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’For everything ... Got it!’ Monday, December 7, 2009
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Trombones salute Fine Arts grads By Viviana Aldous Daily Texan Staff Hundreds of degree candidates from 12 colleges walked across the stage Saturday and Sunday, making the transition from student to graduate. In lieu of a speaker for the College of Fine Arts’ commencement ceremony Saturday, a trombone choir performed for the college’s 69 graduates and their guests. College of Fine Arts Dean Doug Dempster said the graduates would fulfill the world’s insatiable desire for art, music, theater and dance. Each year during the college’s winter commencement, a faculty member is recognized with the Distinguished Teaching Award. After he was notified that he received this year’s award, trombone professor Nathaniel Brickens decided
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to “try something new and entirely appropriate for the College of Fine Arts,” Dempster said. The trombone choir, comprised of 26 UT students, performed Girolamo Frescobaldi’s “Toccata” and Allen Chase’s “Passacaglia.” “It is very fitting for the College of Fine Arts that you celebrate with music instead of words,” said Mary Lee Webeck, who watched her daughter Kelly walk across the stage. “[The college] teaches students about different forms of expression.” Jessica Bartholome, who graduated Saturday with bachelor’s degrees in studio art and French, said she was surprised there was a performance instead of a speaker. “It obviously had more of an
GRADUATION continues on page 2 Lauren Gerson | Daily Texan Staff
Texas players Jorge Martinez, Steve Moore and Michael Huey celebrate defeating Nebraska 13-12 in the Big 12 Championship game on Saturday night in Arlington.
Last-second kick propels Texas into National Championship
Mary Kang | Daily Texan Staff
Manju Chacko, electrical and computer engineering graduate, prepares to walk onstage for the Cockrell School of Engineering graduation at the Frank Erwin Center on Saturday morning.
By Michael Sherfield Daily Texan Staff ARLINGTON — It’s good. That was the only thing that mattered as Hunter Lawrence and the rest of his teammates watched his 46-yard field goal squeak through the uprights at Cowboys Stadium with no time on the clock to beat Nebraska 13-12 Saturday night. The way Texas got there was already an afterthought as holder Jordan Shipley tackled Lawrence and burnt orange
confetti rained down. “Everybody on the team was really confident [in me],” Lawrence said. “I had to make it for them.” It was the second celebration in as many plays, but from the other sideline. The Cornhuskers thought they won the game and stormed the field when the clock expired during Colt McCoy’s throw out of bounds. The play was reviewed, one second was added and Lawrence delivered, winning the game
Supporters rally for Houston mayor By Rachel Platis Daily Texan Staff Hundreds of Bill White supporters flowed out of a room that one supporter described as “slightly smaller than a legislature’s broom closet” at a rally for the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful. Audience members stood shoulder-toshoulder at the event for the Houston mayor Sunday night, when many Texas politicians spoke and endorsed White’s run for governor. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this much excitement for a public race,” said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who has endorsed White along with every member of the Austin City Council. White announced his intention to run for governor Friday, joining two Democratic candidates that include musician Kinky Friedman and hair-care company owner Farouk Shami. Rancher Hank Gilbert dropped out of the gubernatorial race and
RACE continues on page 2
Caleb Bryant Miller | Daily Texan Staff
Mayor Bill White shakes hands with state Rep. Mark Strama after a rally for his gubernatorial candidacy at Sholtz Garten on Sunday night.
and sending Texas on a collision course with Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game next month. “I knew there was a second left. I was trying to get time-out with the official, but it was loud and he couldn’t hear me,” said head coach Mack Brown. “Then Colt snapped the ball and Colt knows what he’s doing. I never even felt there was any chance that there wasn’t
CHAMPS continues on page 9
Student’s documentary to air on national TV By Jim Pagels Daily Texan Staff Anthony Penta is looking forward to the day his documentary about paranormal activity airs on television. The radio-television-film graduate student has worked on his first documentary, “A Casebook on Remote Viewing,” since he first enrolled at UT in 2006. The Documentary Channel will broadcast his documentary early next year. “I got to class, and the first thing my professor told me was, ‘Hey, welcome to UT. You’re going to have to make a documentary. Start thinking about ideas now,’” Penta said. “I started looking at anything that might be interesting, [including] sea turtles [and] scientific research. I finally found a study on para-
psychology that I decided to base my film on.” After partnering with UT, the national TV network will have exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to select films from student documentary filmmakers. Three other films in addition to Penta’s have been selected for broadcast so far: “The Cockroach Project” by Ruth Fertig, “Dreams in all Sizes” by Christina Kim and “Pay Dirt” by Berndt Mader. DOC U, a program that regularly highlights film school students and their productions, will showcase the films in early 2010. Kate Pearson, the TV network’s senior vice president of programming and acquisitions, said a deal with UT has been in the works for
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Engineering students host concert for ‘underserved’ Projects aim to construct sanitary water systems for needy in Peru, Ghana By Priscilla Totiyapungprasert Daily Texan Staff Strings of Christmas lights and raindrops decorated the outdoor stage at Cherrywood Coffeehouse as patrons watched musical artists Kalua, Cameron Vail and When the Lights Turn Red take the stage for a benefit concert. Students from the Cockrell School of Engineering hosted the performance Sunday night to raise money for water projects in
Peru and Ghana. Along with help from UT for Rural Enhancement through Education & Design, students gave presentations about their cause in between each performer. The engineering students are enrolled in a new course called Projects for Underserved Communities. Students split themselves into two groups, Peru and Ghana, to work on building a sanitary water system in the two countries. A school in Santa Cruz, Peru permits its 500 students one hour of water use daily, said Tim Krahel, a civil engineering senior. The
water is often times unreliable and dirty, he added. The Peru team plans on drilling a well pump and building a water storage with help from Peruvian building company Pluspetrol. If successful, the team will return to Peru to add a sanitary toilet system, since the Peruvian students currently use most of the water for toilets, leaving less for class labs and drinking, Krahel said. “It was an eye-opener to see how real these projects are,” Krahel said. “You don’t realize all the details behind the scenes, like the risks, analyzing it all and how
much time it takes. You have to start big and narrow it down.” The course, taught by professors Janet Ellzey and James O’Connor, is divided into three parts. This semester, the students researched and began thinking of project ideas for developing countries. Next semester, they will design and figure out the logistics of the projects before traveling to the countries in the summer for four weeks. There are 24 students total takCurt Youngblood | Daily Texan Staff ing the course. “It is important for engineers Several attendees of UT for REED’s “Concert for a Cause” look at PowerPoint presentations on the projects that the concert’s proceeds CONCERT continues on page 2 are going to help fund.