Life as Edward Jensen

Dear fellow Barrett Downtown students:

As most of you are aware, last week, I stepped down as the President of BLAST’D, the Barrett Leadership and Service Team on our campus.  It was not an easy decision to realize that I had to make, nor was it a decision that I took lightly.

Being that I never had a chance in which to say farewell and thank you in person, I’m hoping that this open letter in this public forum will suffice just as well.

Let me be clear: My departure had nothing to do with the people that were serving alongside me.  I have tremendous admiration and respect for the Executive Committee and the staff of Barrett Downtown.  These individuals–volunteer and professional staff alike–tirelessly have advocated for us all and have worked to promote Barrett Downtown to the other ASU campuses.  None of our events since Barrett Downtown’s inception would have been nearly as successful as they have been if our staff was not involved in the process.

Why, then, did I step down?  It boils down to that the number of hours in the day remain fixed.  My commitments–academic, professional, and service–keep growing.  I cannot be all things to all people, and I quickly came to the realization that I needed to take an honest and objective look at all of my commitments.  I have a lot on my plate with three simultaneous large-scale research projects, a continually-evolving job with the Dean’s Office for my College, the College of Public Programs, and the requisite coursework so I may graduate in December 2010.  In addition, I’m starting to create my graduate school application for the Master of Public Administration program at ASU’s School of Public Affairs, where I’ll start in August 2011.

I think that the first thing that we, as students, forget is that we are students first when we’re in college.  We try–and especially we as honors students–to do so much résumé-building that we truly forget why we’re here in the first place: to go and learn things so that we may become successful in whatever we choose to do.  And especially as honors students, we have even more on our plate.  Yes, résumé-building is good, but as the number of hours in the day remain fixed, we need to have our priorities.

For the club going forward: Give Caroline Porter her due respect.  Ms. Porter is a wonderful person and she is equally committed to this club’s success.  My decision to leave was made easier because I know that the club would be in capable hands.

Finally, I finish with these words: Thank you all so much for the support that you have given to me, to the club, and to the Barrett Downtown community.  Keep that spirit alive as your relationship with Barrett Downtown continues to grow. Keep your support and enthusiasm for BLAST’D as alive as ever.

Oh, and by the way, this isn’t my goodbye from Barrett Downtown.  Far from it.  I’ll still be at some of the events and I’ll still be helping Jill, Jenn, and Dr. Peck on some projects and initiatives, still advocating and fighting for BLAST’D’s success and due recognition along the way.  Consider me the new Goodwill Ambassador for Barrett Downtown.

And I’ll still see you around the campus.

-Edward Jensen

Barrett Cross-Campus Progressive Dinner: “One Barrett, Many Places, Same Love of Great Times”
Friday, October 23rd, 5:45-10:00pm

Join our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=155084705123

Barrett, The Honors College, is proud to announce a new Barrett signature event highlighting two of our four Barrett campuses and including students from all campuses.  Beginning at the new Barrett Tempe campus complex at 5:45pm, students will mix and mingle then eat dinner in the Refectory. Following dinner, students travel to Downtown Phoenix via METRO light rail for dessert and exploration of the vibrant Downtown Phoenix campus.  The event will conclude at 10:00pm and students will return to their home campus onboard the light rail or intercampus shuttle bus.

• Tempe campus students: the event begins at the Barrett complex at 5:45pm.  When departing from the Downtown Phoenix campus, METRO light rail trains depart from the Van Buren/1st Avenue at 10:02pm and every 20 minutes thereafter until 2:22am.
• Downtown Phoenix campus students: plan to meet in the lobby of University Center at 4:40pm to travel together to the Tempe campus onboard the light rail.
• West campus students: plan to depart the West campus at 4:00pm on the intercampus shuttle and get off at the Downtown Phoenix campus to travel with the Barrett Downtown group onboard the light rail. At 10:00pm, you can board the intercampus shuttle back to the West campus.
• Polytechnic campus students: click here for shuttle information.
• Commuter students: Take advantage of the free park-and-ride lots along the light rail line! If you wish to park closer to the Downtown Phoenix campus (where the event concludes), there is a $5 surface lot situated a couple blocks north of the Downtown Phoenix campus at Central & Fillmore. We then encourage you to join the Downtown Phoenix and West campus group that is traveling to the Tempe campus together—please plan to arrive at University Center, 411 N. Central Ave., at 4:40pm.

Light Rail Pass information: If you do not have a U-Pass or other light rail pass, plan to buy your all-day pass ($3.50) in advance to save time. Passes can be purchased in advance at a fare vending machine at all of the light rail stations (click to learn more) and in-person at Central Station in Downtown Phoenix or the Tempe Transportation Center. On October 23, the day of the event, be sure to activate your pass at a fare vending machine. If you want more information about purchasing the U-Pass, good for unlimited travel on Valley Metro light rail and bus, click here.

Dinner information:

• Students with a Barrett Tempe Meal Plan can use a meal swipe
• Students with a non-Tempe Meal Plan can use a swipe plus $4 in M&G
• Students without a meal plan can pay cash ($12.50)
• A limited number of free and subsidized meals for commuter and non-Tempe students will be available, so…

Click Here to Make Your Dinner Reservation! (All reservations must be made by October 16th!)

This event is co-sponsored and co-planned by the Barrett Leadership and Service Team (BLAST) and the Barrett Leadership and Service Team at the Downtown Phoenix campus (BLAST’D). If you are interested in helping out with this event, please talk to your campus’s BLAST representative. For Tempe, this is Sean Nonnenmacher (sean.nonnenmacher@asu.edu). For the Downtown Phoenix campus, it is Janessa Hilliard (janessa.hilliard@asu.edu). Polytechnic and West campus students, please contact Edward Jensen (echj@asu.edu).

The Barrett Progressive Dinner

“One Barrett, Many Places”

Barrett, The Honors College, is proud to announce a Barrett signature event highlighting two of our four Barrett campuses and including students from all campuses.  The event will begin on students’ “home” campus, then progress to the Tempe Campus for fun and dinner beginning at 5:30pm in the new Barrett campus.  After dinner, students progress Downtown via Metro Light Rail for dessert and exploration of the Downtown Phoenix campus.  The event will conclude at 10pm and students will return to their home campus.

Date: Friday, October 23rd

Where: Barrett Tempe & Barrett Downtown

Time: 4-11pm (start time depends on home campus)

Downtown students will begin at 4:30 and end at 10pm (30 minutes of light rail travel)

Tempe students begin at 5:30pm and end at 10:30pm (30 minutes of light rail travel)

West students plan to take the intercampus shuttle. For shuttle information click here.

Polytechnic students plan to take the intercampus shuttle.  For shuttle information click here .

Cost: Dinner, $12.50* (or free with meal plan)

Light Rail Pass, $3.50 round trip (or free with U-Pass)

Dessert, FREE

The Progressive Dinner Experience, PRICELESS!

*Students with a Barrett Tempe Meal Plan can use a swipe

Students with a non-Tempe Meal Plan can use a swipe plus $4 in M&G**

Students without a meal plan can pay cash**

**A limited number of free and subsidized meals will be available, so…

Click Here to Make Your Dinner Reservation!

All reservations must be made by October 16th

This event is a Barrett Leadership and Service Team Downtown (BLAST’D) and Barrett Leadership and Service Team (BLAST) co-sponsored event

[author's note: In my capacity as the President for the Barrett Leadership and Service Team at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, or more colloquially known as BLAST'D, I penned a welcome-back letter for the Barrett Downtown community. Learn more about what we do in Barrett, the Honors College at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus through our blog, Twitter account, and Facebook fan page.]

Dear fellow Barrett Downtown students:On behalf of the entire Barrett Downtown community, I welcome you to the Fall 2009 semester and the 2009-2010 academic year. With the hard work and dedication of Jill Johnson, Dr. Laura Peck, and numerous Barrett Downtown students, Barrett’s inaugural year on the Downtown Phoenix campus far exceeded everyone’s expectations. True to Barrett fashion, however, we are not going to rest on these laurels: we are going to have an even better year this year.

We are delighted to welcome to the Barrett Downtown community students from programs that have recently moved to our campus. We are excited to have you here and we look forward to working with you in this and future semesters. You join a community of scholars who have embedded themselves into this vibrant urban laboratory that is Downtown Phoenix. The programs that are here on our campus share professional counterparts within a mile’s radius from the campus and you may take an internship with one of these organizations.

As both Jill and Dr. Peck mentioned in their letters, there are several Barrett-associated student organizations here on this campus. All clubs share a common purpose: to foster a sense of community among those in Barrett Downtown. From the Book Club to B-Town D-Town (our residential college), these clubs are great ways to meet people who share common interests and passions in a unique setting. And if there is a club that you want to create, I remind you that it takes three students and a faculty/staff advisor to create and register a club here at ASU and the Downtown Phoenix campus.

This leads me to the club I help to run, the Barrett Leadership and Service Team at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, or BLAST’D. For this semester, we are planning several signature events, including a social in the A.E. England building at the Civic Space Park, a light rail progressive dinner with our Tempe campus friends, and other unique events. We are also in the process of partnering with various nonprofit and nongovernmental agencies to provide opportunities for you to help make our shared community a better place.

BLAST’D’s meetings will be on the first Friday of each month. While we are still figuring out the exact time and place of our meetings, we do know this: we want you to join us! Do you want to help plan our events or service opportunities? Do you have ideas for events that we’ve overlooked? We are a small program here on a small campus, and so we want to hear from you. I strongly encourage you to join us at our meetings and in our work.

So once again, welcome to this new year. We have a lot of activities planned and we’re excited for what is to come. And as always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Jill Johnson, Dr. Peck, or me.

With all best wishes for a fantastic semester and year–

Edward C.H. Jensen
President, Barrett Leadership and Service Team at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus
echj [at] asu [dot] edu, edwardjensen.net, facebook.com/edwardjensen

[source: Corey Schubert, ASU College of Public Programs] The ASU Downtown Phoenix campus will open its doors to the community at the 4th Annual Urban Gallery Exhibition from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, April 3 at the University Center at 411 N. Central Ave.

This free exhibit is part of First Friday and will feature four new art collections, with more than 500 pieces on display from ASU Emeritus faculty, nonprofit community organizations and artists, and students of Barrett, the Honors College, and South Mountain High School in Phoenix. Live music will be featured on two stages, along with dancers and interactive art demonstrations. Many artists and nonprofit groups will be on hand to discuss their work.

“The event is designed to welcome the community to its ASU Downtown Phoenix campus and to share the richly diverse art collection,” says Debra Friedman, University Vice President and Dean of the College of Public Programs at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus.

Among the new collections this year is “Migration: Immigration, Giving Honor to Cultures and Communities,” designed to encourage open-minded dialogue about an important and often divisive current issue. Phoenix artists including Luis Gutierrez, Martin Moreno, Emily Matyas and Francisco Garcia examine immigration as a global, national, local, and family phenomenon. The Cultural Arts Coalition, Neighborhood Ministries, Advocates for Latin@ Arts and Culture and South Mountain High School, among many others, use the arts to showcase their mission and strengthen shared community ties.

Other new art collections include “Spring Forward,” with works from artists, students and faculty of Barrett, the Honors College, celebrating the coming of spring.

Information Commons, the library at the Downtown Phoenix campus, is showcasing “Double/Vision,” which brings together works from Phoenix artists Nancy Reinker and Diana Clauss.

Artwork in the “For Our Eyes” collection shares viewpoints from nonprofits in the Phoenix community and the people they serve. Another collection showcases the talent of ASU professors, expressed through the works of retired faculty members of the ASU Emeritus College. This includes influential African-American artist and educator Dr. Eugene Grigsby, Jr.

The campus will be filled with the sights of ASU graduate dance students performing with urban youth, live art demonstrations such as painting, kids’ crafts and interactive opportunities. Diverse music, poetry and performances will be provided by Barrett, the Honors College, local organizations and sponsors.

Live music includes steel drummers, tap dancers and local bands including Try Me Bicycle, Grupo Liberdade and Ten Dollar Outfit.

The 4th Annual Urban Gallery Exhibition is an Artlink shuttle stop, and planned in coordination with the Roosevelt Row block party.

More than 30 nonprofit groups are taking part, including Phoenix Children’s Hospital, AZ Wilderness Coalition, Neighborhood Ministries, the Cultural Arts Coalition, Hospice of the Valley, Downtown Phoenix Public Market, and PSA Art Awakenings.

The exhibition is among the highlights of a daylong community event, “Action, Advocacy and Arts,” focusing on the power of community at the Downtown Phoenix campus.

For information about the exhibit, contact ASU community liaison Malissa Geer at malissa.geer@asu.edu. For “Action, Advocacy and Arts” details, visit: http://copp.asu.edu/aaa.

High-resolution photos of examples of the exhibit are available at: http://copp.asu.edu/do/college-news/events-gallery/immigration-art-exhibit

-Edward Jensen

Students of Public Affairs Network (SPAN), in association with Barrett, the Honors College at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, proudly present a forum on public art.

The forum explores the process of how public art can be a change agent for the community, enhances community identity and impact economic development. Come and find out why public art matters.

Thursday, February 19, 2009, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, room 202
(555 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004)
Free.

Panel:
Introductory Remarks: Dr. Robert Denhardt, Director, ASU School of Public Affairs

Moderator: Dr. Betsy Fahlman, Professor of Art History, School of Art, Herberger College of the Arts and Member, Tempe Municipal Arts Commission

Speakers:

• Mary Lucking, M.F.A., Public Artist, Tucson, Arizona
• Dianne Cripe, Public Art Specialist, City of Goodyear
• Ed Lebow, Public Art Program Director, City of Phoenix
• Valerie Vadala Homer, Director Scottsdale Public Art Program & Vice President Scottsdale Cultural Council
• Nancy Levinson, Director, Phoenix Urban Research Laboratory, College of Design, Arizona State University
• Cyd West, Director of Research and Economic Partnerships, Maricopa Partnership for the Arts

Faculty, students, staff and members of the community are invited to attend, offer feedback, and discuss the importance of public art in the community.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Yesterday (6 February 2009), the Barrett Honors College hosted the Barrett Light Rail Party, with 250 players in over 50 teams. Starting at the ASU Tempe campus and finishing at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, the teams and players found items, took pictures, and answered trivia questions along the twenty-mile line.

if you cannot see the slideshow, come to my blog to see it!

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

This evening was the first of the Barrett Honors College Student/Faculty Dinner series at the Taylor Place residential hall cafeteria. Tonight’s faculty member was Aaron Brown, former ABC and CNN anchor, and present Walter Cronkite Professor of Journalism. (Yes, that Aaron Brown.)

All the students in attendance were from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, except for Sam Richard and me, and everyone was a resident of Taylor Place except Mr. Brown and me. Naturally, most of the conversation focused on journalism and what the journalism students wanted to be upon exiting college, but Mr. Brown and I had a fantastic conversation on city management, the dichotomy of politics and administration, and growth politics. (More specifics of content to come later.)

The man is extremely nice and personable. He teaches a course in the Cronkite School about turning points in television news history, which is a class I intend to take. I remember watching the horrors of 11 September 2001 happening on my television with Mr. Brown standing from a Manhattan rooftop watching American history unfold. To be there – right next to the man – is quite an honor.

And one I will long remember.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

If you also applied for the Barrett Honors College at the same time as you applied to ASU, you should have received a letter welcoming you to the Honors College. As the Student Ambassador of the College of Public Programs who is also in the Honors College, please consider me a resource for any questions that you may have. Give me a call at (602) 496-7827 or send me an e-mail at edwardjensen@asu.edu.

Welcome to the BHC!
-Edward Jensen

REMINDER! Dr Nan Ellin’s lecture on her book, Integral Urbanism, is TODAY at 4:30pm in AG250 on the Tempe Campus.

Dear Barrett Students,

When I was your age, one of the ideas I had for a career that seemed extremely useful and sort of romantic was Urban Design. I liked biology, I liked writing, I thought (don’t we all?) that I was a bit artistic, but I wanted to help people directly as well. Urban Design seemed to combine everything I liked.

I still think it combines a lot of the interests that good honors students have, and THIS AFTERNOON, at 4:30 PM, in Room 250 of the Agriculture Building, the Director of ASU’s “Urban and Metropolitan Studies” program, Dr. Nan Ellin, will talk about her work in urban design and about the courses and the major you can take in her department.

Nan is a very nice person and good speaker, and I think her program is an exciting one that is particularly suited to Phoenix as a rapidly developing city. I strongly urge you to attend the talk, and hope to see you there this afternoon!

Mark Jacobs
Dean, Barrett Honors College
Professor, School of Life Sciences

Hope to see you there! -Edward Jensen