THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
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Thursday March 27, 2014
Volume 126, Issue 118
www.THEDAONLINE.com
SGA talks changes to GEC By Sam Bosserman staff writer @DAILYATHENAEUM
The West Virginia University Student Government Association presented its annual Student Organization of The Year award to the Society of Women Engineers at Wednesday’s regular meeting. In addition to receiving $500, the organization will have its name placed on a plaque inside of the student
organizations office. BOG Vice-Chair John Williams said SWE was very deserving of the award, and he was impressed by their outreach to younger age groups. “I was in support of them from the beginning mainly because of their dual ability to not only help students at WVU with professional development, but secondly their involvement with young people,” Williams said. “They had an eighth grade day, and they were in-
volved with Girl Scouts. “In engineering, I think a lot of people think of it as a major of mostly men, but when you are encouraging young women to get involved in engineering, that bit of equality inclusion is a beautiful thing.” Williams said SGA’s outreach to student organizations goes beyond handing out awards, and its impact can be seen through grant approval to help these groups with expenditures.
Staff Writer @DailyAthenaeum
Students who are active social media users may have an upper hand when it comes to finding a dream job or internship. Websites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn give students who are searching for jobs a chance to go outside of traditional routes for finding a job. Sarah Glenn, the assistant director of employer relations with the West Virginia University Career Services Center, said students need to be aware of what they are putting out that potential employers could see. “Students need to have a very professional and clean social media presence,” Glenn said. “Be very cautious about the pictures you post, the content of your status updates and even the pages you like. Students can do what they want with their own time, but if they are going to use social media to find jobs, they need to be (aware) of this.” Glenn said being professional is not enough when it comes to looking for a job or internship. “In addition to being professional, they must be proactive with what they are putting out there,” Glenn said. “(Do) not just have a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, but also be on LinkedIn, a professional social media website.” LinkedIn can serve much like a living online resume for students. They can go into detail about internships, previous jobs and study abroad programs. On LinkedIn, students are able to connect with alumni, employers and companies they may be interested in working for. Glenn said many companies go through LinkedIn profiles to see if candidates meet the requirements for their positions. Reaching out to companies through social media
is another way to advance your search options. Many companies not only have a general page, but they also have campus recruitment pages, as well. Glenn said it is important for students who are looking into jobs involving social media to have a large number of friends or followers, and they must update their accounts frequently. Cara Wood, a sophomore strategic communications student, works as an intern for The Celebrity Cafe. She posts jobs on social media but said she feels it has also made the job search harder in a way. “It’s hard because now through social media people can talk about not liking a job or giving a place bad reviews just because they don’t like working for them,” Wood said. “Then it is hard because when you think you got a great job, you look at reviews and get doubts about it.” Wood said to be careful with emotional posts. “As hard as it is, never post about a boss,” she said. “Keep it to yourself, because you never know who is going to see it.” Ryan Petrovich, a junior television journalism student, found a summer internship through a tweet sent out by Eric Minor, the director of Student Careers and Opportunities in the WVU Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism. Petrovich worked as an intern for WV Illustrated, where he covered athletic teams at WVU. He said social media was a great tool for him and can be for all students. “I think it can help immensely. If other students are like myself then they’re constantly checking their Twitter, Facebook and what not,” Petrovich said. “They’re more likely to come across opportunities on there because that’s where they spend time. I would’ve never known about WV Illustrated had I not seen a tweet.” He said with so many
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Gavin DeGraw
INSIDE
Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw will take the stage at the CAC Sunday. A&E PAGE 8
CLOUDY
News: 1, 2, 3 Opinion: 4 A&E: 6, 7, 8 Sports: 9, 10 Campus Connection: 5 Puzzles: 5 Classifieds: 11
tial changes are still in the exploratory phase, and ideas are still being considered by many different constituency groups. “As far as when the BOG is going to take it on, it’s still kind of a concept that’s being vetted,” Campione said. According to Campione, the changes discussed would reduce the amount of GEC credits required by three to six. The changes would also reduce the number of ob-
jectives students must fulfill when choosing GEC classes from nine to seven. “By shrinking the (number of objectives), you’ll have more classes offered in each one,” Campione said. “Students will have more flexibility to take classes on subjects they want to learn more about.” Under the changes, students would be required to take one class from each ob-
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POOCH
Social media helps WVU students in search of jobs, internships BY Alexis Randolph
“I think SGA is an important entity because groups that come for grants year after year start to count on what we are able to give them,” he said. “If you’re in a student org and have never come for grant money, come on by.” SGA President Ryan Campione announced the University’s institutional BOG was now looking into changing General Education Curriculum requirements. Campione said any poten-
Erin Irwin/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Marlon Brando, a 5-year-old Australian Labradoodle, is West Virginia University’s Engineering Learning Center’s new furry friend. Brando provides comfort and support to freshman engineering students in the Engineering Learning Center.
with a purpose
College of Engineering receives furry friend to relieve stress By LAURA hAIGHT sTAFF wRITER @dAILYaTHENAEUM
The Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources has welcomed their newest employee, Marlon Brando, who is affectionately known as “Brando.” Brando is a 5-year-old Australian Labradoodle who works as a therapy dog for the Engineering Learning Center. Michelle Poland, an academic success program coordinator, said she thought of the idea to get a therapy dog after a coworker brought her dogs in for Halloween. “Everybody started smiling,” Poland said. “I thought, ‘Why are we not connecting really upset kids and the idea that we could make them smile with a dog?’ I knew (the Carruth Cen-
ter) got a dog, and I said, ‘OK, let’s get a dog.’” Brando was donated to the college through the Hearts of Gold nonprofit organization. He was originally trained as a service dog, but his temperament was better suited as a therapy dog. Brando hangs out in the Learning Center and provides emotional support for students go there to study. The students who frequent the Center are normally freshmen who are required to visit as part of their curriculum. “There’s the transition from high school to college, (and) Brando’s here to help that,” Poland said. “I saw a need with freshmen and turned it into what can we do to help them.” Poland said it was her motherly instinct that urged her to bring a therapy dog to the center. Poland is Bran-
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ON THE INSIDE The WVU David C. Hardesty Festival of Ideas series continues tonight. NEWS PAGE 2
do’s sole owner, which means she takes care of him and pays for all of his expenses. “It’s the right thing to do to care for students – not just their grades but them,” she said. Weighing in at 65 pounds, Brando is a large dog, but many students have warmed up to him and have even bought him treats. “He’s so sweet that he’s not really intimidating,” Poland said. “He’s a little big, but if you get over the size factor, he’s just the sweetest thing.” Poland said Brando is helping the first-year engineering students interact with upperclassmen, and professors come to the Learning Center to visit Brando too. “Our freshmen are getting to see people they normally wouldn’t get to
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ONE THAT GOT AWAY The West Virginia women’s basketball talks about its loss to LSU Tuesday. SPORTS PAGE 9
A P P LY O N L I N E T O DAY
NEW ON-CAMPUS STUDENT HOUSING opening fall 2014
COLLEGEPARK.WVU.EDU