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Show Today is Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007 Breaking News The search continues for. missing BYU student, Camille Cleverley, who hasn't been seen since Aug. 30. www.utahstatesman.com Logan, Utah Utah State University USU research, new building to receive funds from Congress By LIZ LAWYER assistant news editor USU is slated to receive $17 million as part of an appropriations bill pending approval by a committee of members of both houses of Congress. The bill, called the Fiscal Year 2008 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, has been passed by both the House and the Senate and must now be sent to a conference of both chambers to hammer out the differences between the two versions of the bill they have passed. Utah Sen. Bob Bennett has been instrumental Two floors of in having the money allocated for USU, said the Art Barn are Noelle Cockett, dean of the College of Agriculture, closed off due to which will receive a large chunk of the money. Most of the money, a little less than $10 million, fire hazards. not go directly to USU, but to federal projects Page 3 will located at the university. USU President Stan Albrecht said in a press release, "This is great news and it is a resounding vote of confidence both for Utah State University's own research strengths and for the successful collaborative programs we have forged over the years with federal agencies." Cockett said, "We are really excited about the support of Sen. Bennett and the other Utah representatives and their confidence in USU." Thirteen projects at USU will receive some of the $17 million. The largest chunk of money will go toward the planning, design and preliminary Are you stages of construction for a superstitious? new Agriculture Research Center which will stand Learn about where the old Merrill the different Library was on the Quad. zodiac signs For that project, $8 million and what they of the proposed approBENNETT priation would be set aside. mean. Other projects to receive money include the U.S./ Page 5 China joint biotechnology research program, an air quality center research program, and the Jack H. Berryrnan Institute for Wildlife Damage Management. Campus News Features Sports Senior forward Dana Peart leads the USU soccer squad to 1-1 finish in Texas. Page 13 Cockett said once the bill is approved and the money is received, planning and design for the new building will start "very aggressively." Other projects have been funded "through this mechanism" in the past, she said. Many of the projects to receive money have been funded by Congress before. Cockett said this money also helps new projects to get on the ground. Once the university begins showing accomplishments and progress, it can receive funding through traditional sources. Albrecht said as funding for USU is part of an ongoing process, most of the projects the money 13 See BILL, page 3 STACY N E L S O N , F R E S H M A N I N A V I A T I O N , and Marti Bowles, freshman in music therapy, sit and relax in the community living area of their building in the Living and Learning Center.The community kitchen can be seen in the background. All but one of the buildings is full to capacity this year, with one of the buildings empty for use as a recruiting tool. DEBRA HAWKINS photo Starving students and uncomfortable housing becoming things of the past at USU "Sometimes the university invites high school kids to come editor in chief in for a campus experience to try to attract them to come to USU," With a new housing complex he said. "We try to use (the LLC) on the finishing stages of conto promote USU." struction, improvements to the All buildings in the LLC Marketplace, and a new parking are designated by a letter of terrace, USU Housing is nearthe alphabet, starting with leting completion of a $40-million ter A and going through letter housing improvement project. R Jenson said these building The new six-building Living names will remain for the time and Learning Center, located being, but will likely one day be just west of the Taggart Student renamed after a contributing Center, was the main thrust of donor. themultimillion Building A dollar campus oftheLLCisthe housing improvecentral hub of ment project. A closer look at issues activity in the The LLC was student commuaffecting USU constructed to crenity, Jenson said. ate additional onOn the first floor, campus housing that would proresidents can pick up mail, watch vide a nicer housing option for videos in a large showroom students, USU Housing Executive complete with a drop-down proDirector Steve Jenson said. jection screen and commercial grade kitchen, or rent time in a "It certainly is the nicest conference room for school projoption we have available," Jenson ects, Jenson said. said. "It's something we're very proud of and can offer to Also on the first floor of students. It should be the nicBuilding A is a sample showroom est housing anywhere in the of what suites in the LLC look Intermountain West." like. The showroom is decorated Occupancy in the LLC is full by Bed, Bath & Beyond to give in all buildings with the exceppotential occupants a feel for tion of Building B, which will the suites in the other buildings, remain empty this year to use for Jenson said. The second floor university recruiting purposes, of Building A looks identical to Jenson said. the floors in buildings B-F, with BySETH R.HAWKINS //Depth three suites to the floor, which houses 24 students. Besides the three suites per floor, each floor is equipped with a laundry room with a trash shoot to the outside dumpster so students don't have to haul their trash outside in the cold weather, Jenson said. On the bottom floor of buildings B-F is a communal living room with a fireplace, flat screen television and a community kitchen. Atop the winding staircase leading from the communal living room is a study loft with tables and chairs and private study room off to the side that students can rent out for group projects, Jenson said. A suite in the LLC is comprised of two bathrooms and five bedrooms. The entrance to the suite opens to a living room that is fully furnished, as are all the rest of the rooms in the suite. A wood entertainment center with electrical outlets, Internet access ports and a DVD holder drawer fills one corner of the room, to provide residents with all the necessities they need, Jenson said. On either side of the shared living room are shared doors that lead to the bedrooms and bathrooms. On one side there are two private bedrooms and one shared [1 See HOUSING, page 3 Students, professors making switch from WebCT to Blackboard Vista Opinion "You're likely offended by my taking on so 'saintly7 a woman, let alone a dead one/' Almanac Today in History: On this day in 1972, at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, a group of Palestinian terrorists, called Black September, raided the Olympic Village aparment of the Israeli athletes, killing two and taking nine hostage. Weather High: 78 Low: 46 Skies: Showers and thunderstorms with 10 to 20 mph winds in the morning. and breaking news By ALISON BAUGH senior writer New students at USU may not notice a difference for online class work, but those who have used WebCT in the past notice the change to Blackboard Vista. WebCT was bought out by Blackboard, said Neal Legler of the instructional design department. This is a rebranded and revamped version, he said. While there are many similarities, there are differences which help to make the program more user-friendly and time-saving. This is a statewide program, and colleges all over the state are also switching over. More features are available with Blackboard such as chat and discussions which include a blog and journal tool. Faculty are allowed to preview and test what they put on the program. Legler also said it is easier for faculty to update their sites between semesters. "Like any software, things don't work as expected," Legler said, but users are able to report it to the Utah Education Network and get it fixed. The HELP Center manager, Steve B L A C K B O A R D VISTA OFFERS more than WebCT. Students and Funk, reported that more than 500 teachers can chat, participate in forums, and view class materials.Though a students have been helped in the past few bugs still have to be worked out, Neal Legler of the Instructional design month with Blackboard problems. department said the switch has been successful. NOELLE BERLAGE photo He said there have been three main issues students have needed help with: incompatible version of Java script, a need to reset banner pins and instructors telling them to change their pin and password. Students may have encountered difficulty uploading because their Java versions are newer and not compatible with Blackboard. A new version of Java has just been released, according to Funk, and this version will actually close down the browser the students are working in. While tutorials are available to help students fix this, Legler said there is going to be a hot fix done on Sunday to allow all versions to work with the program. Instructors have told some students to go in and change their password or pin through Blackboard, and Funk said this causes more trouble than it's worth. If students are interested in doing this, they should access their password or pin change through Banner. Problems have also been experienced where the only solution is to change the student's Banner account. While the problem that causes this isn't known, Funk said they are working on figuring it out, and for the time they will keep changing Banner pins to correct the issue. "I did try to download some- • [ 1 See BLACKBOARD, page 3 '*. |
