SPORTS
TENNIS
EVENTS
The Cougars earned No. 1 seed honors for the inaugural American Athletic Conference Tournament that starts Thursday
UH Jazz Orchestra to showcase songbook of melodies.
Claiming the top spot
Getting jazzy with popular tunes SEE PAGE 7
SEE PAGE 5
APRIL
CALENDAR CHECK: 17
Baseball. The Cougars will step up to bat against the University of South Florida Bulls at 6:30 p.m.
THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
Issue 105, Volume 79
N E W S PA P E R
O F
T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
H O U S T O N
S I N C E
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM
RESEARCH
UH prof leads team in identifying children at risk for mental health issues Amanda Hilow News editor
A UH researcher’s team is working on a study about children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, aiming to provide insight on how to identify and help children with emotional behavior issues. About 5.6 million adults living with HIV lived in South Africa in 2011, according to the Department of Health’s 2011 National Antenatal Sentinel HIV & Syphilis Prevalence Survey in South Africa, and 1.43
percent of the general population was estimated to be infected. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, about 2.5 million children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS were living in South Africa in 2012, making up about 63 percent of all orphans in that region. “There are two factors that cause increased risk for mental health problems in children (who have one or more parents living with HIV). The first is that their parents die from HIV/AIDS, so the
effect on children’s mental health is a well-known fact, and the other result of (having an Sharp HIV-positive parent) on a child’s mental health is by having chronically ill parents,” said Carla Sharp, director of UH’s Developmental Psychopathology Lab and the principal investigator of the study, titled
“Emotional-behavior disorders in South African children affected by AIDS.” “There’s been an increase in the ability to treat HIV/AIDS in adults, so the mortality results have actually decreased, but many children are still living with chronically ill parents.” The study received a $951,147 grant from the National Institutes of Health and aims to develop a reliable and valid diagnostic tool for the early detection of psychiatric
ROTC
AIDS/HIV continues on page 3
CRIME
Conference remembers late cadets
Urban location leaks crime
Hadiya Iqbal Senior staff writer
A panel of UH and ROTC alumni, administration officials, and community leaders were informed of the UH Army ROTC program’s accomplishments from the last calendar year as well as their plans for the future, during the second annual UH Army ROTC Community Leader and Educator Conference. At the end of the conference, held Tuesday at Hofheinz Pavilion, a Memorial Wall Ceremony honored the memory of cadets Benjamin Jones, William Besmar and James Morris III. Lt. Col. Michael J. Smith, commander of the Houston Battalion Army ROTC and military science professor, led the conference and ceremony. After a short video presentation covering the history of the program, the conference detailed the program’s past accomplishments. Among these accomplishments were the acquisition of 40 acres of land behind the Energy Research Park from the University, which the program currently uses for its cadets’ tactical training; the re-establishment of the Cullen Rifles competition drill and shooting team; its selection by the U.S. Army as
disorders as a first step toward successful intervention. “Our research is about how to identify children in the community with emotional and behavior problems, so we developed and evaluated the validity of two diagnostic tools that could identify children with emotional or behavioral disorders,” Sharp said. According to a UH press release, the three-year cross-sectional study
Khristopher Matthews-Marion Contributing writer
because it leaves a legacy. Setting up the scholarship program supports the future leaders of America,” said ROTC human resources assistant Audrey Smith. This is the 12th year that the Ben Jones scholarship will be awarded.
As the fourth most populous city in the U.S., Houston follows the lead of other urban centers with a high crime rate. UH, the city’s largest institution of higher education, lies in the heart of the Third Ward, serving residential students and those commuting from surrounding suburbs like Sugar Land, Pearland, Cypress and Katy. Despite the numbers for aggravated assault and forcible-sex offenses — crimes that are far more prevalent in universities the size of UH — being nearly non-existent on recent crime logs, robbery and theft continue to pose a problem for UH public safety. “During the day I feel fairly safe,” said junior Stacy Hensley, who commutes to campus. “But there is definitely a time — 7 p.m. — where
ROTC continues on page 3
CRIME continues on page 3
UH ROTC cadets and professor of military science Lt. Col. Michael Smith, third from left, joined with a friend of the late cadet James Moris III, right most and front, at the 2nd Annual UH Army ROTC Community Leader and Educator Conference and Memorial Service held Tuesday. | Courtesy of Nancy Clark a designated “growth program,” one of seven in the nation; and its incoming class of more than 50 freshman who will enter the program in Fall 2014 with four-year scholarships. “These cadets have the same dreams Ben did; we want to help them achieve these dreams,” said Amy Whitton, Jones’ sister.
“When we look for a cadet to award the scholarship to, we look for a cadet who exemplifies Ben’s desires, someone who is goal oriented and who has the drive.” The Jones and Besmar families set up scholarship programs that award cadets in the ROTC program. “I think this memorial is great