Daily Business Report-Feb. 15, 2016
Dr. Helen Griffith, UC San Diego Department of Communication alumna 1981, now heads e3 Civic High School. (Photo: by Erika Johnson/University Communications)
Changing the Future
Helen Griffith leads ‘Most Innovative’
high school in Downtown Library
Helen Griffith had little interest in a career in education when she came to campus as a transfer student. There was no way, she said, she would work around the clock like her mother did as a teacher and principal, but one thing stuck: a passion for reading and, hand-in-hand, libraries. She grew up loving the iconic Geisel library at UC San Diego.
Even as an adult, there is something about the learning possibilities offered by a library that excite Griffith. Today, the 1981 UC San Diego Department of Communication graduate is the founding and current executive director of e3 Civic High School — located, ironically, in the unique and beautiful San Diego Central Library downtown.
Also the founding principal of Millennial Tech Middle School, Griffith reflected on how she made it to where she is now, balanced on a foundation she built at UC San Diego: “The experience that I had as an undergraduate student gave me the strongest base, especially in communication, to go anywhere. It also provided me with a strong, strong base that I was able to later go to graduate school and be successful.”
In 2015, the charter high school Griffith directs was named to the first “Most Innovative K-12 Schools in America” list by Noodle, a website that provides educational resources to families. Noodle examined 140,000 schools to come up with its list, honoring those with “visionary methodologies” who challenge “well-established notions” of education, the site says.
“Innovation means doing whatever’s necessary to meet the end result and not being tied to the old way of doing business, but also being free to incorporate the old way if it meets the goal,” Griffith said. “Innovation to me really is thinking about, by any means necessary, achieving the goals for the students.” — Anthony King — UC San Diego News Center
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Sheila Fox Leaving Ad Club
To Focus on Marketing Business
Sheila Fox, a recognized leader in the San Diego advertising industry for the past 30 years, is leaving as executive director of SDX, formerly the San Diego Ad Club, to focus on her marketing consulting business.
“It’s been great to be associated with SDX and working with the brightest, funniest and coolest people in the world,” said Fox. “As much as I love SDX, and I always will, I’m excited to focus on my other clients and have time to pursue new adventures.”
Considered by many as the face of the local ad industry, Fox is staying on with SDX until mid-May, following the conclusion of SDX’s Interactive Day on May 6, an annual event which draws crowds of more than 1,200 people.
Fox took the Ad Club job in 2004, while continuing to operate her own consulting company, Fox Marketing Network. At SDX, she manages the organization and has been responsible for event planning, fundraising, volunteer recruitment, membership development and communications.
— Rick Griffith, MarketInk
Scripps Florida Scientists Win Grant to
Advance Huntington’s Disease Studies
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have won nearly $1.7 million from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to investigate the mechanisms that contribute to Huntington’s disease, a fatal inherited disease that some have described as having ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s — at the same time.
Three Salk Institute scientists Join List
Of ‘World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds’
Salk Institute scientists Joanne Chory, Joseph Ecker, and Rusty Gage, have been named to the 2015 list of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” by Thomson Reuters.
Reuters, a multinational mass media and information firm, compiles an annual list of scientists who published the greatest number of articles ranking among the top 1 percent by citations received in their respective fields. There are 3,126 named on the 2015 “Highly Cited Researchers” list.
• Rusty Gage is a professor in the Laboratory of Genetics and holds the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related
Neurodegenerative Disease. His work concentrates on the adult central nervous system and unexpected plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remains throughout the life of all mammals.
• Joseph Ecker, a professor in Salk’s Plant Biology Laboratory and director of the Genomic Analysis Laboratory, is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation investigator. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on the molecular biology and genetics of plants.
• Joanne Chory is professor and director of Salk’s Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology lab. She is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Chory has pioneered the use of molecular genetics to study how plants respond to their environment and has made major discoveries surrounding how plants sense light and make growth hormones.
Internet Searches Reflect Vaping’s Surge
The Oxford Dictionaries selected “vape” — as in, to smoke from an electronic cigarette — as word of the year in 2014. It turns out that Internet users’ search behavior reflects the word’s popularity. Between 2009 and 2015, the number of people in the United States seeking information online about vaping rose dramatically, according to a recent study co-led by San Diego State University Internet health expert John W. Ayers and University of North Carolina tobacco control expert Rebecca S. Williams as a part of the Internet Tobacco Vendors Study.
One finding from the study of particular concern to health officials and researchers is that when it comes to vaping, people are by and large searching for information on how and where to get vaping products, not for information on quitting cigarette smoking or the health effects of vaping.
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Women & Wine
Women & Wine is back at San Diego Women’s Week on Wednesday, March 16. This popular event, set in the beautiful Bernardo Winery, 13330 Paseo del Verano Norte, San Diego, features wine pairings, live music, and unique shopping. Attendees will also get to give back in a unique, fun way with Sip & Swap: a career-wear exchange that benefits a local organization assisting battered women to regain their independence. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
