Winter Quarter: CEP 498 Special Topics Course

Hi everyone, Below is the draft Special Topics course outline that was distributed during governance on Friday with some updates based on the feedback we received. The course will be held on Tuesday’s at 5:30-7:30pm with oversight from Dennis Ryan every other week; hopefully this time will work for the majority of CEP students.  We welcome your constructive input and feedback, and will try to answer any questions or concerns to the best of our ability.

CEP 498: Strategic Planning 2 Credit course
Proposed Class Time: Tuesday’s at 5:30-7:30pm
Proposed Faculty: Dennis Ryan
Grading: Credit/No credit with narrative transcripts

Description: In depth analysis and exploration for the potential future direction of the Community, Environment and Planning program within the College of Built Environments. This course will focus on facilitating discussions and planning surrounding the long term goals of the Community, Environment, and Planning major within the college of Built Environments. Students will develop leadership skills, learn to facilitate change within an established organization, manage action plans and associated tasks to meet established objectives by deadlines.

Organization: The course will be facilitated by students in cooperation with faculty advisors and in alignment with the Undergraduate Committee.
- Weekly class course will be documented and meeting minutes posted on the CEP Blog to provide transparency to everyone in the CEP major to continue discussions outside the classroom and gather input from the CEP community.
- A designated course participant will provide status updates to the CEP major on the progress of the course at weekly CEP Governance and/or Steering Meetings.

Objectives:
1) To learn methods of strategic planning.
2) To work in collaboration and alignment with the Undergraduate Committee’s charge.
3) Build partnerships within the College of Built Environments.
4) Produce a proposal that will be presented to the faculty committee with recommendations.

Proposed Weekly Discussion Topics:
Week 1: Jan 5th – Overview of Issues and Framing the Question
Week 2: Jan 12th – Committee Introduction and Requirements
Week 3: Jan 19th – Core Values and Brainstorming Ideas
Week 4: Jan 26th Refinement of Ideas into Action Plan
Week 5: Feb 2nd – Produce Action Plan
Week 6: Feb 9th – Draft Proposal Due
Week 7: Feb 16th – Review and Revisions of Proposal
Week 8: Feb 23th – Finalize Proposal Due
Week 9: March 2nd – Proposal to Committee
Week 10: March 9th – Proposal to Committee/Constructive Review of Course

Coolest project ever.

http://bayarea.the-hub.net/public/

http://saopaulo.the-hub.net/public/experience.html

http://the-hub.net/index.html

I don’t know if there is anyone fishing for a Senior Project, or not attached to their current one, because the above is possible in Seattle. There are a group of people at the Vance Building that are trying to make this happen, and if there was a student who would take the leadership of making it happen, it would happen. This is geared toward desperate Seniors, or advantageous Juniors.

If I wasn’t deeply underway on my senior project doing something like this would have been my next best pick. If you are interested get a hold of me and I can connect you to the people wanting to make something like this happen.

Matt-

Matsteele@gmail.com

Spotlight of the Week: Avery Hillard

1. Your name

Avery Shannon Hilliard

2. All majors and minors

CEP, Sociology, minor in Architecture

3. Where are you from?

Roy, WA

4. What is a random fact about you?

I am an only child!

5. What is your favorite thing about CEP?

The flexibility of the major as a whole

6. What are your hobbies?

horseback riding, tennis, watching tv online…

7. What jobs/internships do you have? Tell us about them/why you like them

I’m in the process of looking for an internship; My job at Emerald Downs will resume in the spring

9b. (For Juniors) What are your plans for next quarter or next year?

I’m hoping to finalize study abroad plans!

10. What is your favorite movie of all time and why?

The Beverly Hillbillies is a classic…and I ate 5 boxes of Raisin Bran to get it for free.  Minus the costs of the boxes of Raisin Bran.

BEER… for charity

Japanese brewery Sapporo has unveiled its new “space beer” made from barley grown aboard the International Space Station

Click HERE to see the video.

First Hill Streetcar Scheduled to Break Ground in 2011

Original story: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/12/03/first-hill-streetcar-project-to-break-ground-in-2011

This could be a great topic for research if anyone is interested in doing their Senior Project on transportation planning, neighborhood development, or community outreach.

Sound Transit and the City of Seattle will be sponsoring three community open houses regarding the First Hill Streetcar, which will offer service to Capitol Hill, First Hill, Yesler Terrace, International District, and Pioneer Square. The streetcar is part of the mass transit expansion plan, which Puget Sound voters approved in November 2008, and would connect those neighborhoods with other regional transit systems such as the light rail and Sounder train. The First Hill light rail connects on one end to the International District light-rail station and on the other end to the Capitol Hill station. The project’s fancy new website goes on to say that, “[t]his is an important link in the regional transit system, providing an alternative to the originally proposed deep tunnel light rail station on First Hill.” The streetcar has been fully funded for both construction and operational costs. There are currently several alignments that are being considered, and Sound Transit and the city are welcoming feedback on which would best serve the needs of the community. The big debate will likely center around whether the Streetcar will run partly up 12th Avenue (as an impetus for economic development) or if it will satisfy the interest of hospitals (which didn’t get the light-rail stop they were originally promised and want a streetcar). For a pop-up map of alignment options, click here. The three open houses are on:

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
6:00 — 8:00 pm
Seattle Central Community College
101 Broadway Seattle, WA 98122

Wednesday, December 16, 2009
6:00 pm — 8:00 pm
Yesler Community Center
917 E. Yesler Way Seattle, WA 98122

Thursday, December 17, 2009
6:00 pm — 8:00 pm
Union Station
401 S. Jackson Seattle, WA 98104

The current schedule is projected to break ground in 2011, with an opening date of 2013.

Socotra Island

Socotra is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa some 190 nautical miles south of the Arabian peninsula. It is very isolated, and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth. Cool stuff.

Check out the original post after the jump to see some really interesting images.

Via: Dark Roasted Blend

Click HERE for a video, more pics and info.

DIY Holiday Fair

THE VERA PROJECT and HOLLOW EARTH RADIO Present

Swap it. Spin it. Bring it. Screen it.

A DIY Holiday Fair and Fundraiser

Featuring Northwest Labels, Crafters, Local Record Dealers, Print Artists & Zinemakers
When: Saturday December 12th 2009, 11am-5pm

Where: The Vera Project, Warren & Republican Ave N, at Seattle Center, Seattle, WA

Website: www.theveraproject.org , www.hollowearthradio.com
On December 12th, The Vera Project, Seattle’s non-profit, all-ages music and arts venue, and Hollow Earth Radio, Seattle’s premier online independent radio station, are joining forces to host a one-of-a-kind fundraiser and holiday extravaganza: Swap It. Spin It. Bring It. Screen It. The Vera Project is transforming into a marketplace for independent music and crafts, along with live music, and interactive silkscreening. All proceeds help support music, art presentation, and arts education through the Vera Project and Hollow Earth Radio.

The DIY marketplace will feature independent Northwest record and cassette labels, musicians, silk-screened show posters, vintage record dealers, local artists, craft-makers, and designers selling their wares throughout Vera’s venue. This is the perfect opportunity to find a one-of-a-kind gift just in time for the holidays. The event will also include live musical performances by Northwest musicians, Hollow Earth DJs spinning on site, a bake sale, a raffle for hand-printed posters, and much much more!

Original Vera Project logos will be designed by 10 local designers and made available to the public to silkscreen. No experience is necessary to silkscreen, and for just $5 a print, Vera silkscreen instructors will help attendees print one of the logos on any fabric item they bring; blank shirts will also be available for purchase.

Following the event, the Vera Project logo designs will tour participating Café Vita locations throughout 2009, with prints available for purchase.

Come join us for an opportunity to enjoy and support the Seattle art and music community!

Interested designers and vendors should contact Sara Brickman and Amber Morgan at diyholidayfair@gmail.com or call (206) 956-8372 for more information.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, brought to you by food! Here’s a short blog post about a long blog post… about food. Food, democracy, stuff like that.

 

http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/back-to-the-land/

The CRU hack

— group @ 20 November 2009

As many of you will be aware, a large number of emails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia webmail server were hacked recently (Despite some confusion generated by Anthony Watts, this has absolutely nothing to do with the Hadley Centre which is a completely separate institution). As people are also no doubt aware the breaking into of computers and releasing private information is illegal, and regardless of how they were obtained, posting private correspondence without permission is unethical. We therefore aren’t going to post any of the emails here. We were made aware of the existence of this archive last Tuesday morning when the hackers attempted to upload it to RealClimate, and we notified CRU of their possible security breach later that day.

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder Improving

The good news: Honey bee colony losses were down this past winter compared to losses during the two previous ones. The bad news: A whopping 29 percent of honey bee colonies vanished between September 2008 and April 2009.

 

read the short article at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/the-latest-buzz-on-disappearing-honey-bees-some-improvement.php