April 25, 2002

16
CAMPUS NEWS THURSDAY April 25, 2002 An Inside Look: News ............................................2 A & E ............................................7 Sports ........................................16 The Student Newspaper of The University of Texas-Pan American Page 6 Campus VOICE Are you a commuter student? Page 8 Page 8 Anna Stwora/The Pan American TAKING IT TO THE TOP- Fabierae Lovato, a freshman history major, attempts the rock climb- ing wall challenge Monday afternoon at the Road’s Scholar College Tour, which stopped at UTPA Monday and Tuesday to feature select Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles. Hosted by Student Life and Transition Services, activities included an extreme road course, NHL slapshot game, and live BMX demonstrations among other booths. In response to a survey conducted in Fall 2001 by the Computer Center, the Advanced Services for Student information Supported by Technology (ASSIST) Web site has recent- ly implemented several changes. The ASSIST Web site allows students to register for classes, access schedules, check grades and view financial aid information on- line at the URL www.assist.panam.edu. The survey was constructed by three gradu- ate students in the computer information sys- tems department and project leader Reynaldo Robles, in order to gather information about students experiences with ASSIST. “One of the suggestions was to market the services of ASSIST,” Robles said. “They [graduate students] found that some students didn’t know what services they could find at the kiosks or that they could register on the Web.” Posters in the hallway advertised the new ASSIST services and pocket brochures about the service were available to students. Links to the academic calendar, payment deadlines, final exam dates and financial aid deadlines can now be accessed through ASSIST. Students can even apply for emer- gency loans and pay tuition by check through the ASSIST Web site. “If you want to pay by check, you don’t need to walk to payments and collections,” Robles said. “Students just input their infor- mation and they are done.” Robles said paying by check will not only help students, but will help campus offices because they will have less paperwork to do. “This is a win-win situation for all,” he said. Students have had mixed reactions to the new on-line check payments through the ASSIST Web site. “It was kind of confusing when I tried to use it,” said Roberto Castro, a sophomore fine arts major. “I haven’t used it yet, but it sounds like it would be convenient,” said Marissa Villarreal, a senior psychology major. “It beats having to walk all the way over to Payments and Collections.” UTouch Kiosks, the self-contained comput- By Melissa Ciomperlik The Pan American Survey aids in service improvements Migrants assisted To help migrant students transition from high school into college, the University of Texas-Pan American’s College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) provides tutoring, counsel- ing, academic advisement, career advisement and social support. “We assist them with that whole transition from high school to college,” said Luis Romero, academic coordinator of CAMP. “Some of the students need that kind of social support to make sure that they feel connected with the university, to ensure that they succeed their remaining three years in college.” CAMP provides services during the students’ first year in college, and after they complete the program, CAMP staff are available to assist stu- dents during their careers at the university. To qualify for CAMP, students or their par- ents must be a migrant or seasonal agricultural worker who has worked a minimum of 75 days in farmwork within the last 24 months. Students must also be freshmen with fewer than 15 hours of college credit. According to Marilyn Hagerty, associate director of CAMP, approximately 10 percent of entering freshmen at UTPA are migrants. The By Melissa Ciomperlik The Pan American See CAMP page 12 See ASSIST page 2 NOTICE Effective Spring 2002, student grade reports will no longer be mailed automatically for students in good academic standing. Students may obtain their grades using ASSIST phone (956/381-3040) by following the automated instructions; via web (assist.panam.edu) by entering their student identification number and PIN number; and via KIOSK services by entering their Student Identification Number and PIN number. Students requiring a paper copy of their grades may request a transcript via the web (assist.panam.edu) to be mailed to either their local or permanent address on file with the Office of Admissions and Records. This is the final issue of The Pan American for the spring semester. The paper will resume publication during the first summer school session, with issues June 13 and June 27, and then will resume publication in the fall starting August 29. The Pan American staff would like to thank students, staff, faculty, and other Valley readers for their patronage during the spring semester, and their contributions toward news gathering as well. During the summer, the staff will be doing a content analysis and survey in order to start making positive changes for next semester.

description

volume 58 number 26

Transcript of April 25, 2002

Page 1: April 25, 2002

CAMPUS NEWS

THURSDAYApril 25, 2002

An Inside Look:

■ News ............................................2■ A & E............................................7■ Sports ........................................16

T h e S t u d e n t 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 x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n

Page 6

CCaammppuussVOICE

Are you acommuterstudent?

Page 8Page 8

Anna Stwora/The Pan American

TAKING IT TO THE TOP- Fabierae Lovato, a freshman history major, attempts the rock climb-ing wall challenge Monday afternoon at the Road’s Scholar College Tour, which stopped atUTPA Monday and Tuesday to feature select Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles. Hosted byStudent Life and Transition Services, activities included an extreme road course, NHL slapshotgame, and live BMX demonstrations among other booths.

In response to a survey conducted in Fall2001 by the Computer Center, the AdvancedServices for Student information Supportedby Technology (ASSIST) Web site has recent-ly implemented several changes.

The ASSIST Web site allows students toregister for classes, access schedules, checkgrades and view financial aid information on-line at the URL www.assist.panam.edu.

The survey was constructed by three gradu-ate students in the computer information sys-tems department and project leader ReynaldoRobles, in order to gather information aboutstudents experiences with ASSIST.

“One of the suggestions was to market the

services of ASSIST,” Robles said. “They[graduate students] found that some studentsdidn’t know what services they could find atthe kiosks or that they could register on theWeb.”

Posters in the hallway advertised the newASSIST services and pocket brochures aboutthe service were available to students.

Links to the academic calendar, paymentdeadlines, final exam dates and financial aiddeadlines can now be accessed throughASSIST. Students can even apply for emer-gency loans and pay tuition by check throughthe ASSIST Web site.

“If you want to pay by check, you don’tneed to walk to payments and collections,”Robles said. “Students just input their infor-mation and they are done.”

Robles said paying by check will not onlyhelp students, but will help campus officesbecause they will have less paperwork to do.

“This is a win-win situation for all,” hesaid.

Students have had mixed reactions to thenew on-line check payments through theASSIST Web site.

“It was kind of confusing when I tried touse it,” said Roberto Castro, a sophomore finearts major.

“I haven’t used it yet, but it sounds like itwould be convenient,” said Marissa Villarreal,a senior psychology major. “It beats having towalk all the way over to Payments andCollections.”

UTouch Kiosks, the self-contained comput-

By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American

Survey aids in service improvements

Migrantsassisted

To help migrant students transition from highschool into college, the University of Texas-PanAmerican’s College Assistance MigrantProgram (CAMP) provides tutoring, counsel-ing, academic advisement, career advisementand social support.

“We assist them with that whole transitionfrom high school to college,” said LuisRomero, academic coordinator of CAMP.“Some of the students need that kind of socialsupport to make sure that they feel connectedwith the university, to ensure that they succeedtheir remaining three years in college.”

CAMP provides services during the students’first year in college, and after they complete theprogram, CAMP staff are available to assist stu-dents during their careers at the university.

To qualify for CAMP, students or their par-ents must be a migrant or seasonal agriculturalworker who has worked a minimum of 75 daysin farmwork within the last 24 months.Students must also be freshmen with fewer than15 hours of college credit.

According to Marilyn Hagerty, associatedirector of CAMP, approximately 10 percent ofentering freshmen at UTPA are migrants. The

By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American

MAGIC MOMENT:Earvin “Magic” Johnsonwas nominated for theBasketbal l Hal l of FameWednesday. Formerteammate James Worthy,Port land Trai lblazers’head coach MauriceCheeks, Adrian Dantley,Bobby Jones, and ChetWalker were also nomi-nated for enshrinement.Johnson, now the vicepresident for the LosAngeles Lakers, led theteam to f ive NBA cham-pionships. At the age of20, Magic became thefirst rookie named MVPof the f inals for hisefforts against thePhil iadelphia 76ers in1980. In game six,Magic took over at cen-ter for the injuredKareem Abdul-Jabbarand played al l f ive posi-t ions, scoring 42 pointsand grabbing 15 boards.

NBA

PGA

THE SPANIARD ANDTHE GOOSE: SouthAfrican Retief Goosen(pictured above) andSpaniard Sergio Garciawil l batt le this weekendfor the Spanish Opentit le at the CanaryIslands. Both playerscome in evenly matched,with U.S. Open championGoosen ranked fourth inthe world and Garcia onerank behind. Garciahopes to top both theU.S. and European Tourmoney l ists.

SPORTS■ Sports Clipboard. . . . . . 15

■ Stats box . . . . . . . . . . . 15

PAGE 16

Matt Lynch/The Pan American

CANADIANS BAKIN’: Doubles partners Jeremy Salvo, of Vancouver, and FilipKoziell, of Calgary, endured the hot and humid Valley weather earlier this weekto practice for tomorrow’s match against Lamar. The sunny South Texas climate was quite a change for the two “Canucks” after playing their entire livesin Canada.

The freshmen Canadian tennis tan-dem of Filip Koziell and JeremySalvo is a big reason head coachTodd Chapman is excited about thefuture of Bronc tennis

The University of Texas-PanAmerican athletic program fre-quently draws talented athletesfrom all over the world to deepSouth Texas, and the tennis pro-gram is no exception.

The program is currentlydeveloping two freshman fromnorth of the border in FilipKoziell and Jeremy Salvo.Koziell is a standout fromCalgary, Alberta and was rankedNo. 1 in the under-18 division inprovince.

Salvo was named MVP ofCentennial Secondary School andwas ranked No. 7 in Canada. Hegrew up in Coquitlam, BritishColumbia, a suburb ofVancouver. Head coach ToddChapman is pleased with howKoziell and Salvo have come inand performed well as freshman.

“For two freshman, I could notexpect any more out of them,”Chapman said. “I’ve beenpleased at the progress they’ve

made and they have been a bigpart of the success we’ve had.They’re definitely going to be afactor going into next year inbuilding what we want to build.”

While Koziell and Salvo, nick-named “the Canucks” by team-mates, have showcased their tal-ents throughout the season.Adjusting to the Texas heat hasproved to be a formidable oppo-nent for both athletes.

“It was harder than I thought,”Salvo said. “I thought it wasgoing to be like any other trip,then you realize that you’re actu-ally here for a while. It takes awhile to adjust.”

The transition for Koziell was-n’t as difficult, thanks to the helpand encouragement of Salvo.

“It was a lot easier to haveJeremy [here] because we’re bothfrom Canada,” Koziell said. “Wegot along real well right off thebat. It wasn’t that hard for mebecause I always wanted to playcollege tennis and I was lookingforward to it.”

By Mike GonzalezThe Pan American

As a sports writer for The PanAmerican these past three and ahalf years, I witnessed plenty ofmemorable Bronc moments.

There was the night of BobHoffman’s first regular season gameas a head coach for the Broncs. Itwas a 105-104 heartbreaking triple-overtime loss to Oral RobertsUniversity. Revenge was sweet justtwo months later when the Broncswon their first road game in 63 triesagainst ORU, 79-62.

There was the night Lalo Riosplayed his last game as a Bronc, orthe day the San Diego Padres draft-ed Omar Ortiz in the first round ofthe 1999 draft.

Then there was the day CalebSchmidt, Dustin Haas, DarrenHeinrichs and Gabe De La Garzahit consecutive home runs againstWestern Illinois March 7, 2000.

Or the night UTPA honored the1962-63 basketball NAIA champi-onship team in February 2000, andthe entire team reunited for the firsttime since the championship sea-son.

There are so many more memo-ries worth mentioning, but notenough paper. I’d like to extend mythanks to all the coaches and per-sonnel of the UTPA athletic depart-ment for granting my reporters andI interviews when we requested.

To the sports information crew,Dave Gerringer and Luis Nunez,thanks for all your help. Then therewas Jim McKone, the king of sportsinformation directors. I workedwith him for one semester, and itwas more than a pleasure, it was anhonor to work with someone asrespected as McKone.

I remember the night of Jan. 25,1999. It was the night before myfirst published article in The PanAmerican appeared. I stayed uppretty late, scared at the idea theentire university would read myarticle.

The story was about the resur-gence in attendance at Bronc bas-ketball games and just a few weeksago I ran into the article goingthrough some of the boxes in one ofmy closets.

Unsure if, then sports editor JoeLeal would ask me to write another

Editor reflects upon past four years, says adiosBy Eladio JaimezThe Pan American

O Canada

See FAREWELL page 15

See CANUCKS page 14

See CAMP page 12

See ASSIST page 2

NOTICE

■ Effective Spring2002, student graderepor ts will no longerbe mailed automaticallyfor students in goodacademic standing.Students may obtaintheir grades usingASSIST phone(956/381-3040) byfollowing the automatedinstructions; via web(assist.panam.edu) byentering their studentidentification numberand PIN number; andvia KIOSK services byentering their StudentIdentification Numberand PIN number.Students requiring apaper copy of theirgrades may request atranscript via the web(assist.panam.edu) tobe mailed to either theirlocal or permanentaddress on file with theOffice of Admissionsand Records.

■ This is the final issue ofThe Pan American for thespring semester. The paperwill resume publicationduring the first summerschool session, with issuesJune 13 and June 27, andthen will resume publicationin the fall starting August 29. The Pan American staffwould like to thank students,staff, faculty, and other Valleyreaders for their patronageduring the spring semester,and their contributionstoward news gathering aswell. During the summer, the staffwill be doing a contentanalysis and survey in orderto start making positivechanges for next semester.

Page 2: April 25, 2002

1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539(956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122

http://www.panam.edu/dept/panamerican50th Year – No. 26

EditorMatt Lynch

[email protected]

Layout Designers

Gabriel Hernandez

Celeste Y. Tello

Reporters

Blake Daniels

Jaime Garcia Jr.

Mike Gonzalez

Elizabeth Martinez

Nikki Ramirez

Belinda Reyes

Cesar Trevino

Photographers

Anna Stwora

Mary Zuviri

Advertising

Dagoberto Perez

Circulation

Jesus M. Gonzalez

Advertising Coordinator

Juanita Sanchez

Adviser

Dr. Greg Selber

the PAN AMERICAN is theofficial studentnewspaper of TheUniversity ofTexas-PanAmerican. Views presentedare those of thewriters and do notnecessarily reflectthose of theuniversity.

The Pan Americangladly acceptsletters fromstudents, staff andfaculty regardingnewspaper contentor current issues.The Pan Americanreserves the rightto edit submissionsfor grammar andlength. Please limitsubmission lengthto 300 words. ThePan Americancannot publishanonymous letters,or submissionscontaining hatespeech orgratuitouspersonal attacks.Letters are printedat the discretion ofthe editor andmust include thewriter’s name,class/title andphone number.

Letters policy

April 252 0 0 2

Readers with dis-abilities mayrequest an alter-native format ofthis publicationat The PanAmerican busi-ness office. For special assis-tance to attendany event listedin this publica-tion, contact thecoordinator of theevent at least oneweek prior to theadvertised date.

Sports EditorEladio Jaimez

[email protected]

Celebrating 50 years

A & E EditorAshley Brooks

[email protected]

News EditorCristina [email protected]

Copy EditorMelissa

[email protected]

Graphics EditorGabriel O.Hernandez

[email protected]

NEWS

In a large institution such as a university,huge amounts of revenue are collected and inturn equally huge expenditures are paid. Suchis the nature of the large-scale institution.

The successful modern bureaucracy is anamazing study in synchronicity, organization,and order, regulating and facilitating a widevariety of services that would be otherwiseimpossible for localized, informal processes

There are always complications, as businessis not a perfect science, despite its benefits.There are inevitable mistakes-usually user-based-and miscalculations, and sometimesdishonesty. But most often there are divergentopinions about the nature of operation withinan institution. This brings the reader to thecontroversy at the University of Texas-PanAmerican, at the heart of which is resourceallocation.

SITUATION ANALYSISThe Student Affairs Advisory Committee is

a largely student-run, independent bodycharged with making recommendations toJohn Edwards, vice president of the divisionof enrollment and student services, about theuse of collected student fees. These recom-mendations are then passed to the president’soffice, which considers them in making finalbudget decisions.

SAAC says it is in the middle of a budgetdisagreement with the vice president’s officeabout fee allocation, and the use of reserves,problems that have been ongoing for nearly adecade. A spokesman for the vice presidentfor Business Affairs says there has been a lackof communication leading to misunderstand-ing, and further, no hard-and-fast budget deci-sions have been made. There is a meetingscheduled for this morning at which the presi-dent, vice presidents and budget director willmake headway toward a resolution of thebudget for the upcoming year.

The basic disagreement has to do withwhere money comes from to get things done.

BACKGROUND AND EXPLANATIONSAAC reconvened March 27 to clarify its

earlier recommendations to Edwards’ office,of which two points are most important. Thecommittee recommended that fee allocationseach year be made based on actual dollarscollected during the previous 12 months, andthat a portion of student fee reserves be usedto finance a series of one-time services,including most prominently salary merit bene-

fits for university staff.The vice president’s office, hereafter

referred to as the administration, believes thatwhile certain one - time services can be fund-ed by using reserves - an example of thiscame with the construction of the recentlycompleted Student Union - annual, “ongoing”expenditures, which are annual or monthly,must be met with funds from StudentServices, per institutional policy. Included inthe ongoing category are monies for meritawards.

A recent SAAC memo to the vice presi-dent’s office noted that Business Affairs esti-mates of revenues are consistently lower thanactual collection figures. The memo alsonoted that reserves are expected to climb toover $1 million by the end of the most recentfiscal year.

The memo notes that from SAAC’s stand-point, a healthy minimum of reserves is$400,000, and that the $245,832 set to beadded to extant reserves of $845,888 will putthe balance over $1 million.

SAAC’s line of reasoning is that rather thantaking money from Student Services to meetthe one-time services, the money should comefrom abundant reserves. While SAAC recog-nizes the need to have funds in place to coverunforeseen deficits, it believes that the reservebalance in place is adequate for this purpose.The committee thus believes that the studentfee reserves are a good source from which tofund the one-time services, which besides themerit pay (nearly $35,000, as opposed to the$25,000 from fee collections themselves rec-ommended by the administration) would gofor costumes for mariachi performers ($5,000)and improvement of CampusNet computerequipment ($30,000).

For its part, the vice president’s office isthinking like an administration, which is whatit is. Its estimates are always more conserva-tive than those of entities such as SAAC, saysone spokesman, because the administration isresponsible for the long-term ramifications ofmaking such decisions. Vice President forBusiness Affairs James Langabeer says thatall parties can benefit from a little more com-munication, and that most seeming disagree-ments like this one are easily defused whenboth sides understand the inner workings ofthe situation clearly. There appears to be a dif-ference in understanding working definitionsof ongoing versus one-time expenditures.

VP Edwards has reiterated the administra-

tion opinion that the money for some of thepurchases in question, prominently the meritpay, should be allocated from StudentServices. At least, that is, according to SAAC,which wants the money to come from thereserves and has submitted a series of ques-tions for the president’s office to answer.

1. What should reserves be used for?2. What is the rationale for not using

reserves to augment merit?3. What is a reasonable reserves balance

and how is that determined?4. How should the interest be used?In the next year, the committee plans a

more thorough study of reserves, plusprogress toward a clearer understanding ofaccounting procedures and transactions mak-ing use of student fees. As noted, the adminis-tration meets today to discuss the issue andthe budget.

Langabeer explained that the accumulatedreserves balance is higher than it normally hasbeen due to a surge in enrollment 6-8 yearsago. He notes that the administration is hesi-tant to make budget decisions on the basis ofthat high figure, as it is abnormal. This is anongoing conversation; no decisions have beenmade, he continued, adding that there doesn’tnecessarily have to be a controversy.

THE UPSHOTThis is a complicated issue, one which

is not unusual considering the complexnature of modern bureaucratic institu-tions, plus the inevitable disagreementsfrom human facilitators when it comes tointer-institution policy decisions. The bot-tom line is the need for an equitable andlogical use of revenue, and a farsighted,equally equitable use of reserves.

The situation is ongoing, and its resolu-tion depends in large part on an unbiasedunderstanding of all sides of the problem.It should not be ideologically grounded,nor should it be resolved in favor ofeither misplaced antagonism from a stu-dent-based organization or strong-armingby the administration. There needs to be amore universal understanding of what isbeing attempted by each entity.

The Pan American will continue tomonitor this important bureaucratic devel-opment, because it will eventually impactevery branch of the university, from stu-dents, faculty, and staff to the long-termfiscal health of the university itself.

Institutional communication breakdownOPINION l e t t e r s ■ e d i t o r i a l s ■ c a r t o o n s

PAGE 2

BASEBALL

BRONC LEADERS

Batting Average

Adam Farek .302

Tony Ortiz .301

John Lopez .297

Matt Sisk .295

Jerome McCoy .287

Home runs

Matt Eichel 2

Matt Sisk 2

Tony Ortiz 2

Jarrad Maddox 1

Sean Flynn 1

Jonathan Mason 1

Marco Garza 1

RBI

Matt Sisk 19

Bruce Kennedy 15

Matt Eichel 11

Tony Ortiz 10

Jarrad Maddox 8

Hits

Jerome McCoy 41

Matt Sisk 41

Bruce Kennedy 34

Skip Weast 31

John Lopez 30

Runs

Matt Sisk 22

Jerome McCoy 21

Bruce Kennedy 17

John Lopez 14

Marco Garza 12

TEAM NUMBERS

Batting Average .262

Home runs 10

RBI 135

Hits 350

Runs 160

* statistics do not include yesterday’s game against

Nebraska.

Thursday’s Game

R H E

UTPA 000 001 001-- 2 7 1

Nebraska 310 000 51x-- 10 14 1

WP: Sillman (1-1)

LP: James (5-7)

Records: UTPA 13-30; Nebraska 28-14.

Wednesday’s game: Nebraska 18, UTPA 1

Next game: Saturday 4 p.m. doubleheader vs.

St. Mary’s; Tuesday, April 30 3 p.m.

doubleheader vs. Incarnate Word.

Note:Last two home appearances of the

season. Broncs’ season ends May 12 at

Texas Tech.

TRACK AND FIELD

MEN

Upcoming schedule

April 25-27 Drake Relays

May 3-4 Texas Invitational

May 20 Houston Last Chance

May 28-June 1 NCAA Championships

WOMEN

Upcoming schedule

April 25-27 Drake Relays

May 3-4 Texas Invitational

May 20 Houston Last Chance

May 28-June 1 NCAA Championships

TENNIS

MEN

Upcoming schedule

April 26-28 SLC Tournament

Broncs vs. Laredo Community College

1-Gower, UTPA, defeated Moris, 6-2, 6-3

2-Mangleschots, UTPA, defeated Powell, 6-0, 6-2

3-Koziell, UTPA, defeated Horvat, 7-5, 6-1

4-Salvo, UTPA, defeated Cardenas, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

5-Abdullah, UTPA, defeated Guerra, 6-2, 6-3

6-Barraclough, UTPA, defeated Pazos, 6-0, 6-0

By the numbersApril 25, 2002 sports Page 15

Englishman honored PLANO-For the fifth time this season, the University of Texas Pan American’s

men’s tennis team received an individual honor from the Southland Conference. Junior Matt Gower was named Southland Conference player of the week. Gower won all six of his matches last week. He defeated Eric Subirats of

Southeastern Louisiana (SLU), Jakob Paulsen of Lamar (LU) and Luis Moris ofLaredo Community College (LCC) at no. 1 singles, and teamed with seniorKareem Abdullah to win three times at no. 2 doubles. Gower and Abdullah defeat-ed Subirats and Paul Birkett of SLU, Paulsen and J.P. Alatorre of Lamar, andKeith Powell and Eduardo Pazos of LCC.

UTPA won all three matches, defeating SLU, 6-1, Lamar, 4-0, and LCC, 7-0.The win against SLU, allowed UTPA to clinch the fourth seed for this weekend’sSLC tourney. The Lamar match was a non-conference match, and the matchagainst LCC was an exhibition match.

“Matt really deserved the award,” said UTPA head coach Todd Chapman. “Mattis playing some of the best tennis he’s played all year, which is really importantfor the team going into the conference tournament. He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now, and probably playing harder than I’ve seen him play allyear. He played an important role in our winning all three of our matches lastweek, two of which were against conference opponents.”

The Broncs will open SLC Tournament play against Lamar Friday afternoon at3:30 p.m. at The University of Texas-San Antonio.

Local runner signs with BroncsEDINBURG-Former Bobcat Deanah Chavez and signed on with the University

of Texas Pan American Bronc track team this week. Chavez ran 400 meters in 59 seconds and 800 meters in 2:17 as a middle dis-

tance runner during her second year at Edinburg High School.“I’m really excited that we signed Deanah, she’s a very talented young athlete,”

said UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. “She was hurt during her junior year, butshe came back and was second in the district meet this year, and advanced to theregional meet, which will be run this weekend.”

Chavez is the first athlete to sign with UTPA during the spring signing period.

SPORTS CLIPBOARD

FAREWELL continued from page 16story, I decided to change my major toprint journalism. I enjoyed sports, and afterthat article I thought I enjoyed writing andreporting, as well.

It’s been three and a half years, and Istill enjoy all three. Joe asked me back andI’m here today because of his trust in mywriting. Thanks Joe.

I gave a shot at writing general news andpolitics, and liked it very much as well. Itook a shot at being the editor of this publi-cation, and while my staff never said any-thing, I knew I better served the newspaperas a reporter.

My education at UTPA wasn’t limited totextbooks I never read or to classes I wentto half the time. I’ve learned more in thepast four years here, and the seven alltogether since high school, than more peo-ple will in a lifetime.

When I decided to attend UTPA overfour years ago, I was actually playing withthe idea of not going to college anymore,period. With a little push from my mother,I decided that going to school was the bestthing for me.

I’m glad I did, because not only will Isoon receive my degree, but in the courseof my time here, I’ve met so many greatprofessors which have had a great impact

on my life.The list is too long to mention, but some

of these people are too important to let gounmentioned.

First of all, every professor I’ve ever hadat this university has been special. Eventhose whose class I dropped like eighttimes. It wasn’t you, it was me. Of coursethe professors you spend the most timewith are the ones you’ll always remember.

One of which, Bob Rollins, is no longerwith us. Henry’s father, just kidding.Although, the Rollins Band’s hardcore riffsand tunes are pretty right-on when describ-ing Rollins’ style of teaching. I can creditRollins for giving me the thick skin neededin journalism. I remember the first thing hetold me when I began at the Pan American,“Check your ego at the door, son.”

Dr. Salma Ghanem and Jackie Nirenbergare two of the sweetest professors I’llprobably ever know. That’s true becausethe chances of me getting into graduateschool anywhere are slim to none, and slimjust left the building.

Dr. Ghanem and Jackie, thanks for allthe advice you gave me and for listening tome whenever I had questions.

I’ll probably see you guys again whenthe university calls my house saying I did-

n’t really graduate because half my credithours are freshmen level.

Another one of my teachers no longer atUTPA, but someone I still admire andrevere, is Arturo Longoria. When Rollinspassed away, Arturo was supposed to behere only one semester as an interim advis-er. He stayed two years, and I’m glad hestayed.

Despite any discord he may have hadwith other students and professors, Arturotaught me a lot about reporting and writingfor newspapers. There are very few peopleI could say I consider mentors, and hewould definitely be one of them.

Another, Greg Selber. Homeboy hashelped me get my foot in the door so manytimes and even helped me land my firstreal job at the Valley Morning Star, whichI start in three weeks. Just like Arturo,Greg’s been a mentor and his advice hasbeen priceless.

And who could forget Juanita Sanchez.In the last four years, nobody has workedharder for The Pan American than Juanita.This publication could not run if it weren’tfor Juanita. Thanks for putting up with allof us in the newsroom these past fouryears, especially me. And whenever it isthat you decide to retire, I wish you all the

best.Everybody on staff, it’s been a real

pleasure working and knowing all of you.Working all those late nights and takingtrips together brought us closer together asa group. If I could pick any group of peo-ple to work with, it would definitely be thestaff at Playboy, but you guys would comein at a close second.

To every past staff member--whetheryou graduated, transferred or just quit--youguys made that first year at The PanAmerican fun. Mike Liscano, I’ll run intoyou someday in California or Mexico.

The mom and the sister. The corner-stones of who you guys know as EladioJaimez, and the main reason I even cameback to school. Their endless supporthelped me get through some tough times. Iowe them a lot. Thanks mom and Becky.

I breathed, ate and slept the PanAmerican these last four years. I’ll miss it.I leave you with the advice a professoronce gave me, “All advice is free, take itwhenever it’s given.”

It’s hard to say good bye, so I’ll use thewords an old Saturday Night Live castmember used to bid his farewell everyweek. “That’s the news folks, and I’m outof here.”

ASSIST continued from page 1

er stations around campus are nowbeing used to display important infor-mation to students as well, when thestation is idle.

“We are using the kiosk screensaversto advertise deadlines for registration,payments and financial aid,” Roblessaid. “So that information is availableto students there.”

There is a list of other changes thatthe computer center is reviewing andplanning to implement within the nexttwo months.

Robles said there are plans to allow

students to accept financial aid awardson-line and request their PIN or RACnumber be e-mailed to them if forgot-ten.

There will also be an e-mail account,which is expected to be active withinthe next two months, on the ASSISTWeb site that will allow students to posttheir feedback about the site.

“Students come here to study,”Robles said. “They don’t want to spendtheir time going to offices to get theirPIN or to get information. We want tosave the students time, so they can have

more time to study.”Robles said that his department is

researching a new system that willallow 24-hour access to the ASSIST sitewhen the next system upgrade takesplace.

“We are already looking into the nextgeneration of database software thatdoes allow 24- hour access,” Roblessaid.

“But we are looking at a multi-yearand multimillion dollar project, thatwill have a great impact on the univer-sity.”

Page 3: April 25, 2002

• STD Education

• Free Pregnancy test

• Abortion education/

informed consent

• Referral Services

• Shelter Assistance

• 24-Hour Hotline

• Baby Clothing Bank

• Post-Abortion Counseling

• Post-Abortion Support

Groups

• Supportive Guidance

• Assistance Counseling

Pharr • Weslaco • Harlingen • Brownsville

April 25, 2002 sports Page 14

CANUCKS continued from page 16

Weather could be considered a double-edged sword for the two South Texastransplants. While the heat of the summercaused Salvo and Koziell distress, bothplayers feel the climate is almost perfectfor year-round tennis play.

In high school, Salvo would at timeshave to play in cold weather wearingsweaters. Tournaments were constantlymoved indoors due to harsh weather con-ditions.

The same can be said for Koziell, whoaccepted a four-year scholarship to comeand play for the Broncs.

“It’s good tennis weather all year longand it’s a good Division I team [Broncs],Koziell said.

According to Chapman, Salvo andKoziell bring different styles of play tothe court, and he believes both playerswill bolster next year’s tennis squad.

“Jeremy is a very talented player,”Chapman said. “He is a great doublesplayer, has great hands and is a talented,strong individual.”

Chapman feels Salvo has the capabilityto play against top players once he getsadditional collegiate matches under hisbelt.

“I think he has the talent to play at thetop end of our team,” Chapman said. “Theconfidence and experience in playing col-lege tennis is just adjusting. Your fresh-man year is usually a big adjustment.”

While Chapman feels Salvo’s future atUTPA is bright, Salvo admits there’s stillwork that needs to be done to improve hisgame.

“I want to be better next year,” Salvo

said. “I’m at a seven [on a scale of 1-10],but I think I can get a lot better.”

Like Salvo, Koziell has performed at ahigher level then Chapman anticipated.

“Filip has probably been my most con-sistent player this year,” Chapman said.“He’s consistently moving up the line.”

Both Salvo and Koziell have improvedtheir team ranking since the start of theseason.

Salvo started at No. 6 singles and No. 2doubles, now he’s playing No. 4 singlesand No. 1 doubles with Koziell. Koziellstarted No. 4 at the beginning of this year,and now is going into this weekend’stournament playing No. 2.

Both Koziell and Salvo have winningrecords going into the SouthlandConference tournament that starts tomor-row. Koziell has a 12-4 record this springat No. 2, 3 and 4 singles, while Salvo hasa 10-6 record at No. 4, 5 and 6 singles. Asdouble partners, the duo has a record of10-5 at the No. 1 and 2 spots. Chapmaninsists the “Canuck Connection” willbecome a force in the future of the confer-ence.

“To be honest, I’m surprised at how fastthey’ve come along as of now,” Chapmansaid. “That really excites me for thefuture, because at this point they’re a littlefarther along than most freshman usuallyare.”

Canada is well represented at UTPA.Bobby Killins of the baseball team, AlexGravel and Michelle Smith of the LadyBronc basketball squad, and tennis play-ers Alana Breen and Kathryn Waslen areall from Canada.

Janie Jaimez drives 45 minutes fromHarlingen every Tuesday and Thursday toattend classes at the University of Texas-PanAmerican.

Like scores of other commuter students atUTPA, the English major schedules herclasses twice a week to avoid the excessivetravel.

While the school’s spring enrollment is12,884 students, only 392 live on campus inresidence halls or at Bronc Village, the stu-dent apartment complex across the streetfrom the dorms.

While UTPA is mainly a commuter school,it is one of two four-year universities in theValley, the other of which is a complete com-muter school. With a spring enrollment of9,359, the University of Texas-Brownsvillehas no on-campus housing.

Roy Gutierrez, administrative analyst atUTB, said the university is looking into pur-chasing several surrounding hotels and con-verting them into dormitories in order togive students the option of living on campus.

UTPA’s overwhelming commuter statusleaves 12,492 students vying for coveted park-ing spaces, cringing at increased gas prices,and experiencing a notable void in participa-tion in campus activities and school spirit.

Resident lifeWhile UTPA is considered a commuter

campus, there are plans to continue to buildits residential community, according to PatZarate, assistant dean for Campus Life.

“I think the Office of Residence Life canassist in building Bronc pride by continuingto work with its residential population andby engaging residents in campus life,”Zarate said.

Annette Morales, who lives in theWomen’s Residence Hall, said she prefers tolive in the dorms because the drive from herhometown of Roma is just “too tiring andtoo long.”

The junior biology major said it is easierto live right there on campus and avoid the90-minute commute because “gas is tooexpensive.”

Freshman resident Gloria Garza enjoysliving on campus because she has met manynew people.

“It is cool because we stay up all nighttalking with everyone and hanging out in therec room,” Garza said.

Although there are plenty of students wholive in campus housing or within a fewblocks from campus, they do not leave theirdorm or apartment to come on to campus atnight or on weekends, said Assistant Dean ofStudents David Mariscal.

Dean of Students Elvie Davis said campus

housing has special programs for its resi-dents to encourage them to continue livingon campus.

Activities within the dorms are put on sev-eral times a week to promote friendships andencourage residents to meet new people.

“There is a certain amount of camaraderieand networking involved that is effective ingetting students to stay on or return to cam-pus,” Davis said.

Zarate noted that there is an inherent cam-pus pride in those students who do callUTPA home.

School Spirit / Camaraderie School spirit may suffer because of a lack

of identification with the campus, accordingto Mariscal.

Zarate said school spirit can be enhancedby reaching out to both commuters and cam-pus residents.

“There is a significant camaraderie amongstudents,” Mariscal said. “You see this asstudents form new friendships, study groups,join organizations, and socialize at local ven-ues.”

Davis said the levels of participation andschool spirit are, indeed, lower than at resi-dent campuses because of the commuternature of the student body.

“This is very normal for commuter cam-puses,” Davis said. “It is always an uphillbattle trying to get students who commute tochange their attitudes about returning tocampus for campus events.”

Students deal with complications of thecommute to UTPA each day, including theubiquitous search for parking, as well as theperiodic increases in gas prices.

Parking Woes Although students are encouraged to come

on to campus for events, parking problemscan be exacerbated by the thousands of stu-dents who drive to campus each day.

However, parking is a problem even atnon-commuter campuses, Mariscal said.

A total of 5,400 parking spaces are avail-able at UTPA to accommodate nearly 13,000students, and 738 of those spaces are in dirtlots, according to Parking Services ManagerEddie Morin.

Because congestion occurs primarily in

the morning, the university needs to offermore courses in the afternoon and eveninghours, when there are plenty of parkingspaces available, Mariscal suggested.

“Even apartment dwellers will drive twoblocks to get to campus,” he said.

Commuter student Angie Galindo, ofDonna, drives to UTPA every day for classesand spends up to $40 on gas weekly due tothe rising gas prices.

The clinical lab science major said thatshe has had problems with her car due to thefrequent commute to and from school.

“We’ve had to redo the whole enginebecause of excess mileage from going backand forth every day,” she said.

Senior Arely Rios, of Harlingen, com-mutes to UTPA four times a week.

Rios, a social studies composite major,prefers not to carpool with other studentsbecause she likes the freedom of coming andgoing as she pleases. She added that shespends up to $25 a week on gas.

Promoting closenessMariscal explained that in order to pro-

mote camaraderie among students, UTPAneeds to offer consistent quality program-ming and events that will create a culture ofstudents wanting to come back to campus inthe evenings and on weekends.

“USOC [University Student OrganizationCommitte] hosted Bronc Bash April 12 andwe had approximately 750 students attend,”he noted. “Intramural had a volleyball tour-nament this Saturday and 54 students partici-pated. Both of these were successful events.So if you provide events that students want,they will come back.”

Jaimez said she would not participate incampus activities that take place on nightsand weekends because of her commute fromHarlingen, but added that she would makethe drive to Edinburg if UTPA had a footballteam.

“That’s just ‘cause I like football, though,”she said.

Davis said that although the addition of afootball team at UTPA would definitely pro-mote school spirit, the expense is exorbitant.

“We’d also have to build a stadium [morebig bucks] or depend on the availability ofothers in the area high schools–not too feasi-

ble, according to ‘people in the know,’” sheadded.

Sophomore Jesse Cavazos said he wouldlikely show up for the games despite the 30-minute drive from his hometown ofMercedes if UTPA had a football teambecause “football is football.”

A resuscitation of the UTPA soccer teammight also encourage fans of collegiate ath-letics to commute to UTPA in the eveningsor on weekends. Student athletes played soc-cer for 28 years before the program was ter-minated in 1998 in search of equity in gen-der representation in sports at UTPA.

A Bronc football team is a bleak possibili-ty, Davis suggested, but many other activi-ties are in the works to improve student par-ticipation.

The Student Union is experimenting withdifferent types of programs and eveninghours to attract audiences and nurture ‘regu-lars,’ she said.

Many students take advantage of theStudent Union game room in the eveningsand on weekends where pool tables andvideo games are available for recreation.

Gabriel Ramirez, a work study student atthe game room, said usually about 10 stu-dents come in on Saturdays to play.

Other means of getting students involvedinclude the mentoring program. In eachdepartments’ program, mentors are asked totake their protégés, or entering freshmen, tocampus activities to get them into the habitof participation.

An expansion of intramural recreationalsports is in the works as well, and StudentDevelopment has also had success inincreasing the number of student organiza-tions, according to Davis.

Family tiesThe close proximity of family as well as

the workplace are two major factors whichinfluence UTPA students to continue theircommute to and from classes every day.

Balvina Ochoa, a sophomore criminal jus-tice major, prefers the commute to living oncampus because she works in Mercedes andher family lives there as well.

Galindo, a senior, said because her hus-band works in Harlingen, the couple prefersto live “sort of in the middle [of the Valley].”

Rios said because she has a full-time job,she has little time to participate in campusactivities.

Living on campus wouldn’t be convenientfor Cavazos either, he said, because heworks in Harlingen. The business manage-ment major only comes to UTPA twice aweek because he prefers to work morehours.

When it comes to campus activities, headmitted that he just doesn’t have time.

“Pretty much I work,” he said. “When I’mnot at school, I work.”

ON THE ROAD: Most students commute to UTPABy Cristina ReynaThe Pan American

PAGE 3■ Minority Services . . . .4

■ Campus Voice . . . . . 6

■ Campus Calendar. . .12NEWSThere is a significant camaraderie among stu-dents... as students form new friendships, study

groups, join organizations, and socialize at local venues.

”dasd- David Mariscal

Assistant Dean of Students

Page 4: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 13April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 4

Nearly 1,600 middle and high schoolstudents from across the Rio GrandeValley will gather this week at theUniversity of Texas-Pan AmericanFieldhouse to listen to guest speakersfrom Johnson Space Center.

The NASA Awareness Day will takeplace on Friday at 9:30 a.m. The engineer-ing department teamed up with the GEARUP program to coordinate the event.

GEAR UP is a program that providesstudents at the middle school through highschool level with support services such asenhanced curricular offerings, informationabout college options and the applicationprocess and financial aid.

Edwin LeMaster, interim associate deanand director of the School of Engineeringand Computer Science, gaveCongressman Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, credit as the driving forcebehind bringing NASA to UTPA.

“He is a great friend of the university,”said LeMaster of Hinojosa.

He added that Hinojosa forcefully askedNASA, on more than one occasion tocome speak to the students in the GEARUP program. The program currently has7,000 middle school students overall with17 feeder programs into high schoolsacross the Valley.

Sylvia Migoni, public relations special-ist with the UTPA GEAR UP Program,said that most students who participate inthe NASA Awareness Day have low-income, Spanish-speaking backgrounds.She added that the Hispanic speakers fromthe Johnson Space Center would likelyhave a positive influence on the studentsand give them a sense of capability.

“Our goal is to show kids the possibili-ties that are out there for them,”LeMaster said.

Speakers from the Johnson SpaceCenter range in occupations from engineerto astronaut. Robert Trevino, an engineerfor advanced extra-vehicular activities atJohnson Space Center, will talk to the stu-dents about space suits and equipment thatastronauts use for working outside of theSpace Shuttle and International SpaceStation.

Debbie Ramos Trainor, a training spe-cialist at the astronaut office of JohnsonSpace Center will discuss unconventionalmethods of training astronauts. FernandoCalderio, an astronaut, will share a day inthe life of an astronaut with attending stu-dents. Charles Galindo, senior scientistwith Hernandez Engineering at JohnsonSpace Center, will give a historicalaccount of meteorites.

Hinojosa, who played a key role inbringing NASA to UTPA, will give aspeech stressing the opportunities to servethe nation through higher education.

GEAR UP events, like NASAAwareness Day double as promotions forUTPA.

“Every time we have an event, westrongly promote secondary education,”Migoni said. “We always promote UTPAto the kids.”

Students from the engineering depart-ment will be present on Friday to usherthe visiting students, prepare materialsthat will be handed out to visitors, andshow their own projects.

This is the first time that NASAAwareness Day has been put together atUTPA, but the GEAR UP Program typi-cally puts together other events for pro-gram participants.

Friday blastoff, NASAcoming to campusBy Celeste Y. TelloThe Pan American

Eladio Jaimez/The Pan American

CEREMONYJeanette Broshears (left) accepts the Adviser of the Year award from Christine Carruthers atthe third annual Club Awards Reception. Other awards included the Service Project of theYear, awarded to the American Sign Language Club; Organization of the Year, to the Pre-Medical/Bio-Medical Society; and Student Leader of the Year, to Melisa Castaneda of theAmerican Sign Language Club and the United Council of Student Organizations.

With the growing number of minoritiesin the country, the population of minori-ties in college continues to increase.Most universities offer a series of pro-grams designed to help minorities both inschool and in business. The University ofTexas-Pan American is no exception.

The Minority Biomedical ResearchSupport (MBRS) Grant Program isdesigned to support students of ethnicminorities to continue an education andseek a professional career in biomedicalresearch. The program helps promoteresearch potential in biomedical sciencesat UTPA by assisting in the developmentof the resources needed for researchactivities. It also supplies financialassistance for faculty release time, con-sultant fees and student and faculty travelto scientific conventions.

The MBRS Program is a branch of the

National Institute of General MedicalSciences, a subsidiary of the NationalInstitutes of Health. It has been assistingUTPA students since 1972, and the uni-versity has received about $8.5 million ingrants, which has supported the biomed-ical research for over 25 faculty and 250students.

Dr. Mohammed Farooqui has been theprogram director of MBRS for eightyears. Assisting him are four to six prin-ciple investigators (faculty members)from different departments. These prin-ciple investigators hire students to assistthem in their research.

Benefits of the program have beennumerous, according to Farooqui.

“The students gain experience inresearch, primarily in biomedicalresearch, and they get to present papersat scientific meetings and assist profes-sors in publishing papers,” he said.

Farooqui said the faculty benefits bygaining grants to promote their own

research and the experience improvestheir performance in the classroom. Headded that the university gains namerecognition and money to support theprogram. When the research is over, theequipment used becomes property ofUTPA.

This semester there are approximatelyfive professors and 10 students involved.

Along with students and faculty,minority services are available for busi-ness owners of ethnic minorities. TheSouth Texas Minority BusinessOpportunity Committee (MBOC) locatedat the UTPA annex, focuses on govern-ment procurement and international tradebetween minority-owned businesses.

“We help these businesses by assistingthem in exporting their product or servic-es to other countries and we do that byhosting seminars and workshops aboutdoing business in Mexico and selling tomaquiladoras,” said International TradeSpecialist Terry Fuentes.

Fuentes added that MBOC also offersassistance in market research, industryanalysis, and scheduling appointmentsamong business owners.

The committee hosts seminars allowingbuyers to meet suppliers and organizetrade missions, which are two-to-threeday events where U.S. business ownerstravel to Mexico

“We match them up with Mexicanbusinesses to do business,” Fuentes said.“These are Mexican companies that havealready shown an interest in the U.S.company, so it’s like a business match-making service.”

The center is partially funded by theMinority Business Development Agency,which is in charge of all nine MBOCsacross the country and of UTPA.

“Even though we are geared to minori-ty-owned businesses, we will help any-one who is interested in selling theirproduct to other companies,” Fuentessaid.

Various programs serve increasing minority populationBy Elizabeth MartinezThe Pan American

Page 5: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 5

CAMPUS LIFEPAGE 12

■ W h a t s t u d e n t s a r e d o i n g a t U T P A

GAINING THE EDGE: Internships equate to experience

The question most graduating college stu-dents will ask within the next few weeks is,“What now?” As the unequivocal reality setsin for emancipated graduates, many of themwill walk the platform to receive their diplo-mas knowing they will confront the real worldwith confidence. There are many reasons forthis. One concerns internships.

Susie Alvarez, cooperative education coor-dinator, is the mediator between employersand students. She says students can benefitfrom partaking in internships because theyacquaint themselves with the employer, thefield, and work habits and ethics.

“Most students who have taken part in aninternship graduate and are usually hired bythe same employer,” Alvarez said.

Internships are semester-long opportunitiesduring which students obtain “hands-on expe-rience” prior to graduating. According toAlvarez, there are two programs the experi-ence-hungry student can choose from: intern-ships and Co-op opportunities.

Alvarez stressed there are differencesbetween the two. Internship opportunities usu-ally last one semester, can be local or out oftown, and are not always guaranteed to bringthe student compensation. Co-op opportuni-ties, on the other hand, can also last between3-4 months and be local or out of town. Butthey are “almost always paid,” according toAlvarez.

The strongest benefit in taking part in a Co-op event, according to Alvarez, is that, “they[student] will be compensated and mostimportantly, gain experience and leave a dooropen for the future.”

Alvarez and her colleagues mediate constant-ly between local and out-of-state employers andthe six UTPA colleges on campus. Examples ofrecruiters that routinely seek UTPA students areBoeing Satellite Systems, Central IntelligenceAgency, Dell Computer, IBM, U.S. BorderPatrol, the Dallas Cowboys Football Club,Target, and Wal-Mart.

Currently, Alvarez said there are newinternships being offered, including RioGrande Valley News and Sports, CBS News,and several offerings out of the state in New

York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, andAtlanta, Georgia.

There are also a host of local companiesand organizations seeking interns.

For example, from the College ofCommunication, students have worked in thepast with print media outlets such as TheMonitor, Valley Morning Star, and TheBrownsville Herald, along with papers inDallas, Austin, and San Antonio.

They receive six hours of college creditalong with work experience and connectionswhich often lead to future employment aftergraduation.

Departmental faculty help students arrangeinternships, but the Co-op group is also onboard to assist.

“I call or look around for employers whoare looking for students to work for them,Alvarez said. “When the interested employersreturn their responses, I then fax them a formin which they can indicate or specify thedesired qualifications for the potential stu-dents.”

Upon receiving confirmation of the require-ments, Alvarez then sends out advisement to

the appropriate colleges on campus in theforms of e-mail memorandums to deans,fliers, and personal class presentations.Interested students then contact Alvarez, orher department, and are advised of details onan interview with the potential employer.

“The student looking for an internship or aCo-op opportunity will have to realize thatjust because this is an internship and not a jobafter college, they still need to realize the seri-ousness of the interview,” Alvarez said.

She went on to say if any student needsadvice on interview procedures, ethics, orassistance composing a resume, the CareerPlacement Services department, as well as theCo-op people, can assist.

“We had a student who came in and askedus if we could help her with the details duringthe interviewing process. She asked how sheshould dress, sit, and where she should placeher hands during the interview,” she said.

Students interested in an internship that wouldsuit their field can go to the Career PlacementServices and ask to view the “Office ofCooperative Education- Local and NationalInternship Opportunities.”

By Jaime Garcia Jr.The Pan American

Cultural diversity to beshowcased at festival

Although the majority of the populationin South Texas is Hispanic, students atUTPA are determined to promote diversityon campus.

The International Student Association(ISA) in collaboration with the AmericanAsian Association (AAA) plans to hostInternational Cultural Night Friday, in theMedia Theatre at 7 p.m.

“We are having international dances aswell as performers singing songs from dif-ferent countries,” said Nadia Gallegos, ISApresident.

The night’s performers will representcountries including Turkey, Mexico,Philippines, India, France, Cuba and manymore.

For instance, Mario Arredondo (presidentof the Sol y Luna Association) will repre-sent Spain by dancing to “Volare,” aFlamenco song. Other students will show-case traditional dancing from India and thePhilippines.

However, entertainment will not be theonly attraction at International CulturalNight.

Students will also be modeling traditionalcostumes to represent customary dress fromdifferent countries.

Shaila Noor Alam and Rijadh Alam willshare the diversity of clothing by wearingtraditional wedding outfits fromBangladesh.

“We decided to have this cultural festivalto show UTPA students, faculty and staff

the beauty of traditional dances and cus-toms from different cultures,” Gallegossaid.

“This type of event will show that theuniversity supports and welcomes studentsfrom everywhere and that we have a largediversity of cultures.”

President Claire Rizaldo agreed about thefestival’s importance. “Our organization’spurpose is to promote awareness of diversi-ty, and a cultural showcase such as this isthe way to do so,” Rizaldo said.

Both organizations have recently becomeactive in the last year.

According to Philip Clay, internationalstudent advisor, the ISA began five yearsago, but stepped up its activities in the fallof 2001.

“We felt that having the festival is a firststep in developing the success of the organi-zation,” Clay said.

“Our organization is opened to all stu-dents who are interested in learning aboutdifferent cultures.”

The AAA was created at the beginning ofthe semester and includes students fromIndian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern back-grounds, as well as students interested inlearning about the importance of diversity.

“When I attend these kinds of festivals Iam overcome with excitement,” Gallegossaid. “It feels so great to see and remembersome of our roots when we are far from ourcountries.”

For more information about tickets con-tact Philip Clay at (956) 381-2922. Ticketsare five dollars and are limited due to thecapacity of the Media Theatre.

By Clarissa MartinezThe Pan American

average migrant student faces manyproblems the traditional student doesnot. Hagerty feels some migrant stu-dents do not completely understandtheir course material because of theirintermittent travels to northern states towork.

“Some students also have troublebecause their parents only speakSpanish at home,”she said.

Hagerty saidmany migrant stu-dents lack the tra-ditional education-al background thatmay help other stu-dents.

“Many of theirparents didn’t getpast elementaryschool,” Hagertysaid. “So, theycan’t ask their par-ents for advice,because they don’thave an under-standing of what isneeded to be suc-cessful.”

“CAMP provides a network of stu-dents to help them [participants] fit in,”she said. “They have a group of otherpeople to share experiences with andthis really helps them.”

In addition to social help, CAMP stu-dents are paid a monthly stipend of$100 if they participate in tutoring,counseling and two leadership semi-nars.

“The students become alumni at theend of the year and they only qualifyfor the services [that CAMP provides,]

not the stipend [after that],” Romerosaid.

In addition to a stipend, participantswho live outside of the Edinburg areaare also given financial assistance forhousing.

CAMP accepts a maximum of 70 stu-dents a year who are screened accord-ing to their grade point average,

extracurricular activi-ties, performance onan administeredessay, letters of rec-ommendation, andACT and TASPscores.

“They teach ushow to survive col-lege life,” saidSamuel Bernabe, afreshmen pre-medmajor and participantin the program. “Wemeet new people andit [CAMP] hashelped me to make abetter transition intocollege.”

“The staff are real-ly good people,” said

Juan Gauna, a freshman and CAMP par-ticipant. “They are really helpful andfriendly.”

CAMP is hosting their end of the yearbanquet Friday evening, andCongressman Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, will speak at the event.

“We will be giving the students theircertificate of completion,” Romero said.“We will also honor those students whoreceived the Dean’s List recognition.This is just to recognize the studentsand their parents.”

CAMP continued from page 1

CAMP provides anetwork of students

to help them [partici-pants] fit in. They havea group of other peopleto share experienceswith and this reallyhelps them.”d

a-Marilyn HagertyAssociate Director of CAMP

Page 6: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 11April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 6

Deanna ChapaBiologySenior

Yes, since I’m married and I live faraway. I live close to McCook and Idon’t receive financial aid anyway.

Blanca B. GarzaUndeclaredFreshman

Yes, I have family in Mexico so it isbetter for me to live over there. Plus,we don’t have a residence here.

Ivan BuenrostroT.V/FilmSophomore

It’s [home] just 20 minutes away. Youget used to the drive after awhile andit doesn’t become a factor.

Are you a commuterstudent ?

Rosalinda DominguezMathFreshman

Yes, I live with my mom. You don’twant to be stuck here [at school] allday. It’s easier to live at home.

VOICECCaammppuuss

David SimentalPsychologySophomore

Yes, because it would be really impracti-cal since I only live 10 minutes away fromcampus.

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Page 7: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 10

A single musical perform-ance can take hours of practiceand preparation. In a display ofits talent, the University ofTexas-Pan American musicdepartment presented severalmusic concerts last week.

The shows varied, highlight-ing the abilities of students andtheir work. While some of thestudents will graduate and oth-ers are new to the UTPA musicenvironment, last week theFine Arts Auditorium belongedto musicians who strived forthe moment.

The auditorium housed twoconcerts which gave audiencesa taste of both chamber andchorale music. The songsplayed ranged from slowmelodies to fast-paced pieces.

With nearly 40 musicians inits mix, the chamber orchestra,which consists of all fourinstrument types, held its con-cert on April 21. In the past,the group was called the StringEnsemble, but as of this year,it has been changed to theChamber Orchestra.

According to Dr. MarcusSmolensky, orchestra director,the new name has not changedthe group’s goal of bringing avariety of music to the massesand giveing listeners a taste of

classical music.Smolensky felt that the

orchestra would "give [all] stu-dents a musical outlet."

"What I'd like to see is moreparticipation across the univer-sity with non-music majors.There is a lot of talent withinthe school, and I would like tosee them keep up with musicin their lives," Smolensky said.

The second of the two con-certs was that of the men's andwomen's chorale.

"Each year a group hasto start over with a newgroup of students," saidDr. Vivian Munn, thedirector of the men's andwomen's chorale concert.

The group meets once aweek, and practices about90 minutes for a rehears-al. The group consists ofstudents who can readmusic and have previousexperience from highschool choir classes.

"About half the studentsare music majors, whilethe other half are fromdifferent majors," Munnsaid.

Their concert, whichwas held on Tuesday,included performancesfrom the men's chorus andthe women's chorus whocombined later in the con-cert to sing two songs.

According to Munn, the twochorus groups hold one“major” concert a semester,giving a "lighter" sound in thefall, and a "unique" concert inthe spring semester.

This semester, the theme forthe concert was based onhymns, spirituals and folksongs from around the world,which included the men's cho-rus featuring a fiddle andupright bass for a series of

songs.On April 30, the music

department will feature pianistJose Luis Aldaz in a concertat 8 p.m. in the Fine ArtsAuditorium.

Aldaz, a native ofMatamoros, studied at both thePeabody Conservatory inBaltimore and the JulliardSchool of Music in New York.For more information, call(956) 381-3471.

■ World Travel . . . . 8 - 9

■ Culture Club . . . . . . . 9ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

PAGE 7

AroundTown

International CulturalNightApril 26 from 7 to 9 p.m.Info: Variety of presenta-tions and entertainmentthat will represent culturesfrom around the world. Aselection of internationalfoods will be available.The event is co-sponsoredby the InternationalStudent Association andthe Asian AmericanAssociation.Place: University MediaTheaterPrice: Tickets are $5

Special Olympics 2002Spring GamesApril 27 at 9 a.m. (openingceremonies)Info: Events include aparade of athletes andFlame of Hope deliveredby local law enforcement.Place: Edcouch-ElsaStadium

VAMOS Golf TournamentApril 27Info: Former President BillClinton will be the guest ofhonor at the golf tourna-ment which will includehole-in-one, longest driveand closest-to-pin con-tests.Place and Times: TierraSanta Golf Club inWeslacoCall: (956) 631-1273

Valley SymphonyOrchestraMay 3 at 8 p.m.Tickets: Available at (956)393-2293 or atsouthtexassymphony.comPlace: UTPA Fine ArtsTheater

After a year of work, the music department capped off the year with several performanceslast week, including the men’s and women’s chorale concert and chamber orchestraBy Cesar TrevinoThe Pan American

Musicians give finale performances

(Above and Below) - The men’s and women’s chorales performed Tuesday in theFine Arts Auditorium under the direction of Dr. Vivian Munn while her husband, andfellow professor, Dr. Albert Munn accompanied the group on the piano.

Cesar Trevino/The Pan American

Page 8: April 25, 2002

HANDSRLDW

A trip to another countrycan act as an open door toother cultures, but is oftenunreachable for most collegestudents. What they need is anintermediary.

A trip to China is anupcoming adventure for Dr.David K. Carter, professor ofphilosophy, and his group ofstudents. For the last fewyears, Carter has set up educa-tional travels for studentgroups to explore the atmos-pheres of Egypt, Israel, andRussia.

Carter has been teaching atthe University of Texas-PanAmerican since 1978. Hedecided to start these tripsafter he was invited to travelto Italy, France, and Englandwith another student group ofsix organized by Bill Carter, ahistory teacher in South Texas.

Carter said the good thingabout the trip was that tourguides were replaced with uni-versity faculty from the spe-cific region, thanks to the helpof EF Educational Tours.Instead of hiring guides, theorganization has academic fac-ulty to show the studentsaround the destination.

“Bill did this through EF

educational tours, the largesteducational travel [organiza-tion] in the world. It operatesout of Cambridge,” Cartersaid. “It works mainly withhigh school and university stu-dents. They have a lot of thesetrips set up in Latin America,Europe and a few in Asia.”

“It was my first exposure toit and I was impressed as hell.This organization manages toput up an itinerary mainlyfocused on learning about theplace and learning about itseriously.”

The trip to Rome was avaluable experience for Carterbecause the guide was a facul-ty member from theUniversity of Rome. He saidshe knew the location well,and used her experience inarchaeology and Roman his-tory to teach students impor-tant facts regarding the area.Later trips to France andEngland were modeled afterthe trip to Rome.

Because Carter was soimpressed with the wholeidea of taking university stu-dents to different countriesaround the world, he decidedto do the same for his stu-dents.

“People have related wellwith the [EF travel] industryby having an extraordinarytrip,” he said. “It dawned onme that if Bill Carter could dothis, I could do it as well.”

In 2000 he planned the firstUTPA student trip to Egyptand 14 students accompaniedhim. The group spent twoweeks in the area and it hadoccurred to him before the tripthat the group could visitother countries in close prox-imity to Egypt. He made plansfor the group to stay an extraweek and offered it to the stu-dents, half of whom acceptedhis proposal.

“Eight of us took a bus

from Cairo to Jerusalem andthen [we] went on to thesouthern part of Israel andthen on to Jordan. We went toPetra, where the Indiana Jonesmovie, ‘Raiders of the LostArk’ was filmed. That was awonderful part of the trip,”Carter said.

“It was very hot and strenu-ous, we had to hike downcanyons and it was hot anddry. It was a workout, but anexhilarating experience.”

Carter said the group wentback to Israel, crossed theSinai desert monastery, whereMoses came down fromMount Sinai and gave the TenCommandments.

“The guide in Egypt was anarchaeology scholar from theUniversity of Alexandria andwas first rate. [He] was therewith us the whole time,”Carter said. “We cruised upthe Nile [river] to Aswan. Wehad just a splendid trip.”

Last year, Carter choseRussia for his group’s destina-tion. He said it was a goodtrip and the guide in Moscowhad a Ph.D. from MoscowUniversity.

Carter will lead his latestgroup of travelers to ChinaMay 16 to 29. He said plansare coming together, and atfirst EF Tours was going toleave the Yangtze river out ofthe tour.

“The Yangtze river is thethird largest river in the world,and they are building thelargest dam in the world. Itwill flood and create a lake450 miles behind the dam,”Carter said. “It will wipe outsome of the most scenicstretches of the Yangtze. It isgoing to knock out the ThreeGorges, and it is quite a spec-tacular part of the river.”

Carter also added the flood-ing will destroy some of thecities and archaeological sites

along the river. The water isexpected to start rising by theyear’s end.

“This is the last year to getover there, to be able to seethat river before it is all gone.I got EF to work out a cus-tomized trip designed just forour group,” Carter said.

“It is going to involve athree-day cruise up theYangtze and all of the majorcities, Shanghai, Hong Kong,Beijing. It looks like a fabu-lous trip.”

Carter said the main reasonfor setting up these trips is forthe students to gain differentcultural learning experiences.

“It’s actually possible forstudents to get academic creditfor this. I don’t think toomany of them have, but thevalue, [aside from schoolcredit] is just enormous.”

This year, 14 students willventure to China, and Carteradvertised the trip to studentsand faculty campuswide earlyin the year by printing flyersand posters. In the future,Carter has pondered trips toArgentina, Chile, and Peru.

“All of these trips are won-derful, well-planned and welldone,” he said.

April 25, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 9April 25, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 8

Book: “Confederacy of Dunces”by John Kennedy TooleMovie: “The Adventures of FordFairlane”Song: “It’s All For You” by SisterHazel

Book: “Love in the Time ofCholera” by Gabriel GarciaMarquezSong: “Something” by the BeatlesMovie: “We Were Soldiers”

Book: “Jude the Obscure” byThomas HardySong: “In My Life” by the BeatlesMovie: “Rashomon”

Dr. KennethBuckmanPhilosophy

Dr. Juanita E.GarzaU.S. and Texashistory

Dr. JeffreyMcQuillenCommunication

CULTURE CLUBWhat faculty like to read, listen to and surf.

The

It’s actually possiblefor students to get

academic credit forthis. I don’t think toomany of them have, butthe value, [aside fromschool credit] is justenormous. ”- Dr. David Carter

philosophy professor

UTPA philosophy professor Dr. David Carter andgroups of students take trips each year to variousspots of interest around the world. May 16 throughMay 29, Carter and 14 students will venture toChina, which will include a visit to the Yangtze River,where the world’s largest dam is being constructed

Comparative Area Slightly smallerthan the United States

Population ( )

Life Expectancy at Birth Total: years male: years female: years

Government Type Communist State

Capital Beijing

Full Name People’s Republic of China

Internet Users million (January)

Television Stations ; areoperated by China Central Television provincial TV stations with another

local city stations

Airports ; have paved runways

Transportation Railways: kmhighways: million km km ofwhich are paved

Story byBelinda Reyes

Eight of us took a bus from Cairo toJerusalem and then [we] went on to

the southern part of Israel and then onto Jordan. We went to Petra, where theIndiana Jones movie, ‘Raiders of theLost Ark’ was filmed. ”

-Dr. David Carterphilosophy professor

YANGTZE RIVER

BEIJING ✮

CHINACHINA

~ World Fact Book

Page 9: April 25, 2002

HANDSRLDW

A trip to another countrycan act as an open door toother cultures, but is oftenunreachable for most collegestudents. What they need is anintermediary.

A trip to China is anupcoming adventure for Dr.David K. Carter, professor ofphilosophy, and his group ofstudents. For the last fewyears, Carter has set up educa-tional travels for studentgroups to explore the atmos-pheres of Egypt, Israel, andRussia.

Carter has been teaching atthe University of Texas-PanAmerican since 1978. Hedecided to start these tripsafter he was invited to travelto Italy, France, and Englandwith another student group ofsix organized by Bill Carter, ahistory teacher in South Texas.

Carter said the good thingabout the trip was that tourguides were replaced with uni-versity faculty from the spe-cific region, thanks to the helpof EF Educational Tours.Instead of hiring guides, theorganization has academic fac-ulty to show the studentsaround the destination.

“Bill did this through EF

educational tours, the largesteducational travel [organiza-tion] in the world. It operatesout of Cambridge,” Cartersaid. “It works mainly withhigh school and university stu-dents. They have a lot of thesetrips set up in Latin America,Europe and a few in Asia.”

“It was my first exposure toit and I was impressed as hell.This organization manages toput up an itinerary mainlyfocused on learning about theplace and learning about itseriously.”

The trip to Rome was avaluable experience for Carterbecause the guide was a facul-ty member from theUniversity of Rome. He saidshe knew the location well,and used her experience inarchaeology and Roman his-tory to teach students impor-tant facts regarding the area.Later trips to France andEngland were modeled afterthe trip to Rome.

Because Carter was soimpressed with the wholeidea of taking university stu-dents to different countriesaround the world, he decidedto do the same for his stu-dents.

“People have related wellwith the [EF travel] industryby having an extraordinarytrip,” he said. “It dawned onme that if Bill Carter could dothis, I could do it as well.”

In 2000 he planned the firstUTPA student trip to Egyptand 14 students accompaniedhim. The group spent twoweeks in the area and it hadoccurred to him before the tripthat the group could visitother countries in close prox-imity to Egypt. He made plansfor the group to stay an extraweek and offered it to the stu-dents, half of whom acceptedhis proposal.

“Eight of us took a bus

from Cairo to Jerusalem andthen [we] went on to thesouthern part of Israel andthen on to Jordan. We went toPetra, where the Indiana Jonesmovie, ‘Raiders of the LostArk’ was filmed. That was awonderful part of the trip,”Carter said.

“It was very hot and strenu-ous, we had to hike downcanyons and it was hot anddry. It was a workout, but anexhilarating experience.”

Carter said the group wentback to Israel, crossed theSinai desert monastery, whereMoses came down fromMount Sinai and gave the TenCommandments.

“The guide in Egypt was anarchaeology scholar from theUniversity of Alexandria andwas first rate. [He] was therewith us the whole time,”Carter said. “We cruised upthe Nile [river] to Aswan. Wehad just a splendid trip.”

Last year, Carter choseRussia for his group’s destina-tion. He said it was a goodtrip and the guide in Moscowhad a Ph.D. from MoscowUniversity.

Carter will lead his latestgroup of travelers to ChinaMay 16 to 29. He said plansare coming together, and atfirst EF Tours was going toleave the Yangtze river out ofthe tour.

“The Yangtze river is thethird largest river in the world,and they are building thelargest dam in the world. Itwill flood and create a lake450 miles behind the dam,”Carter said. “It will wipe outsome of the most scenicstretches of the Yangtze. It isgoing to knock out the ThreeGorges, and it is quite a spec-tacular part of the river.”

Carter also added the flood-ing will destroy some of thecities and archaeological sites

along the river. The water isexpected to start rising by theyear’s end.

“This is the last year to getover there, to be able to seethat river before it is all gone.I got EF to work out a cus-tomized trip designed just forour group,” Carter said.

“It is going to involve athree-day cruise up theYangtze and all of the majorcities, Shanghai, Hong Kong,Beijing. It looks like a fabu-lous trip.”

Carter said the main reasonfor setting up these trips is forthe students to gain differentcultural learning experiences.

“It’s actually possible forstudents to get academic creditfor this. I don’t think toomany of them have, but thevalue, [aside from schoolcredit] is just enormous.”

This year, 14 students willventure to China, and Carteradvertised the trip to studentsand faculty campuswide earlyin the year by printing flyersand posters. In the future,Carter has pondered trips toArgentina, Chile, and Peru.

“All of these trips are won-derful, well-planned and welldone,” he said.

April 25, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 9April 25, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 8

Book: “Confederacy of Dunces”by John Kennedy TooleMovie: “The Adventures of FordFairlane”Song: “It’s All For You” by SisterHazel

Book: “Love in the Time ofCholera” by Gabriel GarciaMarquezSong: “Something” by the BeatlesMovie: “We Were Soldiers”

Book: “Jude the Obscure” byThomas HardySong: “In My Life” by the BeatlesMovie: “Rashomon”

Dr. KennethBuckmanPhilosophy

Dr. Juanita E.GarzaU.S. and Texashistory

Dr. JeffreyMcQuillenCommunication

CULTURE CLUBWhat faculty like to read, listen to and surf.

The

It’s actually possiblefor students to get

academic credit forthis. I don’t think toomany of them have, butthe value, [aside fromschool credit] is justenormous. ”- Dr. David Carter

philosophy professor

UTPA philosophy professor Dr. David Carter andgroups of students take trips each year to variousspots of interest around the world. May 16 throughMay 29, Carter and 14 students will venture toChina, which will include a visit to the Yangtze River,where the world’s largest dam is being constructed

Comparative Area Slightly smallerthan the United States

Population ( )

Life Expectancy at Birth Total: years male: years female: years

Government Type Communist State

Capital Beijing

Full Name People’s Republic of China

Internet Users million (January)

Television Stations ; areoperated by China Central Television provincial TV stations with another

local city stations

Airports ; have paved runways

Transportation Railways: kmhighways: million km km ofwhich are paved

Story byBelinda Reyes

Eight of us took a bus from Cairo toJerusalem and then [we] went on to

the southern part of Israel and then onto Jordan. We went to Petra, where theIndiana Jones movie, ‘Raiders of theLost Ark’ was filmed. ”

-Dr. David Carterphilosophy professor

YANGTZE RIVER

BEIJING ✮

CHINACHINA

~ World Fact Book

Page 10: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 10

A single musical perform-ance can take hours of practiceand preparation. In a display ofits talent, the University ofTexas-Pan American musicdepartment presented severalmusic concerts last week.

The shows varied, highlight-ing the abilities of students andtheir work. While some of thestudents will graduate and oth-ers are new to the UTPA musicenvironment, last week theFine Arts Auditorium belongedto musicians who strived forthe moment.

The auditorium housed twoconcerts which gave audiencesa taste of both chamber andchorale music. The songsplayed ranged from slowmelodies to fast-paced pieces.

With nearly 40 musicians inits mix, the chamber orchestra,which consists of all fourinstrument types, held its con-cert on April 21. In the past,the group was called the StringEnsemble, but as of this year,it has been changed to theChamber Orchestra.

According to Dr. MarcusSmolensky, orchestra director,the new name has not changedthe group’s goal of bringing avariety of music to the massesand giveing listeners a taste of

classical music.Smolensky felt that the

orchestra would "give [all] stu-dents a musical outlet."

"What I'd like to see is moreparticipation across the univer-sity with non-music majors.There is a lot of talent withinthe school, and I would like tosee them keep up with musicin their lives," Smolensky said.

The second of the two con-certs was that of the men's andwomen's chorale.

"Each year a group hasto start over with a newgroup of students," saidDr. Vivian Munn, thedirector of the men's andwomen's chorale concert.

The group meets once aweek, and practices about90 minutes for a rehears-al. The group consists ofstudents who can readmusic and have previousexperience from highschool choir classes.

"About half the studentsare music majors, whilethe other half are fromdifferent majors," Munnsaid.

Their concert, whichwas held on Tuesday,included performancesfrom the men's chorus andthe women's chorus whocombined later in the con-cert to sing two songs.

According to Munn, the twochorus groups hold one“major” concert a semester,giving a "lighter" sound in thefall, and a "unique" concert inthe spring semester.

This semester, the theme forthe concert was based onhymns, spirituals and folksongs from around the world,which included the men's cho-rus featuring a fiddle andupright bass for a series of

songs.On April 30, the music

department will feature pianistJose Luis Aldaz in a concertat 8 p.m. in the Fine ArtsAuditorium.

Aldaz, a native ofMatamoros, studied at both thePeabody Conservatory inBaltimore and the JulliardSchool of Music in New York.For more information, call(956) 381-3471.

■ World Travel . . . . 8 - 9

■ Culture Club . . . . . . . 9ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

PAGE 7

AroundTown

International CulturalNightApril 26 from 7 to 9 p.m.Info: Variety of presenta-tions and entertainmentthat will represent culturesfrom around the world. Aselection of internationalfoods will be available.The event is co-sponsoredby the InternationalStudent Association andthe Asian AmericanAssociation.Place: University MediaTheaterPrice: Tickets are $5

Special Olympics 2002Spring GamesApril 27 at 9 a.m. (openingceremonies)Info: Events include aparade of athletes andFlame of Hope deliveredby local law enforcement.Place: Edcouch-ElsaStadium

VAMOS Golf TournamentApril 27Info: Former President BillClinton will be the guest ofhonor at the golf tourna-ment which will includehole-in-one, longest driveand closest-to-pin con-tests.Place and Times: TierraSanta Golf Club inWeslacoCall: (956) 631-1273

Valley SymphonyOrchestraMay 3 at 8 p.m.Tickets: Available at (956)393-2293 or atsouthtexassymphony.comPlace: UTPA Fine ArtsTheater

After a year of work, the music department capped off the year with several performanceslast week, including the men’s and women’s chorale concert and chamber orchestraBy Cesar TrevinoThe Pan American

Musicians give finale performances

(Above and Below) - The men’s and women’s chorales performed Tuesday in theFine Arts Auditorium under the direction of Dr. Vivian Munn while her husband, andfellow professor, Dr. Albert Munn accompanied the group on the piano.

Cesar Trevino/The Pan American

Page 11: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 11April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 6

Deanna ChapaBiologySenior

Yes, since I’m married and I live faraway. I live close to McCook and Idon’t receive financial aid anyway.

Blanca B. GarzaUndeclaredFreshman

Yes, I have family in Mexico so it isbetter for me to live over there. Plus,we don’t have a residence here.

Ivan BuenrostroT.V/FilmSophomore

It’s [home] just 20 minutes away. Youget used to the drive after awhile andit doesn’t become a factor.

Are you a commuterstudent ?

Rosalinda DominguezMathFreshman

Yes, I live with my mom. You don’twant to be stuck here [at school] allday. It’s easier to live at home.

VOICECCaammppuuss

David SimentalPsychologySophomore

Yes, because it would be really impracti-cal since I only live 10 minutes away fromcampus.

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Page 12: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 5

CAMPUS LIFEPAGE 12

■ W h a t s t u d e n t s a r e d o i n g a t U T P A

GAINING THE EDGE: Internships equate to experience

The question most graduating college stu-dents will ask within the next few weeks is,“What now?” As the unequivocal reality setsin for emancipated graduates, many of themwill walk the platform to receive their diplo-mas knowing they will confront the real worldwith confidence. There are many reasons forthis. One concerns internships.

Susie Alvarez, cooperative education coor-dinator, is the mediator between employersand students. She says students can benefitfrom partaking in internships because theyacquaint themselves with the employer, thefield, and work habits and ethics.

“Most students who have taken part in aninternship graduate and are usually hired bythe same employer,” Alvarez said.

Internships are semester-long opportunitiesduring which students obtain “hands-on expe-rience” prior to graduating. According toAlvarez, there are two programs the experi-ence-hungry student can choose from: intern-ships and Co-op opportunities.

Alvarez stressed there are differencesbetween the two. Internship opportunities usu-ally last one semester, can be local or out oftown, and are not always guaranteed to bringthe student compensation. Co-op opportuni-ties, on the other hand, can also last between3-4 months and be local or out of town. Butthey are “almost always paid,” according toAlvarez.

The strongest benefit in taking part in a Co-op event, according to Alvarez, is that, “they[student] will be compensated and mostimportantly, gain experience and leave a dooropen for the future.”

Alvarez and her colleagues mediate constant-ly between local and out-of-state employers andthe six UTPA colleges on campus. Examples ofrecruiters that routinely seek UTPA students areBoeing Satellite Systems, Central IntelligenceAgency, Dell Computer, IBM, U.S. BorderPatrol, the Dallas Cowboys Football Club,Target, and Wal-Mart.

Currently, Alvarez said there are newinternships being offered, including RioGrande Valley News and Sports, CBS News,and several offerings out of the state in New

York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, andAtlanta, Georgia.

There are also a host of local companiesand organizations seeking interns.

For example, from the College ofCommunication, students have worked in thepast with print media outlets such as TheMonitor, Valley Morning Star, and TheBrownsville Herald, along with papers inDallas, Austin, and San Antonio.

They receive six hours of college creditalong with work experience and connectionswhich often lead to future employment aftergraduation.

Departmental faculty help students arrangeinternships, but the Co-op group is also onboard to assist.

“I call or look around for employers whoare looking for students to work for them,Alvarez said. “When the interested employersreturn their responses, I then fax them a formin which they can indicate or specify thedesired qualifications for the potential stu-dents.”

Upon receiving confirmation of the require-ments, Alvarez then sends out advisement to

the appropriate colleges on campus in theforms of e-mail memorandums to deans,fliers, and personal class presentations.Interested students then contact Alvarez, orher department, and are advised of details onan interview with the potential employer.

“The student looking for an internship or aCo-op opportunity will have to realize thatjust because this is an internship and not a jobafter college, they still need to realize the seri-ousness of the interview,” Alvarez said.

She went on to say if any student needsadvice on interview procedures, ethics, orassistance composing a resume, the CareerPlacement Services department, as well as theCo-op people, can assist.

“We had a student who came in and askedus if we could help her with the details duringthe interviewing process. She asked how sheshould dress, sit, and where she should placeher hands during the interview,” she said.

Students interested in an internship that wouldsuit their field can go to the Career PlacementServices and ask to view the “Office ofCooperative Education- Local and NationalInternship Opportunities.”

By Jaime Garcia Jr.The Pan American

Cultural diversity to beshowcased at festival

Although the majority of the populationin South Texas is Hispanic, students atUTPA are determined to promote diversityon campus.

The International Student Association(ISA) in collaboration with the AmericanAsian Association (AAA) plans to hostInternational Cultural Night Friday, in theMedia Theatre at 7 p.m.

“We are having international dances aswell as performers singing songs from dif-ferent countries,” said Nadia Gallegos, ISApresident.

The night’s performers will representcountries including Turkey, Mexico,Philippines, India, France, Cuba and manymore.

For instance, Mario Arredondo (presidentof the Sol y Luna Association) will repre-sent Spain by dancing to “Volare,” aFlamenco song. Other students will show-case traditional dancing from India and thePhilippines.

However, entertainment will not be theonly attraction at International CulturalNight.

Students will also be modeling traditionalcostumes to represent customary dress fromdifferent countries.

Shaila Noor Alam and Rijadh Alam willshare the diversity of clothing by wearingtraditional wedding outfits fromBangladesh.

“We decided to have this cultural festivalto show UTPA students, faculty and staff

the beauty of traditional dances and cus-toms from different cultures,” Gallegossaid.

“This type of event will show that theuniversity supports and welcomes studentsfrom everywhere and that we have a largediversity of cultures.”

President Claire Rizaldo agreed about thefestival’s importance. “Our organization’spurpose is to promote awareness of diversi-ty, and a cultural showcase such as this isthe way to do so,” Rizaldo said.

Both organizations have recently becomeactive in the last year.

According to Philip Clay, internationalstudent advisor, the ISA began five yearsago, but stepped up its activities in the fallof 2001.

“We felt that having the festival is a firststep in developing the success of the organi-zation,” Clay said.

“Our organization is opened to all stu-dents who are interested in learning aboutdifferent cultures.”

The AAA was created at the beginning ofthe semester and includes students fromIndian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern back-grounds, as well as students interested inlearning about the importance of diversity.

“When I attend these kinds of festivals Iam overcome with excitement,” Gallegossaid. “It feels so great to see and remembersome of our roots when we are far from ourcountries.”

For more information about tickets con-tact Philip Clay at (956) 381-2922. Ticketsare five dollars and are limited due to thecapacity of the Media Theatre.

By Clarissa MartinezThe Pan American

average migrant student faces manyproblems the traditional student doesnot. Hagerty feels some migrant stu-dents do not completely understandtheir course material because of theirintermittent travels to northern states towork.

“Some students also have troublebecause their parents only speakSpanish at home,”she said.

Hagerty saidmany migrant stu-dents lack the tra-ditional education-al background thatmay help other stu-dents.

“Many of theirparents didn’t getpast elementaryschool,” Hagertysaid. “So, theycan’t ask their par-ents for advice,because they don’thave an under-standing of what isneeded to be suc-cessful.”

“CAMP provides a network of stu-dents to help them [participants] fit in,”she said. “They have a group of otherpeople to share experiences with andthis really helps them.”

In addition to social help, CAMP stu-dents are paid a monthly stipend of$100 if they participate in tutoring,counseling and two leadership semi-nars.

“The students become alumni at theend of the year and they only qualifyfor the services [that CAMP provides,]

not the stipend [after that],” Romerosaid.

In addition to a stipend, participantswho live outside of the Edinburg areaare also given financial assistance forhousing.

CAMP accepts a maximum of 70 stu-dents a year who are screened accord-ing to their grade point average,

extracurricular activi-ties, performance onan administeredessay, letters of rec-ommendation, andACT and TASPscores.

“They teach ushow to survive col-lege life,” saidSamuel Bernabe, afreshmen pre-medmajor and participantin the program. “Wemeet new people andit [CAMP] hashelped me to make abetter transition intocollege.”

“The staff are real-ly good people,” said

Juan Gauna, a freshman and CAMP par-ticipant. “They are really helpful andfriendly.”

CAMP is hosting their end of the yearbanquet Friday evening, andCongressman Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, will speak at the event.

“We will be giving the students theircertificate of completion,” Romero said.“We will also honor those students whoreceived the Dean’s List recognition.This is just to recognize the studentsand their parents.”

CAMP continued from page 1

CAMP provides anetwork of students

to help them [partici-pants] fit in. They havea group of other peopleto share experienceswith and this reallyhelps them.”d

a-Marilyn HagertyAssociate Director of CAMP

Page 13: April 25, 2002

April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 13April 25, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 4

Nearly 1,600 middle and high schoolstudents from across the Rio GrandeValley will gather this week at theUniversity of Texas-Pan AmericanFieldhouse to listen to guest speakersfrom Johnson Space Center.

The NASA Awareness Day will takeplace on Friday at 9:30 a.m. The engineer-ing department teamed up with the GEARUP program to coordinate the event.

GEAR UP is a program that providesstudents at the middle school through highschool level with support services such asenhanced curricular offerings, informationabout college options and the applicationprocess and financial aid.

Edwin LeMaster, interim associate deanand director of the School of Engineeringand Computer Science, gaveCongressman Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, credit as the driving forcebehind bringing NASA to UTPA.

“He is a great friend of the university,”said LeMaster of Hinojosa.

He added that Hinojosa forcefully askedNASA, on more than one occasion tocome speak to the students in the GEARUP program. The program currently has7,000 middle school students overall with17 feeder programs into high schoolsacross the Valley.

Sylvia Migoni, public relations special-ist with the UTPA GEAR UP Program,said that most students who participate inthe NASA Awareness Day have low-income, Spanish-speaking backgrounds.She added that the Hispanic speakers fromthe Johnson Space Center would likelyhave a positive influence on the studentsand give them a sense of capability.

“Our goal is to show kids the possibili-ties that are out there for them,”LeMaster said.

Speakers from the Johnson SpaceCenter range in occupations from engineerto astronaut. Robert Trevino, an engineerfor advanced extra-vehicular activities atJohnson Space Center, will talk to the stu-dents about space suits and equipment thatastronauts use for working outside of theSpace Shuttle and International SpaceStation.

Debbie Ramos Trainor, a training spe-cialist at the astronaut office of JohnsonSpace Center will discuss unconventionalmethods of training astronauts. FernandoCalderio, an astronaut, will share a day inthe life of an astronaut with attending stu-dents. Charles Galindo, senior scientistwith Hernandez Engineering at JohnsonSpace Center, will give a historicalaccount of meteorites.

Hinojosa, who played a key role inbringing NASA to UTPA, will give aspeech stressing the opportunities to servethe nation through higher education.

GEAR UP events, like NASAAwareness Day double as promotions forUTPA.

“Every time we have an event, westrongly promote secondary education,”Migoni said. “We always promote UTPAto the kids.”

Students from the engineering depart-ment will be present on Friday to usherthe visiting students, prepare materialsthat will be handed out to visitors, andshow their own projects.

This is the first time that NASAAwareness Day has been put together atUTPA, but the GEAR UP Program typi-cally puts together other events for pro-gram participants.

Friday blastoff, NASAcoming to campusBy Celeste Y. TelloThe Pan American

Eladio Jaimez/The Pan American

CEREMONYJeanette Broshears (left) accepts the Adviser of the Year award from Christine Carruthers atthe third annual Club Awards Reception. Other awards included the Service Project of theYear, awarded to the American Sign Language Club; Organization of the Year, to the Pre-Medical/Bio-Medical Society; and Student Leader of the Year, to Melisa Castaneda of theAmerican Sign Language Club and the United Council of Student Organizations.

With the growing number of minoritiesin the country, the population of minori-ties in college continues to increase.Most universities offer a series of pro-grams designed to help minorities both inschool and in business. The University ofTexas-Pan American is no exception.

The Minority Biomedical ResearchSupport (MBRS) Grant Program isdesigned to support students of ethnicminorities to continue an education andseek a professional career in biomedicalresearch. The program helps promoteresearch potential in biomedical sciencesat UTPA by assisting in the developmentof the resources needed for researchactivities. It also supplies financialassistance for faculty release time, con-sultant fees and student and faculty travelto scientific conventions.

The MBRS Program is a branch of the

National Institute of General MedicalSciences, a subsidiary of the NationalInstitutes of Health. It has been assistingUTPA students since 1972, and the uni-versity has received about $8.5 million ingrants, which has supported the biomed-ical research for over 25 faculty and 250students.

Dr. Mohammed Farooqui has been theprogram director of MBRS for eightyears. Assisting him are four to six prin-ciple investigators (faculty members)from different departments. These prin-ciple investigators hire students to assistthem in their research.

Benefits of the program have beennumerous, according to Farooqui.

“The students gain experience inresearch, primarily in biomedicalresearch, and they get to present papersat scientific meetings and assist profes-sors in publishing papers,” he said.

Farooqui said the faculty benefits bygaining grants to promote their own

research and the experience improvestheir performance in the classroom. Headded that the university gains namerecognition and money to support theprogram. When the research is over, theequipment used becomes property ofUTPA.

This semester there are approximatelyfive professors and 10 students involved.

Along with students and faculty,minority services are available for busi-ness owners of ethnic minorities. TheSouth Texas Minority BusinessOpportunity Committee (MBOC) locatedat the UTPA annex, focuses on govern-ment procurement and international tradebetween minority-owned businesses.

“We help these businesses by assistingthem in exporting their product or servic-es to other countries and we do that byhosting seminars and workshops aboutdoing business in Mexico and selling tomaquiladoras,” said International TradeSpecialist Terry Fuentes.

Fuentes added that MBOC also offersassistance in market research, industryanalysis, and scheduling appointmentsamong business owners.

The committee hosts seminars allowingbuyers to meet suppliers and organizetrade missions, which are two-to-threeday events where U.S. business ownerstravel to Mexico

“We match them up with Mexicanbusinesses to do business,” Fuentes said.“These are Mexican companies that havealready shown an interest in the U.S.company, so it’s like a business match-making service.”

The center is partially funded by theMinority Business Development Agency,which is in charge of all nine MBOCsacross the country and of UTPA.

“Even though we are geared to minori-ty-owned businesses, we will help any-one who is interested in selling theirproduct to other companies,” Fuentessaid.

Various programs serve increasing minority populationBy Elizabeth MartinezThe Pan American

Page 14: April 25, 2002

• STD Education

• Free Pregnancy test

• Abortion education/

informed consent

• Referral Services

• Shelter Assistance

• 24-Hour Hotline

• Baby Clothing Bank

• Post-Abortion Counseling

• Post-Abortion Support

Groups

• Supportive Guidance

• Assistance Counseling

Pharr • Weslaco • Harlingen • Brownsville

April 25, 2002 sports Page 14

CANUCKS continued from page 16

Weather could be considered a double-edged sword for the two South Texastransplants. While the heat of the summercaused Salvo and Koziell distress, bothplayers feel the climate is almost perfectfor year-round tennis play.

In high school, Salvo would at timeshave to play in cold weather wearingsweaters. Tournaments were constantlymoved indoors due to harsh weather con-ditions.

The same can be said for Koziell, whoaccepted a four-year scholarship to comeand play for the Broncs.

“It’s good tennis weather all year longand it’s a good Division I team [Broncs],Koziell said.

According to Chapman, Salvo andKoziell bring different styles of play tothe court, and he believes both playerswill bolster next year’s tennis squad.

“Jeremy is a very talented player,”Chapman said. “He is a great doublesplayer, has great hands and is a talented,strong individual.”

Chapman feels Salvo has the capabilityto play against top players once he getsadditional collegiate matches under hisbelt.

“I think he has the talent to play at thetop end of our team,” Chapman said. “Theconfidence and experience in playing col-lege tennis is just adjusting. Your fresh-man year is usually a big adjustment.”

While Chapman feels Salvo’s future atUTPA is bright, Salvo admits there’s stillwork that needs to be done to improve hisgame.

“I want to be better next year,” Salvo

said. “I’m at a seven [on a scale of 1-10],but I think I can get a lot better.”

Like Salvo, Koziell has performed at ahigher level then Chapman anticipated.

“Filip has probably been my most con-sistent player this year,” Chapman said.“He’s consistently moving up the line.”

Both Salvo and Koziell have improvedtheir team ranking since the start of theseason.

Salvo started at No. 6 singles and No. 2doubles, now he’s playing No. 4 singlesand No. 1 doubles with Koziell. Koziellstarted No. 4 at the beginning of this year,and now is going into this weekend’stournament playing No. 2.

Both Koziell and Salvo have winningrecords going into the SouthlandConference tournament that starts tomor-row. Koziell has a 12-4 record this springat No. 2, 3 and 4 singles, while Salvo hasa 10-6 record at No. 4, 5 and 6 singles. Asdouble partners, the duo has a record of10-5 at the No. 1 and 2 spots. Chapmaninsists the “Canuck Connection” willbecome a force in the future of the confer-ence.

“To be honest, I’m surprised at how fastthey’ve come along as of now,” Chapmansaid. “That really excites me for thefuture, because at this point they’re a littlefarther along than most freshman usuallyare.”

Canada is well represented at UTPA.Bobby Killins of the baseball team, AlexGravel and Michelle Smith of the LadyBronc basketball squad, and tennis play-ers Alana Breen and Kathryn Waslen areall from Canada.

Janie Jaimez drives 45 minutes fromHarlingen every Tuesday and Thursday toattend classes at the University of Texas-PanAmerican.

Like scores of other commuter students atUTPA, the English major schedules herclasses twice a week to avoid the excessivetravel.

While the school’s spring enrollment is12,884 students, only 392 live on campus inresidence halls or at Bronc Village, the stu-dent apartment complex across the streetfrom the dorms.

While UTPA is mainly a commuter school,it is one of two four-year universities in theValley, the other of which is a complete com-muter school. With a spring enrollment of9,359, the University of Texas-Brownsvillehas no on-campus housing.

Roy Gutierrez, administrative analyst atUTB, said the university is looking into pur-chasing several surrounding hotels and con-verting them into dormitories in order togive students the option of living on campus.

UTPA’s overwhelming commuter statusleaves 12,492 students vying for coveted park-ing spaces, cringing at increased gas prices,and experiencing a notable void in participa-tion in campus activities and school spirit.

Resident lifeWhile UTPA is considered a commuter

campus, there are plans to continue to buildits residential community, according to PatZarate, assistant dean for Campus Life.

“I think the Office of Residence Life canassist in building Bronc pride by continuingto work with its residential population andby engaging residents in campus life,”Zarate said.

Annette Morales, who lives in theWomen’s Residence Hall, said she prefers tolive in the dorms because the drive from herhometown of Roma is just “too tiring andtoo long.”

The junior biology major said it is easierto live right there on campus and avoid the90-minute commute because “gas is tooexpensive.”

Freshman resident Gloria Garza enjoysliving on campus because she has met manynew people.

“It is cool because we stay up all nighttalking with everyone and hanging out in therec room,” Garza said.

Although there are plenty of students wholive in campus housing or within a fewblocks from campus, they do not leave theirdorm or apartment to come on to campus atnight or on weekends, said Assistant Dean ofStudents David Mariscal.

Dean of Students Elvie Davis said campus

housing has special programs for its resi-dents to encourage them to continue livingon campus.

Activities within the dorms are put on sev-eral times a week to promote friendships andencourage residents to meet new people.

“There is a certain amount of camaraderieand networking involved that is effective ingetting students to stay on or return to cam-pus,” Davis said.

Zarate noted that there is an inherent cam-pus pride in those students who do callUTPA home.

School Spirit / Camaraderie School spirit may suffer because of a lack

of identification with the campus, accordingto Mariscal.

Zarate said school spirit can be enhancedby reaching out to both commuters and cam-pus residents.

“There is a significant camaraderie amongstudents,” Mariscal said. “You see this asstudents form new friendships, study groups,join organizations, and socialize at local ven-ues.”

Davis said the levels of participation andschool spirit are, indeed, lower than at resi-dent campuses because of the commuternature of the student body.

“This is very normal for commuter cam-puses,” Davis said. “It is always an uphillbattle trying to get students who commute tochange their attitudes about returning tocampus for campus events.”

Students deal with complications of thecommute to UTPA each day, including theubiquitous search for parking, as well as theperiodic increases in gas prices.

Parking Woes Although students are encouraged to come

on to campus for events, parking problemscan be exacerbated by the thousands of stu-dents who drive to campus each day.

However, parking is a problem even atnon-commuter campuses, Mariscal said.

A total of 5,400 parking spaces are avail-able at UTPA to accommodate nearly 13,000students, and 738 of those spaces are in dirtlots, according to Parking Services ManagerEddie Morin.

Because congestion occurs primarily in

the morning, the university needs to offermore courses in the afternoon and eveninghours, when there are plenty of parkingspaces available, Mariscal suggested.

“Even apartment dwellers will drive twoblocks to get to campus,” he said.

Commuter student Angie Galindo, ofDonna, drives to UTPA every day for classesand spends up to $40 on gas weekly due tothe rising gas prices.

The clinical lab science major said thatshe has had problems with her car due to thefrequent commute to and from school.

“We’ve had to redo the whole enginebecause of excess mileage from going backand forth every day,” she said.

Senior Arely Rios, of Harlingen, com-mutes to UTPA four times a week.

Rios, a social studies composite major,prefers not to carpool with other studentsbecause she likes the freedom of coming andgoing as she pleases. She added that shespends up to $25 a week on gas.

Promoting closenessMariscal explained that in order to pro-

mote camaraderie among students, UTPAneeds to offer consistent quality program-ming and events that will create a culture ofstudents wanting to come back to campus inthe evenings and on weekends.

“USOC [University Student OrganizationCommitte] hosted Bronc Bash April 12 andwe had approximately 750 students attend,”he noted. “Intramural had a volleyball tour-nament this Saturday and 54 students partici-pated. Both of these were successful events.So if you provide events that students want,they will come back.”

Jaimez said she would not participate incampus activities that take place on nightsand weekends because of her commute fromHarlingen, but added that she would makethe drive to Edinburg if UTPA had a footballteam.

“That’s just ‘cause I like football, though,”she said.

Davis said that although the addition of afootball team at UTPA would definitely pro-mote school spirit, the expense is exorbitant.

“We’d also have to build a stadium [morebig bucks] or depend on the availability ofothers in the area high schools–not too feasi-

ble, according to ‘people in the know,’” sheadded.

Sophomore Jesse Cavazos said he wouldlikely show up for the games despite the 30-minute drive from his hometown ofMercedes if UTPA had a football teambecause “football is football.”

A resuscitation of the UTPA soccer teammight also encourage fans of collegiate ath-letics to commute to UTPA in the eveningsor on weekends. Student athletes played soc-cer for 28 years before the program was ter-minated in 1998 in search of equity in gen-der representation in sports at UTPA.

A Bronc football team is a bleak possibili-ty, Davis suggested, but many other activi-ties are in the works to improve student par-ticipation.

The Student Union is experimenting withdifferent types of programs and eveninghours to attract audiences and nurture ‘regu-lars,’ she said.

Many students take advantage of theStudent Union game room in the eveningsand on weekends where pool tables andvideo games are available for recreation.

Gabriel Ramirez, a work study student atthe game room, said usually about 10 stu-dents come in on Saturdays to play.

Other means of getting students involvedinclude the mentoring program. In eachdepartments’ program, mentors are asked totake their protégés, or entering freshmen, tocampus activities to get them into the habitof participation.

An expansion of intramural recreationalsports is in the works as well, and StudentDevelopment has also had success inincreasing the number of student organiza-tions, according to Davis.

Family tiesThe close proximity of family as well as

the workplace are two major factors whichinfluence UTPA students to continue theircommute to and from classes every day.

Balvina Ochoa, a sophomore criminal jus-tice major, prefers the commute to living oncampus because she works in Mercedes andher family lives there as well.

Galindo, a senior, said because her hus-band works in Harlingen, the couple prefersto live “sort of in the middle [of the Valley].”

Rios said because she has a full-time job,she has little time to participate in campusactivities.

Living on campus wouldn’t be convenientfor Cavazos either, he said, because heworks in Harlingen. The business manage-ment major only comes to UTPA twice aweek because he prefers to work morehours.

When it comes to campus activities, headmitted that he just doesn’t have time.

“Pretty much I work,” he said. “When I’mnot at school, I work.”

ON THE ROAD: Most students commute to UTPABy Cristina ReynaThe Pan American

PAGE 3■ Minority Services . . . .4

■ Campus Voice . . . . . 6

■ Campus Calendar. . .12NEWSThere is a significant camaraderie among stu-dents... as students form new friendships, study

groups, join organizations, and socialize at local venues.

”dasd- David Mariscal

Assistant Dean of Students

Page 15: April 25, 2002

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the PAN AMERICAN is theofficial studentnewspaper of TheUniversity ofTexas-PanAmerican. Views presentedare those of thewriters and do notnecessarily reflectthose of theuniversity.

The Pan Americangladly acceptsletters fromstudents, staff andfaculty regardingnewspaper contentor current issues.The Pan Americanreserves the rightto edit submissionsfor grammar andlength. Please limitsubmission lengthto 300 words. ThePan Americancannot publishanonymous letters,or submissionscontaining hatespeech orgratuitouspersonal attacks.Letters are printedat the discretion ofthe editor andmust include thewriter’s name,class/title andphone number.

Letters policy

April 252 0 0 2

Readers with dis-abilities mayrequest an alter-native format ofthis publicationat The PanAmerican busi-ness office. For special assis-tance to attendany event listedin this publica-tion, contact thecoordinator of theevent at least oneweek prior to theadvertised date.

Sports EditorEladio Jaimez

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Celebrating 50 years

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NEWS

In a large institution such as a university,huge amounts of revenue are collected and inturn equally huge expenditures are paid. Suchis the nature of the large-scale institution.

The successful modern bureaucracy is anamazing study in synchronicity, organization,and order, regulating and facilitating a widevariety of services that would be otherwiseimpossible for localized, informal processes

There are always complications, as businessis not a perfect science, despite its benefits.There are inevitable mistakes-usually user-based-and miscalculations, and sometimesdishonesty. But most often there are divergentopinions about the nature of operation withinan institution. This brings the reader to thecontroversy at the University of Texas-PanAmerican, at the heart of which is resourceallocation.

SITUATION ANALYSISThe Student Affairs Advisory Committee is

a largely student-run, independent bodycharged with making recommendations toJohn Edwards, vice president of the divisionof enrollment and student services, about theuse of collected student fees. These recom-mendations are then passed to the president’soffice, which considers them in making finalbudget decisions.

SAAC says it is in the middle of a budgetdisagreement with the vice president’s officeabout fee allocation, and the use of reserves,problems that have been ongoing for nearly adecade. A spokesman for the vice presidentfor Business Affairs says there has been a lackof communication leading to misunderstand-ing, and further, no hard-and-fast budget deci-sions have been made. There is a meetingscheduled for this morning at which the presi-dent, vice presidents and budget director willmake headway toward a resolution of thebudget for the upcoming year.

The basic disagreement has to do withwhere money comes from to get things done.

BACKGROUND AND EXPLANATIONSAAC reconvened March 27 to clarify its

earlier recommendations to Edwards’ office,of which two points are most important. Thecommittee recommended that fee allocationseach year be made based on actual dollarscollected during the previous 12 months, andthat a portion of student fee reserves be usedto finance a series of one-time services,including most prominently salary merit bene-

fits for university staff.The vice president’s office, hereafter

referred to as the administration, believes thatwhile certain one - time services can be fund-ed by using reserves - an example of thiscame with the construction of the recentlycompleted Student Union - annual, “ongoing”expenditures, which are annual or monthly,must be met with funds from StudentServices, per institutional policy. Included inthe ongoing category are monies for meritawards.

A recent SAAC memo to the vice presi-dent’s office noted that Business Affairs esti-mates of revenues are consistently lower thanactual collection figures. The memo alsonoted that reserves are expected to climb toover $1 million by the end of the most recentfiscal year.

The memo notes that from SAAC’s stand-point, a healthy minimum of reserves is$400,000, and that the $245,832 set to beadded to extant reserves of $845,888 will putthe balance over $1 million.

SAAC’s line of reasoning is that rather thantaking money from Student Services to meetthe one-time services, the money should comefrom abundant reserves. While SAAC recog-nizes the need to have funds in place to coverunforeseen deficits, it believes that the reservebalance in place is adequate for this purpose.The committee thus believes that the studentfee reserves are a good source from which tofund the one-time services, which besides themerit pay (nearly $35,000, as opposed to the$25,000 from fee collections themselves rec-ommended by the administration) would gofor costumes for mariachi performers ($5,000)and improvement of CampusNet computerequipment ($30,000).

For its part, the vice president’s office isthinking like an administration, which is whatit is. Its estimates are always more conserva-tive than those of entities such as SAAC, saysone spokesman, because the administration isresponsible for the long-term ramifications ofmaking such decisions. Vice President forBusiness Affairs James Langabeer says thatall parties can benefit from a little more com-munication, and that most seeming disagree-ments like this one are easily defused whenboth sides understand the inner workings ofthe situation clearly. There appears to be a dif-ference in understanding working definitionsof ongoing versus one-time expenditures.

VP Edwards has reiterated the administra-

tion opinion that the money for some of thepurchases in question, prominently the meritpay, should be allocated from StudentServices. At least, that is, according to SAAC,which wants the money to come from thereserves and has submitted a series of ques-tions for the president’s office to answer.

1. What should reserves be used for?2. What is the rationale for not using

reserves to augment merit?3. What is a reasonable reserves balance

and how is that determined?4. How should the interest be used?In the next year, the committee plans a

more thorough study of reserves, plusprogress toward a clearer understanding ofaccounting procedures and transactions mak-ing use of student fees. As noted, the adminis-tration meets today to discuss the issue andthe budget.

Langabeer explained that the accumulatedreserves balance is higher than it normally hasbeen due to a surge in enrollment 6-8 yearsago. He notes that the administration is hesi-tant to make budget decisions on the basis ofthat high figure, as it is abnormal. This is anongoing conversation; no decisions have beenmade, he continued, adding that there doesn’tnecessarily have to be a controversy.

THE UPSHOTThis is a complicated issue, one which

is not unusual considering the complexnature of modern bureaucratic institu-tions, plus the inevitable disagreementsfrom human facilitators when it comes tointer-institution policy decisions. The bot-tom line is the need for an equitable andlogical use of revenue, and a farsighted,equally equitable use of reserves.

The situation is ongoing, and its resolu-tion depends in large part on an unbiasedunderstanding of all sides of the problem.It should not be ideologically grounded,nor should it be resolved in favor ofeither misplaced antagonism from a stu-dent-based organization or strong-armingby the administration. There needs to be amore universal understanding of what isbeing attempted by each entity.

The Pan American will continue tomonitor this important bureaucratic devel-opment, because it will eventually impactevery branch of the university, from stu-dents, faculty, and staff to the long-termfiscal health of the university itself.

Institutional communication breakdownOPINION l e t t e r s ■ e d i t o r i a l s ■ c a r t o o n s

PAGE 2

BASEBALL

BRONC LEADERS

Batting Average

Adam Farek .302

Tony Ortiz .301

John Lopez .297

Matt Sisk .295

Jerome McCoy .287

Home runs

Matt Eichel 2

Matt Sisk 2

Tony Ortiz 2

Jarrad Maddox 1

Sean Flynn 1

Jonathan Mason 1

Marco Garza 1

RBI

Matt Sisk 19

Bruce Kennedy 15

Matt Eichel 11

Tony Ortiz 10

Jarrad Maddox 8

Hits

Jerome McCoy 41

Matt Sisk 41

Bruce Kennedy 34

Skip Weast 31

John Lopez 30

Runs

Matt Sisk 22

Jerome McCoy 21

Bruce Kennedy 17

John Lopez 14

Marco Garza 12

TEAM NUMBERS

Batting Average .262

Home runs 10

RBI 135

Hits 350

Runs 160

* statistics do not include yesterday’s game against

Nebraska.

Thursday’s Game

R H E

UTPA 000 001 001-- 2 7 1

Nebraska 310 000 51x-- 10 14 1

WP: Sillman (1-1)

LP: James (5-7)

Records: UTPA 13-30; Nebraska 28-14.

Wednesday’s game: Nebraska 18, UTPA 1

Next game: Saturday 4 p.m. doubleheader vs.

St. Mary’s; Tuesday, April 30 3 p.m.

doubleheader vs. Incarnate Word.

Note:Last two home appearances of the

season. Broncs’ season ends May 12 at

Texas Tech.

TRACK AND FIELD

MEN

Upcoming schedule

April 25-27 Drake Relays

May 3-4 Texas Invitational

May 20 Houston Last Chance

May 28-June 1 NCAA Championships

WOMEN

Upcoming schedule

April 25-27 Drake Relays

May 3-4 Texas Invitational

May 20 Houston Last Chance

May 28-June 1 NCAA Championships

TENNIS

MEN

Upcoming schedule

April 26-28 SLC Tournament

Broncs vs. Laredo Community College

1-Gower, UTPA, defeated Moris, 6-2, 6-3

2-Mangleschots, UTPA, defeated Powell, 6-0, 6-2

3-Koziell, UTPA, defeated Horvat, 7-5, 6-1

4-Salvo, UTPA, defeated Cardenas, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

5-Abdullah, UTPA, defeated Guerra, 6-2, 6-3

6-Barraclough, UTPA, defeated Pazos, 6-0, 6-0

By the numbersApril 25, 2002 sports Page 15

Englishman honored PLANO-For the fifth time this season, the University of Texas Pan American’s

men’s tennis team received an individual honor from the Southland Conference. Junior Matt Gower was named Southland Conference player of the week. Gower won all six of his matches last week. He defeated Eric Subirats of

Southeastern Louisiana (SLU), Jakob Paulsen of Lamar (LU) and Luis Moris ofLaredo Community College (LCC) at no. 1 singles, and teamed with seniorKareem Abdullah to win three times at no. 2 doubles. Gower and Abdullah defeat-ed Subirats and Paul Birkett of SLU, Paulsen and J.P. Alatorre of Lamar, andKeith Powell and Eduardo Pazos of LCC.

UTPA won all three matches, defeating SLU, 6-1, Lamar, 4-0, and LCC, 7-0.The win against SLU, allowed UTPA to clinch the fourth seed for this weekend’sSLC tourney. The Lamar match was a non-conference match, and the matchagainst LCC was an exhibition match.

“Matt really deserved the award,” said UTPA head coach Todd Chapman. “Mattis playing some of the best tennis he’s played all year, which is really importantfor the team going into the conference tournament. He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now, and probably playing harder than I’ve seen him play allyear. He played an important role in our winning all three of our matches lastweek, two of which were against conference opponents.”

The Broncs will open SLC Tournament play against Lamar Friday afternoon at3:30 p.m. at The University of Texas-San Antonio.

Local runner signs with BroncsEDINBURG-Former Bobcat Deanah Chavez and signed on with the University

of Texas Pan American Bronc track team this week. Chavez ran 400 meters in 59 seconds and 800 meters in 2:17 as a middle dis-

tance runner during her second year at Edinburg High School.“I’m really excited that we signed Deanah, she’s a very talented young athlete,”

said UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. “She was hurt during her junior year, butshe came back and was second in the district meet this year, and advanced to theregional meet, which will be run this weekend.”

Chavez is the first athlete to sign with UTPA during the spring signing period.

SPORTS CLIPBOARD

FAREWELL continued from page 16story, I decided to change my major toprint journalism. I enjoyed sports, and afterthat article I thought I enjoyed writing andreporting, as well.

It’s been three and a half years, and Istill enjoy all three. Joe asked me back andI’m here today because of his trust in mywriting. Thanks Joe.

I gave a shot at writing general news andpolitics, and liked it very much as well. Itook a shot at being the editor of this publi-cation, and while my staff never said any-thing, I knew I better served the newspaperas a reporter.

My education at UTPA wasn’t limited totextbooks I never read or to classes I wentto half the time. I’ve learned more in thepast four years here, and the seven alltogether since high school, than more peo-ple will in a lifetime.

When I decided to attend UTPA overfour years ago, I was actually playing withthe idea of not going to college anymore,period. With a little push from my mother,I decided that going to school was the bestthing for me.

I’m glad I did, because not only will Isoon receive my degree, but in the courseof my time here, I’ve met so many greatprofessors which have had a great impact

on my life.The list is too long to mention, but some

of these people are too important to let gounmentioned.

First of all, every professor I’ve ever hadat this university has been special. Eventhose whose class I dropped like eighttimes. It wasn’t you, it was me. Of coursethe professors you spend the most timewith are the ones you’ll always remember.

One of which, Bob Rollins, is no longerwith us. Henry’s father, just kidding.Although, the Rollins Band’s hardcore riffsand tunes are pretty right-on when describ-ing Rollins’ style of teaching. I can creditRollins for giving me the thick skin neededin journalism. I remember the first thing hetold me when I began at the Pan American,“Check your ego at the door, son.”

Dr. Salma Ghanem and Jackie Nirenbergare two of the sweetest professors I’llprobably ever know. That’s true becausethe chances of me getting into graduateschool anywhere are slim to none, and slimjust left the building.

Dr. Ghanem and Jackie, thanks for allthe advice you gave me and for listening tome whenever I had questions.

I’ll probably see you guys again whenthe university calls my house saying I did-

n’t really graduate because half my credithours are freshmen level.

Another one of my teachers no longer atUTPA, but someone I still admire andrevere, is Arturo Longoria. When Rollinspassed away, Arturo was supposed to behere only one semester as an interim advis-er. He stayed two years, and I’m glad hestayed.

Despite any discord he may have hadwith other students and professors, Arturotaught me a lot about reporting and writingfor newspapers. There are very few peopleI could say I consider mentors, and hewould definitely be one of them.

Another, Greg Selber. Homeboy hashelped me get my foot in the door so manytimes and even helped me land my firstreal job at the Valley Morning Star, whichI start in three weeks. Just like Arturo,Greg’s been a mentor and his advice hasbeen priceless.

And who could forget Juanita Sanchez.In the last four years, nobody has workedharder for The Pan American than Juanita.This publication could not run if it weren’tfor Juanita. Thanks for putting up with allof us in the newsroom these past fouryears, especially me. And whenever it isthat you decide to retire, I wish you all the

best.Everybody on staff, it’s been a real

pleasure working and knowing all of you.Working all those late nights and takingtrips together brought us closer together asa group. If I could pick any group of peo-ple to work with, it would definitely be thestaff at Playboy, but you guys would comein at a close second.

To every past staff member--whetheryou graduated, transferred or just quit--youguys made that first year at The PanAmerican fun. Mike Liscano, I’ll run intoyou someday in California or Mexico.

The mom and the sister. The corner-stones of who you guys know as EladioJaimez, and the main reason I even cameback to school. Their endless supporthelped me get through some tough times. Iowe them a lot. Thanks mom and Becky.

I breathed, ate and slept the PanAmerican these last four years. I’ll miss it.I leave you with the advice a professoronce gave me, “All advice is free, take itwhenever it’s given.”

It’s hard to say good bye, so I’ll use thewords an old Saturday Night Live castmember used to bid his farewell everyweek. “That’s the news folks, and I’m outof here.”

ASSIST continued from page 1

er stations around campus are nowbeing used to display important infor-mation to students as well, when thestation is idle.

“We are using the kiosk screensaversto advertise deadlines for registration,payments and financial aid,” Roblessaid. “So that information is availableto students there.”

There is a list of other changes thatthe computer center is reviewing andplanning to implement within the nexttwo months.

Robles said there are plans to allow

students to accept financial aid awardson-line and request their PIN or RACnumber be e-mailed to them if forgot-ten.

There will also be an e-mail account,which is expected to be active withinthe next two months, on the ASSISTWeb site that will allow students to posttheir feedback about the site.

“Students come here to study,”Robles said. “They don’t want to spendtheir time going to offices to get theirPIN or to get information. We want tosave the students time, so they can have

more time to study.”Robles said that his department is

researching a new system that willallow 24-hour access to the ASSIST sitewhen the next system upgrade takesplace.

“We are already looking into the nextgeneration of database software thatdoes allow 24- hour access,” Roblessaid.

“But we are looking at a multi-yearand multimillion dollar project, thatwill have a great impact on the univer-sity.”

Page 16: April 25, 2002

CAMPUS NEWS

THURSDAYApril 25, 2002

An Inside Look:

■ News ............................................2■ A & E............................................7■ Sports ........................................16

T h e S t u d e n t 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 x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n

Page 6

CCaammppuussVOICE

Are you acommuterstudent?

Page 8Page 8

Anna Stwora/The Pan American

TAKING IT TO THE TOP- Fabierae Lovato, a freshman history major, attempts the rock climb-ing wall challenge Monday afternoon at the Road’s Scholar College Tour, which stopped atUTPA Monday and Tuesday to feature select Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler vehicles. Hosted byStudent Life and Transition Services, activities included an extreme road course, NHL slapshotgame, and live BMX demonstrations among other booths.

In response to a survey conducted in Fall2001 by the Computer Center, the AdvancedServices for Student information Supportedby Technology (ASSIST) Web site has recent-ly implemented several changes.

The ASSIST Web site allows students toregister for classes, access schedules, checkgrades and view financial aid information on-line at the URL www.assist.panam.edu.

The survey was constructed by three gradu-ate students in the computer information sys-tems department and project leader ReynaldoRobles, in order to gather information aboutstudents experiences with ASSIST.

“One of the suggestions was to market the

services of ASSIST,” Robles said. “They[graduate students] found that some studentsdidn’t know what services they could find atthe kiosks or that they could register on theWeb.”

Posters in the hallway advertised the newASSIST services and pocket brochures aboutthe service were available to students.

Links to the academic calendar, paymentdeadlines, final exam dates and financial aiddeadlines can now be accessed throughASSIST. Students can even apply for emer-gency loans and pay tuition by check throughthe ASSIST Web site.

“If you want to pay by check, you don’tneed to walk to payments and collections,”Robles said. “Students just input their infor-mation and they are done.”

Robles said paying by check will not onlyhelp students, but will help campus officesbecause they will have less paperwork to do.

“This is a win-win situation for all,” hesaid.

Students have had mixed reactions to thenew on-line check payments through theASSIST Web site.

“It was kind of confusing when I tried touse it,” said Roberto Castro, a sophomore finearts major.

“I haven’t used it yet, but it sounds like itwould be convenient,” said Marissa Villarreal,a senior psychology major. “It beats having towalk all the way over to Payments andCollections.”

UTouch Kiosks, the self-contained comput-

By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American

Survey aids in service improvements

Migrantsassisted

To help migrant students transition from highschool into college, the University of Texas-PanAmerican’s College Assistance MigrantProgram (CAMP) provides tutoring, counsel-ing, academic advisement, career advisementand social support.

“We assist them with that whole transitionfrom high school to college,” said LuisRomero, academic coordinator of CAMP.“Some of the students need that kind of socialsupport to make sure that they feel connectedwith the university, to ensure that they succeedtheir remaining three years in college.”

CAMP provides services during the students’first year in college, and after they complete theprogram, CAMP staff are available to assist stu-dents during their careers at the university.

To qualify for CAMP, students or their par-ents must be a migrant or seasonal agriculturalworker who has worked a minimum of 75 daysin farmwork within the last 24 months.Students must also be freshmen with fewer than15 hours of college credit.

According to Marilyn Hagerty, associatedirector of CAMP, approximately 10 percent ofentering freshmen at UTPA are migrants. The

By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American

MAGIC MOMENT:Earvin “Magic” Johnsonwas nominated for theBasketbal l Hal l of FameWednesday. Formerteammate James Worthy,Port land Trai lblazers’head coach MauriceCheeks, Adrian Dantley,Bobby Jones, and ChetWalker were also nomi-nated for enshrinement.Johnson, now the vicepresident for the LosAngeles Lakers, led theteam to f ive NBA cham-pionships. At the age of20, Magic became thefirst rookie named MVPof the f inals for hisefforts against thePhil iadelphia 76ers in1980. In game six,Magic took over at cen-ter for the injuredKareem Abdul-Jabbarand played al l f ive posi-t ions, scoring 42 pointsand grabbing 15 boards.

NBA

PGA

THE SPANIARD ANDTHE GOOSE: SouthAfrican Retief Goosen(pictured above) andSpaniard Sergio Garciawil l batt le this weekendfor the Spanish Opentit le at the CanaryIslands. Both playerscome in evenly matched,with U.S. Open championGoosen ranked fourth inthe world and Garcia onerank behind. Garciahopes to top both theU.S. and European Tourmoney l ists.

SPORTS■ Sports Clipboard. . . . . . 15

■ Stats box . . . . . . . . . . . 15

PAGE 16

Matt Lynch/The Pan American

CANADIANS BAKIN’: Doubles partners Jeremy Salvo, of Vancouver, and FilipKoziell, of Calgary, endured the hot and humid Valley weather earlier this weekto practice for tomorrow’s match against Lamar. The sunny South Texas climate was quite a change for the two “Canucks” after playing their entire livesin Canada.

The freshmen Canadian tennis tan-dem of Filip Koziell and JeremySalvo is a big reason head coachTodd Chapman is excited about thefuture of Bronc tennis

The University of Texas-PanAmerican athletic program fre-quently draws talented athletesfrom all over the world to deepSouth Texas, and the tennis pro-gram is no exception.

The program is currentlydeveloping two freshman fromnorth of the border in FilipKoziell and Jeremy Salvo.Koziell is a standout fromCalgary, Alberta and was rankedNo. 1 in the under-18 division inprovince.

Salvo was named MVP ofCentennial Secondary School andwas ranked No. 7 in Canada. Hegrew up in Coquitlam, BritishColumbia, a suburb ofVancouver. Head coach ToddChapman is pleased with howKoziell and Salvo have come inand performed well as freshman.

“For two freshman, I could notexpect any more out of them,”Chapman said. “I’ve beenpleased at the progress they’ve

made and they have been a bigpart of the success we’ve had.They’re definitely going to be afactor going into next year inbuilding what we want to build.”

While Koziell and Salvo, nick-named “the Canucks” by team-mates, have showcased their tal-ents throughout the season.Adjusting to the Texas heat hasproved to be a formidable oppo-nent for both athletes.

“It was harder than I thought,”Salvo said. “I thought it wasgoing to be like any other trip,then you realize that you’re actu-ally here for a while. It takes awhile to adjust.”

The transition for Koziell was-n’t as difficult, thanks to the helpand encouragement of Salvo.

“It was a lot easier to haveJeremy [here] because we’re bothfrom Canada,” Koziell said. “Wegot along real well right off thebat. It wasn’t that hard for mebecause I always wanted to playcollege tennis and I was lookingforward to it.”

By Mike GonzalezThe Pan American

As a sports writer for The PanAmerican these past three and ahalf years, I witnessed plenty ofmemorable Bronc moments.

There was the night of BobHoffman’s first regular season gameas a head coach for the Broncs. Itwas a 105-104 heartbreaking triple-overtime loss to Oral RobertsUniversity. Revenge was sweet justtwo months later when the Broncswon their first road game in 63 triesagainst ORU, 79-62.

There was the night Lalo Riosplayed his last game as a Bronc, orthe day the San Diego Padres draft-ed Omar Ortiz in the first round ofthe 1999 draft.

Then there was the day CalebSchmidt, Dustin Haas, DarrenHeinrichs and Gabe De La Garzahit consecutive home runs againstWestern Illinois March 7, 2000.

Or the night UTPA honored the1962-63 basketball NAIA champi-onship team in February 2000, andthe entire team reunited for the firsttime since the championship sea-son.

There are so many more memo-ries worth mentioning, but notenough paper. I’d like to extend mythanks to all the coaches and per-sonnel of the UTPA athletic depart-ment for granting my reporters andI interviews when we requested.

To the sports information crew,Dave Gerringer and Luis Nunez,thanks for all your help. Then therewas Jim McKone, the king of sportsinformation directors. I workedwith him for one semester, and itwas more than a pleasure, it was anhonor to work with someone asrespected as McKone.

I remember the night of Jan. 25,1999. It was the night before myfirst published article in The PanAmerican appeared. I stayed uppretty late, scared at the idea theentire university would read myarticle.

The story was about the resur-gence in attendance at Bronc bas-ketball games and just a few weeksago I ran into the article goingthrough some of the boxes in one ofmy closets.

Unsure if, then sports editor JoeLeal would ask me to write another

Editor reflects upon past four years, says adiosBy Eladio JaimezThe Pan American

O Canada

See FAREWELL page 15

See CANUCKS page 14

See CAMP page 12

See ASSIST page 2

NOTICE

■ Effective Spring2002, student graderepor ts will no longerbe mailed automaticallyfor students in goodacademic standing.Students may obtaintheir grades usingASSIST phone(956/381-3040) byfollowing the automatedinstructions; via web(assist.panam.edu) byentering their studentidentification numberand PIN number; andvia KIOSK services byentering their StudentIdentification Numberand PIN number.Students requiring apaper copy of theirgrades may request atranscript via the web(assist.panam.edu) tobe mailed to either theirlocal or permanentaddress on file with theOffice of Admissionsand Records.

■ This is the final issue ofThe Pan American for thespring semester. The paperwill resume publicationduring the first summerschool session, with issuesJune 13 and June 27, andthen will resume publicationin the fall starting August 29. The Pan American staffwould like to thank students,staff, faculty, and other Valleyreaders for their patronageduring the spring semester,and their contributionstoward news gathering aswell. During the summer, the staffwill be doing a contentanalysis and survey in orderto start making positivechanges for next semester.