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(04/23/07 4:00am)
PHILADELPHIA – International applicants to American graduate schools are on the rise for the second consecutive year.\nThe number of international applicants increased 17 percent from last year, according to a report released this week by the Council of Graduate Schools.\nDespite the overall increase, applications are still down 27 percent from 2003, when the federal government implemented increased security measures for entering the U.S.\nFollowing those measures, taken in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, international applicants took a steep hit. \nHowever, it looks like the numbers may be on the rebound.\nStuart Heiser, a spokesman for CGS, said improvements in the visa evaluation procedures, not increased academic reputation, are behind the recent trend.\n“The (visa) process is becoming more efficient while maintaining security,” he said.\nHeiser also said that outreach programs with the State Department and foreign universities help dispel rumors that foreign grad students are not welcome in the U.S., which has played a role in the rise. \nThe University of Pennsylvania has embraced this sort of outreach approach, which has led to increased international applicants at many of its graduate schools.\nRob Nelson, of the Office of the Provost, said the university is involved in the International Graduate Scholarship Council in Shanghai in an attempt to encourage more international students to apply.\nNelson noted that the number of international applicants has been increasing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences grad schools every year since 2004.\nMae Jennifer Shores, the senior associate director of Wharton MBA admissions and financial aid, said international interest in the Wharton MBA program has remained relatively constant over the years. \nAbout 43 percent of the 2006 entering class is international students. \n“We have witnessed an increase in recent years,” she said. “The percent of international students in our pool today compares very favorably to pre-Sept. 11th levels.”\nShores added that visa restrictions have never been a problem for incoming Wharton MBA candidates.\n“Our students have been quite proactive in applying for their visas early so that few are affected by these new visa regulations,” she said.
(04/23/07 4:00am)
WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue University’s presidential search is entering its final stages, with an announcement possibly within two weeks, a search official said.\nBill Funk of R. William Funk & Associates, the firm Purdue hired to help with the search, said the school’s search committee has handed the search to the trustees. Since the search committee’s charge was to find finalists, a decision could be coming soon, possibly within two weeks.\n“I think we’re in the late stages of the search,” Funk said.\nTrustees have been mum on the number of candidates left in the race, however, out of concern that sought-after candidates will drop out of the race if their names are made public.\nFunk said many universities have lost good candidates that way.\nThe search comes as President Martin Jischke plans to retire June 30 after being Purdue’s top administrator for seven years. Officials have said they plan to name Jischke’s successor in late spring.\nPurdue spokesman Joe Bennett said the search had been narrowed but declined to say how many candidates the trustees are considering. He confirmed, however, that Purdue Provost Sally Mason has been considered as a candidate but would not say whether she is still in the running.\nMason said this week she is not at liberty to discuss the search.
(04/10/07 4:00am)
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern University senior Ashima Singal and Johnnie Savory met for the first time in prison.\nOn Friday, almost two years later, the two came together again for Block Museum of Art’s screening of Singal’s documentary “A Life Wasted: The Story of Johnnie Savory.”\nSingal met Savory through \nNorthwestern School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions, which investigates cases and represents prisoners who claim to have been wrongfully convicted of crimes.\nIn 1977, Savory was imprisoned for a double murder at the age of 14, but he has maintained his innocence even after being released on parole last December.\nWhile in prison, Savory sent a letter to the center, which receives between 200 and 300 requests each month from inmates around the country.\nThe center chose to represent Savory because he has maintained his innocence for so long and his community supported him.\nThe case was referred to Singal after she expressed interest in creating a documentary on a prisoner.\n“It is extremely motivating to know someone was literally putting the opportunity to be free in your hands,” Singal said. \nEven though she sometimes encountered difficulty gaining access to Savory in prison, Singal said the biggest obstacle in the making of her documentary was obtaining funding. \nAfter applying three times for a grant, Singal finally received $1,000 to edit her film and make DVDs.\n“It took a long time to get the project on its feet,” Singal said. “Every time there was some delay I felt like I was letting him down.”\nBut Savory said he never sensed Singal’s frustration.\n“I remember Ashima telling me she had (applied) for the different grants,” Savory said. “Each time she was denied she told me, ‘No matter, I’ll get it done.’”\nIt was this positive attitude that surprised Singal the first time she met Savory.\n“I realized that the bitterness would only block me from reaching out to people,” Savory said. “They would have taken my physical life from me and the spiritual treasures.” When Singal finished her 14-minute documentary last winter, she sent copies to about 50 legislators, media outlets and parole board representatives. \nSingal said she received about 10 letters in response, mostly saying they had no way to help.\nBut Steve Drizin, legal director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, said he believes her documentary helped lead to Savory’s release.\n“I believe this film might have had an impact on (Savory’s parole) board,” Drizin said.\nSavory is currently living at a halfway home on Chicago’s South Side. Since his release, he said he has been working, speaking at colleges and getting used to the outside world in the 21st century.\nBut the case is still not closed. \nSavory said he hopes to prove his innocence through the use of DNA evidence, which is currently denied by the federal courts because of how long ago the crime occurred.\n“(The case) shouldn’t end until you submit this evidence,” Drizin said. “We believe this test would not only exclude Johnnie but reveal the true perpetrator.”\nFriday’s event was the end of Singal’s two-year involvement with the project, which she called draining and extremely emotional.\n“It was a big relief when Friday was over,” Singal said. “Friday was a recognition of that effort and an end to the project.”\nDespite the difficulty of completing the documentary, Singal said it was rewarding experience.\n“It is the one thing at NU I am most proud of,” Singal said.
(04/10/07 4:00am)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – On a warm day a student might see Greg Schechter riding his unicycle to class. Once inside the classroom, the professor might catch Schechter, a sophomore engineering student, using a slide rule on one of his computer science tests.\n“(A slide rule) is something my mom used,” said Suraj Samaranayake, a junior, also studying engineering.\nThe slide rule is a device that was invented in the 17th century and used up through the 1950s and 1960s prior to the invention of the calculator.\nRecently, Schechter adapted the slide rule to the computer screen and won first place with his invention of a slide rule widget at the first Yahoo! University Hack Days. A widget is another name for a computer desktop application. The competition was held at Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., on March 30.\n“I think ... Yahoo! liked (Greg’s project) because it’s really unique,” Samaranayake said. “(It takes) this old technology and (applies) it to a Yahoo! widget. Greg’s project had a sense of humor to it.”\nWhen Schechter’s instructors refuse to allow students use calculators on a test, Schechter said he asks permission to use an alternate method.\n“He’s very addicted to his slide rule,” said Viraj Kumar, who is a computer science TA and was one of Schechter’s instructors last fall. A regular slide rule looks like a ruler but is shorter in length and has six columns of numbers. One can slide a moving piece in the middle and a clear sliding piece covering the width of the slide rule to different numbers to perform a variety of calculations.\nAfter winning the Hack Days qualifying competition at the University of Illinois on Nov. 1, Schechter went on to compete against students from \nStanford University, Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University.\n“For him to win at nationals was a complete long-shot,” Samaranayake said. “He was going against the best universities in the nation. Those (universities) for computer science are ... as good as it gets.”\nSamaranayake said Schechter is good at overcoming challenges for their Web site, called \nScheedule.com, which they developed with four other students. The site shows possible class schedule combinations once students enter their courses into the site.\n“The algorithms that select what are valid schedules, he came up with every line (of code),” Samaranayake said. “That’s the most complicated part of the Web site.”\nSchechter also came up with a map feature that shows students the buildings in which their classes are located. He has expanded Scheedule.com to Indiana University and is currently working on it for the University of Arizona.\n“He kind of just jumped into it on his own and figured it all out,” Samaranayake said.\nSchechter was also on his own when he created the slide rule widget and received a $2,500 check and a trophy at the competition in Sunnyvale.\nThe trophy is seven inches tall. Engraved on the front in childlike handwriting are the letters spelling “hacker”.\nSchechter said that the trophy fits the style of the Hack Days competition, where competitors have to throw something together really quickly. In the fall, Yahoo! gave the competitors at the university a month to create a “hack” that involved some sort of Yahoo! product, service or Application Programming Interface. Students were given only about 90 seconds to present their projects in front of judges on the big day.\n“You’re just supposed to make something, whatever you can imagine,” Schechter said.\nSchechter said that for the Sunnyvale competition, the judges at Yahoo! gave the competitors the opportunity to make adjustments to their projects. He said that he didn’t make any changes, though, because he was happy with it.\nSchecter’s slide rule widget, which includes four different types of slide rules, is available online at the Yahoo! Widget Gallery. For those who have never used a slide rule, the widget comes complete with a tutorial. Almost 10,000 people have downloaded it from the Yahoo! site so far.\nThis summer, Schechter will fly back out to Sunnyvale to intern at Yahoo!. In the future, he said that he would like to be a Web developer.\n“I want to be able to work on a project where I really have a lot of control (and) where I can program some of my own ideas into whatever I’m working on,” Schechter said.\nKumar, Schechter’s former instructor, said that he hopes Schechter had gotten some of his ideas for the competition from the computer architecture course he taught.\n“It’s pretty clear that he’s one of the top students in terms of being able to think things through,” Kumar said. “His clarity of thinking is actually very, very special.”
(04/09/07 4:00am)
DAVIS, Calif. – The Educational Testing Service announced the cancellation of plans to launch a revised version of the Graduate Record Examinations because of concerns over test-taker access. The test was supposed to be released in an Internet-based format in September 2007, but will instead remain in its current format.\nTom Ewing, spokesman for the ETS, said the now-canceled Internet-based format would have been easy to implement, but it still did not guarantee that everyone would be able to take the test.\n“The way we’re doing it is that most of the Internet-based centers are computer labs in universities, and they function as computer labs,” Ewing said. “A couple days a month, they become our test centers. The students course register and get the admission ticket and when they come to the center, they sit down at the computer, and the test comes in over the Internet. They take the test and their answers go back out over the Internet. Then it returns to being a computer lab. We have 3,200 Internet-based centers around the world currently operating. We have 1,800 more coming online shortly.”\nHowever, despite the fact that the ETS currently has 3,200 Internet-based centers around the world, the company did not feel that it could provide enough testing centers for all test-takers.\nEwing said the revised test was canceled because the ETS did not feel that they had enough spaces for test-takers.\n“The primary reason was that in the last three or four months, ETS had been studying very closely whether there were enough spaces, test centers and seats in those centers to ensure that every student who wanted to take the GRE would be able to,” he said. “We determined that we could not guarantee that.”\nAbout 600,000 students take the GRE every year, according to the ETS. Eighty percent of these students are from the United States. The GRE is a standardized test that measures verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skill. It is used by universities worldwide in order to determine admission status for graduate school.\nEwing said that had the changes been enacted, there would have been significant changes to the test as well as the format it was presented in.\n“It would’ve been a slightly more difficult test and would’ve been longer,” he said. “It would’ve jumped from about three hours to four hours and 20 minutes.”\nJeffery C. Gibeling, dean of the Office of Graduate Studies at UC Davis, said the GRE plays an integral role in admissions decisions.\n“Well, most of our graduate programs require that students take the GRE as part of their admission application and provide scores,” he said. “That’s pretty common across the country, and many institutions do that. On our campus, it’s up to each program to decide whether to require that or not.”\nHe added that although GRE scores are important to the admission process, he tends to encourage various programs to take a holistic approach when considering graduate school applicants.\n“The scores are then used as part of the overall evaluation for admission along with grades and letters of recommendation, statement of purpose,” he said. “We encourage programs to take a holistic view in the application process and not make numerical calculations. We’re always encouraging our programs to look at the whole package.”\nMost students take the general GRE test, but there are also subject tests. For example, students applying to graduate school for computer science must take a test on computer science knowledge. Similarly, international students must first pass a test in English proficiency.\nGibeling said at UC Davis, there are a fair number of international students who have to take this English test in order to apply.\n“We have about 4,300 graduate students, and roughly a quarter of them are international students,” he said. “I would say that nearly all undergraduate students applying to graduate school take the GRE. It’s probably in the 90-percent range. There are some subject tests in the GRE as well.”\nThough the changes were canceled for the September test, there will still be changes to the test in the future.\nEwing said the ETS still wants to implement some of the changes it planned on adding to the September test.\n“We will implement some of the improvements that we had planned, but we will not do it all at once,” he said. “We will do it individually and gradually over time. There will be no changes during the 2007 to 2008 school year.”
(04/09/07 4:00am)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State University is flirting with the idea of a new policy that would prohibit smoking on campus.\nThe Office of Human Resources sent a memo to university officials asking them to explore two options: prohibiting smoking anywhere on university property, or continuing its current practice that bans smoking within 25 feet of doors, windows and air intakes.\nThe OSU Medical Center is completely tobacco-free, and contiguous programs, such as Health Sciences and the College of Biological Sciences, followed suit last July.\nNo timetable has been set for a policy change, said Eunice Hornsby, a Human Resources program director.\n“The more significant the change, the longer the implementation horizon would be,” Hornsby said. “We won’t finish these discussions until fall quarter, so the earliest any change would be is January 2008.”\nThe consideration of a campuswide smoking ban has become a controversial issue among students. Junior Ben Atkinson said considering such a policy is ludicrous.\n“It’s ridiculous because it’s open air,” Atkinson said. “Smoking is not illegal, and this is one more step in making it obsolete.”\nFreshman Alex Arsham said he would feel sorry for smokers.\n“I would feel bad for students and faculty who would have to waste time leaving campus, especially if they were on a tight schedule,” Arsham said.\nThere are 43 college campuses in the U.S. that have adopted smoke-free policies, according to Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. OSU is the third Big Ten institution to consider a ban, along with the University of Iowa and IU.\nNot all students are opposed to the potential smoking ban. Junior Bryan Shields wholeheartedly supports the restriction.\n“Although my choice is not to smoke, I still suffer the effects when I walk through clouds of smoke,” Shields said. “I shouldn’t have to live like that.”\nPotential benefits of an adopted smoking ban include encouraging individuals within the community to quit or reduce smoking and eliminating smoke-related trash around campus. Meanwhile, a major concern is that a ban may cause students, faculty, staff and visitors to leave the university, according to the memo.
(04/05/07 4:00am)
Drag queens, kings to share insight into their lives at forum tonight
(04/04/07 4:00am)
After an 11-month search, IU President Adam Herbert has named renowned computer scientist Robert Schnabel to be the new dean of the IU School of Informatics.\nPending approval by the IU board of trustees, Schnabel will replace the school’s current and founding dean, Michael Dunn, who is retiring June 30.\nSchnabel is vice provost and associate vice chancellor for Academic and Campus Technology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, as well as a professor of computer science at the university. He was chosen by a 15-member search committee headed by Brad Wheeler, dean of Information Technology at IU-Bloomington.\nIn addition to a long list of positions held and awards received while at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Schnabel is the co-founder and a member of the executive team of the National Center for Women and Information Technology. He is an active member of committees and alliances involving institutions for minorities.\n“Our informatics school is a nationally recognized pioneer in its discipline, and IU owes a great debt of gratitude to its founding dean, professor Michael Dunn,” IU president-elect Michael McRobbie said in an IU news release. “Bobby Schnabel is one of the few people capable of carrying on Mike’s legacy.”
(04/04/07 4:00am)
SEATTLE – In the last weeks of her life, Rebecca Griego was taking drastic steps to avoid an ex-boyfriend whose violence and threats had left her visibly shaken.\nShe changed her cell-phone number. She moved. And early last month, Griego sought a restraining order, posting Jonathan Rowan’s picture around her office so co-workers could serve him with the papers if he showed up.\n“He has threatened to hurt me again,” Griego, 26, wrote in court papers on March 6, saying Rowan had warned her “to look over my shoulder because I would see him again.”\nOn Monday, colleagues identified Griego as the victim of an apparent murder-suicide in her University of Washington office. Officials said her assailant was an ex-boyfriend, in his 40s, who was the subject of a restraining order from the young university staffer.\n“She was left helpless and very frustrated because nobody would intervene until something happened,” said Jim DeLisle, Griego’s boss at the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies. “She did everything that a person in her situation could have done, other than leaving town.”\nUniversity Assistant Police Chief Ray Wittmier said officers who responded at about 9:30 a.m. Monday to a call of shots fired found the two people in an office on the fourth floor of Gould Hall, the university’s architecture building.\nWittmier said about six shots were fired, and a handgun was found in the room. There were no eyewitnesses, and no one else was harmed in the shooting, he said.\nLance Nguyen, 28, a student researcher who worked with Griego, said she had become increasingly worried about her former boyfriend in recent weeks. Griego, a University of Washington graduate, worked as the center’s administrator.\n“She freaked out,” Nguyen said. “She said this guy had threatened to harm her and her family.”\nCourt records show Griego was granted a temporary restraining order on March 6 after she said Rowan had threatened her, her sister and the two women’s dogs.\nIn applying for the order, she wrote that on Jan. 5, Rowan threw glass candlestick holders at her in a drunken rage, then tackled and punched her. The two were living together at the time.\n“I forgave him because he was drunk, but now I see that was wrong and he has threatened to hurt me again,” she wrote.\nWhen Griego wrote that in February, Rowan called her and threatened suicide “because he couldn’t see me. I never called him back.”\nThe order required Rowan to stay 500 feet from Griego, her residence, workplace and dog.\nWittmier said he didn’t believe campus police were aware of the restraining order against Rowan. He also said Rowan likely did not have permission to carry a handgun on campus.\nUniversity spokesman Bob Roseth said police files showed Griego had received phone threats against her life from the former boyfriend at least twice at work. But she apparently chose not to press charges against him, Roseth said.\n“In terms of police action, there wasn’t much the police could have done to prevent it,” Roseth said. “Whether there are other things she could have done is a matter of conjecture.”\nStudent Meghan Pinch, 27, was in a first-floor classroom when she heard several loud bangs. She said that she didn’t think they were gunshots at first until she was told to evacuate.\n“No one wanted to really think it was real,” Pinch said.
(04/03/07 4:00am)
Lecture aims to ease stress
(04/03/07 4:00am)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – \nCoolWorks.com is a Web site for people looking for a seasonal job or career in popular places like Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park or even out of the United States. Students can get summer jobs at places like ski resorts, ranches, theme parks and tour companies. \nThe site offers links to Web sites that offer interesting jobs. In addition, the site has places for internships and volunteering.\n“CoolWorks was born of the idea that employers in national parks might be able to use the then-brand-new World Wide Web to distribute applications to potential applicants, thereby decreasing the need for paper-based applications – being green very early on,” Director of Operations Patty Bishoff said. \nCoolWorks has been on the Web since 1995. The creators of the site wanted to eliminate the hassle of the application process and be friendly to the environment.\nAn applicant can go online, research information about an employer, apply online and have the application reviewed in 24 hours or less. and there’s no paper involved. The site “works” for applicants because employers pay for the advertising. There are no fees included for the applicant. \n“Though our site is full of current openings, our \n‘help wanted now’ page remains the most popular page on our site,” Bishoff said. “We are also proud to offer tons of information on areas of interest for people who think CoolWorks’ jobs rock: info on tours, travel, schools, gear, books, other sites, news items. And we have people all over the world writing about their experiences. Real life people living real lives – nothing is cooler than that.”\nThere is also a seasonal worker’s guide that gives several links to things like room and board, resume tips, assessment tests to find the right fit and a salary calculator.\n“At CoolWorks, we think of ourselves as being lucky to wave the ‘dream job’ magic wand,” Bishoff said. “We see so many really cool jobs come across the site, there are days when we say, ‘I think I’ll apply for that one.’” \nA summer job could turn out to be more like an adventure than just a way to earn some cash. \n“We started with 10 employers, all in national parks, and we’ve grown over the last 12 years to include over 2,500 employers in national park areas, camps, ranches, amusement parks, cruise lines and more,” Bishoff said. “The natural compliment to these (mainly) summer employers was to find winter opportunities, and so we hooked up with plenty of ski resorts and resorts in warm-winter areas such as Florida and Arizona.” \nThere are also opportunities for students to find full-time work in a job that they find “cool.”\n“If a ‘cool worker’ chose to live the lifestyle year round, the opportunities are right here,” Bishoff said. “One of our favorite ‘Blogging The Dream’ writing couples have worked from cost to coast – Alaska, Maine, Florida, California and points in between.”
(04/03/07 4:00am)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Finances are the most talked-about subject between college students and their parents. And in case there is any doubt, a recent survey by the \nCollege Parents of America confirmed it.\nBut many wonder whether it is students or their parents who bear the brunt of expenses.\n“Students have always relied on their parents,” said Colleen O’Connor Bench, director of the Syracuse University Parents Office. “College students start off 17, 18, 19 years old. Of course they depend on their parents.”\nStudents are increasingly dependent on their parents, said Christopher Walsh, dean of financial aid at Syracuse. “Lets face it, this is the most over-involved generation ever.”\n“We’re very fortunate that families of kids who go to SU are willing to make great sacrifices to see their children get an education,” Bench said.\nBut a larger percentage of students are paying for part of their own education, and 60 percent graduate with debt, according to an article from \nfamilyeducation.com, a consumer group for students, parents and teachers.\nWalsh said one reason for the increase is the rising price of a college education. College is more expensive for this generation in terms of tuition.
(03/29/07 4:00am)
A woman who originally told police she had been abducted and raped twice by two unknown men recanted her report Thursday, said IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger.\nThe woman first told police that the men abducted her while she was on the corner of 10th Street and Sunrise Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 22. She said the men grabbed her by the arms as she was walking home from work and put her in the backseat of a car, drove her to a parking lot and assaulted her before dropping her back off at the original location. But when she went in for a follow-up interview with Detective Sgt. Leslie Slone Thursday, she said she had not actually been sexually assaulted or abducted, Minger said.\n“She had had consentual sex with a subject she met on the Internet at a Motel Six,” Minger said.\nMinger said the case is still being actively investigated. He said IUPD submitted an affidavit for charges of false informing to the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office for consideration.
(03/27/07 4:00am)
CNBC’s financial investing TV show “Mad Money,” hosted by Jim Cramer, is coming to IU.\nTickets for the April 4 taping are available today and Wednesday.\nToday, those interested can pick up their free tickets from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second floor of the Kelley School of Business. On Wednesday, tickets will be available from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and from 1 to 3 p.m. on the ground floor of Ballantine Hall. The show will be taped at Assembly Hall.\nWinston Kotzan of the IU Mad Money Club said seating will begin at 2 p.m. and taping should begin around 4 p.m. “For the best seats, you should be there at about 2 o’clock,” he said.\nMore information about the event is available at www.iumadmoney.com .
(03/22/07 4:00am)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse University joined more than 70 other schools in a commitment to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions when Chancellor Nancy Cantor signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment during spring break. \nAs global warming and greenhouse gases continue to be the subject of national debate, Cantor pledged to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions at Syracuse and take a leadership role in the surrounding Syracuse area with the signing. The commitment encourages colleges and universities to step into the leadership role in their communities to address global warming. \n“This puts us very visibly and vocally out there,” Cantor said. “This is one of the most pressing issues for our world today.” \nThe university will first identify and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide. The initiative involves completing an emissions inventory, setting a date by which the university hopes to accomplish its tasks, taking short- and long-term steps to reduce emissions and providing more education on sustainability. \nAn emissions inventory involves calculating the output of appliances, electricity and transportation that the university uses on and off campus, said Richard Smardon, chair of environmental studies at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. \nBy signing the commitment, Syracuse is setting a “standard for other large consumers of energy to do the same,” said Dana Hill of the New York Public Interest Research Group.\nHill said this is especially important because Syracuse is such a large consumer in its city and a leader in the community. \nCantor said she sees the commitment as very appropriate for her to sign because the university has already taken steps to prevent global warming. Twenty percent of the university’s energy comes from sustainable and renewable sources. Syracuse is also involved with the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, which works with renewable energy, water resources and indoor environmental quality. \nFor Syracuse students, the commitment will bring more education on sustainability, possibly including more examples of programs on recycling and other issues, as well as more degrees and information in the university’s curriculum. \nLouis Marcoccia, the school’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said possibly the biggest part of this commitment for students is the beginning of discussions on how to sustain campus and what students can do themselves.
(03/21/07 4:00am)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – As the 2008 potential presidential candidates look to gain momentum, they are increasingly reaching out to the youngest voting demographic through a new venue: MySpace. The Internet networking site recently posted a new section for politics called “The Impact Channel” in order to promote interest in national and local political elections. \nAccording to a MySpace press release, five potential Republican and five potential Democratic candidates in the upcoming 2008 presidential election have posted links to their official profiles on the site. MySpace users can learn about candidates’ platforms, view video footage of interviews and pledge their support for certain candidates. \nChris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, said in the release that he believes the Impact Channel will play a large role in mobilizing and educating voters in the upcoming election. \n“By empowering our users with easy-to-find information, offered in a way they can relate to it, Impact will ignite their involvement in the political process.” \nOf the five Democrats on MySpace, Sen. Barack Obama has the most supporters on his profile as of press time. He created his site at the beginning of November 2004. \nOf the Republican candidates with public profiles, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney held the most supporters as of press time. \nMany of these political candidates also have other unofficial MySpace profiles. \nPresident of the University of Virginia’s Democrats group Sophia Brumby mentioned candidate pages on Facebook and “channels” on YouTube as other ways for students to learn more about political campaigns. \n“I think that campaigns are ... using the Internet quite effectively,” she said. “Such a wealth of information gets out there to such a diversity of people.” \nFirst-year University of Virginia College Republican member Adam Erby said he believes political campaigns on MySpace and Facebook promote name recognition rather than actual campaign issues. \n“I feel that we need to return these campaigns to the issues and keep them from being simply popularity contests,” he said.
(03/21/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Sen. Richard Lugar, who has pushed for renewable-energy development for years both in Indiana and in Congress, now has an energy research center named after him.\nIU-Purdue University at Indianapolis Chancellor Charles R. Bantz announced Monday that the Indianapolis school has named its laboratory the Richard G. Lugar Renewable Energy Center to recognize the Indiana Republican’s long-running support and leadership on renewable-energy issues.\n“Senator Lugar’s strong support for renewable-energy research has had an immeasurable influence on our nation’s collective thinking about the need for energy security,” Bantz said in a news release.\nLugar hosted a summit on alternative fuels last August at Purdue University that focused on ways to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.\nHe said the center dedicated to freeing the nation from its foreign-energy reliance creates an opportunity for Indiana “to lead the nation to a new energy future.”\n“Renewable-energy research and commercialization of new energy technologies present unbelievable possibilities to strengthen U.S. national security and bolster the economy,” Lugar said in a statement.\nThe new center will enlist faculty from IUPUI’s schools of engineering and technology, science, public and environmental affairs and medicine. Faculty members from the IU-Bloomington campus and IU-South Bend campuses also will take part on that work.\nAlready, the center’s researchers are at work on a project to develop fuel cells powered by ethanol that could be used to operate military equipment such as cell phones, radios, laptops and vehicles. The center has obtained $300,000 in research funds for that project.\nCenter director Andrew Hsu said some of the work could yield results within a few years, such as converting renewable fuels like ethanol into gasoline.\n“If we can convert ethanol into gasoline, then we have a 100 percent renewable-energy source for vehicles,” said Hsu, a professor of mechanical engineering at IUPUI.\nThe center’s projects include efforts to generate hydrogen from renewable-energy sources, creating ethanol fuel cells and developing clean combustion of renewable fuels.
(03/21/07 4:00am)
AUSTIN, Texas – College has long had a reputation for “Animal House”-style debauchery, but a new study describes a dangerous campus culture that promotes substance abuse to the detriment of millions of students’ health.\nThe study released last week by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University surveyed more than 2,000 students and administrators at 162 colleges and universities across the nation.\nThe study found that 49 percent of college students binge drink or abuse prescription or illicit drugs. Twenty-three percent of students met the medical criteria for substance abuse or dependence. Abuse of prescription drugs increased considerably from 1993 to 2005, up 343 percent for stimulants such as Adderall and 93 percent for painkillers such as Vicodin, according to the study.\n“What we’ve seen is an intensifying of substance abuse on college campuses. We also have seen an increase in information on how colleges can change the culture that promotes substance abuse. We haven’t seen colleges at all making the necessary changes,” said Susan Foster, vice president and director of policy research and analysis for the center.\nFoster said colleges need to enact policies to decrease the use of drugs and alcohol.
(03/21/07 4:00am)
RALEIGH, N.C. – Rachael Meyers , a North Carolina State University senior in business management, said her right ankle causes problems when she runs – an injury her doctor told her it is due to wearing the wrong shoes.\nHe suggested she buy “stability shoes” for when she exercises. \n“I bought the best stability shoes, Asics Kayanos, for working out and it eliminated almost all ankle pain,” Meyers said.\n“I wore high heels pretty much every day in middle school and high school and it caused the tendons behind my knees to tighten.”\nHer doctor also suggested she try yoga and refrain from wearing high-heeled shoes on a daily basis. He also advised she switch from a high heel to a lower one, advice she said she has trouble following because she is accustomed to wearing the same heel height.\nHigh heels aren’t the only type of shoe that can lead to lower body injuries. Flats, dress shoes or tennis shoes can also cause issues if they fit improperly.\nFoot and ankle problems are caused as much by the activity and environment of the individual as by the shoe, according to Dr. Rodney Fitzhugh.\nFitzhugh, a podiatrist with the Foot and Ankle Associates of North Carolina, said that high-heeled shoes and flip-flops are the two main culprits of most foot injuries.\nHigh-heeled shoes lead to foot and ankle injuries because they exacerbate foot deformities, he said. If the shoes are too tight, they can cause bunions or microtrauma to the toenails. \nHeel height is another factor in causing pain throughout an individual’s legs. A heel above 3 inches puts seven times the amount of pressure on the ball of the foot, according to a study by the American Podiatric Medical Association.\nJaclyn Jenkins, an NCSU senior in communication, said she wears high-heeled shoes when she goes out on the weekends, but does not buy really tall heels because “anything over a 3- or 4-inch heel is ungodly uncomfortable.”\nDrastic changes in heel height can cause pain because the body cannot adapt as quickly as the shoes can change, according to Fitzhugh.\n“Young women should know that if they change their shoe to a flat that their heel, their leg, their foot is going to start hurting because now the muscles and everything else now are stretched,” Fitzhugh said. “You’ve now changed the position of the leg and the foot from being on a hill to now bringing the heel down to the ground.” \nStretching muscles, ligaments or tendons that are idle for five or six months will always cause pain in an area. In addition to heel pain and leg pain, high-heeled shoes can lead to ankle injuries as well. \n“If a young lady is walking on a surface that’s uneven and she has on high heels, there is a chance that she could hit a divot in that uneven surface and invert her ankles,” Fitzhugh said.\nHowever, high heels are not the only style shoe at fault for this type of injury.\n“It can happen when you wear flats,” Fitzhugh said. “It really doesn’t matter which shoe, but yes, it can exacerbate or increase your chance of spraining your ankles.” \nFlip-flops, or thong sandals, are acceptable for individuals with no foot problems, Fitzhugh said. However, if an individual has a flat foot, the sandals could cause damage because they do not provide adequate support. \nShoes with no arch support and no cushioning can contribute greatly to foot problems because they affect the biomechanics of the foot. Fitzhugh said orthotics, inserts made from molds of the individual’s feet, are a good alternative depending on what the foot problem is and what the individual’s insurance coverage will allow. They are good for those with heel pain, heel spurs, flat feet or high arches. \nFitzhugh added that orthotics do not get rid of the problem; they just control the biomechanics of the person’s foot. He compares orthotics to seeing-eye dogs in the way they control the feet.\n“The seeing-eye dog is going to control the person and guide the person where they need to go,” Fitzhugh said. “Basically an orthotic is the same thing; it controls the foot deformity. It controls it so that the person is in less discomfort.” \nThe key to avoiding foot and leg pain is not allowing the feet to get used to a certain style shoe. Fitzhugh said he suggests getting several different height heels and wearing them on different days, so the foot will not get used to a certain height of the heel. \nHe said it is just as important for men to pay attention to their footwear as it is for women.\n“If you wear tennis shoes, if you wear dress shoes, you make sure you have good cushion in the balls of the foot, in the arch area and in the heel area,” Dr. Fitzhugh said. “Any shoe that has a regular insert, it’s not going to be good for you long-term because you’re now working things that aren’t used to being worked.” \nMeyers offered her own advice for selecting footwear.\n“I would advise against young girls, middle school and high school, wearing heels every day because the tight tendon thing sucks,” Meyers said. “The right shoes make a huge difference.”
(03/20/07 4:00am)
Representatives of IU Student Media traveled to New York City during spring break to take part in the College Media Advisers Spring National Convention. At the awards presentation concluding the conference, IU Student Media received five major awards.\nThe College Media Advisers awarded the Apple Award for yearbooks with more than 304 pages to the 2006 Arbutus yearbook. The Indiana Daily Student’s March 2 paper, which highlighted Michael McRobbie’s promotion to president, was given the Apple Award for four-year daily broadsheet newspaper. Of the more than 100 colleges and universities represented at the conference, only one publication was chosen as best-in-show for each of the 12 categories.\nDuring the ceremony, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association awarded the IDS two Gold Crown awards, one for spring semester 2006 and one for fall semester 2005. The Arbutus also received a Gold Crown for the 2006 book. More than 1,800 college newspapers, magazines and yearbooks published during the 2005-2006 academic school year were eligible for the awards. Only four other yearbooks and two other newspapers received the Gold Crown.\nIndividual awards were also given in visual and verbal categories by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association to 26 IDS and Arbutus staff members.