Dr. Robert Ballard to speak at WTAMU about Titanic discovery

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Lisa Hellier

Dr. Robert Ballard will speak at the Mary Moody Northen Recital Hall at 8 p.m. on April 23 as part of the WTAMU Distinguished Lecture Series. His presentation will focus on his discovery of the R.M.S. Titanic, which sunk in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912.

“The committee decided, with this being the 100th anniversary and the current release of Titanic in 3D, it would be a perfect time to bring him to campus,” Dr. James Calvi, associate dean of education & social sciences, said.

With years of work and his development of state-of-the-art underwater visual imaging technology, Ballard was able to discover the Titanic in July of 1985. Ballard has participated in over 100 deep-sea excursions and has discovered other underwater historical graves.

Calvi described Ballard as “the most famous explorer of the ocean alive today.” Calvi said he hoped students would take advantage of the lecture because of all of the knowledge Ballard has to offer.

Ballard is the director of the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, president of the Institute for Exploration, explorer-in-residence for the National Geographic Society and scientist emeritus at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“I think this event is cool and beneficial because the Titanic was a moment in history that, for 73 or so years, nobody actually knew the facts about,” Maranda Rivas, junior Biology major, said. “Robert Ballard is the man that brought light to the events that happened that fateful night. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that WT is giving to us students to listen to a man who made history by discovering the Titanic.”

The event is open and free to the public. No tickets are required.

PULSE raises awareness for Sexual Assault Prevention

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Jordan Fry

Peers Understanding, Listening, Speaking, Educating (PULSE) is partnering with Family Support Services to raise awareness for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“We’re trying to increase awareness to reduce assault and give victims comfort in knowing they’re not alone,” Stephanie Brackett, assistant director of Student Activities and PULSE advisor, said. “Sexual assault happens more often than people think.”

PULSE and Family Support Services has organized events to get students and the community involved while increasing awareness.

One such event, the Human Awareness Ribbon, took place last Friday at Westgate Mall where participants formed a teal-colored ribbon, which signifies the official awareness ribbon of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“The ribbon is a way to bring the community together,” Nelly Villagomez, Family Support Services peace project educator, said. “It gives survivors of sexual assault a voice.” Continue reading →

KWTS streams online, introduces smartphone app

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Ashley Hendrick

Photo Courtesy of Arbitron Ink/Edit and Research.

Some changes have occurred at the WTAMU student radio station. After more than a year’s absence, KWTS online streaming is officially up and running once again, but this time they came back with a little different sound.

KWTS now has an app available for anyone to download free on their iPhone or Android smartphones.

“I don’t know if ‘changes’ is a good word,” Randy Ray, director of broadcast engineering and adviser to KWTS, said. “I think just improvements or enhancements because really the radio station itself is not really changing. We’re just delivering it in a better way.”

The app will allow students, parents, faculty members and anyone else to listen to KWTS outside of the limited listening area KWTS previously had access to, which was nine counties in the Texas panhandle.

“When we were doing live streaming before, we had people that were listening in Alaska…Wyoming…Arkansas,” Broadcasting major and KWTS program director Dani Morton said. “All over America we had people that were tuning in and listening to it. Now we have that opportunity again, so I think it’s cool we’re national again.”

The stations’ streaming and app capabilities are thanks to the Internet radio network, Live365. KWTS listeners can go to their smartphone’s app store, download the Live365 radio app and search for KWTS.

Though the app is a new feature for KWTS, streaming online is not.

“We streamed through [Live365] for a year or two,” Ray said. “Then I got to talking to people in the IT department here on campus and they said ‘we can do that ourselves.’ So I let Live365 go and we starting streaming it through the campus servers.” Continue reading →

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WT not registered for TAMU licensing agreement

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Lisa Hellier

Texas A&M University has a licensing agreement that offers students the opportunity to purchase software programs such as Microsoft Office at affordable prices.

WTAMU has not taken the steps to register their university and students in this program.

According to James Webb, WT chief information technology officer, the university would have to pay an additional annual fee of $125,000 to $150,000 to participate in the program, which would require an increase in fees and approval by the president and board of regents. The current Microsoft agreement is $70,000.

“Like most things, there is a cost associated with adding this service, which would involve increasing the technology fee,” Webb said. “There is certainly a balance there, and I’ve been sensitive to the increased costs of tuition and fees that students pay these days.” Continue reading →

Student services and extracurriculars take a cut

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Krystina Martinez

Web Editor’s Note: The list of approved allocations is posted outside the Student Affairs office in the JBK.

The final recommendations for Student Service fee allocations for the 2012-2013 school year have been approved. Most student services and academic extracurriculars received a cut in funding.

“There was $76,000 less to allocate,” Dr. Don Albrecht, WTAMU vice president of Student Affairs, said. “All of the fees were less, what we had available to spend was less.”

There were only eight out of the 58 programs that received any increase in funding for the 2012-2013 school year. Those programs were: Career Services, Nationally Competitive Scholarships, Student Counseling Services, Student Disability Services, Study Abroad, Tutoring Assistance, Veterans Resource Center and CORE Center Administration.

Albrecht said that there were no sizable decreases to any one program.

“Everyone on campus has to understand that we have to do more with less,” he said. “Everything has a cost to somebody.” Continue reading →

Former President Bill Clinton to speak at WTAMU

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Maria Molina

Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak April 24 at 8:00 p.m. at WTAMU as part the Distinguished Lecture Series. The event will take place at the First United Bank Center and it is free and opened to the public. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m.

Oceanographer Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic in 1985, will also speak as part of the Lecture Series on April 23.

Designated fee increase to affect student tuition

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Sarah Floyd

WTAMU students may have to pay for an additional fee, which will increase tuition in the fall of 2012.

Gary Barnes, vice president for Business and Finance, explained the purpose of additional fees in a public hearing held Feb. 28.

“Basically, the Chancellor is allowing a maximum of $150 dollars to be added to student tuition, to be added under ‘Designated Tuition,’” Barnes said. “One of our top priorities would be salary increase. We want the most competitive staff, the best faculty, the best experience for students, and retaining all the members of staff.”

WT staff positions were found to be 15 percent below the market compared to Canyon and Amarillo staff positions, according to a salary survey. Continue reading →

WT’s Student Fee Committee holds second budget meeting

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Krystina Martinez

The WTAMU Student Fee Advisory Committee met on Feb. 24 to continue the discussion on student fee allocations for the next school year.

The meeting’s agenda covered allocations towards academic organizations such as Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), Speech Team, KWTS 91.1 and more.

“The Student Service fee goes towards these groups [and student services],” Dr. Don Albrecht, vice president of Student Affairs, said.

In the meeting, Dr. Albrecht announced the final figures for the total amount of Student Complex, Student Service, Student Health and Recreational Sports fees that were available to use. Over $3 million are available in Student Service Fees.

“There are no proposals to raise the four fees from the administration,” Dr. Albrecht said in the Feb. 17 meeting. Continue reading →

Students and community tackle federal budget

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Lisa Hellier

Phil Smith, southern regional director and national political director of Concord Coalition, speaks to the audience about the federal budget workshop. Photo courtesy of Phil Smith's web site.

College students and community leaders joined together at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum on Feb. 21 to take a shot at creating their own version of the federal budget through a workshop called “Principles and Priorities,” created by the Concord Coalition.

The Concord Coalition is a non-partisan, national grassroots organization dedicated to educating America about the causes and consequences of federal budget deficits and how to build a sound economic future for future generations.

The Principles and Priorities Workshop was designed to teach participants about the federal budget and provides a realistic insight into difficult policy decisions lawmakers’ face.

WTAMU Student Body President Brandy Roberts and WT President Dr. J Patrick O’Brien each made a few opening remarks and thanked everyone for coming to the event before handing it off to Congressman Mac Thornberry, who sponsored the event. He spoke about federal budget issues and how deficits are affecting society. Continue reading →

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Dr. O’Brien speaks at rescheduled Q&A session

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Ryan Schaap

Original flyer for the event. Photo courtesy of Student Government, from the Facebook event page.

WTAMU Student Government sponsored a Q&A in the JBK featuring University President Dr. Patrick O’Brien on Feb. 27. The purpose of the event was for Dr. O’Brien to address students’ questions concerning the future of the University.

Questions ranged from topics about construction on campus to parking concerns.

“I think it went well, there were a lot of questions asked. It was very informative and we learned a lot of neat stuff,” said Student Body Vice President Nick Goettsche.

However, the biggest issues were not the questions asked but the planning behind the event. The Facebook event created for the Q&A had it scheduled for Feb. 29. However, on the morning of Feb. 27, the time was changed.

“There was no miscommunication,” said President Dr. Patrick O’Brien. “It’s been on my calendar for today for weeks and I think what happened is the notice did not go out.”

Some students were upset at the change and voiced their displeasure on the event page. Continue reading →

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