INSIDE
MS Awareness Week in Dallas
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Missing our police reports?
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Origins caters to Paleo diet
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SMU Hip Hop provides community
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monday
march 3, 2014
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Obama appoints Simmons dean Jehadu Abshiro News Writer jabshiro@smu.edu David J. Chard, dean of Simmons School of Education and Human Development, has been appointed as Chair of the National Board for Education Sciences. Chard was nominated by President Obama and approved by the U.S Senate in 2012 as a member of the board. He was then elected as chair by the board when the previous board chair finished her two-year term. “I was not expecting it at all,” Chard said. As chair of the board, his responsibilities include organizing tri-annual board meeting agendas, working with congressional staff and other stakeholders on the Education Sciences Reform Act and institutes budget. “It’s an honor to be in this position, but this is a very important position because this is our research and development effort for the country,” Chard said. The 15-member board, part of the U.S. Department of Education, advises the research priorities for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The institute manages, monitors and funds education research for the U.S. It also runs
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David J. Chard
small and large scale educational innovation, basic social science and psychological studies related to teaching and learning. IES has a budget of $450 billion annually. “If you believe that education is the driver of a health economy, and it’s the thing that helps people meet their dreams, then being involved in the research and development to improve it is one of the things most people dream to be part of,” he said. He will be in Washington monthly to meet with congressional and institute staff. “This type of role you build trust with institute staff congressional staff and outside stake holders,” he said. “When you ask for more money, they believe you’re using that effectively, they trust you’re being honest. Those kinds of things are the things you use in any kind
Student Life
of life relationship.” Chard turned down a job before as Commissioner of Education and Special education because he would have to taken a leave of absence. “I didn’t want to leave SMU,” he said.” It was a critical time in the building of the school. We’re building a team that was excited about doing something new.” Chard came to SMU in 2007 as the founding dean of Simmons. He built the faculty, increased funding for the school and developed the curriculum. “Before David the school really was only being planned,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul Ludden. A goal for Simmons is to have a school that thinks about education differently. Chard emphasizes using a “what works” model rather than “what has always been done” model based on research both as board chair and dean. “Having David manage that committee will be a positive for education in our country,” Ludden said. “David understands the educational landscape, need for leaders in education and the need for new ideas in education.” Chard believes there are two parts of education. Building the knowledge and skill of conveying information and the relationship
of people and education. “The best teachers are those committed to their students and the students feel that,” Chard said. “Even if you’re not their favorite deliverer of information, if they trust you’re there for the right reasons then students will want to have a relationship with you because you believe in them.” Chard taught high school math and chemistry in public school in the U.S. and in the Peace Corps in Lesotho, Africa. “These kids were committed and showing up for class each day,” he said. “Unfortunately there wasn’t any job prospect for them.” Education becomes more expensive as a student progresses in Africa. There is an underdeveloped economy, leaving students with only the options of going into education, government or clergy. “I learned public education is very important to the life we have,” Chard said. “Even though we complain about it.” Chard would ride horseback to rural areas to deliver school supplies to elementary schools. “I still think about it a lot,” he said. He taught for a total of 8 years before going to graduate school in
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Multicultur al
SMU provides support for veterans Lauren Castle Contributing Writer lcastle@smu.edu One day when walking into class, Brandon Montgomery noticed a student looking at him. The student did a double-take when his fully bearded classmate sat down. Finally, he turned around asking Montgomery his age. That is when Montgomery knew he would be considered the old guy in his classes. Like many student veterans at SMU, Montgomery, 30, is older than the typical college student. The SMU senior served in the United States Marine Corps for almost five years. Coming to SMU for college is an adjustment for veterans. They are adapting to civilian life along with getting an education. “You kind of go from incredibly structured in everything you do. From waking up in the morning, to when you work out and eat, and all that stuff, to
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ELLEN SMITH / The Daily Campus
The Black Excellence Ball is held annually at the end of Black History Month.
Black alumni celebrate excellence at annual ball Kian Hervey Contributing Writer khervey@smu.edu The Annual Black Excellence Ball hosted by the Association of Black Students was entirely different from years past. The multicultural group invited its alumni counterpart, SMU Black Alumni, to participate in the capstone Black History Month Event held Saturday in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom. The end result, a ball, history maker reception and scholarship event, was sheer excellence.
“It’s amazing how much history is in this room right now,” Mistress of Ceremonies Casey Ferrand said. In 1952, Perkins School of Theology admitted SMU’s first African-American students to campus. The five men started integration on campus and graduated from Perkins a few years later, becoming the first faces of color to receive SMU degrees. One of the five, James Vernon Lyles, traveled back to SMU for the History Maker event. The 85-year-old journeyed all the way from California, inspired by the
university finally acknowledging the integration achieved by Lyles and his four peers. “Sixty-one years ago, we dressed a little different,” he said, referencing black men on campus during the 1950s. “The only other black people I saw on campus wore a white coat and carried a mop. Look at what we have now.” More than 11 alumni were honored at the event, ranging from class of ‘71 to ‘06. Three African-American Board of Trustee members were also in
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World
US prepares tough response to Russia Associated PRess Western powers on Sunday prepared a tough response to Russia’s military advance into Ukraine and warned that Moscow could face economic penalties, diplomatic isolation and bolstered allied defenses in Europe unless it retreats. The crisis may prove to be a game-changer for President Barack Obama’s national security policy, forcing him to give up his foreign policy shift to Asia and to maintain U.S. troop levels in Europe to limit Russia’s reach. The ill will and mistrust also could spill over on two other global security fronts — Syria and Iran — where Russia has been a necessary partner with the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave no indication that he would heed the West’s warnings. Hundreds of armed men surrounded a Ukrainian military base in Crimea. In Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk alerted allies that “we are on the brink of disaster.” Secretary of State John Kerry said he has consulted with other world leaders, and “every single one of them are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate Russia with respect to this invasion.” He was considering a stop in Kiev during his trip this week to Paris and Rome for discussions on Lebanon and Syria. In Brussels, NATO’s secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said Russia’s actions have violated a U.N. charter. He said the alliance was re-evaluating its relationship with Russia. “There are very serious repercussions that can flow out of this,” Kerry said. Beyond economic sanctions and visa bans, freezing Russian assets, and trade and investment penalties, Kerry said Moscow risks being booted out of the powerful Group of Eight group of world powers as payback for the military incursion. Several senators also called for bolstered missile defense systems based in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia is “going to be inviting major difficulties for the long term,” said Kerry. “The people of Ukraine will not sit still for this. They know how to fight.” Still, it was clear that few in the West were prepared to respond immediately to Putin with military force. At the Vatican, Pope Francis used his traditional Sunday midday appearance in St. Peter’s Square to urge world leaders to promote dialogue as a way of resolving the crisis in Ukraine. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., discussing the potential of U.S. military strikes against Russian troops in Crimea, said, “I don’t think anyone is advocating for that.” Rubio said it would be difficult
to rein in Moscow. He said Putin has “made a cost-benefit analysis. He has weighed the costs of doing what he’s done, and ... clearly he has concluded that the benefits far outweigh the costs. We need to endeavor to change that calculus.” As a starter, Rubio and fellow GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the Obama administration should return to plans it abandoned in 2009 to place long-range missile interceptors and radar in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia believed the program was aimed at countering its own missiles and undermining its nuclear deterrent. The White House denied that, and has worked instead to place mediumrange interceptors in Poland and Romania — aimed at stopping missiles from Iran and North Korea. Experts said potential U.S. budget cuts to Army units based in Germany also could be slowed, or scrapped completely, to prevent a catastrophic erosion of stability and democracy from creeping across Europe. The Pentagon is considering new reductions to Army units in Germany that already have been slashed under Obama. Currently, there are two Army brigades — up to 10,000 soldiers — based in Germany, where armored and infantry units have dug in since World War II. At the end of the Cold War, more than 200,000 American forces were stationed across Europe. Damon Wilson, an Eastern European scholar, former diplomat and executive vice president of the Washingtonbased Atlantic Council think tank, said the U.S. must be ready to pour its efforts into Ukraine, even at the cost of policies and priorities elsewhere. “We should be no longer deluded by the fact that Europe is a safe spot of stability and security, and not a security risk for the U.S.,” Wilson said Sunday. He said that if Putin goes unchecked, it could result in war — the second one on NATO’s borders. The 3-year-old civil war in Syria is already a crisis for neighboring Turkey, a NATO member state. Ukraine is not a NATO member, but it borders four nations that are — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. “This is the biggest challenge to Obama’s presidency,” Wilson said. “This is a pretty tectonic shift in our perception of European security.”
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