Recently in Cal Poly Pomona Category

Cal Poly Pomona in conjunction with the Inland Empire United Way will offer free tax preparation assistance to low income families and senior citizens beginning Feb. 13 at three locations around the city.

A team of 60 Cal Poly Pomona accounting students and volunteers have gone through special training using professional tax software provided by the Internal Revenue Service, according to a statement from Cal Poly. They have also prepared using IRS training manuals in addition to being tested on the topic, the statement said.

Cal Poly students have prepared for this project through a course "Service Learning in Taxation," the statement said.

The free service is available to senior citizens and to people who in 2009 had a gross yearly income of $50,000 or less.

Students have a knowledge of tax credits and who qualifie for them especially among low income families. It's possible that someone who may not have to file a tax return may be eligible for some tax credits, the statement said.

A majority of the students participating in the program speak more than one language and are prepared to assist clients in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, the statement said.

The free service will be available every Saturday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m from Feb. 13 to April 10 at the following locations:

- The Boys & Girls Club of Pomona Valley, 1420 S. Garey Ave.

- The Pomona office of the Inland Empire Credit Union, 435 W. Mission Blvd., Suite 100

- YMCA of Pomona Valley, 350 N. Garey Ave.

Appointments aren't required.

The service is provided through Cal Poly Pomona's College of Business Administration, its accounting department along with the Inland Empire United Way.

The "Vagina Monologues" returns to the Cal Poly Pomona campus with the goal of using theater to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual violence.

"Whether you know it or not, there are women on campus who have experienced some kind of assault, domestic violence or rape. We want people to know that it's not OK," said Jenny Powell, in a statement released by the university this week. "We need to make a change here and around the world."

Powell, a sophomore majoring in English education, and Samantha Muir-Valdovinos, a junior majoring in gender, ethnic and multi-cultural studies are the student directors of the play.

The "Vagina Monologues" is more than entertaining theater, Muir-Valdovinos said.

"We're here to spread awareness about important issues that most people are afraid to talk about," she said in the statement.

A total of 45 women will take part in the place making this one of the largest productions since the university began putting on the performance more than a decade ago, the statement said.

English language productions will be offered at 7 p.m. on Feb. 5 and 6 in the Bronco Student Center's Ursa Major Suite.

A Spanish production is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 13 at the same time and location.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $10 for students.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://dsa.csupomona.edu/vpwrc/The_Vagina_Monologues.asp Proceeds benefit on-campus programs, scholarships and V-Day, a global campaign committed to ending violence against women and girls.

Cal Poly Pomona is at 3801 W. Temple Ave.

A pianist and composer who has performed with some of the most successful names in rock, pop and jazz will be at Cal Poly Pomona for a lecture and a performance Feb. 4.

Michael Garson has performed with the Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Gwen Stefani and Stan Getz in addition to touring with David Bowie,

Garson will offer a lecture from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the university's Music Recital Hall.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

At 8 p.m. the same day, the Michael Garson Trio will perform at the Music Recital Hall.

The group features legendary jazz drummer Joe La Barbera and bass player Edwin Livingston.

General admission concert tickets are $25. Tickets for students are $12.

Tickets can can be purchased online at http://csupomona.tix.com or at the Music Publicity Office in Building 24, Room 142.

Tickets will also be sold an hour before showtime at the Music Recital Hall box office.

Cal Poly is at 3801 W. Temple Ave.

PASADENA - Months of work paid off when the Cal Poly Universities float the schools entered in Friday's 121st Tournament of Roses Parade earned the Bob Hope Humor Award.

The prize, awarded to the entry judges consider the most comical and amusing, is one of the more prestigious, said Johnathan Jianu, a third year mechanical engineering student at Cal Poly Pomona who is also on the campus Rose Float Committee.

"It's pretty much what we were gunning for," Jianu said after the parade concluded.

This year's float, "Jungle Cuts," is the 62nd consecutive entry in the Rose Parade created by students from Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The float depicted five barber monkeys styling the hair of various clients that included a giraffe with a beehive, a snake with a flat top and a zebra with a mowhawk.

With the help of engineering students technical know-how many of the animals on the float were able to move.

A group of about 180 people consisting of Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students along with volunteers, family, friends and other supporters were at their customary spot on the parade route - in front of the Norton Simon Museum on Colorado Boulevard - to cheer for their float, Jianu said.

Although students were ready for a vacation following numerous long days leading up to the parade, many were still encouraging friends and others to vote for their float as part of the Viewer's Choice Award contest.

Viewers were able to vote for their favorite float New Year's Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. via the KTLA website.

The winner will be announced shortly.

PASADENA - In his time as a student at Cal Poly Pomona, Bob Corley was never involved with the Cal Poly Universities Tournament of Roses parade entry.

On Tuesday morning, Corley, his wife, Susan, and his son, Colton, 12, now residents of Georgia, helped out.

They sat at a table with three other people and shredded tree bark into thin pieces to be used to cover four monkeys that are part of "Jungle Cuts," Cal Poly Pomona's  and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's 62nd consecutive entry in Friday's Rose Parade.

"There are a lot of monkeys and a lot of this," said Corley, as he created small piles of the material.

The monkeys are barbers doing the hair of an assortment of animals in a float that uses the Cal Poly trademarks - humor and animation.

Numerous elements will be animated and there will be a working waterfall, said Johnathan Jianu of Glendale, a third-year mechanical engineering student at Cal Poly Pomona.

Putting together a float is never easy, but with as many moving parts as there are this year, the students had a few surprises to overcome, Jianu said.

Among the challenges: The float's battery-operated system wasn't capable of supporting the power load of all of the animation.

The problem was resolved by adding a generator that students borrowed from the Tournament of Roses, Jianu said.

"We have a lot of those `uh oh' moments," he said.

However, technology isn't everything.

Numerous natural and dry flower materials have been used to decorate the float, which includes hundreds of exotic flowers such as orchids.

"We will have over a thousand orchids on the float. I'm excited," said La Verne resident Mary Weaver, Cal Poly Pomona's decorations chairwoman.

Orchids will be used in the trees that serve as the barber monkeys' work areas as well as around the waterfall and the base of the float.

The orchids were purchased with the help of donors, Weaver said.

The float has involved a year's worth of work "just for 30 seconds on TV," she said.

But the efforts are worthwhile, Weaver said, especially when she sees the float on Colorado Boulevard with the rest of the Cal Poly students and volunteers who always sit in front of the Norton Simon Museum.

"There are no walls, but I'll be bouncing off something," she said.

Float decorating is not something new for Weaver. This is the 11th float she has worked on, and the second as a Cal Poly student.

Weaver said she was 6 years old when she decorated her first float. Her mother took Weaver and her brother to decorate a float so they could have a chance to do something she had also done herself.

Other members of Weaver's family take part in the float decorating. Her cousin, Leilah Kelsey of Victorville, is in charge of decorating West Covina's float.

Brandon Schmiedeberg, a senior landscape architecture student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and design chairman for his campus, worked Tuesday on the details of a large snake sporting a flat-top haircut.

The snake was covered in dried, ground marigolds grown on the San Luis Obispo campus along with dried orange halves, red beans, lime peels and pineapple rinds.

"The main effect we're looking for is the scaly effect," he said.

Last year, the Cal Poly float made history. It won the inaugural Tournament of Roses Viewers' Choice Award.

Television viewers will again be able to cast a vote for their favorite float between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday by going to the KTLA (Channel 5) Web site.

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POMONA - For 10 years Cal Poly Pomona, through the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center, has been an active and visible part of the Arts Colony.

This week the university announced that due to the budget crisis it will no longer be able to operate the center.

Although the university will not operate the facility the mission of the center and the services that have been offered under Cal Poly's leadership will continue, said Ed Tessier, who with his family has been the principal donor to the Downtown Center project.

Academic projects, community outreach, cultural programs, art openings and other activities will still be offered, he said.

"The only real difference is it will be the (School of Arts and Enterprise) that's operating the center," Tessier said Friday.

Under the current arrangement the university is the operating institution and under its umbrella provides space and coordination for various community projects, Tessier said.

Since the School of Arts and Enterprise opened in 2002 it has had a presence at the center and occupies the second floor of the building and has partial use of the rest, said Tessier speaking on behalf of the Tessier Family Trust which owns the building.

During the 10 years "the Downtown Center has been the impetus of some terrific community programs," said Carol Richardson, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences in a statement released late Thursday evening.

"There have been hundreds of outreach and service events, art exhibitions, performances and festivals. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the volunteers, nonprofits, donors, the city of Pomona, and the downtown itself that helped make all of this possible," she said.

Although Cal Poly will no longer be the operator of the Downtown Center the university still plans on being involved in the community, university spokeswoman Uyen Mai said Friday.

At this point, however, the university is evaluating how to best provide programs and services now provided through the Downtown Center, she said.

University representatives are talking with schools and other Pomona entities that could lead to new ways and locations to provide the services now based at the center, Mai said.

"Lots of ideas are still on the table and we have to wait and see which ones are most feasible," she said.

The university is expected to cease operating the center Jan. 31, Tessier said.

In explaining the challenges the university is facing and its reason for giving up operation of the center "it doesn't seem like they really had a choice," Tessier said.

"The good news is that after 10 years the Downtown Center is a very well-established venue," Tessier said.

"Everybody's goal is to not only continue the programming but to see real continuity in services," Tessier said.

Efforts are under way to find a means to have the university continue providing some of its programs at the center, he said.

If it's not possible to achieve such an arrangement other organizations have expressed interest in offering programs there, Tessier said.

Carolyn Hemming, president of the Downtown Pomona Owners Association, said members of the organization are disappointed to hear of Cal Poly's departure from downtown but the news wasn't totally unexpected.

POMONA - As people with engineering and science skills prepare to enter retirement, few young people have an interest in those fields of study, an official with Time Warner Cable said Monday (Nov. 16).

When it comes to children, "84 percent of middle school students would rather eat their broccoli, take out the trash, go to the dentist or clean their room" than study math or science, said Tessie Topol, director of strategic philanthropy with Time Warner Cable's corporate offices in New York.

In an effort to turn that situation around and make the nation more competitive in these areas, Time Warner Cable will spend $100 million in cash and in-kind resources across the nation to support school programs that inspire children to pursue science, technology engineering and math studies, or STEM, Topol said.

The "Connect a Million Minds" initiative is a five-year project for the company, she said.

The announcement was made at Pomona Unified School District's Montvue Elementary School where students for the second year are developing those skills through the creation of robots.

As part of the announcement, Time Warner representatives also announced the company will donate $15,000 to Cal Poly Pomona which is working with Montvue on the robot project.

Faculty members in the university's College of Education and Integrative Studies and from the College of Engineering work to train teachers and guide them in using robotics to develop their students' STEM skills.

Cal Poly currently works with two classrooms at Montvue and two at Collegewood Elementary in the Walnut Valley Unified School District on the robotics project.

Time Warner's contribution will allow Cal Poly to expand and take the program to another Pomona Unified school as early as spring, said Nicole Forrest Boggs, director of development with the College of Education and Integrative Studies.

"Our funding is meant to enhance and draw attention to programs and take them to the next level," Topol said.

A program like Pomona's is not only educating children but doing so using available resources and partnerships with the district, the university and now Time Warner, she said.

Time Warner's national initiative also calls for a public awareness campaign that includes public service announcements and the creation of a Web site, www.connectamillionminds.com, where parents can learn about programs in their community that will help their children develop STEM skills.

Interested parents will be able to volunteer their time or mentor children through these programs, Topol said.

Among those at the announcement was Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Ontario, who thanked Time Warner "for supporting our young scientists."

Interim Superintendent Richard Martinez also thanked Cal Poly and Time Warner for supporting a program that gives students "a hands-on introduction to science and math."

Martinez congratulated students, some of whom participated in the project last school year, for their success in May's Robot Rally at Cal Poly. A Montvue team placed first in the competition.

Students learn many things through the robotics program, among them the importance of being persistent, said Peggy Kelly, dean of Cal Poly's College of Education and Integrative Studies.

With a homework assignment a student rarely goes back to work on the answers he or she got wrong, Kelly said.

Building a robot out of tiny Lego blocks and then getting it to move as students wish means they have to review their work if it doesn't perform as they wanted, Kelly said.

In building a robot students "test again, and again and again ... Concepts then become clearer," she said.

Students in Mary Lou Ortiz-Jamieson's combination fifth- and sixth-grade class were at the event with robots they built recently.

The robot project allows students to develop STEM skills and others such as language arts as they present their ideas to fellow students and try to convince them to use them, she said.

Alex Guzman, a sixth-grader in Ortiz-Jamieson's class, said building and programming a robot looks easy but it's far from it.

"It's very frustrating at times but it's very easy if you relax," he said.

But building a robot also comes with a sense of accomplishment, Alex said.

After working to figure out how to get his robot to do a certain movement he's often happy and looking forward to the next challenge.

"I can move on to something else. It's very fun," he said.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will make H1N1 flu vaccine availalble at Cal Poly Pomona Thursday.

Cal Poly Pomona will be the site of a free H1N1 flu vaccine clinic Nov. 5 for designated groups.

The clinic will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the CTTi Building 220A on the Cal Poly campus, 3650 W. Temple Ave. The location is across from the University Village at the corner of Temple Avenue and South Campus Drive, according to a statement from the university.

Free parking will be available in lots K and B across from South Campus Drive. Students should use the Bronco Express shuttle service, Routes A and C, to reach the CTTi building.

Campus maps and shuttle routes are available by going to www.csupomona.edu/maps.

In giving the vaccine, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will offer it only to the following groups of people:

• Pregnant women

• People who live with or care for infants under 6 months

• Children and young adults ages 6 months to 24 years old

• Adults ages 25 to 64 who have chronic medical conditions

• Healthcare or emergency medical workers with direct patient contact

The free vaccine will be provided to members of the general public who meet the guidelines.

Vaccines will be administered to Cal Poly Pomona and Mt. San Antonio College students, faculty and staff who meet the requirements set by the county.

Those wishing to have the vaccine will be asked to register. The registration and vaccination process take from 10 to 15 minutes. However, depending on the demand, wait times could be at least an hour or more.

Registration forms are available at publichealth.lacounty.gov/docs/swine/Forms/English.pdf and can be completed before arriving at the clinic.

Filling out the form ahead of time doesn't guarantee the person will be vaccinated.

Additional information on the H1N1 flu is available at www.csupomona.edu/flu, at www.flu.gov and at www.dsa.csupomona.edu/shs.