Opinion Goodbye Reagan, Hello Bush News WSC Prof tells of women's advances see page 2 Signature WSC celebrates Mardi Gras see page 6 Sports First inductees in WSC Athletic Hall of Fame see page 8 Monday, Jan. 23, 1989 Celebrating the Weber State College Centennial Vol. 49, No. 35 J ob market booming for 1989 grads (CPS) The job market for this year's college grads is booming. "There's no question about it," reported Angie Aschoff of Linn-Benton Community College's placement office in Oregon, "the number of jobs advertised with us is up this year." It's happening nationwide. Two major annual surveys, released in December, of national corporate hiring of new grads both predicted a happy spring. Northwestern University's Lindquist-Endicott Report predicted an eight percent jump in corporate demand for graduates with bachelor's degrees. Those graduates will ' receive starting salaries that are an average 4.6 percent higher than those garnered by the Class of '88. Starting salaries for students with new master's degrees should be 3.5 percent higher than last year's, NU's report added. While Michigan State University's Annual recruiting Survey does not paint as rosy a picture, it does predict "new graduates will face a healthy job market." MSU asked 427 corporations about their hiring plans. In response, the firms expected to make 3.1 percent more job offers to students this year, and said they were especially interested in hiring more women and minority grads. Some students consequently feel they're in the driver's seat I'm looking for an attractive company with travel and benefits," said University of Maryland senior Maurice Boissiere of his job search. "Right now I'm looking at company profiles. I'm interviewing them." The companies feel it, too. "We will be offering jobs to people who know they are going to be in great demand," conceded sally Odle, recruiting manager for IBM. "We have to offer jobs that are challenging and interesting." Deborah DeBow of Eastern Washington University's Placement Office also found "there's more competition for students, so companies are getting more aggressive, they're buying ads in student publications and coming into the office to strategize more with the placement director." Observers attribute the scramble for students to corporate concern that there won't be enough grads to hire in the future. A recent U.S. Labor Dept. study predicted one million fewer young people will enter the job market during the next decade than during the 1970s. "We are doing everything we can to prepare for the shrinking labor market," said Trudy Marotta of the Marriott Corp. Victor Lindquist of Northwestern added companies also are hiring because the companies themselves expect to prosper. Sixty-one percent of the firms NU surveyed thought they'd be more profitable in 1989 then they were in 1988. "Corporate America is confident the economy will remain strong despite concerns by so-called experts about the (see JOBS on page 3) is it. 3ei I J SNOWBOARDER JEREMY KIRBY does a handplant Saturday at the Hof Winterfest in downtown Ogden. (The Signpost photo: Broc Porter) WSC hosts LDS literature symposium The Association for Mormon Letters will hold their annual symposium at Weber State College this week. The symposium will be held in the Special Collections area of the Stewart Library Sat., Jan. 28, 1989. This is the third time that the Association, a group dedicated to the scholarly study of Mormon literature, will hold their symposium at Weber State. Dr. Levi Peterson, president of the Association and member of the WSC English department says that the symposium is a forum for the delivery of scholarly letters on Mormon literature. "We discuss the type of things you would study in an English class," Peterson said. "Mostly fiction, poetry and drama, but also essays and biographies if they are written with a literary flare." The emphasis of this year's symposium will be Mormon author Virginia Sorensen. Sorensen spoke earlier this year at Weber State. There will also be a panel discussion titled: Three Utah Authors on Publishing in the Marketplace. Panelists for the discussion will be Mormon writers Dean Hughes, Linda Sillitoe, and Gordon Allred. Allred, also a member of the Weber State English department, is a successful author of LDS fiction. Registration will be from 9:00 to 9:30 the morning of the symposium. Cost of registration is $10.00 with luncheon, $5.00 without. Reservations for the awards luncheon are required by Wed., Jan. 25. Mail to: Steven Sondrup, 1346 South 18th East, SLC, Ut. 84108 or call (801) 581-0806. An evening social and readings by 1988 award winners will be held at the home of Dr. Candadai Seshachari from 6:30 til 8:00.