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(03/25/14 6:53pm)
Cater Lawn is going to look a little crazy this weekend.
Adult Swim, the late-night mini-network that takes over Cartoon Network, is making a stop on its nation-wide Fun House tour, with plans to build a fully inflatable "wonderland" on Cater Lawn from Saturday, March 29, to Sunday, March 30.
"Adult Swim does a lot of work to bring different free events to college campuses throughout the country because it's a big part of our audience for the network," said Lauren McCabe, director of communications for Turner Broadcasting, Cartoon Network's parent company. "For people who are Adult Swim fans going through it, they'll see a lot of different things and essentially the network coming to life in a fun way."
The 40-foot inflatable castle houses 15 distinct rooms, featuring characters from Adult Swim shows such as "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," "Children's Hospital," "Loiter Squad," "Metalocalypse," "Robot Chicken" and "Squidbillies".
Once inside, visitors will have the opportunity to chart their own path through the maze-like interior, walking, climbing and occasionally crawling through the unique obstacles until they arrive at one of three exits, including a "Karaoke Cage" and a giant slide.
Featured sponsors Ice Breakers Mints and KFC have their own special take on the classic fun house design and are providing guests with free samples of their products.
Though the event is free to all students, tickets are required to enter and will be distributed in limited amounts beginning at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The fun house is open from 4-9 p.m. on both days. For students unable to get a ticket before 4, waiting in line is still an option, McCabe said.
McCabe said that tour stops earlier this year at the University of California, New Mexico State, the University of Arizona and Texas A&M have all seen large turnouts and Auburn is expected to be no different.
"A lot of Adult Swim fans are college-aged and this is just a good opportunity for students to take a break from the monotony of the school year," McCabe said.
(03/22/14 4:45am)
Auburn received a lecture on financial planning and healthcare by the head of one of the most recognized financial publications in the world. \0x200B
Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine and champion of conservative politics made a show of force Friday, March 21, at the Auburn Arena.
As keynote speaker for the Auburn Conservatives For Tomorrow's second annual Spring Event, Forbes discussed at length topics ranging from the Affordable Healthcare Act to job-hunting in the present market.
"As for the [computer] glitch at the beginning, blame that on the Affordable Care Act," Forbes said, referring to an errant video preceding his introduction. "Everything goes wrong with that."
Forbes snuck in a few jabs at the Affordable Care Act throughout his speech, but took time to explain the conservative stance on universal healthcare and the future of a personalized treatment system.
The patient will soon be in complete control of their healthcare and be able to choose their doctors, healthcare providers and more, Forbes said.
At the center of Forbes' speech on monetary policy was the call to return to good, old-fashioned American ingenuity as an answer to a stagnant national economy and sluggish job market.
"I thought it was great," said Chris Huett, Senor in Mechanical engineering. "I agree with a lot of the points he made, it wasn't really what I was expecting but I liked it anyways. The idea of a flat tax, the last time I heard it I wasn't really sold but I guess I'll reinvestigate it now."
Human ingenuity can turn economics from the allocation of scarce resources to the creation of new resources, Forbes said.
"Free markets, if you allow them, also, always, if you don't interfere, will turn scarcity into abundance," Forbes said.
Forbes predicts that the national economy for the next five years will be considerably better than it was from 2009 to 2013, but it will take longer to reach pre-2009 levels because of the uncertainty of investing.
A lot of members in different fraternities and sororities are business," said Brian Rizzetta, senior in History and liaison between the Auburn Conservatives For Tomorrow and fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa. "Mr. Forbes was a TKE himself so he's part of the Greek community. "We want to get everybody out here because for those people going into the business world, he's one of the best at it and it's important that they learn from someone like him."
(03/19/14 8:16pm)
Steve Forbes is coming to Auburn Friday, March 21, bringing with him decades of international business and political wisdom.
The editor-in-chief of Forbes, former Republican presidential nominee and icon of finance is the featured keynote speaker at the second annual Auburn Conservatives For Tomorrow's Spring Conference.
"Our focus was to bring in somebody who could deliver a good speech on growing the economy locally here in Auburn and within our state," said Cody Garton, junior in political science and president of the ACFT. "We couldn't find anyone better than Mr. Forbes to do that."
Garton said the $40 million donation to the Lowder college of business in the summer of 2013 provided the inspiration to bring a fiscally-oriented guest speaker to Auburn and capitalize on the new resources available.
"I'm not a business major, but I feel like if you are that would definitely be something that should interest you," said Brock Daughtry, senior in biosystems engineering. "I would probably go if I didn't have something else to do."
The ACFT spent more than eight months working to bring Forbes, starting almost immediately after last year's event featuring Ann Coulter, Garton said.
Forbes agreed to come to Auburn for $30,000, a $10,000 increase over Coulter's asking price, though the total budget for the event after donations and sponsorships totaled $70,000, Garton said.
The event is free to students, but $30 otherwise to hear Forbes' speech and $150 for a seat at the VIP dinner featuring Forbes and local businesspeople from around the southeast.
Being a "ticket buyer" means you're actually helping support the event, Garton said.
Funding culled from local businesses, such as John Rice Realty, helped the ACFT with items like food and door prizes for the VIP dinner beforehand with notable public figures and businesspeople.
"We have elected officials from both sides of the aisle coming," Garton said "We have big business leaders from both the Auburn community and around the state and region that will be in attendance in addition to various media outlets. It's an opportunity not only for you to take part in the event yourself but at the same time kind of contribute more toward the event."
When asked if she would be attending, Anna Thompson, senior in business, she said would probably not be interested in attending the speaker event.
"Not really," Thompson said. "I am a business major, I just don't do guest speakers."
Ticket buyers are coming to Auburn from as far away as Miami and Houston, Garton said, but not everyone is as enamored with Forbes.
"If it was Warren Buffet, I might listen to what he has to say," said Christopher Booth, 2012 graduate in philosophy. "He didn't really make his fortune in a way that I care about. At all."
The VIP dinner will take place on the floor of the Auburn Arena March 21 at 5:30, followed by Forbes' keynote address at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for non-students can be purchased at conservativesfortomorrow.com
(03/06/14 8:00pm)
The time to climb that mountain known as midterms is fasting approaching, ready or not.
Those days and nights of immersive studying might seem like the only way out, but a foolproof, all-nighter routine might be doing more harm than good.
"In my entire academic career, I pulled an all-nighter one time," said Dr. Fred Kam, director of the Auburn University medical center.
"I had a gross anatomy exam on a Thursday and a biochemistry exam on a Friday, and, to be candidly honest, I never did it again," Kam said. "I performed poorly on that biochemistry exam, even though I stayed up all night, and when the exam came, I couldn't think clear. I knew the information, but I couldn't analyze it. So, I never did it again."
Caffeine, study medication and other tried-and-true methods of pulling an all-nighter might be effective in keeping students awake, but missing out on sleep can either undo or waste the time spent studying.
"Adderall and coffee can keep you focused, but you can get distracted and end up focusing on the wrong things," said Sean Conley, sophomore in business. "You'll realize two hours have gone by, and you've been online looking at cat pictures the whole time."
Conley said despite being prescribed the study medication Adderall, he sometimes skips taking them in order to get the sleep they would otherwise prevent.
According to Kam, sleep deprivation, stress and lack of focus are all side effects from intense caffeine doses during extended studying sessions.
They can hinder, if not completely derail, your efforts to master the material.
"Pulling an all-nighter was miserable," said John Lee, senior in applied mathematics. "Definitely hard to focus. I don't want to say I was hallucinating or anything but I would see shadows and stuff out of the corners of my eyes and it made me do a double take. That's why I try to get sleep."
Sleep doesn't just refresh the body for the road ahead.
Memorization and information-mapping both occur once you go to sleep, so knowing when to start and when to call it a night could be the difference in learning the material or wasting your time.
"Bottom line, learning material is only helpful if you sleep," Kam said.
Training the body to comfortably accept the information being force-fed to the brain is only half of the process.
In order for studying to be effective, stimulating the brain is a necessity, said Annie Callender, professor of psychology.
"One thing that is not useful is just re-reading your text or re-reading your notes," Callender said. "When you're re-reading something, you don't generally do anything new with the information the second time you go through it or the third, fourth time."
Testing the brain through memorization games and repetition or explaining the material can be extremely useful in retaining the information not only for the upcoming exam, but also for tests later in the semester.
"There's a method called self explanation when you're reading where, as you're reading the text, explain to yourself what it means," Callender said. "That actually increases memory of the text a lot as opposed to re-reading it."
Keeping the mind healthy and stimulated can make it easier to study; procrastinating will not.
According to Randy Beard, professor of economics, one of the ancient principle of economics states that doing something slow and steadily is always more efficient than to do it quickly and all at once.
"People [procrastinate], and they think it's cheaper because they're only studying for a couple of days, but they're studying full-time in misery," Beard said.
"Studying for 20 minutes a day, for a couple of weeks, in time that you'd otherwise spend staring out the window, lo and behold, you do as well if not better. [With] binge-studying, you're paying a higher price for your grade than you have to."
For some, however, despite all the advice staying up late is the only way that works.
"I'll be honest with you, I've pulled an all-nighter for probably about 75 percent of all tests I've had in college, if not just staying up really late beforehand," Conley said. "I'm in my fourth semester now and I've only gotten less than an A on three tests since I've been in college. It works for me."
(03/04/14 8:08pm)
The Auburn University Chamber Choir hosted Emory University in a joint performance Sunday, March 3, less than a week before they perform at the American Choral Director's Southeastern Conference on their biggest stage yet.
"The ACDA is the most prestigious professional choral association in our country," said Dr. William Powell, professor of music and director of choral activities. "It's kind of like our SEC championship."
The 50-member ensemble will journey to Jacksonville, Fla. to compete against other schools and organizations for the first time in the program's history.
After languishing in obscurity for so long, Auburn is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
"I'm really excited about ACDA because it's something we've been working toward since my freshman year when chamber choir was really new," said Elizabeth Segarra, senior in public relations. "When I first joined, people didn't take it as seriously, [but] I think now it's easy to really hear a difference in how much has changed with our sound. Our sound has really matured."
Segarra said performing off-book, entirely from memory is a big accomplishment, especially given the complex nature of the music and the foreign languages its parts are written in.
Despite meeting four times per week to practice, the chamber choir ensemble is only worth a single credit hour, making any commitment a labor of love.
"A lot of these people are overloading with 20 hours this semester because they're music majors, and we had a rehearsal on Friday night," Segarra said. "These people are all really dedicated."
The chamber choir, which is comprised entirely of undergrad students across varying majors, is considered Auburn's most elite and prestigious choral arrangement.
The talent of the Emory ensemble was on full display as they opened up the show with "Glorious Everlasting" before working through pieces in French, Russian and a traditional Indian Raga.
Auburn's performance opened up with "Chariots," a song Will Boswell, senior in communication disorders, calls his favorite performance piece.
"I've sung it with a couple of the chamber choirs in the past, so I know it really well, and it's got a lot of energy to it so I can bring a lot of energy to my voice part," Boswell said. "We all know our parts [and], we don't have to worry about the notes or rhythms coming up. We just get together, and it all comes out."
"Arise, Beloved," and "Hallelujah," two songs Auburn performed on Sunday and will perform in Jacksonville this weekend, were both composed by Rosephanye Powell, Dr. Powell's wife.
The latter song is the fourth movement in Powell's concerto "The Cry Of Jeremiah," in which the Auburn chamber ensemble will debut at the Lincoln center in New York City this coming May.
The show culminated with the chamber ensembles from both schools joining the stage for a rendition of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," conducted by Emory director Dr. Eric Nelson.
"Dr. Powell is so kind. His students sing with such passion and energy and individuality, and I mean that in the best way possible," Nelson said. "They don't just do what they're told, they sing with their spirits and that comes through and adds a whole new level of enjoyment to the performance. We'll extend an invitation if we have not already to have Auburn come and sing at our place next year."
Despite running without a hitch, Powell could not help but lament that Auburn still does not have a performing arts center suitable for these types of events, leaving them at the mercy of scheduling conflicts around town.
"It's like having a football team but not having a stadium," Powell said. "It's not that we don't produce or have performances. You see we're here at a church and there's nothing wrong with the space, it's great, but it's not our space. This is Auburn University, the flagship school of the state, and we are the only institution, including junior colleges, that doesn't have a performing arts center."
Powell said there had been talk of building a new performing arts center and still has high hopes it will turn into construction.
For now, however, Auburn will focus on the task at hand: bringing their considerable talent and motivation to the main stage to show the ACDA how far it's come.
"This is the cream of the crop for Auburn University," said Seth McCollough, senior in music and president of the Auburn University Chamber Choir. "[Practice] was intense. Dr. Powell was really picky about stuff. We spent, I'm sure, 10 minutes on four measures from one piece. That's not exaggerating. He wanted everything to be perfect, and I don't blame him. We're a representative of Auburn University, so we need to be perfect in what we do."
(02/28/14 2:00pm)
It's mid-afternoon on a Saturday, and there are strange electronic beats coming from the basement.
Singer, rapper, dancer and fashion designer Kenny Nevermind, otherwise known as Ken Upshaw Jr., junior in international business, is hunched over a keyboard less than a foot from his bed, rhythmically tapping at low-end notes with two fingers until he settles on a pattern he said he likes.
He pushes delete.
"For everything new that I make, I don't want it to be in the same category," Nevermind said. "All that stuff that you might've heard, that might have been electro for that time; but now I'm in this whole neo-soul pop thing. After that, it might be Western music, and after that, I might start working on Techno or whatever inspires me at the time."
Nevermind changes concepts and ideas like he changes his limitless wardrobe: as often and however he feels. The mastermind behind the music and fashion label LoveLess, Nevermind hopes to cultivate an artistic renaissance within Auburn, beginning with himself.
"At first, I didn't think it was gonna work," Nevermind said. "A rapper-singer-dancer-producer? Nobody's doing it. But I'm just being myself and that's the best way to be."
A blend of Prince, Michael Jackson and Kanye West with influences as diverse as Bobby Brown and G-Dragon rub shoulders in songs such as "36-24-36" and "Hello."
The simmering, funk-rap "Not My Lady" has all the sinister emotions of a Prince song but the wisecracking self-defense of Jay-Z.
"I let my emotions out through music," Nevermind said. "You probably won't see me get too mad or too sad or anything. Everything I'm feeling, I make sure I sit down at a piano and play it out."
Nevermind said endless traveling across the Midwest he and his family did when he was young is the inspiration for his album "Eternal Travels."
"Travels" is the next level of the neo-soul hip hop Nevermind has been building. You can hear Nevermind's past collaborations as KMNZ on Nevermind's self-titled SoundCloud page.
To read the full article, visit ThePlainsman.com.
(02/25/14 8:58pm)
The kings and queens of Auburn's drag scene brought glam to the AUSC ballroom stage Saturday, Feb. 22, raising $1,043 in donations through tips garnered during stage performances.
"Since we're the most conservative campus in America, it's very weird that we're having this, and it's been going on strong for six years," said Daisy Pukes, otherwise known as Ryan Anthony, senior in building science.
There were 12 performers, including a few first-time performers, from Auburn and Southern Union, and their characters varied with their song choices.
Jo Ann Peachtree said he had been to What A Drag in the past and attends Spectrum meetings, but this is his first time performing.
"I feel like a lot of the time with events like these this is sort of a reverse of how things are," Peachtree said. "This community is sort of secretive or underground or cautious, but here everyone can just sort of let loose and be themselves."
For the more experienced performers, setting the stage living up to the pressure can help strengthen your performance said Femma Nazi, otherwise known as Joey Falcon, senior in psychology
Nazi was recognized as the highest earning drag queen that night.
"There's a lot of powerful women that I think are in complete control of their sexuality, and it's not even about being attracted to men," Nazi said. "It's about being attracted to yourself."
Past What A Drag shows served a dual purpose by giving money to charity and raising awareness for the petition to change the anti-discrimination clause in the University's constitution.
Falcon said since the constitution has been amended, the event is strictly for charity.
The teams split between the three charities to compete for the most donations raised.
At the end of the night the highest-raising charity win everything in a surprise donation to that organization.
Representing Equality Alabama was Nazi, Boricua, Joan and Izzy Woody.
Representing TransLegal was Julian Salvatore, Andrew D.K., Ms. Jo Anne Peachtree and Sativa.
Polly Anna Peker, Daisy Pukes and the Phantom of the Opera, featuring Ms. Christine Daae represented the Trevor Project.
"Don't be afraid or nervous to not fit anyone's standards of what you're supposed to be doing," Falcon said. " It's all about us being silly and putting on a costume."
(02/25/14 2:57am)
As one chapter of the SGA Senate council comes to a close, another is just around the corner.
The seniors of the SGA Senate Council said farewell to their respective positions and colleges one last time as incoming cabinet members assumed their responsibilities.
"It's been an active year," said Brad Rayborn, adviser to the SGA Senate Council. "Whether it's the bills and the resolutions coming through or just the conversations that the senators have had on campus with their constituents, its been a year of growth and learning for each of our senators and we're looking forward to that continued growth."
Jacie Coressel, a senator for the College of Liberal Arts, encouraged the incoming senators to find something they're curious about and pursue it.
"This has been one of the greatest things I've done at Auburn, it's really been a stretching experience," Coressel said. "These people have really taught me a lot about myself and Auburn, and I wish them all the best of luck."
Logan Powell, president-elect and now a former Chair for the Facilities and Campus Committee called the experience "Incredible."
"I think what's so unique about Senate is there's such a diverse pool of voices and that makes you realize this campus is filled with a lot of different people," Powell said. "There's such an opportunity for change in this room."
In addition to the open floor, several requests to the SGA reserve fund were granted tonight.
A reserve fund request by the Graduate College for $4,600 from the SGA reserve fund was passed to pay for timers for "Research Week", "Three Minute Thesis" and graduate research symposiums in the future.
The ten electronic timers were purchased at $460 each and have a remote control to stop and start either by presenters of judges.
"A lesser number would be sufficient for the three minute thesis competitions, but for research week a uniform number of ten timers would allow ten separate events to go on at the same time," said David Adams, a senator for the Graduate College.
A request for $15,403.15 for graduate assistants working at the Center for Leadership and Ethics was also passed, though the funding will not contribute to the overall salary fund for GAs employed elsewhere.
A resolution was passed to commend the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business for creating a Syllabus bank for students taking classes within the college of business. \0x200B
(02/20/14 7:15pm)
Dreams of going to medical school in Auburn just became a reality.
Auburn University and the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, or VCOM, officially broke ground on a brand new, state-of-the-art facility in the Auburn Research Park, which will provide an immersive education at a graduate level.
"We're looking to have our first class at Auburn in August of 2015," said Dr. Jim Wolfe, president of VCOM. "One of the things coming to Auburn that was attractive to us and attractive to Auburn is that in Blacksburg and over in Spartanburg we're both up to speed, and by doing the same thing and using the same kind of model as them, we can come up to speed pretty quickly [in Auburn]."
VCOM's Auburn campus will be the foundation's third medical school in the southeast, starting first at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., before moving to Spartanburg, S.C.
An institution in the field of osteopathic medicine, nonprofit VCOM has educated college graduates on diagnosing and treating a wide variety of medical problems for more than 25 years.
Auburn approached VCOM in 2012 with an offer to bring the nonprofit medical school foundation to southeastern Alabama.
"We had been interested in the possibility of a new medical school to address the national need and regional need for a long time," Wolfe said. "[We're] interested in establishing a medical school and providing more doctors for people who really do need physicians."
Sixty-one of Alabama's 67 counties were partially or completely short of primary care physicians, with the biggest disparity being in rural areas, according to the Rural Policy Research Institute's 2007 Community Information Resource Center.
The new 92,000 square foot facility will be part classroom and part hands-on training, said VCOM Media Relations Director Cindy Rawlins.
"There will be partnerships with different schools on campus due to the facilities we have," Rawlins said. "We're already getting ready to work on research projects in sports medicine, in the veterinary school and nursing school. We'll also have the Simulation Technology Center, which has simulated mannequins where people can learn to do procedures, from giving someone a shot to performing surgery."
In addition to providing a quality education on-site, VCOM students from Auburn will have the opportunity to partner with students from the Blacksburg and Spartanburg campuses to go on medical mission trips in Appalachia, Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.
"We're very excited about them coming and getting their medical school underway because we see having a medical school here on Auburn's campus will attract other companies into the research park to help with our economic efforts," said Dr. John Weete, executive director of Auburn Research and Technology Foundation.
The school is already in discussion to bring companies and focus groups to the research park, but it's too early to discuss yet, Weete said.
"We're delighted, everybody has really been very gracious and helpful and we've tried to do the same for Auburn," Wolfe said. "It's a really terrific atmosphere, really a terrific place and I think it's going to be a really terrific partnership."
(02/21/14 6:45pm)
Expensive. Not filling. Too far away.
These are terms occasionally used by Auburn's male population to voice their dissatisfaction with the assortment of boutique-like restaurants, food trucks and dining hall options offered on campus.
Though the University's job is to cater to both genders and all tastes, some of the guys are beginning to speak out.
"Other than, like, AU Smokehouse, there's really nothing we really want to eat," said Wesley Labarge, senior in chemical engineering. "That new greek place in the student center, I just don't eat that. I like the Hibachi [food truck] but it's the only one. I did the macaroni and cheese [food truck], too, but only a couple times."
Most men would agree that finding food on campus is not an issue for them, even if it's the same thing every week, Labarge said.
But given that every student at Auburn is required to have a minimum $300 meal plan, the plethora of eating options available and the rapid pace at which they change makes the idea of settling for something more and more frustrating, Labarge said.
"I like to eat healthy," said Dharshan Soundarrajan, senior in chemical engineering. "But I'd much rather have cafeteria food rather than going to a restaurant or a food truck."
When asked what their preferred alternatives were, Soundarrajan and Labarge responded with cheap, easily accessible foods and more options than a single-theme menu.
Specialized on-campus options or name-brand restaurants can charge higher prices for their products while still selling generic items like pizza, sandwiches and salads. - according to who?
The most widely used on-campus option, Chik Fil-A, sells more of the same three items to both genders than anything else on menu, server Shaquita Ford (not on People Finder) said.
"The guys usually order the spicy chicken or the chargrilled chicken sandwich," Ford said. "The girls usually order the chargrilled chicken or the nuggets."
When asked which gender frequented Chik Fil-A more, Ford said it was a no-contest.
"The guys definitely got the girls beat," Ford said.
For students who eat the majority of their meals on campus, having to pay upwards of $6 a meal can mean deciding between one menu item or another when neither is completely satisfying and both cost too much to buy together, Soundarrajan said.
"I'd really like to see a cafeteria-style place, where you can just pay like a flat fee and eat however much good food you want," said Jonathan Thornber, senior in chemical engineering. "Just one place where you can get a burger and chicken and fries or a salad, all in one place. A lot of other universities seem to have that."
The buffet-style option is only available at Terrell Hall in the Hill and at Tiger Zone in the Village and at different times.
Tiger Zone is open Monday through Thursday from 10:30 to 2 p.m. and 5:30 to 9 p.m. but closes by 2 p.m. on Fridays.
Terrell's buffet is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. but is closed after 2 p.m. on Friday and all day on Saturday.
Terrell is the only dining hall to offer a buffet on Sunday, from 5 p.m to 9 p.m.
"That's too far away to be worth it," Thornber said.
(02/18/14 2:29am)
A call for student support for college funding at the higher education rally in Montgomery went out Monday, Feb. 17, at the Student Government Senate Council meeting.
The rally, which will take place in front of the Alabama state capitol on Thursday, Feb. 27, is a public demonstration to show state legislature the importance of returning one-third of the state's education budget to institutions of higher learning.
"K-12 usually gets about two-thirds of the funding but I think right now they get about 83 percent," said Abby Lemons, senator, College of Business. "We would like to push it back to the actual two-thirds split [because] at the end of the day, if we want the state of Alabama to be better, then we need better colleges and more funding."
Jackson Pruitt, a senator from the College of Business, called the rally a demonstration of what equal funding should look like in Alabama.
"One dollar that the state invests in Auburn, Auburn returns $7 back to the economy," Pruitt said. "The big point of it all is were trying to return a better investment in education funding and that benefits Auburn students because it keeps tuition rates from going up."
In addition to the call to arms for fiscally-minded students, there were several requests made to access funds from the SGA reserve bank.
The College of Business Student Council was granted $5,750 from reserve fund to
host a speaking engagement featuring Steve Forbes, former editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, on March 21, 2014.
"It's a small amount for a high-quality event" said Richmond Gunter, senator, College of Business.
A request by the graduate college for $4,600 to be used for digital timers for research competitions like Three Minute Thesis, Graduate Research Symposium and Research Week is up for approval next week.
A request for the $16,403.15 to be added the graduate assistant salary for the Center for Leadership and Ethics in the 2014-2015 academic year will also be up for approval next week.\0x200B
The Raymond J. Harbert College of Business will be assembling a syllabus bank accessible to all students in time for the fall semester of 2014.
Next Monday, Feb. 24, is the last SGA senate meeting of the year. Graduating seniors are invited to come share their experiences as well.
(02/14/14 2:00pm)
The phrase "Game Recognize Game" isn't usually applicable to romance.
An adage used among pro-athletes and rappers to confer mutual respect for the other's talents, abilities or accomplishments, it can also be used to determine a potential partner's worth to you.
The power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce is a good example.
Jay-Z spent most of his life before Beyonce embodying "the hustle": waking up every day in the face of adversity to go out and make that paper, dealing with fake people and leeches who want to celebrate your accomplishments but not hang around when you fail.
The message of songs like "99 Problems" and "Can I Live" hold true not because we have 99 problems, but because we have too much to do to be distracted right now.
Beyonce's career has been a lesson on the power of a strong, independent women. Songs like "Irreplaceable" and "Upgrade U" speak to modern feminists everywhere that lesser options will fall away if you hold out for the right person. "Thought that I would fail without you/ But I'm on top/ Thought it would be over by now/ But it won't stop," Beyonce sings on Destiny's Child smash "I'm A Survivor."
In 2008, Beyonce Knowles married Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, bringing together two of the most dynamic and influential people in contemporary pop culture at the peaks of their careers.
Personally, I've been in and out of love more times than the entire Kardashian family, but its been a while. When I signed up to write this column, I actually forgot Feb. 14 was Valentine's Day.
Whether that makes me qualified to talk about love is your decision, but I've definitely learned a few things, the most important being that not everyone is worth your time.
Some people might like one side of you and not the rest, or they only call late at night when everyone else that they would rather talk to has gone asleep; they'll go out, but not want to stay home some nights when you're broke.
People will make whatever decisions they want to, but don't ever forget that they're still a real person, with their own feelings and their own set of ideals. The moment you try to bend someone to your will you will lose them.
So get to work. Forget that girl that never texts you or that guy flirting his way through the roll call in your class. Work on yourself and people will recognize your progress.
Don't forget that you busted ass to go to college and you can still name the people who never made it, or that love never paid your bills or saved your grade and that you've been single for a hell of a lot longer than you've ever been with someone.
You've accomplished so much, and you shouldn't settle for anything less than perfection.
Someday you will find the Beyonce to your Jay-Z, and the results will have you feeling so "Crazy In Love."
(02/15/14 2:30pm)
You've distilled everything about yourself, your dreams and your accomplishments into a single, approximate page, but is it really you?
Myunfold.com, a portfolio-building site, still in Beta form, allows students to provide a colored-in, rounded summary of themselves, providing recruiters and potential employers with a customized view of what they want them to see.
"We wanted to create a place where students can upload things and they know that it will add value instantly to them, coming off on the best foot forward professionally," said Yujin Ghim, co-founder of Myunfold.com.
Combining the customizable ease of social media with the professional intentions of LinkedIn, Myunfold allows users to design their own multimedia portfolio and describe themselves in detail while still maintaining the professional credibility their experience demands.
"When I was putting mine together I used information that might not be appropriate for every single resume I'm putting together but it gives people a rounder picture of who I am," said Ashley Berglund, new Myunfold user.
Berglund, a 2011 graduate from Western Washington University, works as the director of a sailing club and says her role in management has given her a new perspective on profile-making and the hiring process from the other end.
"I'm in a position where I hire people, if I know a little bit more about those people, or they have a resource list on myunfold, I'd be more interested in learning about them," Berglund said.
Jonathan Henson, Myunfold co-founder and 2008 AUM graduate said an added feature set to arrive once the website is complete is a type of "skills marketplace" where companies can search for different users based on the experience and skills described in their profiles.
"Essentially, when you post something in your portfolio on Myunfold it gets tagged with certain skills," Henson said. "You can also can take tests online or put in certifications, jobs and all of that goes into validating a skill score for a certain set of skills. Our algorithm will move you to the top of the search results for recruiters, and actually recruiters will make a job posting with the skills that they're requesting and get a list of candidates in priority order."
Even though there is no "right" way to writing a resume the process can often be complicated by college career centers, Myunfold puts control back in the hands of applicant while taking away the stress of cutting your career down to a single page.
When the site is out of Beta mode in a few weeks it could seriously change the way college students can begin their careers, Henson said.
"This way, students can look for jobs instead of applying randomly and hoping that they get it," Ghim said. "They can apply KNOWING that they're qualified for the job and that they have a good shot at it.
(02/11/14 9:17pm)
Structures were razed and built Tuesday, Feb. 11, on campus.
Dunstan Hall, located at the intersection of Magnolia and the Tiger Concourse, has been empty for months after being gutted of all insulation, electronics and furniture.
Britt Demolition and Recycling of Birmingham demolished the outdated structure today.
A large amount of asbestos in the building delayed renovations, but now that the asbestos is gone the demolition team is not stopping for anything, poor weather included.
"Rain, sleet or shine, we work until the job is done," said an anonymous spokesperson for Britt Demolition.
On the other side of campus, the Telfair B. Peet Theater on Samford Avenue is getting a new Blackbox theater on its northwest end.
The new theater is under construction by Bear Brothers' Construction of Montgomery.
Though ground was just broken on the project, a representative of Bear Brothers Construction estimated the project to be complete around June 2014.
(02/07/14 11:40pm)
The mourning period for Toomer's Corner is over.
The Auburn University Board of Trustees convened on the school's Montgomery campus Friday to approve funding for the removal of the contaminated soil beneath the corner and remodeling of the brick area behind the historic gates to the school.
"Once the trees were determined that they needed to be removed, we went through a number of different committees and processes to figure out what to do with the university's corner in [downtown] Auburn," said Vice President of Facilities Management Dan King. "The trees were cut down last April and at the A day celebration those plans were made public."
The board approved $900,000 from the University's general fund to complete the makeover in two phases across the next two years.
The first phases comprise all of what King calls the "hardscape" work: removing the bricks and pavers on the existing corner, digging, cleaning out and safely removing the contaminated soil and completing the construction changes to the new area.
The most eye-catching new feature of the campus corner of College and Magnolia will be the circular seat wall set behind the existing gates and path to Samford Hall.
"Right now, Toomer's Corner is one of our most iconic spaces on campus, but if you want to go hang out there, you can't," King said. "There's no place to sit, there's not good lighting, you're right at the corner where traffic is coming back and forth. The circular seat wall is set a bit back [from the street] and I believe that it'll become a nice addition to the campus and create another little gathering place that's people friendly."
Though the construction shouldn't cause problems for traffic at the intersection of College and Magnolia, King said it will drastically affect pedestrian traffic between campus and the rest of downtown Auburn, which is why development won't begin until after graduation in May.
King estimates the "hardscape" work will be completed in time for the start of the 2014 football season, but the second phase of the project, planting the new trees, will come after.
The trees will take a little longer because we have have to identify the exact candidates, go through a process called "root pruning" which causes the root ball to get bigger and denser and increases the likelihood of the tree being replanted successfully," King said. "Everything before transplanting the trees constitutes phase one."
Despite being extremely poisonous to plants, Spike 80DF, the herbicide used, is non-toxic to humans and there's no health concerns posed to the Auburn community before it's removal, King said.
A redesigned, tree-lined walkway leading to Samford Hall will be the last completed component to phase two in the summer before the 2015 football season.
"I can probably say with a good deal of certainty that the day we plant trees we will certainly have an event that brings out a lot of people," said Director of University Communications Mike Clardy. "Hopefully that's around this time next year."
In designing the new corner, the university reached out to various groups for ideas last year, SGA president Harrison Mills said.
"[2013 President] Owen Harris, his administration was heavily involved with facilities in the development of that master plan," said Mills. "Throughout the development they had a lot of student and faculty input in facilitating the design concept, which is really cool."
The board of trustees also approved the construction of a graduate college of business building and a Recycling and Service support facility on campus and an Aviation school located next to the Auburn airport.
A $750,000 budget was approved for the graduate college of business building in addition to individual contract firms for the projects.
(02/05/14 11:45pm)
It hasn't been empty this season, but soon Toomer's Corner might look like it did back in the good ole days.
Final design plans and construction dates will be announced Friday, Feb 7 at the Auburn Board of Trustees meeting on the university's Montgomery campus in the Taylor Center at 9:30 a.m.
When the trees were notoriously poisoned in retaliation for the 2010 Iron Bowl, crazed Crimson Tide fan Harvey Updike used enough Spike 80DF to leave the area beneath the trees and much of the downtown intersection severely contaminated.
Phase one of the new design plan calls for clearing out the contaminated soil under the corner and replacing it with new, clean soil.
Phase two calls for reconfiguring the bricks and planters on the corner and rebuilding the traditional entrance gate to the university.
The first phase is set to begin in time for the 2014 football season, followed by phase two the following year.
(01/30/14 10:11pm)
All visitors are welcome to the James E. Martin Aquatics Center, except stray ceiling tiles.
Built in 1969 as the original competition pool, the instructional pool has needed an update, and a fallen ceiling tile prompted the University to make the first serious renovations since the pool's construction.
"It just kind of happened overnight," said Mitch McDowell, senior in economics and aquatic center employee. "We came in the morning and found a tile on the deck in that pool, and, immediately, we closed that pool down."
A net was put in place by facility managers to prevent more debris from water-damaged or fragile ceiling tiles from falling onto the deck or pool while it's still in use.
The net will hang high above the pool, just below the drop ceiling, for at least the remainder of the spring semester, construction manager Gregory Forthofer said.
"Our goal is to eventually take all of the drop ceiling down and just eliminate the problem altogether," Forthofer said. "We plan on having the netting in place until we can get a contractor under contract to do some improvements to the instructional pool area. There's more improvements than just removing the ceiling."
According to Fortofer, those improvements include moving and replacing the light fixtures to more accessible places around the deck, retiling the area around the pool and repainting the basin.
The ceiling tiles will be removed and the drop ceiling taken out, exposing the concrete beams that support the roof over the instructional pool and eliminating the threat of falling debris, Forthofer said.
Any new construction is welcomed by the aquatic center staff, but it can't come soon enough.
"Auburn likes to repurpose instead of rebuild," said Seamus White, junior in history and lifeguard at the pool. "Two weeks ago, all the pipes froze, and then they burst."
Though the pipes were eventually fixed when an internal boiler was added, hot water shortages have often forced the staff to shutter the locker rooms, putting additional pressure on the school to make changes.
"The last time happened in August," White said. "When you have people work on the pipes it happens more consistently. We didn't have the locker rooms for a month."
The constant influx of swimmers throughout the day only complicates the process further.
"Peak is definitely during the evening," McDowell said. "There's Auburn Aquatics, which is for little kids through high school swim teams. That's at least 40 or 50 without the younger kids. If you include the younger kids, you're pushing a hundred."
Forthofer said despite all the traffic, there have been no complaints yet about the net.
"When the final changes are made," Forthofer said, "It'll go virtually unnoticed, except by the backstrokers."
(01/28/14 3:35am)
Cross-country networking might get a little easier for Auburn student media in the future.
The Auburn Student Government Association's Senate Council addressed funding a conference trip for members of Eagle Eye in Las Vegas and an eventual restructuring of all media-related conference trips in the future.
"There is not enough money in this current travel expense line item for all four different parts of the student media portfolio to go to a conference every single year," said Richmond Gunter, senator, College of Business. "The reason for this document is it will alert next year's senate that the way we do conference travel for student media needs to really be examined and looked at."
Eagle Eye is set to represent Auburn at the National Association of Broadcasters, a converging of media and entertainment professionals, to exchange skills, knowledge and network with industry veterans from April 5-10 in the Las Vegas Convention center.
Funding for the trip is slated for approval at next week's senate council and was culled from the SGA reserve fund. But, as senator Gunter pointed out, the current reserve fund for student media conference trips is not enough to allow all four university funded media outlets (the Circle, the Glomerata, WEGL and Eagle Eye) to attend conference trips every year.
By addressing the issue ahead of elections the discussion will continue into the next administration and hopefully be resolved, Gunter said.
The most immediate order of business addressed at Monday's meeting was the reversal of a bill passed in the fall semester of 2013 that called for the randomization of ballot positions and obscuring of campaign colors during SGA elections.
The Bill, passed by Senator Gunter and Senator Rob Garcia, is still slated to go into effect by the next election, but must be delayed for this election in order to make the results valid.
"It turns out that its going to take a little longer than we expected and a little longer than they expected," said Garcia, senator, College of Business. "We need to make sure that we change it back so that the code of laws reflect un-randomized ballot positions in order for this election to be valid, [but] we hope to change the wording back after this election process in order to randomize ballot positions for future elections."
Gordon Stone, cofounder of Home Energy Matters and a management consultant for major businesses for over 30 years, will be a featured guest speaker at the next SGA senate council meeting on February 3.
(01/28/14 2:09am)
The 2013-14 school year marks the 50th anniversary of Auburn University's integration, an event noted for its relative peacefulness in comparison to other universities in the south.
Though institutional segregation is now a thing of the past, some at Auburn feel there is an unspoken segregation that divides much of campus, prompting organizations to renew their efforts to integrate the University more thoroughly.
"From my experience, there seems to be an underground culture, at least for black people," said Franklin Deese, Liberal Arts representative for the Student Government Association. "Coming here, the instinctive thing to do is stick to the people and the cultures that you know, and when there aren't that many specifically black people in, say, SGA or another organization, they're less inclined to go there or do that because you're with that group."
Minority groups comprise just 14 percent of all students at Auburn, a decent chunk of the population, but a portion that often lacks members and visibility in campus organizations like SGA and the University Program Council.
Initiatives set forward by the Black Student Union in partnership with the office of student affairs and campus involvement strive to make those environments more welcoming to diverse groups.
"We just have to be deliberate as members of a minority group," Deese said. "Be deliberate in our actions and say, 'Well, I am going to do this because there aren't that many people who look like me doing it.'"
BSU, once committed specifically to improving the lives of black students, now sees itself as a voice for all underrepresented groups on campus.
From organizing multicultural events to movie parties, BSU is taking advantage of its role as spokesperson for the minority community to assimilate outside groups and independents within the same university mantle.
" [The] black student union isn't just for black students, it's for Caucasian students, Hispanic students, any kind of student," said Ebony Alfrod, junior in biomedical science.
"Our organization was created to give owever, according to Alfrod, desegregating campus institutions isn't an anomaly at Auburn.
"We're working with other schools like Tuskegee and Alabama and the University of Georgia to bring some of their ideas in and share some of ours with them to see how we can broaden our diversity here," Alfrod said.
Those initiatives are to bring out Auburn's on-campus diversity to returning students, as well as incoming freshman, who may be considering attending traditionally black schools.
Integrating Auburn goes beyond improving the school's image, however.
The most important developments must come from the upperclassmen who hold the power to cross lines and take positions of leadership in places deemed undesirable by African Americans and other minorities in the past, according to BSU adviser Charus Campbell.
"The opportunity at Auburn is available to all students from all backgrounds and walks of life to kind of interact with each other, and I think [that's] what we're seeing," Campbell said.
"It's just a matter of making sure those things continue [and] making sure that students know about them and are interested in them. We can continue to integrate and continue to make things happen."
BSU has its own advisory board that works in conjunction with the University's advisory council to address possible injustices or adversities students might experience on campus.
However, Campbell said the problems cannot be solved until students take the initiative.
Feelings of frustration or stifling by organizations can be addressed by talking to key members, taking the initiative to overcome those obstacles and working within the organization to promote change and are ideal solutions to the question of diversity on campus, according to Campbell.
"Are there barriers," Campbell said. "Are they perceived or real? We need to figure out what the issues are."
(01/21/14 11:08pm)
Not everything has to break in order for it to need fixing.
Auburn's graduate psychology program, despite placing 15th in student rated top-25 graduate programs in the country, supports about two-thirds of its students on outside grant money, shrinking the pool of possible candidates the school can accept every year.
"It's not that we've lost any money or anything like that," said Daniel Svyantek, chair of the Auburn graduate psychology program. "We're just trying to get more money and we're being frustrated by the same forces that are affecting everybody else in the U.S. right now."
The ranking comes from GraduatePrograms.com, an online guide to graduates programs and opportunities around the country for students.
"I think its a testament to the dedication our faculty show to the mentoring role and all aspects of graduate training," said Steven Shapiro, Associate Professor of Psychology.
It was created by and for college students based on a schools combined score out of 15 categories, which include academic competitiveness, career support, network quality, and financial aid.
The recent sequester and subsequent government shutdown severely constricted the amount of grants available for graduate programs across the country, forcing most schools to raise the competitiveness of their programs and reducing the number of possible graduate students.
While Auburn continues to be thrifty in terms of budgeting its graduate program, some view the online ranking as misleading.
"We basically do not belong there [in the top 25], to be honest," said Jinyan Fan, associate professor of industrial organization psychology. "The ranking is basically completed by graduate students, not completed by some authoritative agency. It says graduate students like our programs a lot, but does not speak to the quality."
State money provides stipends for graduate teaching assistants, who proctor the expanding undergraduate programs and are used to attract grant money from around the country for the University programs.
Svyantek said he is confident Auburn will maintain its average graduate student population of about 85-90 for the next year while still finding ways to develop and continue to expand.
"The hard part is finding ways to make the program more economically efficient while not losing any of the progress it has already made," Svyantek said.