April 29, 2013

Page 1

VANGUARD

THE

VOL. 52, NO. 15

“If it matters to the USA family, it matters to us.”

APR. 29, 2013

Stimpson visits USA to talk mayorship

Mock office visits teach health students

By NOAH LOGAN

By STUART SOX sgsox@att.net COURTESY OF USA PUBLIC RELATIONS

ncl1101@jagmail.southalabama.edu

After his recent campaign event on campus, Sandy Stimpson sat down with The Vanguard and touched on some key points of his campaign. VG: Why do you feel you are a more qualified candidate for mayor and what should voters keep in mind about you when going to cast their votes on election day? SS: We’re going to unite Mobile and make it one again. VG: Your campaign has a FB page in which you repeatedly post updates encouraging citizens to give any ideas to help you improve Mobile. Looking one the responses, you see mainly two different ideas present. One wants to improve tourism in Mobile and spend money on museums and other public services and one wants to stop all of the bulk spending that those things bring along. Which side do you see yourself on and why? SS: The first thing we have to address is spending. We need to cut out wasteful spending in the city and really get a grip on where the city is. On the flipside, you talk about cutting wasteful spending and investing into future projects and you wonder if they are in opposition with each other. I don’t think they are. You can’t invest with money you don’t have obviously but you don't have to spend money to make money. But also, some of the projects that need to be done will seek to gain private money to fund them as well as public money. But before any people will donate and invest into anything in the city, they have to know your fiscally responsible first. Today, there is a problem in people’s minds that we are not fiscally responsible as a city so they don’t want to invest in anything. VG: So much of your campaign is about making Mobile great again by getting people from out of state to See STIMPSON Page 6

Dr. Jim Connors signs amendment to master cooperation agreement between USA and Fuzhou University.

South Alabama and Chinese University form partnership By JAYSON CURRY jayson-curry@hotmail.com

Associate dean of the school of continuing education Dr. Jim Connors recently visited China to lead a talk between South Alabama and Fuzhou University Zhicheng College (FUZC) in an attempt to further study abroad programs. Dr. Connors was accompanied by the following: Dean Richard Hayes of the college of education, Dean Vaughn Millner of continuing education, Dean John Steadman of engineering, Dean Alec Yasinsac of the

school of computing, as well as FUZC graduate Dr. Jingshan Huang of the school of computing, chair of marketing Dr. Mohan Menon and dean of engineering Dr. John Steadman. “A major component of USA’s long range plan is to increase study abroad and international exchange opportunities for our students and faculty, and to intermingle a global perspective into the entire curriculum. That’s what this initiative and a number of others are all about,” Connors said. “The main objective of the trip was to expand the existing academic part-

nership between USA and FUZC. These agreements have been in the works for a while to facilitate more seamless transfers of degree-seeking students between our two universities,” Connors added. The visit ended with five new general education, computer science and business course articulation agreements being signed. Work was also started on agreement in education, engineering and interdisciplinary studies. In the past, 11 FUZC students See PARTNERSHIP Page 5

BJ Scott to the Chicago Bears: “I can dig it” By PATRICK HERRING sports.editor@usavanguard.com

A l though he didn't hear his n a m e called in the NFL Draft, BJ Scott former Safety S o u t h Alabama safety B.J. Scott did hear

find us on Facebook “Facebook.com/ TheVanguardUSA”

from the Chicago Bears. He took to Instagram and posted a Bears logo and tweeted the phrase, "I can dig it." Scott is one of many college players to go undrafted and become an unrestricted free agent. These players are free to sign with any team who reaches out to them. It appears the Bears have reached out to Scott. Undrafted free agents are brought on to participate in mini camps and offseason training activities in order

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to try to make it onto the team's final 53-man roster before a season begins. It gives players a good chance to prove how quickly they can learn a system and pick up the terminology. There are many undrafted free agents who have caught on with a team and become very successful. Some of the top names include Texans Pro Bowl running back Arian Foster and All-Pro wide receiver Wes Welker, who recently signed a See SCOTT Page 5

South Alabama’s clinical simulation lab will serve as a simulated doctor’s office to help students in the professional schools of the health sciences gain valuable hands-on experience. Located on the first floor of the college of medicine building, the “office” is complete with examination rooms, a nurse’s station and a waiting room. Even the neutral colors of the walls and the intensely bright ceiling lights create an ambience that is comparable to that of a real doctor’s office. Inside the examination rooms there are beds for the patients and any device for medical diagnostics that a physician or nurse may need. The key to making the simulation lab real is the use of standardized patients, real people who are hired by the clinical simulation lab to emulate real, sick patients. They are trained to answer specific questions about certain symptoms in order to create a real examination experience for the student. After the mock examination, the student records the information from the examination on a computer with software designed specifically for the student’s professional program. There is also an examination room with a two-way mirror that allows professors to directly see their students examining and speaking with standardized patients. Any student can apply to be a standardized patient. According to Alison Rudd, the assistant director for human simulation programs at South Alabama, the hours are flexible and standardized patients are paid $12 per hour. Rudd works with the faculty of each division of South Alabama’s Health Sciences to build software and design examinations that are specific to each profession. These professions include any that are health or medical related, such as physical therapy, nursing, occupational therapy, audiology, nursing, speech pathology and many others. Even some non-students use the clinical simulation lab. According to Rudd, See HEALTH Page 5

In this Issue: Life, Page 7 Sports, Page 10 Opinion, Page 13


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