Rivera Marín will discuss growing up in Mexico with her father, whom she describes as a larger-than-life figure who created unforgettable images of working people, industrial machines and life in Mexico. Diego Rivera (1886-1957) is best known for his bold murals, his leftist political commitment and his marriages to artist Frida Kahlo.

Rivera-Marin will share her children’s book “My Papá Diego and Me: Memories of My Father and His Art.” The bilingual presentation will be illustrated with rare family portraits and 14 reproductions of her father’s artistry that hold a special place in her memory, while offering readers snapshots of her childhood.

The free public event is scheduled at the Satellite Student Union at Fresno State (south of Barstow Avenue on Maple Avenue. A book signing will follow the presentation. Copies of Rivera Marín’s books will be available for purchase.

Sponsored by Wells Fargo, the presentation is part of the Center for Creativity and the Arts’ year-long series examining Immigration, migration and labor from various artistic perspectives.

Dr. Vida Samiian, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, said Rivera Marín’s visit helps fulfill a Center for Creativity and the Arts’ objective to ”engage diverse communities in artistic and intellectual discovery to understand, transform and inspire.”

For more information contact Lee Ann Jansen, the college’s director of development, at 559.278.1877 or ljansen@csufresno.edu.

(Copy by student news assistant Reganie Smith-Love.)

Related links

• Center for Creativity and the Arts
• Samiian’s Fresno Bee column on the center

The event, sponsored by Fresno State’s University Center to Advance Manufacturing, is free for manufacturers, food processors and industrial firms and $35 for other individuals.

Dye’s forum-opening topic is “Slow Headway Through Shifting Winds.”

At 5:30 p.m., Ron Flaherty, president of Flaherty Capital Markets, will discuss “Capital: What the Investment & Finance Markets Look for in a Company and Why You Need to Know.” He founded Cybus Capital Markets and is a former managing director of First National’s Investment Banking Division.

“We hope that this forum will be yet another successful meeting that links the university with the local business and industrial community,” said Don Austin, a professor in the Department of Industrial Technology.

The center provides research, workforce development and networking in manufacturing.

It promotes using resources throughout the San Joaquin Valley in partnership with the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Lyles College of Engineering and Craig School of Business at Fresno State. .

“Our plan is to provide expanded educational and networking opportunities for our students and for safety, quality and production managers in the Valley,” Austin said.

For more information or to pre-register, contact Austin at 559.278.6494 or daustin@csufresno.edu.

Copy by University Communications news student assistant Nicole Maul.

Related link:

• Center to Advance Manufacturing: University Center to Advance Manufacturing

Tight end Bear Pascoe, who caught a touchdown pass in the NFC championship game against San Francisco, and backup quarterback David Carr, the top player picked in the 2002 National Football League draft, play for the Giants

All-Pro left guard Logan Mankins and fellow offensive lineman Ryan Wendell must protect Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady and clear the way for runners. They’ll be supported as they were during their time at Fresno State by Patriots assistant strength and conditioning coach Moses Cabrera, a Bulldog football graduate assistant (2002-03) and assistant strength coach (2003-10).

It’s the first Super Bowl for Pascoe, Carr, Wendell and Cabrera and the second for Mankins.

Read more at Go Buldogs:  Bulldogs Headed to Super Bowl and Cabrera Reaches Super Bowl with Pats.

The former Fresno State icons are:

• Alumna Nicole Giordano Ashjian and her husband Nicky Ashjian are highlighted as “The Couple.” They own and operate Buckles Meow!, a belt buckle company, and Plush Events, a wedding and events planning firm.
• Reza Assemi, an alumnus, is featured as “The Visionary” for his work with Granville Homes and GV Urban in transforming downtown Fresno with new buildings for business and living.
• Alumna Shannon Ashley DeYoung, lead singer in the band Ashes and director of social media for DeYoung Properties, is HIS “Musician” icon.
• Alumnus Chance James is highlighted as “The Artist” for his painting and photography.
• Matthew Mazzei, an alumnus and graduate student, is “The Activist.” He founded the Rainbow Delegation, which has distributed more than 100,000 rainbow wristbands worldwide to promote acceptance of gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people.
• Rob Saroyan, who was a lead fundraiser to build the Save Mart Center on campus, is “The Legacy” icon.
• Blair Smittcamp, student director of the 2011 Vintage Days on campus, is featured as part of “The Family.” At Fresno State, her family’s generosity is recognized in the Smittcamp Alumni House and Smittcamp Family Honors College.

The Fresno State connections with HIS don’t stop there: Both Chris Pacheco, the magazine’s managing partner and publisher, and David James Manning, the editor in chief, are alumni.

“We’re proud of and pleased for all of these icons,” said Jacquelyn Glasener, executive director of the Fresno State Alumni Association.

“Our alumni are making positive differences, worldwide, each and every day. It’s so nice to hear about the wonderful things that local alumni are doing to shape the past, present and future of Central California, too,” added Glasener.

View the icons issue at: http://issuu.com/netricks/docs/janfeb2012/68.

That catalyst for artistic focus and exploration is the new Center for Creativity and the Arts, which this academic year is examining immigration, migration and labor issues through debate, readings, screenings, lectures and art exhibitions on campus and in the community.

In her column, Samiian notes the need for artistic perspective to fuel imagination, understanding and hope, especially in difficult times.

Read the full Fresno Bee article.

The free, public tribute will be in the library’s Table Mountain Rancheria Reading Room (third floor). It is sponsored by the university’s Department of Social Work Education and the African American Social Work Student Association.

A local leader of the NAACP in the early 1960s, Meyers was active in pushing for public school integration in Fresno. She was the first woman to run for mayor in Fresno.

Her husband was one of the first African-American physicians in Fresno.

“Seven Houses” is an autobiographical collection of short stories about her life experiences in the houses where she resided.

Dr. James Aldredge, a Fresno State professor emeritus of social work education who served as Fresno city manager from 1985 to ’89, will provide an overview of Meyers’ contributiosn to education and her service to the Fresno community.

Her son, Earl Meyers Jr., will speak and sing. Also speaking will be granddaughter Sharon Revis-Green and friend Karen Major.

Fresno State President John D. Welty and social work major Tony Morris, president of the African American Social Work Student Association also will participate in the tribute.

The Meyers tribute is one of numerous events on campus that mark African Peoples History Month’s celebration of the national Black History Month theme “Black Women in American Culture and History.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Sueanne Johnson at 559.278.3076 or suejohnson@csufresno.edu.

Photos by Cary Edmondson, University Communications Photographer

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Fresno State’s African Peoples History Month celebration began Wednesday, Feb. 1, with speeches about the influence of black women on men, and song and dance at the statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the campus Peace Garden.

The opening ceremony set the stage for a “Brother to Sister” gathering of black students discussing issues with each other at the Henry Madden Library, followed by a poetry jam in the evening.

African Peoples History Month honors Black History Month, whose national theme is “Black Women in American Culture and History.”

Events are scheduled on campus and in the greater Fresno community through March 3.

For more information, call 559.278.6946

Related Links:

• African American History Month Calendar – 2012

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Award-winning novelist Sandra Cisneros will visit Fresno State on Friday, Feb. 3, to discuss her works, some of which have been integrated into school curricula.

Cisneros, who has written extensively about the Latina experience in the United States and won the American Book Award for “The House on Mango Street,” will participate in two free public events sponsored by the Fresno State Department of English.

Her appearances on campus also are part of the spring schedule of the new Center for Creativity and the Arts, which this year is exploring immigration, migration and labor issues in word, film and artistry.

“Sandra Cisneros in Conversation” begins at 2 p.m. at the Concert Hall in the Music Building. She and Alex Espinoza, an associate professor of English at Fresno State who teaches creative writing and is a novelist in his own right, will discuss her work and its impact in the literary world and in education.

At 7 p.m., Cisneros will read from her works at the Satellite Student Union, where her books will be available for purchase and signing.

Dr. Vida Samiian, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, said, “The presence of such a high-caliber author working with our students is an invaluable academic experience.”

Cisneros, 58, recently celebrated the 25^th anniversary of “The House on Mango Street,” which is about a Latino girl coming of age in Chicago, where the author grew up as one of seven children and the only daughter in her family. Cisneros currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.

“‘The House on Mango Street’ is a staple in high schools and universities across the country,” Espinoza said. “Sandra is a dedicated mentor and teacher of young writers, scholars and artist-activists for whom she provides support and guidance via both the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation and the Macondo Foundation.”

Her second novel, “Caramelo,” was awarded the Premio Napoli. It also was nominated for the Orange Prize, which celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing throughout the world, and for the IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, considered the most valuable annual literary prize for English-language fiction.

She is the author of the short story collection “Woman Hollering Creek;” two books of poetry, “My Wicked Wicked Ways” and “Loose Woman;” and the children’s books “Hairs/Pelitos” and the upcoming “Bravo, Bruno.”

She was awarded National Endowment of the Arts Fellowships in fiction and in poetry, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur fellowship and other literary honors.

Cisneros studied at Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Iowa. She has worked as a teacher and counselor to high-school dropouts, a college recruiter, an arts administrator and a visiting writer at multiple universities.

Last year, an elementary/middle school in Los Angeles was named in her honor.

Espinoza said Cisneros has built a literary reputation that is being incorporated into the classroom. On Jan. 21, a Cisneros-related symposium for elementary, secondary and community college teachers was held at Fresno State by the English department and the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project. Participants in the symposium will attend a private roundtable for teachers with Cisneros during her visit.

Public events in the community for Cisneros also are planned by Los MacArturos, a national group of Latino artists, academicians, educators and community leaders and MacArthur Foundation grant awardees.

Los MacArturos will meet with Cisneros for a reunion sponsored by Fresno’s Radio Bilingüe (FM 91.5) and the Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño. Members of Los MacArturos who plan to attend include Hugo Morales of Radio Bilingüe, artist Amalia Mesa-Bains, performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña, anthropologist Ruth Behar, playwright John Jesurun and photographer Camilo José Vergara.

While in Fresno, Cisneros also will tape “Latino Life” to air at 10 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, on ABC-30.

She also will participate in four Radio Bilingüe interviews broadcast live on the network’s Linea Abierta national talk show at noon Feb. 2 and 3; 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4; from a free, public roundtable on the Latino school dropout crisis at the Chicano Youth Center (1515 E. Divisadero St.); and 11 a.m.-noon Feb. 5.

Cisneros’ Fresno State visit is co-sponsored by the Departments of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures and Art and Design, the Women’s Studies Program, College of Arts and Humanities, Henry Madden Library, Office of the Provost, Women’s Resource Center, Chicano Writers and Artists Association, San Joaquin Literary Association, Rasquache: A Collective for Writing of Difference and Associated Students Inc.

For more information, contact Espinoza at 559.278.5833 or aespinoza@csufresno.edu.

(University Communications student news assistant Reganie Smith-Love contributed to this copy).

Related links

• Department of English
• Sandra Cisneros

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The index is based on responses of individuals making company purchasing decisions in Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties. The Valley Index is produced using the same methodology as that of the national Institute for Supply Management (www.ism.ws).

January survey results at a glance:

• Leading economic indicator fell below growth neutral for January.
• Almost half of firms think rising federal regulation is the biggest threat to 2012 economy.
• More than one-fourth of respondents indicated that growth in farm income has been an important factor pushing their firm’s growth higher.
• Input prices are expected to grow by 7.8 percent for 2012.

The index, produced by Dr. Ernie Goss, a research associate with Fresno State’s Craig School of Business, fell to 48.1 from 48.4 in December. An index greater than 50 indicates an expansionary economy over the next three to six months. Survey results over the past several months point to slow to negative economic growth ahead.

“A large share of firms reported that very healthy farm income has been an important driver of overall economic growth,” Goss reported. “Twenty-seven percent, of respondents indicated that growth in farm income has been an important factor pushing their firm’s growth higher.”

In terms of risk factors, this month 46 percent of survey participants assessed that rising federal regulations posed the greatest threat to growth prospects for their firm. Another 21 percent reported that mounting federal regulations represented the biggest potential impediment to expansions.

Employment: The hiring gauge slumped to 47.0 from December’s weak 48.0 – the sixth time in the past seven months that the employment index has plunged below growth neutral. “While the region is not losing jobs, it has not yet begun to add to employment levels, particularly for manufacturing and construction,” said Goss.

While the national economy has added jobs, employment for the Valley has been basically flat the past year and the four-county area’s current employment level is approximately 25,000 lower than pre-recession levels.

Wholesale prices: The prices-paid index, which tracks the cost of raw materials and supplies, rose to 57.2 from 55.7 in December. “As the area economy has cooled, so have inflationary pressures. Last week, the Federal Reserve indicated that it would maintain current record-low, short-term interest rates until 2014,” Goss said.

“In my judgment, this pro-growth stance poses significant inflation risks even though current pressures appear to have eased,” he added. Respondents, who were asked to project price increases for the product they buy for the next six months, expect prices to advance by 3.9 percent in the next six months or approximately 7.8 percent annualized. “This is much too high for the Fed to be so aggressive in terms of low interest rates and high money-supply growth,” said Goss.

Inventories: Businesses again contracted inventories for the month. The index, which tracks the change in the inventory of raw materials and supplies, slumped to 46.2 from 47.2 in December. “The pullback in inventory levels is another indicator of a negative outlook by businesses.  Businesses are reluctant to add to inventories with this negative outlook,” reported Goss.

Business confidence: Looking ahead six months, economic optimism, captured by the January business confidence index, rose to a still weak 47.0 from 44.1 in December. “Thus far, a slowly improving national job picture has failed to boost business confidence in the Valley,” said Goss.

Trade: For a seventh straight month, firms experienced a pullback in new export orders with a January reading of 42.8, down from December’s 44.7. The area’s import index rose to 51.8 from December’s 46.5. Said Goss, “I expect the export numbers to improve in the months ahead as the Federal Reserve’s cheap dollar policies once again make U.S. goods more competitively priced abroad.”

Other components: Additional facets of the January Business Conditions Index were new orders at 46.4, down slightly from 46.6 in December; production or sales at 46.8, up from 43.6; and delivery lead time at 54.3, down from December’s 56.4.

For more information, contact Goss at 559.278.2352.

Films, lectures, readings and performances will be presented by the new center, which was created in 2010 with a $1 million gift to the College of Arts and Humanities. It was designed to fill a void by using the arts to link people, disciplines and ideas to examine key issues in the central San Joaquin Valley.

“It is the first center dedicated to the challenges facing the Valley and beyond by engaging diverse communities in artistic and intellectual discovery to understand, transform and inspire,” said Dr. Vida Samiian, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

Each year the center will explore an issue or theme facing society from a crossdisciplinary perspective on campus to ignite public discussion. The center already is serving as a catalyst for open, dynamic discussion of socially relevant topics that are illuminated by artistic programming such as Cisneros, Samiian said.

“We are pleased to be able to attract such a notable author to our community and host these inspiring events on campus as part of our first-year of programming for the Center for Creativity and the Arts,” the dean said.

Cisneros, who has written extensively about the Latina experience in the United States, won an American Book Award for “The House on Mango Street.”

“Sandra Cisneros in Conversation” will begin at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at the Concert Hall in the Music Building. At 7 p.m. Feb. 3, Cisneros plans a public reading at the Satellite Student Union, where her books will be available for purchase and signing. Both events are free, open to the community and sponsored by Fresno State’s Department of English.

At 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at the Satellite Student Union, Rivera Marin will discuss her new book “My Papa Diego and Me: Memories of My Father and His Art.” Wells Fargo is sponsoring this event, also free and open to the community.

Also on the Center for Creativity and the Arts calendar this semester are CineCulture films Feb. 24 and March 2, presented by the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, and a theater performance April 19-21, “Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type,” sponsored by the Department of Theatre Arts’ Theatre for Young Audiences.

In fall 2011, the center supported public debates about immigration by the Fresno State Barking Bulldog Debate Team and exhibitions by visual artists Amalia Mesa-Bains, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood and Margarita Cabrera.

The center also is cultivating creativity in the community by presenting guest artists to K-12 students. In November, when the center hosted artist Margarita Cabrera on campus, she visited Glacier Point Middle School in Fresno to teach students a Oaxacan weaving technique.

For more information, contact Dr. Jose Diaz, the center’s interim director, 559.278.3056.

(University Communications student news assistant Reganie Smith-Love contributed to this copy).

Related links:

• Sandra Cisneros
• Center for Creativity and the Arts