Facts & Stats Visualize enrollment, demographics and more
vol. 103, no. 8
wednesday, september 17, 2014
Features Page 5
1 SECTION, 6 PAGES
what’s INSIDE NEWS Chinese and international students bring culture to campus Page 3
SPORTS Wildcats’ third game results in first FBS win against Troy
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IM SPORTS Daniel Block recaps the Sub-T, Galaxy and other men’s champ team games from last week Page 2
SPORTS Soccer can’t hold off 7th-ranked Red Raiders Page 6
GRANDE
OPENING
Education proposes new doctorate rachel fritz copy editor
OPINION The Editorial Board supports and encourages new visitation rules
Page 4
OPINION Daniel Zepeda challenges the NFL to pull itself out of a bad week Page 4
NEWS U.S. News ranks ACU high in the country’s best colleges Page 3
what’s online VIDEO Students race kayaks and participate in an entire night of activities at RecFest
Read more at acuoptimist.com
Mariana Cedillo Staff Photographer
Kelly Jones, co-chair of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce Redcoats, commences the grand opening of Starbucks in the Brown Library with Dr. Allison Garrett, executive vice president of the university.
The Department of Graduate Studies in Education faces closure due to a lack of student enrollment, but the decision has been put on hold until next month to consider adding a doctoral program. Dr. Donnie Snider, chair and dean of the college of education and human services, Dr. Bruce Scott, assistant professor of education, and Dr. Stephen Johnson, dean of the graduate school, have been working on a doc-
toral school proposal for months. The proposal was presented to the Graduate Council in the monthly meeting which takes place every second Tuesday of the month. “The decision has been delayed,” Johnson said. “Rather than close the master’s program, we’re considering leaving the department open for a new program. We want to consider the value of leaving the MED as an option.” If the program proposal is denied, the closure of the graduate school
will likely follow. “Basically, we are victims of everybody’s success,” Scott said. “We’re not getting the number of applicants and students in those programs that we need to make it financially viable.” Low admittance has made it difficult for the program to continue operating at a quality standard. “Funding the program and having a quality program is the problem,” Scott said. “You really can’t have a quality program with only one or two students. You can’t build
the kind of class discussions that you need or the interaction with the professor that you need to have a quality program.” The long-existing program is has been at ACU for around 50 years and was transitioned to an online degree seven years ago. “When I came in 2003, there were less than five in the superintendent program and less than 20 in the principal program,” Snider said. “Abilene is limited because if you take out Wiley and Abilene ISD, the surrounding districts
are really small, so we couldn’t grow the program.” After the transition, the program grew. “At the time, we were early adopters,” Snider said. “Not many universities across the United States were offering a fully online masters in educational leadership administration and we grew. We grew from about 25 to over 230 in 37 states.” As more universities adopted the idea of an online program at a lower see education page 3
Ambassador program to launch on Friday reese gwin staff reporter The Office of Admissions will unveil a new student ambassador program Friday during Wildcat Preview Day. More than two dozen students will be positioned around campus to interact and connect with perspective Wildcats as they tour campus for the first time, said Mackenzie Mascorro, director of student ambassadors. The ambassadors will work in multiple capacities to serve the visi-
tors, but all will attempt to show how ACU is different from other places they visit. “This program is all about relationships because that’s what separates ACU from other places,” said Mascorro, junior management major from Abilene. “It’s all about that one-on-one connection.” Leslie Hayes, director of campus visits, said her office looks forward to expanding the program, which already has about 30 ambassadors. Although they work on a volunteer basis, the job still has its perks. Ambassadors
receive free Wildcat gear, free food and free tickets to ACU events. Ambassadors will perform multiple duties during preview days. Some will work to greet the perspective students as they arrive, others will guide them from location to location and some will eat with them. Admission counselors heard that perspective students were interested in a personal connection with actual college students during their visits and tried forming an ambassadors program several years ago. Their efforts were not suc-
cessful, but it was not until they went to a conference in Chicago that they figured out how to address the need. There, they learned other universities were using student ambassadors to connect with campus visitors. The role of being the face of the university previously fell on the shoulders of campus tour guides. However, on large preview days, there were too many perspective students for tour guides to make any kind of personal connection. A former tour guide, Mascorro already had a
passion for incoming students and had experience in bridging the gap between students and visitors. “I wasn’t one of those kids where ACU was the only school I looked at,” Mascorro said. “I know there are other schools with excellent academics and bigger athletic departments, but ACU has something special to offer.” As the student director, Mascorro works hand-inhand with the ambassadors. Meanwhile, Hayes works more behind the see admissions page 3
Chapel adjusts small group meeting days allison brown managing editor Some student groups will have to change their small group Chapel meeting days from Wednesdays to comply with a change in policy by the Chapel Office. The new policy requires groups to meet on either Tuesdays or Thursdays during the semester. Mark Jackson, associate director of student organizations and programs, said the change will allow the Chapel Office to emphasize larger Chapel services on
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Come to the Quiet Chapels are still planned for some Wednesdays, and seniors will speak some Wednesdays throughout the semester. “We’re really trying to create an environment on Wednesdays,” Jackson said. “We want to do things in there that the whole student body can be a part of.” A few groups that traditionally have met on Wednesdays now face some scheduling trouble as they try to work around the Chapel Office’s decision. For
several years, the Student Alumni Association, the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and the Honors College have conducted their small group Chapel meetings on Wednesdays. Jackson said the Chapel Office will allow some groups to keep meeting on Wednesdays this semester and has been willing to talk and listen to groups, but still is asking them to move to Tuesdays or Thursdays in the spring. “For the most part, once they hear what we’re trying to do, that we’re wanting to be together, we’re
Abilene Christian University
wanting to do great things, we’re wanting God to take back what’s happening in Moody, the conversations have been going really well,” Jackson said. “You know there are some groups that already have a system set up, and we know that,” he said. “We’ve said, ‘Hey let’s get through the semester and next semester we’re going to ask you to go to Tuesday/ Thursdays, and they’ve been like ‘Hey, that makes total sense, we can do that.’” Drew Richie, senior officer of the Student Alumni
Association, said changing SAA’s meeting day will be difficult. “It’s going to be a challenge to work around that request,” said Richie, Biblical text major from Lake Jackson. “With groups like SAA, there is a correlation with our student members and involvement with a lot of other things on campus.” Students who are involved in many areas need Wednesdays to meet with organizations, Richie said. “We take pride in how involved our student memsee chapel page 3