THE
PAN AMERICAN
T h e S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Te x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n
College of Arts, Humanities selects dean By SANDRA GONZALEZ The Pan American
July 27, 2006
Shall we dance?
Office of Student Development offers free salsa lessons By CAMILLE RICH The Pan American Manuel Arridona, director of the Office of Student Development, still remembers his first experience with salsa dancing back in his college days at the University of Iowa. Though it was an unlikely place to find the Latin-based dance, he said the crowds responded well, as did he. “I haven’t danced it in a while. I still have it in me, though,” he said. “In fact, I have salsa music at home.” So when Rosie Leal, coordinator for the Office of Student Development staffers, came up with the idea of offering free salsa lessons to students, he knew they had stumbled upon a great idea. “ M a i n l y, we realized there was a need for it that was not being met in the local area so w e
offered something for free,” Arridona said. “We thought that there was strong interest for it. You can go anywhere for rock music for dance music, but there are not a whole lot of areas that provide a heavy venue for salsa.” With the last lesson of three being offered in the Ballroom today at 4:30, hopes are to continue the success of the first two, which brought in 70 and 50 people, respectively. According to Arridona, salsa wasn’t chosen only for its Hispanic origins, but also because this dance is a wonderful way to bridge cultures. “When I was at the University of Iowa, there was more of a mixed ethnicity. In fact, my girlfriend at the time was a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant and she was the one who introduced me to salsa,” he said. “We had salsa events on campus and t h e y
were always packed because there was no venue for salsa over there.” The lessons are open to the UTPA public and the community at large, and feature levels of expertise from beginning to intermediate. Mario Segura, who teaches the salsa lessons, said those interested don’t have to bring a partner because he rotates pairs if the participant does not have one. He says this method has its benefits. “I do it so you don’t get used to dancing with just one person because when you get on the dance floor with someone else you want to know how to dance with someone different,” he said. Segura, who teaches freelance lessons mainly in McAllen, split the participants into boys and girls since
Paul Sale selected as provost By MEREDITH CANALES The Pan American
The search committee members in the College of Arts and Humanities let out a sign of relief on July 19 when Dahlia Guerra, former chair of music, was appointed new dean. After a series of ads placed in academic publications produced 16-18 applicants, it was the job of the dean search committee to come up with a top five applicants over a series of meetings. “After that it was the question of who was the best fit,” Glenn Martinez, chair of the search committee, said. “All the candidates were GUERRA highly qualified for the position. It was just a question of who was the best fit for the College of Arts and Humanities and this point and time, given where we want to go.” It turns out, that even after the search, the person right for the job had been right under their nose; rather, in the music department. “I think she has very refined leadership qualities. She knows how to bring people together for common goals,” Martinez said. “She’s very sensitive to the different areas of achievement in both the arts and humanities. She’s very familiar with that diversity and to ways of brining those different areas of expertise together in order to make the college stand out.” Guerra, who earned her undergraduate degree from Pan American University, eventually went to SMU and earned a master’s in Piano pedagogy, teaching piano performance.
As Blandina Cardenas, president of The University of Texas-Pan American, entered the Visitor’s Center amid the sounds of mariachi music, she was followed by a new face: Paul Sale, new provost/vice president of academic affairs. At the Monday morning ceremony, Cardenas and co-chairs of the search committee for the provost helped announce the chosen candidate. “I pledge to you all to vigorously devote my energy, my passion, my experience, knowledge and skills to enhance the vision See SALSA page 4 of UTPA,” Sale said. “My wife and I are eager to build new and long-lasting SALE relationships with our campus home and the greater Rio Grande Valley.” After a 15-member committee dwindled down the initial 38 applicants to just nine in March, the pressure was on to find the best candidate. From those nine, five were invited back for campus visits and to participate in open forums held the week of June 19. At the ceremony, Cardenas asked the members of the committee to stand and be recognized for their hard work. “These people worked tirelessly to accomplish what everyone said could not be done, and indeed if you look at the record, we have accomplished a great deal in a very short period of time,” she said. “I thank you for your discipline, your tenacity and courage to undertake this task.” Jennifer Durhiem Cardenas also praised the efforts of OLE - Larry Thompson (left),a tech from the Physical Plant, and Nohemi Moreno, a freshman education major, were just two Ana Maria Rordiguez, who served as
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of 50 participants who took advantage of free salsa lessons given by the Office of Student Development July 20. The next lesson will take place today in the Ballroom at 4:30 p.m.
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