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Panel: Nuclear policy and faith tied, mutually beneficial
Get to know Lady Vol Mary Pollmiller
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
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Issue 48
PUBLISHED SINCE 1906 http://utdailybeacon.com
Vol. 118
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Workshop helps students improve skills Career Services, SGA help students work on job interview techniques, resume building they know what to say during an interview once the time comes and that they will be fine ‘winging it.’ However, even those who Deborah Ince have experienced interviews before can always learn more and Staff Writer will benefit from practicing their skills.” Dix also believes that workshop participants will feel more Interviewing for a job can be tough, and no one understands comfortable at the event because it is led by fellow students. the importance of successful interviewing skills more than SGA The peer career advisers who presented at the New Student Relations Committee and UT Career workshop had been selected through an interServices. view process and have been trained by Career The two organizations presented an interview Services to work with students and address any workshop Tuesday afternoon for any student wishquestions or concerns they may have. ing to enhance their interviewing skills. “Working on a peer-to-peer basis is designed The workshop, which was open to all UT stuto help students feel comfortable, relaxed and dents, was divided into two parts. The first half of more open to free discussion,” Dix said. “Plus, the workshop addressed general interviewing who better to talk to about career concerns than skills and how students can prepare for various someone who is close in age and has most likely types of interviews. Afterwards, student-peer experienced the same concerns as well?” career advisers led mock interviews with attendSGA and Career Services urges students to ing students and provided them with feedback attend future workshops, and hopes they can conabout their interview preparedness. tinue the event in the future, as they believe that “I think it’s a great way to find out ways to sucthe experience will be very beneficial to students. cessfully interview,” Elizabeth Pallardy, overseer “Interviews can always improve,” Pallardy of the peer career adviser program, said. “It will said. “There are many positions out there for stuhelp students better prepare themselves for many dents, and in the long run, this will help them get types of interviews in the future.” File Photo • The Daily Beacon those jobs.” The workshop was also led by student-peer A representitive from Career Services talks to students about the interview Dix also added that many of the students who career advisers who are trained in providing process at an interview workshop on Feb. 3, 2010. SGA and Career Services held presented at the workshop are involved in variresume critiques, conducting mock interviews, leading workshops and presenting career-based a workshop on Tuesday about interviewing for campus organizations. On Oct. ous organizations around campus and can pro26, Career Services will be holding another workshop from 4-5 p.m. vide knowledgeable advice on how to interview information to students. for them. “We haven’t done this in a couple of years, but Both Career Services and SGA Student Services — to whom “This specific interview workshop that we are conducting is last time we had a decent turnout,” Pallardy said. “This year we wanted to make sure it would happen. It’d be great if it’s some- geared especially towards students who are interested in apply- SGA New Student Relations reports — aim to teach students thing we could do every semester because student organizations ing for a student organization,” Rachel Dix, co-director of SGA more about professionalism and prepare them for a life outside New Student Relations, said. “I think that most students assume of college. on campus interview at different times throughout the year.” UT Career Services helps students year-round with resumes, interviewing and other areas that are important to being successful in the professional world. This year, Career Services has partnered with SGA New Student Relations Committee which, along with other student services committees, continually plans events that can benefit students both socially and academically.
Tia Patron • The Daily Beacon
Jenna Wertz, junior in kinesiology, signs a board on Oct. 25 about what she wants to see change at UT. Occupy UT has set these boards up on the Pedestrian Mall for the rest of the week from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Occupy UT’s next meeting will be on Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in the HSS Amphitheatre or in HSS 53B if it rains.
Poet shares inspirations at reading Jasmine Jensen Staff Writer On Tuesday night, Blas Falconer, associate professor of languages and literature at Austin Peay State University, read from his published work “A Question of Gravity and Light,” a collection inspired by events in his life. “Eventually (the poem) reveals its story to me but when I start, I don’t know why I’m writing,” Falconer said, explaining where his inspiration comes from. The poem that sparked the title for his collection is the penultimate poem in the book, which sets the stage for his second project that he is currently working on. Falconer opened with three distinct love poems, each describing love from a different perspective. Before reading his poem, “A Story of Winter,” which was inspired by an event from his childhood, he said, “It’s funny how poems come to us and how we want to write a poem we’re not ready to write.” He decided that in order to write the poem, he had to tell it through fragments instead of as a single story. Sarah Gosney, a sophomore double majoring in French and English, said that although going to the reading had been a
class assignment, she “probably would have gone anyway.” “To see that he’s published is inspiring,” Gosney said. Falconer has won many awards, including the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award and the New Delta Review Eyster Prize for Poetry. “I didn’t expect him to be a calm and quiet reader,” Gosney said. “That’s just me making speculations. Like the way he read, it was different in a rhythm that I’ve never heard before. (He) is definitely encouraging.” There are many points of view in Falconer’s collection of poems. “This book had to be done differently than the first book,” Falconer said about his new project. “I had to take a more meditative stance than an active stance ... I was very selfish when writing the first book. Because I was thrust into the role of ‘mother,’ it had very much informed my writing.” In 2008, Falconer and his partner adopted their son, who became the inspiration for his second project, “Foundling Wheel,” which will be published next year. One notices that there is a difference in perspective from the poems of his first book and those he read from his second, as he had been put in the role of being a parent so quickly, with his partner fre-
quently away on business. Being Puerto Rican and holding on to that tradition while also being gay, Falconer stands at the edge of American society, getting at a tension of borders within his poems. Those borders are of a physical nature, such as nationality and peoples, as well as the inner borders between family members and lovers. When introducing a new poem to the audience, Falconer first explained the story behind the poem, or his inspiration. Talking much about his partner and his son, he also talked about his family’s home and a project he had worked on. Like many poets, Falconer gets his inspiration from things that have happened in his life, many of which he compares to other things. “He had very interesting phrases that catch a moment unexpectedly,” Gosney said. The audience seemed to agree, as they regarded him with full attention, enraptured with the tone he used when reading. Before reading his last poem, Falconer thanked UT for having him, as well as Marilyn Kallet and Jeff Daniel Marion for asking him to come and be a part of Writers in the Library, sponsored by the University of Tennessee Libraries and the UT Department of English.
Officials scrutinize SAT test security The Associated Press FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — A state Senate hearing on Tuesday was examining security on standardized tests following an SAT cheating scandal on New York’s Long Island. State Sen. Kenneth LaValle, chairman of the New York State Senate’s Higher Education Committee, scheduled the hearing at Farmingdale College after seven current or former students at Great Neck North High School were arrested last month. Authorities said six of the students had a seventh to take their exams. “This is not just a Long Island issue, this is not a New York State issue,” LaValle said in opening remarks at Tuesday’s hearing. “This issue of cheating is one that is nationwide.” LaValle and others questioned test security after it was revealed the impersonator allegedly posed as a female during one of the tests. He also is accused of accepting payments of up to $2,500
for taking the tests. All six of the students were admitted to colleges, in part based upon their test scores, although confidentiality rules prevent the students from being identified. Gaston Caperton, president of The College Board, said the recent scandal has prompted an international review of test administration security procedures. He said Freeh Group International Solutions, LLC, which was founded by former FBI director Louis J. Freeh, has been retained to assist with security concerns. Caperton said security changes being considered include a review of acceptable ID information and possibly using digital photography at testing sites. Sam Eshaghoff, a 19-yearold student at Emory University in Atlanta who previously attended the University of Michigan, is accused of using phony identification documents to represent the students during the SAT exams. Eshaghoff and the six others, who are charged with misdemeanors, have pleaded not guilty.