College of Fine and Applied Arts

Three Appalachian State University graduates have been commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. They are Christopher M. Dimaio, left, Gregory T. Lewis and Mitchell S. Rick. After completing the basic officer leadership course, Dimaio will join the medical service corps, Lewis will join the military police with the N.C. Army National Guard and Rick will join the transportation corps with the N.C. Army National Guard. (Photo by Jane Nicholson)

Keefer Rick, right, pins a second lieutenant bar on his father, Mitchell, during commissioning ceremonies at Appalachian State University. (Photo by Jane Nicholson)

War is not a time for slow learners, Lt. Col. Michael W. Minor told Appalachian State University’s ROTC cadets prior to their commissioning as second lieutenants.

Minor, a 1986 graduate of Appalachian, said he was on the verge of flunking out of college when he was given a second chance to complete his college degree.

“Suddenly they had my full attention when those hard facts of life were explained to me,” Minor said of the officers leading the ROTC program when he was in school. “I was about to lose something that was very special to me – my association with my fellow cadets, the opportunity to live in the Boone community and go to college.”

Minor earned a degree in history from Appalachian and a master’s degree from Central Michigan University. He is the deputy commanding officer of the 1st Brigade Combat, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He has served four deployments in Iraq and one to Afghanistan.

“This is where the war on global terrorism starts. Right here training our Army’s future leaders,” he said. “Don’t be a slow learner like I was. During war, there is no time. Come out of the gate charging, recognize the challenges, anticipate the requirements and accomplish each mission above and beyond the standards. You are ready. You come from a great university and a great ROTC program that is well known throughout our Army.”

Officers commissioned during a ceremony Dec. 20 at Appalachian were Christopher M. Dimaio, Gregory T. Lewis and Mitchell S. Rick.

Dimaio, a construction management major, will join the medical service corps. Lewis, a criminal justice major, will join the military police with the N.C. Army National Guard. Rick, a middle grades education major, will join the transportation corps with the N.C. Army National Guard.

“This is both a challenging and an exciting time,” Minor said. “I can just about guarantee you that in the next 24 months you will deploy to combat. It makes no difference whether you are active duty reserve or National Guard. In today’s Army, everyone fights.

“I want to thank you and congratulate you on your choice to serve our army and our soldiers, especially during this time of war. Not many are willing to step forward and volunteer to do so. I think this is truly what separates you from all others,” he said.

WE WON!

IND Students: Ryan Klinger, Andrew Drake, Spencer Price, and Justin Henry were announced via webcam and VOIP  by Google as the winners of the National Competition today at noon  in the Chancellor’s office.    As their final prize, the four students will be flown out to Google’s Headquarters in Mountain View, CA where they will tour the campus and present their concept. 

A team of students from Appalachian State University comprised of Justin Henry, left, Spencer Price, Ryan Klinger and Andrew Drake has won the national Juicy Ideas Entrepreneurial/Environmental Contest for a bicycle they created from plastic drink bottles. They are pictured with Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock. (Photo by University Photographer Marie Freeman)

When Ryan Klinger, Andrew Drake, Spencer Price and Justin Henry created a working bicycle from plastic drink bottles, they didn’t know their creation would take them to California.

The Appalachian State University industrial design majors have won the first national Juicy Ideas Entrepreneurial/Environmental Contest, a competition in which college students from across the United States created something of value from an item that is typically thrown away as trash.

The students learned of their status as national award-winners from Mary Radomile, Google program manager, who notified them via Web conference held on campus. Joining in the surprise celebration were Appalachian’s Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock, representatives of competition sponsors AdvantageWest and DigitalChalk, and a cheering squad of friends, classmates, faculty and others.

In a letter presented to the winners, Radomile said, “We are thrilled to have you visit us at the ‘Googleplex’ in Mountain View, Calif., Feb. 18-20, 2009. During your visit, you’ll experience a full tour of our facilities, meet with innovators from within the company, and even have a chance to present your video to us. We are very proud to be a part of the Juicy Ideas competition.”

Appalachian’s Center for Entrepreneurship worked with AdvantageWest to organize the regional competition. Additional sponsors were American Green and Jute.

The competition was organized as a way to encourage entrepreneurship and communicate a message of environmental responsibility.

“This competition illustrates the collaborative relationship between our faculty, staff and students in the areas of sustainability, design and entrepreneurship,” said Kenneth E. Peacock, chancellor at Appalachian. “These students, with their creativity and team work, are a reflection of the future of our nation. They are thinking globally and of ways they can impact the world.”

The team was among 14 finalists from colleges across the country. Each participating region had a different “throwaway” item from which students had 10 days to create something of value and upload a video of their project to YouTube for judging. The top three teams from each region advanced to the national competition. The team from Appalachian was the regional winner in Western North Carolina. Their winning video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3-tKX446VM.

A panel of judges evaluated the entries in terms of originality, creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation and environmental responsibility.

According to Dale Carroll, president and CEO of AdvantageWest, entrepreneurship continues to play a major role in the global economy and is increasingly important to the long-term health and growth of rural regions across America.

“As the economic development commission for the 23 counties of Western North Carolina, AdvantageWest continuously explores new and innovative paths to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship as part of its economic development strategy,” he said. “We believe one of the best ways to accomplish this is by encouraging the use of technology and stimulating creativity in the youth of the region – beginning in kindergarten and continuing through their post-secondary education.”

Katie Lewis taught softball skills to students at Green Valley Elementary School using standards endorsed by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. She was one of several physical education majors who presented results from their experience to other students in Appalachian State University’s Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science during an Impact on Learning Symposium held on campus. (photo by Jane Nicholson)

Students in Appalachian State University’s physical education teacher education program do more than just throw out a ball and watch school children play.

Appalachian students incorporate current research-based practices and tools, including technologies to enhance classroom teaching and learning.

The future teachers assess their students’ skill levels in activities such as basketball, soccer, volleyball and weight training and then plan and implement strategies to meet students’ needs. At the same time, they encourage them to develop critical thinking, problem solving and other performance skills.

The guidelines for accountability, academic content and physiological assessment are prescribed by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Associate Professor Derek J. Mohr directs the physical education teacher education program in Appalachian’s Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science. “This is an action-research project not unlike lab-based research where the students investigate the impact of their teaching on student learning,” Mohr said. “It’s one in a series of teaching experiences in the program that increase in the complexity and responsibility that’s placed on the teacher candidate.”

Mohr said when students begin student teaching, they will have had the chance to apply all the knowledge and skills they have developed through a series of five courses.

One of the future teachers who presented results from her teaching project was senior Katie Lewis from Kernersville. She taught softball techniques to fourth-grade students at Hardin Park Elementary School.

“We worked on four skills – hitting, catching, fielding and base running and had a tournament at the end of the unit,” Lewis said. “I did pre-skill and post-skill testing. I saw a lot of improvement in all the students’ skills.”

Lewis credits a former teacher with her interest in teaching. “I had a really wonderful elementary school gym teacher which got me excited about physical education, and I have always played sports and love children,” she said. “My family members are teachers, too, so when you combine all of those things I thought this would be the best (career) for me.”

Lewis recently received a $1,000 Nathan Taylor Dodson Undergraduate Scholarship from the N.C. Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

Brandon Knox and Elliott Childress taught basic weight lifting to 14 students at Appalachian. “We taught the basics and safety of weightlifting to freshmen up to fifth-year seniors that they can take outside the class and apply to their lives,” Knox said.

“Going into the project we were skeptical of using a team-based approach to weight training,” Childress said. “The key to getting the students to buy into the approach was to show them that you buy into what you want them to learn. When the students see that, they just roll with it. It ended up working nicely.”

Approximately 130 students are majoring in physical education at Appalachian.

What might your next washing machine look like? Students in an industrial design class at Appalachian State University, pictured with designers from Bosch and Siemens (BSH) Home Appliances, pondered form and function as they developed possible designs. (Photo by University Photographer Troy Tuttle)

Members of the design team from Bosch and Siemens (BSH) Home Appliances’ New Bern facility evaluated student designs for washers and dryers. The industrial design students in Appalachian State University’s Department of Technology created designs that mirrored art, were environmentally friendly, or could be incorporated into a kitchen design. The Bosch designers who evaluated the student work were, clockwise left, Lindsay Eng, Andrew Roberson, Richard Funnell, design team director Joachim Gruetzke and Graham Sadtler, and student design interns Mason Bonar and Jamie Caso. (Photo by University Photographer Troy Tuttle)

Can a washer and dryer look like art and not lose function? Industrial design students in a senior product design studio at Appalachian State University think so, and they proved their point during a presentation to designers from Bosch and Siemens (BSH) Home Appliances in New Bern.

“Bosch asked the senior studio students to work on concepts for new ways to wash and dry clothes,” said Banks Talley, an assistant professor in Appalachian’s Department of Technology.

BSH contributed $15,000 to sponsor the studio class to offset the cost of student travel to their New Bern facility and for materials the students used for the project.

“When we are in the day to day of designing new appliances, we look at a lot of different things for fresh ideas,” said BSH designer Andrew Roberson. “Having the students come up with new ideas is valuable for us.”

The students designed washers and dryers for various consumer demographics and presented their concepts to designers from Bosch. Some students created full-scale and half-scale models of their project, some used computer animation to present their work and others prepared full-scale printouts.

“Some students designed products for the upper middle class urban professional, or designed a machine with a sculptural appearance that would look beautiful in a downtown apartment as opposed to being tucked away in a mudroom or laundry room,” Talley said.

One design had a custom cover that could be changed much like the cover or “skin” for a laptop computer. One system was designed to be incorporated into a kitchen and hidden by panels, much like many of the higher-end refrigerator-freezers. Another student concept incorporated “green technology.”

“Supporting schools in the state where we live and work is important for us,” said design director Joachim Gruetzke.

“A project like this enriches the design community in North Carolina and also in our schools,” Roberson said.

BSH Home Appliances opened its New Bern manufacturing facility in 1997. It produces some washers, dryers and dishwashers, ranges, ovens and cooktops for the U.S. market.