THE 1000 N. Dixie Ave. | Cookeville, TN | 38505
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Friday, November 22, 2019
RACLE
Volume 104 | Issue 6 | Free in single copy
Tech’s primary news source since 1924
First photo by Vanessa Curry, second photo by Carolina Hatfield, third photo by Vanessa Curry
First photo, Carolina Hatfield prepares for take off on the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Second photo, an aerial view photo taken from the helicopter over snowdusted campus. Third photo, pilot looks out of the window of the Black Hawk Helicopter.
Student soars over campus By CAROLINA HATFIELD
Co-Managing Editor
A typical Tuesday for me includes working scholarship hours in the provost’s office, attending a newspaper staff meeting, having lunch with a friend and attending reporting class. Nov. 12 was different. Very different. That day, I flew over the campus and Cookeville in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The ride was part of week-long events sponsored by the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs in honor of our country’s veterans. As an editor of The Oracle, I was invited to take a seat along with 10 faculty or staff members. During a brief safety training session, the Ten-
nessee National Guard pilots discussed their military experience and the ROTC program, specifics about the helicopter and explained pre-departure and in-flight procedures. Our group then headed across the street to President Phil Oldham’s front lawn where the helicopter stood out from the thin layer of snow covering the grass. Earplugs in place, we climbed aboard and buckled ourselves into our seats – a task made more difficult by fingers numb from the freezing temperatures. I intentionally took a window seat so I could take pictures. Flying scares me, but I felt excited as the helicopter lifted off the ground, blowing snow in all directions as it ascending into the sky. In the next 20 minutes, we circled the campus.
It’s amazing to see the school from this viewpoint. There was the dorm I lived in my freshman year, the library where I have spent countless hours studying, the intramural fields where I’ve played and watched numerous games, and the buildings where I attended class. Feelings of nostalgia and gratitude arose as my whole college experience flashed through my mind. We flew over Tucker Stadium and made our way west over Hooper Eblen Center toward the softball field. Then the helicopter turned slightly and headed south. It felt much warmer inside the aircraft now. Seeing snow-covered Cookeville from a bird’s See HELICOPTER, page 2
Tech gets festive with
Lighting the Quad event By ALEXIS AGEE
Reporter
Christmas might still be a few weeks away, but some lights are being strung across campus. Tech’s third annual Lighting the Quad is scheduled from 5-5:30 p.m. on Dec. 3. This holiday tradition involves Tech’s historic main quad glowing with festival lights and holiday spirit. President Phil Oldham and first lady Kari Oldham switch on the lights. “Last year we had over 1,200 people,” Denise Colwell, adminis-
trative assistant, said. “We expect the same or more this year.” More festivities, including face painting, music, food, games, a photo booth, hot chocolate and even cookie decorating, continue in Memorial Gym after the lighting ceremony. Participants may receive a free T-shirt while supplies last. Student organizations also may participate in a tree-decorating contest. In the case of inclement weather, the rain date for the event is Dec. 5. More information on Lighting the Quad: https://www.tntech. edu/lightingthequad/
Baseball coach fired By CAROLINA HATFIELD
Co-Managing Editor
TTU head baseball coach Justin Holmes was relieved of his duties Wednesday afternoon according to information released by TTU Sports Information. Director of Athletics Mark Wilson said the decision was due to conduct that is “inconsistent with the expectations and standards Tennessee Tech has for all head coaches.” The search for a new head coach began immediately and Mitchell Wright, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, has been named acting head coach. Holmes spent four years at Tech as an assistant coach beginning
in August of 2014 and was promoted to head coach on June 21, 2018. Wright played baseball at University of West Alabama and Calhoun Community ColHOLMES lege. He worked as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He joined the Tech baseball staff fo the 2018 season. The Tech baseball season begins February with the first game against Western Illinois University.
Photo by Waverly Hart
Marc Burnett waves to the camera as he leads the 2019 Homecoming Parade as the grand marshal.
Marc Burnett retiring
at end of semester By EMMA KENNER
Reporter
Marc Burnett, a member of the Tech community for over 40 years, is retiring in December. Over the past 40 years, Marc Burnett’s influences on Tech ranged from athlete, student, and employee. As a student, Burnett studied English, journalism, wrote articles for The Oracle, and played guard for the Golden Eagles Basketball team. He began his freshman year in 1977, is the middle of seven children, and is a first-generation college student. He came from the small town of Alcoa, Tennessee, and Cookeville presented a new world of opportunities, he said. Men’s basketball provided one of those opportunities. “The first game we played was the biggest crowd I ever played for and my first thought literally was ‘I’m not going out there’ and you get those butterflies and that energy from basketball… you never forget
that,” he said. His basketball career provided a memory for Burnett that no other Tech student can experience, he was the first player to score a goal in the new building. “The first game I ever played we played Vanderbilt. It was the first game in the Hooper Eblen Center and I scored the first Tennessee Tech points there… to beat Vanderbilt an SEC team was very special for us,” he said. Although basketball consumed much of his time, he said he made academics the forefront of his mind. “I remember my last game as a senior and thinking this is pretty much going to end and life is going to go on but I was taught school is the most important thing, that’s the reason I’m here. My mother always impressed that upon me,” he said. Later when he moved to the graduate program, he met his high school sweetheart, Tamelyn Burnett, and See BURNETT, page 2
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FRIDAY
55/49°F
SATURDAY
58/32°F
SUNDAY
51/32°F
NEWS
Page 2
Friday, November 22, 2019
First photo provided by Brady Hancock, second photo by Waverly Hart
First photo, Brady Hancock, Phi Gamma Delta, and Brookland Gordon, Phi Mu, throw a wings up after being crowned Mr. and Miss Tennessee Tech 2019. Second photo, Delta Phi Epsilon’s homecoming float on Nov. 9.
Tech bopped its way to a homecoming victory By JAMIE SAUVE
Reporter Tucker Stadium filled with homecoming cheer watching Brookland Gordon and Brady Hancock receive Miss and Mr. Tennessee Tech. Gordon, representative of Phi Mu and Hancock of Phi Gamma Delta. “I was so excited and grateful when I heard my name called, I am excited to be able to rep-
resent our university alongside Brookland at events on campus,” Hancock said. Phi Mu also won overall with their partners Pi Kappa Alpha in the homecoming championship involving competitions throughout the homecoming week. Leading up to the game, 10,000 people gathered to watch the homecoming parade make its way down North Dixie.
The parade included the grand marshal, Vice President of Student Affairs Marc Burnett, high school marching bands and floats created by student organizations. During Saturday’s game, the Golden Eagles dominated the first half and went on to beat Jacksonville State University 37-28, improving their season record to 6-4.
Art students help with holiday festival By EMILY PATON
Reporter
Art education students are helping with the Appalachian Center for Craft Holiday Festival starting Saturday. The festival starts at 6 p.m. and continues through 5 p.m. Sunday at the Appalachian Center for Craft, a satellite campus of Tech in Smithville. The festival begins on Friday with a preview day at which all art in the gallery is discounted at 30%. “The gallery represents over 100 regional and national artists,” programming director Gail Gentry said. Weekend workshops include children’s crafts which students of art
education professor Jeremy Blair volunteered to teach. These activities include making shrinkydink ornaments and working with air-dry clay. The kids craft activities are free and open to all ages. We’ll have some craft center students teaching workshops who are not my students but are in the school of art and I’ll have some of my art education students… I think we will call them volunteering,” Blair said. Gentry said community members participate alongside the students. The festival is one of two festivals held during the year. The Celebration of Craft is held in April.
BURNETT: Continued from page 1
started his professional career with Tech. “The graduate program showed me what Tech is really like, showed me that sports aren’t forever but my education is,” he said. In November 1991, he became the vice president of student affairs, but this is not his only title. For 26 years Burnett served as SGA adviser, in 1986 helped to develop the minority engineering program and in 2019 became the first chief diversity officer. “I’ve done a lot but Dr. Randy Perry, the associate dean of engineering, wanted to start a minority engineering program … he called and asked me to help start the program that we still have today,” he said. Burnett said his heavy involvement is what allowed him to interact with students which is his favorite thing about Tech. “In retiring, I won’t miss the all meetings and those things. I’ll miss my interactions with the students more than anything else I can think of,” he said. Students said they will miss Burnett’s kindness and positivity. “I absolutely love Mr. Burnett. He is always so kind and I know he doesn’t know me but he always speaks to me when he has the
chance,” senior Sydney Minnis said. Senior Rachel Baker added Burnett is the reason her mom liked Tech. “When we came to SOAR and he spoke to us, it was the first time my mom was comfortable with me coming to Tech for college,” she said. To Burnett, Tech’s continuous evolution is what makes the school stand out. “We are always evolving as a university and we’re willing to admit when we need to grow and learn. The moment we think we know it all, we’re lost. We’re great as we are but we can always be greater,” he said. As his departure nears, he wants to leave students with one last bit of advice. “Pursue your dream. In terms of your major and your future, do what you want to do. Don’t let people tell you what to do. Do what you love and don’t let it be about money. You’ll most likely do the same job for a long time so you have to do what you love first,” he said. At the end of his 42 years with Tech, he expressed his gratitude for the university. “It was my dream job and career. I couldn’t have scripted it any better,” he said.
HELICOPTER: Continued from page 1 eye view, took my breath away. We were so far up, it took me a moment to become oriented. We soared over the courthouse, and continued making our way south. Cookeville looked miniscule from the air, as fields and woods surrounded the city. I could see the rolling Tennessee hills in the distance, speckled with snow and trees. We crossed I-40 before turning
back toward campus. On the return, we saw the new fitness center, flew over the Quad, then over Derryberry Hall as we made our return back to where we started. It was an uplifting experience, refreshing. The opportunity made me appreciative a school and a city that has become my home away from home.
Photo by Carolina Hatfield
New Hall South dryer causes fire A dryer on the second floor laundry room of New Hall South caused a fire Nov. 13.
firefighter Daniel Snyder, said. The fire destroyed most of Reporter Turner’s clothes. He and other A dryer fire on the second floor students filed a claim with the of New Hall South displaced over state. Tech plans to cover cost in300 students on Nov. 13. The first and second floors re- curred by students and about 50 ceived extensive water damage, employees helped all students afcausing two residents to relocate fected, according to the news reto New Hall North for the re- lease. University Police safely moved mainder of the semester, school students across the road at NHN officials said. The Cookeville Fire Depart- while firefighters extinguished ment extinguished the fire within the fire. Staff assisted in overnight stays 10 minutes. No students were and about 120 students stayed injured, school officials said in a in NHN. Other students stayed news release. “I was doing laundry and had in fraternities or hotels, Turner my clothes in the dryer,” fresh- said. This is the second dryer fire at man marketing major Mitchell Turner said. “I went back to my NHS since March 2018, accordroom and the fire alarm went off.” ing to Tech’s residential fire log. To prevent dryer fires, the CFD An overworked dryer belt caused the fire, Turner said. The recommends to clean out dryer CFD has not determined if this is vents, avoid overloading and putting clothing with gasoline in the true. “We haven’t narrowed down dryer. exactly the point of origin, yet,” By MAEGEN BRAZZELL
Friday, November 22, 2019
Opinion
IDEA course evaluations By Colleen Mestayer, Ph.D.
Communication Professor
Teaching is hard; effective teaching is even more arduous. It is also exhilarating and exciting, especially when students experience those light bulb moments! Even though we are considered experts in our fields, teaching can sometimes be an unwieldy beast! Sure, we have all been to school and we know effective teaching when we see it, but it is difficult and timeconsuming to put that prior exposure into practice. We do, however, have a tool at our disposal – evaluations! As with any controversial issue, there are pros and cons of student evaluations, especially when they are used for tenure and promotion; however, my purpose is not to convince you that using student evaluations is a good or bad strategy. Rather, I am seeking to encourage you to use a tool that we have at our disposal to help us teach more effectively. Generally, the students I have encountered at Tech have been bright, engaged, and interested in learning! They ask challenging questions, are willing to engage in actual dialogue with other classmates and me, and are willing to change their minds and see issues from different perspectives – in other words, most of my students are critical thinkers, and I believe they are equipped to offer evaluations of my classes. Since I want to use their evaluations, I take class time to help them fully grasp validity, which can be a tough topic to understand, especially in a time when invalid opinions are offered online constantly. Today’s environ-
ment is not conducive to critical thinking, so I would like to share a few things I do in my class to help students compose valid evaluations of my classes. The first thing I do is encourage my students to offer honest, evidenced-based comments. I explain that general comments like I love this professor (or class), or I hate this professor (or class) are not very valuable to me because they do not include any evidence to support the comment. I remind them to always answer the why question, so I can fully understand their comments and actually use them to make my classes more effective. Since I have started speaking with students about this, their comments are much more useful, and I can actually use them to make changes that improve my classes. The second thing I do is remind students of my course objectives and have them make the connection between class activities and objectives. These connections encourage my students to think critically about concepts and ideas explored; the students’ opinions and comments about the activities and course assignments are better informed, and therefore, more useful to me. Finally, I use valid student evaluations to make my classes better – after all, learning is a process that works for me as well as for my students. I have found that making small changes can often result in a more effective class environment. Whether you love them or hate them, I encourage you to use student evaluations to improve the learning environment for all.
Previous edition’s hand turkey submissions
Page 3
Student on the street:
“Do you believe course evaluations are effective? Why or why not?” As we approach the end of the semester the university is seeking feedback from students about both the course and the teacher that taught it. This is a chance for students to give feedback about how they have improved in the subject, what they thought about the course and also a chance to provide constructive feedback for teachers.
Reporting and photos by Carolina Hatfield “No, because teachers like to bribe their students to take them so people just put down random answers and don’t put any honesty into it, and if they do, all the bad teachers are tenured and they can’t get fired anyways.” Mechanical engineering major, Katheryn Arnold
“No because they are read and the teacher may take them into account but typically if they are poor nothing is done about them and the teacher will continue teaching the exact same way every single year.” Chemical engineering major, Carl Jones
“I don’t think so, because in most parts I have this class, and this semester I have this professor and next semester I have the same professor, that professor never changes the methods of teaching. He uses the same thing. I gave feedback but it wasn’t really helpful.” Agriculture major, Aderito Do Rosario Da Cunha Mambares
“I do think they are effective, I think that they allow the teacher to get both good and bad feedback.”
Pre-optometry major, Benjamin Salomon
“No, because tenure. All the worst teachers have tenure. I’ve put in terrible course evaluations and they are still teaching, so no.”
-Math major, Victoria Buck
“I believe they are effective when they are making the decision whether or not to hire on a new professor. However with tenured professors, they can kind of breeze by them and decide whether or not to take the advice or point of views of the students. And In most cases they don’t typically take that advice or they just don’t realize what the students are asking of them or what the students are expecting out of the class.” Pre-vet and cell molecular biology major, Alyssa Kendall
THE ORACLE ORACLE Co-Managing Editor- Logan Staley Co-Managing Editor- Carolina Hatfield Assistant Editor of Social Media- Allison Rison Business Manager- Keith Biggs Distribution Manager- Autumn Nicholas Copy Editor- Kathryn Porterfield Sports Editors- Rebecca Franey Faculty Adviser- Vanessa Curry
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Contact the managing editors: Logan Staley ltstaley42@students.tntech.edu Carolina Hatfield cfhatfield42@students.tntech.edu
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DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of Tennessee Tech University’s employees or of its administration.
NEWS
Page 4
Friday, November 22, 2019
Campus rally raises spirits
At a glance Men’s Basketball 1-5 - Nov. 9 vs. Martin Methodist, W, 83-70 - Nov. 12 vs. Wright State, L, 85-80 - Nov. 15 vs. UNCG, L, 64-30 - Nov. 16 vs. Appalachian State, L, 69-47 - Nov. 17 vs. Montana State, L, 52-39 Women’s Basketball 2-1 - Nov. 12 vs. ULM, W, 75-68 - Nov. 16 vs. Southern Illinois, L, 76-65 Football 6-5
Above: Tech’s Phi Mu sister Brooke Sheehan cheers for the Golden Eagles at the Homecoming Pep Rally in Memorial Gym on Nov. 8.
- Nov. 9 vs. Jacksonville State, W, 37-27 - Nov. 16 vs Eastern Kentuckey, L, 22-10 Volleyball 13-16
Photo by Kendyl Seals
- Nov. 8 vs. Morehead State, L, 3-1
Left: Sisters wait for the morning Tech parade on campus on Nov. 9. Right: A parade viewer dons an Awesome Eagle mascot head replica on campus on Nov. 9.
- Nov. 9 vs. Eastern Kentucky, W, 3-0 - Nov. 15 vs. Tennessee State, W, 3-0
Photos by Jeanne Eustache
- Nov. 16 vs. Belmont, W, 3-1
What’s up next? Nov. 22
- 3:30 p.m. Volleyball OVC Tournament
Nov. 23
- 1:30 p.m. Football vs. Tennessee State - 6 p.m. Volleyball OVC Tournament continued
Nov. 24
- 2 p.m. Women’s Basketball at Samford
Nov. 25
- 6 p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Lipcomb
Nov. 29
- 3:15 p.m. Women’s Basketball vs. Northern Illinois at South Point Thanksgiving Shootout
Nov. 30
- 1 p.m. Women’s Basketball vs. Detroit Mercy at South Point Thanksgiving Shootout
Dec. 2
- 6 p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Reinhardt
Dec. 5
- 7 p.m. Women’s Basketball at Vanderbilt
Dec. 8
- 1 p.m. Men’s Basketball at Ohio
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