Look out for the solar eclipse Aug. 21 and the phases in the paper.
Move-In Special | Midwestern State University | thewichitan.com | Your Campus. Your News. | Vol. 82
Study Abroad
pg. 6
Read about our editors’ experiences studying abroad in London and their travels in Europe.
Whitney Irish, pre-dentistry freshman, waits in the Academic Success Center on Aug. 16.
Housing Profiles
pg. 12
Meet the five new staff members in the housing office that plan to bring new programs to their hall and position.
Academic Success Center dissolved; tutoring programs introduced CORTNEY WOOD REPORTER
T
Fall Sports
pg. 16
Take a look at what athletes and coaches are saying about the upcoming seasons.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MARQUART | THE WICHITAN
o create new Tutor and Academic Support Programs, administration dissolved the Mustangs Advising Center to create unified departments and increase student success through established in-house advisers for departments starting Sept. 1. “The Mustangs Advising Center wasn’t working, and if our advising model isn’t ultimately leading students towards returning and graduating and increasing that number, then we have to find another solution,” Kristen Garrison, associate vice president of undergraduate education and assessment, said. “There was a collective sense that what the Mustang Academic Center was supposed to achieve didn’t work on our campus, so the people in charge started to look at alternative models.” The Tutor and Academic Support Programs
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MARQUART | THE WICHITAN
William Hodges II, history freshman, sits in the waiting room of the academic success center on Aug. 16. will continue to provide students the means of tutoring, advice and provide supplemental instruction along with college connections and skills for success much like the Mustangs
Academic Center. “The Mustang Academic Center was sound in principle and was a solid idea, but every institution has it’s own little culture, and it wasn’t working for us,” Garrison said. “Every campus should have a tutoring center, and tutoring will be one of the top priorities of the Tutor and Academic Support Programs.” The advisers in the former Mustangs Advising Center have been assigned to work within a specific college to guide their majors through that process, and Garrison said they are “still using their skills and connections with students that are so strong,” but now just focused in one directed area. Although the Tutor and Academic Support Programs will no longer be a center, Dottie Westbrook, coordinator and academic counselor, said the change shouldn’t “spook” any
see ACADEMIC pg. 2
2 | Move-In 2017 | from ACADEMIC pg. 1
students because of how close the campus administration works together for the students. “This will give us a better opportunity to coordinate with the different departments and majors, so we can find out first hand if any changes are occurring,” Westbrook said. “Although we work with the different departments, we are seen as separate. We will seem a little more unified as a department now that we will be in the building of the department we are representing.” The plan for the Tutor and Academic Support Programs isn’t “set in stone,” Garrison said, because as time passes, student development determines if administration should reevaluate the model for success on campus. According to Westbrook, the transition will make advisers more conveniently available for students. “I hope this will allow for a more personal atmosphere for students because the advisers will be right there in the buildings,” Westbrook said. “Communication is vital in these next stages, so we really need let students know where to locate us, but [the advisers] won’t really be doing anything different from what we are already doing.” Interaction with faculty and students make students feel more confident, Westbrook said, and because the campus coordination is so integrated, students can ask any office about advising and will be directed to the appropriate area. “One of our best attributes is that we can very quickly scoop up a student and make him or her part of a community,” Garrison said. “If I come to campus and I walk into a building for my major and am automatically taken to my adviser or faculty member, that strengthens connections between the student and our campus. We think it will connect students to an academic community more quickly.” Additional reporting by Kara McIntyre.
Theaters, summer hits, and movies to come IT C OM E S OUT AT NI G H T
TYLER MANNING FILM CRITIC
T
here are two movie theaters here in Wichita Falls: Cinemark and AMC Classic Sikes Center. Both are part of well-established movie theater franchises and both provide different film-watching experiences. Cinemark is located on the corner of Kell Blvd. and Kemp Blvd. and is a good-sized location. It is a standard movie theater with around 14 screening rooms. For the most part, Cinemark is relatively clean and has comfortable seating. AMC Classic Sikes Center is located in the Sikes Center Mall on Midwestern Parkway. With only 10 screening rooms, AMC Classic Sikes Center is smaller in comparison to Cinemark. AMC Classic Sikes Center is exactly what you would expect from a movie theater located in the mall of a small town in Texas — the screens are small, the layout is dated and often the theater isn’t as clean as its competitor. There is a stale stench in the screening rooms and the seats aren’t entirely comfortable. Go to the Cinemark for most of your viewing experiences. However, there are movies that will only show at the AMC and if you’re not willing to drive to Dallas to see it, then AMC is your best bet. Throughout this summer we have been treated to a plethora of quality films. To me, the true standouts are: It Comes at Night, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Baby Driver, and War for the Planet of the Apes. As for the films that we have to look forward to in the coming months, it looks like the horror movie season is about to be upon us with two of the biggest releases expected to It and Annabelle: Creation. Tyler Manning, mass communication junior.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IMDB
Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbott in It Comes At Night (2017). | It Comes at Night is a tense thriller about two families trying to coexist in an apocalyptic world. The movie boasts great performances, a good sense of atmosphere and beautiful cinematography.
SPIDE R M A N : H O M E C OM I NG
PHOTO COURTESY OF IMDB
Tom Holland in Spiderman (2017). | Spider-Man: Homecoming is the latest SpiderMan reboot pitting him against the villain, The Vulture. The film is an incredibly funny comedy that has great heart and character to it.
wichitan
the
Vol. 82 | Move-in 2017
Midwestern State University Fain Fine Arts Bldg., Room D201 3410 Taft Blvd. Wichita Falls, Texas 76308 (940) 397-4704 • wichitan@mwsu.edu thewichitan.com • @wichitanonline
EDITOR: Kara McIntyre
Copyright ©2017.
DESIGN EDITOR: Justin Marquart
The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication.
BUSINESS MANAGER: Brendan Wynn ISSUE STAFF: Cortney Wood, Tyler Manning, Bridget Reilly, Leah Bryce
ADVISER: Bradley Wilson
Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publication. Letters should be brief (250 words or fewer) and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a email address, telephone number and address.
| Move-In 2017 | 3
Look out for the solar eclipse Aug. 21 and the phases in the paper.
AMC Classic Sikes Senter 10 3111 Midwestern Pkwy #238
“The screens are small, the layout is dated and often the theater isn’t as clean as its competitor. There is a stale stench in the screening rooms and the seats aren’t entirely comfortable.”
B A BY DR IVER
PHOTO COURTESY OF IMDB
Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx, Eiza González and Jon Hamm in Baby Driver (2017). | Baby Driver is a heist movie brought to us by talented film director Edgar Wright. The movie is incredibly entertaining, has a killer score and is extremely well-directed.
WAR F O R P LANET OF THE A P E S
PHOTO COURTESY OF IMDB
Andy Serkis and Devyn Dalton in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). | War for the Planet of the Apes, the final entry in the recent Planet of the Apes franchise. This movie is a beautiful, poignant film that not only is a fitting end to the Planet of the Apes trilogy but also a great film on its own merits.
Cinemark 14 Wichita FallsWebsiteDirections Parker Square Shopping Center 2915 Glenwood Ave
“It is a standard movie theater with around 14 screening rooms. For the most part, Cinemark is relatively clean and has comfortable seating.”
4 | Move-In 2017 |
HE A LT H SC IENCES
as presented to the board in May of 2017
A total solar eclipse can happen every 1-2 years.
Administrators have BRENDAN WYNN BUSINESS MANAGER
A First floor plans include dental hygiene offices, classrooms, and student support offices.
Second floor plans include respiratory care offices and radiological sciences office.
s part of the mission to make MSU a destination school, members of administrators have broken out the hard hats, rolling out the plans for new buildings, renovations and a football stadium. As the dust settles around the new addition to the Fain College of Fine Arts building, the two-story D-wing now serves as the home to the mass communication department. At their meeting on Aug. 3, the Board of Regents toured the 14,775-square-feet addition comprising of six editing bays, a television studio, a computer lab and a newsroom. At a cost of around $7 million, approximately $5.5 million went toward the construction, while remaining funds purchased the new equipment and furniture. Funding for the building was raised through a combination of Higher Education Assistance Funds, internal funds, student fees and donations. When the building had first completed construction, faculty voiced their hopes that the new building would serve as a magnet to prospective students. “Facilities matter,” Jim Sernoe, chair of the mass communication department, said. “Although we hope what goes on in a classroom or lab is more important than how it looks, visitors, including potential students and their families, form their impressions partially based on the facilities.” The opening ceremony for the mass communication building will be Sept. 8.
HEALTH SCIENCES
Third floor plans include nursing offices, additional classrooms, and intra-disciplinary event rooms.
Fourth floor plans include additional radiological sciences offices, nursing offices, and the dean’s suite.
On the other end of campus, the plans for a new Gunn College of Health Sciences and Human services building are underway. Over the summer, the McGaha building was demolished as to make room for the new Gunn College. “We’re hoping the ground breaking will occur some time around September,” James Johnston, provost and former dean of health sciences, said. “We will do a ground breaking ceremony when that time comes. Once we break ground and get started, we’re still looking at a 16-month completion. So, with a conservative estimate, we’re hoping to have it finished close to April of 2019.” According to Johnston, the new building will be approximately 87,000 square feet. “We’ve been working through all of 2016 with all of the planning phases, so it doesn’t seem like a fast-paced project,
but when you look at the grand scheme of things, it is,” Johnston said. While the new Gunn College will be built over the parking lot between the Mustang Advising Center and the lot that used to be the McGaha building, a $328,000, 63-space parking lot was built in preparation for the new facility. To make room for the parking lot, three houses on Hampstead Lane that were owned by the university have been demolished. “These will be state of the art facilities,” Johnston said. “We’ve wanted it to have a theater-in-the-round feeling to it. The second floor will consist largely of glass, so there’s both passive and active interdisciplinary learning going on. The students can relax there, but also get to see into some of the lab spaces. There’s an interdisciplinary room in there, actually, for those kinds of events that we host,” Johnston said. “I’ve wanted it to be a campus building, too. Of course it will be home to the health sciences department, but there are definitely some aspects that we’ve included to make it feel like a campus building. The classrooms will be very modern. The furniture is a variety of styles and all on wheels, so the faculty can configure it to whatever suits the lesson plan. I’m very excited to see how students will learn with all of the amenities that it has to offer.” According to Johnston, administrators have their eye on growing the university. “Versatility is the intent. We need to grow, we want to grow, and there’s an element of becoming a destination. Students have choices with their education, and we want to be an attractive, destination school. Part of that means our construction has to keep pace. Once the health sciences building is complete, that will definitely start a domino effect of renovations that we have planned for some of the buildings already on campus.”
MOFFETT LIBRARY
According to university librarian Karen Latham, Moffett Library is one of the first to be renovated, following the completion of the new health sciences building. “The first thing we have to do is become ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant,” Latham said. “Those guidelines came out in 1991, and the library had been renovated in 1986, so once those guidelines came into effect, we really didn’t have the funds to comply. The next thing that was pointed
out was that the hallway leading to the bathrooms and the stalls were too small to meet ADA requirements, so those will be renovated. Even the bookshelves are getting renovated. They came up with a guideline that the bookshelves have to 36 inches apart, but they’re only 30. So, every book shelf is going to have to be shifted 6 inches.” According to Latham, getting modern, educational technology into group study areas is a top priority. “Students love the group rooms. We want to put technology in those areas. We want to put smart boards, devices, and more amenities that help them work on these projects together. We think they would like to have the capability to plug in their laptops, as well. We’d like a better sized computer lab for our instruction. When we decided we needed that kind of thing, the only space that was available was the lobby in the front of the library, and it’s a little small. It only holds 18 computers and most classes are comprised of, at least, 20 students.” According to Latham, the library is reducing the size of the book collection by approximately 30-40 percent, and that space no longer occupied by bookshelves will serve as additional collaborative study space. However, Latham said that while an architect has already been hired to look at a plan that was organized in 2014, it may be close to a year before renovations begin. “According to Kyle Owen, associate vice president of facilities services, it will take around a year to develop, and review with the committee. Once that’s in place, they’ll probably start renovations.” While there have been several cosmetic renovations made to the library over the last two decades, Latham said this is the first time since 1986 that there have been structural changes made to the library. “This is the first time in a long time that we’re doing some real changes to the building, so we’re all really excited,” Latham said. “Hopefully, in not too far of a future, we’ll add that third floor. What we need is a presentation space for book talks and film viewings. The tutoring center will actually be in the library, as that’s becoming more common among college campuses. Part of the goal is to put all of these things that students need to use on a daily, or weekly, basis into one place. As the campus becomes more residential, they need that place where they can go at 10 or 11 at night.”
eyes on growth
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C O N S T R U C T I ON
The lot where McGaha once stood and the soon to be spot for the Gunn College of Health Sciences and Human services building on Aug. 16.
Front of the outside of Moffett Library on Aug. 16. FOOTBALL STADIUM Suzanne Shipley, university president, referred to one upcoming project as “the elusive football stadium.” “The bare bones cost is $12 million. I think for it to look as nice as we expect things to look, it’s probably going to be more like $15 million. That $12 million cost would seat about 6,000 students and we probably want it to have a capacity of 7,000 students, maybe 8,000. So I’m saying between $12 million and $15 million,” Shipley said. “A really nice stadium would be more like $20 million, but as I believe it, we start with a field, some stands and a nice gate or two around it and then you expand it as people realize what a big help it will be.” While Shipley said she would like the field to be constructed somewhere on campus, she could not share any poten-
tial location ideas. “I’ve come from a university that had its own stadium and it completely transforms not only the campus culture, but it really gets the city around you excited and engaged. The whole tailgating atmosphere, with or without alcohol, you can have family-friendly tailgating — it’s not all got to be about drinking — but it just creates this spirit and this vibe and this excitement for every game. The town lights up. The whole campus lights up. It makes the students excited to stay here. The band marches around campus and makes sure everybody is ready for the game. You’ve got your coolers out and tents up by noon, and then you hang around with your friends and do fun stuff and then you go to the game. It just creates a reason to live on campus.” Shipley said while she intends to
PHOTOS BY JUSTIN MARQUART | THE WICHITAN
make fundraising for the stadium a priority, she’s made it a personal goal to not take anything away from academics. “We spent the summer identifying seven donors, and none of those donors had a history of giving to academics. They were all either new donors or donors who have given to athletic or student-focused gifts. I could have gone out and gotten all of our top academic donors, who are very generous, and I chose not to do that. They will be approached during the academic portion of the campaign. That’s why I don’t know yet if we’re going to have a stadium.” Shipley said she’s expecting a decision to be made in the coming months, and the ideal scenario would have Mustangs in the new stadium for the 2019 season. Additional reporting by Kara McIntyre
New parking lot under construction off of Hamstead on Aug. 16.
The studio in the new mass comm building on April 25.
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Wichitan Bureau in
London
E
ditor Kara McIntyre and Design Editor Justin Marquart got the experience of a lifetime — they studied abroad at Queen Mary University of London. From July 6 to Aug. 7, they learned the ins and outs of photography and graphic design in England, but in reality, they experienced so much more than that.
KARA’S HIGHLIGHTS
PHOTO BY KARA MCINTYRE | THE WICHITAN
Kara McIntyre, mass communication senior, stands in a big pair of clogs in the streets of Amsterdam on July 15.
Getting “lost” at the London Pride Parade and a random guy smacking me on the youknow-what. Definitely the last place I thought I would get groped. Going into the world’s largest Lush store on Oxford Street, meeting a drag king and getting two free bath bombs. Yes, that all happened in that one store. Spending 11 hours on a coach bus to get to Amsterdam, sitting next to the potent urinesmelling bathroom and near three screaming children, only to spend less than 48 hours there before traveling another 11 hours back to England. Watching a live sex show. Don’t ask, just go see for yourself someday. Visiting more museums and design studios than I ever wanted to in my life — but totally worth it. Traveling to Italy with almost zero plans of what we actually wanted to do (just kidding, this was horrible and I strongly suggest planning ahead). Seeing Pompeii, the Colosseum and the Vatican. Oh, and I got to hear the Pope speak. Meeting the most famous graphic designer in the United Kingdom: Peter Saville. Realizing that our American bubble is not even remotely close to how the rest of the world works. How much Brits laugh at American politics — and how obsessed they are with reporting about Trump in their newspapers. Spending way too much money because “it’s London.” Committing myself to going back to the U.K. and Europe someday.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MARQUART | THE WICHITAN
The Trevi Fountain packed with hordes of people trying to get pictures in Rome on July 22.
JUSTIN’S HIGHLIGHTS
Being able to geek/nerd out at the Making of Harry Potter World Tour in London. Visiting four Italian cities — Ercolano, Pompeii, Rome and Venice — within a fiveday period. Visiting the wonderful city of Amsterdam. Getting separated from people an having to find your way back to campus when you’re on the other side of town. Learning and riding the London tube system. Being able to travel around London for class instead of being in a classroom. Immersing myself into their culture. Getting to drink legally there since I can’t here (I’ll be 21 soon...ish). Learning that I’m a person that enjoys air conditioning. Learning that there are some people you just don’t travel with. Finding out that jet lag is a nuisance. Being able to travel to places I never thought I would go to. Able to cross riding on a ferry off my bucket list. Learning that I have no control when it comes to shopping (R.I.P. to my bank account). Visiting Pentagram, a big graphic design company. Visiting a lot of museums. Not having to worry about how much exercise I did because we would walk a minimum of two miles a day.
PHOTO BY KARA MCINTYRE | THE WICHITAN
Visiting the Vatican inside of Vatican City on July 23.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MARQUART | THE WICHITAN
Kara McIntyre, mass communication senior, and Justin Marquart, printmaking junior, sit in a prop from the Harry Potter franchise at the Making of Harry Potter at Warner Brother Studios in London on Aug. 3.
| Move-In 2017 | 7
Totality occurs when the Moon completely obscures Sun so only the solar corona is showing
AUG. 20-25, 2017
MUSTANGS
! p u d n u o R
Maybe you’re away from home for the first time. Or in a new city. Or just ready to experience college life while learning about Wichita Falls. Mustangs Roundup is a set of opportunities for new students to make friends, learn the Mustangs Way and get acclimated to life at MSU.
Wish Maverick SUNDAY, AUG. 20
Mustangs Roundup check-in, 2:30-4 p.m., CSC Atrium Mustangs Group meeting #1, 4-5 p.m., Quad. Meet your assigned Peer Counselors and review the week. ColorCraze mixer, 8-10 p.m., Quad. Grab your new friends and enjoy the dance party. MONDAY, AUG. 21
Mustangs Group meeting #2, 10 a.m., Quad. Meet up with your assigned peer counselors and begin to experience what the day has in store for you. Scavify competition begins, 11:30 a.m., All Campus. Participate in this digital scavenger hunt to win prizes at the end of the week. Mustangs Group meeting #3, 1:30 p.m., Quad. Choice sessions, 2 and 3 p.m., refer to choice session handout. Learn about your campus life and resources. Mustangs Group meeting #4, 4:30 p.m., Quad Group rotations, 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. Mustangs history and traditions, CSC Comanche. Learn everything you need to know about MSU. Join your fellow Mustangs for some fun and a lot of school spirit.
News You Can Use, Fain Fine Arts Theatre. Watch the peer counselors test their acting skills as they present humorous, yet serious skits about the realities of specific issues related to college life. Dodgeball tournament, 8:30 p.m., Wellness Center. Sign up during Mustangs Group Meeting #3. Game Night @ BSM, 9 p.m., Baptist Student Ministry. Happening every evening at 9 p.m. Play some games, hang out and chill at the BSM. TUESDAY, AUG. 22
Mustangs Group meeting #5, 10 a.m., Quad Group rotations 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. “You Be the Jury,” Clark Student Center. Let’s create a supportive campus community where everyone feels safe and is an active bystander.
a happy 11th birthday Oct. 18 at the All-School Picnic on Sunwatcher Plaza
PHOTO BY BRIDGET REILLY
Colton Shank, nursing sophomore, performing at Lip Sync in the Akin Auditorium. 24 Oct.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MARQUART
Adam Magee, music sophmore, practices trumbone on the field during band practice Aug. 24, 2016.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 29 Family Weekend MONDAY, OCT. 2
SATURDAY, AUG. 26 Hotter’N Hell, downtown FRIDAY, SEPT. 1
FRIDAY, DEC. 8 Academic Excellence Day Last day of classes
PHOTO BY ARIANNA DAVIS
Chiara Del Vecchio, chemistry junior, and Dorcas Matuwana, biology senior, present their research on identification of antibiotic activity during the undergraduate research forum on April 27.
PHOTO BY BRADLEY WILSON
Students take a group selifie in front of the 2014 bonfire.
Campus explodes with activity in fall semester
Shane Jones, undecided sophomore, and Destiny Zynda, exercise physiology junior, are the first to finish at the MSU Cardboard Boat Race where students and organizations build a boat out of cardboard, and duck tape and race across Sikes Lake, Oct, 30, 2015.
PHOTO BY FRANCISCO MARTINEZ
Justin Jones-Fosu was the guest speaker at MSU convocation last fall.
PHOTO BY IZZIEL LATOUR
! s t n e v E
MUSTANGS
FALL ACTIVITIES 2017
CLIP AND SAVE
8 | Move-In 2017 |
Emma Davenport, respiratory care graduate, helps fellow respiratory care graduate put on graduation cap before last spring’s graduation.
PHOTO BY TOPHER MCGEHEE
MORE ATHLETIC EVENTS msumustangs.com MORE UNIVERSITY EVENTS calendar.mwsu.edu MORE WICHITA FALLS EVENTS wichitafalls.org/events/
SATURDAY, DEC. 9 Final exams begin
The Fantasy of Lights opens Nov. 20 on campus. The Fantasy of Lights 5K is Dec. 2.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29 “Give Thanks” Celebration, 7 p.m., CSC Comanche
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 22-26 Thanksgiving Holiday
THURSDAY, NOV. 16 EURECA Forum
THURSDAY, NOV. 2 Reel to Real Film Series #2 | More Than A Word, noon, Legacy
MONDAY, OCT. 30 Last Day for “W” drops
SATURDAY, OCT. 28 Mustangs Rally
TUESDAY, OCT. 24 Music Series at Akin: The Escher Quartet, 7:30 p.m., Akin Auditorium
MONDAY, OCT. 16 Men’s Golf - MSU Invitational, all day, Tennis Courts
MONDAY, OCT. 9 Deadline for May graduates to file for graduation
THURSDAY, OCT. 6 Reel to Real Film Series #1 | Latino’s Beyond Reel: Challenging a Media Stereotype, 7 p.m., Legacy Multipurpose Room
TUESDAY, OCT. 3 Financial Aid Night, 6 p.m., CSC
Deadline for December graduates to file for graduation
PHOTO BY TIMOTHY JONES
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27 First Steps to Success Progam #2, 4 p.m., Sunwatcher Clubhouse
FRIDAY, SEPT. 22 Men’s & Women’s Tennis - MSU Invitational, all day, tennis courts MONDAY, SEPT. 25 Social Media Day, 8:30 a.m., Legacy
MONDAY, SEPT. 18 Critical Conversations #1, 4 p.m., Legacy Multipurpose Room
SATURDAY, SEPT. 16 Mustangs Football vs. Texas A&MKingsville, 7 p.m., Memorial Stadium
THURSDAY, SEPT. 14 James Hoggard Reading Series - SJ Sindu, 7 p.m., WFMA
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13 First Steps to Success Progam #1, 4 p.m., Sunwatcher Conference Room Next Steps to Success #1, 6 p.m., Sunwatcher Conference Room
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6 Part-time Job Fair, 11:30 a.m., CSC Comanche Steps to Success Program Kick-Off, 5 p.m., Sunwatcher Clubhouse
MONDAY, SEPT. 4 Labor Day — No classes
Women’s Soccer vs. Regis (Colo.), 5 p.m., Soccer Field Men’s Soccer vs. Fort Lewis (Colo.), 7 p.m., Soccer Field
Kineosology senior and quarterback Jabin Kilgo practices drills.
MARQUART
PHOTO BY JUSTIN
| Move-In 2017 | 9
10 | Move-In 2017 |
Men’s Soccer scrimmage, 7 p.m., Soccer Field. Cheer on your Mustangs men’s soccer team and help create new traditions.
TUESDAY, AUG. 22 CONTINUED
Cross the line, CSC Comanche. Join your PC for this powerful program. Start a great conversation about what it truly means to be a Mustang. Volunteer info session, CSC Wichita. Learn more about Meals on Wheels and opportunities to give back to the Wichita Falls community. Housing event: brick painting craft, 3-4 p.m., Legacy Housing event: ice cream social, 4-5 p.m., Legacy. Enjoy ice cream and network with your fellow Mustangs and Steve Hilton, our faculty in-residence Comedian: Orlando Baxter, 7 p.m., D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Get a laugh with our guest comedian. Target night, 9 p.m., Target. Forgot something you need in your Res Hall? Target is staying open late and having a DJ with prizes as a welcome to MSU. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23
Mustangs Group meeting #6, 10 a.m., Quad Scavify Blitz, 11 a.m., All Campus. Lightning round for our Scavify competition. Mustangs Group meeting #7, 1:30 p.m., Quad Choice sessions, 2 - 3 p.m., refer to choice session handout. Housing Cookout & Games, 6 p.m., Legacy. Tie-dye a shirt, play some board games, compete in a recreation sports tourney (7:30 p.m.) Movie on the Lawn: Fate of the Furious, 9 p.m., Legacy
FRIDAY, AUG. 25 – ACADEMIC DAY
PHOTO BY GARRETT HUTCHINSON
Taylor Kelley, business managment junior, runs into David Aragon, mass communication sophmore, at the bubble soccer event on the free play fields Oct. 25. THURSDAY, AUG. 24
Mustangs Group meeting #8, 10 a.m., Quad Capture the flag, 1:30 p.m., Quad What 2 Do in Wichita Falls, 2 p.m., Legacy Hall Market Street Learning Commons. Discover what is available in Wichita Falls. Roundup sendoff, 3 p.m., D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Celebrate Roundup week by joining us in our prize giveaway and awards ceremony Party at the Soccer Field, 5 p.m., Soccer Field. Join National Panhellenic Conference, Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council and the BSM for an evening of food, music and games.
SATURDAY, AUG. 26 Hotter ‘N Hell volunteering, register on OrgSync through Volunteer MSU Multicultural New Student Symposium, 8:30 a.m., CSC Comanche RHA Meat and Greet, 5 p.m., Legacy IFC Rush event , 6 p.m., Market Street Learning Commons Multipurpose Room Theater performance: Constellations, 7:30 p.m., Bea Wood Studio Theatre in Fain, Tickets are $5 SUNDAY, AUG. 27 Theater performance: Constellations, 2 p.m., Bea Wood Studio Theatre in Fain, Tickets are $5 Splash bash with MGC, 3 p.m., Wellness Center Pool Sponsors: Athletics, Baptist Student Ministry, The Bridge, Bruce and Graciela Redwine Student Wellness Center, Career Management Center, Clark Student Center, Counseling Center, Dillard College of Business Administration, Equity, Inclusion & Multicultural Affairs, Housing and Dining Services, Interfraternity Council, Multicultural Greek Council, MWSU Theater, Residence Hall Association, Residence Life & Housing, Student Development and Orientation, Student Government Association and University Programming Board. Questions? Email upb@mwsu.edu To request a disability accommodation, please contact Disability Support Services at (940) 397-4140 or disabilityservices@mwsu.edu
@MSU_UPB @MSU_UPB @MSU UPB @MSU UPB Mustangs Shuttle Schedule, Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. MESA Shuttle Schedule Friday & Saturday 4:30 p.m. - 1 a.m.
MONDAY, AUG. 28 Welcome tent, 8 a.m., Sunwatcher Plaza UPB DIY letter art, 11 a.m., CSC Atrium Wellness Center fall kick off, 4 p.m., Wellness Center UPB bingo night, 9 p.m., CSC Comanche TUESDAY, AUG. 29 UPB time capsule letters, 11 a.m., CSC Atrium Ice cream at the Counseling Center, 2:30 p.m., Counseling Center Pre-Convocation party, 6:30 p.m., Sunwatcher Plaza All student convocation, 7 p.m., D.L. Ligon Coliseum The Bridge post-convocation pizza party, 8:30 p.m., Jesse Rogers Promenade
Engineering Kick-Off, 10 a.m., McCoy 136. Engineering students: join us for some information to help jumpstart your career at MSU. Mandatory for incoming engineering students. The Perfect Match: Career and Personality, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., CSC Comanche. Not sure about your major yet? Get help choosing career or major based on your personality. Learning Community meetings, 11a.m., Students will have a chance to meet with their Learning Community Faculty and peer mentors. Learn about the classroom and get to know each other. *Mandatory for LC students. Students will receive an invitation from their teachers about location. Conversations with grad students, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., CSC Comanche Moffett Mystery Tour, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., Moffett Library. Explore the Moffett Library, and discover what we have to offer. You could win a free T-shirt. EURECA, 2 p.m., CSC Wichita. EURECA will present information on our program. Past students will tell about their experience and have a short Q&A session.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 30 Business and brunch, 9:30 a.m., College of Business BSM free fajita lunch, noon, Sunwatcher Plaza Katie Koestner: No-Yes Conversation about Consent, 4 p.m., Akin Auditorium UPB magician: Derek Hughes, 6 p.m., CSC Comanche SGA Waffle Wednesday, 8 p.m., Mesquite Dining Hall THURSDAY, AUG. 31 Coffee and pastries with CMC, 8 a.m., Career Management Center UPB stampede giveaway, 11a.m., CSC Food Court TXDot‘s impaired dodgeball truck, noon, Jesse Rogers Promenade MSU football tailgate, 6 p.m., Memorial Stadium MSU football vs Quincy, 7 p.m., Memorial Stadium FRIDAY, SEPT. 1 Tau Sigma wings and root beer, 4 p.m., CSC Wichita UPB block party– food, games, music, and fun, 6 p.m., Quad UPB movie: Guardians of the Galaxy 2, 9:30 p.m., Market Street Learning Commons Multipurpose Room SATURDAY, SEPT. 2 Multicultural welcome back BBQ, 1 p.m., Quad
| Move-In 2017 | 11
Lamb trades Hardin office Faculty to present play for student center office Aug. 25-26 in Bea Wood KARA MCINTYRE EDITOR
KARA MCINTYRE EDITOR
tudents hurry to get in the Chick-Fil-A line. A group of juniors plays pool in the rec room. The computer lab fills with procrastinating students, rushing to print their essays before class. A few students wander to the bookstore to spend money they don’t really have on MSU gear they don’t really need. These are all sights seen walking through Clark Student Center, but down a newly renovated hallway in the Career Management Center, Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, sits in his new office — away from the quiet halls of the Hardin Administration Building, where he used to reside. This is Lamb’s sixth office in his 18 years at MSU. His office used to be room 112 in Hardin, but now he sits comfortably in his new office across from the bookstore. “We’ve been talking about [the office move] for awhile. It’s been a process, but we were finally able to make it happen,” Lamb said. Dean of Students Matt Park’s assistant retired last semester, so administrators decided to eliminate the position altogether and restructure the student affairs department around that, according to Lamb. They did a small, roughly $20,000 renovation in the Career Management Center — so Lamb’s and Park’s offices could share a space. “Even though [the new office] is across the street, it’s important for the vice president to be where the students are, and that wasn’t in Hardin,” Lamb said. “We [Lamb and Park] now have a central location and share resources, instead of being in two different buildings having two completely different experiences with students.” The goal was to create a student affairs “suite” as Lamb called it, so that students can have one central place to go in relation to student affairs. “I am the student’s vice president. I represent students at the senior administrative level,” Lamb said. “I help make sure their needs are being met and they’re getting everything they need to be successful.” Lamb discussed the importance of informal interaction with students and how that pertains to his job. “I’ve learned that informal interaction is the best way to get the real information from students,” Lamb said. “If I want to go get a soda from the vending machine down the hall, I’ll inevitably run into students because I’m now in the student center, and I’ll get to talk with them in an informal manner. That didn’t happen when I was in Hardin.” Because of the elimination of the Park’s assistant position, the university will be saving
efore the endless juggle of classes, work, studying, extracurriculars, social lives and little amounts of sleep begins, take 70 minutes out of the day and check out the theater department’s production of Constellations, a two-part play by English playwright Nick Payne. Directed by Sally Story, the theater department’s newest assistant professor, the cast includes Christie Maturo, assistant professor of theater, and Paul Hurley, assistant professor of acting and voice at the University of South Alabama. “[The play is about] a relationship [that] exists across multiverses. You’re seeing a relationship happening across all of those universes that could change depending on the characters’ lines,” Story said. Maturo expanded on Story’s point. “Let’s say one of the characters says ‘yes’ instead of ‘no.’ The play kind of goes through what changes take place depending on that particular character choosing ‘yes’ instead of ‘no,’” Maturo said.
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PHOTO BY KARA MCINTYRE | THE WICHITAN
Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, sits at his desk in his new office on Aug. 15. Originally located in Hardin Administration Building, Lamb now resides in Clark Student Center, room 108. about $50,000 total from not having to pay salary and benefits to another staff member. Despite the slight increase in workload, Lamb said he and Park are ready for the challenge. “Technology has changed the way we all work. We now do our own correspondence, our own schedules, using our own phones. We don’t have to have that middle man anymore,” Lamb said. “It’s naïve to think that we could eliminate an entire position and think there wouldn’t be more work, but it’ll be worth it in the end.” Lamb said the student affairs “suite” has an open door policy, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “[The students should] feel free to drop in. I’m here to serve the students and make sure the university is giving them everything they need to succeed,” Lamb said. “Of course, not every single request can be fulfilled, but we do our best.” This open door policy and informal interactions will allow Lamb to better serve his position, he said. “Students can express what works, what doesn’t work, or they can just drop by to visit. The latter doesn’t happen a lot, but we really enjoy when it does,” Lamb said. “We exist to serve them in whatever capacity they need.”
Actress Ruth Wilson and actor Jake Gyllenhaal played the two parts in Constellations on Broadway in 2014 — Wilson was even nominated for a Tony Award based on her performance. It’s also based on a real scientific theory called quantum multiverse, which is the hypothetical set of possible universes, including the universe in which we live. “The play really lends itself to the audience. It has minimal production value and is very actor-driven,” Hurley said. Maturo and Story said they are excited about the play and hope for a large audience, especially freshman. “We’re hoping for a bigger turnout because students won’t have homework, the new freshman will be moved in and the school part hasn’t really started yet,” Maturo said. “This play is only 70 minutes long, so even if someone has a lot to do, it’s only a small part of the day.” COME WATCH: Aug. 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m., and Aug. 27 at 2 p.m. in Bea Wood Studio Theatre. Admission is $5.
12 | Move-In 2017 |
New housing staff expected to bring changes JUSTIN MARQUART DESIGN EDITOR
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n an effort to divide the responsibilities among the resident assistants and staff, Kristi Schulte, housing director, hired five new staff members. “Last year we took some time to take a look at our staffing structure and to make sure that we had the needs meet for the students and staff in the building,” Schulte said. “We made some changes based on where additional re-
sources were needed as well as where we may have been a little overstaffed. Nearly everyone in the department has a new role or function in some way or another.” Schulte has changed how the office works with RAs, focusing more on the idea of building relationships between RAs and their residents. “We have really shifted our community development approach in our programming model with our RAs. Everything relies on this
idea that relationship-building is fundamental for everything we do.” Schulte said. “There is no reason why every single student on campus cannot feel or be connected somewhere, and the RAs play a pivotal role in that.” Schulte said the RAs are trained to look at their community and see who they need to build a relationship with. “Our goal is to make sure that every student on campus realizes that they do matter to the Midwestern community and help
them feel like they have a place to call home,” Schulte said. She said she believes that residents should get involved using housing activities and programs as a place to get connected with others. “Housing can be a very transformational piece of that student experience, but it doesn’t happen if students treat these buildings as if they are only used for beds and keys,” Schulte said, “You have to help students engage and you have to help students connect.”
Meet the new staff:
KISHMA ALEXANDER hall director for Pierce Hall Being a female hall director for an all-male dorm, Alexander said she feels more comfortable working with boys than girls. She also believes her teaching experience can help her communicate and get people to communicate with her by forming a relationship. Alexander wants to be able to communicate and be more present with her residents so they can get to know her and help get them more involved. “Obviously I’m not going to have the time to be an RA, but I want to go into their rooms and one-on-one let them know me,” Alexander said. “Basically I want to continue the tradition of them [residents] always being involved in all programs and be more present so they know who I am.” • Favorite color | Purple • Favorite movie | “Love and Basketball” • Favorite music genre | Reggae • Wants to Visit | Tahiti • Interesting fact | Likes to garden • Graduated from | SUNY Buffalo • Degree | Environmental Studies
THORNTON COLLIER hall director for McCullough Trigg Collier said he wants to bring Trigg out of its shell by getting its residents more involved and more engaged in programs and activities hosted by the RAs. “I heard it’s a quieter and more introverted dorm. I’m an extrovert, as a lot of people will tell you, so for me I would love to get them out of their rooms,” Collier said. “I would love to make it an environment where people know they’re having fun, where it’s a family and they will be able to go out and feel comfortable wherever they go in the building and feel like they have somebody there.” • Favorite color | Blue • Favorite movie | “The Pursuit of Happiness” • Favorite music genre | Hip Hop and R&B • Wants to Visit | Brazil • Interesting fact | Goof ball • Graduated from | Norfolk State University • Degree | Mass communication
TERA HUMPHREY associate director With Humphrey coming into a new position at MSU, she said she feels it’s a good thing because she can step back and look at things in a different light. “Whenever you come into a new position, it’s always exciting to look at things with a new eye, so I think a lot of what I’m going to be doing this next year is asking why? Why do we do what we do? I’m a why person anyway, so understanding context is always helpful,” Humphrey said. • Favorite color | Gold, but can not turn down a good hot pink color • Favorite movie | “Jurassic Park” • Favorite music genre | Pop and rock • Wants to Visit | Anywhere in Europe • Interesting fact | Swam above a shark • Graduated from | Missouri University of Science and Technology for undergraduate and North Carolina State University for graduate degree • Degree | Biology with teacher certificate for undergraduate and a masters degree in education
DEREK SOPER hall director for Legacy Hall Soper wants the upcoming year to be about the continuing growth of Legacy Hall’s identity, especially since it is still in its infancy. “Last year, since it was the first year [Legacy Hall] opened, we didn’t really know the identity of the building yet, so this year we are going to really continue on finding what the identity is,” Soper said. Even though Soper might be an alum from Tarleton, he says that he wears MSU on the outside but still “bleeds purple” on the inside. “Trust me, the students and staff have let me know that I’m from Tarleton. They let me know everyday,” Soper said. “When I got to MSU and I met some of the students the Tarleton rivalry went out of my mind because I’m here for the students.” • Favorite color | Purple • Favorite movie | “Young Guns” • Favorite music genre | Rock, Country and Pop • Wants to Visit | Australia • Interesting fact | Scuba certified instructor, first career choice was to train dolphins • Graduated from | Tarleton • Degree | Animal Science
BRITNY SPENCER graduate assistant for academic initiatives and success Spencer is here to help with academic initiatives and bringing resources to not only RAs but students as well. “One of the reasons why they brought me in was because they want to bring more academic resources into housing and they wanted to kind of take some of the responsibilities from the RAs having to create and seek out academic resources.” Spencer said, “So that’s my job to think about those things and try and make it innovative and accessible to students.” • Favorite color | Purple • Favorite movie | “Nightmare Before Christmas” • Favorite music genre | Alternative • Wants to Visit | Paris • Interesting fact | Paints and collects pop action figures • Graduated from | Texas A&M Kingsville • Degree | BA in Psychology with a minor in art
| Move-In 2017 | 13
14 | Move-In 2017 |
MSU battles $641,000 budget shortfall KARA MCINTYRE EDITOR
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he $641,000 budget shortfall in May presented administrators with a challenge to balance the budget for the 2018 fiscal
Suzanne Shipley
year. Marilyn Fowlé, vice president of administration and finance, said she and other administrators predicted a $1.2 million decrease, but in the last nights of legislative discussions, the Senate and House cut MSU’s budget by $1.75 million. “We try to predict what we’re going to get from all different sources — housing and food services, tuition and fees and state appropriations — and we get those appropriations from the state every two years. We knew that they were going to cut our budget,” Fowlé said. “We spend a lot of time modeling how much money we were going to get, but we didn’t expect to lose that much.” The budget is supposed to be put together by July 1, so this left the university with little time to find $641,000 for this fiscal year. Luckily enough, there was enough in savings from this fiscal year — which ends Aug. 31 — to tackle about half of the shortfall. “We stopped spending right then and took half a million dollars from this fiscal year’s budget and front-loaded it to spend next year. We found the $1.2 million already for next year, because we budgeted for that, but we still need to find half a million dollars,” Suzanne Shipley, university president, said. “But that gives us two years to figure that out instead of just one, because that’s a lot of money to cut out of a budget at short notice.” According to Shipley, about 25 percent of Texas universities got the maximum cut possible, including MSU. Fifty percent of universities had a 5-10 percent decrease, and the final 25 percent had either no decrease or even an increase in funds. “It was not a very generous year for higher education. That was in part because in the last session, they gave us [MSU] all this capital funding — that’s how we’re going to be building the health sciences and human services building, the additions to Moffett Library —
$1.2
Million PREDICTED budget decrease.
“We look at every single place we can grow and kind of kick it up a notch. Instead of being happy with moderate growth, we try to get more significant growth, and a lot of that is marketing.” SUZANNE SHIPLEY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT
and they gave us individually about $54 million,” Shipley said. “So it’s not unusual to have a bad session after that, but we’ve got to get better.” Part of this issue stems from the university’s lack of representation in the state, because the cities with bigger populations are more likely to have representatives in the state than those of smaller towns. “They get behind closed doors and we have no idea what goes on in there. We don’t have any representation in the committee from this area, and a lot of times if a city has someone on the committee who is from there, that representative will look out for their home city,” Fowlé said. “We don’t have good representation, but that’s always been an issue.” Both Shipley and Fowlé hope that the Flower Mound location will increase awareness of MSU and aid in the university’s representation. “The whole outreach to Flower Mound can be really helpful, along with the brand extension to MSU Texas. It’s just so easy to remember the name MSU Texas,” Shipley said. “When you say Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, by the time you’ve said it all, they’ve decided you’re in Kansas.” Fowlé agreed with Shipley. “The student population from Wichita Falls area is declining, so most students are coming from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We’re com-
peting with a lot of other schools and we’re not as well-known, so it’s an uphill battle — University of Texas, Texas A&M University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Tarleton State University and others,” Fowlé said. “We hope the Flower Mound extension will help with recruitment.” Another important piece of the budget is enrollment numbers. State allocations are based on semester credit hours and total enrollment, so MSU’s slow growth plays a role in the budget. “Part of it was we didn’t do our part — we need to grow. There’s funding from many different sources, but the place we lost the most funding is a set pool of money that is an enrollment match,” Shipley said. “When everybody grows more than we grow, there’s less of the pie for us. If there’s $500 of [an enrollment] pie, everybody gets a piece, and whoever grows the most percentage gets the biggest piece — and we didn’t grow at all.” Shipley said that they have increased the budget for marketing to help spread the word about MSU to more areas. “We look at every single place we can grow and kind of kick it up a notch. Instead of being happy with moderate growth, we try to get more significant growth, and a lot of that is marketing,” Shipley said. “We’ve never put any money into marketing, so people haven’t heard of us except through word of mouth — which is the best way — but we have fairly significantly increased the funding in marketing.” Fowlé said the enrollment budget prediction is 6,150 students. “Enrollment plays a huge factor into the budget,” Fowlé said. “We budgeted conservatively just to be safe.” She also said we have recruiters located in Dallas full-time to work in the metropolitan area, since about 1/3 of our students come from the DFW area. “It’s really hard to grow your enrollment from a rural base. [DFW] is going to be our pocket for growth,” Shipley said. “It makes sense to go to Houston and San Antonio too, but it’s really DFW that’s going to make it happen for us.”
$1.75 $641k 6,150
Million ACTUAL budget decrease.
Budget shortfall next two years.
Predicted enrollment.
| Move-In 2017 | 15
The longest a total solar eclipse can last is 7.5 minutes.
Fee allocations for 19 groups cut KARA MCINTYRE EDITOR
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ecause of a $641,000 budget shortfall caused by cuts in the state allocations, individual student fee allocations took a hit too. According to figures provided by Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, of the 30 groups that receive student fee allocations, 19 of them received budget cuts. “We tried to be as equitable as possible and look at the current balances of everyone’s budgets to see who had healthy ones that could possibly carry over more into the next year,” Lamb said. “We all have to share in the budget decrease.” While there were no changes in what students actually pay, there were changes in what qualifies as a student services fee, which were recommended by the Student Allocations Committee on March 3. For example, the cycling team and the director of equity, inclusion and multicultural affairs — Syreeta Greene — were partially funded by student service fees last semester,
but are now fully funded by them. “It’s changing the tap but it’s still the same water,” Charlie Zamastil, head cycling coach, said. “It’s just coming from a different source.” Even though cycling is a sport, it’s not considered an NCAA sport by university standards, which is why it’s under the student service fees umbrella instead of athletic fees. “USA Cycling is the governing body of all collegiate cycling, rather than the NCAA. Even Tile IX doesn’t apply to us — one issue with that is per NCAA standards, probably every kid that has ever raced a bike has received a pair of socks or a free T-shirt with their ride,” Zamastil said. “That could be used to say that they’re professional athletes per NCAA standards. USA Cycling has lots of reasons why they haven’t joined the NCAA, but that’s just one of them.” Despite this “change in the tap,” as Zamastil said, he doesn’t foresee a change in the team’s day-to-day operations. “We’re going to continue to operate as normal and we’re going to seek outside sponsorship to supplement our budget, as we have been. We’re supporting a men’s team and a
women’s team, we race essentially three different seasons— mountain bike, road and track seasons — so we’re competing year round. So that’s three seasons worth of trips that we have to make do with our budget, so we seek sources of outside funding to meet those needs.” Lamb said he informed the department heads about the budget cuts in June, just after they got the news about the budget shortfall. “We wanted to make sure they had an opportunity, even a small one, to inform the necessary people about what’s going on,” Lamb said. “Everyone should have seen their budgets by now.” Greene said she cares less about the money and more about the work. “In doing this work, you always hold the value of doing good work regardless of where the money comes from. That’s what’s most important to me — making sure that I am living up to the mission of this office,” Greene said. “So long as we have some kind of budget to be able to do the things that we’re tasked to doing, that’s what matters most.” Largest budget cuts: Music (55 percent of
original recommendation), rugby (67 percent), The Wichitan (71 percent), Wai-Kun (75 percent) Largest budget increases: Cycling (381 percent of original recommendation), director of equity, inclusion and multicultural affairs (179 percent), Student Development (127 percent) and Disability Support Services (103 percent) This said, it’s important to consider the following from Keith Lamb: Several areas had balances that can be carried from 2016-17 to 2017-18, and this was considered. The final adjusted numbers include pay and benefit changes, which are not known at the time student allocations occur. As such, every year the final budget deviates somewhat from student allocations recommendations for budgets that have salary and benefit lines. This year, for example, state benefits will cost more and we have continued implementing the adjusted salary grades, bring to minimum and parity.
Department of Radiologic Sciences Medical Imaging Education Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Technology Dual certification in radiography and computed tomography nly bachelor s degree in radiography in the state of e as Highly motivated and nationally recognized faculty Competitive scholarships available for qualified applicants
I chose Midwestern State because of its reputation in the radiologic sciences profession. The flexible programs and supportive faculty helped me achieve my professional goals. Krystal Francique, BSRS, RT(R)
16 | Move-In 2017 |
Fall sports open season Aug. 31 Football team season opener at home BRIDGET REILLY PHOTOJOURNALIST
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s we prepare for our first day of the fall semester, MSU’s athletic programs have already been hard at work. Football, as well as men’s and women’s soccer have been in pre-season camps this past week, preparing and refining their skills. “Because we had a lot of returners last year, all we had to do was make sure they were fit, refine what they already knew and get better at the things we did wrong the year before,” Doug Elder, men’s soccer head coach, said. “The transition is harder [now], because when you have 14 new players, you have a two-week window to get them all ready and playing they way you want them to play.” The young blood of the men’s soccer team does not stop Elder from giving the athletes his best. “I’ll be coaching harder this year here than I have in a while, because we have so many new players who need to learn,” Elder said. “It makes it fun — sometimes those seasons are more rewarding because you know how hard you worked, and if you’re successful with a team like that, then you can look back and be like, ‘Wow, we made this new group of players play like that.’”
FOOTBALL
Head Football Coach Bill Maskill also has a young team this season, with 49 out of 120 of his players being freshmen. “We are going to be a lot younger this year. Our defensive line is young, but our linebackers are a little bit more mature,” Maskill said. “We have a lot of new faces in the offensive line. With a young team, we have to improve on our technique and our fundamentals, we have to get better at what we are doing.” Fundamentals are not the only technique they are working on. With new faces come new friendships; however, the bond between this football team is just the same. “We are a brotherhood. We all do everything together and no man gets left behind. We compete and push each other everyday and it has contributed tremendously to our
locker room,” D.J. Myers, wide receiver and psychology senior, said. Myers said he is looking forward to playing more home games. “I am excited for the opportunity to being playing six games here in Wichita Falls this season. We were road warriors last season, traveling seven out of 11 times,” Myers said. “It will be exciting to log less miles and have our biggest rivals come to us.”
SOCCER
Women’s soccer is another sport with new faces — just over half the team is new recruits. “This year we will be very young, unlike last year when we had seven or eight seniors starting,” Imani Morlock, defender and undecided junior, said. “We have many new freshman coming in with tons of potential, so it will be interesting to see how everyone plays together.” Morlock believes that even with the fresh faces, the team is adjusting just right. “This year our team chemistry is great. The freshman are fitting in very well and are adjusting to our style of play well,” Morlock said. “We have some fun personalities that will make the season very fun.”
CROSS COUNTRY
Head Cross Country Coach Koby Styles believes experience will pay a major part in this season’s successes. “The one thing we have going for us is that we now have experience on our side. I look at the class that will be juniors this season, and we only have three seniors on the team, so we always used inexperience almost as an excuse or a crutch to lean on in the last couple of years,” Styles said. “But now we’re at the point where we have veteran leadership and we have a lot of upperclassmen, so I think they are going to be ready for whatever the season will throw at them.”
CYCLING
In the past, the cycling team has had races almost every weekend. Head Coach Charlie
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MARQUART | THE WICHITAN
Zach Purcell, business finance freshman, catches the ball during practice on the football fields on Aug. 16. Zamastil is looking forward to a more relaxed, but competitive season. “I am looking forward to racing more regional races this year. Not being limited by an overstuffed collegiate calendar gives us opportunities to advertise our program across Texas to talented junior racers who might be interested in attending MSU one day,” Zamastil said. With the cycling team being slightly smaller than previous years, Zamastil believes a stronger bond will be an easy find amongst these riders. However, with new riders comes different experiences. “This year’s team has changed,” Brissia Montalvo, cycling team member and exercise physiology graduate, said. “We lost some great riders that were a huge part of the team. But I believe we will be getting new riders that will contribute big time. The mentality has changed for the better, since every experience brings knowledge.”
VOLLEYBALL
The women’s volleyball team has jumped right into the season with their first game being played Aug. 16 — all the way in Argentina. Starting off the season quite differently this year, the women have a completely new mindset. “I’m looking forward to working towards our goals and moving forward in a positive direction with this team,” Addison Semer, middle blocker and mass communication senior, said. “We have high expectations and I am excited to see us achieve them.” The trip to Argentina has made the women’s volleyball team more resilient to changes and have a better appreciation of different cultures. “Argentina is a great experience,” Semer said. “We’re facing challenges and having to adapt to different things. It’s neat to see the different culture and how it compares to back home. We came in willing to try new things and excited to experience the culture.
UPCOMING GAMES Football • Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Quincy University • Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Texas A&M Kingsville • **Family Day** Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Western New Mexico • Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Texas A&M Commerce • **Homecoming** Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. | Mustangs vs. West Texas A&M • **Military Appreciation Day** Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Tarleton State
Men’s Soccer • Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Fort Lewis • Sept. 3 at 2 p.m. | Mustangs vs. UC Colorado Springs • Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Rogers State • Sept. 23 @ 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Newman
Women’s Soccer • Sept. 1 at 5 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Regis • Sept. 3 at 12 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Colorado Mines • Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Colorado State-Pueblo • Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. | Mustangs vs. Texas A&M International