Java vs. Java Abilene coffee shops compete for student attention Arts Page 4 vol. 102, no. 28
friday, december 06, 2013
1 SECTION, 6 PAGES
Something phishy: hackers reroute payments
INSIDE
Madeline orr
SPORTS
managing editor
Men’s basketball wins their home debut by 40 points at the Christmas Slam
Page 3
The university was informed on Tuesday afternoon that six employee payments had been rerouted to out-of-state bank accounts and a total of 17 myACU accounts had been accessed by the perpetrators. Before Thanksgiving break, several ACU email accounts received a phishing email that,
when responded to, allowed the perpetrators to attain account login credentials and use them to reroute payroll direct deposits to unauthorized bank accounts in Tennessee and Virginia. Kevin Roberts, vice president of planning and operations, said this incident is, apparently, part of a much broader national event. “There are about 30 other universities that we’re aware had the same thing
“
It appears to be part of a much broader effort on the criminals. It wasn’t just limited to ACU.” kevin roberts vice president of planning and operations
happen to them within the same time frame. It appears to be part of a much broader effort on the criminals’ part,” said Roberts. “It wasn’t just
limited to ACU.” The amount of money diverted by the perpetrators is unclear. Roberts said he did not know how much money ACU lost, but the unauthorized accounts were immediately cashed out after the rerouting. He said there have been phishing attempts before but not this sophisticated or targeted directly toward a university community. “They’re usually much
more generic. This was unique in that it was targeted to universities beyond just us and it was fairly sophisticated in its making,” Roberts said. He said ACU security personnel is working with personnel at other universities as part of an ongoing investigation. ACU Police Department is actively consulting with federal law enforcement agencies. see phishing page 3
ACU moves away from OpenClass
NEWS Faculty and staff raise $29,000 for the nonprofit organization United Way Page 3
brittany jackson copy editor
SPORTS
open to parents, graduates and faculty members. This year, because of the resurfacing of the tennis courts in the Teague Special Events Center, graduating students will wait in the Student Recreational and Wellness Center before they enter Moody Coliseum. “I am excited for that diploma, I’m not going to lie,” said Samantha Stien, senior business finance major from Georgetown. “I know it’s not going to come in the mail until two weeks
CourseSites is becoming more a widely used learning management system in the university’s classrooms as OpenClass has proven to be difficult in navigation for professors and students. Berlin Fang, director of instructional design for the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning, said the future of OpenClass remains unclear as more faculty begin to adopt CourseSites outside the university’s computer system. “CourseSites is not exactly a replacement of OpenClass,” he said. “The Provost’s Office has consulted various stakeholders on campus and then decided to bring CourseSites alongside OpenClass as an alternative.” CourseSites is a cloudbased learning management system that is supported by Blackboard, a site the university used in the past. “There are tradeoffs for using either one of them,” Fang said. “For instance, OpenClass has a rather simple, minimalist interface which may appeal to some users. And OpenClass is supported locally as an enterprise solution. CourseSites is a cloudbased, decentralized solution similar to Blackboard that some faculty may be familiar with.” As the Optimist reported in August, the university made the switch to OpenClass to save money because it allowed free use. ACU’s Adams Center collaborated with the developers of the site to “update the system and provide additional services and upgrades for the future.” However, despite the additional work being done on the site, it remains difficult to navigate for some professors and its gradebook system is too simplistic for some. Unfortunately, the site cannot be integrated with other parts of the univer-
see graduation page 3
see openclass page 3
Women’s basketball improves to 6-2 after Christmas Slam victory against Commerce
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OPINION The editorial board clarifies why Optimist reporters do what they do
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SPORTS The sports staff looks back at volleyball’s first season as a Div. I team Page 6
jarred schuetze Staff Photographer
Joshua Lowe, sophomore theatre major from Crowley, and Haley Huskins, sophomore vocational missions major from Sugar Land, battle the cold weather while walking through campus.
207 walk in winter graduation
OPINION Senior Mandy Lambright and Chief Photographer says a farewell in her last column Page 4
ONLINE NEWS SA rennovates their office with $2,000 of allocated money from the budget
SPORTS Sports Director Matt Sloan reminisces on the five best college football games of his life
Read more at acuoptimist.com
kirsten holman staff reporter The university will grant degrees to more than 200 students during commencement at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13 in Moody Coliseum. The 207 students receiving degrees is fewer than the 250 students last year, so Dr. Eric Gumm, registrar and director of the FirstYear Program, anticipates this year’s ceremony to be slightly shorter. Gumm expects between 1,000 and 1,200 people
will fill Moody Coliseum to cheer on the graduates. Joyce Haley, instructor of journalism and mass communication and recipient of the Teacher of the Year award in May, will speak at the December graduation ceremony. “One of the great things that I love about ACU graduation ceremony is that component of the escort and the hooding ceremony for the undergraduates,” said Gumm. “Most schools that you go to don’t have that component. That really makes it a personal ex-
perience. So it’s not just you and your classmates that you spent the last four years with, but it’s also you and your classmates and somebody that is significant, whether that is a parent or a spouse or a sibling or someone on campus who has been meaningful sharing this experience together.” A reception in the Hunter Welcome Center will take place after the graduation, which is sponsored by the Office of Alumni Relations and the Alumni Association. The reception will provide small desserts and will be
Moore chosen as new director for McNair Maggie Marshall copy editor Dr. Steven Moore, associate professor of language and literature, has been appointed as the new director of the McNair Scholars Program. The program helps students who may not normally have the opportunity to achieve their dreams of getting a Ph.D. Moore will continue his job as an associate professor of Language and Literature while taking on taking on new responsibilities while working as the director. He said the McNair Schol-
ars Program about “mentoring and helping students achieve.” “My job is simply moore to serve as director and oversee operations,” Moore said. His tasks include overseeing the program activities and regulations, the development and coordination of faculty and administrative relationships, the development of McNair Scholars as undergraduate researchers and maintain-
ing accountability for annual performance report and budget. “I have a great team I work with,” Moore said. Hilary Simpson, associate director for the program, works alongside Moore. Simpson directs the dayto-day affairs of the program. “Along with our administrative assistant, I help do the budget and the fun stuff,” Simpson said. About 30 students participate in the program each year. Moore and Simpson work to get to know the scholars and help them succeed in the graduate pro-
Abilene Christian University
gram of their choice. “My favorite part of the job is meeting with our scholars,” Simpson said. Each participant receives a stipend to participate, as well as paid travel to conferences to present their research. Different opportunities are offered, such as campus visits, GRE tutoring and academic advising, anything to give students a competitive edge. Many graduate schools offer scholarships to McNair Scholars because of the program’s reputation. “The program is designed to help students down the road,” Moore said.
The program works hard to get the word out about the program. “We have awesome opportunities where we visit several organizations on campus and we promote McNair Scholars,” Moore said. Resources and testimonies from previous McNair scholars can also be found online. “We get the word out, we have literature, we’re visiting classes,” Moore said. “I am so excited about this great opportunity.” contact marshall at mxm10d@acu.edu