VOLUME 103, ISSUE 38
www.UniversityStar.com
TUESDAY
Defending the First Amendment since 1911
NOVEMBER 19, 2013
VIDEO | UniversityStar.com
SPORTS | Page 7
Bobcat Ball is a biannual themed drag show hosted by Lambda of Texas State.
Scoreless after halftime: Arkansas State defeated Texas State Saturday 38–21 with the Bobcat defense giving up 328 rushing yards.
UNIVERSITY
Improvements to campus copyright policy in progress By Rebecca Banks News Reporter
The Nov. 16 show at Bar One 41 raised funds for Texas State’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allied community group.
Texas State administrators are working to implement changes and improvements to the university’s copyright policy in the upcoming months to ensure future student and outside works are protected. Officials in the copyright policy working group at Alkek Library are nearing the end of a three-year process to update and consolidate the current system. Rori Sheffield, assistant director at the Educational Technology Center, said the revised policy will discuss students’ ownership of their work as copyrighted material for the first time. Any student work is automatically copyrighted, Sheffield said. “We want everyone, the entire campus community, to understand their rights as an owner and, on the other hand, how to properly use other materials created by others within the boundaries of fair use,” said Joan Heath, associate vice president of the library. Heath said the university has had multiple copyright policies in the past, but the previous ones were not updated with changes in legislation. It was difficult for students and faculty to receive information about the proper usage of copyrighted material, she said. “Students on university campuses today have grown up in a time of using technology, but I don’t know that they’ve really grown up with much education about copyright at all,” Heath said. The copyright policy working group will meet with officials on the Council of Chairs in the division of Academic Affairs in December to discuss final revisions, Heath said. The revisions will be given to the provost for approval, and Heath hopes the policy
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See COPYRIGHT, Page 2
Regina Silverthorn performs during Bobcat Ball Nov. 16 at Bar One 41.
Kathryn Parker | Staff Photographer
bobcat ball
Lambda hosts biannual drag show RESEARCH
Texas State monetizes, commercializes faculty inventions
Chris Motz | Staff Photographer Gary Beall, professor in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is looking to patent a polymer used in bulletproof glass developed through research at Texas State.
By Nicole Barrios News Reporter
Texas State is continuing to expand and monetize its research efforts through the commercial-
ization of products and technology developed by faculty. Reddy Venumbaka, director of Commercialization Services, said Texas State has gained $31,243 in total revenue from the licensing
and patenting of intellectual property created through research at the university. The amount of collaboration with outside companies and private industries has also increased significantly in the past three years, Venumbaka said. Provost Eugene Bourgeois said there is no specific requirement stating the university must patent and sell its research to reach Tier One status. However, he said it helps the university meet the requirement for external research expenditures. These expenditures result from funding coming into the university from grants or contracts related to research initiatives, Bourgeois said. Since May 2010, 44 invention disclosures, 19 provisional patents and seven full patent applications were filed, Venumbaka said. Two new companies were formed, and two licensing agreements, which authorize the use of patented inventions, were signed as a result of research efforts, according to Venumbaka.
Venumbaka said more than 25 agreements have been signed to sponsor research or provide service testing since 2010. Testing agreements are contracts in which a company uses the university’s facilities to test research and pay a fee, while sponsored agreements negotiate the purchase of intellectual property, Venumbaka said. “We try to open up the opportunities to work with the industry and work together,” Venumbaka said. Information in two recent licensing agreements indicates the university will receive a percentage of royalties over time, Venumbaka said. He said the inventors of the technology, in this case university professors, will receive 50 percent of the money made from selling the product or from royalties. “Faculty members, if they make an invention that makes lots of money for the university, they’re going to benefit directly,”
said Gary Beall, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “So there’s some incentive to do work that’s useful.” The other half of the profit will go toward the university, Venumbaka said. Texas State officials have not yet received money from either agreement. Bourgeois said the university’s portion of the profit may go toward covering the overhead costs of research facilities. “Broadly speaking, it does go back into the university’s resources that we push out to expand research and commercialization,” Bourgeois said. Beall said he is in the process of patenting a polymer produced for bulletproof glass. The glass has stopped a NATO rifle round shot from 10 feet away. Three patents have been issued on the technology and two more are currently being filed, Beall said.
See RESEARCH, Page 2
CONSTRUCTION
Delays prompt extended Old Main construction
By Kristen Smith News Reporter
Students, faculty and staff are continuing to feel the effects of construction on Old Main after rain, harsh weather conditions and the discovery of unanticipated repairs pushed back the original completion date. Juan Guerra, associate vice president of Facilities, said construction on Old Main was originally scheduled to be complete by November, but is now estimated to extend through mid-December. According to the planning, space management and
real estate webpage on the Texas State website, roof repairs had been scheduled to be finished by the end of October. The replacement of windows and doors was set for completion this month, but construction is now estimated to extend through December, according to the webpage. Workers discovered additional damage to the roof, and more windows needed to be replaced than originally anticipated, Guerra said. He said the construction company, Phoenix 1 Restorations, replaced more of the deteriorated or loose sandstone lintels on the roof than
they originally planned. “The biggest impact has been the rain,” Guerra said. “They were moving along very briskly with their project and then the rain started, and we started having delays because you have to stop and wait for everything to dry out before you can put the coverings on.” The main purpose of the construction was to replace Old Main’s roof, but additional improvements were made to help with the building’s stability, Guerra said. The lightning protection system was upgraded, a sprinkler system was installed
in the attic and the majority of windows and frames and both entrance doors were replaced, he said. Kym Fox, senior lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said the construction is “exciting,” even though there have been complications in her classes such as lack of air conditioning and water leakage from the ceiling. However, Fox said she is largely unaffected by the dust and sound from the construction. “It doesn’t bother me,” Fox
See OLD MAIN, Page 2
John Casares | Staff Photographer Old Main construction is planned to continue through mid-December instead of the projected November completion date. Weather conditions and unanticipated repairs have contributed to the delay.