MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2009
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Check out the recap of the OU softball the team’s victories in th 2009 Fall Festival. PAGE 5
The Oklahomaa Chamber of Playerss performed on the OU campus this weekend. PAGE 7
Check out whatt officials from m around thee state had to sayy about the healthh care debate. e. PAGE 3
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OZONE STUDENT PORTAL LAUNCHES TODAY
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MEREDITH MORIAK Managing Editor
owl.ou.edu
CAMPUS BRIEFS MEN’S BASKETBALL STUDENT SEASON TICKETS SELL OUT Student season tickets for the upcoming OU men’s basketball season sold out within three days of going on sale. The sellout comes on the heel of a season where the team went 30-6 and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. “Our team issues a big collective thanks to the OU student body for its support of our program this week. To sell our complete allotment of student season tickets in only three days illustrates how much this program has grown in just a couple of years,” OU head coach Jeff Capel said. “Our fans, both students and non-students, are a huge part of our team and we need them to be at our games, and we need them to be loud and supportive. So students, we thank you!” -Ricky Ly/Night Editor
OU-MIAMI GAME TO BE NATIONALLY TELEVISED Saturday’s OU-Miami football game will be played in Florida and will be televised on ABC at 7 p.m., said Kenneth Mossman, OU athletics communications director. -Daily Staff Reports
PHONE BOOK RECYCLING DRIVE GETS UNDERWAY City-wide phone book recycling is currently underway and runs through Oct. 7. Phone books can be dropped off at three city sites and placed in the “phone books only” bin. The three sites are located at Andrews Park, 201 W. Daws St.; the 12th Avenue Recreation Center, 1701 N.E. 12th Ave.; and the Norman Recycling Center at the intersection of 24th Avenue and W. Main Street. In addition, phone books can be placed in regular curb-side recycling bins. For more information call Jennifer Gray at 366-5262. -Daily Staff Reports
To better serve students 24/7, safely secure student records and lay the foundation for the future of archiving University data, a new online student portal, oZONE, launches today. After more than four years of planning, the site combines student services into one Web site and is the result of the work of more than 225 oZONE team members who worked on technological and functional sides of the project.
THE PAST For more than 40 years, student data and university documents were hosted on a mainframe system that was built in 1968. However, this system required downtime each day and did not allow for the system to be available 24/7, said Nick Key, oZONE spokesman. OU Web sites such as enroll, pay and financial aid were all supported through the mainframe and allowed for
little flexibility. “The technology was so old, and we knew we had to do a migration of data,” said Eddie Huebsch, technical project lead and OU IT director of projects. In order to convert the data to a platform accessible 24/7 and one that would continue to save data for another 40 years, a steering committee to oversee the data conversion project was created in 2006, said Brad Burnett, functional project leader and director of financial aid. The committee worked to create a goal and vision for the project, appoint key individuals to specific aspects of the project, both functional and technological, and oversee the entire project and timeline, Burnett said. In April 2007, members of the oZONE team selected a platform that would allow OU to convert all of their student services data into one system called oZONE, Huebsch said. On Sept. 18, a 10-day conversion period of
more than 2 million student records began. All student data were frozen and available on a read-only basis to ensure an accurate transition into the new system, Burnett said. “It was not an easy decision of when to do the conversion because business of the university happens all the time,” Burnett said. The September conversion period was chosen based on many variables, including enrollment windows, grading periods and bursar payments, he said.
THE PRESENT Beginning today, with the end of the conversion period, students will be able to access all student services Web sites from oZONE. This site allows students to access multiple student services Web sites 24/7 with a one-time log-in. The Web site combines enrollment resources, student services, financial aid, Exchange e-mail, Desire2Learn and Degree Navigator, Key said. The new Web site will also introduce new PORTAL CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
Soccer team makes history Victory against Texas A&M marks first win for Sooners over Aggies TOBI NEIDY Daily Staff Writer
The Sooners stepped up Sunday to boldly go where no previous OU soccer team has ever gone before. The Sooners recorded the 3-2 win and program’s first victory against No. 13 Texas A&M in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Junior forward Whitney Palmer found the back of the net twice for the Sooners in the first eight minutes of the game, while sophomore forward Kelsey Kraft’s game-winning header came during the 60th minute of the match. The win also ended Oklahoma’s 11-game losing streak versus ranked opponents. “Coach [Nelson] said they [Texas A&M] have never been beaten by OU before,” Palmer said. “So we knew it was our time.” Palmer’s two goals in Sunday’s game bring her total to 10 for the season and place her at No. 3 on OU’s all time scoring list. Palmer’s 10 goals for the season place her at second within the Big 12 for number of goals scored. After Friday’s 2-1 loss to Big 12 rival Texas, there was some worry that OU would not be able to hang with the Aggies. “We knew we were fatigued from Friday, TOBI NEIDY/THE DAILY and the injuries still affected us,” said coach Junior forward Whitney Palmer (8) kicks the ball down the field during Sunday’s home game against Nicole Nelson. “But we decided to move the Texas A&M. Palmer’s two early goals helped the Sooners secure a 3-2 victory. line of pressure to the middle third and defend as a cohesive unit.” held a 3-1 shot on goal advantage. The Aggies 6-4-1 and 1-1 in conference play. The Sooners OU defense and freshman goalkeeper also led in corner kicks 5-0. will travel to Boulder to take on Colorado at Kelsey Devonshire stepped up the momentum “This win means everything,” Devonshire 5:30 p.m. Friday. The team will finish up the to keep the Aggies from scoring. Devonshire said. “We were the underdog. We knew it was a first road conference games against Texas Tech recorded nine saves for the game and limited huge stepping stone, and we accomplished it.” at 1 p.m. Sunday in Lubbock. Texas A&M to only two goals, after the Aggies With Sunday’s win, the Sooners improved to
International students find means to travel
Student awarded $10,000 scholarship
Different modes of transportation provide ways to get around
Meteorology student is fourth consecutive OU student to earn award
KATHLEEN EVANS Daily Staff Writer
Benjamin Rippitsch, a geography senior from Austria, was supposed to go to his first state fair Friday night with an international student group. After waiting an hour, however, he and about 15 of his other international friends found out there weren’t enough seats in the cars, and they could not get a ride to Oklahoma City. As an international student, Rippitsch said he has learned to be creative when traveling around Norman, the state and beyond. In an attempt to get to the fair, he and his friends called a taxi. After learning it would cost them $20 a person to get there, he said they gave up on the idea of going to the fair and decided to try something else, something that did not require a car. “I indeed was disappointed [I did not get to go to the fair],” Rippitsch said. “I was studying
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all day and looking forward to a fun evening. I am not sure there will be another chance [to go] as there is no bus going between Norman and Oklahoma City on the weekends.” Rippitsch said he has used the Cleveland Area Rapid Transit public bus system, but it only runs to the city on weekdays. For shorter trips around the Norman area, many international students said they have found that biking is an easy, feasible way to travel. Some international students went as a group to buy bicycles at Walmart one weekend, said Lukas Mader, environmental system sciences senior, who is from Austria. Mader said even though his bike is not of the best quality, with brakes that don’t work, it is still an effective way to travel around Norman. Rippitsch said he also bikes when he has to run errands like going to the grocery store or when he needs to get to class. For longer trips, such as a weekend vacation around Oklahoma, renting a car is a fairly cheap way to travel, he said. Through Enterprise, a car
rental company, it is only $50 a person for the whole weekend, and the company will deliver the car to one’s apartment, Rippitsch said. “It gives you a lot of freedom to get to know Oklahoma,” he said. “This is [how we were able to visit] the Antelope Hills, Elk City, Tulsa ... and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. In addition, [we drove] down to New Orleans for Labor Day weekend.” Students do not always have to find their own mode of transportation. Some international student associations plan events and provide transportation - usually more organized than the state fair trip - that allow them to go to different places around Norman and Oklahoma City, Mader said. Rippitsch and Mader were still able to have fun on their Friday night, despite not having a car and not being able to go to the state fair. “After a long negotiation, we decided to grab something to eat and go to Seven47 [on Campus Corner] to sit outside, chat, and have a good glass of wine,” Rippitsch said.
engineering students based solely on merit. This is the fifth consecutive year an OU student has been selected to receive the ASF award. According to the ASF Web site, the foundation has awarded $2.8 million in scholarships BREIA BRISSEY Contributing Writer to college students since 1986. Flamig said his interest in the weathT h e A s t r o n a u t S c h o l a r s h i p er first grew while living in Dallas as a Foundation awarded an OU student child, where he experienced severe its prestigious $10,000 scholarship weather firsthand. He moved with his family to Los Alamos, Friday at the National N.M., but he never lost W e a t h e r C e n t e r. PAST OU ASF WINNERS sight of his passion for Zachary Flamig, memeteorology. teorology senior, ac- 2008 - Craig Schwartz Flamig came to OU c e p t e d t h e aw a rd 2007 - Ryan East in fall 2006 and since at a luncheon in his 2006 - Ryan East then has worked at honor. the National Oceanic Donna Shirley, for- 2005 - Nathan Snook and Atmospheric mer assistant dean in OU’s College of Engineering and re- Administration’s National Severe tired manager of the Mars Exploration Storms Laboratory as an undergraduProgram from NASA’s Jet Propulsion ate student research assistant. Associate professor of meteorolLaboratory, presented Flamig with the award after speaking briefly on some ogy Phillip Chilson teaches thermorecent meteorological findings on dynamics and first met Flamig in that class. other planets. “Everything I threw at him, it just “There are a lot of opportunities in space,” Shirley said. “But if you choose came back perfect,” Chilson said. “He to stay on Earth, that would be good had the highest score in the class.” Chilson said he immediately thought too.” Only 17 students were selected of Flamig when he was talking to anfrom the nationwide competition to other professor about the ASF award, receive this scholarship, the largest monetary award given to science and SCHOLARSHIP CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
© 2009 OU PUBLICATIONS BOARD
VOL. 95, NO. 28