The student voice of Midwestern State University
The Wichitan page 4 ‘Rivals’ brings laughs MSU Theatre’s production of ‘The Rivals’ brought the audience comedic relief.
page 5 Steeler Six Pack
The Steelers sealed their NFLrecord sixth Super Bowl title with the 27-23 win over Arizona.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2009
Nursing shortage creates challenges for profs Jody Smith For the wichitan
It’s four o’clock in the afternoon on a Tuesday and it’s just another day at the office for Robin Lockhart. Although it’s getting late, the organized jumble on Lockhart’s desk hasn’t become smaller. Lockhart is just one of 24 professors at the understaffed Wilson School of Nursing. Two others, Mary Jo Distel and Joyce Bedoian, sit and joke with her about the day. They’re all assistant professors in the department and their day is just beginning. “I put in about 60 hours a week,” Lockhart confessed. Last semester, she said, was her hardest. “And I’ve been here 15 years.” “Sometimes we will work up to 15 hour days,” Distel added.
Not only do they teach classes but they also have committee work, administrative tasks and board reports to complete. Unlike other majors, nurses don’t pursue advanced degrees to teach. Many, in fact, don’t want to teach. They can find better opportunities in administration, research and consulting. Currently, MSU’s nursing school is short two full-time professors and a department chair. Lockhart said she cannot remember a time when they haven’t run ads in nursing magazines for faculty and staff. “This is a major issue,” Lockhart said. “Students are complaining that they want more time with the faculty because there isn’t enough time in the day.” On average, most nurses make $20,000 more working in a practice. Salaries at MSU range from
Photo by Peter Hiatt Crowded nursing classes are commonplace in MSU’s nursing department. A nationwide shortage of nurses has made faculty difficult to come by.
$30,000 to $60,000. “There’s no money in teaching advanced nursing,” Bedoian
said. “It’s hard to recruit because they’re making more money elsewhere.”
Dr. Susan Sportsman, dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services, is serving as temporary chair. “It’s an issue that’s across the country, not just here,” Sportsman said. Demand is high for nurses who work in intensive care units, labor and delivery, and emergency and operating rooms. Today, people are not only living longer but more complex diseases have increased nursing demands. Nurse-wise, the attrition rate is increasing every year as more baby boomers in the field have begun to retire. “There’s not much faculty out there,” Lockhart said. “The old ones are getting worn out.” Meanwhile, colleges and universities across the country are struggling to expand enrollment levels to meet the demand for nurses. It’s a problem MSU has
already addressed. “We admit about 80 students every fall and spring,” Sportsman said. “Overall, we’re up in enrollment and we’re admitting more every year.” From 2000 to 2006 the enrollment of entry-level students shot up from 29 to 142. This year, the department received 179 applications for the upcoming spring semester. In addition to teaching full time, most of the professors work at a practice to keep up their clinical skills. The department has hired several adjuncts to oversee students in their clinicals. “We’re looking for good clinicians but also good caring teachers,” Sportsman said. The nursing department has a rich history at MSU. It began
to come up with the remaining 62 percent on its own. The Annual Fund, since its inception in 2003, has raised approximately $1.5 million for the university. The funds finance the various academic colleges and provide scholarships for students. Through its main fundraising machinery, Phonathon, the Annual Fund has encouraged parents of students and alumni to make donations to the university. Kristal Amador, director of the Annual Fund, said the goal for the year is $425,000. While hopeful, she is tentative in her expectations of meeting that goal. “Definitely people are mentioning it. People are all talking about the economy,” she said. “The university itself is suffer-
ing from some economic problems as well.” Donations overall are down, she said. “But I don’t think that comes from our (regular) donors. It comes from people we haven’t brought on board as yet. They aren’t coming on board so quickly.” For the year, the Annual Fund has already raised about $100,000, one-quarter of the total goal that must be met by Aug. 31. Keri Goins, head of Phonathon and assistant director of the Annual Fund, said that the Phonathon has so far been unscathed by the financial crisis. “We have exceeded our goals
group. They will meet for the first time Tuesday in the Clark Student Center, Caddo Room at 2 p.m. Right now, the 19-year-old is unsure exactly what the group will be doing. One idea Spangler has in mind is to volunteer at the Clay County Animal Shelter, which she believes to be understaffed and under-funded. Other projects include reading advocacy, she said. MSU requires a club to have eight members who are current students, a charter and a staff adviser. Since the club is international, members had to get permission from the national office to start a chapter at MSU. So far, the organization is still in the planning stage. On the international level, the Alliance has raised $14,000 since 2007 to protect the underprivileged in Burma and Darfur. The organization also champions civil rights and environmentalism. “I just want to help people,” Spangler said. “Working this out is going to be trial-and-error and we’re not worrying too much about
the big-scale stuff. But I’d also like to make it about hanging out and having fun.” Spangler plans on holding some meetings where members just discuss the books or have a movie marathon. “Sometimes you just have to kick back,” she said. There are parallels between the real and the wizard world, Spangler said. Some characters in the book regard muggles, half-breeds and giants as second-class citizens simply because they’re different. Spangler relates this to people judging others based on race or sexual orientation. “There’s definitely some commentary on prejudice there. It’s definitely a big theme in the books,” she said. On a related note, the group uses Harry Potter as a metaphor for things going on in the world. One example, she said, is what she calls a ‘muggle mindset,’ where people are concerned only with their own lives and not with the struggles of
See NURSING page 3
Economic troubles make donations harder to find Kyle Christian For the Wichitan
With the economy on everyone’s mind and as economic turbulence in the country and the world at large worsens, Midwestern State University’s endowment may be threatened. In 2008 several universities including Harvard, University of Texas, University of Chicago, and Dartmouth reported decreases in their endowments as a direct result of the financial crisis. While these universities had big investments in the volatile stock market, real estate and private equity, smaller universities such as MSU depend heavily on private contributions. Despite what the name suggests, MSU’s expenses are subsidized by the state only 38 percent. That leaves the university
See ECONOMY page 3
Potter fans hope to conjure results from activist club Chris Collins Managing Editor
Bolin family donates replica of Liberty Bell Heather Preston For the Wichitan
An exact replica of the Liberty Bell has been added to the MSU lawn, donated by Aurora and Phil Bolin. “It is an honor for this family to have chosen the MSU campus for the location of this bell. It represents so much about our country’s patriotism
and should bring a number of people to the campus to see it,” said Janus Buss, director for public information and marketing. Buss said she has already seen the bell admired by groups of students from other schools. The bell had a long journey before reaching the MSU campus from the Paccard
Fonderie Des Cloches in Annecy, France where it was cast. The bell is 44.5 inches in diameter, 42 3/16 inches in height, and weighs 2,050 pounds. On either side of the bell are bronze plaques, one with the Declaration of Independence and the other with See BELL page 3
“The weapon we have is love.” That’s the slogan of the Harry Potter Alliance, an international social activism organization that compares real-world problems to the popular fantasy novels by J.K. Rowling. Bringing the Alliance to Wichita Falls was the brainchild of MSU freshman Samantha Spangler, an avid fan of the British-born series. For her, the formation of the chapter was a dream come true. Spangler came up with the idea after speaking with Dr. Millie Gore, professor of special education. Gore had recently spoken at a conference about the Harry Potter Alliance. Gore is in the process of becoming faculty adviser for the group. “We started browsing the Web site, and thought, ‘This is really cool!’” Spangler said. “Between the two of us, we just decided to start it.” Spangler describes the club as a Harry Potter fan-based activist
See POTTER page 3