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Friday, January 27, 2012
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Issue 12 T H E
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Vol. 119
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Study abroad meeting encourages immersion Study abroad meeting encourages immersion Matt Miller Staff Writer
Leaving one familiar culture and moving into an alien one is difficult for almost anyone. Despite this daunting idea, students like Rochelle Breen, a senior in linguistics, have taken that step and feel that they are better people for it. One of the largest barriers between cultures is language. Many students choose to not study abroad because of this barrier. “Usually, if you’re in a different culture, where they speak a different language, if you try to learn the language, people will try harder to help you out,” Rochelle said. Even with this help, Rochelle acknowledged that not knowing the language was sometimes difficult and frustrating. Topics and questions such as these were answered and discussed in the study abroad meeting, Thursday, Jan. 24. This is the first year that the study abroad meeting has assembled. Taking place at the International House, it gave students a chance to get answers to questions about the university’s Study Abroad Program from Tyler D’Andrea, an institutional relations manager at the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), and Heather Grigsby, the programs abroad coordinator at UT. CIEE is one of the leading student exchange programs in the world. It’s been around for over 60 years, and now has exchange and study abroad programs in 41 countries. D’Andrea became interested in working for the study abroad programs at the University of Florida. Having studied abroad himself, both in high school and college, he decided that he wanted to help students have the same experiences that he had.
Students said afterward that the meeting was a small get-together that provided a lot of insight into what the program is and how it works. During the meeting, D’Andrea talked about the experiences that the program could offer. Short-term programs, such as the summer program, give students a feel for what it is like to be in another culture. These short, one- to two-month experiences allow for a break in the normal, everyday life that students have and give them an inside look into another way of life. D’Andrea also talked about the longterm programs, such as the semester sessions or year-long sessions. He made it clear that these programs allow for students to completely immerse themselves in another culture. “The things you gain on a study abroad program, you can’t get in any other experience,” D’Andrea said. “From my experience, and from other people’s experiences, the Study Abroad Program opens your eyes and it changes how you view the world and how you view yourself.” Different cities have different programs. Though many of the programs focus on business, there are other programs for all interests, including the arts, public health, communications, environmental studies and more. There is even a screenwriting program in Prague. This meeting helped students who attended understand more about what the Study Abroad Program is and how it can help them have an incredible experience. Though the Study Abroad Fair happens every year, this new meeting allowed students to get specialized, and get personal answers to specific questions.
Online ‘vine’ spreads campus news Sara Jung Staff Writer
There’s a new events publication on campus. Volunteer Vine, more commonly known as The Vine, was started by UT students for UT students in November 2011 and is growing in full force. “The Vine is a one-stop shop for all things Knoxville,” Ava Gunter, senior in marketing and The Vine’s managing editor, said. Gunter and Brandon Swinford, marketing director for The Vine, had the idea for a website where students could find out about events not only on campus, but also around Knoxville. “We noticed people were just stuck in the Fort and going to the same parties without any idea about what was happening outside of the Fort,” Swinford, junior in psychology, said. “We wanted a way to encourage people to get plugged into more holism, varied activities, like
going outside and experiencing the Knoxville community.” “(The Vine’s mission is) to promote an active lifestyle across UT’s campus and contribute to the well-being of the community,” Gunter said. “Overall, to increase the happiness of our readers.” “We’ve found that the best way to follow our mission is to practice what we preach, to get out and do things on and off campus, all around Knoxville, that we think are cool and make us happy,” Swinford said. Gunter and Swinford approached students Andy Pigg, Dan Hood and Bob Boyd, and asked for help with the start-up, format and innovative ideas for The Vine. “We wanted something simple and unique in its own right,” Swinford said. “It was hard trying to come up with something people haven’t seen before.” See VINE on Page 2
Rebecca Vaughan • The Daily Beacon
Tyler D’Andrea from the study abroad program Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) talks to students on Jan. 24 about possible choices of studying abroad. CIEE is one of the many programs that students can choose to study abroad through. Going through a program like CIEE typically makes the process easier on a student.
Dorms successful with urging students to conserve energy Justin Joo Staff Writer
• Photo courtesy of Office of Sustainability
Students and resident assistants from the Apartment Residence Hall show off the “MO Green” POWER Challenge Trophy that they won during the POWER Challenge. The United Resident Hall Council and the Office of Sustainability co-sponsored the challenge during October, with the total cost savings being $36,287.
Architecture professor honored TaylorMcelroy Staff Writer
UT professor Brian Ambroziak’s passion and dedication allowed him to be chosen as the winner of the 2011 American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) Educator Honor Award. The AIAS jury was impressed with his role in students’ lives and felt that his mentorship will mirror who they become as professionals and leaders. What kind of professor exceeds the expectations of a jury to deem him or her one of the best in the nation? When asked this, Ambroziak’s answer seemed to always go back to one thing: the students. “The key to having success is to have great students, students who are inspired and passionate about what they are doing,” Ambroziak said. “Fortunately for us at UT we have the best students in the country. The quality of students makes it quite easy.
I love the students here; it’s amazing how good our students are and it means a great deal to have students acknowledge the role that you played in their lives.” Teaching had always been a goal of his. Even before he was sure of what exactly it was he wanted to do for the rest of his life, teaching was always there. “My original dream was to be in any environment where there was meaningful discourse about architecture and hopefully to be able to advance that discourse,” Ambroziak said. “The academy is the perfect place to do that; it contains the kind of environment where architecture can talked about in an intelligent way, which is what I was always looking for.” As any professor will tell you, each has their own style when it comes to teaching. Ambroziak’s key lies in something he likes to call the artistic conscience. Taught to him by his mentor Michael Grace, he really likes to focus on the idea of individuality. See AMBROZIACK on Page 2
With unity in the dorm and a constant theme of sustainability, the Apartment Residence Hall has won the POWER Challenge. Short for Power Of Water, Energy and Recycling, the POWER Challenge was a campus-wide competition between the dorms to see which one could conserve and sustain the most energy. The competition is held every year. The competition is cosponsored by the United Resident Hall Council and the Office of Sustainability. Through October, points are awarded to dorms weekly based on how much electricity and water is saved, how much recycling a dorm has done and any programs the resident assistants might do. Once all the points have been tallied up, the dorm with the most points wins. To determine how many points are awarded, the Office of Sustainability monitors the dorms’ electric and water meters, weighs how much recyclables have been turned in and finds out what sort of programs the dorms have orchestrated. The Office of Sustainability does take into account the differences in dorms when taking scores. They do not include the electricity and water used by the Morrill Dining Hall as part of Morrill Hall’s overall score. Likewise, to balance out
things like the amount of students and the different amenities dorms have that others might not, the program score is used to offset any unfair scoring. The RAs of the Apartment Residence Hall conducted many different programs to encourage and educate the residents about conservation and sustainability. Kiersten Backs, an RA and junior in kinesiology from the Apartment Residence Hall, did a ghost story theme as one of her programs. “We tried to shut everything we could off,” Backs said. “… And we sat around and told ghost stories with our flashlights.” Backs and the other Apartment Residence Hall RAs also decorated bulletin boards and doors with facts about recycling and the environment. Tables were set up where students could pledge to take quicker showers. The dorm’s residence association, ARTA, also got in on the act, conducting a blackout dance where all the lights in the ARH’s study room were shut off, and the walls were painted with glow-inthe-dark paint. Backs said the black-out dance was the highlight of the dorm’s activities. Backs attributed ARH’s victory to the unity of the dorm and the fact that ARH has had a sustainability theme since the beginning of the school year. See SUSTAINABILITY on Page 2