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Show WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY Martin leads core of Wildcats in NFL See page 6 C A jewel in the center of campus' Bell Tower plaza construction a month ahead of schedule By Frances Kelsey managing editor I The Signpost PHOTO RY CATHERINE MORTIMER SICNPOSI The nearly completed Stewart Bell Tower Plaza will serve as an outdoor social hub for WSU community members. Faculty senate resumes: Academic calender under review The Stewart Bell Tower has always been one of the main focal points of Weber State University's Ogden campus. Over the past few semesters, that focal point has been getting a substantial face-lift. The Bell Tower Plaza project spans from Lampros Hall, behind the Library, through the original bell tower plaza, over to the front of Building Three and Four, and down between the Shepherd Union Building and the newly built Elizabeth Hall. There are three or four main elements See Jewel page 5 Film festival: high mountain adventure Downtown Ogden welcomed local and international crowd By Chris Brown correspondent I The Signpost By Gina Barker asst. news editor 1 The Signpost The first Weber State University faculty senate meeting came to order in the Smith Lecture Hall in theWattis Business Building Thursday afternoon. Faculty Senate Chair David Ferro called the meeting to order just a little after 3 p.m. The faculty senate first recognized the student senate representation. Social science senator Michelle Johnson, legislative VP Tyler Lathem, Davis Campus senator Victoria Thompson, and student body president Dan Schwab were all in attendance. The faculty senate also welcomed Bret Ellis, the newly appointed president for information technology. Bret came to WSU from BYU-Hawaii, and has been here since mid July. Yas Simonian, the new Dean of the Dumke College of Health Professions, and Ryan Thomas, the associate Provost, were also welcomed to faculty senate. The hot topic of the senate meeting was the proposal of a new academic calendar. Mike Vaughan, provost, proposed four options to the senate members. Option "A" would be making the breaks longer or shorter depending on the input of the faculty and staff of WSU. Option "B" would create a symmetry calendar, which would make all three terms equal in length. Option "C" would be to lengthen the time of all class periods and leave the last ten minutes of the class up to the will of the instructor. This would create more student-to-teacher time. Option "D" would move the starting time of the day from 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. "I haven't received a great response from anybody on any of the first three options," Vauhagn said. "The only option that has received a decent response is option 'D.'" With the option of having input from student senators, Ferro called upon the input of the student senate representation. "I would personally go with any of these options;"Scwab said. "However I believe that more information is needed. Any of these options would affect the student body." The faculty senate went back and forth with opinions about the new options and Filmmakers and the Ogden community gathered to celebrate the opening night of the High Mountain Adventure Film Festival. Included in the festival were films on rock climbing, ice climbing, extreme snow boarding and.slaing^niLej£jierne_ athletes with disabilities. The festival ran Thursday through Sunday. Awards were handed out in several different categories. Nick Dragon, Weber State University alumni and event public relations manager, said the Filmmakers' Bash was the opening night party to kick off the festival. "This is a festival for Ogden," Dragon said. "Ogden City is becoming a really outdoor adventure capital of the west." Thefilmmaker'sbash included Rooster's catering and live music featuring The Bastard Redheads. Kids lined up to use the rock-climbing wall. The community milled around the Ogden Amphitheater, drinking beer, sitting on the grass and enjoying the atmosphere. The crowd walked over to the party after watching a few films in Peery's Egyptian Theater. Movies like "Crank It Up," afilmfeaturing a group of three paraplegic friends biking 100 miles through Zion's National Park on specialized hand-pedal mountain bike. Deanna Byck, the festival director, said she had been working with leff Lowe, director of Ogden Climbing Parks, all year to put together the High Adventure Mountain Film Festival "to promote the spirit of adventure in the mountains." Last year was the first for the festival. Since then it has increased dramatically in size, from just one night to four. The event was put together by Lowe and Byck to create greater interest in Ogden City from the international community. "It'simportanttotheOgdencommuniry," Dragon said, "because it's an international event. It brings a lot of great publicity straight to our doorstep and it's something we are involved in. People in Ogden like the outdoors; we live on nature's front porch. We're five minutes away from things some people never see." The film festival featured 116 outdoor See Senate page 5 incorporated into the plaza. Most prominent among these are the waterfalls that travel down from the small hill in front of the library, under the quad, spilling out down toward Elizabeth Hall. Trees and low shrubs are also being planted around the tower. Not only will this greenery provide a place for students to go and relax, it is all being done in a way that will be more environmentally friendly. "We have, over the last four or five years, been pursuing a landscaping plan here at Weber State to reduce the amount of water we consume on campus," said Norm Tarbox, WSU Vice President of Administrative Services. "So you'll see a lot of areas where we've taken out sod and put. in shrubs and things like that that don't need a lot of water. We've put in dripsystem irrigation systems that are even more economical. Should see that all over the bell tower plaza. (We're) taking these large areas and putting in low cover shrubs. So while we enliven campus and make it more easy to come to, we're doing it in a way that uses less water than before." The plaza is designed in a manner that will entice people to take advantage of its natural aspects, as well as it's not-sonatural additions. The plaza will have a staircase that will double News in Brief Geology presentation honors WSU professor Honoring the 100th anniversary of WSU Professor Ferdinand Hintze's Weber Academy lectures, his son, Letii Hintze, will present the opening lecture for the "Water in the West" series hosted by Weber State University. Hintze's talk will be the "Historical Geology of Utah and the Creation of the Green and Colorado Rivers." The lecture will be held Monday, Sept. 22 at 7:00 p.m. In the Alumni Center on the Weber State University campus. Hintze will be signing copies of his recent book "Utah's Spectacular Geology," which will also be available for purchase. Journalist to speak at WSU conference Weber State University's Department of Child and Families Studies will present the 22nd Families Alive Conference, Sept. 25-27. This year's conference, "Empowering and Strengthening laves" will feature speakers, presentations and workshops for parents, educators and community professionals designed to strengthen families, improve relationships and enhance educational opportunities. Journalist and author Jane Clayson Johnson will deliver the keynote address at a free presentation at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Austad Auditorium, Browning Center. Johnson is the former host of the CBS Early Show and currently serves as an ambassador for the March of Dimes Foundation. WSU to host series of debate discussions PHOTO BY CINA BARKER I 7//E SIGNPOST Ogden Climbing Parks climbing guide Sara Austin spots Aidian Hueton (above) and Devaki Murch (below) as they scale the rock wall in downtown Ogden, part of a weekend-long film festival for high adventure sports films. films, with a possible category 32 nominations. The festival also included panel discussions withfilmmakersand parties to promote the event, including a saturday-night Gala at fifty dollars a plate. Scott Halford, a WSU professor who worked as the artistic director and executive director of the Foursite Film Festival, said he's seen a revolution in the creation of independent films in the last 10 years. "Even for people who aren't outdoor enthusiasts, but just like to go see Weber State University's American Democracy Project will host a presidential debate watch. The watch is designed to bring the community together to watch the first presidential debate and follow up with a discussion of the merits of both major political candidates and platforms in the upcoming presidential election. The debate watch will be at Friday Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. In the Shepherd Union Wildcat Theater. It is to be the first of two presidential watches. The second featuring the vice presidential debate, will occur Oct. 2. See Film page 5 WSU hosts Chinese medical faculty Professors team up to share health info By Scott Gourley correspondent I The Signpost Weber State University partnered with Xi'an Medical School in Northwest China to form the first respiratory therapy program.LisaTrujillo.thedirector of clinical education, visited China in October of 2004. When there was a need for assistance, she realized there was no one to pair up with who specialized in respiratory therapy in Northwest China. Another trip was soon planned for Trujillo to revisit China in order to present a sixday seminar. Janelle Gardiner, a respiratory therapy instructor at WSU, accompanied her on the trip. Together they would deliver the seminar. It was well received in China and soon an agreement was made between the University of Xi'an and WSU to plan for the training of Chinese faculty to receive instruction in Utah at WSU. "It's exciting," Gardiner said. "I didn't realize in the beginning that it would become so big. WSU is pioneering the first respiratory therapy program in Northwest China." A team was put together consisting of Zhou Xiao Lan, a certified midwife, Xue Ying Li, the English speaking major in the group, and Li Ping, specializing in pharmacology. With this team, WSU plans to provide opportunities for the Chinese representatives to observe how to perform lab work, instruct students and run the respiratory therapy program when they arrive back in China on Christmas Day of this year. The team will read student textbooks and shadow students as they perform their work at school. In the next three weeks, they will go to the hospital and observe how the equipment is used. "We are learning something new everyday," Xue Ying U said. See Medical page 5 PHOTO BY RILEY SMITH | THE SIGNPOST The Chinese medical team takes notes for one of many classes in the Allied Heath building Friday. They will be on campus for several weeks. |