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Students react to Prop 8 » cm-life.com
SPORTS: Baseball loses 4-2 Tuesday at MSU despite Adams home run » PAGE 6B
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
cm-life.com GREEK LIFE
A HEART OF GOLD
A brief history of fraternities/ sororities » PAGE 1 B
CMU professor Won Paik talks Asian Americanism in the 21st Century » PAGE 3A
No progress made on search for CMED dean, Yoder in ‘no hurry’ By Samantha Smallish Staff Reporter
The hunt for a new associate dean of student affairs for the College of Medicine still has not begun following the resignation of former Associate Dean Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord nine months ago. As previously reported by Central Michigan Life, Alvord resigned from the dean position in July 2012 to accept a similar position at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine. Upon Alvord’s resignation, Dr. Joel Lanphear was named interim associate dean and has served in that role since. CMED Dean Ernest Yoder said Tuesday there is no immediate hurry in selecting a candidate to permanently fill the position. His plan is to wait until the first class is established before naming a candidate. “We have had an interim associate dean, so we’re not getting in a big worry about filling the position,” Yoder said via email. “The plan is to seat the first class in the fall and make an announcement by early 2014.” As previously reported by CM Life, Yoder said if Lanphear were to apply for the position, he would be considered for the job. Yoder said the interview process for a new associate
dean of student affairs for CMED would take place during the summer. “It will be an external search by a full board,” Yoder said. A national search for the position is set to take place. Once finalists are chosen, they will be invited to campus to conduct formal interviews. The candidate will be expected to be well-qualified in internal affairs and in meeting the needs of students, Yoder said. Responsibilities of the position include participating in the development and operation of the medical program, being responsive to the needs of the state and being responsible for student affairs activities and student services within the College of Medicine. The selected candidate will earn the median salary for the position. “His pay will be set for the median of medical associate deans for student affairs,” Yoder said. Currently, the median salary is $215,954. Alvord, hired from Dartmouth College as the fourth and final associate dean of the college in September 2010, was earning $250,000 per year. university@cm-life.com
Professors: Political climate on same-sex marriage different now By Megan Pacer Senior Reporter
Americans’ views on same-sex marriage are rapidly changing, and how the Supreme Court rules on two landmark cases could change the country’s policies. California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act were brought before the Supreme Court to be reevaluated last week. Prop 8, which was passed by 61 percent of California citizens in 2008, effectively banned same-sex marriage in the state. According to CNN, 68 percent of Americans were opposed to same-sex marriage in 1996, the same year that DOMA was passed. By 2012, only 48 percent of Americans still opposed same-sex marriage. Director of LGBTQ Services Shannon Jolliff-Dettore
said political change played a role in discussing this huge difference. “The political climate in 2008 was much different from what it is today,” she said. “The information that was put out by the opposition to marriage equality was very skewed and unfortunately had a huge impact on the state.” Political science professor Orlando Perez expressed similar views. “While you can never predict how people will vote given a second chance, I suspect that if Prop 8 was on the ballot today that it might be defeated,” he said. National Public Radio reported “the legal case to be argued … is focused on what justifications, if any, the state of California has for banning same-sex marriage.”
CHARLOTTE BODAK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Graduate Assistant Sean Sutton smiles in his office filled with props for his spanish classes Monday afternoon in Pearce Hall.
‘It’s like a high’
Spanish graduate assistant Sean Sutton channels Señora By Annie Harrison | Staff Reporter Teaching SPN 101: Elementary Spanish, I takes Sean Sutton back to when he first learned the language in high school. Sutton teaches two sections of SPN 101 four days a week, and most of the 50 students he teaches are freshmen or sophomores. The Clio graduate assistant said he sometimes finds himself “channeling Señora from high school.” “I’ve given activities my high school teacher gave me,” he said, using a song about weather as an example. Sutton studied abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a semester in 2009, and he said the experience taught him a lot about the different accents and regional dialects of Spanish. He said the Spanish spoken in Argentina is “gorgeous” and is rhythmically closer to Italian. “(Studying abroad has) opened my eyes to the regional differences,” he said. “It’s definitely enhanced my listening skills.”
Sutton said he often incorporates what he learned in Argentina into his classes when making points about culture and dialects. He said he hopes it encourages students to achieve their own foreign language goals. “I sat just where they are, and if you work hard enough, you can get there,” he said. Now in his second semester as a GA, Sutton said his challenge is to find his own teaching style. He said he is still figuring out what he wants to accomplish and what he wants to see in his students.
You need to figure out what fits with your style and how your students learn. You need to be consistent to maximize (your students’) learning and make them feel comfortable.” Sean Sutton, Spanish graduate assistant “That’s going to take time. You need to figure out what fits with your style and how your students learn,” he said. “You need to be consistent to maximize (your students’) learning and make them feel comfortable.” Spanish GAs teach SPN 101 in their first year and SPN 102: Elementary Spanish II in their second year, he said. Sutton said all his colleagues in the department of foreign languages, literatures and cultures are supportive, and they all help each other out to be more effective educators.
He said he feels great when his students understand their assignments. “After a really great lesson, it’s like a high almost,” he said. “Then I want to re-create that feeling.” Sutton said his timemanagement skills have improved since becoming a GA. On Sundays, he organizes his plan for the week, and the whiteboard in the office he shares with other Spanish colleagues frequently fills up with todo lists. A SUTTON | 2A
A PROP 8 | 2A
Sue Guevara due at least $22.5K, Heeke $10K for NCAA appearance By Aaron McMann Editor-in-Chief
FILE PHOTO BY VICTORIA ZEGLER
Head coach Sue Guevara goes over strategies during a time-out in the second half of the Mid-American Conference championship game March 16, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Central Michigan women’s basketball team’s postseason run netted head coach Sue Guevara more than $20,000 in performance bonuses, pushing her pay for the year above $200,000. Per terms of Guevara’s contract, agreed upon and signed by her and Central Michigan University in April 2009, she is due at least $22,500. Guevara will receive a lump-sum payment of $10,000 for CMU’s NCAA tournament appearance. The 11th-seeded Chippewas lost to Oklahoma, a No. 6 seed, 78-73 in a first-round game on March 23, the program’s first trip to the Big Dance
since 1984. To get to the NCAA tournament, CMU won the Mid-American Conference tournament, beating Akron at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The win earned Guevara $7,500. She will also make an additional $5,000 after CMU finished with a Ratings Percentage Index of 50. RPI is determined through a myriad of variables, including win-loss percentage against ranked opponents and the strength of a program’s schedule. Guevara, 59, signed a fiveyear contract extension in 2009 with a base salary of $133,900. Her base salary has since blossomed to $180,000 for this year, according to Jason Kaufman, CMU athletics
communications director. Factor in her $10,000 bonus for media appearances, and Guevara is expected to earn at least $212,500. The deal included an annual adjustment for professional and administrative employees, and Guevara is also “eligible for any additional compensation allowed in the P&A handbook,” according to her contract. Guevara’s contract is due to expire on April 30, 2014. If she is fired before then, and there is no indication the university plans to, she would receive a $100,000 buyout before the start of next season, or $50,000 during next season.
A BONUS | 2A