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Issue 122, Volume 75
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Men’s basketball coach announced Group New hire says focus will be on recruitment, developing players, academic success gg
By John Brannen The Daily Cougar
Courtesy of UH athletics
James Dickey was named head coach of the UH men’s basketball team at a press conference Thursday.
Thursday marked the beginning of the James Dickey era of the UH men’s basketball team. President Renu Khator and Athletic Director Mack Rhoades introduced Dickey as the eighth head coach in the school’s history to a crowd of UH faithful at the O’Quinn Great Hall in the UH Alumni Center. With the recent Conference-USA trophy on display, Khator wasted no time in letting Dickey know that he will be expected to improve upon last season and to give UH consistent appearances in the NCAA Tournament. “Winning is very important. I want you to know, coach Dickey, winning is very, very important,” Khator said. Rhoades said the hire was based on Dickey’s leadership and recruiting abilities, and he knew Dickey would not compromise his integrity. “This is about taking the University of Houston men’s basketball program and moving it forward. That’s an unbelievable task when you talk about the
tradition we have here,” Rhoades said. “When we started this journey ten days ago, we wanted somebody who really valued this job (and) saw it for what it was someone with fire in their belly and would do whatever it took to get the job done. We’ve accomplished that. “We wanted somebody that was going to come in, roll up their sleeves and get in the trenches with us build this brick by brick, piece by piece. Most of all, we wanted a leader of men, and we have it.” Dickey said it is imperative for UH to recruit local players, a response to a popular criticism of the basketball program’s recent tendency of bringing in junior college transfers and players from other parts of the country. “We’re going to start recruiting as soon as the recruiting period opens, and our goal, first and foremost, is to recruit in Houston and the greater-Houston area. There are so many great players in this area, and it’s time for some of those guys to stay home,” Dickey said. Dickey hopes to attract future NBA prospects but said he wants to instill a mentality of academic
Nutrition senior Nada Sarraj was selected to exhibit her scientific research on Capitol Hill this month as a part of the annual Posters on the Hill event. “It feels really good to be able to be recognized for something I did and worked really hard at and to able to present it in a nationwide conference,” Sarraj said. Sarraj will present her abstract, entitled “Moderate Treadmill Exercise Prevents Oxidative StressInduced Anxiety in Rats.” “Anxiety disorders affect approximately 40 million people in the U.S.,” Sarraj said. “Although effective treatments for anxiety disorders are available, a vast majority of anxiety patients experience side effects from these medications. The failure to treat these patients costs $42 billion a year in lost productivity. Therefore, improving the understanding of mechanisms of anxiety is important.”
To test her theory, Sarraj injected two groups of rats with a drug called L-Buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine, or BSO, which increases stress levels. One of these groups was then subjected to moderate treadmill exercise before being reevaluated. “After several weeks of treatment, we measured the amount of oxidative stress markers in the serum, urine and brain tissue,” she said. “As expected, the group of rats that was injected with BSO alone did in fact increase anxiety-like behavior, unlike the group that was subject to BSO and exercise.” Samina Salim, research assistant professor with the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, served as Sarraj’s mentor, prompting her to compete in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. “Nada convinced me that she was genuinely interested in my research on anxiety and would appreciate the opportunity to learn,” Salim said. “I was impressed with her persistence, determination and curiosity.”
By Morgan Creager The Daily Cougar
“I expect this experience to not only reinforce her ambition for a career in research but also to [let her] interact with her peers and broaden her perspectives as she decides to choose her career path,” Salim said. All of the enthusiasm and work put into this research has sparked a potential lifelong interest for Sarraj, who said she would love to pursue a future in pharmacy after her graduation next year. news@thedailycougar.com
see FORUM, page 3
see COACH, page 3
Steven Oster The Daily Cougar
Nutrition senior Nada Sarraj’s research will take her to Capitol Hill, where she will present her findings along with her mentor, research assistant professor Samina Salim. Salim agrees that the problem of anxiety in humans is a pertinent one. “The topic of anxiety is very timely, as more and more Americans are being diagnosed with anxiety disorders,” she said, “and the frustration in the field is [the] lack of responsiveness to the traditional anti-anxiety medications available in the market.” Both Sarraj and Salim are confident that their trip to Washington, D.C. will be a successful and productive one.
Officials seek to inform campus of thrifty literature alternatives gg
University Services held a textbook affordability forum on Wednesday to discuss with faculty members and students what they can do to lower the costs of textbooks. “Affordability for textbooks is a big deal,” Jonas Chin, program coordinator for University Services, said. Chin said the bookstore has little control over the cost the publisher wants to place on the book, but there are steps that they can take to help decrease the amount of money students are paying for g g Chin their books every semester. “It is important to make sure we do the little things,” Chin said, such as making students and professors aware of the different types of books that are available and the price differences that come with those options. UH bookstore manager Felix Robinson said many professors are not aware of the variety of book options they have, and they can sometimes be fooled into believing they are saving students money when they are really costing them more. “Communication is key,” Robinson said. Robinson said that publishers might offer professors the option of a loose-leaf textbook, a cheaper version than the hardback, which sounds like a great idea. But what the professors are not aware of, said Robinson, is that most of the time, students are unable to sell back the loose-leaf textbooks, costing them more money than the professor intended due to a communication error. “It’s ultimately up to the faculty members, the ones who pick the books,” Chemistry professor Simon Bott said. Chin said that one of the biggest obstacles students face when trying to save money on textbooks is a fairly
Research student gets national recognition By Sarah Wiggins-Goff The Daily Cougar
aims to cheapen books