Sexual abuse becomes a problem in education

ered moral turpitude.

This semester at Cabrini, 267 education majors participating in field experience had to undergo a background check and a FBI clearance. The FBI clearance comes back as a clean record or a criminal record. “You want to come back with a blank piece of paper that says you have no history,” Middleton said.

If a student’s FBI clearance comes back with a criminal record, Cabrini will not sign nor recommend the student for their teaching certificate.

The college will not pass judgment on a student’s record but will send the record on to the certification office of the state department of education in Harrisburg. If that office believes that there is a chance that the student could be certified, a board will be as- sembled and then review the case.

“My experience has been that it is a 50/50 deal… and of the 50 percent that have been certified, I don’t know of any that have been placed in a Pennsylvania public school,” Middleton said.

At Cabrini, “background checks are done on every faculty, staff, administrator and even some student workers,”

Lisa Shimada Stauffer, the director of human resources, said.

Included in the background checks on all new employees are a state criminal check and a state sex offender search. Cabrini does not perform a state Child Abuse History Clearance on all employees, only those working in the Children’s School. The background checks are only conducted on new hires, not on those already employed.

“The information that comes back to the office is not shared with anyone unless it affects another,” Shimada Stauffer said.

In the AP investigation, “The total number of times an action was taken against a teacher’s license for sexual misconduct was 2,625. Licenses were revoked in 1,636 of the cases; surrendered in 440 cases; suspended in 376 cases; and denied in 108 cases.”

“Teachers don’t always quite understand the significance of their actions. It starts from the moment you step on this campus as an education major. You are now being seen in a light that is different from anywhere that you have ever been seen in before,” Middleton said.

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Beginning: October 7th

Where: Fishbowl-2nd Floor Holy Spirit!Library

When: 1:00 P.M to 4:po P.M.

Why: To help YOU succeed!

Who: The Math Re ource Center

Mrs. D va,nney, Math Specialist

Mrs. Lavely, Math Tutor

Email: mathtutor@cabrini.ed Phone: Ext. 8563 or Ext. 8749

The counseling services on campus offer multiple outreach programs to enlighten students on the various mental health issues affecting young adults.

Screening days for depression are conducted on campus; in addition the counseling center holds an assortment of workshops and group therapy sessions.

The therapists on campus are qualified to help treat existing conditions as well as diagnose students experiencing

The counseling service available at Cabrini College says it wants to create an environment that is safe, comfortable and friendly.

The staff works each day to ensure every student is successful in their life goals, and will continue to do so by taking measures needed to accommodate the growing student population at Cabrini.

Studies show positive results

gene called RTF1. This gene was originally found in yeast and shown in yeast to be a transcription factor involved in the yeast cell cycle. Little is known about its role in mammals. Superneau said if it is over expressed, it causes problems and can use this information to identify genes that have links to protein and are differentiated in expression levels.

“The studies are indirectly linked,” Superneau said. “But they have a direct connection. Using one small aspect, we could give insight in genes causing breast cancer.”

Dr. Maureen Dunbar said the collaboration has worked out very well. Superneau and Mayer attended the National Conference for Undergraduate Research in April and the Undergraduate Research at the Capital in October to present their work. In December, they will present a poster at the American Society for Cell Biology Conference.

“The experiment’s so new, the professors don’t even know how to do all of it. For me, having the opportunity to do this research has been such a gift, a great opportunity,” Superneau said. “It’s such a huge deal as an undergraduate.”

Superneau said that the small school setting and professors were very helpful. “They let me work on this project as long as I had to and what I accomplished is huge.” Superneau said.

Also the equipment at Cabrini, a real time PCR machine and DNA sequencer, helped the students determine how active a gene is and how much protein was made in a cell. “We used to have to send out our data and wait weeks for a reply,” Superneau said. “Now we can do it in two days and have our results.”

“We have students published in journals, speaking at conferences and making big discoveries.” Superneau said. “It’s a pretty big deal.”