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UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
NEWS FLASH
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2004
Central to begin globalization program
Student group offers whites-only scholarship BRISTOL, R.I. (AP) _ A student group at Roger Williams University is offering a new scholarship for which only white students are eligible, in a move they say is designed to protest affirmative action. The application for the $250 award requires an essay on "why you are proud of your white heritage" and a recent picture to "confirm whiteness." "Evidence of bleaching will disqualify applicants," says the application, issued by the university's College Republicans.
A globalization program will begin in the fall semester of 2004 to allow Central students an opportunity to expand their understanding of different cultures while attending UCO. "Each semester will be focused on a country or culture," said Brent Wendling, coordinator of the globalization program. Wendling said the first of the series will be an Italian semester in the fall with bi-weekly activities on earnpus. "There will be operas, plays, film festivals and lectures on culture, politics and architecture," Wending said.
"We got our ideas from Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri, who has a federally funded program," Wendling said. Dr. Don Betz, provost and vice president of AcademicAffais, initiated the program and modeled it after MSSU. "This program is a part of our overall commitment to preparing students to be in an interdependent globalized world," Betz said. Trips in the spring and summer semester to the cultures or countries that have been studied will also be an option, he said. "Students should look forward to
the activities and to talking with faculty about the cultures and ideas of the country," he said. The goal for this new program is "to help everyone be in an environment that focuses on a large picture of the world," Wendling said. As a part of the globalization program, Central's Biology Department is sponsoring a trip for students to study abroad in Costa Rica for four weeks this summer. Students will have the opportunity to study the rain forest, an active volcano, mountain cloud forests and tropical beaches, said Dr. Clark Ovrebo, the biology professor who
will be leading the trip. This summer intersession course fulfills the general education requirement for Biology 1214 and is set from July 26 through Aug. 20, 2004. "We're targeting the younger, non-major students," Ovrebo said. "Students with freshman or sophomore status in good standing will be given first priority." Students will live with a Costa Rican family and experience true Latin American food, music and culture, Ovrebo said. Central students will use the facilities of the Technological Institutes of Costa Rica in Cartago, Costa Rica.
Human rights activist to cover events in Colombia
Wellesley students pull all-tighter to read Shakespeare
by Stephanie Johnson
It could turn out to be "The Comedy of Errors," but "All's Well That Ends Well," and the Wellesley College Shakespeare Society is emphatically optimistic. The 126-year-old drama group with a soft spot for the legendary playwright William Shakespeare has organized a marathon to read the entire Complete Works of Shakespeare in 24 hours. Unabridged. Though the exact number of works in Shakespeare's canon has been disputed, the reading will include 39 plays, 154 sonnets and at least five poems from sunset on Sunday to sunset on Monday. "You look at all of those books for the Complete Works of Shakespeare. All of it in 24 hours, it just seems absurd but really fantastic that it actually can happen," said Rebecca Kayes, a freshman member of the society at the allwomen's college outside Boston. The group checked out more than 200 copies of Shakespeare books at a local public library. Members are soliciting help from professors, friends and any interested volunteers to help out.
College students common recruits for medical testing INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A 19-year-old woman who committed suicide this month while participating in an Eli Lilly and Co. drug trial was among the hundreds of college students recruited to become human research subjects. Although it is uncertain how many college students offer themselves for the tests, they are exposed on their campuses to notices for the thousands of ongoing research projects via emails, Web sites, fliers and word of mouth. Traci Johnson, a former student at Indiana Bible College in Indianapolis, was one of 25 local healthy volunteers taking higher-thannormal doses of duloxetine, a compound developed by Lilly to treat incontinence and depression. She hanged herself Feb. 7 at Lilly's hotel-like research lab at the Indiana University Medical Center on the IUPUI campus. Some question whether college students, often short of money, are mature enough to fully understand the risks of such medical tests.
"Our goal for this trip is to learn basic biological principles, but to expand our ideas about the world and expose students to an intemational experience," Ovrebo said. Angela Cope, a speech pathology sophomore, said that she had tried to take biology in the classroom and the classroom setting didn't work for her. "I've always wanted to study abroad, and this would be handson," Cope said. "This trip will be a once-in-a-life'time chance, and it will help get me college credit," said Brandon Thompson, a forensic science freshman.
Staff Writer
Photo by Gavin Elliott
David Brewster plays the blues for Kole Kleeman's Introduction to Mass Communications class Feb. 16 in the Communications Building.
Nancy Sanchez Mendez, a human rights defender for Colombia, will speak at 2 p.m. Feb. 23 in Communications Building, room120. Mendez will speak on her experiences with the armed conflict in Colombia and the impact of U.S. policy. She was featured on CBS's "60 Minutes" and has worked to document the effects of the U.S.-funded programs. The Democratic Socialists and the Political Science Honor society are co-sponsoring the event, said Dr. Brendan Lalor, the faculty advisor for the Democratic Socialists. "She's lived in Colombia for years with indigenous people," Lalor said. "She had to leave for a while because her life was threatened," he said, but she returned two years later to continue her work. The presentations will be in Spanish with an English translation provided. Lalor said that a goal for the Democratic Socialists is to promote awareness about human rights issues. Fore more information about the meeting or Democratic Socialists, call Lalor at 974-5625.
Arts education center to partner with county schools UCO's Oklahoma Center for Arts Education and A+ Schools will team with McCurtain County schools to combine arts with other classroom subjects. by Lauren Pulsinelli Staff Writer Central-based Oklahoma Center for Arts Education and A+ Schools will join forces with the school districts in McCurtain County to increase professional development in its teachers and administration. Fourteen Oklahoma teachers with expertise in teaching arts integration will visit McCurtain County Feb. 16. Pre-K through fifth grade teachers and some secondary teachers, will work with over 375 classroom teachers, principals, superintendents and board of education members in how to implement an arts integration program in their schools. John Clinton, executive director of OCAE, said that the program is designed to merge the arts with other classroom subjects. Arts integration has been a hot topic for about 30 years
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but has had a limited audience. One reason is because there was not enough sufficient research and proof that arts integration was one of the keys to learning. "Some teachers think, 'Why would I want to stop teaching my science class and teach art?' Well you wouldn't. You want to integrate these things," Clinton said. It takes a significant amount of training. for nonarts teachers to learn how to teach arts integration. Clinton said he expects to have a positive impact in helping teachers see how this process works. "We give ideas and collaborate," he said. Currently, OCAE has ongoing research with A+ Schools and will continue that process. "There will be some schools that latch onto this quickly and for some it will take two or three years," Clinton said. "I believe the arts have a
place in every aspect of life."' The Oklahoma Center for Arts Education is a statewide program established by UCO. Three . years ago UCO established the College of Art Media & Design and, at that time, the DaVinci Institute was trying to get A+ Schools started. "UCO stepped forward and said, "We would like to have a center for arts education." We think A+ Schools can work in tandem so let's put it here, said Clinton. A+. Schools was modeled after a program in North Carolina, an initiative of the Kenan Institute of the Arts, and currently' has 19 schools under the provost. So, UCO will be responsible for both of these programs. What OCAE is interested in is high quality high, standard arts programs. "If you go into a school and treat music, art, theatre or dance as a cute or clever thing with no substance, curriculum "
or skills to be learned you are going to get exactly what you put into it," Clinton said. OCAE is developing partnerships with the Oklahoma Arts Institute, Circle for Arts Education and the Alliance for Arts Education. The Circle for Arts Education is a non-profit organization that works with businesses of Oklahoma to help them understand the importance of arts education in public schools as it relates to economics. The Alliance for Arts Education is an advocacy group for arts education and associated with the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. OCAE and the three other groups work together to provide the best information and strategies for continuing and implementing arts education in Oklahoma. The advisory board meetings for OCAE meet once every three months. The members include art teachers, busi-
ness leaders, and members of the Oklahoma Arts Council and Department of Education. There job is to try and see OCAE provides the best professional development, what can be done to advocate for the arts most effectively, what can be done to develop arts education programs. Currently, a research learning center is being developed. People will be able to come and archive all of the best research through the center. OCAE has to raise money for all of the developing that should be done in a short period of time, but it's a critical part of the OCAE goal to help best serve art education. Clinton said, "We are becoming a place where people are saying, 'We need to go there to plug everything together'."
see Arts Education story on page 3 for more information