IGADLO / COLLEGIA RIA Z TE T O T C IME VI S
STRUGGLING FOR SURVIVAL BY ERIN CHAPMAN | staff writer
ZOMBIE RUN POSTPONED FOR LATER DATE, GROUP CITES LACK OF OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT, SECURITY
ZOMBIE RUN
Friday, October 28, 2011
Those fearing an impending zombie outbreak at Virginia Tech can rest easy. In September, Stephanie McCracken, a junior majoring in biochemistry, created a Facebook event for Survive Blacksburg in the hopes that she and some friends would play, but she didn’t expect over 1,000 people to RSVP in the first month. With such a huge interest in the event, which was planned for today, Oct. 28, the creators were forced to
take a step back and think about the legal issues involved with planning such a large event on campus. According to university policy, organized events on campus are only allowed if they are sponsored by a student group or see ZOMBIES / page three
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
www.collegiatetimes.com
COLLEGIATETIMES 108th year, issue 107
News, page 3
Features, page 4
Opinions, page 5
Sports, page 8
Classifieds, page 6
LIVING HIS DREAM
Halloween, page 2
University officials age, Tech seeks replacements CODY OWENS news reporter
ONCE DIVING IN FRIGID ANTARTIC WATERS, TECH PROFESSOR FOCUSES ON LOVE OF BIOLOGY NICK SMIRNIOTOPOULOS features reporter
MAZIAR FAHANDEZAH / SPPS
Diving under the ice, deep down into the cold Antarctic waters, a team of researchers prepared to survey and explore the biological life in the depths of the ocean. However, the seemingly harmless observational research mission led to a close call for one of the researchers, providing a fearful experience he
remembers vividly. “I was the last one in (the water), but when they cut my air on, they didn’t cut it on all the way. I didn’t know that until I got to the bottom,” said biology professor George Simmons. When Simmons dove down into the ice to join the rest of his team, his regulator shut off 100 feet below the surface, sending a shiver down his spine. see SIMMONS / page six
Left, Simmons displays a helmet he use while diving in the Antartic. Right, Simmons is frequently seen around campus on his bike.
Forum explores food Tech launches
scholarly journal ERIN CHAPMAN news staff writer
DANIEL LIN/ SPPS
(L-R) Franklin Harrison, Bari Webster, and Jon Catherwood-Ginn perform impressions of “too much food.”
CHOICES AND CHALLENGES FORUM STARTS LOCAL DIALOGUE ON “WHAT IS GOOD FOOD?” AT LYRIC, GLC JENN BATES news staff writer Virginia Tech encouraged students to consider how they think about food during Thursday’s 26th annual Choices and Challenges Forum event. “Food really touches everybody in some way. Everybody has an opinion about what makes good food,” said Saul Halfon, a science and technology in society studies assistant professor and one of the co-coordinators of this year’s event.
Choices and Challenges is a program designed to start a community dialogue on national food regulation, producing and marketing local food in our region, food and virtue and food and the obesity epidemic. The main event was a panel that included experts from across the country to discus this year’s theme, “What is good food?” There were also smaller events throughout the day that focused on more specific topics like organic food, obesity and cost. “The last thing we want to do is tell people what we think is good food.
Some panelists may do that, but that’s not our mission in organizing the forum,” said Daniel Breslau, an assistant professor of science and technology in society. Morgan said people choose their food based on a variety of factors like taste, convince and affordability. “(Food) is a huge issue. It involves everybody, not just one particular group. It’s the broadest issue we’ve ever done,” Breslau said. Rachel Schurman, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota; Julie Guthman, professor of community studies at UC Santa Cruz; Karen Karp, the foundsee FOOD / page three
In an increasingly technologydriven culture, more things are being done online rather than on paper. One way to show off a student’s work is on an ePortfolio. Virginia Tech recently launched the International Journal of ePortfolio to provide a scholarly resource for promoting ePortfolio technology in a classroom setting. “There has been an interest in portfolio assessment for decades where you create a paper-based portfolio,” said Eddie Watson, associate director for the Center of Instructional Development and Education Research. “(The) tools came about in the late 1990s (and) facilitated portfolio development online.” Wilson, who is an executive editor of the journal, said ePortfolios can demonstrate proof of student
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WHEN IT COMES TO EPORTFOLIO, IT’S KIND OF LIKE THE WILD WEST
learning that differs from standardized testing. “There was a huge vacuum around ePortfolio and we designed a journal to specifically fill that niche,” Watson said.
Peter Doolittle, director of the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research and an executive editor of the journal, said the journal hopes to provide articles about how employers use ePortfolios when looking at job applicants. Watson said there are certain disciplines where there is zero ePortfolio culture within the hiring process, but that could change over time. “A lot of it is employer training. They are not necessarily aware what an ePortfolio is or that it is an option of something that they can look at,” he said. “I think it’s going to be context based, some employers might highly value one while others might not,” Watson said. Tierney Jones, a senior English major, took a one-credit class to create her ePortfolio. Having a complete ePortfolio is one of the requirements for her major. “I understand the concept and I think it’s a good way to keep track of things you may have forgotten when it comes time to write a resume,” Jones said. “With liberal arts, your experience takes place in the classroom so an ePortfolio makes sense to showcase what you’ve done.” Still, Jones hasn’t come across an employer that has shown an interest in viewing an ePortfolio during the job application process. “There have been decades of resumes so people know what is expected. When it comes to ePortfolios it’s kind of like the wild West, we don’t know what employers want, what students can provide, see JOURNAL / page three
Two of Virginia Tech’s top leaders announced their impending retirements within the past month. Ed Spencer, the vice president for student affairs, and Raymond Smoot, the university treasurer and CEO of the Virginia Tech Foundation, both recently announced their plans to retire in the summer of 2012. The two men have been integral members of the Tech community for decades and played significant roles in countless changes to the university. How e v e r, the announcements are becoming more comin higher SMOOT mon education. “It’s really not that unusual that two senior vice president announced their retirement,” said university spokesman Larry Hincker. “What would be unusual is if we had many of those. It’s entirely possible because of what is called the baby boomer generation.” This is a trend in universities across the nation. According to The Chronicle for Higher Education, eight members of the Association for American Universities are currently searching for replacements for their retiring presidents. Upperlevel leadership in most university departments SPENCER is graying. While the average age of university presidents is 60 years old and the average duration of their position is 10 years, those figures vary greatly. Scott Gowen, president of Tulane University, is 65 years old, has held his position for 13 years, and shows no indication of wanting to retire. The former president of the University of Virginia, John Casteen, retired in 2010 at 66 years old after leading the university for 20 years. Closer to home, Paul Torgersen held the position of the president of Tech until he was 70 years old. Tech’s current president, Charles Steger, is 64 years old, making him close in age to most university presidents. In his 11th year of his presidency, some may wonder if retirement is in his future, but he has not made any mention of those plans yet. “Because someone gets 65, it means they are approaching what is retirement age, but you can’t make the assumption that they will be gone in a year or two,” Hincker said. However, as the leadership of Virginia Tech continues to age, succession will be an issue that will be eventually faced. If the retirement of similar leaders is any indication, university retirements might possibly happen at close intervals. With the replacement process being formalized, though, the placement of a new leader will not be as hectic as it could be. Universities have several options when replacing administrators who are retiring. In see RETIREMENT / page three