards of Excellence on July 12. Webb and Karpilo competed in marketing analysis and decision making and won third place. Earning a degree in a specific field is important to an individual's future success in the job market. This event recognizes PBL members who possess knowledge across the core curriculum in the area of marketing.

The award was part of a comprehensive competitive events program sponsored by FBLA-PBL. Individuals, state teams, and local chapters were encouraged to compete in any of the over 50 different events representing a wide range of activities and the business and leadership development focus of FBLA-PBL. The winners of these highly competitive and prestigious awards were selected from among FBLA-PBL's membership of 250,000 students and advisers and represent some of the best and brightest of today's youth.

Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Inc. is a nonprofit education association with a quarter of a million members and advisers in 12,000 chartered middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. Its mission is to bring business and education together in a positive working relationship through innovative leadership and career development programs. The association is headquartered in Reston, Virg. For more information, visit www.fbla-pbl.org.

The Board of Trustees for Adams State College unanimously approved a positive evaluation of President David Svaldi's job performance at its Aug. 27 meeting.

"We are pleased to award a grade of "A" for Dr. Svaldi's first four years as President of Adams State College," said Trustee Mary Griffin, head of the Board's Presidential Evaluation Sub-Committee.

The sub-committee's summary noted: "Dr. Svaldi was appointed as interim president at the end of a very tumultuous period for Adams State. Since his appointment, he has exceeded expectations, providing a steadying hand and unifying presence for students, faculty, and staff. He has truly brought the campus together."

Svaldi was appointed president of Adams State College in June 2006, after serving as acting and interim president during the preceding year. Now in his 25th year at Adams State, he joined the faculty as an associate professor of communications in 1986.

Griffin said: "Dr. Svaldi has chosen and empowered the staff and faculty at Adams State to achieve great things on behalf of the College. Witness our record enrollment, the launch of several successful graduate programs, the many capital projects and improvements around campus, and the palpable excitement, both within our growing campus community and within the larger Alamosa community."

Positive growth & change

The college expects to top last fall's record enrollment of 3,369 by about 5 percent, according to Dr. Michael Mumper, senior vice president for Enrollment & Program Development. He said the new freshman class is up 5 percent over 2009, and retention of first-time, full-time students from their first to second year increased this fall to nearly 60 percent. (Final enrollment data will be available Sept. 7.) Nearly 32 percent of undergraduate students are of Hispanic descent; Adams State is a federally recognized Hispanic Serving Institution.

Adams State now offers seven graduate programs, with additions in recent years including on-line counselor education, Master's in Business Administration, and a master's in higher education administration and leadership, begun this fall.

Construction will soon be complete on the college's first new student residence hall in 50 years, the Residences at Rex, and remodeling of existing student housing continues. A new stadium/community building is nearing completion, as is the new North Campus Green, which creates open, pedestrian-friendly space linking student life facilities.

Work will begin this winter to remodel the Education & Social Sciences Building, Music Building, and Leon Memorial Concert Hall. The college is also in the process of expanding on-campus parking lots.

The sub-committee further found: "Dr. Svaldi inherited a tenuous financial situation and has re-established a strong foundation for the college, one that will help the college weather the ongoing budgetary challenges presented by financial constraints at the state level."

The workshop will cover developing a stronger business sense, conducting successful marketing, working with galleries and contracts, legally protecting original art under copyright law, and more. This workshop has improved many local artists' business skills over the past several years. Following the workshop, ASC Community Partnerships will host the "No More Starving Artists" art exhibit in October, giving the participants a chance to practice what they learned.

The workshop cost is $125 per person, with a discount available to those who have taken the workshop before. Every participant will receive hand-outs, to take lessons home. The "No More Starving Artists" art exhibit is scheduled from October 4 through October 29, in the ASC Community Partnerships Gallery, located on the corner of Main St. and Edgemont Blvd in Alamosa, Colo. Contact ASC Community Partnerships at 719-587-8209 with questions, or to register for the workshop.

The Adams State College Autumn@Adams lecture by David Zirin, "Sports and Resistance in the United States" starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept.14, in Carson Auditorium. The talk will focus on how sports and resistance have intersected. Covering the past, present and future, the lecture take a look at the way athletes from Jack Johnson to Muhammad Ali to Billie Jean King protested on the playing field. The event is free and open to the public.

Zirin writes about the politics of sports for the Nation Magazine, their first sports writer in 150 years of existence, and is the host of Sirius XM Radio's popular weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. According to the website edgeofsports.com, Zirin was named of the UTNE Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World".

His latest book is "Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining The Games We Love," humorously details how sports franchise owners successfully squeeze every last penny out of their fan bases. Acclaimed "Shock Doctrine" author Naomi Klein claims that "not since Hunter S. Thompson has a sportswriter shown the right snarl for the job."

Zirin's other books include "A People's History of Sports in the United States," part of Howard Zinn's People's History series for the New Press, "Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics, and Promise of Sports", and "What's My Name, Fool?" Sports and Resistance in the United States".

Zirin has brought his blend of sports and politics to multiple television programs including ESPN's Outside the Lines, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, ESPN Classic, MSNBC's Morning Joe, CNN's The Campbell Brown Show, MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, Comcast Sports Network's Washington Post Live, Al-Jazeera's The Riz Khan Show, C-SPAN's BookTV, and Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.

He has appeared on national radio programs including National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered; Air America's 'On the Real' with Chuck D; The Laura Flanders Show; ESPN radio; Stars and Stripes Radio; The Joe Madison Show; Pacifica's Hard Knock Radio, and many others.

Zirin's writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, New York Newsday, the Baltimore Sun, the Houston Chronicle, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Pittsburgh Courier, and The Source.

The 2010 Autumn@Adams theme, "Everyone Has A Story To Tell/Todos Tienen Una Historia Que Contar" is an opportunity for community and campus to experience art, literature and food. For a complete schedule of events, visit adams.edu and click on the Autumn@Adams icon, or call 719-587-7827.

The Adams State College Board of Trustees passed a resolution opposing Amendment 60, Amendment 61, and Proposition 101 at their Aug. 27 meeting on campus. In consideration of the detrimental fiscal impact these measures would have on public higher education, the Board's resolution "urges the defeat of these measures at the Nov. 2, 2010, General Election."

According to an analysis compiled by the Colorado Legislative Council, the measures would have the cumulative effect of eliminating most state support for public higher education. The alternatives would be privatization of state higher education institutions and very large tuition and fee increases.

"If passed, these proposals would lead to the termination of the majority of state services. Revenues once used for prisons, public safety, higher education, and other publicly funded programs would be either eliminated or largely directed to K-12 to fill in the hole created by loss in property tax support," said Board Chair Tim Walters. "Regardless of an individual's political leaning, I would think that these draconian measures seem preposterous. Without funding for public services, we as a society will fail to exist. Not only will these proposals jeopardize the viability of public universities in our state and the ability to protect our citizens, but they will severely impair the ability to finance infrastructure like highways, schools, and water treatment systems. These two amendments and proposition are ill conceived and mean spirited. As a board of trustees, we support a resolution to defeat these proposals."

Adams State continues to be one of the most affordable four-year colleges in Colorado, in keeping with its mission of providing educational access for underserved state residents. In the current budget year, Adams State receives 35 percent of its total funding from the state general fund, according to Bill Mansheim, Adams State Vice President for Finance and Governmental Relations.

"We've managed budget cuts in recent years by freezing salaries, eliminating positions, implementing small tuition increases, and increasing enrollment," he added. "We've been creative up to this point, but I can't fathom a plan B where we can manage a cut of the magnitude that these initiatives would stimulate. They will drive the total elimination of our state support."

The Legislative Council's analysis estimates various provisions in the measures would create a $1.6 billion reduction in state sales taxes, income taxes, and telecommunications fees. This would result in a total 22.6 percent reduction in General Fund allocations to K-12 education, higher education, health care, corrections, and programs to help low-income, elderly, and disabled residents. Those areas currently account for 96 percent of the General Fund.

Amendment 60 calls for a 50 percent reduction in school district non-debt mill levies by 2020 and would force the state to make up the loss in K-12 public education; this would effectively be at the expense of higher education. The amendment would also require all state enterprises, including public colleges, to pay property taxes, while Amendment 61 would prohibit them from borrowing money in any form. This would prevent colleges from financing new educational facilities, classroom space, or student centers. The council noted this provision would have a very negative ripple effect on the construction industry and increase state unemployment.

The Adams State Board's resolution notes that "the state has reduced its support for resident higher education students to historically low levels in recent fiscal years" and that "the College has taken actions to reduce expenditures to accommodate reduced state support." The resolution concludes that "placing additional restrictions on the state's General Assembly limits the flexibility of the state to respond to economic opportunities as well as to emergencies of all forms."

Read details from Legislative Council.

Celebrated author, Laura Pritchett, is speaking on the Adams State College campus during the seventh annual Autumn@Adams celebration She will speak twice on Monday, Sept. 13, at 3 p.m. in the Nielsen Library Second Floor Commons and 7 p.m. in Porter Hall room 130.

The afternoon lecture will focus on the craft of writing, "How place informs character and plot." The 7 p.m. event, "Bridging the Sky: a discussion and reading with Laura Pritchett", will include a reading of Sky Bridge and book signing. Both events are free and open to the public.

Pritchett's book "Sky Bridge" was selected by the Adams State Common Reading Experience for incoming freshman to read and it is included in many curriculums. Set in eastern Colorado, "Sky Bridge" is the winner of the WILLA Literary Award and finalist for the Dublin International Award and the Colorado Book Award.

Publisher's Weekly calls "Sky Bridge" a "compassionate, finely observed first novel" and Bookslist writes, "In this spare yet haunting portrait of the American West, Pritchett's powerful, poetic voice speaks with clarity, wisdom, and passion about country, family, and one young woman's majestic spirit." Library Journal calls it a "captivating novel" that "offers a gritty but redeeming picture of a family that never quite lets go of hope, and characters who are not soon forgotten." This book was picked as a "Top Ten Books of the Year" by School Library Journal.

As the convocation speaker on August 20 at Adams State, Pritchett said she was impressed with the campus and community. "I was so taken with the small town feel -- the inclusive, warm, encouraging atmosphere was so apparent." She also appreciated the cultural events available on campus and in the community.

Adams State President Dave Svaldi escorted Pritchett to KRZA for a radio interview. "Not in a million years would that happen at CSU," Pritchett said.

Pritchett is editor/co-editor of three books: Home Land: Ranching and a West that Works, Pulse of the River: Colorado Writers Speak for the Endangered Cache la Poudre, and Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers.

Pritchett received her BA and MA in English at Colorado State University and her Ph.D. in Contemporary American Literature/Creative Writing at Purdue University. She teaches writing around the country and is a member of the faculty at Denver's Lighthouse Writers Workshop. She is a board member of the Rocky Mountain Land Library and the Colorado Art Ranch, teaches occasional writing courses, and is a freelance writer. Pritchett has had work nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and has served as the judge for several literary contests, including the 2005 PEN USA Award for Fiction.

She is currently finishing three books: a new novel entitled Blue Moon Mountain, a memoir called The Normal One, and an anthology about sex and nature. She lives in Colorado, near the small cattle ranch where she was raised.

The 2010 Autumn@Adams theme, "Everyone Has A Story To Tell/Todos Tienen Una Historia Que Contar" is an opportunity for community and campus to experience art, literature and food. For a complete schedule of events, visit http://www.adams.edu/autumn_at_adams/, or call 719-587-7827.

Adams State College Science Saturdays', in the Adams State Science Activity Center, schedule is set. The events are free and are open to the public.

Science Saturday is a series of structured activities where people of all ages explore science and mathematics in guided, hands-on activities. Materials are provided. Each Science Saturday will have a morning and afternoon session. Younger people are asked to attend from 9 a.m. until noon and afternoon sessions, 1 p.m. until 4 p.m., require more skills and the ability to work independently. Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

The first event, on October 2, will explore radios in the morning and robotics in the afternoon. The schedule includes October 23, morning catapults and trebuchets and afternoon solar energy; November 6, morning music and afternoon microcontrollers and music; November 20, morning science of crystals and afternoon math is a picture; December 4 morning and afternoon subjects are yeast and chlorophyll.

Participation in the structured sessions requires arrival at scheduled start time. Drop-in is allowed for those with a general interest in the center. Other equipment and demonstrations are available for exploration.

The Science Activity Center is on the north side of the Community Partnerships Building, located on Main Street and Edgemont Blvd. on the Adams State campus. Parking is available in the lot, accessed from Edgemont, immediately west of the Activity Center's outside door. For information email Dr. Randy Emmons at rwemmons@adam.edu.