THE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2007
Cornwell leaves administration Assistant provost headed to job at Rice
the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaccredidation process for Loyola. “John has been tremendously valuable for this university. Getting us By TARA TEMPLETON through the SACS accreditation was a SENIOR STAFF WRITER difficult job. We owe a lot to him in that respect,” said Brenda Joyner, assistant After 10 years at Loyola, John provost. Cornwell, assistant provost, will leave to No replacement has been chosen assume the role of associate vice presi- and a search committee hasn’t been dent for institutional advancement at formed at this time, according to Joyner. Rice University in Houston. She said there will be talks about the “I’ll be sad to leave Loyola. I search committee next week. believe in its mission,” Cornwell said. No one has been chosen to temCornwell said he will miss his porarily fill the vacancy after Cornwell’s friends and the faculty, departure on Feb. 28, Joyner but he is eager to go to said. Houston. “My partner has “He has been such a been in Houston since good manager that those Hurricane Katrina, so I’m areas that report to him will trying to get back,” he be self-sustaining,” said said. Joyner about Cornwell’s Another reason for the management. By the time of departure was the position his departure a decision will available at Rice University. have been made on what to John Cornwell “Such opportunities are do for the rest of this semesAssistant provost rare. The job sounded headed to Rice ter, she said. exactly like what I’ve been University Joyner highlighted developing here and was Cornwell’s importance at looking for,” he said. Loyola: “After Hurricane Katrina ... According to Cornwell, it is diffi- John was a tremendous resource and cult to find such positions in higher help in getting the university reopened. education. Rice University created the The effort he put forth was tremendous. position of associate vice president for We owe him a real debt of gratitude. institutional advancement for him. “We are truly going to miss him. As assistant provost, Cornwell He does a lot of things behind the scenes worked to develop a number of systems that people don’t realize, and he will be that track efficiency and effectiveness missed,” Joyner said. within the university. He is also a proTara Templeton can be reached at fessor of psychology. tbtemple@loyno.edu. Cornwell worked extensively on
MAROON
Blackboard tips If students have questions about or problems with Blackboard they should: • Visit the reference desk at the Monroe Library, or call 864-7155. • Call one of the 24/7 Blackboard assistance numbers: Students and
February, coinciding with Black History Month. “This is a very prestigious organization – world renown,” Thomas said. “They will shine a light on Loyola as a key player in the world of jazz.” According to Thomas, the institute chose New Orleans as a potential site because of its role in the history of jazz music and the need to revitalize the city after Hurricane Katrina. The institute’s artistic director Terence Blanchard, a Grammy-award-winning jazz musician and New Orleans native, suggested that John Snyder, music industries studies professor at Loyola, get in touch with the institute’s executive director Tom Carter. The institute had been discussing offers from Harvard and Columbia, among other universities, prior to Snyder’s involvement. “From the music business program, our public school system, our multimedia resources, New Orleans as the birth of jazz — it just all added up,” Snyder said. “New Orleans is nationally and internationally known for its jazz,” Kvet said. “Having the institute here will create a natural, three-way tie with Loyola, the institute, and the city itself.” The precarious state of the city’s education system was a major factor in attracting the institute, said Snyder. “New Orleans is a place with the greatest need for an impact on the educational system,” Snyder explained. “The music presence would be a boost for the city.” Representatives from the institute were “blown away” by the campus and facilities, according to Snyder. “I asked Dr. Thomas if it would be possible to use the space on the fourth floor,” Snyder said. “What university can say they have open space?” Loyola will have the opportunity to participate in the institute’s master classes, taught by jazz legends and open to all students. Kvet plans
faculty should call 1-866-562-7278. Live internet support, troubleshooting guides and animated tutorials on how the system works can be found on the Blackboard Web Support Portal.
Finals traffic stalls Blackboard Problem not widespread during testing, IT says By KELLY ROTH THE MAROON
Some Loyola students scrambling to finish finals that their professors posted on Blackboard at the end of the Fall 2006 semester met an unexpected and unwelcome roadblock. After logging on to Blackboard, their frantic pace came to a halt, and Internet speeds slowed to a crawl by the overloaded server. “We received two complaints regarding the performance of the system during exams,” said Bret Jacobs, executive director of Information Technology. “We immediately contacted Blackboard’s customer service center and they isolated and resolved the immediate issue.” Elias Khalaf, assistant professor of mathematics and computer science, filed one such complaint on behalf of his computer impact class. “On the first day of testing the students came to class to take the test
Jazz: Harvard, Columbia also considered as location Continued from page 1
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to create a consortium with other local universities, available to students throughout the New Orleans area to experience the breakthrough in Loyola’s jazz program. Aside from participating in the master classes, students under the scholarship will receive an intensive, one-on-one class with a jazz mentor for one week of every month. The six to 12 “Monk scholars” will also study with the institute for two-year increments, giving the students an opportunity to travel and perform. The institute not only sponsors master classes and performances on the host campus, it also integrates enrichment programs in localarea public schools, according to Thomas. The institute’s public school outreach program extends into social studies and sociology classes, bringing jazz studies into classrooms across the United States. “I’m very impressed that these names ... are willing to spend money to make an impact on the community,” Snyder said. “It shows a great deal of humility.” Snyder also hopes to create a virtual multimedia network to use the master classes taught by visiting members of the institute for public broadcasting. “We may be able to outfit Studio B with video equipment for documentary-style filming,” he said. “The equipment can stay once the institute leaves, leaving a major multimedia center for the community.’ Snyder said he looks forward to an increased enrollment in the Loyola jazz program, hoping the higher interest in Loyola’s jazz studies program will boost the national stature of the university. “This could turn the jazz department into a major league jazz school,” Snyder said. “It’s the international art form this community can call its own.” Alex Woodward can be reached at adwoodwa@loyno.edu.
in the lab, logged on and then proceeded to take the online test. As soon as the test password was supplied, Blackboard became very irresponsive,” said Khalaf. “Eventually, everyone started taking the test, but after only a few minutes the system started to drag. It was acting very slowly, and some of the questions were taking five minutes or even more to accept the student’s supplied answer and move on to the next question. “It was really very frustrating for the students and embarrassing for me. As soon as I noticed that things were not working as planned, I brought this problem to the attention of the help desk at IT, and they started investigating the problem immediately.” Jacobs said that Blackboard technicians have made several “tuning enhancements” since the incident to reduce future problems and that they will continue to supervise the system. After Hurricane Katrina, Loyola paid to move its Blackboard hosting to Washington, D.C. The move primarily guarantees that access to Blackboard will not be interrupted during an evacuation or loss of utility services to the main campus. During Katrina, the Loyola-based Blackboard services were not restored
until 10 days after the storm. The shift to Blackboard hosting in Washington, D.C., will eliminate recovery delay and ensure continuity in instruction for our students, Jacobs said. While professors and students will be able to continue courses in case of another hurricane, problems during regular semesters are leaving them fed-up. “The idea (of professional offcampus hosting) was to provide continuity in case we had to evacuate for hurricanes,” Khalaf said. “However, having the servers so remote and not under Loyola’s direct control means that problems take longer to resolve. In addition, there is inherent latency and possible failure in communicating back and forth with the servers. “At this point I do not plan to have online exams on Blackboard,” Khalaf said. “I had two bad experiences out of three, and this is not a good percentage.” Since Loyola no longer directly manages Blackboard, Jacobs encourages faculty and students to use the 24hour support line in case of difficulties. Kelly Roth can be reached at klroth@loyno.edu.