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77
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SUMMER EDITION
thedailycougar.com
100
August 3, 2011 ®
Issue 155, Volume 76
Read. Recycle. Repeat daily.
ADMINISTRATION
NATION
Staff council addresses UH
The University was recently named one of the best colleges in the nation to work for by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Administrators, faculty, staff discuss the University’s future amidst state financial worries
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Magazine recognizes UH as premiere school to work for
UH was awarded the distinction along with 84 four-year and 26 two-year universities for its quality in diversity, collaborative governance, teaching environment, respect and appreciation. Recognition was based on a survey administered to faculty, administrators and professional support staff, along with an institutional audit of demographics, policies and practices of the workplace. “This recognition is very satisfying and affirms that the University of Houston is a quality workplace made up of Tier One faculty and staff,” UH President Renu Khator said in a press release. “We appreciate all of our employees for everything they do – not just to make UH a great place for an education, but also a great place to work.”
CITY
UHCL remembers NASA shuttle program with photo exhibition University of Houston Clear Lake will be hosting the opening reception for a photography exhibit titled “Celebrating Shuttle: An American Icon” from 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 23 in the UHCL Bayou Building, Atrium 2. The reception will feature live music and guest speakers discussing NASA’s Endeavor program. The exhibit will have shuttle artifacts, portraits of astronauts and photographs detailing all 135 missions of the shuttle program. The exhibit will be on display until Sept. 28. More information is available at http://prtl.uhcl.edu/portal/page/portal /ALR/ celebratingshuttle or call (281) 283-2021.
RESEARCH
Report concludes student loan delinquency rates remain high A report from Moody’s Investors Service concerning the stability of the student loan market stated that the delinquency rate on student loans has not improved. In contrast to other types of borrowing, such as mortgages, the student loan market has continued to expand in recent years. But whereas the delinquency rates on other types of loans have improved, student loans have flattened, highlighting how large numbers of students may be unable to repay their student loans in the future. “Unless students limit their debt burdens, choose fields of study that are in demand, and successfully complete their degrees on time, they will find themselves in worse financial positions and unable to earn the projected income that justified taking out their loans in the first place,” said Cristian Dertis, a writer for Moody’s.
CORRECTIONS !!
In last week’s issue, our headline about the UHCL addition read “Congress approves addition to UHCL.” Congress did not approve the addition; the Texas Legislature did.
Xiaowen Chen
THE DAILY COUGAR The annual “Conversation With Staff Council” meeting was held Tuesday to address how the Texas financial crisis would affect the University, The meeting focused on figuring out how to soothe the University’s financial troubles, as well as ways to raise staff morale, address faculty concerns, and improve communications without impacting the budget.
The 82nd Texas Legislature passed bills finalizing decisions on funding higher education. According to the legislative update for June 2011, in the next two years many programs would no longer have funds appropriated to them from the state. “The council conversation held this year would be a turnaround from previous years’ regular council conversations, during which staff would mainly pose specific questions,” UH Staff Council President Carol Barr said. “As the advisory body, the staff council would be devoted to providing potential administration solutions on how to go through budget cut this year.” Under Senate Bill 1, the UH system’s revenue appropriation would be reduced by $81 million for the biennium.
“The impact of the proposed cuts on the UH System can be equated to 9,300 students lost or 1,220 courses eliminated or 300 faculty lost,” UH President Renu Khator said. Proposed cuts to the higher education budget have caused many students, educators and state leaders to wonder if public institutions, which benefit more from state funding than private institutions, will suffer from a reduced quality of education as a result. The staff in attendance was concerned about layoffs brought on by the new budget. UH Health Center Director Floyd Robinson said that his department had to fire one staff member for financial reasons COUNCIL continues on page 3
ALUMNI
Grads struggle with job pursuits New graduates face high unemployment rates Ryan Rockett
THE DAILY COUGAR Courtney Kindall, a UH graduate with a master’s in counseling psychology, spends at least four hours a day filling out job applications and combing through internet job search results in an attempt to find a fulltime job. Three months removed from school and with previous work experience the 26-year-old has repeated this routine for about three days a week in what she calls a grueling job hunt. “It’s definitely an employer’s market,” Kindall said. “I knew it would be tough getting in, but I wasn’t prepared to not have a job at all.” She is one of many students who have been hit with reality as they’ve begun searching for jobs in a nation with a 9.2 percent unemployment rate. A survey from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals a 12.1 percent unemployment rate for college graduates between the ages of 20-24 for July, a five percentage point increase from June. UH Career Services counselor Becky Reiter said that the anxiety is reflected in the students who come GRADUATES continues on page 3
Research vessels like the Nathaniel B. Palmer is designed to move through the sea of ice to drill for ancient atmospheric samples. The ice layers can help shed light on climate change today. | Eli Duke/Wikimedia Commons
RESEARCH
Study published on the rocks Professor, student research ice sheets of Antarctic peninsula to understand climate change Darlene Campos
THE DAILY COUGAR A study written by a UH professor and her colleagues has been published in the most recent edition of the scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It concerns the history of the Antarctic peninsula’s ice sheets. Julia Wellner, research assistant professor of UH’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and UH Biology student Reham Rafe Al Hussien investigated the history of the Antarctic peninsula’s icesheets. “Temperatures in the Antarctic peninsula are rising faster than anywhere else on the planet right now,” Wellner said. “Ice shelves, like the Larsen, are collapsing and
glaciers are retreating at what may be an unprecedented rate compared to the last several thousand years. “The amount of ice in the peninsula is relatively small and, even though it is melting, it will not cause global sea levels to rise significantly. The Antarctic peninsula, however, provides a natural laboratory to examine how ice responds to warming conditions and thus can help us understand how the larger Antarctic ice sheets will respond as warming progresses farther south.” The Antarctic peninsula was the last portion of the area to develop ice layers. Over the past 35 million years, ancient plants have disappeared under the ice, leaving fossilized pollen in glaciers that can help provide answers to questions about climate change. “The PNAS paper that came out last week is part of a large project called ANTARCTIC continues on page 3