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@PPUGlobe February 19, 2020
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Issue 7
Conservatory reinvents STUDENTS LEARN TO WRAP THEIR ROCKET dance concentrations Jordyn Hronec Editor-Elect
The incoming freshman class of 2024’s dance majors may be the first students to experience a brand-new structure to the dance program in the Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA). According to the program chair, Garfield Lemonius, concentrations will no longer be offered to dancers, and the option of obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree, rather than a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, will no longer be available. This change comes in favor of offering more opportunities for cross-curriculum between schools for dance majors, with focuses in education, entrepreneurship, choreography and leadership. Currently, the program offers both a B.A. and a B.F.A. option for dancers, as well as requiring dancers to pick a concentration of either ballet, modern or jazz within the dance major. “The goal is to do away with concentrations as they are and as they relate to focusing on technique area,” Lemonius said. “Right now
it is a constant focus on ballet, modern and jazz, and the faculty decided that in order to prepare dancers to be versatile movers, we will move away from them focusing just on technique and focus on them being overall versatile movers.” Lemonius also said that the decision to eliminate the B.A. option was made due to the amount of students who chose the B.F.A. over the B.A. “We found that the majority, I’d say 90-percent, of the incoming freshman would select the B.F.A.,” Lemonius said. According to the Point Park website, the current B.A. program requires 120 credits to be completed, while the B.F.A. program requires 130-134 credits. However, the main difference between a B.A. degrees is that the B.A. is considered to be an academic degree, while the B.F.A. is considered to be a professional degree, with less of a focus on liberal arts. Lemonius explained that in order to make the program change, a new program guide had to be cre-
DANCE page 3
Katie Williams | The Globe Psychology major Trinity Jensen smiles while playing in a ball pit at Campus Activities Board’s space-themed Condom Carnival in the Student Center Gym on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020.
Clerical workers reach contract agreement
WHAT’S GOIN’ ON? ON CAMPUS
SPRING BREAK IN THE CITY
Wednesday, Feb. 19
Beauty and the Beast
NEDA Informational Table
Feb. 14-23 Benedum Center
9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Lawrence Hall Lobby
Campus Canines
PGH Fashion Summit
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., Lawrence Hall Lobby
NEDA “Gather Around the Table”
Feb. 24, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Union Trust Building
Point Park Idol
Post Malone
4-6 p.m., Lawrence Hall Ballroom 7-9 p.m., Lawrence Hall 200
Feb. 24, 8 p.m. PPG Paints Arena
NEDA “Open Mic Night”
The Lumineers
7-9:45 p.m., JVH Auditorium
Feb. 25, 7 p.m. PPG Paints Arena
Thursday, Feb. 20
NEDA Informational Table
CATS
9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Lawrence Hall Lobby
Mindfulness Workshop
Feb. 25 - March 1 Benedum Center
NEDA Polaroids with The Factory
Pittsburgh Winter Beer Festival
1-2 p.m., West Penn 511
4-6 p.m., Lawrence Hall Lobby
Faculty Dance Concert Bake Sale
Feb. 28-29, 7:30 p.m. - 11 p.m. David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Centaur Cinema
Sportsburgh 10K Tour
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., Lawrence Hall Lobby 7-9 p.m., WP 260
March 1, 9-11 a.m. PPG Paints Arena
NEDA Film Screening
7-9:45 p.m., JVH Auditorium
Friday, Feb. 21
Faculty Dance Concert Bake Sale 6-10 p.m., GRW Lobby
Saturday, Feb. 22
Faculty Dance Concert Bake Sale 12-10 p.m., GRW Lobby
Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball vs. Ohio Christian University 1-2:30 p.m. & 3-4:30 p.m., CACC Allegheny
Sunday, Feb. 23
Faculty Dance Concert Bake Sale 12-6 p.m., GRW Lobby
Alysse Baer | The Globe
Dara Collins Editor-in-Chief
Clerical workers at Point Park University reached their first contract agreement with the institution as members of United Steelworkers (USW) on Feb. 10, 2020, according to a USW press release. “We are pleased to have come to an agreement with our clerical workers, who play an important role in the day-to-day functions of the University,” Point Park’s Managing Director of Marketing and Public Relations Lou Corsaro said. The contract affects six employees at the university, according to Corsaro. Damon Di Cicco, president of USW Local 1088 and adjunct faculty member in the School of Communication, explained the employees affected are those who work in the copy center or the mailroom. This is the first contract the university’s clerical workers reached as a part of USW, and the agreement includes a wage increase, the first the employees have had since 2017. “I think the real issue is that they hadn’t had a new contract for quite a long time with their previous union, so
there was still an old contract that was still in effect that was protecting them in a variety of different ways, but it hadn’t been renegotiated for several years,” Di Cicco said via phone. “As a result, they hadn’t seen a raise, or any of those kinds of material gains in a long while.” The USW press release details the improvements of the new contract. Point Park’s clerical employees will receive an immediate 2.75 percent wage increase for 2020 and a lump-sum bonus. Wage increases are also ensured for the next two years. “That means that the six people represented by this contract, they will get whatever raise the rest of the staff receives, but if the rest of the staff receives no raise, they still will get a one-percent increase,” Di Cicco said. “If the university were to freeze wages due to low enrollment or low revenues or whatever the reason might be, our members will still get a minimum of a one-percent raise.” The agreement also includes improved vacation benefits. Di Cicco explained that new hires will be eligible for more vacation sooner.
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