Candidate'scampaign demands supportfor studentinterests

by Janice C. Funk managing editor

A small dosage of campaign fever hit Cabrini College on Tuesday, April 20, 1999 as the first of the candidates for the unoccupied vice president of academic affairs position met with a small group of students in the Student Development conference room.

Dr. Jonnie G. Guerra, most recently a visiting scholar at Purdue University, presented students with a brief history of her experience, and then took questions from the group. Concerns raised by the assembled students included growing class sizes and the Catholic identity of Cabrini. Senior Gavin Mirigliani voiced his concern that Cabrini as an institution has begun to favor financial concerns over academic concerns. Brandie Plaskett, also a senior, said, "The institution's focusing on money, not on the people who pay the money."

Guerra, who has acted as Dean of the ColJege at Randolph-Macon Woman's College and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Walsh University, as well as associate academic dean at Walsh University and Director of the First-Year Program at Mount Vernon College, responded to their questions and concerns, and said, "One of the things that I feel strongly about are that the issues you raise are legitimate issues."

Guerra said that she has varied interests, including theater, dance, and the poetry of

Emily Dickinson. She is currently the vice president of the Emily Dickinson Society, which has 400 members in 18 countries around the world.

In addition, Guerra likes to be involved in the goings-on of the school. ''l like to do things on campus," she says.

Guerra said that as vice president of academic affairs, she feels her duties will include program development, the coordination of curriculum, the maintaining of high academic standards, and ensuring that students' desired outcomes are met. "There shouldn't be a student interest that doesn't get any support," she said.