Compiled by Melissa Prentice
Arizona Summer Wildcat
The Arizona Board of Regents decided at its May 26-27 meeting that the former IBM site on South Rita Road and Interstate 10 will serve as a temporary location for the new four-year college in Pima County if the property is acquired by the UA. Acquiring the site is estimated to cost about $100 million. UA officials have said they would like to use the 1,350-acre site as a research facility.
The board also agreed upon August 1995 as a target date for starting classes at the new four-year college, which will be independent from the UA. The new school is part of the board's plan to deal with an expected surge of about 55,000 new university students by the year 2010.
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The board unanimously approved phasing out the undergraduate program in Landscape Architecture and opening a second master's degree program in the field. Undergraduate classes will continue for four years so about 80 students currently enrolled in the program can finish their degrees. The undergraduate program lost its accreditation in 1990.
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The board also unanimously voted to name five faculty members Regents Professors, the highest faculty rank reserved for faculty members who have brought the school national or international distinction. Those honored were: Douglas Canfield, an English professor; Alvin Goldman, a philosophy professor; Margaret Kidwell, head of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department; Jay Nunamaker, head of the Management and Information Systems department; and Peter Strittmatter, head of the Steward Observatory. Each professor will receive an annual $5,000 salary increase and an additional $5,000 annually to be used to fund scholarly activities.
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A committee in the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences has revised its recommendations regarding the proposed phaseout of some departments. The committee previously recommended the elimination of the Journalism department and the graduate program in the Communication department, as well as a suspension of the graduate program in Near Eastern Studies.
The committee has revised its recommendations to spare the graduate program in communication and only suspend the new graduate admissions to the ancient archaeology portion of the Near Eastern Studies department. The Journalism department is still slated for elimination under the revised proposal.
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Gentle Ben's Brewing Co., UA's neighborhood restaurant and bar since 1971, is scheduled to be torn down next March to make room for a new 150-room hotel. The restaurant will be moved to a new location on the corner of University Boulevard and Tyndall Avenue, said Dennis Arnold, the owner and manager of Gentle Ben's.
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The men's golf team placed 14th out of 15 teams over the weekend in the NCAA Championships. Senior David Howser, who announced after the tournament that he will join the PGA Tour, finished 13th individually to lead the Wildcats. Ted Purdy finished in 54th place, Tim Beans and Gary Matthews tied for 60th place and Jason Gore finished in 75th place.
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Jody Pruitt, an assistant softball coach, has accepted a position at Glendale Ironwood High School and will be leaving the UA. Pruitt, who worked with pitchers and catchers during the 1994 season, will teach physical education and coach junior-varsity softball and freshman volleyball at Ironwood. Pruitt was an All-American catcher twice during her 1990-93 career on the UA softball team.
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Two UA undergraduates will be among 13 students participating in ten-week astronomy research internships at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Heather Thompson, an astronomy and physics senior, will study x-ray images of galaxies for evidence that the halo of hot gas surrounding some star clusters is cooling off. Travis Metcalfe, also an astronomy and physics senior, will be part of a team using spectroscopes to identify stars that may have planetary systems.
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Ivan Rijos Guzman, a guitar graduate student, won the 1994 Pro Musicis International Award, an honor awarded each year to outstanding musicians in the United States and Europe. Guzman was the only one of 120 applicants on this side of the Atlantic Ocean to receive the award. During the next few years, Guzman will perform in major concert halls around the world. His first concert will be April 1 at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall.
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Two former Arizona Daily Wildcat editors recently won scholarships from the Arizona Press Club. The $1,500 scholarship awarded to Beth Silver and the $1,000 scholarship awarded to Alexa Haussler were in memory of Charles Thornton, a medical writer for the Arizona Republic who was killed while on assignment in Afghanistan.
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Four students from the College of Business and Public Administration were awarded $1,000 scholarships from the Southern Arizona Mortgage Bankers Association. Maria Aguirre, Russell Eickhoff, Jialan Guo and Troy Zitko received their awards at a banquet held in their honor.
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College of Medicine students will now be able to complete their clinical training in Phoenix during their third and fourth years. Psychiatry and surgery programs, two of seven required third-year programs, have now been established in Phoenix, making it possible to complete all seven programs in Phoenix-area hospitals. All medical students will still complete the first two "basic science" years at the UA.
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The College of Medicine has received a $1.2 million grant for cancer research from the National Institute of Health and the National Cancer Institute. The grant renews the funding of the Cytogenetic Oncology Program project that has conducted research on the chromosome-level causes of tumors for the past eight years.
The College of Medicine also received a $1.78 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to fund a colon cancer prevention program.
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A UA scientist in the Arizona Research Laboratories Neurobiology Division was honored as an "outstanding and emerging leader in olfaction research." Thomas Christensen's research on the ability to smell involved studying how the nervous system of insects responds to external stimuli. Christensen received the Kenji Nakanishi Award from the Takasago Corp. of Japan.
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Karen Husted, an assistant theatre arts professor, will be inducted into the Educational Theatre Association Hall of Fame at its annual convention August 4 in San Francisco. Husted will receive a plaque and her name will be added to the permanent Hall of Fame plaque. She is being honored for making a significant commitment to theater education.
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Provost Paul Sypherd announced he will work with Kenneth Smith, vice provost for professional programs and dean of the College of Business and Public Administration, to establish an institutional plan for the university for the next decade.
Smith will continue his position representing the Architecture, Education, BPA and Law colleges in President Manuel Pacheco's cabinet and will take a one-year leave of absence from the College of Business and Public Administration. Sypherd appointed Michael Gottfredson, acting director of the School of Public Administration and Policy, to serve as acting dean of the BPA College.
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Pamela Perry, the director of Business and Public Administration undergraduate programs, has been promoted to assistant dean of BPA undergraduate programs.
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Kenneth Foster, director of the Performing Arts Center at Pennsylvania State University, has been named the new director of the Office of Cultural Affairs. Foster replaces A. Alexandra Jupin, who resigned last fall to accept a position as the executive director of a performing arts center in Sarasota, Fla.
The Arizona Students' Association, a statewide student lobbying group, hired Paul Allvin as its new executive director. Allvin, a former editor in chief of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, previously served as the ASA public-affairs director and a UA delegate to the ASA. He replaces Patrick McWhortor, who resigned in March for personal reasons.
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Dorothy Payne, director of the School of Music, will be leaving the university in July to become the dean of the University of South Carolina's music school. Payne has been the UA music school's director since 1992. Previously, Payne was the head of the Music department at the University of Connecticut.
Gary Cook, a music professor who joined the UA faculty in 1975, has been named interim director. Elizabeth Ervin, an associate music professor, has been named interim associate director.
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According to a recent Board of Regents' study, 39 Student Union employees who were classified as temporary seasonal employees did not receive health care and other benefits owed them in 1992-93. Although these employees were classified as working less than 20 hours per week, they actually worked more than that for more than six months, making them eligible for the benefits. Many of these employees also qualified for, but did not receive, retirement benefits.
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UA President Manuel Pacheco announced the university will try another "holiday shutdown," which will close the university from Friday, December 23, 1994 through Monday, January 2, 1995. Closing most of the campus over last year's winter break saved the UA about $110,000, significantly less than expected. Information about ways for employees to make up lost working hours will be provided later.
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All state employees, including all university employees, are required by Arizona law to receive training about the laws and policies relating to the proper conduct of public business by September 30. So, attorneys from the three state universities have created a video to be used in the training that must be viewed by all university employees.
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University Animal Care is conducting a search for an associate director for the Animal Care and Use program. Candidates must have a doctorate in veterinary medicine or an equivalent degree, knowledge of current laws and regulations that apply to animal research and strong organizational and interpersonal skills. Applicants should send a resume, statement of interest and three references to University Animal Care Director Susan E. Wilson-Sanders.
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The Media Arts department announced it is seeking someone with a bachelor's degree in media arts to work in the media arts production lab during the 1994-95 academic year. Duties would include supervising and training students and handling lab equipment. Applicants should have experience coordinating equipment and staff, training students and conducting routine maintenance, troubleshooting and minor repairs of media production equipment. Applicants should send a letter of application, resume and three references to Arlene Starr, Department of Media Arts.