October 11, 2012

A Little More Country Than That

Rising country artist, Easton Corbin, performs in McAllen as part of Palmfest Page 6

Volume 69, No. 7

Annex Anew

A fresh start for art department at newly renovated facility Page 5

Spirit Week

October 11, 2012

The Rockets Have Landed

Students show their Bronc pride in annual University celebration Page 3

No More Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theatre program to not accept any new applicants

Page 2

panamericanonline.com

Drop Dead Gorgeous

The Pan American looks into detailed zombie makeup tutorial

Valley turns out for NBA action

page 7

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news

October 11, 2012

Curtain call for Master’s in Theatre

Students allowed to finish theatre MA after program cut from curriculum By Charles Vale The Pan American The final echoes of the Master’s in Theatre program at The University of Texas-Pan American are to be on Aug. 31, 2015. This is the time limit given to the University to finish students in that track. Last fall, the University received word from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board that they were to no longer accept admissions into the Theatre program, but the news came too late to stop registration for that semester. Because of this, the final cutoff date was held back until the start of the spring semester of 2012. Two years ago, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, established by the Texas Legislature to oversee all things public higher education, brought the program up for review and looked at the number of graduate students it had pulled in over a five-year period. At the time there had been only a total of seven degrees produced from the program over the span. Ultimately, the board concluded that the Maters in Theater program, which was started in the early 80s by Marian Monta, was not generating enough numbers and decided to close it. The standards put forth by the coordinating board are as follows: A doctoral program has to produce three graduates a year in order to not be

considered low-producing. For a master’s program it is five graduates a year, and eight for bachelors. Once a program is considered low-producing, the University has to analyze it and either request an exemption from the board, or close the program. If an exemption is requested, a defense has to be put forth as to

the drill even closer. “There are around six students currently in the program. There may be more, but some are inactive. You never know if they are going to finish,” said Eric Wiley, a theatre professor with the Communication Department. “Five graduated this past summer. We probably went from about 16 to six

ble finding work, so they were going back to school to get their master’s.” However, since the board had been looking at the results over a five-year period, and the number had been low beforehand, the decision was still made to cut. Currently, there are no plans to replace the program, with focus being put

in their concentration, which would then qualify them to teach at a community college or junior college. It would also qualify them to teach lower division courses at a university. Several people in the Communication Department had made an effort to get the program cut exempted. This included Timo-

by faculty and students,” said Cynthia Brown, vice provost for graduate studies. “All the work they had done getting students interested was just coming into fruition. There wasn’t time to see the benefits of that enthusiasm.” With the closing of the theatre master’s, students interested in continuing their education in

Tweets #UTPA Tweet at and follow us @ThePanAmerican Finally got a chance to wear my Keep Loud and Bronc On shirt ! *happy dance* #UTPA

- @Mariiannnnn

I seriously lovee my school & the amazing professors, people & opportunities I’ve encountered along the way! :) #UTPA is the best! #GoBroncs

- ‫@‏‬sasolano52

Vol. 69, No. 7

The Pan American

thepanamerican@gmail.com 1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539 Phone: (956) 665-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122

Editor-in-Chief:

Karen Antonacci

News Editor:

Daniella Diaz

Sports Editor:

Norma Gonzalez

Arts & Life Editor:

Lea Victoria Juarez

Photography Editor: Adrian Castillo

Design Editor:

Erick Gonzalez

Multimedia Editor: Francisco Rodriguez/The Pan American why the program should be kept. If the exemption is granted by the board, then the program is given two years to bring up its numbers. The handful of students that had already entered the theater program prior to the cutoff date will be allowed to finish. In fact, some already have, bringing the final days of

in the last year.” During the time the decision was made to close the program, the number of students joining had increased, to the point where the numbers would have been adequate, according to Wiley. “In 2009 through 2010, the economy went bad,” Wiley said. “Our students were having trou-

on seeing the students in it to graduation. However, one option that Wiley spoke of that could possibly be offered as a replacement: an interdisciplinary studies MA in theatre. It would be a concentration in theatre, but not an actual master’s degree. In interdisciplinary studies, students would have to acquire 18 hours

thy Mottet, the chair of the department at the time the decision was made. Mottet was involved with the creation of the defense, however, the board rejected the exemption, and the program fell through. “We were all really disappointed by the decision. We seemed to have some renewed enthusiasm

the field have no choice, unless the option to transform the program into an interdisciplinary study is made, but to seek it elsewhere. “This was the only master’s in theatre offered south of San Antonio,” Wiley said. “That has always been our main justification for keeping the program.”

Update on UTPA student kidnapping By Daniella Diaz The Pan American The University Police Department and local FBI officials arrested Miguel Angel Navarro Tuesday afternoon for the alleged kidnapping of the UTPA student from a parking lot Sept. 25. The 35-year-old appeared before a judge in the Edinburg Municipal Court and was charged with one count of aggravated kidnapping and has his bond set at $500,000, according to The Monitor. He was “picked up” Tuesday

afternoon at a McAllen business, according to the news release. The student, a female whose name was withheld by officials for her protection, was forced into a vehicle in Lot T-2 Sept. 25, with one of the three suspects allegedly covering her mouth with his hand according to student witnesses. The UTPA police officials believe Navarro and the other two men kidnapped the student for ransom and according to the news release, the suspects released the student two days later without pay. The case is still under investigation.

Dimitra Hernandez

Adviser:

Dr. Greg Selber

Administrative Associate:

Anita Reyes

Advertising Manager:

Mariel Cantu

Webmaster:

Jose Villarreal

Social Media Editor: David Alvarado

The Pan American is the official student newspaper of The University of Texas-Pan American. Views presented are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the paper or university.

Next Delivery:

Oct. 18 at noon

Letters to the

Editor

Courtesy Photo/UTPA Public Affairs

Miguel Angel Navarro was charged with aggravated assault Wednesday afternoon in relation to the UTPA student kidnapping that took place Sept. 25.

The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from students, staff and faculty regarding recent newspaper content, campus concerns or current events. We cannot publish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Please send all letters to:

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news

October 11, 2012

3

Spirit Week 2012 An annual UTPA tradition

These photos represent a snapshot of some of the Spirit Week events, which will run through Friday and culminate

with the Midnight Madness celebration. Throughout the week, the University community decorated campus in green

and orange to show Kinesiology Club at Bronc Pride. Student UTPA winning third organizations com- place for its facepeted in a window- painted Bronc, at painting contest, left. with the Health and

Adrian Castillo/The Pan American

Belen Diaz/The Pan American

Michelle Garcia/The Pan American

SCAD offers the largest array of degree options of any nonprofit arts university in the U.S. New students may begin in September, January, March or June. Financial aid is still available. To request more information or apply, visit scad.edu/stilltime

ATLANTA 路 HONG KONG 路 LACOSTE 路 SAVANNAH 路 eLEARNING

Adam Floeck, B.F.A., animation, 2012, Metuchen, New Jersey

Launch Your Creative Career Today

Monica Gonzalez/The Pan American

Page 4

Bringing Belgium By

October 11, 2012

THE PAN AMERICAN

Mark Cloet to exhibit at IMAS, welcomes art students to Europe

Karen Villarreal

Visiting artist Mark Cloet’s last exhibit at the International Museum of Arts and Sciences doesn’t have his name on the poster. Instead, he gives the limelight to more than 100 other participating artists - members of the community, UTPA Art Department staff and students - whom he has been working with during his year long Fulbright scholarship. Cloet “erases his own person,” as he put it, to show that his part of it was just the bringing together of many who also want to work cooperatively for the community. The new exhibition is titled C. Stone 2012 – You did it yourself! and is to be on display at the IMAS from Oct. 18 at its 6 p.m. debut through the end of February. Utilizing the process of creating art as a metaphor for living along with other people, Cloet, who came to the University in Fall 2011 and stayed for the duration of the academic year, made the art produced with Valley natives a part of his 2012 exhibition along with his own work. The first thing visitors will see upon entering the exhibition will be a large banner with the names of the participants. Cloet’s own name will not be listed with the others, but the names listed will make up the form of his name. “I want to show that we don’t do anything alone; we do it together and we have to get to a certain point of understanding,” he said.” That was my mission with Fulbright. Thinking critically about yourself is essential to growth and you can’t do it without other people.” During his stay at UTPA, Cloet has tried to engage people to think together and create together, and not to think always about the result but focus on the process. “To be sure you have a result at the end, but it’s a mute object, it sits there not explaining itself,” he said, picking up an egg-shaped sculpture on his desk in his temporary office in the UTPA art department. “If you were to put this in the Rio Grande, maybe some day somebody would pull it up and think, ‘What is this? Maybe it’s

October 11, 2012

THE PAN AMERICAN

AStudents, FRESHstaffSTART FOR ART settling into newly remodeled facilities off campus

this...’ and then they’re recreating the work. A work of art is two-fold. The first is the making of it and the second is of finding it back.” The exhibition is also made up of two parts, the first of which is a monologue for his children, and a second collaborative part whose focus is on himself as an artist. He explained that he had his first child at the young age of 21 and dropped out of school to work – an uncommon choice for a student in Belgium. “Most students did not used to work, it wasn’t normal like it is now, but I wanted to make my baby happy,” he said. He returned to his studies after a conversation with his mentor. “He told me ‘you will never make your baby happy, or your woman or anyone else happy- until you make yourself happy,’” Cloet remembered. Many years after this return to art, Cloet’s year at UTPA is coming to a close. He leaves behind an exhibition in a museum and an optimistic message for the University. “I came here with certain expectations and I can give something back. I can invite people to think in a broader way about this space,” he said. “Es-

Illustration by Francisco Rodriguez

By

Jaime Leal and Karen Villarreal

The Pan American - How do you get people to engage with you in your art? Mark Cloet - I did it, I did it from the beginning. I would tell the secret formula if I knew it. I don’t know if it’s because of my history, my enthusiasm, or the mentors who taught me before - but if you were to ask me in the abstract, I would say the only way is processing it, doing it! Because a lot of people are thinking it, discussing it in a lot of colors and words, but they don’t do anything. Once we start, then things can start changing. There is a second thing. A lot of people focus on the narrative. Usually it’s about their own person. The quality of an artist is that he can make an abstraction of the reality so his own place isn’t so important anymore. A story about a man who needs money or about a girl who misses her father, those are little stories and they’re interesting but you cannot do a lot with it, you won’t change the world with these. If you start to be in a position where you can abstract things and think of yourself as a less important part of what’s going on, then you will change things.

Having spent a year here, can you tell us what you saw in UTPA? Mark Cloet has been at UTPA on a Fulbright scholarship for the 2012-2013 year. He invited UTPA to establish an internship abroad program with his art foundation in Belgium. tion, Kerspit, located in the Belgian city of Ghent. Carlos de Souza De Souza, an Assistant Professor of Latin American

I want to show that we don’t do anything alone; we do it together and we have to get to a certain point of understanding. - Mark Cloet

Fulbright scholar, artist

pecially this university most students are first- or second-generation college students. (It’s young), but because of the mix of cultures, it can become a major university. We just have to work on it, process it, believe in it.” Cloet is doing his part to help UTPA grow. During his stay at the University, he suggested the possibility of an academic exchange program between the University and his art founda-

The Pan American sat down with Mark Cloet to find out more about him as an artist and how he found his way to UTPA.

Modern and Contemporary Art History, took up the idea and conducted preliminary research of Ghent’s museums and galleries, as well as those in nearby states. In the end, he concluded that UTPA was an excellent candidate for an internship program in Europe. “There is a lot Kerspit can offer us. One area they’re strong in, something that would be good for us if we could get started on it, is art therapy,” de Sou-

za explained. “They have many institutions there that are working with disabled artists and there’s a whole world out there that we should be engaged with.” Kerspit is meant to be a quiet and safe place to conduct research on artistic practices and processes while participating with the community, particularly local disabled artists. De Souza remembers his stay at Kerspit the summer of 2012 as almost monastic. He explained that working there was great because of the intense concentration achieved through silent studios for working and blossoming gardens for reading. Lodging would be available at the foundation for three UTPA faculty or graduate students once the program is in effect. Students would have to come up with part of the cost for the trip, but de Souza hopes they will be able to look to the school for financial aid. “Scholarships and other grants must be there for us to have success. It shouldn’t benefit only those that have the money. The school must provide

In America I see a lot of universities who are paper (diploma) machines. If someone wants a paper they pay for it and somewhat follow the lessons, and they can have the paper. But giving an education is another thing. In this university I see professors working hard to make students understand that it’s not a question of having a paper - it’s a question of having knowledge. It’s not quite easier to live if you are in a higher quality of knowledge, maybe it’s harder. But it gives you a brighter life. It is interesting that a lot of kids want to get out [of the Valley] and can’t. But they’re in a coffee filter of information, it’s a complex system of people living together. We have so much information and we can help the world to find answers for places that are locked up after growth implosion like Europe, which grew and grew and now it’s stuck. But here, it has to start.

Adrian Castillo/The Pan American

Students can work on their ceramics projects using the throwing wheels in the plaster & stone carving room which is more spacious and better equiped than the old Art Annex. Juan Cantu, a 19-yearold freshman majoring in architecture, boards a bus every Monday and Wednesday for his 4 p.m. class located three miles away at the University’s Art Annex. “The commute to the building is 15 minutes long

but it is definitely worth it,” he said. What was once a WalMart now serves more than 440 art majors and houses facilities for studio art as well as classroom space for art history, graphic design, and art education. The building underwent

renovation last semester, with art faculty offices and various departments being relocated to the UTPA Haggar Building on East Freddy Gonzalez Drive. The new Annex was completed at the end of July. UTPA faculty spent the summer packing and moving to the South Closner

location, which has more space, new furniture, and more equipment. The Art Department has been in existence for 40 years at the University. Originally, painting and drawing classes were located in the Fine Arts Complex next to the auditorium while ceramics and jewelry-making were in what was called the Fine Arts Annex, a small building next to the auditorium. The complex and annex are now in the process of being demolished. The Annex has put all the departments under the same roof for the first time, which Susan Fitzsimmons, a professor and department chair for the Art Annex, says will unify the departments and allow for cooperation between programs. Workshops in the building are equipped with welding and power tools for sculpture, a full print-making studio, a darkroom for developing film, and a re-designed ceramics work space. Students can work in several open studio spaces from 8 a.m.-10 p.m, but are not allowed to work unsupervised in the workshops. A hall of studios makes up one corridor to serve the 22 graduate students enrolled

Graham in the Gallery Photos by Mario Lopez

Page 5 in the Master of Fine Arts program. At the far end of the building, a small student lounge offers a space to relax between classes. A gallery space has been incorporated into the main hall to house exhibitions so students don’t have to go far to see art on display. “It’s like a whole new building just for arts,” Cantu said. “It’s specific to the art majors and isn’t generalized.” However, some students have not welcomed the building with the same warmth. Ramiro Adames, a junior majoring in graphic design, doesn’t like its location away from the main campus. “Now that all my classes are over here, I don’t have any reason to go over there (to the University) except to print my work,” he explains. “They haven’t set up the printers or computer labs here yet and for graphic design you have to print a lot of things. I think that should be available by now so we don’t have to use up our gas going over there just to print.” Some students complained about the lack of amenities such as trash cans and seating outside classrooms. Computer labs for digital-art focused courses

were not available for the first month of class, but were set up this week. Despite the initial disorder associated with moving to a new facility, Fitzsimmons is excited about the transformation the Annex has undergone. “The facility is beyond our expectations,” she said. “Everything is state-of-the-art and top-notch.” In this new building she said she sees UTPA’s commitment to the arts, and expressed her gratitude to President Robert Nelsen and College of Arts and Humanities Dean Dahlia Guerra. “Without their support and vision this would never have happened,” Fitzsimmons concluded. The Art Department will show off its new facility with an open house Nov. 9 at 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. The event is open to the public.

The new Art Annex is located at 2412 S. Closner Blvd on Canton Road.

Graham Toms, artist and 3D education specialist, gives a demonstration Monday morning about how to warm up for art. He compared it to an athlete stretching his muscles, and said that he tries to practice at least an hour a day.

How can the Valley start its intellectual growth explosion? Most of the time, conflicts between different ways of thinking start on a border so this is a rich place. It’s important for students to see the world and travel abroad, definitely. But students have to know that if all the intelligent, good students go to the same places they won’t accomplish anything. If they stay at spots that have work to do, where they have a chance to do something, they can create a high-quality, thinking society there.

the opportunity for others who can’t,” he proposed. “Life there is not cheap. The dollar is almost onehalf the Euro, but the experience is so interesting and important and has so many possibilities to improve the quality of our teaching, that I think it’s worth the cost.” De Souza wrote a report of his trip that he’ll be presenting to the head of the Art Department, Susan

Fitzsimmons for evaluation, after which she will visit the foundation in November to finalize contracts. After developing a study program and submitting it to the Office of International Programs. Fitzsimmons estimates that it will take a year or more to finalize, but official agreements have been drawn up and will be signed this week.

Toms stands in front of his work as he explains the process of going from idea to sketch on paper to 3D illustration.

Dozens of drawings and sketches by Toms fill the walls of the Art Annex’s gallery. He explained to three art classes Monday morning that he chose to display the sketches to give students a glimpse of how ideas begin.

3D models of dinosaurs are also on display. Toms drew sketches for the models years before they became a reality.