PANTHERPALOOZA PREP
Students can explore different registered student organizations at Pantherpalooza Wednesday in the South Quad.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS Head coach Kiki Lara and the Eastern women’s soccer team hope to improve on their record from last season.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2016 “TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID” C E L E BRATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE E S T . 1 915
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Candidates await UPD police chief decision By Cassie Buchman News Editor | @cjbuchman A new police chief is set to be announced soon, after three days of interviewing candidates last week. Candidates were on campus, eating two meals, one with students and one with Lynette Drake, interim associate vice president of student affairs. Heather Webb, director of student standards, said they have met with the President’s Council and the search committee as well. The search committee’s feedback will be used when Drake makes her final decision on whom to appoint. Webb said the new police chief will be announced after the first day of classes. The first day of interviews started with the current interim police chief Kent Martin. At an open session where faculty, students, and staff could interview the candidates, Martin talked about his experience, and the connections he has made at Eastern. “I don’t pretend to know all the answers, but I have a great network of people I can call and people I can go to get the answer,” Martin said. He added that it should be a “seamless transition” into the new job because he has already had the responsibilities of a police chief during his time as an interim in the position. During his interview, Martin addressed how he plans to reach out to members of the Eastern community, and bridge the gap between Eastern and the Charleston communities. Martin said he has different outreach programs in mind to connect with Eastern’s community. These events include a “Coffee with the Cops” event on Wednesday, Aug. 31, which Martin hopes it will be the first of many icebreakers. “The police department has kind of become isolated from the rest of the campus in the last few years,” he said. “I want to get us back out there. The way to do that is to talk to people.” Martin also expressed interest in having officers meeting with Registered Student Organizations. “Tell us what you’re thinking, what’s on your mind, what’s your concerns?” he said. Martin said he always thought the UPD could work with the Charleston Police Department on outreach events they hold.
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Police chief candidates Kent Martin, interim chief of the university police department since June (above), Peter Buckley, current special investigator (left) and Dennis Franks, current police chief at elon university in North Carolina shares goals concerning police and community engagement during interviews.
Faculty Laureate speaks about perseverance By Sam Nusbaum Administration Reporter | @DEN_News Even though Richard Jones became faculty laureate because of his work in the communication studies department, he originally started out in a different major in college. Jones, now a communication studies professor, started his own college career as a music major before switching. He realized he wanted to switch majors while taking an interpersonal communication class at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Now, Jones is the communication department’s basic course director. His job is to supervise all introduction to speech classes. Jones also teaches interpersonal communication and communication theory, among other courses. Jones said he was excited to receive the award. “It is one of the biggest awards faculty can
receive. It is just really nice to be recognized,” Jones said. “The other people who have won the awards over the years have been great teachers who have definitely had a big impact so it is nice to be counted among them.” To become faculty laureate, a professor must go through a selection process spearheaded by a committee. The committee is made up of members of the Council on Academic Affairs, plus three student members who are appointed as well. A professor has to be a tenured faculty member who has a good record teaching general education courses to meet the criteria for getting the faculty laureate position. Seven professors were nominated in total this year. Debra Reid, a history professor who was on the committee that chose Jones, said he was chosen because of the extra work he does. Reid said Jones’ responsibilities mainly include speaking at Convocation, though some
faculty laureates use their position to advance general education classes for the campus. To be nominated, a professor needs to collect all of their evaluation reports from the past three years, get letters of recommendation from at least one student and one peer and write their own letter. Austin Mejdrich, a senior political science major, wrote the student letter of recommendation for Jones. Mejdrich had Jones in his intro to speech communication class but also knew him from theater programs. “I did a community theater production my first year here, and he directed the show. So I have gotten to know him on a professional, student-to-professor basis as well as on a personal level,” Mejdrich said. Mejdrich said Jones is one of his favorite professors at Eastern. He said Jones has a passion in
what he is teaching and tries to keep things fresh for students to help them succeed. Jones asked Mejdrich to write the letter of recommendation because of the relationship they had built through class. “He had reached out to me and asked me to write him a letter and I don’t think I could have been faster to agree,” Mejdrich said. Mejdrich said Jones embodies what Eastern looks for in a professor and how teaching in the classroom should be. The biggest thing he took away from Jones’s class was how to think critically, Mejdrich said, which is important regardless of career choice. At Convocation, where Jones addressed incoming freshmen students, he talked about how students tend to struggle during their first few semesters of college. Laureate, page 5