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The Merciad
Est. 1929 Vol. 88 No. 17
Mercyhurst university
Wednesday, april 1, 2015
MU cuts losses, installs pool By Jose Nufio Staff writer
Margaret Urso photo
Sparing no expense, the administration decided to imported crystal clear water from the Caribbean Islands to fill the pool.
Graduate prospects trending upward By Nathan Turner News editor
Graduate surveys evaluating employment or placement into graduate programs from the classes of 2013 and 2014, as well as an increase in companies presenting at career fairs around northwest Pennsylvania, show hopeful signs for undergraduate students. The fields of study boasting the highest placement rates for the class of 2014 include Criminal Justice, Biology and Psychology, all showing placement rates of 100 percent. Majors such as Hospitality Management, Early Childhood and Special Education and Intelligence Studies show placement rates of between 95 and 87 percent, respectively. Surveys from the class of 2013 show similar numbers for Criminal Justice, Intelligence Studies and Hospitality Management.
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“It’s fairly stable over the years,” said Director of Assessment Amy Danzer. “Some of the majors, they change the number of people who are enrolled over time and how many graduate over time, but it doesn’t change that quickly.” New majors such as Public Health, take time to build up, Danzer said. New programs take time to become established and fine tune their curriculums and practices, in order to attract potential students to attend the university. “I liken it to trying to hit a baseball for the first time. When you were a kid, you weren’t all that good, but you practice a bit and then you get much better at it. So you go and work out the kinks for the first couple of years, and then you have people who can go and talk about it more,” Danzer said. In addition to a steady number of students who are able to find employment or
continue their education, an upturn in the number of companies making appearances at career fairs at Mercyhurst, as well as Penn State Behrend, is a good sign for students, according to Frank Rizzone, Director of Career Services. “The fact that the last couple of years at the career fair, attendance by companies has been down, and it’s starting to ease up, last year it was like 88 companies, and this year we had 103 registered to come. That’s telling me that things are improving,” Rizzone said. Erie has been an area that experiences the effects of economic fluctuations more slowly than the rest of the nation, according to Rizzone. “Historically, Erie has always been slower to feel the effects of any economic slowdown, and consequently, it’s also slower at showing signs of recovery once things are happening,” Rizzone said.
The numbers of companies which are looking to hire is increasing and unemployment has dropped since January 2014. Statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry show that unemployment has dropped from 6.3 percent to 5.1 percent between January 2014 and January 2015. Recruitment events in other areas of Pennsylvania are showing increased signs of companies looking for employees, Rizzone said. “The WesPacs Job Fair, which is down in Monroeville, we belong to that consortium, their attendance from companies was way up. They were astounded by the numbers of companies showing up. So that’s telling me that it’s not just in Erie, but across Pennsylvania, that we’re starting to see some improvement,” Rizzone said. @TheMerciad
Carolyn Hermann Student Union will be converted into a swimming pool for the 2015-2016 school year. Mercyhurst officials have announced that due to the unsalvageable conditions left by a broken water pipe that flooded the student union on Feb. 21, the lower level area will be transformed into swimming pool for students’ recreational use and sporting events. Joan Bennet, a representative of the Mercyhurst Public Information Department, released a statement which said that repairing the Student Union and bringing it back to its original state would be too costly for the university. As an alternative, the administration decided to turn the Union into a swimming pool and move the Laker Inn dining service onto the second floor. “We spoke with insurance and we contacted various contractors about the issue,” said Bennet. “It was all bad news. The damages were in the millions and the time to repair it would take too long. We had no choice but to eliminate the idea of ever again restoring the Student Union to its original state.” Ann Rutherford, a civil engineer from the Garbo Construction Co. of Erie, was the first to propose the idea of building a swimming pool instead of trying to repair the Laker Inn to its pre-flood state. Rutherford, who has prior experience in building pools, assessed the damages done to the lower level of the union and concluded that building a swimming pool would be a very viable option. “In my 20 years as an engineer I have never seen something like this. The moment I saw the flooded building, I knew there was not a lot of potential to save the building. The Student Union was a swimming pool waiting to happen,” Rutherford said. The administration was reluctant to invest in a swimming pool. However, once Rutherford showed the cost of building one instead of repairing the union, they agreed to advance with the construction. “Of course, when I proposed this idea they thought I was joking, but after show-
ing the empirical information and the numbers that supported my claim, the Mercyhurst officials started taking my suggestion seriously,” Rutherford said. Without many other options available, the Mercyhurst administration took the swimming pool option into serious consideration and eventually decided it was the best option for the Mercyhurst community. “I know it sounds crazy, but we believe this is the best option at hand. The Laker Inn will survive, when we move it to the second floor, so students will still have their food, but now they also have another source of recreation,” Bennet said. A group that will specially benefit will be the Mercyhurst water polo team who will now be able to stay and practice at Mercyhurst Main campus instead of driving to the North East Campus to practice. The Archaeology Department hopes to practice underwater digs in the pool. “The possibilities for its use are endless. New RSCOs will surge and various new student activities will be organized now that we have a swimming pool,” Bennet said. Junior Communications major Ryan Deadpool, believes this is the best thing to happen to Mercyhurst in a long time. In high school, Deadpool spent a lot of his time swimming both competitively and for recreation. Since coming to Mercyhurst he had to stop, because he no longer had a pool in close proximity and could not continue. He said that he hopes that the new pool will help him rediscover his old passion. “They used to call me the Ryan the Merman back in high school, because of how much time I would spend swimming. I am planning to recover that name,” said Deadpool. “This pool was the missing link for Mercyhurst. I feel like our school is now complete.” Senior General Studies major April Fool couldn’t believe that the pool was being installed. “You must be kidding me,” Fool said.
Online Poll Results 14% Yes, having only six weeks of class will be awesome 17% No, I like having a J-Term. 3% No, I can’t sit through two hours of classes. 67% Is this an April Fool’s Day trick?
Be sure to vote in this week’s online poll: Did you get into all the classes you need for next term?
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