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SHIELD T h u r s d a y, D E C E M B E R 8 , 2 0 1 6 | U s i s h i e l d . c o m | v o l . 4 7 i s s u e 1 7
UBER RACES INTO EVANSVILLE
Photo by megan thorne | The Shield
Uber, a taxi service that allows customers to hire private drivers to transport them to their destination nation will be launching its product UberX in the Evansville area in 2017.
by riley guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
Ever since her car broke down, Crystal Phillips has searched for a reliable transportation system to get her to and from work. Phillips, a freshman public relations major, said she has had difficulty getting an internship or a higher paying job because her modes of transportation are slim. “I really feel like Uber would be beneficial to someone like me who had their car get pretty much totaled but still needs to make a living,” she said. Uber announced last week that it will be launching its product UberX in the Evansville area in 2017. Evansville will become the seventh city in Indiana to provide the ridesharing product. “Thanks in part to the collaborative efforts of the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville, we quickly realized that Uber would be a great fit for the community and look forward to serving riders and drivers in Evansville early next year,” said the general manager of Uber in Illinois and Indiana
Marco McCottry. Uber is a taxi service that allows customers to hire private drivers to transport them to their destination. This is available through a smartphone app. The company hires pre-screened local drivers who use their own vehicles to drive customers around their city or town. Phillips said that while she has never used the Uber service, she knows it is inexpensive and believes it will be more beneficial than buying a new car. “I work on campus but if I had a job with better pay or more hours, I would feel financially safer,” she said. “Now I have to save for a new car on top of school and books and having a large sum of money for when I do get a car back so I can pay for insurance.” Junior business management student Eric Hannesson said he has used Uber in Indianapolis and California and said he has never had a rude or bad driver. “The reason why I like the Uber service is that they are cheap and fast to get you where you want to go,” he said. “I like Uber mostly because of how inexpensive it is and if I need a ride to somewhere, then I can get one with a click of a button.”
Hannesson said he likes that Uber has affordable prices for college students and people in the community. “I don’t have to make phone calls,” he said. “Uber is different simply because of the customer service and cost compared to other taxi services. Other services will charge you by the minute and Uber just charges you by mile.” Hannesson said other taxi services he had used didn’t converse with him and overcharged him for only a five-minute drive. “A few friends and I went to Franklin Street a few weeks ago to go to the bars and had to call a taxi,” he said. “It was very expensive just to get there.” He said he couldn’t believe that Evansville did not have an Uber or Lyft, a similar ridesharing service, when he first came to the area. “Other people who do not have a car on campus can easily use Uber to get a bunch of groceries to put in the there, instead of trying to do that on the bus,” Hannesson said. “It’s affordable for everyone and I think it will be beneficial to all the students here as well as others in the community.”
New dean hopes to continue positive growth by sarah loesch editor@usishield.com @seloesch
Zane Mitchell was recently named the dean of the Pott College of Science, Engineering and Teaching after serving as interim dean since June. Mitchell is a prof e s sor of engineeri n g a n d before movMitchell i n g into the dean position, served as the chair of the engineering department. The Shield sat down with Mitchell to discuss his time in the United States Air Force and his plans for the new role.
The Shield: How was your experience as interim dean? Zane Mitchell: It was actually very exciting. We have a lot of things going on in the Pott College, a lot of things we are working on. So I came in to the position ready to hit the ground running and we were able to come up with a very good interim engineering chair, so I didn’t have to worry about that. Really since about mid May I was able to focus on this position. Dr. Paul Koebling has been the interim chair and taken care of everything there.
Shield: Was there any experience during your time in the military which you feel prepared you for this role? Mitchell: I actually think the experience running the large project in Siberia prepared me the best for this. It was such a wide variety of different folks working toward a common goal and that’s what we have here. A really nice variety of people with a bunch of different specialties, both on the faculty and staff, all geared toward helping students succeed and reach their goals.
Shield: Was the plan for you to move into the permanent position as dean? Mitchell: My plan was always to apply for the position. The university’s plan was to do the national search. They did the national search and I ended up being selected. I am very humbled and grateful for the opportunity.
Shield: Can you tell me a little more about that project? Mitchell: It was a large construction project to develop really a complete facility for the destruction of nerve agent. It was an automated factory in the middle of Siberia. Very austere conditions. We had to invent the chemical process to neutral-
ize the nerve agent and we had to also really invent the machines that could do this in a safe manner. Even a small amount of nerve agent can kill a person so we wanted the whole process to be very hands off. There was the complete design and construction from the process to the machinery to the factory with the environmental systems built into it to prevent the escape of any nerve agent that would leak out of the shells. All the while working with the community around the base to make sure they were safe and that they felt safe and were aware of everything that was going on. Shield: Did anything impact your decision to join the military? Mitchell: My father was in the Air Force. I was always around airplanes growing up, so I decided I wanted to be a pilot.
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Student claims Indiana’s top sports broadcaster award by Riley guerzini news@usishield.com @rguerzini
When Jevin Redman entered the conference ballroom filled with over 200 sports broadcasters from across Indiana, he didn’t know what to expect. “It was cool to be in the same room as people you listened to or watched growing up and then to go accept the award in front of them was very humbling and a cool achievement for me,” he said. Redman, the sports director for the university radio station WSWI, claimed the Indiana Broadcasting Association Spectrum Award for Sports in the Radio Market at the association’s annual confer-
ence in Carmel, Indiana. The awards are split into six categories: best newscast, radio station broadcast personality or team, local community involvement, sports, commercial and best promotional campaign. The Radio Market 1 includes the Indianapolis metro area, Fort Wayne, South Bend and Evansville. Only a handful of college students have ever been chosen for this award as it is designed mostly for professional broadcasters. Redman grew up playing tennis, basketball and baseball and knew he wanted to do some kind of broadcasting since he was 6-years-old, but wasn’t sure he wanted to make a career out of it.
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