UB Buzz

Helping to Make It Better

Antioch University Los Angeles (Calif.) President Neal King is a participant in "It Gets Better," a video awareness campaign featuring gay adults saying how life for gay people gets better as they get older. King reflects on growing up in a time when gay people were thought to be ill or criminals. He offers a message of hope to gay youth as well. The campaign was launched in response to a recent string of suicides of gay youth such as Rutgers student Tyler Clementi. Its videos can be found on YouTube. King's video can be viewed below.

  

   

 

Higher Ed's Help with Oil Spill Response

Since the BP Deepwater Horizon rig explosion on April 20, engineers and scientists from colleges and universities across the country have been getting their hands dirty with the Gulf Coast oil spill. They continue to give their time and expertise toward tracking the leak, developing cleanup methods, and monitoring the consequential damage on the region’s ecosystem. Here is a sample of various institutional efforts.

Conducting Research

About 14 scientists from The Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas Tech University have been collecting oil samples along the coast to for toxicology tests to determine the direction of oil is spreading and how organisms are responding to it, according to Director Ron Kendall. Crude Survival, a web-based journal, catalogs their efforts and acts as a media resource center. The institute is also working with the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A & M University-Kingsville to conduct surveillance of rookeries (breeding grounds for birds) and determine how vulnerable they are to contact with oil.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, researchers from the College of Arts and Sciences have been examining microbes present in the Gulf’s waters to see how they might be helpful in cleaning up the oil.

In mid-June, two University of Iowa students and a UI engineering professor visited Louisiana for five days to see how to treat marshlands that have been heavily affected by the spill. The team is studying how much oil the coast's salt marsh can withstand before the vegetation dies and also will examine how to best speed up the wetlands' recovery should it die.

Marty Matlock, professor of ecological engineering at the University of Arkansas, has been working with a group of students to assess environmental damage and ultimately to develop recommendations for coastal wetlands restoration.

Three University of Connecticut scientists were among a select group of researchers convening at Louisiana State University in early June in an emergency meeting to assess the spill’s environmental impact. They had also contributed in science-based efforts. Professor James O’Donnell, a physical oceanographer, helped to develop tools for the Coast Guard and NOAA to predict how the oil will be distributed at the ocean surface. Associate professor and chemist Penny Vlahos created a method for testing the oil’s chemical makeup in water samples.

Texas A&M University atmospheric science researcher Don Conlee and a group of students are taking air samples with a series of weather balloon tests in conjunction with the National Weather Service. The group was asked by the NWS to develop procedures and examine feasibility of weather balloon observations in the vicinity of the spill site. The weather balloon launches will help improve the operational forecasting efforts of the weather service.

Johns Hopkins University (Md.) scientists are collaborating with colleagues at the Baltimore Aquarium and the Mote Marine Laboratory to access what impact the released oil would have in Florida's Sarasota Bay if the spill were to reach the area's ecosystem. According to Edward Bouwer, the university's Abel Wolman professor of environmental engineering, the team will sample the bay's sediment, biota (living organisms), and water samples for background levels of oil so that they can monitor the oil spill's long-term effects. The work will allow them to do a before-and-after analysis to better define what the impacts would be.

Paul Edmiston, an associate professor of chemistry at The College of Wooster (Ohio), developed Osorb, a nano-material glass that can absorb organic compounds like oil, in 2005. Edmiston and employees of his company ABS Materials sent a unit to the Gulf on July 12 with a machine that is described as being capable of treating up to 100 gallons of sea water and oil per minute.

Getting Information Out

Higher ed institutions along the Gulf have been providing web-based information to keep the public up to date on information and efforts. Mississippi State University Extension Service’s website, MSUCares.com, has a section listing research-based information on disaster preparedness and response initiatives.

Tulane University (La.) students in a Geographic Information Systems class used open source software to develop an Oil Spill Crisis Map for displaying the impact of and the response to the crisis with reports from ordinary citizens. Folks can send in tips by text message, e-mail, and Twitter.

A team of researchers at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa have chartered a series of computer simulations to portray how the oil spill could possibly spread over the course of a year.

Louisiana State University's Media Center has a web page highlighting institution-wide initiatives such as a poster project run by art students and alumni, veterinarian instructors and students caring for oiled birds, and researchers studying the health impacts of Louisiana coastal residents.

Scholars and scientists at Florida's public and private universities belong to an Oil Spill Academic Task Force that is working in collaboration with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The website provides information on the task force, links to partners and other resources.

Course Subject

On campus, instructors are bringing the issue to their classrooms. The University of Minnesota will offer a fall course called “Oil and Water: The Gulf Oil Spill of 2010” centering on the Gulf’s history and ecology, the makeup of the Louisiana economy, and the impact of past oil spills.

Stephen MacAvoy, a biogeochemist and a College of Arts and Sciences professor at American University (D.C.), has been opening each session of his undergraduate oceanography class this summer with a discussion of the situation. The topic is also being discussed academically in economics, biology, and psychology courses at Harper College (Ill.).

Institutions can send their examples to Associate Editor Michele Herrmann at mherrmann@universitybusiness.com.

Colleges Face Strict New File-sharing Rules

Today (July 1) is the day that colleges and universities that receive Title IV funding were to have implemented file-sharing rules under the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008.

Among other things, according to CNET, the schools are required to:

• Provide students a description of copyright law and campus policies with regards to violations of copyright law. 
• Combat copyright violations on campus networks using technology-based deterrents.
  
• Offer alternatives to illegal downloading.

Recording Industry Association of America President Cary Sherman noted that although many schools have taken it upon themselves to monitor file-sharing activity, the new law—with the threat of loss of funding—carries extra weight.

"It's the first time ever in the history of dealing with the issue that Congress is holding schools accountable and requiring them to address the problem," he said. "Here you have Congress saying 'Get off the sidelines and deal with the problem.' It's an important signal." 

Focus on Gulf Oil Spill

It hasn't taken long for academic researchers to recognize, and even offer their assistance with, the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We want to learn more about these efforts.
We seek information on how your instructors and officials are giving their time and expertise in promoting awareness and potential solutions to the region's plight. Whether in the field or back at campus, we encourage you to tell us how your institution is getting involved for inclusion in a UBBuzz news piece.
Please e-mail Associate Editor Michele Herrmann at mherrmann@universitybusiness.com.

Virtual Campaign a Success

As a May UB news story shared, on April 22 Binghamton University (N.Y.) likely became the first higher ed institution to launch a new gift campaign as a virtual event. The campaign to raise $95 million targeted alumni of the university and was hailed a success by both university officials and alumni. 

The target of 1,000 people to log in to the event within the two-hour evening event was surpassed as the site had over 1,500 visits and close to 20,000 page views from participants across the world. From my own experience as a student with online forums and chat rooms, I didn’t think the campaign would be as popular as it turned out to be. Because of the measures taken by Binghamton to appeal to all of their alumni as well as the multifaceted nature of the campaign, it seems to have been overwhelmingly engaging and fun for alumni to participate in. This sort of event could easily flop if not handled correctly, but because Binghamton put the time and effort into their event, they ensured it was enjoyable for alumni, and thus successful for the university.

The event used innovative ways to accomplish this feat—from short one-minute videos and 360 degree views of campus to entries for free prizes. Alumni connected to each other in chat rooms, the most popular of which were ones for residence halls. Twitter feeds and Facebook updates kept “partygoers” interested and engaged in opportunities on other pages.

Far more people were able to attend the launch of Binghamton’s new online campaign than the last launch, a traditional in-person event that took place in 2003 and only involved a few hundred people.

Is your institution launching a virtual event that you're proud of? We would love to hear about it.

A Walk to Remember, 40 Years Later

A guided walking tour and a historic registration are two ways Kent State University (Ohio) will commemorate the 40th anniversary of a campus tragedy and its far-reaching impact. On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing four and injuring nine Kent State students.

This afternoon, May 3, a dedication will honor the placing of the site of the shootings on the National Register of Historic Places. The U.S. Department of the Interior awarded Kent State with this landmark status in late February.

The ceremony will unveil the new walking tour exhibit for the site, installed on the university's campus this spring. The exhibit for the May 4 Walking Tour will feature interpretive panels (such as the photo, provided by Kent State, shown above right) at each of the walk's seven stops. The panels contain pictures, maps, and written descriptions.

Each trail marker will center on key aspects and events on that day.

Video and audio content, narrated by civil rights activist Julian Bond, will compliment the tour's trail markers. They will be accessible by a hand-held mobile device (for a video documentary) or by cell phone (for the audio).

The tour is a part of the Kent State May 4 Visitors Center, which will be housed in Taylor Hall, an academic building near the site. Fundraising for the center is underway.

Learn more about the center and the walking tour here.

Post-VA Tech: Designing with an Eye on Security

The following is the perspective of Chris Waltz, a senior associate at Steffian Bradley Architects’ Enfield, Conn., office. He is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

For me, it started as an e-mail from my college roommate with a link and the simple phrase “Something bad is happening at Tech.”  Although I was thousands of miles away working in the London office of Steffian Bradley Architects at the time, when I clicked the link and saw the events playing out at Virginia Tech, I was instantly transported back to Blacksburg, Va.  The images on the monitor were both familiar and surreal, and from that moment forward the peaceful college campus where I had spent nearly a decade of my life would be changed forever.

I earned multiple degrees at Virginia Tech and credit my time there with a vast amount of personal and professional growth.  Many of my second and third year classes were held in Norris Hall, as it was a primary classroom building for engineering lectures and labs.  The beautiful collegiate gothic building is typical of many classroom buildings constructed in the mid-20th century -- with long, double-loaded corridors to maximize useable space and stairs and exits located to allow for an orderly evacuation in case of fire.  Most classrooms hold about 50 people and have a single door.  It is likely that the people who designed this building were more concerned about nuclear fallout than a student rampaging through the corridors with an automatic weapon, but that is exactly what happened on April 16, 2007, when Seung-Hui Cho murdered 30 of his 32 victims in this building in the deadliest school shooting in United States history.

In the wake of this tragic event, which occurred three years ago today, there have been significant changes at my alma mater as well as other institutions of higher learning and also within my profession. The administration at Virginia Tech was criticized and praised in equal measure for their handling of the situation, but in true Hokie fashion they have moved forward to become a leader in implementing campus alert systems utilizing the internet, e-mail, text messaging, telephones, electronic message boards, and campus sirens and loudspeakers, creating a multiple-redundant system that has been replicated on campuses across the country and has, in fact, become the norm.

As architects we are left to work out what we can do to help stem the tide of campus violence that we experienced firsthand over the past year with violence at a number of campuses, including the University of Connecticut, Florida International University, and Yale. As a profession, we generally agree that the “open” campus model going back hundreds of years is something we do not want to lose; after all, would Yale’s Old Campus or Harvard Yard retain their character if they were dotted with metal-detector check points? Obviously the design solution has to be more subtle and work in tandem with technology and communication to create a campus that is welcoming and yet as safe as possible.       

For buildings, entrances and exits are a good place to start.  When I heard that Cho was holed up in Norris Hall, I immediately feared the worst since I remembered the traditional “crash bars” at all exits which could easily be chained and padlocked.  Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened, leaving the students trapped inside.  Contemporary push-pad exit devices allow the same ease of exit in case of an emergency but can only be locked by an authorized person using a key.

In the classrooms themselves, a helpful security option is to provide an emergency push-button intercom connected directly to campus or local security akin to what is used in banks or in nurse-call systems.  By using Internet connections already in the classroom it would be possible for professors or students to quickly call for help in case of classroom violence or just a common medical emergency.  

In addition to the buildings themselves there is also the concern about the campus at-large, which is typically dealt with through the campus masterplan.  While building shape and placement is usually considered for program, adjacencies, and overall aesthetics, it is also important to consider sightlines and views between buildings, the location of lights and emergency call-boxes, as well as multiple paths for evacuating a space.  These concepts have always been a concern for individual crimes such as muggings and rape, but perhaps it is time to consider that large groups of people may need to exit a section of campus quickly to avoid an individual intent on doing harm to as many people as possible. 

Steffian Bradley Architects recently completed a project at Lasell College (Mass.), which constructed much-needed parking. The underground garage has a green roof on top of it, creating a new residential quad for the school. By providing a wide-open grassy quad in place of a congested surface parking lot we were able to provide a space that was not only more student-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing, but also more sustainable and much safer.

After discussions with many of my colleagues, it is clear that none of us believe we can solve the issues of campus security with architecture alone. It needs to be a combination of design, communication, and technology, resulting from a focused discussion between the university and the designers.  If thinking more about safety in our designs helps to save just one student, faculty, or staff member, then it will be time well spent.

Keeping a Guarantee

Lansing Community College (Mich.) has been making news about an enrollment policy with a money-back guarantee starting next month, during a time when such a offer would seem questionable.
In May, the “Get a Skill, Get a Job” program will center on four of that area's most in-demand technical jobs: call-center specialists, pharmacy technicians, quality inspectors and computer machinists. Students who take six-week courses in certain subjects (earning a certificate) will be guaranteed a job within a year or be refunded their tuition money.
Those who are accepted in the program can't miss any classes or assignments and must participate in an employment readiness workshop. After they complete one of the six-week training courses, they must prove that they're actively job searching.
A school in the east offers a similar guarantee, but it focuses on undergrads. Since 1999, administrators at Thomas College (Maine) have maintained a vow through the Guaranteed Job Placement Program (G-Job). G-Job, a contractual partnership, offers two options for baccalaureate graduates don’t secure employment within six months. (See University Business magazine's report on G-Job here.)
First, re-enroll at Thomas for free or have the college pay their monthly federal subsidized student loans for up to a year or until a job is landed. Or, those who choose to head back to class may either take an unlimited number of tuition-free undergraduate courses for up to two years or take up to half of the graduate courses required to complete any master’s degree program. Students must maintain at least a 2.75 GPA, be in good financial standing, complete an internship, and have contact with career services.
In just over a decade, only six Thomas graduates have ever taken advantage of the guarantee (two of them in the past two years). Most opted to take graduate courses.
As for Lansing, officials are reported as saying they anticipate the job guarantee program will be highly competitive. A maximum of 15-16 participants per program is planned.

Admissions: Tourin’ It Up

College tours are meant to do two things: show off the best parts of life at a given school and generate interest in the university to as many prospective students as possible. From my experience as millennial undergraduate student, my college search began online. I didn’t even visit the school I would ultimately attend in person until after I had been admitted. I did, however, frequent its admissions homepage and watch what other students were saying on our admitted students group on Facebook. Virtual tours and social networking are increasingly important as my peers and I rely heavily on what we can see and experience online. For those schools that we deem worthy enough to visit in person, the more innovative the college tour, the more likely we are to remember it and thus attend in the fall.  The University of the South, known locally as Sewanee, is a strong environmental college that recognizes how to highlight the most unique quality of their school by giving prospective students a hands-on tour.

Located in Sewanee, Tennessee high on the Cumberland Plateau about an hour and a half hour southeast of Nashville, The University of the South gives prospective students the opportunity to take a guided tour of “The Domain,” the natural terrain on which the campus was built. An expansive piece of preserved natural landscape, The Domain allows students to hike through 13,000 acres of undisturbed trails, rock climb, walk through caves wrought with original Native American artifacts, kayak or swim in an expansive man-made lake, or simply bask in the beauty few other college students have access to. With such a unique feature of campus, why wouldn’t the university want to show it off to prospective students? 

Before visiting campus, prospective students are urged to plan at least half a day for their tour—and to bring sturdy outdoor shoes. Upon completing a tour of campus, students and parents are given the opportunity to do a hike accompanied by a student guide. This informal continuation of the tour not only lets students see a unique feature of campus, but also gives them a place to ask a student guide questions in a social setting that they may not have felt comfortable asking in a large group.

Other colleges and universities that have made their tours unusual and thus memorable for students are Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. and Alfred University in Alfred, NY. Gustavus gives a more comprehensive tour to students who return to campus for follow-up tours focusing on providing insight into school traditions such as sitting in the student section at basketball games, stories of ghosts in the library, sledding on lunch trays, and twirling a cube of modern art on campus with the letters BCAD.  According to Gustavus tradition, whichever letter lands face up will be the incoming student’s first grade at the university. Alfred allows prospective students the opportunity to ride a seven person bike for campus tours rather than walking.

The characteristic these schools have in common is a creative tour experience completely unique to the assets of their university. Many schools are starting to recognize the need for innovative college tours—from riding a seven person bicycle or hiking in the hills of Tennessee to providing a comprehensive view of campus via online college tours. The online option is a great way to engage prospective students, making your university intriguing enough for them to want to visit in person. More information on how to accomplish this feat is available on our website. 

 

350.org’s Day of Action Sweeps College Campuses

        Living on a college campus, it seems all the rage to be an environmental activist these days. To students, making their university greener is as trendy as wearing Uggs or sporting a North Face jacket. This movement, however, goes beyond one student environmental group’s activities on campus. On October 24^th more than 5,000 groups—many of which were American colleges and universities— in 181 countries participated in 350.org’s first annual Day of Action. 

350.org, an international environmental organization, works to pressure governments to lower the amount of carbon emission in the atmosphere from 390 parts per million to the scientifically recognized safe amount of 350PPM.

Grassroots Communications Coordinator Matt Fitzgerald says, “This is not the environmental movement of stereotypes. We have a diverse constituency of participants of all economic and faith backgrounds—students as well as staff and professors.”

On the Day of Action, groups were called upon to creatively spell out 350, take a picture, and send it to the organization to be distributed to the press, politicians, and environmental action groups showing the universal support behind the mission. (Participants in Germany spell out their message. Right.)

What does all of this mean for American colleges and universities? 350.org was founded by author Bill McKibben and a student group at Middlebury College. It is now recognized as the organizer of the largest-scale climate rally in history. Like Middlebury, administrators at every university can further student interest by incorporating the mission of groups such as 350.org into course curriculum. From my experience, students quickly become more passionate about course material if they can relate it to a movement they’ve seen on campus—especially if it’s one they’ve participated in. Administrators can also show support by going to student-led events such as 350.org’s Day of Action, campus awareness raising campaigns, or club meetings.

        Perhaps the best means of administrative support, however, is by bringing dynamic and engaging lecturers to campus. Presenters who are young, energetic, and close to the university community relate well to undergraduates and will engage the student body, maximizing students’ retention of material and interest in the issues. It is evident by the high level of interest and dedication on college campuses that young adults already care about these issues. It is now up to administrators, faculty, and staff to use the momentum of this movement to its maximum potential.