Thursday, February 25, 2010
Page 3
The ShorThorn
Student SeRviceS
Crime
Faculty
13 spots open with learning group Requirements to be a Peer Academic Leader include a cumulative 2.5 GPA. By JuStin ShaRp The Shorthorn staff
The application deadline to become a Peer Academic Leader for the fall 2010 semester is March 5. PALs, students who work with freshman interest groups, are groups of freshmen students with similar majors. Members of these groups are located together in campus housing to provide support and academic assistance to each other. Each group has a PAL who lives close to the students, usually in the same hall. The College of Science has created two new freshman interest groups that are more specific to fields of scientific study in psychology, biology/ health profession majors. Biology and psychology are the two largest departments in the College of Science. Lori Norris, science special programs coordinator, said students who participated in the program showed improved retention of material from the fall to spring semester and performed better in classes. “The FIGs are another way to support our students,” Norris said. “Based on talking with students who have participated in the science FIG, it has been beneficial to not only grades, but also in adapting to college life.” She added that there’s a huge disconnect between high school and college, in both the workload and the level of personal responsibility, and that the freshman interest group program helps freshmen survive their first year. Biochemistry sophomore Rebecca Denney was in the science freshman interest group and has applied to be a PAL for the fall. She said that being in a
freshman interest group helped greatly. “We were all in the same biology class, so we had study groups together,” she said. “Everyone in my FIG became like family.” Denney said she has high hopes for next semester, both for herself as a PAL and for the new students in her freshman interest group. “I hope they get to know and depend on each other and become like a family the way I did with my group,” she said. The College of Science freshman interest group was originally for students interested in teaching math and science. Matthew Hendricks, Student Success Programs associate director, said that this was in order to help students apply for a scholarship provided by government grants. The scholarship was set up to stimulate interest in teaching degrees in those fields but wouldn’t be available until the students’ junior year. Students still received academic support for science if they didn’t go into the teaching program, but not the scholarship. “Now, we’re better able to tailor the program and seminar course to provide as personalized of a program as we can for each student,” Hendricks said. There are 13 spots available for the fall semester – two in science, eight in engineering and three in nursing, he said. Qualifications for PALs include a history of academic success, a 2.5 cumulative GPA, recommendations from professors and an interest in teaching as discovered through the two-day interview process in which applicants will participate in various activities under observation. JuStin ShaRp news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu
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The Shorthorn: Will LaVoncher
Mary Vaccaro speaks at the Focus on Faculty Speaker Serieson Wednesday afternoon in the Parlor on the sixth floor of the Central Library. Vaccaro spoke on the use and exchange of drawings in Renaissance art.
Professor shows slice of museum Mary Vaccaro displayed slides of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By Rachel SnydeR The Shorthorn staff
Mary Vaccaro gave about 80 people an inside look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while showing slides of famous 16th century artworks such as Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” The event was held Wednesday in the Central Library and was the last Focus on Faculty for the year. Focus on Faculty is a speaker series that primarily features faculty doing awardwinning research. The art and art history associate professor spoke about how artists worked in the 16th century and showed slides of famous museums and art around the world. She focused on how drawings were used and exchanged in Renaissance art.
Vaccaro was highlighted for tant to the Library dean for receiving the Outstanding Re- marketing and external relasearch Achievement or Creative tions, invited Vaccaro to speak, set up and publicized Accomplishment the event. Award from the “I thought it She said Vaccaro President’s Convowas the only profescation for Academic was interestsor from the ColExcellence in 2009. ing to know lege of Liberal Arts Vaccaro teaches to speak this year a drawing class on she handled campus and primar- Michelangelo’s and she tries to have representation from ily studies Italian drawings.” all the colleges on artists. campus for Focus on She has lectured tommie Wingfield Faculty each year. at the Metropolitan library assistant to Vaccaro showed Museum of Art, as the dean for marphotos from the well as museums keting and external store room in the in Italy, England, relations Metropolitan MuFrance and Japan. seum of Art, where She said she looked at works of art in mu- she was allowed to research artseums and sometimes deter- ists’ work. “She made a well-prepared mined which artist did unattributed paintings by looking at presentation,” Wingfield said. “I thought it was interesting to the style of artist’s work. “The award was a great know she handled Michelanhonor, it looks at faculty across gelo’s drawings.” the university so it was a pretty big deal,” Vaccaro said. Rachel SnydeR Tommie Wingfield, assisnews-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu
Gomez. Students need to be aware of the issues and help police prevent crime, he said. “We wanted to issue a warning in crime awareness to the public because this is not just a UTA problem,” he said. The FBI published a report stating GPS unit thefts increased from 3,700 to 24,700 from 2006 to 2008. This is due to the sudden popularity of the devices, said James Hawthorne, Arlington Police Department Deputy Chief. “GPS are a fairly new phenomena,” he said. “There weren’t that many thefts several years ago because people didn’t have them. Now they’re more popular and people leave them in plain view.” Laptops, purses, cell phones and GPS units are very tempting for would-be criminals walking by a vehicle, he said. The crime awareness bulletin and TrailBlazer prevention tips have not been available until Wednesday due to the nature of the crimes, Sullivan said. “We get the bulletin out as soon as possible when it’s a violent crime,” she said. “The crime awareness bulletin is coming out now because there’s not an immediate threat to a person.” Most of the devices stolen were windshield-mounted and had not been hidden by the owners of the vehicle. The visibility of GPS units increases the opportunity for thieves to break into a car. The only way to reduce crimes is to reduce the opportunity for crimes to happen, Hawthorne said. “Your momma used to say, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,’” he said. “Practice prevention, and it takes away the need for the call.” chaSe WeBSteR news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu
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