WOMEN’S RUGBY TEAM READY TO START SEASON
COMBINING CULTURE WITH WORSHIP. PHOTOS, PAGE A6
LIFE, PAGE B1
TTHURSDAY, HURSDAY, SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 88,, 22016 016 > W WESTERN ESTERN KKENTUCKY ENTUCKY UUNIVERSITY NIVERSITY > VVOLUME OLUME 992, 2, IISSUE SSUE 6
Forbes to discuss capitalism at lecture BY NICOLE ARES HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU Capitalism and free enterprise will be at the top of Steve Forbes’ List of discussion tonight during his free lecture on campus. The Forbes lecture, taking place in Grise Hall room 235 at 3:30 p.m., is one of a three-part lecture series orchestrated by Brian Strow, associate professor of economics for 18 years. “I typically try to bring in people who want to talk about capitalism, and the title of his lecture is ‘How Capitalism Will Save Us,’” Strow said. Strow also runs the WKU BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism, one of the four sponsors for the event. This is his second term serving in an endowed chair position for the WKU BB&T Center. Yet, while the WKU BB&T Center has received a $1 million grant from the BB&T Charitable Foundation, it does not use any of that money to fund a speaker series. Therefore, Strow had to raise the money himself. To do so, Strow has received a grant from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation for the last five years and on a yearly basis. This year, he received $15,000 to fund the book club and speaker series. However, speakers like Forbes cost more than $15,000. Therefore, Strow had to reach out to another partner to help finance the Forbes lecture, the Young America’s Foundation. Patrick Coyle, vice president of the Young America’s Foundation, has worked there for 20 years and has helped bring “prominent” speakers to college campuses. “Sometimes schools don’t have as large of a budget as they would like for someone like Art Laffer or Steve Forbes, we are then able to partner with those schools and help bring in these prominent figures,” Coyle said. Coyle also noted bringing in business leaders to talk to students will help resolve the stereotype that business leaders are “evil or underhanded.” “It’s important that students have an opportunity to hear a business leader, such as Steve Forbes, firsthand, who gives students the under-
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Graduate student McKinze Willard (center), talks to a group of students during WKU’s TOPTalks on Tuesday, Sept. 6 in Downing Student Union. TOPTalks invites people to come and talk about different experiences to help inform students on different topics. MHARI SHAW/HERALD
TED FOR TOPS TOPTalks: AARC hosts monthly student speaker series
BY KYLIE CARLSON HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
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rejudices against women in the workforce centered the topic of discussion during the first “TOPTalk” of the semester. TOPTalks resemble TEDTalks, a popular podcast and video series devoted to spreading individual’s ideas and testimonials on various topics. On Tuesday, the Academic Advising and Retention Center put on the first TOPTalk in the Downing Student Union study nook. McKinze Willard, graduate assistant for $100 Solution, was the speaker for this month’s TOPTalk. Her story was geared toward women and centered
around women in the work force. “I wish I could tell you that I am a powerhouse of a woman. I wish I could tell you that I give a firm handshake,” Willard said to the crowd during the opening of her TOPTalk. “But the truth is, I stick my pointer finger out to give the illusion that I have a strong handshake because I’m not that strong. The truth is that my voice gets squeaky when I’m upset and I’ve cried at work a few times,” she added. Willard continued by expressing since her arrival at WKU, she has had a list of goals including becoming a spirit master and joining a sorority. She made a list, in pencil, of all the things she wanted to do. At that time, she was still afraid
to use a pen in making this list. “I wanted to be a woman who wore a bright red blazer, made herself known and just wanted to have done something,” she said. To validate her speech, Willard gave many statistics about women. Statistics she wishes women could overcome, she said. “Women will systematically underrate themselves,” she said. “We don’t always apply for jobs because we feel we have to meet 100 percent of the requirements on the application. Yet many of the men that applied only meet 60 percent.” After the speech, Willard asked for an open discussion. She allowed any of the participants to
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SKyTeach thrives in former Honors College building BY EMMA COLLINS HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU Since their move to the former Honors College building this past winter, the employees of Southern Kentucky Teach, a program designed to train students who want to become middle or high school math or science teachers, have been enjoying their new home. Lester Pesterfield, SKyTeach science co-director, said before the transition to the now called the SKyTeach Building, the program was located in the Thompson Complex Central Wing in the former dean’s office. Pesterfield said some of the offices, however, were located in other places throughout the building preventing all of the faculty from being close together. “When the Honors College moved out of the building, it was just an
opportunity for us to be in a building together,” Pesterfield said. Martha Day, SKyTeach education co-director and GSKyTeach executive director, said the ability to have one building for all of the faculty facilitates more communication. She said it also allows the SKyTeach program to have its own identity on campus. “Originally I was a little skeptical about it, but I really love it,” Day said. “It’s a great location on campus, and it’s a comfortable setting.” In addition to providing office space for the faculty, Pesterfield said the building also contains a conference room and consultation rooms where students are able to meet with faculty for extra help outside of the classroom. David Almand, a SKyTeach master teacher, said the only faculty member who does not have an office located in the new building
is Karen Long, the SKyTeach coordinator. He added although the building allows most of the faculty to be together, it may be harder for students to find the new location. “It can be difficult for students to find us because we’re physically separated in a building that may or may not be easily accessible to students,” Almand said. “It’s harder for students to casually run into us.” The SKyTeach program is a program dedicated solely to preparing middle school and high school math teachers to enter the work force when they graduate. All WKU students who are interested in pursuing a degree in math or science and becoming a middle or high school teacher must go through the program. Pesterfield said when students complete the four year program they graduate with a double major; one major will be in their chosen area of
study in math or science. The other major will be in science and mathematics education. In addition to graduating with two majors, Pesterfield said students will also leave WKU with real classroom experience. “One of the things that the SKyTeach program does is we take students from their very first semester in the program and we take them out and they do teach in the local schools,” Lesterfield said. “They have real world experience in the middle and high school classrooms and that’s what people need.” Day said in addition to providing a double major, SKyTeach is also unique because students are taught by a team of teachers consisting of one professor and one master teacher. Day said master teachers, people who previously taught in middle or
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