WEDNESDAY JUNE 11, 2014 VOLUME 104 ISSUE 2
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UNIVERSITY
FINANCE
University Federal Credit Union to provide new ATMs By Raquel Kimm NEWS REPORTER The search for a new financial institution to add automated teller machines throughout the campus has ended. University Federal Credit Union recently won the bid, against other financial institutions, to place its ATMs throughout the university. The ATMs are set to be working by the upcoming fall, said university Treasurer Valerie Van Vlack. Officials took UFCU on a tour through campus to show them possible locations for future ATMs, said Bill Nance, vice president of Finance and Support Services. “UFCU is looking at putting ATMs in places such as the library, the rec, outside the UAC building, the Avery building on the Round Rock campus, Strahan Coliseum and the football stadium,” Van Vlack said. All of the locations piqued
interest, but as UFCU employees and university officials walked the campus, Strahan Coliseum stood out the most, Nance said. “The Capital Improvement plan in the next five years will provide an expansion for Strahan,” Nance said. “This could provide more retail space to be made available for places such as UFCU’s ATMs.” Wells Fargo, the main financial institution on campus, has ATMs all over campus and a bank branch inside the LBJ Student Center, Nance said. Although there is this opportunity for new financial institutions to create a partnership with the university, it will not take away from Wells Fargo. “Wells Fargo’s contract with their ATM and bank branch in LBJ with the university does not end until 2016,” Nance said. The Wells Fargo bank and ATMs have been in place on campus for over five years. “UFCU ideally would like to put four ATMs on campus,” Nance said. “They would be paying for the construction and placement of the ATMs and have sent construction drawings to us to show how much space they would take up to decide where they could be located.” ATM availability on the campus has proven to be beneficial for the financial institution that provides it and to the university, Van Vlack said. “The banks that want to be at Texas State University pay
KENWORTHY ULEANYA STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
DENISE CATHEY STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Josiah Reese guides Judee Leugens and Jake Borgen on their kayak tour downstream to the Spring Lake Dam.
Meadows Center introduces glass-bottom kayak tours By Camden Scarborough NEWS REPORTER
T
he Meadows Center for Water and the Environment is offering new glass-bottom kayak tours of Spring Lake aimed at tourists who visit during the summer months. The Meadows Center is a non-profit organization that has been giving glass-bottom boat tours of Spring Lake for the last 60 years, said Assistant Director Deborah Lane. The center now offers glass-bottom kayak tours for up to six people. The kayaks offer several unique
advantages over the traditional boat tours, said Josiah Reese, kayak guide at the center. Many areas of Spring Lake are too shallow for the glass-bottom boats to reach, but kayaks are quiet and non-invasive to the endangered species in the lake, making them ideal for tours. The kayak tours are more “intimate” than the large boat tours, Lane said. Guests have more freedom to explore on the glass-bottom kayak tours, but participants are required to remain with their tour guide, Reese said. “It’s kind of like a mother duck and her ducklings,” Reese said.
The outcome of the tour depends on weather conditions, the time of day and the tour guide’s judgment on the condition of the water and wildlife, Reese said. Each of the varying conditions makes each tour different from the last. “Just like the philosopher Thales said, ‘You can’t step in the same river twice,’” Reese said. Some “highlights” of the tour are a wetlands habitat with native fish, turtles and migratory birds, over 200 artesian springs and an underwater
See KAYAKS, Page 2
See ATM, Page 2
COMMUNITY
Scuba program provides training, diving trips for veterans By Carlie Porterfield SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Thanks to local donors, a San Antoniobased program that offers scuba training and diving trips to amputee veterans has been able to offer its their services free of charge to almost 500 veterans in less than 10 years. The program, founded by John Duggan and Mark Heniser, has used Spring Lake at the Meadows Center in San Marcos to host trainings for several years, said Duggan, a dive shop owner. The facilities at Texas State are among the best in the world, said Heniser, program coordinator and physical therapist at the Center for the Intrepid at the Brooke Army
Medical Center in San Antonio. Veterans undergoing rehabilitation at the Center for the Intrepid are offered the opportunity to become certified in scuba diving, Heniser said. Duggan said scuba diving has been a hit with veterans undoing rehabilitation. “There’s no gravity, for one thing,” Duggan said. “They can move around. They find out they can function just as well in the water as you and I can. It opens up a new world for them. They enjoy it and get exercise without realizing they’re doing it.” Scuba diving is an excellent activity for veterans returning home with injuries, but the benefits are more than just exercise and physical rehabilita-
tion, said Heniser. “Especially for amputees, it helps them build or rebuild self-confidence,” Heniser said. “It’s a sport that they can do just like anybody else can and become completely weightless, which is a big deal if you’re in a wheelchair.” The program was started in 2005 to aid some of Duggan’s military friends. “I started doing it because I had some buddies in the military who lost their limbs,” Duggan said. “They liked it. It’s good therapy.” Initially the program targeted amputees coming home from war, but now the program offers adaptive scuba to amputees as well as veterans suffering
See VETERANS, Page 2
COURTESY OF JOHN DUGGAN
UNIVERSITY
Regents approve student collaboration with NASA By Naomi Lovato NEWS REPORTER The Texas State University System Board of Regents has approved a multi-million dollar contract starting for the 2014-2015 year between Texas State University and Jacobs Engineering Group to collaborate on advanced engineering and science work for NASA. Texas State and Jacobs Engineering will work together to develop task orders related to specific research and development needs, said Stan McClellan, director of the Ingram School of Engineering. Texas State was invited last August
to visit the Johnson Space Center, McClellan said. In September, NASA brought some people to campus to look around and then, over the next nine months, built a relationship with the university. Contractual arrangements led to an up to $9 million contract that will foster a number of activities between Jacob’s Engineering and Texas State over the next few years, said Gene Bourgeois, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. Jacobs Engineering is the prime contractor to NASA and the Johnson Space Center, said McClellan. Jacobs Engineering had an agreement in its contract, stating it would seek out minority-serving universities,
said Gary Beall, professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department. Texas State is a Hispanic-serving institution, and therefore qualified for the partnership. “[Jacobs] does what NASA tells them, and we do what Jacobs tells us,” McClellan said. It’s always useful for students to get involved in collaborative projects with industries, McClellan said. “In engineering, it’s best to have some interaction with industrial problems because they get a better real-world feel,” McClellan said. The contract could potentially involve many different departments around campus and possibly bring the university together and develop into
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more opportunities, McClellan said. “I am looking forward to a bunch of interesting projects that involve faculty and students from engineering and other departments on campus,” McClellan said. “This contract isn’t just with engineering. It’s with the campus.” Every department on campus could potentially be involved in a task that’s associated with the contract because it is “very broad,” McClellan said. A relationship with NASA is a highprofile contract full of opportunities for the university, Bourgeois said. Students could potentially help with projects like NASA’s International Space Station and the mission to Mars, and build strong experiences
to help them in the workforce. “I’m looking forward to Texas State faculty and students working with Jacobs Engineering’s scientists and researchers,” Bourgeois said. “Whether that’s through student internships or faculty research projects, the development and testing of new materials at Texas State brings a whole sweep of opportunities for us that we can be engaged in.” Students will have direct “on-theground experience” working with Jacobs Engineering, its staff and NASA’s Johnson Space Center employees on projects, Bourgeois said. “It may lead to future employ-
See NASA, Page 2
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