April 24, 2012
Vol. 91 Issue 43
Earth Day Celebration The Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary, owned by Cal State Fullerton, celebrates Earth Day 2012 with music, live animals and more.
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GRADUATE CREATES NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
CAMPUS | Online programs growing
Online education a trending alternative CSUF to introduce two new bachelor’s programs fall 2012
JUSTIN ENRIQUEZ Daily Titan
Courtesy of Together We Rise Build-A-Bike Tour, a project backed by Together We Rise, has provided 1,000 children in foster care across America with free BMX bikes. Founder Danny Mendoza is a CSUF graduate.
Alumni assists foster children
Together We Rise, founded by Danny Mendoza, makes an impact on displaced youth STEPHEN McGLADE Daily Titan
Just two years after receiving a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Cal State Fullerton, Danny Mendoza has managed to create a nonprofit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of American foster children. The organization, Together We Rise, focuses on funding programs that give foster children a sense of normalcy, comfort and belonging. Mendoza’s philanthropic path, however, was one he did not see himself taking when he was a student at CSUF.
While still a student, Mendoza learned that his 9-year-old cousin was living in a car. Wanting to help in any way he could, Mendoza tried to volunteer at agencies dedicated to aiding foster children, but was held back from doing all he could due to his young age. With the encouragement of his friends, Mendoza decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. Backed by a team of young, ambitious advocates, Mendoza has been able to start projects like the Build-A-Bike Tour. The program, started in 2011, has provided 1,000 children in foster care across America with free BMX bikes. I’m Aging Out, another quickly growing project, is dedicated to providing guidance, information
and resources to over 500,000 children who are leaving the foster care system to help make their futures brighter. Together We Rise holds frequent events to fund their projects. To provide funds for the Build-ABike Tour this year, the organization has planned the Fore Kids Golf Tournament, which will take place on Friday at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills. On the following Sunday, May 6, Together We Rise will hold another benefit event, Pick-A-Purse, at the same country club. Pick-APurse is a ticketed event where donors are given a lunch and a purse filled with gifts for their mom for Mother’s Day. See NONPROFIT, page 5
As higher education becomes more challenging to complete due to budget cuts, the field of online education has become an alternative option. With three online master’s programs at Cal State Fullerton, and more scheduled to come in the future, including two bachelor’s completion programs that start in the fall, online education is becoming more common amongst students. Dennis Robinson, the director of distance education at the Online Academic Strategies and Instructional Support (OASIS) Center, said for a number of years there were only three online master’s degree programs at CSUF, but by fall 2012 there will be at least 13. The first three online master’s degree programs at CSUF were instructional design and technology, information technology and software engineering. Among the new online programs to be introduced in the fall, CSUF will offer two bachelor’s programs. Robinson said the degrees will be a B.A. in sociology and a B.A. in business administration. This is the first time CSUF has done anything in the bachelor’s arena, and they will both be degree completion programs. “Basically, what degree completion means is that they already completed approximately 60 credits, so it would be, more or less, like a transfer student coming here. And it’s primarily geared toward working individuals who maybe didn’t complete their degree for one reason or another, and they don’t have time to go back in person,” said Robinson. Robinson said they have been working on these programs for three or four years because articulation is complicated. “The degree completion program
still has some articulation issues, but basically, in order to do degree completion, what you need to do is pick specific courses that students have to take … For this to work you have to get what they call a cohort program where the students take the same courses all the way through the program,” Robinson said. A cohort program is what many of the master’s degree online programs, like the master’s degree in information technology, utilize as well. Matt Carver, 33, graduated with his master’s degree in information technology in 2010 through the online program. Carver said he loved the cohort system and the predetermined classes. “You have to do it by the book; two classes per semester, and you’re done in less than two years. You hammer it out. So I loved it,” said Carver. Although online education has grown a lot in the last decade or so, distance education has been around at CSUF for about 20 years through closed-circuit television. Edgar Trotter, acting associate vice president of undergraduate programs, said he believes there has always been distance education. “We’ve always had distance education; they’re called textbooks. You’re supposed to have learned something at a distance and bring it back to the class,” said Trotter. Trotter said he is proud to say that he gave the first presentation of the World Wide Web on campus Nov. 4, 1993. Since that day, the Web has become a more viable medium to gain an education. “As the Web matured, it became a more viable way to deliver instruction,” Trotter said. “Early on it was pretty crude, but it got more and more sophisticated. In fact, to the point that the typical class you take today, it would be hard to say that it is not partially Web-based because a lot of your content is posted online.” See ONLINE, page 3
NATION | Athletes online
Social media a headache for some athletics programs Some universities have begun to closely monitor athletes’ posts DANNY CHAU Daily Titan
While most college campuses have caught on to the importance of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, not all colleges are prepared for the potential consequences that can occur in 140 characters or less. Such advances in communications is a topic of concern for college athletics departments. Social networks are appealing to student athletes, serving as a way to interact with fans, celebrate in victory and vent in defeat. However, for the
most part, Twitter is unfiltered — a form of broadcast that can be seen by anyone willing to look. In some cases, this has led to serious damage to college athletics programs. Last month, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) placed a 2012-2013 postseason ban on the football program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill due to an investigation revealing that several players on the 2010 team had received impermissible benefits. At the center of it was Marvin Austin, a former defensive lineman for North Carolina and current NFL defensive tackle for the New York Giants, whose tweets in 2010 of conspicuous spending became one of the initial factors in
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the NCAA investigation. The pitfalls of social media have already caused many programs to ban their student athletes from Twitter entirely. College head coaches and university compliance offices are forced to make up their own rules because the NCAA currently has no all-encompassing policy regarding social media. It is up to the universities to determine how much regulation is required for their student athletes. Mel Franks, a senior associate athletics director at Cal State Fullerton, said there is no established social media policy at CSUF to his knowledge. The school uses social media primarily as a promotional medium. Still, the compliance office has discussed
Twitter-related issues with student athletes. “With regards to social media such as Facebook and Twitter, all student athletes receive education on the matter at the beginning of each academic year,” said Michelle Tapper, a CSUF assistant athletic director and compliance director. “Studentathletes are representatives of not only themselves and their teams, but also intercollegiate athletics and the university as a whole. In that respect, student athletes are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that positively represents (Titan) athletics and the university.” See ATHLETES, page 2
Courtesy of MCT The University of North Carolina has enacted a strong social media policy for its student athletes, raising First Amendment and privacy concerns.