IT GETS BETTER RETHINK PINK
LGBT History Month and the future of the LGBTQ rights movement, see pages 14-15.
Focus on breast cancer awareness takes away from other women’s issues, see page 12.
Volume #99 | Issue #6 | Oct. 20, 2014 | depauliaonline.com
New arena on Blue Madness? Blue SADNESS. schedule for 2015 construction By Matthew Paras Sports Editor
DePaul’s new arena in the South Loop is still expected to have construction begin in the first quarter of 2015, DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto said. The next step in the process for the project is for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (McPier) and DePaul to sort through request for proposals (RFP) to hire a construction company. “It’s obviously a very label-intensive process so it will probably take a couple of more weeks to sort through,” Ponsetto said. “The city’s schedule is contingent on building both the Marriott and the arena — at least the infrastructure of gas, water and things like that ... and the Marriott is a little bit behind schedule. “So that could delay the process of getting the shovel in the ground, but I think right now, we’re looking at the first quarter of 2015,” Ponsetto said. “We’ll know more after we get through the construction RFPs.” DePaul’s arena is part of a plan to bring back DePaul basketball to the city as well as revitalize the South Loop. An accompanying Marriott hotel will be built next to the 10,000-seat arena, which will be located on Cermak Road west of McCormick Place. McPier will decide who will be the construction company to handle the project as well as all the subcontractors that will be hired. DePaul will be allowed to consult on the process and will be kept up to date in the process. “I recognize that this isn’t a DePaulbuilt facility and that there’s protocols that the city of Chicago and McPier have to go through,” she said. “I think we all recognized that going in. There hasn’t been anything surprising to what those protocols have been. I appreciate the openness of the communication on (McPier’s) end. It really is their project, and they’ve been really straightforward on their end.” On DePaul’s end, one major area they have to sort out is the naming rights to the arena, which could pay for a large chunk of the arena. Ponsetto said they have an idea of which sports marketing firm they plan to hire to help find a corporate sponsor, but are waiting for the RFPs to be sorted out before approaching the marketing firm for a contract. It is scheduled to open for the 20162017 season, but Ponsetto said exactly when during that season is flexible. The Blue Demons could move into the building either at the beginning of the season or the beginning of conference play, for example. The project is expected to cost $173 million with DePaul contributing $70 million of that while McPier contributes the rest.
COURTNEY JACQUIN | THE DEPAULIA
Senior Denzel Irby (center) dances with the men’s basketball team at Blue Madness, to kick-off the basketball season. The event featured food trucks and a performance by Twista with hopes to excite students for the upcoming season, but efforts fell flat. Full story, see page 26.
Move beyond online classes with Lynda By Kirsten Onsgard Arts & Life Editor
Virtual learning has moved beyond the online class. Last week, DePaul announced that Lynda, an online library of learning videos and courses, would be available to all students. Lynda features more than 2,900 courses taught by industry professionals and is used by companies and universities. Designed to help individuals learn everything from Adobe Creative Suite to leadership skills, students work through lecture videos at their own pace and order, and are able to jot down notes and work through examples. Upon course completion, a certificate is available to print or share through a link. The site is also supported by IOS and Android. “Lynda is especially great for me because they have fantastic video tutorials for filming techniques and filming software,” Langdon Auld, a junior digital cinema student, said. Some of the video editing software, he said, is “incredibly complex.” Christine Gramlick, associate director of Media Production and Training in Information Services, said that the service was purchased last summer and became available to faculty, staff and students at the beginning of the term. Gramlick says that students were notified of the service via
Screenshot courtesy of LYNDA.COM
DePaul now provides free memberships to Lynda, an online learning portal, for students, staff and faculty. Users receive certificates upon the completion of courses. email last Monday because the university was conducting a soft launch to ensure that logins were properly working and to complete testing. Adjunct faculty member in the College of Computing and Digital Media Mary Omelina began using Lynda since the beginning of the term. In her advanced animation classes, Omelina assigned basic tutorials to supplement in-class instruction and to help students who may not have taken beginner-level classes. However,
the way she uses the program differs depending on the class and student needs. “Sometimes we go over the exercise beforehand and they use the tutorial to replicate or finish up their in-class exercise,” she said. “Sometimes I assign specific tutorials to work ahead on things we’re going to be covering in the next class.” Gramlick maintains that the service is not meant to replace classroom instruction.
See LYNDA, page 5