Meet UTSA’s Sixteen Sexiest Scholars see page 6
Indoor Track and Field wins seventh straight championship see page 9
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio
February 28, 2012
Issue 7
File Photo
Brianna Cristiano / The Paisano
Volume 47
UTSA Print Spots are going green with new default.
The Institute of Law and Public Affairs.
AP Photo
SLSPA: Helping send Roadrunners to law school Daniel Crotty Staff Writer
“It was beyond amazing!” is how junior sociology and Spanish major Eliana Briceno described her experience at the Academy last summer. The purpose of the Summer Law School Preparation Academy (SLSPA), hosted by UTSA’s Institute for Law and Public Affairs is to prepare students interested in attending law school. For this summer’s program students can apply for early review and admission by March 23 as well as admission based on availability by April 2. Admission into the program is competitive; students must submit the program application, a personal statement and one letter of recommendation from a faculty member. Students with 39 earned credit hours may apply for Phase I (first summer session) of the program and students with 60 credit hours can apply for Phase II (second summer session). Dr. Ana Alvarez, the ILPA’s Program Coordinator, explained: “The program provides a strong academic foundation for legal education.” Students take 12 hours of intense courses, such as constitutional analysis, legal research and writing, law school studies and torts. These courses count toward the program’s Certificate of Legal Reasoning as well as a minor in legal studies offered by UTSA’s Honors College. The program also features a weekly series of speakers including law school professors, admissions counselors, politicians and former SLSPA students to offer their advice and knowledge about law. “The institute prides itself on its faculty and staff, who advocate for each one of the SLSPA students and help with the process of applying to law school, getting scholarships and obtaining letters of recommendation,” Alvarez said. Dr. Jerry Polland, a professor of political science at UT-Pan American, shared some information about the history of the SLSPA. “Subsequent to the Hopwood v. Texas decision, eliminating the use of affirmative action at UT Law School, the UT System created the Law School Partnership Task Force,” Polland said. Polland explained that the goal of the task force is to increase the number of minority applicants who apply to law school. In 2002, the task force created UTSA’s SLSPA in partnership with UT Law. Students who attended the program have been admitted into Harvard, U.C. Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Minnesota and UT Law, some of the most competitive law schools in the country.
Workers install solar panels on the roof of a school in an effort to help supplement the school’s energy needs.
Madelyn Garner Intern
news@paisano-online.com As the United States pursues its goal of exploring sustainable energy sources, San Antonio is taking the lead by partnering with clean technology companies to create a “new energy economy.” The goal of pursuing clean energy technologies is focused on reducing carbon emissions produced by coalfired energy plants, such as San Antonio’s CPS Energy plant near Calaveras Lake. In January, the Department of Energy announced that CPS Energy would purchase 200 megawatts of electricity annually from the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP), a clean coal power plant, soon to be built near Odessa, Texas. What sets the TCEP apart from other coal-fired plants is its carbon capture technology that is projected to capture 90 percent of the carbon emitted from the plant.
Sarah Gibbens Staff Writer
When completed in 2015, the TCEP is expected to be the cleanest coalfueled energy plant in the world. At a cost of $2.4 billion, the TCEP will receive $350 million in federal funding. Carbon capture technology is a process that captures and compresses carbon dioxide and then transports it through pipelines to long term or permanent storage sites, such as rock formations located deep underground. Another contender in the field of emerging clean technologies is energy storage. Many international companies already provide utility companies with the technology and resources to store energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar. “Developing technology to store electrical energy so it can be available to meet demand whenever needed would represent a major breakthrough in electricity distribution. Helping to try and meet this goal, electricity storage devices can manage the amount of power required to supply customers at times when need is greatest, which
is during peak load. These devices can also help make renewable energy, whose power output cannot be controlled by grid operators, smooth and dispatchable,” according to the EPA’s website. CPS Energy has partnered with UTSA’s Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute to research clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar power, as well as energy storage. “For (CPS) to engage with a university is unprecedented. All the business partners CPS is engaging with today are actually engaging with the university through the institute. This brings opportunities that the university would never have had otherwise. Companies and national laboratories wouldn’t come to UTSA if we didn’t have that (partnership) in place,” Dr. Juan Gomez, a research associate professor with UTSA’s Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute, said. See TCEP, Page 3
2012 Diploma Dash biggest ever Matthew Duarte News Assistant
news@paisano-online.com Waking up early on a Saturday is hard enough for any college student, but waking up and running more than three miles can be extremely challenging. That didn’t stop over 2000 UTSA students, alumni and other casual and competitive runners from making the 2012 Diploma Dash the largest ever. Around 2200 people preregistered, with an estimated 200 more registering the day of the race. The race is hosted each year by UTSA’s Alumni Association. Participation in Diploma Dash has been growing steadily since its inception 28 years ago, when only a couple of hundred people attended. The race has taken off in popularity in the past few years as the Alumni Association has made greater strides to appeal to students. An estimated 900 students participated this year, compared to about 600 last year. The Alumni Association has also taken steps to appeal to San Antonio’s military community by charging them the same low $10 fee as students. Attracting students and the military has helped the Diploma Dash more than double its attendance in the past six years.
Ray Perez / The Paisano
news@paisano-online.com
UTSA continues efforts to go green with new printing policy
Diploma dashers gather after the what turned out to be the biggest turn out since the event began.
The proceeds from the race go to the Alumni Association to fund scholarships and other alumni programs. Through the Diploma Dash and other events, the Alumni Association is able to raise over $100,000 each year, and its endowment exceeds $1 million. The Diploma Dash, which is held on UTSA’s campus, rolled out a new course for this year’s race. In previous years, the race has taken runners underneath campus through a series of tunnels usually reserved for main-
tenance vehicles. However, this year’s Diploma Dash took runners around campus, starting and ending at the Convocation Center, giving them a view of the entire campus, including the new construction on the northeast side of campus. Participants enjoyed music by Elijah Zane and the Experience and several student organizations—including The Movement, UTSA Ambassadors, and FTK—staffed information booths.
news@paisano-online.com Many universities around the nation are taking initiatives to promote greener campuses. UTSA is no exception. Beginning in Summer of 2012, UTSA printers will automatically print double-sided pages as opposed to traditional single-sided printing, effectively reducing the amount of paper used by nearly half and yielding significant economic benefit. Initially, the issue was brought up by UTSA’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) as a way to save money without creating a hindrance for students. However, in order to implement the change—which would affect students’ day-to-day lives—OIT had to seek the blessing of the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Faculty Senate. With the consent of these two organizations, OIT made sure this was a favorable change among students and faculty. The bill was written by SGA members Travis Jourdan, Merced Carbajal and Kort Jackson. Jourdan and Carbajal also serve as presidents of two campus environmental groups, The Movement and The Green Society respectively. The bill was sponsored by SGA member Anthony Herrera, who is also a member of the Green Society. The green resolution was passed by the SGA in the last general assembly of the fall 2010 semester, and it did not encounter any negative feedback as it was being examined. SGA President Xavier Johnson signed the bill into place under the official title, “UTSA Transition to Standardized Double Sided Printing.” Rather than sit on an SGA committee to await approval, the bill was an independent project led by Jourdan and Carbajal. Jourdan felt personally motivated to see the bill pass. “When an institution is thoroughly devoted to market its Tier One goals, that entail a sustainability oriented plan, even the small details are necessary,” Jourdan said. “The small transition yields not only economic savings, but severe environmental benefit.” Carbajal considered the decision to transition to double-sided printing to be about resource efficiency. “Resource efficiency is being economically smart, and in this case, lessening our impact on the planet,” Carbajal said. “It is our responsibility as an academic institution to maintain a clear path towards sustainability.” See GREEN, Page 3