April 28, 2011 by UTRGV Student Media

Volume 67, No. 26

WWW.PANAMERICANONLINE.COM

April 28, 2011

PIECE OF THE PIE

Tough decisions on funding lie ahead.

How much will have to be sliced from the budget at UTPA? Senate proposal

By Kristen Cabrera The Pan American

Imagine feeding a group of students with one large pizza and it being enough to satisfy the group. But the next day you pick up your pizza and 11.5 percent is missing; you just got your pizza from the Texas Senate. You still need to feed your group but now they all need to figure out a way to eat less yet still be satisfied. The next day you go to a different place to pick up your pizza but this time 18.2 percent of your pizza is missing. You just got your pizza from the Texas House of Representatives. Each one of those possibilities is a reality for UTPA. Administrators must figure out a way to feed the University (figuratively) on either 11.5 or 18.2 percent less pizza, i.e. money. Ideally the Texas Senate and House will meet in the middle when it comes to their numbers as they represent and best- and worse-case scenario for the UTPA community. UTPA President Robert Nelsen remains adamant about not increasing cost as other Texas universities are doing to ease the weight of budget cuts.

11.5%

“We’re not going to raise tuition this year,” he said. “We are the 30th of 34 institutions with the lowest tuition, but we need to keep it as low as we possibly can.” In order to do that, each college underwent cuts of their own. Most, like the College of Health and Human Services, took first from less direct student-impact areas, “reducing departmental operating budgets,” said Bruce Reed, dean of the college, and “reducing faculty travel funding to almost nothing.” But eventually “emergency hire” faculty (those on one-year contracts) and three-year-contract hires whose agreements would expire at the end of the year were part of the cutting action. “The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences initially identified two continuing lecturers to be cut,” said Kristin Croyle, dean of the CSBS. “Eight emergency hire lecturers that were hired for 2010-2011 were also not going to be rehired for the following year…We also completely cut all the funds we had for part-time instruction, such as adjunct instructors teaching one or two classes only.” These contract hires are, in most

18.2%

House of Representatives proposal

cases, the ones that take over core classes that every student needs to complete to graduate. This might explain the smaller amount of core classes offered at that stage on ASSIST. If the reductions were continued, it would seriously hamper the mission of the college. “The loss of sections from these cuts would be significant,” Croyle said. “Our faculty were willing to teach extra and teach larger classes to try to open up seats for students, but the cuts were extensive enough that we would not be able to make up the loss with our existing faculty.” Three weeks ago, however, the Office of the Provost released $1.4 million to be allocated to each college for instructional use. A week later that office provided another $1.2 million, bringing the total to $2.6 million in funds to be used to employ contract-hires filling positions needed to meet class demands. “The goal of that funding,” said Havidan Rodriguez, provost and vice president for academic affairs, “was to allow the colleges to identify instructional cost for the following academic year. Again, we wanted to make sure the offerings for this academic

year were quite similar to last academic year despite budgetary cuts.” With the additions of these extra resources more classes were made available and are being offered through the summer, effectively saving the University summer. The provost urges students to continually check the registration website for updated class schedules. But not all the colleges were affected equally. The College of Engineering and Computer Science and CHHS are the smaller colleges of the University and thus effected differently. “This college does not teach service courses in the same way that the rest of the university does,” said David Allen, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “There are virtually no courses in this college at all that are taken by students outside the college…So we are not facing the same kind of situation like other colleges, where we are cutting sections of courses that are offered.” FACULTY AFFECTED In all colleges though, faculty workloads have increased. Some have volunteered to take on another course load, such as some in the College of

Science and Mathematics. “I am very proud of my faculty,” said John Trant, dean of the newly established college. “There are situations where the faculty volunteer to take on another 100-plus students on top of the 300 that they already have.” Reed, dean of the College of Health and Human Services, said that in addition to the workload, some classes’ size will be larger and they plan to offer fewer electives in order to meet budgetary demands. Since the budget is planned based on a biennium (for two years) what will happen the second year is still up in the air, especially since exact numbers for state university budget won’t be known for a couple of months. But while some administrators share a sense of apprehension, Rodriguez seems to be more on the optimistic side. “All we have provided is funding for one year,” the provost explained. “We have to wait till next year. The good thing about this is in several months we will know our budget and how big the budget cuts will be, and it will allow us essentially a year, nine months or so to really plan for the next academic year.”

April 28, 2011 Vol. 67, No. 26

THE PAN AMERICAN

COMMENTARY

A new age of America?

Benny Salinas A&L Editor According to figures released by the International Monetary Fund earlier this week, China’s economy is expected to outgrow America’s by the year 2016. This is decades earlier than the general estimate most experts had given for China’s rise to the top of the economic food chain. Of course, the implications of this growth are far reaching

and much grander than simple numbers can attest to. By 2016 the IMF predicts China’s economy will grow from $11 trillion to about $19 trillion. America’s? From $15 trillion to about $18 trillion. If these predictions are accurate, 2016 will be the first time since 1890 that America sits at No. 2 in the world economy. To put it in perspective, there is not a single human being on the planet who remembers a time when America wasn’t on top. It would be, as Brett Arends said in a column for MarketWatch, “the end of the ‘Age of America’ and the beginning of the ‘Age of China.’” It would be a new chapter in world history. Understandably, this makes much of the world a bit nervous. An economic world ruled by a communist country could be a very different than one ruled by America, which was taken a fairly benign approach to trade and economics. China has made no qualms about its quest for

continued expansion and national power, buying up farmlands and foodstuff supplies across the globe since 1949, when its current constitution was written. Whether or not the date for China’s surpassing of America is actually only five years away, one thing remains almost inescapably clear: we are in the midst of a major paradigm shift. Economics affects everything, from military power and U.N. control to culture and art. The latter interests me most. For the last century we have lived with certain mindset as a country. It is one of stability and cultural elitism rooted in the idea that no one could touch us. We developed a sort of social isolationism because of how little we felt affected by the activities of other nations. As a result, the culture and general sensibilities of foreign nations became less important to us. We grew ignorant, fat and xenophobic. Our art became more and more distinctly “American” and less and less

“human.” This shift in power could change that significantly. What happens to our mindset when we can no longer call America “the greatest nation in the world”? Will the Tea Party call to preserve America become a moot point? Will we look at the world with new eyes as we are forced to finally look upward at another country? Will we develop the much needed modesty that could have saved us from this predicament in the first place? Will we finally take the environmental crisis seriously as we no longer have the greatest access to the world’s resources? Will we grow into a new age of post-post-modernism? Knowing that the world could be a drastically different place in 20 years is understandably frightening, especially with fears that a new power could seek to take over the world. However, it could be a blessing in disguise. It could be a rediscovery of our humanity.

1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539 Phone: (956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122 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.

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Kristen Cabrera kmcabrera22@gmail.com NEWS EDITOR: Roxann Garcia roxx.gar11@gmail.com ONLINE/SPANISH EDITOR: Denisse Salinas dns_145@hotmail.com ARTS & LIFE EDITOR: Benny Salinas 9_benny_9@live.com SPORTS EDITOR: Sara Hernandez shernandez261@gmail.com PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR: Alma E. Hernandez alma.e.hdz@gmail.com SENIOR DESIGNER: Jennifer Tate jen489@gmail.com DESIGNER: Alexis Carranza alexis091@aol.com ADVISER: Dr. Greg Selber selberg@utpa.edu ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE: Anita Reyes areyes18@utpa.edu ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mariel Cantu spubs@utpa.edu WEBMASTERS: Jose Villarreal josemvillarrealcs@gmail.com Selvino Padilla selvinop3@gmail.com

Delivery:

Thursday at noon Letters to the Editor

Anthony Salinas/THE PAN AMERICAN

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 reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar and length. We cannot publish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Please send all story ideas to thepanamerican@gmail.com. Individuals with disabilities wishing to acquire this publication in an alternative format or needing assistance to attend any event listed can contact The Pan American for more details.

April 28, 2011

Student has accident with saw

Communication major says ﬁngers on right hand will require surgery By Karen Antonacci The Pan American Communication student Kevin Canales cut a gash across the five fingers on his right palm April 19 as he was using a power saw to build a set for an upcoming show, sources say. When the accident occurred, Canales was earning practicum hours by working on a set for “The Nerd” in the shop behind the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre. “He was cutting wood and doing fine. I didn’t really see it, but I was standing next to him, with my back to him,” said Rolando Alvarez, a senior TV/ Film major from Los Fresnos. “I just remember him turning off the machine, and then I heard (him yell). I turned around and there was just a lot of blood.” “I ran to him, and I was thinking that his fingers were going to be everywhere, but thankfully, it was just a gash, just a big cut,” Alvarez said. “So when I ran over to him and wrapped it, just applied pressure, and another work study called our professor, who was just testing his students on something upstairs.” Once Associate Professor Thomas Grabowski saw what had happened, he called emergency services. “I just called help on the phone and the University Police got on the phone and they were there in two minutes,” Grabowski said.

When emergency services arrived, Canales was lucid and able to answer, Alvarez said. He was taken to McAllen Medical Hospital where he received several stitches. Both the University Police and the Environmental Health and Safety office investigated the incident. “We’re correcting some obvious things, not necessarily that caused it. The Environmental Health and Safety Office are doing an overview on things that could be issues,” said Grabowski, who is director of Theater. Following such accidents, the Environmental Health and Safety office investigates and concludes whether the operator is to blame or if it was equipment, said Richard Costello, director of Environmental Health and Safety. There was a hand guard on the power saw and Canales was coached on the basic operation of the machine, Grabowski said. “This was operator error,” Costello said. “He had turned off the machine, made a mistake; he had the guard on but looked the other way I guess.” This is the first injury in the theatre production department in 20 years, Costello added. According to Canales, he will require surgery as all five of his fingers were damaged with the middle finger receiving the worst nerve damage.

THE PAN AMERICAN

Colleges deal with impending cuts “ At

this point it looks

like my salary will shrink considerably.

thatʼs

the case then Iʼll likely venture

into

another

field of work, such as Border Patrol. Teaching

is too much work to make peanut money. ”

Aaron Hernandez

Riverside Middle School teacher

Contract hires, class size are developing issues for respective deans to address

By Roxann Garcia The Pan American With well over 4 million children in Texas schools and the average starting pay for a high school educator at $41,000, it’s no wonder education majors are nervous about the 82nd Texas Legislature outcome expected in late May. The state’s current budget shortfall is estimated at $27 billion over the next two fiscal years. While many issues loom over the Texas House of Representatives and Senate including redistricting, the main issue to most is education cuts in the proposed House bill 1 at 18 percent and 9 percent with the Senate bill 1. HB1 could possibly mean a total of $8 billion in educational cuts while SB1 proposed cut at $4 billion. The Senate

Finance Committee hopes to tap into at least half of the Rainy Day fund, which stands at $8 billion. If the House budget passes as is, the implications for school districts are sure to be enormous. Across the state, school districts are contemplating layoffs, closing campuses, and zapping programs. Houston I.S.D. alone has already fired close to 500 teachers. This year Texas produced 25,000 new teachers, down 5.6 percent from two years earlier. But this doesn’t seem to faze early childhood education major Melissa Vicinaiz at all. Originally from Los Fresnos, the 22-year-old is expected to join the job market this year with graduation from the University approaching in May. “My biggest fear is trying to meet the needs of all my students,” she said. “I need to make sure I can give each student the

best possible education they can receive.” A special education minor, Vicinaiz currently teaches a class of her own for her teaching block. In Harlingen she has a group of 12 special education students. “It’s rewarding when my students understand the material,” she said. “But it’s also very challenging when they’re just not in the mood to learn.” UTPA graduate Aaron Hernandez also currently has a class to look after. The kinesiology major teaches 6th grade science and coaches three sports including basketball, track and cross-country at Riverside Middle School in San Benito. Hernandez originally chose to become an educator because of his passion for the job. “No other expertise allows the platform of directly altering and impacting lives,” he said. “You have this

ability to mold upstanding citizens with a hunger for knowledge and create a respect for hard work.” Even though the 24-year-old upholds this mentality, he also realizes the shape of the current job market. “At this point it looks like my salary will shrink considerably,” he noted. “If that’s the case then I’ll likely venture into another field of work, such as Border Patrol. Teaching is too much work to make peanut money.” Education major Eva de Hoyon is in her third year at UTPA and currently completing course requirements. The 21-year-old eventually hopes to become a school counselor. “I thought about it, ‘What if I don’t get a job?’” she said. “I’m still going to do it though. I’m just hoping that I do find a job. I want to help students.” Vicinaiz and De Hoyon don’t seem to be fazed by the current market. Instead both are continuing to pursue their degrees in education. “I’m not worried,” Vicinaiz said. “Teachers are the ones that make a difference in the world.”

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28 de abril del 2011

Sobrepasando todas las barreras Profesora de ingeniería mecánica de UTPA relata experiencia para llegar a su puesto y la importancia de la ingeniería para ayudar a la comunidad. Por Yngrid Fuentes The Pan American

sidad cumplía 25 años, y nadamás se habían gradTodo comenzó siendo una niña, uado cuatro mupreguntándose como funcionaban las jeres antes que cosas, y por que las cosas suceden o yo. Cuando yo pasan de tal manera. El gusto por el entre en primer conocimiento practico inició como semestre se estaba una afición a las matemáticas, física graduando una en y química entre otras ciencias, y noveno, entonces, culminó en una carrera que la ha todo el tiempo llevado a ser una reconocida ingeniera que yo estuve, era mecánica que continúa innovando con la única mujer”. Tras terminar la su trabajo, y todo con un propósito en carrera en Monmente: ayudar a su comunidad. Lozano Oriunda de Monterrey, Nuevo terrey, León, Karen Lozano, ingeniera hizo su maestría, mecánica y profesora asociada en la doctorado y postUniversidad de Texas-Pan Americana doctorado en Rice comenta que cuando inició su University, donde carrera de ingeniería mecánica en también fue la la universidad de Monterrey era la quinta mujer en recibir un doctoúnica mujer de su generación. “En México, la ingeniería rado en ese deparmecánica no era algo que las mujeres tamento (de ingestudiaban, y no es que la gente lo eniería mecánica dijera, simplemente no había mujeres y materiales). “Ahora hay más en la carrera de ingeniería”. Lozano explicó que estudiar mujeres, todavía Alma E. Hernandez/THE PAN AMERICAN ingeniería fue una decisión que tomó es poco, parece EXPERIMENTANDO - Lozano sumergió globos en nitrógeno líquido durante un espectáculo de magia para gracias al apoyo de sus padres que que es 12% lo niños desde kinder hasta segundo grado de primaria el pasado 21 de abril en el Ballroom. la motivaron a estudiar algo que le que hay ahora de gustara independientemente de lo mujeres. Todavía “El hombre por ser hombre se da tiene la gente al respecto. Dado que tra trabajando en una investigación en los salones de clase por ejemplo, que opinara la gente. “Yo quería estudiar ingeniería, pero en una clase de a lo mejor 60 solo por hecho que es buen ingeniero, el ingeniero se puede especializar en que consiste en hacer materiales y y la mujer tiene que demostrar que un sinnúmero de áreas, es difícil fibras compuestas de nanoparticulas decían que ingeniería no por que era hay cinco mujeres”. Hablado de las exigencias que pueden es buena ingeniera. Y, los hombres describir la labor de un ingeniero que pueden ser la base de nuevas tecde hombres, la ingeniería mecánica, pero por ejemplo estaba arquitectura, afrontar las mujeres a diferencia de los no es que la tengan fácil, para ellos con pocas palabras. Lozano describe nologías en el campo medico, induso diseño gráfico, que podía estudiar, hombres, Lozano comentó que las también es pesado, pero ya solamente al ingeniero como la persona que se trial y en el hogar. pero me decían (sus padres) ‘estudia mujeres no tienen necesariamente mas por se hombres se sobreentiende encuentra tras bastidores, creando la “Todo lo que tratamos de hacer lo que te gusta, ‘ y me metí y pues si, exigencias, cada quien se va poniendo que pueden, y la mujer tiene que tecnología y los como ingeniesus exigencias diferentes para salir demostrar que puede. Pero todo el materiales neceera la única mujer”. ros es desarrolmundo tiene barreras que superar”. sarios que hacen lar tecnologías “Cuando yo me gradúe la univer- adelante, ya sean hombres o mujeres. “Ahora hay mu- el show posible. que beneficien a “ Todo lo que tratamos de chas áreas de la in“Los ingenieros la sociedad, esa hacer como ingenieros es es la labor de un geniería que requi- siempre estamos eren de los talentos detrás de todo, esingeniero por desarrollar tecnologías que de las mujeres, y es tamos en los hosdefinición. A mi un área en la que pitales, todo lo que beneficien a la sociedad, no me gusta estar deben aprovechar, ves, los catéteres, la estudiando algo esa es la labor de un porque como no ropa antibacterial que no va a traer hay tanta gente, en los hospitales, ingeniero por definición. Si Nunkun furot a también sus opor- todo es desarrolla sociedad. Si vas vas a hacer algo, has algo a hacer algo, has tunidades son me- lado por ingeniejores. ros, pero la gente que traiga algún beneficio a algo que traiga alMas indepen- ve nadamas a los gún beneficio a la la sociedad ” . dientemente de doctores. Cuando sociedad”. que sean hombres vas a un teatro, “Como ingo mujeres, se re- hay un ingeniero eniero siempre quieren ingenieros en sonido detrás. tienes que buscar para desarrollar También hay ingla aplicación de Karen Lozano las cosas, siemtecnología y ayudar enieros eléctricos, Ingeniera mecánica a la economía”. químicos, ingeniepre te preguntas Cuando se trata ros aeronáuticos, para que podría de ingeniería, etc. Pero siempre servir”. Alma E. Hernandez/THE PAN AMERICAN muchas veces el estamos tras escenas, y creo que es imPara más información sobre el proY SE HIZO LA LUZ - Lozano utilizó una bombilla de Tesla para encender dos problema esta en portante enseñarle a la comunidad que grama de ingeniería mecánica, puede bombillas ﬂuorescentes durante el evento en el que demostró que la ciencia la falta de cono- es lo que hace un ingeniero”. visitar www.mece.panam.edu o llahace maravillas. cimiento que Actualmente, Lozano se encuen- mar al 381-2394.

April 28, 2011

the pan american

Page 11

April 28, 2011

Hocott leads UTPA to second-place finish

Great West Conference Championships results Place

Reynaldo Leal/THE PAN AMERICAN

Player

BREAK IT IN - Junior pitcher Zach Zouzalik took his third win this season, allowing two hits and one run Tuesday night. The Broncs came back from a 4-2 deﬁcit with ﬁve runs in the sixth inning.

Broncs beat UTB after fruitful sixth inning UTPA wins Battle of the Orange 10-5, even record at 17-17. PANAMERICANONLINE.COM

Score

BRONC TREASURE - Senior Haley Hocott fell one stroke short of winning the Great West Conference title this week. She captured the title in 2009 and got second last year.

Alma E. Hernandez/THE PAN AMERICAN

Check out story and photo gallery of the game at:

The UTPA women’s golf team finished second in the Great West Conference Championship this week. Houston Baptist hosted the tournament Monday through Wednesday in which six teams played three rounds of 18 holes. UTPA’s Haley Hocott and Majo Camey were named All-Great Conference team for their performance in the tournament. HBU took the conference title with 939 strokes.

For the full story of women’s golf at the GWC Championships, go to PANAMERICANONLINE.COM