T HE
12, 1985 Sept.
Vol. 84, No. 4
VISTA
Thursday Edition
Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma
Faculty Senate gives boost to child care facility drive By Debbie Martin The Faculty Senate sees an explicit need for a full-time child care center on campus, according to the Faculty Senate president. Dr. Ray E. Beasley, in an interview Tuesday, said that a full-time child care center would not only be beneficial to parents, but especially to the students in the College of Special Arts and Sciences and Education. Observations, child studies and practicum would provide valuable firsthand experience, taking education another step farther, he said. A proposal calling for such a full-time child care center at Central State, passed unanimously last Sept. 5, at the Faculty Senate meeting in the University Center. The child care facility was one of the topics covered at the Sept. 5 meeting. Details of the child care proposal recommends the administration conduct a feasibility study of the situation for the best results. In other business, Beasley said a 1982 resolution that "got lost in
Dr. Ray Beasley
the shuffle" is an issue the Faculty Senate will be addressing this year. This proposal reviews the evaluation process of the deans and of the library director. Also at the Sept. 5 meeting,
Beasley distributed amongst the Faculty Senate a letter from Dr. James E. Perry, vice president of academic affairs, clarifying the "X" grade. According to Perry, the mark of "X" and "W" are of equal status. The letter stresses that the "X" grade is the option of the faculty. The "W" grade is the option of the student. The "X" grade is a passive way of dropping a class and the "W" grade is an active way for a student to drop a class. The "X" grade may be elected by the faculty up to the mid-term. The "W" grade may be elected by the student up to two weeks after the mid-term. Beasley said the Faculty Senate will be working hard this year to close the gaps that have existed in the past between the administration and the faculty. One of the ways Beasley hopes to do this is by encouraging more significant faculty input into the decision processes of the administration.
Muggy days makes this shar-pei yearn for cooler temperatures of the fall season to return to the Edmond campus.
Faculty profile
Professor picked as dean's assistant By Thomas Schwartz When you see him running across campus, you expect him to start ripping off his clothes, be in a blue and red suit and you think you'll watch him jump into the air and take off flying. To Central State University students, the "superman" image describes one particular professor on campus: Dr. William D. Parker. Parker, an associate professor of sociology at CSU, may not really be superman, but to some he is close to it. The professor was recently appointed assistant to the dean of College of Liberal Arts and he also received the rank of colonel in the United States Marine Corps this summer. When Parker was 13, he went to Ft. Sill as the company mascot for the 45th Division until the Korean War broke out. "They released me because I
school and graduated in 1953. Following high school, he attended East Central State College for one year. "After a year of college, I really had not decided what I wanted to do. I decided I wanted to get back into the military, so I joined the Marine Corps."
Dr. Bill Parker
was 'underage," Parker recalls. "When the war broke out, they did a thorough run-down on everybody and they weeded out all the enlistees who weren't old enough to serve." After being released from the army, Parker went back to high
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In this issue. .
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University Center serves students...page 3 Career day on tap...page 4 Pianist in concert tonight...page 6 Goodlow fuels Broncho attack...page 7 Bronchos travels to Missouri...page 8
Shortly after entering the regular service, he was transferred to San Diego for sea training. For one year, Parker witnessed history as he served on a submarine which did underwater nuclear testing. "I was a security detachment to the Atomic Energy Commission," Parker said. "That was when they were beginning to study the use of nuclear weapons launched from underwater posts." When he returned to Camp Pendleton, he was selected to become an admiral's orderly. "I spent 18 months working for two different vice-admirals at the Comfirst Fleet," he remembers. After spending the last six months of his hitch as a military policeman, Parker returned to college. "I got an athletic scholarship and also had my G.I. Bill, so I went back to scool at Southeastern State College in Durant." Parker completed his bachelor's degree at Southeastern with a major in sociology and a double minor in economics and Latin. "I had been considering enter-
ing law school, so I got a minor in Latin," Parker explained. "I thought it would help me." Law school was not, however, the course Bill Parker decided to take. Instead, he enrolled in the master's program in sociology at the University of Tulsa. Parker worked his way through his master's degree as a police officer in Tulsa. He began work there in the summer of 1960 and was "on the beat" until October of 1962. "At that time, I was offered the opportunity to apply for a commission in the Marine Corps." Parker said. "I felt it was an excellent opportunity for me, so I did it." On Dec. 21, 1962, Parker formally left his "civvies" and was back in fatigues. His re-enlistment coincided with the beginning of the Vietnam War where he spent 13 months in Icor, Vietnam. "After 13 months, they rotated me back to the states. I went back to Camp Pendleton and ran a weapons outfit which supplied our troops." In August of 1966, Parker was released from active duty, and was promoted to the rank of captain. "I came back to Tulsa and talked to my old professor at the university there," Parker said. "I was looking for a job and he suggested I try my hand at teaching." One month later, Bill Parker began his career in education as a professor of sociology at Nor-
theastern State College in Tahlequah. Parker stayed on the Tahlequah campus until 1968, when he was awarded a research grant to study at the University of Maryland. In 1970, an illness in his family cut short his research and doctoral studies. He returned to Oklahoma, where he finished his Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University. The following September, Dr. Bill Parker came to Central State, where he remains a professor today. During the last five years, Parker has been a member of the Dallas regiment of the Marine reserve. He has been the director of the 14th Division artillery program. "I think I grew up with a certain amount of personal discipline; I was taught the importance of it," Parker said. "The Marine Corps is a family to a certain extent — there are no exMarines, just former ones," As assistant to the dean, Parker said he will be working closely with Dean of the Liberal Arts College Dr. Clif' Warren in administering the departments which comprise the college. Parker will also continue to act as the director of the criminal justice programs at CSU and teach full-time. "I try to take a positive, objective approach to life," Parker concluded. "I realize that I must deal with my own shortcomings."