Atmospheric Sciences will no longer offer undergraduate major

Citing shrinking faculty and budget concerns, the UA Department of Atmospheric Sciences faculty will stop offering the atmospheric sciences undergraduate major.

While atmospheric sciences is ãdisestablishingä its major, current students who have declared atmospheric sciences as their major will be able to graduate, the graduate program will remain, and the department will continue offering general education courses and more Tier I and Tier II classes, said Steven Mullen, head of the department.

ãWe can put forth no new admissions,ä Mullen said.

Although current enrollment is up because more than 50 students are atmospheric science majors, many freshman and sophomores transfer out because they either didnât expect or didnât enjoy the applied physics, chemistry and other science requirements for the major. Mullen said the department graduates an average of seven students per year.

The decision to cut the major, based on decreasing numbers of faculty and the budget shortage, was made by the majority of faculty in the department. In 1997-98, the department had 12 faculty members. Now there are seven professors, but there are soon to be six, and in the past three years only one person has been hired.

The budget crisis has prevented the hiring of new faculty, Mullen said.

UA International students must now attend orientation

International students who will be attending UA for the first time in the fall semester now have to attend the International Student Orientation and Registration Program.

In an e-mail to UA deans, directors and department heads, Dale LaFleur, assistant director of International Student Programs and Services, said it is imperative for new international students to attend the mandatory orientations, one for undergraduates Aug. 16 to 21 and one for graduate students Aug. 14 to 15.

New international ndergraduate students should report to the Social Sciences building, Room 100, at 9 a.m. on Aug. 16.

Graduate students should report to room 120 of the Integrated Learning Center at 9 a.m., on Aug. 14.

LaFleur reminds international students they must obtain a Social Security number to work on campus, just like graduate assistants, at the program. The Social Security Administration has requested that international students not go directly to the SSA offices; instead, SSA employees will be available on the first day of each orientation.

For more information call 621-4627 or visit the International Student Programs and Services Web site at http://internationalstudents.arizona.edu.

UAâs KUAT receives 4 Emmy nominations

UA television station KUAT received four Rocky Mountain Emmy Award nominations, more than any other Tucson station.

The awards ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, June 29, at the Scottsdale Paradise Valley Doubletree Resort. Presented by the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the regional Emmys award television stations in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming.

ãKUAT is highly honored to be nominated for these prestigious awards,ä said Pamela Dickens, KUAT spokeswoman. ãWe are very pleased the high quality of our programs are recognized,ä she said.

ãArizona Illustratedä anchor and managing editor Bill Buckmaster was nominated in the program achievement category for the half-hour program ãAnthrax Anxiety: Fact and Fiction,ä which aired on KUAT in addition to KVOA, KGUN and KOLD on Oct. 18, 2001.

ãI was just so delighted, it felt so gratifying because it was a first for Tucson,ä Buckmaster said.

ãThe nomination was really gratifying because the Emmys are judged by our peers,ä he said.

Additionally, KUAT received nominations in the news achievement category for its program ãArizona Illustrated.ä Reporter Ted Robbins was nominated for ãCaged Birdsä which aired in April 2001, and Sooyeon Lee was nominated for ãGift of an Angel,ä which aired last August. Lee earned also earned a nomination for ãGift of an Angelä in the Program Achievement category.

The other Tucson stations nominated were KOLD, which had two nominations, and KVOA, which had one. Both stations were recognized for news achievement.

ãIt would be wonderful for a Tucson station to win because we are up against such big markets ÷ Phoenix a top 15 market (nationally) and Salt Lake City a top 20 market,ä Buckmaster said.

KUAT-TV is part of the KUAT Communications Group, a UA educational broadcast and production resource, that includes KUAT-FM and is an affiliate of Public Broadcasting Service.