COLLEGIATETIMES
thursday august 28, 2008 blacksburg, va.
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sports ORE GRANTED ELIGIBILITY AT WEST LIBERTY Former Virginia Tech running back Brandon Ore has been declared eligible to play at West Liberty State College, a Division III college in West Virginia. Ore was removed from the Tech roster in March after a series of disciplinORE ary problems. Though the transfer has been rumored for several months, West Liberty did not receive Ore’s transcripts until recently. Ore, a senior, will open his season on Saturday against Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
news WANT TO WRITE FOR THE CT? The CT is currently hiring staff writers and reporters for the fall semester. Come by 365 Squires Student Center to fill out an application or apply online at www.collegemedia.com/join.
features LOCAL MUSICIAN SHARES HIS STORY Guitarist Royce Campbell took some time to talk jazz with CT features reporter Topher Forhecz during his gig yesterday at The Cellar. page three
Visit the CT online to vote for 2008 Best of Blacksburg and enter to win an 8GB iPod Touch
weather SCATTERED T-STORMS high 87, low 63
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Education appointees and their political dollars Political Contributions of Higher Education Appointees 2005-2008 Favored Party (%)
Amount to Tim Kaine
Amount to Jerry Kilgore
Name
Amount of Donation
Virginia Commonwealth University
J. Alfred Broaddus Jr.* Brian Jackson* Thomas W. McCandlish Thomas G. Snead Jr.*
$1,450 $5,789 $33,809 $20,000
Dem. (48%) Dem. (66%) Dem. (100%) Rep. (67%)
$700 $500 $31,809 ---
------$5,000
James Madison University
Vanessa M. Evans Joseph K. Funkhouser II Jim Hartman* Elizabeth V. Lodal Larry M. Rogers* Judith S. Strickler*
--$18,497 --$9,750 $450 $8,028
--Rep. (97%) --Dem. (100%) Dem. (100%) Rep. (100%)
--$12,100 ---------
Gilbert T. Bland* James W. Dyke Jr.* Susan Magill*
$500 $2,119 $325
Dem. (100%) Dem. (47%) Rep. (100%)
$500 -----
----------$1,600 ---------
University of Mary Washington
Randall R. Eley* Martha Kearns Leighty* Patricia B. Revere*
--$200 $2,100
--Dem. (100%) Dem. (100%)
----$2,100
-------
Virginia Military Institute
Ronald H. Griffith* Anthony McIntosh* Pete Ramsey James E. Rogers*
$100 ----$25,750
------Dem. (71%)
------$11,250
---------
Thomas E. Fraim Jr.* Darius Johnson Stephen A. Musselwhite* Mark R. Pace* Walter Rugaber Ronald Reynolds Wesley
--$350 $3,250 --$19,000 $2,500
----Dem. (100%) --Dem. (78%) Dem. (100%)
----$1000 --$7,000 $2,500
-------------
State Council for Higher Education of Virginia
Radford
* Denotes members who have been reappointed to the Board. Figures attributed to Tim Kaine are composed of donations to Kaine’s gubernatorial campaign, Moving Virginia Forward (Kaine’s political action committee) and Kaine’s inauguration expenses. INPUT BY DAVID GRANT/ DESIGN BY CHRISTINE FAY
Governor Tim Kaine recently announced a spate of appointments to the boards of universities and higher learning institutions across Virginia. Choosing members for these boards has historically been a way to inject new ideas into the Commonwealth’s institutions of higher learning but also a method by which to reward political supporters. This chart shows information gleaned from the Virginia Public Access Project, a site dedicated to public disclosure of campaign donations and lobbying information. The chart does not include national political contributions of any kind.
Hoops facility costs $30 million RILEY PRENDERGAST
ct news reporter Riding the wave of move-in madness at Virginia Tech, returning students may have taken notice of a number of construction sites throughout campus. In the fourth section of this four-part series, the Collegiate Times will provide an update on the coming changes to the athletic department. One of the most noticeable and widely talked about additions to the athletic department is the construction of a new basketball practice facility. This facility is located next to Cassell Coliseum on Washington Street. The new practice arena will house two full-length practice courts, new men’s and women’s locker rooms, training rooms, weight rooms and a head office. The entire structure will be 49,000 square feet and will cost roughly $20 million, but will not be funded by the university, said Tom Gabbard, associate director of athletics for internal affairs. More than half of the funding is coming from private investors, while roughly $9.4 million will be provided by the athletic department. “This building will showcase the commitment to basketball at Virginia Tech,” said women’s basketball head coach Beth Dunkenberger. “Cassell Coliseum has great character, but Virginia Tech was an all-male school at the time it was built, and the facilities were not designed like they would have been if women were there.” Specifically, women’s basketball has not been able to take full advantage of Cassell’s facilities. The women’s team has been with-
MARK UMANSKY/SPPS
Construction on a practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball will cost $30 million dollars and is scheduled to be completed in 2009. out, “our own specialized training rooms with equipment that is geared to the necessary conditioning for basketball players,” Dunkenberger said. Dunkenberger is not the only head coach excited about this new facility; men’s basketball coach Seth Greenberg is anxious for the building’s 2009 opening date. “In my opinion, we have one of the best home courts in college basketball,” Greenberg said. “But we needed the bells and whistles
that will help put our program on a level playing field” with other teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The new building will also be used as a major recruiting tool for both the men and women’s basketball programs. “We believe this is a world class facility and will represent the goals and aspirations of our program,” Greenberg said. “It will serve as a recruiting tool that is necessary to build up any program.”
coming up TOMORROW’S CT See the CT’s annual Football Preview special section in preparation for the kickoff of the 2008 football season.
Pirate attack?
index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5
Classifieds..............7 Sports....................6 Sudoku..................7
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year issue 73
SHAOZHUO CUI/SPPS
The East Carolina University Pirates are often taken as patsies on the schedules of “big-time” football schools. But sports editor Thomas Emerick argues that this weekend Tech might topple. See page 6 for Emerick’s column.
VTC seeks certification LAURA DUKE
ct news staff writer Administrators at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine have submitted a preliminary accreditation application, seeking to expedite the institution’s entrance into the competitive arena of medical instruction. Filed last Friday, the 600-page application document covers the five main areas of review required by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education. Areas include institutional setting, education and curriculum, student affairs and educational resources. Preliminary accreditation by the LCME is a crucial step in the development of a medical program. It is the first step in overall school accreditation, which certifies that an allopathic school’s Doctor of Medicine degree meets national standards for structure and function, and is officially granted during the fourth year of a school’s first medical class. Allopathic medicine differs from Virginia Tech’s already-established Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine because allopathic medicine treats the symptoms of diseases, whereas osteopathic medicine is directed toward preventive care. VTC’s accreditation packet will be initially reviewed during the LCME’s October meeting, after which a site visitor will evaluate the school as it stands. In February of 2009, the LCME will meet again to assess the application and site report together and make a decision on accreditation. If preliminary accreditation is granted, the school can begin planning an official timeline, as well as recruiting students. If VTC tried to recruit students in any way before granted preliminary accreditation, the LCME would not accredit the school until after it had graduated its charter class as a penalty. An unaccredited medical school is not necessarily eligible for federal grants or loan programs. Students who graduate from unaccredited medical schools are not necessarily eligible to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination or participate in accredited medical residencies, which is “why we take it so seriously,” said Terri Workman, senior associate dean for operations at VTC. “It’s to protect the students, so that you know when you come to a school, you are afforded all of the rights and policies you would have at any other established school.” It is a thin line schools with pending preliminary accreditation have to walk. “From the day people heard about (the new medical school), I’d get e-mails from pre-med clubs or students asking for information and how they get in, and we have to be very careful about answering those questions,” said Cynda Ann Johnson, dean of the VTC School of Medicine. The school has reverted to the more traditional four-year schedule after initial plans to be a five-year program with the extra year emphasizing a research thesis and project. “We put together a really nice curriculum that fills the bill in four years without overtaxing the students,” said Johnson. “We use the time wisely and have a thread of research through the entire curriculum. So really, there’s actually even more research than there would have been otherwise because it is longitudinal.” They believe this will also be in the students’ best interest, as it will decrease time and financial costs, both limited quantities in the life of an aspiring physician. The school’s planned program, one of the aspects the LCME will evaluate, will be a “patient-centered curriculum” and will be divided into four parts, or “value domains.” “One of the wonderful things about starting a school is that we get to name everything whatever we want,” Johnson said with a laugh. The four value domains will be research, basic science, patient care and clinical skills and inter-professionalism. Because of the new design plan for research, students will choose and begin their research projects during their first year, after visiting the different labs of the attached VTC Research Institute, as well as learning about other projects going on at Virginia Tech and with Carilion doctors. They will continue the project through their fourth year, culminating in a presentation and a paper suitable for publication. VTC Research Institute faculty will also work as mentors and advisers for the students. In an attempt to branch out from many other medical schools’ lecture-based format for learning the basic sciences, VTC has developed a team and case-study approach to the curriculum’s first two years. Students will tentatively be divided into six groups of seven, which equates to 42 medical students per class. Teams will spend eight two-month blocks working together and with a faculty facilitator on focused case studies. They will learn and teach each other about all aspects of the case, such as physiological causes and treatments, as well as working with the patient’s family. This will be interspersed with about six hours a week of lecture, much less than the typical medical school. At the end of the two months, the students will be evaluated on the case studies in ways ranging from standard multiple-choice tests to physical exams. The third and fourth year will follow the more traditional clinical path, with students seeing patients in the hospitals and clinics. Specific innovative plans for those years will be developed more thoroughly as the first class progresses. Education about inter-professionalism and service learning will also be very hands-on. “The students will learn about ethics, one’s own professionalism and working with healthcare providers, such as nurses and even other doctors,” said Johnson. “Service learning will be taught by working with the surrounding community and patients, which is why Roanoke is such a good location for the school.” The students will have educational access to not only the Carilion Memorial Roanoke Hospital and Carilion Clinic, but also the nearby Jefferson College of Health Sciences, local specialty office, the Veterans’ Administration, and Southwestern Virginia’s seven other Carilion hospitals. While there are other certifications the school must also receive, such as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation, the LCME official approval will be the one that will allow the school to put these plans in motion. “We have to be all ready to go,” Johnson said. “Because once they say go, we’re going to jump right in and get to work.”
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