Imagine Goes Digital

Imagine

Did you receive your issue of Imagine and Imagine Research yet? Our new dual magazine should have reached you by now. If you didn’t get a copy, check out our new digital version, presented in a flip-the-page format.

Now you can view Imagine anywhere, anytime. This version is searchable, portable, easy to read (note the sound effects of the page turns!), and environmentally friendly.

For the digital version, we’ve separated the magazine into two. Just click on the animated icon of whichever magazine you wish to peruse.

Imagine Research

Alumni Spotlight

Our good friend Bill Estes

A Friend to Education: Bill Estes

Just about 20 years ago, Bill Estes attended a talk at the University of Arizona that changed his life forever — and, since then, Estes himself has changed the lives of thousands.

In 1987, Estes attended a lecture by the economist Lester Thurow. In his talk that evening, Professor Thurow emphasized that governments, in their funding of education, have an important role to play in organizing the brainpower necessary to create economic leadership. The idea resonated deeply for Estes, and he embarked on a personal mission to improve the quality of public education. He has sustained that mission for nearly two decades, becoming Southern Arizona’s leading champion for education from the business sector.

Estes is highly concerned that higher education is not accessible to all of Arizona’s youth, particularly those who grow up in poverty. This desire, coupled with his concerns about a well-educated workforce and Arizona’s alarmingly steep school drop-out rate, caused him to commission a feasibility study for a charter school affiliated with the UA, now known as Wildcat School.

Over the past three years, Estes has worked tirelessly with the College of Education, the College of Science, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to develop the mathematics, science, and technology themed school. The school provides a model of university-school partnership that can serve all of the schools of the region and state — making Wildcat School the very essence of the university’s land-grant mission.

Estes was the first in his family to attend college, receiving a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1961 from the UA. He later joined his father’s company, becoming CEO of Estes Homes.

We are thrilled to report that Estes, an undoubtedly generous spirit, received one of the university’s highest honors, an honorary doctoral degree, last May.

Make Mealtime Family Time

One of the most important things parents or guardians can do to build strong families and raise healthy, well-adjusted children is to share meals with their children, and, yes, that includes teenagers.

Make Mealtime Family Time™ was created to encourage families to make mealtime a priority whether at home or out for a meal.

Kris Bosworth displays a  very special dinner plate

For her work with the program, Bosworth and the College of Education received special recognition (a dinner plate engraved in gold, no less!) from Make Mealtime Family Time at a recent breakfast. Bosworth presented some of her findings to the group, which included superintendents, teachers, and community leaders.

Here are a few tips to making conversation at mealtime:

• Get in the habit of talking with each other every day — hopes, fears, dreams, likes, dislikes, challenges, joys, and concerns.
• Keep the atmosphere fun, nonconfrontational, and stress-free by focusing on neutral topics.
• Validate each person’s feelings.
• Actively listen to each other and show interest in what each person says.
• Ask questions that encourage positive conversation.

There’s more at Make Mealtime Family Time’s handy Web site at — you guessed it — www.makemealtimefamilytime.com.

The Golden Circle/Alumni Awards Luncheon

Members of the Class of 1955 loved catching up with longtime friends at last year's event

Calling all members of the UA College of Education Class of 1956! You don’t want to miss out on this. We will honor you during The Golden Circle Luncheon November 10 at The Arizona Inn. Join us to welcome the Class of 1956 into The Golden Circle, a group of very special alumni. We’ll reminisce about the past, honor our award recipients, and discuss ways to prepare tomorrow’s leaders of education.

We also will celebrate eight Alumni Association Award recipients:

• Joan Ashcraft
• Dave Bradley
• Georgia Brousseau
• Debbie D’Amore
• Walter Doyle
• Jennifer McLaughlin
• Ernestine Smith (presented posthumously)
• College of Education Alumni Council

Contact Julie Johnson at johnsoju@u.arizona.edu or 520-621-3413 to reserve your spot today.

It's a Celebration!

The College of Education and Latin American Studies are cosponsoring the ¡Celebración! Latin America event for teachers and students at the Arizona State Museum on Saturday, October 28. Students from our Department of Language, Reading, and Culture will read stories, featuring quality children’s books about Latin American topics. Also planned for that day are a curator-led tour of the Mexican Mask exhibit, installation of a Day of the Dead altar, craft demos, continuous story and games areas, and activity booths. For more information, contact Robin Zenger at rzenger@email.arizona.edu or 520-626-7234.

UA Cares

College of Education Employees: The UA Cares Campaign for Community Giving begins October 17. You will receive a pledge form from your department coordinator that allows you to make a gift to United Way and/or the University of Arizona Faculty and Staff Campaign.

Pledging online is available this year through Employee Link using the payroll deduction option. Employee Link allows complete confidentiality and the opportunity to pledge a one-time deduction or an amount that can be deducted from any number of paychecks you specify.

We are spotlighting Staff Advisory Council’s Adopt-A-School Program. SAC will raise money to purchase books for the new library at Wildcat School. We have added a sticker to employee pledge forms for this special College of Education project to make it easier to designate your gift for SAC if you wish. (And be sure to mark your calendars for October 25, when SAC will host an all-college burrito breakfast fundraiser in the main lobby for UA Cares!)

Also, Erasmus Circle memberships can be established through payroll deduction and we are again focusing on raising money for scholarships to match the funds pledged by our Erasmus Circle Patrons.

You can help when you become an Erasmus Circle Booster with a donation to the Erasmus Circle of any amount. All funds will be used for graduate and undergraduate student scholarships and will be matched dollar for dollar by Erasmus Circle Patrons, doubling the available Erasmus Circle scholarship dollars for our students.

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