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friday,feb. 28, 1986
cabrini college, radnor,pa. 19087
vol. xxxii,no. 17 i:,t10t0
Communications, computerscience split grant
by Laura s~u.va ¡
Tappinghidden talent
by Robin McKeon Cabrini College has been granted $45,000 by the state of Pennsylvania to use towards new educational equipment. The grant is funded as part of an excess in the 1985-86 Pennsylvania taxpavers' monev. The bulk of the college's. grant, $35,000, was given to the English and communications department because of continuous efforts and requests by the department to obtain necessary television equipment. The new, high-cost equipment will improve the capacities of the television production studio. "The grant is a chance to meet a request," Mary Ann Biller, academic dean, said of the television equipment. "These are high-cost items we knew we could not get through capital funds," Biller added. "This is the second largest amount of moriey we have ever received for our department from outside funds," Jerome Zurek, chairperson of English and communications, said.
'This is the second largest amount of money we have ever receivedfor the department from outside funds' -'"lerome Zurek, chairman of English and communications "It's all going toward television: two high-quality cameras, an editing system, and a time-based corrector (a machine that synchronizes recording speeds)," Zurek said. "These are needs we have had for a couple of years " Zurek said. "We have been trying to get them 'funded, and we finally have," he added. The remaining $10,000 of the grant was put toward the computer science department. "I am always waiting for money from the budget or anywhere else," Julie Luckraft, chairperson of computer science, said. "We are buying two additional IBM person~) computers," Luckraft said, "It (the money l 1s great!" "Last year our computers showed what I call a 'mid-life crisis,"' Biller said. "They are already two or three years old." "The use of computers is growing. Business majors and education majors also use the computers," Biller said. Computers are a "high-ticket" item, according to Biller because their cost cannot be met through the schdol's capital funds (academic budget). This is why $10,000 of the grant was given to the computer science department. "The requests always. exceed the funds," Biller said. "Our other source of funds is state grants," she added. "We had a one-time surplus of funds," Pennsylvania State Senator Richard A. Tilghman, said, "It will probably never happen again." The surplus granted approximately $16.5 m~llion to be distributed to full-degree colleges m Pennsylvania. "Community colleges, junior colleges, and any other college already receiving state ai~ vi.:erenot eligible," Tilghman said. "The $16.5 m1lhon was divided according to the average number of students," he added. The only guideline for the grant is t~at the money be used for high-technology_ equipment manufactured or sold in Pennsylvama. "Of course V:ewant the money to go back into the state since it is the taxpayers' money," Tilghman, said. '"The idea is to help Pennsylvania industry," he added. "It has been a very successful program,' Tilghman said.
Escaping the contusion of the Loquitur newsroom, Jerome Zurek, chairman of English and communications, demonstrates his hobby of tapping syrup from maple trees. The attentive preschool class from Cabrini's Children ¡s School witnessedthe tree-tappingprocesslast Thursday morning in the surrounding campus woodland. (photo by Richard D. Roth, Jr.)
BAevaluations:
Assessingstrengths weaknesses by Kathy Hibbard It is slipped under your door in early December amidst the chaos of finals and other end-of-the-semester activities. You are asked to fill it out and return it to your floor representative as soon as possible. You do your duty and return the form, or do you? You leave for Christmas break and probably forget you ever evaluated your resident.assistant (RA). What is done with these evaluations? Are all evaluations returned? Who evaluates your evaluations? How did this year's RA's fare in the first-semester evaluations? Are RA's adorned with gold stars for good behavior and branded with an "F" for failure? According to Mary Ellen Lilly, director of resident life, the evaluations attempt to determine, from the students' point of view, the strengths and weaknesses that the RA has exhibited during the semester. "It is a data collection exercise," Lilly said. "Data is assembled from the students to see how well the RA's are performing. After the data is collected, I have individual meetings with each of the RA's to discuss the results of the evaluations," she said. Since the evaluations require campus residents to evaluate fellow students, certain subjective elements are expected to be contained in the evaluation results. "To make the student evaluations more objective, I lay all the results out and discard the all-negative comments, and the unreasonably positive comments that make the RA look like he or she can walk on water," Lilly said. "She (Mary Ellen) presents the results of the evaluations in tabulation form and then she presents her own insights, so I get both points of view," Pat McKenna, junior, RA, said. In reality, the RA's receive feedback on their performance from three different perspectives. "The evaluation process consists of three different components: student evaluations, evaluations done by the resident managers, and then I put my two cents in during the individual meetings," Lilly said. According to Lilly the evaluations conducted by the resident managers provide a balance and an objective view to the whole evaluation process. "There might be an RA who gets great evaluations because he or she allows anything to go on. From our point of view (the resident life staffs), that would not be an effective RA," Lilly said. Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of this year's RA's, Lilly commented on the duties of an RA and the nature of the position.
"The common strength I noted is the perception on the part of the students that the RA's show genuine care and concern for the people living in their houses or on their floors," Lilly said. "The weaknesses are more personal," Lilly said. "The thing that needs to be worked on would.be that some of the RA's styles need to be modified so that they can best reach the students with whom they are dealing," Lilly said. "I wish all of the students would take the time to fill them out," Colantuono, said. "My floor (first floor Woodcrest) had the greatest return with 24 handed in out of 42 residents," Colantuono said. "Any student who takes the time and effort to fill them out I think takes them seriously," Missy DiPasquale, senior, RA, said. "We (the Mansion) only got 19 back out of 38 residents, however," DiPasquale added. Commenting on the timing of the evaluation process, DiPasquale said, "I would like to see the evaluations distributed mid-semester so any criticisms or comments could get acted upon rather than waiting until Christmas break." "I handed mine in late," said Deana Simmons, freshman. "It wasn't an official, organized thing. It's lacking in that way. A lot of people throw them away and do not hand them in because the evaluations are not presented or taken as a serious thing," she said. Offering a different opinion, Dina Branco, sophomore, said, "I think the evaluations are taken seriously by both students and the RA's because they are used by RA's as a resource to improve their plan of action, and they are used by the resident managers to monitor the RA's performance and offer helpful suggestions." According to one student, the evaluation results are not discussed with the right people. "In many cases, I think the evaluations are fruitless because the evaluation results are never discussed with the residents in his or her dorm," a senior male said. "A meeting should be held whereby the RA's will talk to their residents about the evaluations and what can be done to improve the way the dorm functions," he said. Commenting on this suggestion, Lilly did not rule out the idea. However, she presented certain reservations. "If such a meeting were to take place, students would then realize that RA's do follow up on the evaluations, although this should be evident in the changes that are made after the RA meets with me," ~illy said.