VOLUME 103, ISSUE 55
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WEDNESDAY
Defending the First Amendment since 1911
FEBRUARY 12, 2014
VIDEO | UniversityStar.com
SPORTS | Page 6
The Bower Bird Gallery presents “Animalujah Reincarnation,” an art exhibit featuring works that represent the spirit of animals.
Recruitment Report: This week The University Star features a three-day series on the 27 recruits Coach Dennis Franchione signed for the 2014 class.
TECHNOLOGY
Cloud software to be available for faculty, staff By Rebecca Banks News Reporter
Texas State has made an agreement with a data backup software company for faculty and staff computers to prevent loss of saved data. The university’s Technology Resources Department is working with Code42, a company that provides online data backup services, to allow faculty and staff the opportunity to save data on a cloud system. Mark Hughes, associate vice president of Technology Resources, said the university negotiated for an undisclosed amount of money to have about 2,000 faculty and staff computers backed up on Code42’s system. “The university is willing to make this investment to save and protect their (staff and faculty’s) intellectual content,” Hughes said. Faculty and staff will be able to request use of the system to back up their files and will use their NetID and password for access, Hughes said. All files backed up will be saved and encrypted. “Privacy is one of the biggest features of CrashPlan because that’s our business model,” said Adam Best, communications manager at Code42. Catherine Stevens, senior user services consultant with ITAC, said that Technology Resources began testing computers using CrashPlan, Code42’s data-backup software in December 2013. An estimated 100 computers have been tested with no problems, she said. Hughes said Technology Resources has not set a completion date for the testing period but plans to add additional computers in the future to ensure the online system will function at a larger scale. Stevens said Technology Resources is monitoring any errors that may occur during testing before expanding the system to staff and faculty computers on campus. “As soon as the testing phase is over we, of course, will pursue releasing it around campus,” Stevens said. Hughes said the university has not had any major instances of data being lost. Faculty and staff using the backup system will be able to easily restore and recover deleted or lost files from their computer, Hughes said. “It’s totally self-service so you don’t have to open a help desk ticket with the IT department,” Best said. Users can open the system’s app, click the restore tab, find the document to be restored and bring it back to its original location, Best said. The system uses a cloud service through its website and computers can access it on and off campus, Hughes said. “We have a CrashPlan server here on campus, but it is a cloud service,” Stevens said. “The actual data is being stored in the cloud.” Faculty and staff at the university are responsible for saving files on their computers, Hughes said. The system is an easy resource that automatically saves files in the background of a computer, he said. “What CrashPlan does is we specialize in endpoint backup so every computer on a network can be backed up automatically behind the scenes, invisible to the user so we don’t get in the way of the use of the computer,” Best said. The system is not a replacement for the current U-Drive that faculty and staff use but is an additional option, Hughes said. “The U-Drive is limited, there is only so much quota the user can have. We do expand quota in the case that somebody really, really needs it,” Stevens said. With the new system there is no limit to how much data can be saved, Stevens said.
Frank Dorval, studio art senior, makes a three-dimensional print Feb. 10 in the Joann Cole Mitte art building. The School of Art and Design purchased a 3-D printer in November.
TECHNOLOGY
Art and design students utilizing new 3-D printer By Kelsey Bradshaw
Senior News Reporter
T
he future is here, and it sits on the third floor of the Joann Cole Mitte Building. Students in the School of Art and Design have had access to a threedimensional printer beginning this semester for “curricular-based” projects, said Beverly Penn, professor for the School of Art and Design. The 3-D printer was purchased in November for about $2,200. The printer has taken students’ art to “the next level,” said Nicole DesChamps-Benke, senior lecturer in the same school. The printer is helping students save time while working on projects. Students previously had to send their art projects to a 3-D printer off campus in order to have them designed and constructed, said Gabriel Glenn, communication design junior. “It gives us a solution to do rapid prototyping,” Glenn said. Much like Microsoft Word, students use software on computers in the Joann Cole Mitte Building to generate data for the objects they want to create. The data is sent to the new printer, called the Makerbot Replicator 2, and is then printed out three-dimensionally, DesChamps-Benke said.
FACULTY
Madelynne Scales | Staff Photographer Three dimensional printing allows art students to produce prototypes for different projects in 45 minutes to one hour. Glenn said the 3-D printer processes the file and prints it in segments. Each piece is printed layer-by-layer, taking 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size and material used. The printer commonly builds models and molds using plastic that can then be cast into bronze or sterling silver, Penn said. Different translucent
and solid colors are available for students to use as well, she said. Similar to the color printer in the Print Center at Joann Cole Mitte, students are charged for each threedimensional piece they create, Glenn
See PRINTER, Page 3
FACULTY SENATE
Memorial to be held for sociology associate professor Texas State will host a memorial next Friday for Sally Caldwell, associate professor of sociology, who died Jan. 31. Caldwell died of complications from a double lung transplant she received in June, according to information from the Jacob’s Well Natural Area website. Caldwell previously served as a Woodcreek, Texas city councilmember and mayor pro-tem. Services for faculty, staff and students will be held Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. at the UMC Wesley Christ Chapel Campus Ministry Center on North Guadalupe Street, according to the sociology webpage. Another memorial was held Feb. 9 at the Blue Hole Regional Park. Caldwell authored the textbook Statistics Unplugged and graduated with a PhD from the University of
Allison Brouillette | Staff Photographer
Senators urge greater tuition transparency from administrators By Kelsey Bradshaw
Senior News Reporter
Star File Photo
North Texas. She had worked at Texas State since 1998 and specialized in behavioral statistics. —Compiled by Taylor Tompkins, news editor
Concerns over transparency in how tuition revenue is being appropriated have caused faculty senators to bring the issue to administrators, some of who say the information is easily accessible. Roselyn Morris, McCoy College of Business senator, discussed concerns with transparency in students’ tuition at the Jan. 22 faculty senate meeting. Morris was unsure if the university is being “transparent” and honest enough with students about where their tuition money is going. “I think we ought to start
discussing it at some point and possibly being transparent to our students and their parents,” Morris said. However, Bill Nance, vice president for Finance and Support Services said the information about where tuition money is going is easily accessible on the Tuition and Fee Information page on the Texas State website. Student tuition is broken into two parts—designated and statutory. Designated tuition is delegated by the legislature for the Board of Regents to set. The legislature sets statutory tuition, which is only spent on “educational and general activities” defined by
the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Statutory tuition is $50 per credit hour. Faculty salaries and operating expenses of departmental offices, deans’ offices, Alkek Library, some administrative functions, student services, the registrar, admissions and financial aid are all defined as educational and general activities, Nance said. Nance said just like when writing a check, people do not know exactly where all of their money goes when they pay tuition. “We just spend it on all
See TUITION, Page 3