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CONTEST
Student art exhibition begins this week Annual art event lets students submit art in order to win prizes or sell art to buyers MIKE BRESTOVANSKY Assistant News Editor @BrestovanskyM
More than 50 pieces of student-created artwork will be showcased at The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 101st annual School of Art and Art History Student Exhibition this week. The exhibition, which
GOVERNMENT
Congress passes 3 bills Tuesday
begins today, features artwork by OU undergraduate and graduate students from a diverse range of majors, said Jessica Farling, director of public engagement at the museum. Farling said that more than $6,000 worth of cash prizes will be offered to the featured artist, along w i t h t h e e x h i b i t i o n ’s
highest honor, the T. G. Mays Purchase Award. “The T. G. Mays Purchase Award is awarded to one work ... that will become a part of the museum’s permanent collection,” Farling said. “You can see a lot of the past winners in Bizzell [Memorial Library].” The winning work will be selected by guest juror Chad Alligood, who also reviewed submissions and selected the ones to be displayed in the exhibition, Farling said.
“This year, there were almost 200 works by 85 students submitted to the exhibition,” Farling said. While the number of submissions this year was not substantially different from last year, the types of submissions were. “Last year, there was only one painting at the exhibition,” Farling said. “This year, it’s a more or less balanced mix of sculpture and MIKE BRESTOVANSKY/THE DAILY
SEE ART PAGE 4
“Morbus” by Bryan Rapp is on display at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.
HANGING OUT
HEALTH
Flu season has arrived
One bill appoints committee officers
Students can get free vaccinations
PAGE JONES
LEAH VANATER
Assistant News Editor @pageousm
The Undergraduate Student Congress had its first meeting of the semester Tuesday night at Devon Hall. Only three bills were before congress, an act amending the bylaws, an act appointing committee officers and an act appointing members to the committees. All of the bills were approved without taking a vote. Connor Bourland, vice chair of the Undergraduate Student Congress, made the announcement that a bill concerning sportsmanship at sporting events was defeated in the Graduate Student Senate. The bill addressed congress members’ concerns about students who booed at football players during one of OU’s losses. While the bill passed in the Undergraduate Student Congress, in order to be completely approved by SGA a bill has to pass in both congress and the Graduate Student Senate. The Undergraduate Student Congress is currently accepting applications for Student Representative or Associate for the 93rd session of congress. Applications are due by 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 22 and can be submitted online, according to the Undergraduate Student Congress website.
News Reporter
TONY RAGLE/THE DAILY
Dramaturgy senior Logan Sloan lays in a hammock by the west entrance of the Bizzell Memorial Library. “It’s a great place to people watch,” Sloan said.
OU Heath Services has seen an increase of cold and flu-like symptoms since the beginning of the year, said Maggie Pool, assistant director of clinical services at Goddard Health Center, in an email. Since Sept. 28, 1,033 people have been hospitalized or have died from influenza in Oklahoma, according to data on the Oklahoma State Department of Health website. Of those hospitalizations, 74 have come from Cleveland County, according to the website. Throughout this season, 31 people have died, according to the health department web page. Last year, just over 60 people died of the flu, so this year’s numbers are not startling comparatively, said Jamie Dukes, public information officer for the health department. People with a high risk of dying from the flu include children under 5, adults over 65 and people with chronic disease or diabetes, Dukes said. Students hoping to evade the virus can receive a flu shot at Goddard Health Center while supplies last, according to OU’s Health Services web page. Shots are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and appointments are SEE VACCINE PAGE 2
CHEMISTRY
‘Breaking Bad’ prof elected president of chemical society After working as a science adviser, Donna Nelson has taken a new position DAISY CREAGER
has worked to better connect chemistry and Hollywood has been named the president of a national society of Following a stint with an scientists. Emmy Award-winning TV Chemistr y professor show, an OU professor who
News Reporter @daisycreager
WEATHER
Donna Nelson, who worked as the science adviser for AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” was named the president elect of the American Chemical Society Jan. 1. An organization with about 166,000 members, the chemical society publishes peer-reviewed re s e a rc h a n d p rov i d e s
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scientists with education and networking, according to its website. “It gives you a national and global perspective, and it gives you a lot of oppor- DONNA tunities that aren’t NELSON available around you,”
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Nelson said. “I get to work alongside people who are in industry, and I don’t have that here.” While she has been a member of the chemical society for over 30 years and has served on national
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level committees, this was Nelson’s first time running for the presidency, she said. “I saw some things that I felt I could change for the better in the organization,” Nelson said. Nelson said that one of her major concerns is the lack of SEE GAP PAGE 2