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Show Page 3 StatesmanCampus News Wednesday. April 1,2009 PR students at USUget positioned to win By BECKA TURNER senior news writer Utah State will be hosting the first annual Utah Public Relations Conference April 13. The theme around which the day-long conference will be centered will be titled Position to Win, said Alyson Bauer, junior in public relations. This theme is based on providing winning situations for students and professionals by bringing them together to develop skills. "USU has decided to host this conference to give PR professionals and students the opportunity to come together for networking and for learning skills that will benefit them in the PR field," said Preston Parker, adviser of the USU Online: OCW in threat of extinction H continued from page 1 of quotations if such restrictions do exist, he said. USU OCW was started four years ago by David Wiley, who is now teaching at BYU, and Marion Jensen, who is still directing the program. It was originally funded by a grant through the Hewlett Foundation and later received an additional grant from the Mellon Foundation. Additionally, the program was granted a onetime funding by the Legislature to start OCW programs at the other six state-funded colleges and universities in Utah. With this coalition, called the Utah OpenCourseWare Alliance, more than 150 courses have been added, according to USU OCW information. Utah was the first state to use government funding to expand the OCW program, Jensen said. Other schools, including MIT, use only private funding, so the legislature s funding grant was somewhat of a landmark, he said. The OCW has many of the same goals as the original intent of Utah State University's landgrant history, USU President Stan Albrecht said in a statement on the Utah State OCW Web site, ocw.usu.edu. "In the tradition of land grant universities, Utah State University OpenCourseWare assures that no individual who is prepared and who desires the opportunity to advance his or her education is turned away," Albrecht stated. "As we enter the 21st century, services like OpenCourseWare will enable land grant institutions to more fully accomplish their missions." Most universities are just beginning to discover OpenCourseWare and become involved, Jensen said. *It's a growing movement all over the world and in the states, too," Jensen said, "and Utah State's always been a leader in that." Unfortunately, even though USU had a headstart and has excelled in the OCW program - coming in ahead of such schools as Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Notre Dame - Utah State may be coming to a screeching halt, Jensen said. The funding and grants USU OCW has received in previous years are running out, he said, and without finding new options, the program will shut down on July 1. "It s like we pulled a hamstring," he said. Shelton said he and Jensen are working to find new options of funding the program. "We've tried many different options to fund this and are still working on it," Shelton said. "We won't give up." The cost to put materials on the OCW site is very small when compared to the cost it already takes to prepare them for basic classroom use, Shelton said. The program has never been funded by any part of tuition, he said, so it is no burden to students to fund it. Shelton said the college of education, under which USU OCW falls, has been a great help in trying to figure out ways to sustain the program. "It is a bummer when you consider all the accolades and visibility this program gets," he chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). The skill that will be focused on at the conference and help students seeking careers in public relations and similar fields in communication, Bauer said. "A public relations person's main purpose is to communicate what the company or whoever they are working for is doing with the public," Bauer said. The conference is aimed at amplifying students skills to be successful in their future careers, Bauer said. "Especially with the struggling economy, we want PR students to hit the ground running after graduation and this conference is a great way to prepare them for what lies ahead," Parker said. The conference will have many events throughout the day with key speakers like Ronn Gunnell, PR worker for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as well as free Aggie Ice Cream, Bauer said. The conference caters to more than just journalism and communications students and invites all USU students to participate. "It will focus on all aspects of media - marketing, business/PR, communications;.it's for all USU students," she said. To learn more about the April 13 conference in the Eccles Science Learning Center, students are encouraged to visit www.usu.edu/prssa. ~beck.tuTher@aggiemail.usu.edu Come hell or high water, of sheets of snow, they will play ball STUDENTS HAVE BEEN PARTICIPATING IN THE ICE BOWL every week since October, almost without fail.Tim Ray, USU student and organizer of the Ice Bowl, said a group of people meet every Tuesday at 4 p.m. on the Quad to play, with some people traveling from as far as Ogden to participate. When asked how the group can stand playing in the freezing cold, USU stu- • dent Jake Bailey said. "We just like football that much." CAMERON PETERSON photos said. One of the biggest hurdles in trying to save the program is that few people on campus, or even Utah, know about it, Shelton said. Most of the traffic to the site comes from elsewhere, acting as the face of USU in places where other university programs can't reach, he said. Because of this, Jensen said, it also acts as a great recruitment tool. Jensen said prospective students Googling less common programs, such as instructional technology games, can find the OCW site in the first few results. This brings in students who wouldn't have normally considered Utah State, he said. Current students can also use OCW as a resource Thursday, March 26 • USU Police and Logan City Fire/Emergency Medical System (EMS) responded to a medical assist at Wasatch Hall. An individual with a history of seizures stood up from a seated position, started to have a seizure as he was walking across the room, hit his head on the wall and fell to the ground, his head landing on a couch. Upon EMS and police arrival the patient was conscious and breathing. The patient was transported by EMS to Logan Regional Hospital for further evaluation and care. • A faculty member called to report concerns over a student's reactions concerning a grade. No threats have been made but the faculty member is concerned about the behavior of the student. The student was contacted and advised of how to handle the situation. • USU Police assisted Logan Police at a dispute call just off campus. USU P6lice assisted by maintaining a perimeter of the house since the suspect decided to hide from police. Logan Police were able to locate the suspect and arrest him for assault. . Sunday,March22 . - • • • ' , . . T ,{•,, . • . • • v • USU Police responded to a fight in progress at the Aggie Village. When police arrived they located two males grappling with each other. One was extremely intoxicated and mostly incoherent and the other was trying to keep his intoxicated friend under control. The intoxicated male was transported to the hospital. . • • USU Police responded to Aggie Village for a report of two individuals fighting in an apartment. Upon arrival police learned that one individual had assaulted another during the altercation. The victim declined to press charges at this time. Police are investigating the incident. Friday, March 27 • • USU Police observed an odor of marijuana from a room in Rich Hall. Police served a search warrant for an apartment and located marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Police arrested one individual for the offertse. • • > • ".tv. • USO Police responded to Rich Hall for a &> report of some money that had been taken from a resident's room. Police are investigate Cornell University professor Donald Schlafer is coming to Utah State University to present a lecture, "Understanding Sick Placentas: Placentation, Placental Pathophysiology and Experimental Models of Placental Diseases," Thursday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. in the Merrill-Cazier Library, room 154. USU's Center for Integrated BioSystems hosts the free lecture and all are welcome. Schlafer is a professor of comparative obstetrical and gynecological pathology. His research deals with understanding the mechanisms through which placental diseases develop, and, in turn, how placental function and fetal well-being are affected. In recent years, he has investigated mechanisms responsible for the high rate of loss of cloned cattle associated with failed pregnancies. Collaboration between the Center for Integrated BioSystems, department of animal, dairy and veterinary sciences and the Institute for Antiviral Research, along with the College of Agriculture, provides support for guest speakers and this seminar series. Registrations are also being accepted for multiday, on-campus training programs in the areas of animal cell cultures, microbial fermentation, gene expression, downstream processing and bioinformatics. For more information on any of the programs, visit USU's Center for Integrated BioSystems Web site, www. biosystems.usu.edu/. Upcoming seminar speakers include Brian Gowen from USU's ADVS April 9 and Bradley Cairns from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute April 16. The seminars are held at 3:30 p.m. in Merrill-Cazier Library room 154. All are welcome. Junction hosts eating contest Wednesday, March 25 • USU Police observed two off-road fourwheelers being driven down 1200 East at approximately 11 p.m. The vehicles were stopped and the operators were cited for operating off-road vehicles on a street. Cornellprofto speak on cloned cowfertility first hot dog Saturday, March 2 1 • USU Police was contacted by the Sexual Assault and Anti Violence Information Office about an incident thaf occurred • between two USU students that were making threats to each other through text messaging. USU police met with one of the individuals who just wanted this incident documented. Campus & Community when trying to choose classes or even majors, Jensen said. Additionally, Jensen said if class information is on OCW, it will be there virtually forever, as opposed to WebCT whereon class materials are The Utah State University locked after the semester has passed. Dinning Services will host "It's a great resource to students," he said. the first annual hot dog eatShelton said he uses OCW in his classes for ing contest April 1, at noon, this reason. at the Junction located in All in all, Shelton said OCW is really the central campus next to the embodiment of education as a philosophy. With Valley View and Mountain OCW, people all over the world can be reached in View Towers. ways not otherwise possible, he said. "This is an eating contest -lisa.m.christensen@aggiemail.usu.edu for real Aggies," said Jamie Contact USU Police at 797-1939 for non-emergencies. Anonymous reporting line: 797-5000 EMERGENCY NUMBER: 911 PoliceBlotter Briefs - - > . • • USU Police responded to the University Computer Lab on a report that there were several people inside sleeping on the floor With pillows and blankets. Police made contact with the individuals, one of whom was a lab employee, who said He had permission from his supervisor to use the projector in the lab to watch movies after hours. ••&,.,; Bradford, USU QuickStop operations manager. "It is an opportunity to show your Aggie pride and eating abilities at the same time." Participants are encouraged to sign up early. Registration began March 27 at the Junction. "The first 10 students to sign up will participate in the five minute challenge," said Junction Customer Service Manager Lindsey Wiltshire. A second contest will then be hosted at noon, April 8, at the Quickstop located in the Taggart Student Center. The TSC event will be a Scotsman dog eating contest. "On the morning of the competition we will sign up the first 15 contestants," said Bradford. "We will be in the hallway right by the Quickstop so anyonei can .?.•,?• watch." :\U M$M The finale to the two ' *• •; contests will be*a combined,; hot dog Scotsman dog eat-^i ing contest April 22. also af* noon, on the TSC patio, ty The public is invited to -$$ attend all three H^| 0ffi^ri- [J Compiled by Rache! A. Christensen • . i .-.x-' * v - JMCompiled from staff i*M* and media reports |