From Mo’s desk
Photo: Thomas Sanders
“All beginnings are full of possibility, and beginnings are now mass-produced in Silicon Valley,” writes SJSU Professor of Business Randall Stross in his book The Launch Pad. I am proud to say: San José State powers many of those beginnings.
In Silicon Valley and around the world, the pace of change and an unprecedented access to information are leading to solutions for longstanding problems. But they are also creating new ones. Beyond the startups that Stross writes about, San José State alumni, students and faculty members have embraced the opportunity and the challenges that result from living in a lightening-fast digital age.
In our feature story on e-waste, Eddie Inamdar, ’93 Computer Science, and professors Hilary Nixon and Bruce Olszewski weigh in on what can be done with the tons of discarded electronics the world generates every year. You may have read about San José State’s latest approaches to teaching and learning. Provost Ellen Junn explains how she and our faculty members are aggressively testing the latest educational tools—with a focus on serving our students. Tyson Frederick, ’14 MFA Digital Media Art, shares how quantum mechanics influences his art. And Oracle co-founder Ed Oates, ’68 Math, grabs his electric guitar to demonstrate how to be high-tech and grounded.
These days, we are all juggling more information, but we also have more tools to solve the problems we face. And, thanks to the successful conclusion of the university’s first-ever comprehensive fundraising effort, Acceleration: The Campaign for San José State University, we are poised to make the most of every beginning—and every possibility.
Mo Qayoumi
President
San José State University
As always, I encourage you to share your thoughts about San José State with me.
I worry that the University is losing the battle of survival in the 21st Century.
I read about the Academic Senate requesting the assistance of the State University Provost in resolving a conflict with the University Administration.
I read that a university freshman is harassed for three months in a dorm community regarding his racial identification, yet the problem was not identified by the University, until a parent intervenes and reports the problem after trying to reason with the people who are intimidating his son.
I worry that the University even knows how to exist in the 21 Century?
Gerald: Thanks for sharing your comments and concerns. The campus community is working through the recent events you mention. Read the latest updates on SJSU Today: http://blogs.sjsu.edu/today/tag/president/