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STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 129, NO. 40
Graduate programs enjoy several high rankings BY BRITTANY FARB STAFF REPORTER Even as undergraduate programs at Washington University continued to be ranked 12th in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, the fall semester has seen several prominent and improved rankings go to graduate programs. One of the world’s leading business newspapers, The Financial Times, ranked the Washington University-
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Fudan University Executive MBA (EMBA) Program as the seventh best international MBA program in the world. The EMBA program is a joint educational endeavor between the Olin Business School at Washington University and the School of Management at Fudan University in Shanghai. The program was the first U.S.-Sino combined program in China when it was founded in 2002. Originally designed to prepare Chinese managers for
executive positions around the world, the program attracts about 75 percent of its students from China. “China has a shortage of trained managerial professionals,” said James Little, the program’s academic director. “The economy has grown so fast.” For EMBA students in the Olin Business School, the program requires them to spend 10 days in Shanghai completing joint course work. “Our mission worldwide is
to create knowledge, inspire individuals, and transform business,” said Mahendra Gupta, dean of the Olin Business School, in a recent interview with the Record. “To achieve our mission, we need to be consistently excellent so that we attract the best faculty and students and provide the best learning experience.” The Financial Times’ rankings are based on surveys
See GRADUATE PROGRAM, page 2
Beyond classes, research provides academic opportunities BY MIRANDA MORIARTY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
COURTESY OF WUSTL IMAGES
(Left to right) Cindy Richard-Fogal, Ph.D., research scientist in biology, Elaine Frawley, graduate research assistant and Robert Kranz, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, examine an E. coli culture. With his latest grant, Kranz has now received funding from the National Institutes of Health for 22 years.
While the academic semester—and the coursework that goes along with it—is drawing to a close, the multitude of students who participate in research will see their work continue into next semester. Within Robert Kranz’s laboratory, which recently received a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), five undergraduates and one graduate student work with the professor of biology. Fifth-year graduate student Elaine Frawley became involved with Kranz’s project through the Biology and Biomedical Science graduate program, a program that allows students to rotate between different labs before joining one full-time. Frawley described working with a professor like Kranz as “a chance to learn great techniques.” “I couldn’t have asked for a better lab project,” she added. The grant is a renewal award for Kranz’s research in bioenergy
See RESEARCH, page 2
Library software upgrade creates conflicts, frustrates students BY JOHN SCOTT CONTRIBUTING REPORTER As students prepare to spend hours in the library writing final papers, many have found that a new version of Microsoft Word is no longer compatible with the older, more common format causing file-sharing issues. Microsoft released the Microsoft Office 2007 package earlier this year as an upgrade from the previous Office 2003. Documents from Microsoft Word 2007 are now saved in the “.docx” format, but older versions, which save in the “.doc” format, cannot read the new format. Some students like freshman Philip Bierman, who uses Word 2007, have encountered problems because some students and professors still use both versions of the software. “Occasionally, I send papers to my writing teacher and she
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Earlier this semester, the Greek Life Office implemented changes to increase the number of women participants in sorority recruitment. After an extension of the registration deadline, the number of women that have registered now matches last year’s total. Approximately 250 women signed up during women’s formal recruitment in 2006. This year, less than 200 had registered by the fi nal week of November. Lucy Morlan, coordinator for chapter development, said that there have been many more registrants towards the end of the recruitment process than there were last year. “Things started out slow,” said Morlan. “Now, we’re at 250 [recruits] again so far, which is exactly what we had last year.” Recruitment was scheduled to end on Dec. 1 but was postponed to Dec. 8 because of a technical problem with the
Greek Life Web site. Morlan said that the glitch might have prevented women from registering. “The system cut off for a couple of hours on the last day of registration,” said Morlan. “It came back later on in the afternoon.” Though administrators sent an e-mail to students informing them of the glitch, Morlan says she does not think there will be a significant increase in recruits because of the short duration of the downtime. The Greek Life Office has implemented significant changes to the recruitment process this year to make joining a sorority easier and more transparent for women. Mimi Shaffner, vice president of recruitment on the Women’s Panhellenic Council, said that sororities have tried to communicate more with prospective students in an effort to increase enrollment. “We greatly increased our public relations efforts, including sending out postcards
Verdict for Mizzou football Big 12 sports never came so close to home. Check out the fate of the Tigers postOklahoma. Sports, Page 3
to the homes of all freshman women,” she said. Earlier in the year, the Panhellenic Executive Board adopted a new policy called Positive Panhellenic Contact. The policy allows sorority women to interact more freely with prospective recruits. Previously, affi liated and non-affi liated women were not allowed to communicate with each other during the recruitment process. Administrators were concerned that this policy alienated recruits who wanted to learn more about Greek life on campus. Morlan said that change from this traditional method of recruiting, which has taken place at other colleges in recent years, would take effect gradually over the next few years. “We’re having less decorations and food, and we’re moving to a recruitment process that is more conversationbased,” she said. “The plan is to eventually have a no-frills recruitment.” “This new approach is work-
BY DAVID SONG NEWS EDITOR Thanks to a recent donation, Washington University’s Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies will be sponsoring a summer internship program for University students. “The compensation package is $2,500 dollars over 10 weeks,
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Senior Elisabeth Rennell, junior Tiffany Bruckert and senior Katie Booth, members of Gamma Chi, help sorority recruitment efforts at Wohl Center. Recruitment was recently down but with the new extended deadline, it went back up to average numbers. ing really well so far,” she added. Recruits will return to campus on Jan. 7 for initiation activities that end on bid day on Jan. 13. “The women can look for-
Where does the buck stop? Think you’re paying a pretty penny for tuition? Check out the results of the Chancellor’s tuition forum in @ Press on Thursday at www. studlife.com
See SOFTWARE, page 2
Skandalaris Center offers internships for social ventures
After slow start, sorority registration picks up BY GREGG RE
can’t open them because she has the old version,” said Bierman. Although the software was available about a year ago, the library did not make the upgrade until August according to Bill Fryman, manager of systems operations and support at Washington University. Fryman said that these types of upgrades are usually done during the summer in order to prevent negatively affecting students during the academic year. Dean for Technology Jeff Huestis said that the University waited to make sure that any initial problems with the software were addressed. “We do try to leave a decent interval for bugs to shake out,” said Huestis. “Of course in the case of something like Office 2007, you do have this file format issue.”
ward to an exciting week,” said Shaffner. “They will meet tons of new people and really get to see what each individual chapter stands for. It is a crazy week, but it will be a great and fun experience.”
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but we include room and board here on campus,” said Lawrence Luscri, the student services coordinator for the Skandalaris Center. The 20 interns, who will stay on campus over the summer, will either work with established businesses or pursue projects involving their own business or social venture. A student who wishes to pursue the internship with his own entrepreneurial project experiences limits, as the business must qualify as a “startup” business, and therefore is constrained in terms of revenue, employees and funding. Otherwise, the student would simply work with an existing large company. Luscri stated that although the individual who made the donation did not do so anonymously, his name will not be released until the end of the week. Luscri also explained the Skandalaris internship in detail, noting that it originated from the Entrepreneurship Council, on which University Chancellor Mark Wrighton holds a chair. Students selected as interns will work both with each other and individuals outside the University. “Part of the program includes a collaborative component where the students get together with other interns—we bring someone from the companies or an entrepreneur and do a presentation to have a networking event, once a week,” said Luscri. “The business will be a part of that event; we choose representatives from those businesses and bring them together.”
See SKANDALARIS, page 2
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