azcast

Work in progress! Don’t be surprised if things are wonky.

The azcast R-package is a utility package with consolidated tools and templates prepared for the University of Arizona’s College of Applied Science and Technology. It contains a variety of templates that I have been using and tweaking for some time, as well as new-to-me templates from the wonderful numbats/monash package. The package is mainly templates and easy access to assets like logos and colors. The goal is for this to be useful not just for me, but for others in CAST, whether they be faculty, staff, or students.

Please note that these are my personal templates and not “official” by any means.

These templates will be tweaked and updated as time goes on and as my personal tastes change. I hope folks find it useful!

Package Details

Installation

azcast is not on CRAN, so you need to install it from this repository. You can install the azcast R-package like this:

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("ryanstraight/azcast")

Templates

One of the core functions of this package is to easily create branded documents. (Ironically, the functions aren’t working right now, but you can still create files using the RMarkdown tempaltes. You can see these steps in the vignette.) You are highly encouraged to use the tinytex() package as your LaTeX environment. When knitting these templates for the first time, please be patient as packages are installed.

• Class paper: no template provided; when APA is required, use the papaja package. Otherwise, use document.
• Exam: a paper exam. Example
  • While unlikely to be used all that often, who knows, it may come in handy at some point.
• Document: all-purpose document based on the svmiller/stevetemplates statement template. Example
  • This is a good template for assignments that don’t require APA formatting.
• Letter: letter with CAST banner at top left. Example
  • Note the \newline requirement in the to-address.
• Memo: a casual memo with optional branding. Example
• Report: for reports sent to external clients. Example
• Thesis: no template is provided; use kelseygonzalez/beardown: An updated R Markdown thesis template using the bookdown package for University of Arizona instead.
• Working paper: a mask-able working paper template. Example
• Xaringan: a themed Xaringan slide deck. Deck code example and the published deck.
  • The slide deck template heavily employs the xaringanExtra package and attempts to demonstrate virtually all functions and options possible within the template file. If you’re unfamiliar with Xaringan, see the GitHub repository and documented linked therein.
  • Fun fact: the Infinite Moon Reader live edit/preview Add-In that comes with Xaringan works for any Rmd file, not just the slide decks.

Get a logo

You can get the CAST webheader like this:

# any webheader you like as long as it's this one
azcast::logo_get_cast()

You can get a copy of the official University of Arizona logo into the directory you wish using the logo_get() function. See the vignette for more info on how to use this.

# default logo
azcast::logo_get()
# monochrome block version of the logo
azcast::logo_get(color = "black", style = "block")

You can then reference the logo file that you copied.

Logo examples

You’ll notice these are high resolution and thus pretty large. You are encouraged to use the knitr function include_graphics() rather than the standard ![](image.jpg) markdown image syntax. This allows you to easily resize the figures. For example, the following uses chunk options out.width=10% and fig.cap="A smaller logo." You can learn more about R code chunks at Options - Chunk options and package options - Yihui Xie | 谢益辉.

knitr::include_graphics("man/figures/banner.png")

Get University of Arizona Brand colors

These are handy commands to quickly see University of Arizona brand colors and be able to copy-and-paste the hex color codes. You can find more info like cmyk, rgb, and Pantone codes and formulas here: Colors | University of Arizona Brand Resources

azcast::color_show()

#> arizonablue  arizonared        leaf       river      silver        mesa 
#>   "#0C234B"   "#AB0520"   "#70B865"   "#007D84"   "#9EABAE"   "#A95C42" 
#>       bloom         sky       oasis       chili     azurite    midnight 
#>   "#EF4056"   "#81D3EB"   "#378DBD"   "#8B0015"   "#1E5288"   "#001C48" 
#>       black       white    warmgray    coolgray 
#>   "#000000"   "#FFFFFF"   "#F4EDE5"   "#E2E9EB"

The xaringan themed slide deck mentioned in the template list above employs heavy use of these colors, as you can imagine.

Settings

(WIP) The azcast package makes use of some values, listed below, from your R profile. You can modify this by using usethis::edit_r_profile() and adding below with values modified to your own values.

options(azcast.full_name = "Dr. Ryan Straight",
        azcast.email = "[email protected]",
        azcast.orgunit = "College of Applied Science and Technology",
        azcast.teaching_dir = "~/teaching/azcast/",
        azcast.workshop_dir = "~/workshop/")

Building the hex sticker

If for any reason you’d need to, you can build the hex sticker (the azcast R package logo above) by forking the repository and using this script:

#library(hexSticker)
#library(here)

imgloc <- here::here("man", "figures", "cat.png")

sticker(imgloc, package="AZCAST", p_size=20, s_x=1, s_y=.75, h_fill="#0C234B", h_color="#8B0015", s_width=.6, p_family = "Aller_Rg", filename="man/figures/logo.png")

University of Arizona

Sundry information about the university follows.

The University of Arizona, a land-grant university with two independently accredited medical schools, is one of the nation’s top 40 public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1885, the university is widely recognized as a student-centric university and has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The university ranked in the top 20 in 2019 in research expenditures among all public universities, according to the National Science Foundation, and is a leading Research 1 institution with $734 million in annual research expenditures. The university advances the frontiers of interdisciplinary scholarship and entrepreneurial partnerships as a member of the Association of American Universities, the 65 leading public and private research universities in the U.S. It benefits the state with an estimated economic impact of $4.1 billion annually. For the latest on the University of Arizona response to the novel coronavirus, visit the university’s COVID-19 webpage.

The College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST)

The College of Applied Science & Technology (CAST) provides opportunities for students to earn high-quality and meaningful University of Arizona degrees at sites throughout Southern Arizona, including key border communities in Cochise and Santa Cruz Counties. CAST partners with community colleges to offer regionally-relevant transfer programs that are low cost, and geographically accessible.

Students can choose from Bachelor of Applied Science programs, select Master’s programs, and a variety of continuing education programs designed to meet the workforce needs of area industry.

~About | AZCAST

Our Values

Who we are and what we stand for:

INTEGRITY Be honest, respectful and just.
COMPASSION Choose to care.
EXPLORATION Be insatiably curious.
ADAPTATION Stay open-minded and eager for what’s next.
INCLUSION Harness the power of diversity.
DETERMINATION Bear Down.

Land Acknowledgment

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.