L&A: Check out Lightwell Gallery’s new exhibit (Page 4)
Sports: The men’s gymnastics team has an uphill battle to beat Michigan (Page 6)
Opinion: We’ll always call it the Red River Shootout (Page 3)
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MERGLER TO STEP DOWN After 19 years of service as senior vice president, provost, Harper will take over PAIGHTEN HARKINS, Campus Editor, @PaightenHarkins AMBER FRIEND, Campus Reporter, @amberthefriend
Nancy Mergler, senior vice president and provost, announced she will resign from her position, effective June 1, and return to teaching in the Honors College. In an email to faculty and staff, OU President David Boren said pending OU Board of Regents approval, Kyle Harper, senior vice provost since Jan. 2013, will be the interim provost and senior vice president. The provost is responsible for institutional planning and budgeting, program development and review and academic policies and procedures, according to a press release. The
provost is also in charge of recruitment, retention and development of faculty and students, according to the press release. Mergler has been provost since 1995, according to the press release. Mergler said she decided to step down because she saw that the job, along with higher education, was changing. “The institution deserves fresh eyes,” Mergler said. During Mergler’s tenure, she helped transform various academic programs into colleges, such as the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences, the College of International and Area Studies and the Honors College, according to the press release. Mergler also implemented a 10-year plan to increase library resources, helped expand the number of professional
academic advisers to help students graduate and oversaw the creation of the Academic Integrity Council, according to the press release. With the changes in higher education, such as the focus on emerging technologies in the classroom with OU’s Digital Initiative, Mergler said Harper will be a good fit in the provost position because he understands new technologies and ways of communicating with students. “I’m good at email. I don’t think I’ll ever be good at Twitter,” Mergler said. Mergler said she is excited to get back into teaching, spending more time with her family and having less stress. “I’ll teach myself to sleep through the night without waking up stressing...,”Mergler said. Harper said he was humbled to take over the position and SEE ACADEMICS PAGE 2
BUSINESS
Sooners find calling as clothes designers A trip to Costa Rica sparked a passion, business idea for two Sooners that now sell, market hoodies ALEX NIBLETT • ASSISTANT CAMPUS EDITOR
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Advertising sophomore Brandon Tomlin stands with a stack of hoodies he designed and created for his new clothing brand Cronik Gear. Tomlin’s hoodies are currently available in smoke, frost, lichen or coral colors on his website CronikGear.com.
ome students who study abroad come back with souvenirs, class credits and a string of memorable quotes in foreign languages, but for one student, he came back with inspiration to start a new clothing line. OU advertising sophomore Brandon Tomlin is the co-founder of the clothing brand Cronik Gear, a brand he and a friend collaborated on after seeing the clothing styles in Costa Rica and taking cues from the bright colored, different textured clothing in the market stores. “I started taking some concepts from their clothing and incorporating them into my own preference in style and stuff that I kind of carried here in the states,” Tomlin said. Before coming to OU, Tomlin attended Tulsa Community College, where he signed up for a two-week study abroad trip to Costa Rica in summer 2012. He chose to study abroad in Costa Rica because he liked studying wildlife biology, and during the program, he met his friend and co-partner for Cronik, Kayla Whitehouse. A few months after the trip, they had a real business and had started making deals with their manufacturer, Whitehouse said. Their first product was the volo, a lightweight hoodie with a low, round neckline, Tomlin said. While it was easy for them to envision their product, Tomlin said it was a lengthy process finding a company that could produce what they had in mind. The two started looking in Oklahoma and eventually started asking in other states, such as California, but the companies wouldn’t work for their needs, which included putting the Cronik Gear logo on their clothing. The co-founders finally decided to go international and now have their products made in Pakistan, they said. The company has a website, but Tomlin said the majority of his products are sold by word-of-mouth. “The best way I sell the volos is when people wear them because they attract their own attention, and people will be like, ‘hey, where did you get that?’” Tomlin said. “I get a lot of satisfaction just by seeing people wear my product.” Tomlin said he sees friends and people he doesn’t know wear his products across campus, and he is happy with his company’s success thus far. The volo was Tomlin and Whitehouse’s gateway product, but more products are on the way. “We plan on making a lot of other products such as spring wear and summer wear,” Whitehouse said. Cronik Gear has sold approximately 300 hoodies since the brand became an official product. “I own two: a light blue and a gray one,” University College SEE DESIGN PAGE 2
LANGUAGE
Bible study turns into English language, literacy lessons On-campus church hosts students, immigrants, families EMMA SULLIVAN Campus Reporter
Chinese students, immigrants and visiting scholars learn about the English language and culture by working with American students in the Wesley’s English conversation classes. The classes usually contain anywhere
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from 13 to 20 adults, said Amy Steele, social work junior, who helps teach the program. The Wesley has been holding the classes since 2007, Rev. Fuxia Wang said. “We meet the needs of the people, and the most important thing is to let people know the love of Jesus Christ,” Wang said. The program began with mostly undergraduate students, but more recently, married couples and adults who have children have attended. To accommodate these children, the Wesley started a similar English
program in September tailored for children, said Haley Pitts, early childhood education junior, who attended the program. “It started out as a Bible study, but because many of the children don’t speak English, we’re doing more language and literacy activities,” Pitts said. There is not a strict format for the adult classes. It depends on the needs of the participants each semester, said accounting senior John Farley, who helps teach the program.
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“We really try to change the program each semester to fit the students,” Farley said. The environment is relaxed, comfortable and respectful, said Xinxin Zhao, whose husband is a visiting scholar at OU and has attended the programs. “Everyone knows that my English isn’t very good, but I can ask questions, and my language since has improved,” Zhao said. The program also lets foreign students participate in something and communicate
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