Monday, Jan. 24, 2011
Utah Statesman The
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Utah education ranking drops, ASUSU exec. council finances prove biggest factor removes Parkhurst By ROB JEPSON staff writer
By CATHERINE MEIDELL news editor
The state of Utah received a “C-” for overall quality of K-12 education this year in Education Week newspaper’s annual nationwide assessment. Down three places from last year, Utah placed 41st in the nation, just above Arizona, Oregon and Idaho. Sylvia Reed, associate department head of teacher education and leadership, said Education Week’s assessment was, “a moderately fair way to judge and rank states,” but that it ignored a few important factors. “The main reason Utah comes out 41st on the rankings is because of the school finance measures,” Reed said. “If you take a look at (the Education Week website), you’ll see that we are indeed the lowest in the nation when it comes to perpupil expenditures.” Utah’s lowest grade was, in fact, in the funding category, where it was ranked 47th in the nation and earned a letter grade of “D.” It’s highest grade was in “Chance for Success,” which measures how well students are prepared for higher education and how much money they are projected to earn as adults. In this category, Utah earned a “B-” and ranked 20th. Annaliesa Poet, a junior majoring in exercise science who attended public high schools in both California and Utah, said she felt Utah’s school system was much worse. California ranked 30th in the nation for overall quality assessment. “Utah high school was a lot easier,” Poet said. “The teachers were much more easily manipu-
Arts and Lecture Director Skyler Parkhurst was removed from his position early last week for reasons that have been made confidential by ASUSU advisers and council members. “There are probably a lot of rumors out there, but he is leaving because of personal issues, and there is the FERPA rule we have to follow,” said Linda Zimmerman, interim director for student services. FERPA stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects students’ private matters and academic records. All publicly-funded academic institutions must abide by this act. According to www.ed.gov, “FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.” In the ASUSU Constitution, Article 4, Section 5 states that official removal from an appointed position therefor must be a submission of written charges against the individual and a twothirds majority vote from the executive council to have the individual removed. The individual must also accept their charges, be tried and then convicted by Student Court. Because the Arts and Lectures Director is an appointed position, selected by ASUSU’s Programming Vice President, currently Tom Atwood, another individual may be selected to fill Parkhurst’s position. A meeting was held Friday to decide the best route to take due to the circumstances. “I think what we are going to
- See EDUCATION, page 4
EDITH BOWEN LABORATORY SCHOOL is one of the hundreds of first and secondary Utah schools that are ultimately funneling into USU and other public higher education institutions. As of now, K-12 education is considered 41st in the nation. ARMEN HOVSEPYAN photo
SKYLER PARKHURST
do is after our meeting (Friday) we are going to appoint someone. However, the final decision will have to come from the executive council on Wednesday,” Zimmerman said. Atwood worked with USU’s Student Services Vice President James Morales and Student Services Associate Vice President Eric Olsen to decide whether the Arts and Lectures director position will be filled for the remainder of the spring 2011 semester. Another option would be to disperse Parkhurst’s duties amongst members of ASUSU and the programming staff. However, Morales said he feels the likelihood of appointing a new arts and lectures director is high. “The students aren’t going to feel any hiccups in the programming,” Atwood said. “Most of the remaining semester has been planned and we’ve got a lot of exciting things to look forward to.”
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu. edu
NASA welcomes USU students back for 2nd year By ROUCHELLE BROCKMAN staff writer
USU’s Get Away Special Team (GAS), a group of student researchers, are among 14 undergraduate teams selected nationally to participate in NASA’s Microgravity University program for a second consecutive year. The GAS team will travel to Houston, Texas June 2-11 to conduct a heat-transfer experiment aboard NASA’s Vomit Comet. The comet is a modified plane that flies in a series of parabolic arches, allowing researchers inside to experience reduced-gravity conditions. The Follow Up Nucleate Boiling On-flight Experiment, or FUNBOE 2.0, building on last year’s experiment, will test how effective boiling is at transferring heat in a reduced gravity environment, said Justin Koeln, mechanical and aerospace engineering senior and the GAS team’s technical lead. “When you boil something on Earth, the bubbles go up, but in space there is no real ‘up,’ so where do the bubbles go?” Koeln said. It was originally thought that the bubbles would stay around the wire or heating element and cause it to overheat, he said, but the experiment showed that
- See GAS, page 4
Inside This Issue
USU’S GET AWAY SPECIAL TEAM of 2010 was the first to be invited to experience NASA’s ‘Vomit Comet,’ a chamber that allows those who enter it to feel the effects of reduced-gravity conditions. Photo courtesy of the College of Engineering
1/24/11 Utah State tightens stranglehold on WAC standings with 59-49 win over New Mexico State. Page 8
Professor Michael Twohig, headed a study featured on The Tonight Show. Page 5
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