Nov. 24, 2015 | The Reflector

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THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

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Overcrowding causes some registration stress By Jessica Mehrlich STAFF WRITER

Although the registration dates for second semester all have passed, many students are still scrambling to piece together their schedules. According to Registrar Kristine Dozier, particularly in the freshman class, students were forced onto the waitlists in an unprecedented number of courses. Some students have been waitlisted for so many courses that as of right now, they do not have full course loads for next semester. Dozier said this situation will not last. She explained that the process is far from over and is confident that by Jan. 19 students will have their schedules filled out. “One thing we always try to tell students, even when they come in for their very first registration, is [that] this could be temporary for you; you might change your major,” Dozier said. “Lots of things change. We have two months before the start of next semester to plan accordingly, get the courses a student needs and work with the departments and the colleges.” Dozier attributes this stress in the registration process to the record-setting sizes of the past two freshman classes. “We have had two record freshman classes come in,” Dozier said. “When you take into account the two record freshman classes and the new gen ed core that went in three years ago, we have a

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different distribution of courses; we have a higher demand for courses; and the initial planning for that demand with two very large classes needing all those courses was not thoroughly vetted before registration opened, especially for freshmen. That’s why freshmen were 15 minutes into registration and were waitlisted for all of their classes.” Dozier expressed understanding about the frustration students are facing. She is making sure that the Registrar’s Office is doing all that it can to help get students’ schedules where they want them to be. “I completely understand that stress, and we are very aware of it,” Dozier said. “I can say that we are very proactive in our office about identifying the needs of the really high waitlisted courses. We are identifying the needs of students who are below full-time status. We are very proactive.We reached out to the deans of the colleges where those high-demand courses were, and now it’s a process. If we do open up new sections, we first have to contact the waitlist students.” Once a new section is opened up, waitlisted students will receive an email offering them a seat. Unlike a typical registration scenario, students will have to notify the Registrar’s Office that they do want the open seat and wait to be manually added to the course. Once all of these students have responded, or the

deadline has passed, the remaining seats will open up and be available to all students. “You will be where you need to be at the start of second semester,” Dozier said. She is confident that the Registrar’s Office will be able to resolve the current scheduling issues and wants students to know that they will not be left with incomplete schedules. “We are constantly working and trying to figure that [scheduling issues] out for students,” Dozier said. “We aren’t going to leave them with that [incomplete schedules]. It’s not the end.…We would never let students be in that situation.” Vice President for Student and Campus Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli believes that this is all part of being at a growing university. “Academic Affairs and CASA [Core Academic Skills Assessment] are every semester trying to look at the course load compared to where students’ majors are,” Vitangeli said. “I think it’s something that the university is looking at with the growth in students, but also with the courses that are offered. I think that slowly but surely they are getting to a good equation for how students can get in.” Although this situation is frustrating, Vitangeli does not think that this is an issue specific just to the University of Indianapolis. “I think that every institution probably

strugtaken by upper classmen, what gles a little is left for freshmen? bit with making sure there are enough seats for students Graphic by Josie Seach that want classes. And the reality is we only have so many faculty, once-boasted 1:15 ratio down to 1:11. and they can only teach so many classes,” Vitangeli suggested that students meet Vitangeli said. “You know the order with their advisors and put together their has always been that upper classmen four-year plan, to make sure that they get have priority getting into classes over all of their courses in before their schedfreshmen [and] sophomores. I think it’s uled graduation date. frustrating, but it’s also a fact of higher “I think it’s the worst when you get to education. … We will have to hire new your senior year and you’re not able to get faculty. ... Every year, there are new fac- into something,” Vitangeli said. “Try to ulty being added to areas where classes take as many classes toward your major are overflowing.” [as you can], even if they are ones that Some may think that this problem may not exactly be in your plan [but] that could be solved by making class sizes get you to a place where you can get in all larger. However, this is not the case. Vi- of your credits before you graduate. And tangeli said through the addition of really work with your advisor. Get those faculty, class sizes have dropped from the gen eds in early.”

for only a few days, but they ended up being there for three months. His unit was part of the assault force in the second battle of Fallujah, also known as Operation Phantom Fury. The whole city of about 250,000 people was evacuated for the battle. At the time, Fallujah was declared the most dangerous city in Anbar, the most dangerous province in Iraq, said Ranbarger. Fallujah was the biggest urban operation for the Marines since Hue City, Vietnam. Ranbarger said he fought “street-by-street, house-by-house and room-by-room.” He said that he saw many horrible things such as his friend being shot 15 times, and dogs and cats that were left behind devouring dead bodies. He said he saw a cat hiding in a human rib cage, and a dog carrying around a human hand. He said he was convinced that he was going to die, but the unit’s humor

got them through it. Ranbarger said he had suffered from memory loss and traumatic brain injury from the battle, but he never saw a psychiatrist. He said that his brain had rewired itself, and he was a danger to all around him, especially in his sleep. He said he tried to suffocate or strangle people in his sleep, and barricade the room with pillows. After his deployment, he was helping to train 20 new marines for Afghanistan. But in his sleep, he said he would curse at them, shout orders and kick them. Ranbarger could not remember doing any of it. His unit of Marines staged an intervention with him and told him that he needed help. He said that when he told his command that he thought he had PTSD, they did not understand and did not care. They e ven thought he

was trying to get out of deployment to Afghanistan and told him that PTSD was a coward’s disease, according to Ranbarger. Ranbarger said he was harassed by some fellow Marines by being spit on and pushed around. Eventually, he was transferred to the 3rd Marine Regiment, he said, for a “failure to adapt.” He was forced to pick up garbage and was not allowed to fight. After a while, the Navy gave him 10 percent disability and medically separated him from the Marine Corps, which ended his career. After his retirement, there were some civilians who respected him and thanked him for his service, but there also were others who treated him like an outsider. He said once he even was told that he was an ignorant tool of the military industrial complex who shed blood for oil and should be ashamed. “I felt alone,” Ranbarger said. “I felt depressed. There were times that I had a loaded weapon, with a pistol in my hand, ready to pull that trigger.” One of the things that helped him through his PTSD was forming bonds with friends. One of the times that he had a loaded weapon to his head, he called his friend to see if he could hang out. He then took the round that would

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Retired Marine tells the story of his ongoing battle with PTSD By Jessica Hoover NEWS EDITOR

at reflector.uindy.edu

Novelist Scott Russell Sanders reads for Kellogg Writers Series The Kellogg Writers Series rounded out its fall semester readings with novelist Scott Russell Sanders. Associate Professor of English Kevin McKelvey introduced Sanders.

UIndy chaplain pens first book Many of the University of Indianapolis faculty have written and published academic or scholarly books. Jeremiah Gibbs’ first book “Apologetics after Lindbeck” is derived from his dissertation and has been about five years in the making. “Apologetics after Lindbeck” takes a look at postmodern theology and how it deals with faith and reason.

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Retired Lance Cpl. Matthew Ranbarger of the United States Marine Corps came to the University of Indianapolis to share his story about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on Nov. 9. The event was in collaboration with the Student Veteran Association and sponsored by Active Minds, a registered student organization that promotes awareness of mental health issues. Ranbarger said since he was a child, he had wanted to be a marine, but there were some obstacles he had to overcome first. He said he had an inhaler and was put on Ritalin, so he had to fight for more than a year to get into the Marine Corps. He enlisted at the age of 18 and was shipped off to boot camp by 19. When he took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, he earned a high enough score to qualify for any job in the military. However, Ranbarger still chose to join the infantry, which puts a soldier on the front lines in direct attacks against the enemy. In 2004, he and his unit were deployed to Fallujah in Iraq, expecting to be there

have gone into his head and gave it to his friend, telling him that he had saved his life. His friend still holds onto that round to this day. “I struggle every day, but the fight gets easier the more that I’m not alone,” Ranbarger said. “If I feel alone, I call somebody and talk to them. ... Humans are not meant to be alone. We are social creatures.” There are many veterans who go through their lives not even knowing that they suffer from PTSD. According to Ranbarger, there are 22 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans every day who attempt suicide because they did not get help. Following his speech, a question-andanswer session was held. Although there were many questions, one student simply said, “Thank you.” This was followed by a round of applause and a standing ovation. Sophomore respiratory therapy major Katie Monk said that she had gained some useful advice on how to treat people with PTSD. “[I learned] how to help people cope with their issues,” Monk said. “You may not know that they have it [PTSD]. So always treat veterans with respect. Don’t shun them or treat them differently than other people. Be respectful of them.”

New engineering programs come to UIndy Software, industrial and system engineering will be available in the fall of 2016 By Kylee Crane EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The University of Indianapolis will enhance its E in the acronym STEM— which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics—with the integration of software and industrial and system engineering programs in the fall of 2016. UIndy has had a dual degree program with Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis since the 1990s. Students in the five-year program graduate with two degrees, one from UIndy and one from IUPUI. Associate Professor of Physics and Earth Space Sciences Stephen Spicklemire said that there is no intention to get rid of the dual program. The administration and faculty were just looking for a less time-consuming alternative for engineering students. “The students get a degree from

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UIndy in either chemistry, mathematics, computer science or physics, and they get a degree from IUPUI in either electrical, computer or biomedical engineering,” Spicklemire said. “Not all students are attracted to that because of the fact that it is a five-year program, so we looked for a way we could develop more traditional four-year programs [that] would be more attractive.” According to Dean of the Shaheen College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of English Jennifer Drake, the university looked into engineering programs that were not only unique to the state of Indiana, but also had a large number of jobs available for students in the future. Drake said that the liberal arts aspect of UIndy makes the programs unique and

attractive to prospective students. “We saw the opportunity to distinguish ourselves,” Drake said. “We said, ‘What would make these programs in a school the size of UIndy seem special?’ And what makes us special is that we would be graduating engineers who would have a strong, broad background in liberal arts and in sciences. Engineers who graduate from UIndy— given the quality of our general education core—would know how to write, speak [and] think critically, engage with people who are different from them and would just have a broad-based education. That’s really distinctive.” Because of the general education core requirements, Drake said the students are

“We looked for a way we could develop more traditional fouryear programs [that] would be more attractive.”

unable to take a lot of engineering electives, so they have embedded projects throughout the curriculum for students to work on, which she called the design spine. Spicklemire, who has taken the role of creating the curriculum and the design spine, said the administration will be working with industry partners, and possibly the health science departments on campus as well. “If you look at what employers want engineers to have that they don’t see much of is the ability to work together in teams from the beginning,” Spicklemire said. “So we developed this set of courses [that] they take throughout their time here, where they work in teams with other kinds of engineers to solve engineering problems. It’s all about designing solutions to problems that we find.” Although the programs will not officially begin until next fall, students already are able to submit applications for admission into the programs.

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