The Daily Beacon

Page 1

Follow us: @DailyBeacon

Internet a trove of postapocalyptic entertainment

Men’s tennis sweeps weekend matches

PAGE 6

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Issue 15

T H E

E D I T O R I A L L Y

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906

S T U D E N T

PAGE 5

http://utdailybeacon.com

Vol. 119

I N D E P E N D E N T

Cloudy 50% chance of rain HIGH LOW 61 50

N E W S P A P E R

O F

T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

T E N N E S S E E

Pensky introduced as soccer head coach Clay Seal Assistant Sports Editor After weighing the options and sifting through possible scenarios, Brian Pensky decided to take the head coaching job at Tennessee. Then he changed his mind — he was going keep the same position at Maryland. Then he changed his mind again. Pensky’s wife, Abby, may have been the one who made the deal happen. “It’s kind of like jumping in a pool,” Pensky recalled his wife saying. “When you jump in, it’s going to be a little cold at first — a little uncomfortable. And then it’s going to get warm and you’re going to love it. “You’ve just kind of got to jump.” Pensky dove in, and was officially introduced as the Lady Vols’ new head coach Tuesday at Regal Soccer Stadium. “(There was) lots of excitement (in deciding to come to UT),” said Pensky. “But honestly, before that excitement came borderline terror in thinking about telling the people at the University of Maryland.” The fact that Pensky was weary to leave his home, the players and the program he helped rebuild gave Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart even more confidence that he found the right person for the job. “I thought we would have had the wrong person had he not felt that way,” Hart said. “Brian Pensky fit the profile absolutely ideally in the sense that he’s a wonderful person, he’s a terrific family person ... deeply cared about the young women on his soccer team. Everyone I talked to said that, first and foremost.” Pensky echoed the same sentiment and said, above all, soccer is about people. “It goes back to people, it goes back to relationships,” said Pensky. “Because this stuff, all the greatness that’s going to happen out here (on the field) will end, and it’s going to be about people.” It was Hart’s first head coaching hire since being hired from Alabama in September.

After 16 years as a UT coach, 12 as head coach, Angela Kelly took the head coaching position at Texas on Dec. 17. The Lady Vols went 15-7 last season and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008. Kelly went 160-84-20, while taking UT to nine NCAA Tournaments, including five Sweet 16 appearances. Joe Kirt, who served as interim head coach in Kelly’s absence, will remain at UT as the assistant coach. Pensky comes to Tennessee after serving as Maryland head coach for seven seasons, posting a 67-52-20 record. He was named Soccer America’s Coach of the Year in 2010, and guided the Terps to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, advancing to the Sweet 16 twice. “This is a big move for me — a life move,” Pensky said. “I thought I was going to die in the state of Maryland. I thought I was going to retire at the University of Maryland ... I’ve been in the state of Maryland 39 of the 43 years of my life. “In the recruiting process, everybody asks you what’s your dream job. I (was) sitting in my dream job. ... It did take, at the end of the day, a special person, and a special situation to take me away from Maryland.” Pensky inherited a struggling program at Maryland in the Atlantic Coast Conference, arguably the toughest women’s soccer league in the country. The Terps improved their record in each of Pensky’s first four seasons at the helm, but did not get above the .500 mark. In 2009, Maryland went 14-6-2 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. In 2010, Maryland went 18-2-3 and earned a No. 1 seed for the tournament. “We accomplished some great, great things (at Maryland),” Pensky said. “I wouldn’t be here if we couldn’t achieve the same, if not Whitney Carter • The Daily Beacon more, at the University of Tennessee. We can The new head soccer coach, Brian Pensky, and his family are introduced by Chancellor be outstanding here. “This is an adventure, and an outstanding Jimmy Cheek and athletic director Dave Hart on Jan. 31. Penskey is the third head coach of the program and was 2010 National Coach of the Year at Maryland. adventure.”

Site connects people via social networks New business class prepares students Victoria Wright Student Life Editor Nuhook, an online dating site where people can anonymously message romantic interests through other social networks, is holding an interactive Spring Semester Online Contest between UT fraternities and sororities. On Feb. 1 at approximately midnight, 22 Greek organizations began “tagging” social network users in an effort to raise money for the Knoxville Habitat for Humanity. Denise Koessler, marketing director for Nuhook.com, hopes the competition will gain user interest and benefit the charity. “We designed this contest to

give back to the community and also launch the service,” Koessler, Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and computer science, said. “We kind of came up with this as a way to get Knoxville on the map as a city that can adopt a high tech company. We plan on going to other similar university towns and repeating the contest.” Nuhook founder Yoav Koenig is a Knoxville resident and an IT manager. Koenig launched the website December 2011 with hopes of alleviating the awkward, and potentially dangerous, aspects of current online dating sites. Users of Nuhook can “tag” or message friends from Facebook, Twitter or another social net-

working site. “Lots of the existing services do not provide a way to connect with people you already know,” Koessler said. “You’re forced to go on a blind date. I personally have girlfriends that have (Match.com accounts) and they ended up getting stood up. One of them ended up in a really scary situation.” Koessler said the website is an opportunity for people to escape the “friend zone.” “It’s just a way to not miss that opportunity,” Koessler said. “You probably think about a guy or girl that you liked. What would have happened if you had a way to safely ask them out?” See NUHOOK on Page 2

Matt Miller Staff Writer Before a pilot trainee is allowed to take the controls and fly solo in a jet fighter, he or she must go through flight simulation training. At UT, Dr. Ernie Cadotte, professor of business, has asked the question: Why not use the same idea with business students? Cadotte has created a program that allows business majors to simulate running a business in the classroom, much like a trainee learns to fly without leaving the ground. He believes that this class offers business students an edge as they venture out into the real world and try to find jobs. “Students are able to learn how business decisions are made and how to keep track of all the accounting,” Cadotte said. This business simulation is a required course for all business majors at UT, and Cadotte hopes it will be adopted by other programs across the country. The simulation program received a Brandon Hall Silver Award for Excellence in Learning Technology in the category of Best Advance in 3-D or Immersive Learning Technology. After Cadotte had been teaching for a couple of years, he started to get the feeling that his students were not connecting with the material the way he thought they should. “I started to develop, what I call, experiential exercises,” Cadotte said. These exercises made students interact with each other in a businesslike environment. The exercises started out small but eventually moved to a grander scale with business students in the UC ballroom using industry techniques to buy and sell microprocessors, which were really poker chips. “They loved it,” Cadotte said. “And then when I

would lecture about more abstract things, they understood because they experienced those very same things.” According to businessweek.com, approximately 17 in 20 students that enrolled in the business program graduate in six years. Along with the simulation, Cadotte also introduced what he calls business coaching. This system allowed students get one-on-one help from a graduate student who acted as their adviser. Mike McDonald, a graduate student at UT, was one of the business coaches who helped students through the simulation. “I think most of their classes are very similar, regardless of level,” McDonald said. “With the business simulation class, it is very different from everything else you experience.” Every week, a student must do an executive briefing with his or her business coach. The business coach acts as the chairperson of the board. The student must come in with an agenda and decide what the strategy is and if it needs adjusting. The business coach will then challenge the student every step of the way, asking, “What is the justification?” “What we’re trying to do is get the students to exercise critical thinking,” Cadotte said. The simulation allows students to think for themselves in an environment that allows them to make mistakes with a mentor to help them make corrections. The students’ semester grades allow the professors and the graduate students to get feedback that helps them improve the learning strategies. “That (the simulation) is quite a challenge for them (the students),” Cadotte said. “But on a larger scale, it is wonderful for them because it is truly a tremendous learning experience.”

Haslam seeks adequate funding The Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The more than $330 million Gov. Bill Haslam has appropriated for capital projects and maintenance at the state’s colleges and universities is a good start considering they haven’t received sufficient funding in nearly four years, state officials said Monday. The Republican governor stressed the importance of adequately funding higher education’s capital plans in his State of the State address, saying “access is critical to a successful education proMatthew DeMaria • The Daily Beacon gram.” Members of the UT Curling team practice at the Ice Chalet on Jan. 29. The club is in “Let me speak plainly, for the last several years its second season and placed second at nationals in Chicago in its class last year. we have not been funding higher education’s capital The club meets Sundays from 8:30-10:30 p.m., except this Sunday due to the plans to the degrees necessary to meet growing stuSuper Bowl. dent demand,” Haslam said. “We need more space

to train students in science, technology, engineering, and math — critical subjects in which we must provide more trained graduates.” Higher education officials had discussed a $2 billion bond issue to cover the costs, but some lawmakers felt the move would jeopardize the state’s strong credit rating. The proposed funding does contain some usage of bonds, but not nearly as much as was being considered by higher education officials. “We have to really be cautious about what we do,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner of Nashville. “Two billion dollars at this time might not be the right time to do it. We don’t have a clue what Congress is going to do.” See HASLAM on Page 2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.