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Check out our new Web site and let us know what you think Tuesday, T d M March h 2, 2010
Issue 104, Volume 75
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Parking matter stirs new app By Michelle Villarreal THE DAILY COUGAR As parking still remains a problem on campus, a new iPhone application has been created to provide students with real-time maps of parking lot availability based on vacancy percentages. The free “UHGuide” application was created by a group of
undergraduate computer science students for a course project that used software that focused specifically on the iPhone. “This project was one of the course projects and probably the most successful one,” associate computer science professor Ioannis Pavlidis said. The UHGuide is a utility application for students that
provides full maps of the campus with directions on how to get around either by foot or car, Twitter and weather updates and a restaurant guide. The inventing team consisted of Kaleb Fulgham, Andre Navarro, Nick Prescott and Hussain Abbasi. “I threw out some ideas for an application and encouraged students to come up with their own
ideas of things that happen around campus and something that would benefit UH as a whole,” Pavlidis said. The application took four months to develop, from late August to mid-December. Pavlidis also worked alongside research assistant professor Pradeep Buddharaju to create the Walk n’ Play iPhone application
that focuses on health and fitness activity around the world. “The Walk n’ Play app motivates you to be more active by calculating how many calories you burn in a day by doing normal activities,” Pavlidis said. “It also has a virtual competition that allows users around the world to compete with see PARKING, page 3
SGA initiates new investment plan School ID entitles students to discounts at selected business J
By Nzinga Tchameni THE DAILY COUGAR
COURTESY OF DAVID BRISENO
A team effort
T
he UH Army ROTC won first place in the Homes for our Troops third Annual Sporting Clay Shooting Competition on Jan. 29. Cadet James Carpenter, above, was one of six team members who shot more than 100 rounds during the competition. Erika Davila was the only cadet to shoot both clays, shown right, out of the sky with one shot.
UH advertising students win big By Sabrina Lloyd THE DAILY COUGAR UH advertising students dominated the 2010 Houston Addy Awards, winning a grand total of nine awards, including four gold, two silver and three Citations of Excellence. Seven UH students won the awards — Heather Diaz, Dwayne O’Brien, Karen Lopez, Rachel Williamson, Laura Martinez, Miriam Guessous and Owen J. Woghiren.
The Addys are sponsored by the Houston chapter of the American Advertising Federation, which is an association of advertising professionals encompassing all sectors in the advertising, marketing and communication industries. “In the past, our school only won one or two awards, but this year we won nine, which is a really big deal for me and our university,” said Guessous, president of AAF-UH. “We won more awards than any other college that attended.”
Other colleges include Sam Houston State, St. Thomas University, Texas Southern University and Texas A&M. To win an Addy, participants must submit an advertisement from a chosen category, which include print, outdoor (billboards), television, interactive, poster and campaign. The ads are then submitted to the AAF-Houston in the fall, and the see ADVERTISING, page 3
The Student Government Association recently launched the Student Savings Club, which allows students, staff and faculty to receive discounts at participating restaurants and retailers locally and nationally. “Originally, I was contacted by Pat Moriarty, who is with the Collegiate Services Incorporated, which works to promote the student savings program on campuses across the country,” SGA President Kenneth Fomunung said. Fomunung said the CSI typically works with student governments and approached SGA in the summer of 2009 with a proposal. “I shared the proposal with the senate here in the student government and the reception was very positive; people were very excited about the program,” Fomunung said. “Initially, we wanted to explore other options to see if we could do it ourselves.” Fomunung said the Student Life Committee and SGA were able to come together in a meeting and organize the campaign to get the proposal through the SGA Senate. “It seemed like the legwork of doing it ourselves was just going to be overwhelming for the time it would have taken,” Student Life Committee member Veronica Evans said. “Also, the contracting part of it, because we would have to contract with every single business.” Evans said the SGA chose to contract with one business, the Student Savings Club, and have them contract out to other interested businesses. “We actually passed a resolution in the Senate to endorse this
program,” Fomunung said. Fomunung said the program is costing the SGA $1,750 for one year. The SGA submitted a list of the businesses that they felt students would benefit from and are frequented the most by the student population. “I felt that in the SGA Senate, we had enough diversity in the 40 or so representatives to put together a list that reflected the general population to some extent,” Fomunung said. There are 45 local listings, including Berripop Yogurt and Buffalo Wild Wings. Businesses such as Avis and Blue Nile can be found under the national listings. Students can receive up to a 50 percent discount at these selected locations just by flashing their Cougar Card. “Because it’s such a long-term program, my understanding from the CSI representative is that there are potential businesses that could join the program,” Fomunung said. “(Since) we began the effort of trying to do this ourselves, we actually had some companies that were willing to offer discounts to our students. Now that we have the program up and running, we can include those businesses on the list. “This list has potential to grow.” Fomunung hopes to be able to get Starbucks to join. Students, staff and faculty can access this service by going onto the SGA Web site and clicking the “student savings” link. Certain businesses have coupons that can be printed and presented before purchase. Most of the businesses are within a 10-mile radius of the campus. “The beautiful thing about the program is its simplicity. All students have to do is show up at their favorite businesses (that are listed) and when purchasing see SGA, page 3