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Print Edition PDF: 2/24/11
By The Collegian | February 24, 2011Click here to download the February 24, 2011, full PDF edition of The Collegian.
Click here to download the February 24, 2011, full PDF edition of The Collegian.
Two University of Richmond chemistry professors have received more than $200,000 in grant money to fund their research projects this year. Chemistry professor Kristine Nolin received $10,000 from the Thomas F.
Graduating international students hoping to work in the United States have 90 days after graduation to land jobs before their visas fall out of status. But with the option of extending their visas, this does not mean they have to go home, and it does not mean deportation. Krittika Onsanit, director of international studies at the University of Richmond, said there were 243 international students currently enrolled at Richmond, 36 of whom were graduating in May. A good portion of the graduating international students will be attending American graduate schools, Onsanit said, and weren't dealing with the urgency of having to find jobs. As long as a foreign student remains enrolled in school, he or she lives under the standards of a student visa, which won't expire until that person is finished with his or her education. Roux Dionissieva, a senior from Bulgaria, is hoping to find a marketing and advertising job near Richmond. Although Dionissieva knows returning to Bulgaria is a possibility if she does not find work, she said she was not that worried because she could apply for an OPT (Optional Practical Training). An OPT is an online form for international students wanting to extend their visas for another year. In the unfortunate circumstance that an international student does not find a job three months after graduation, he or she can apply for an OPT instead of returning home. "I definitely won't be deported, that sounds too serious," Dionissieva said.
The media coverage of recent events in Cairo was unprecedented in the history of world revolutions, said Sheila Carapico, political science professor at the University of Richmond who is currently on sabbatical in Cairo. Carapico published an article in Foreign Policy magazine about her "ring-side seat" to the massive protests against the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak starting in January. "Never before have foreign television crews perched on balconies of high-rise buildings overlooking the center of the action given the world continuous real-time panoptic on images of such momentous upheaval," she wrote. Teaching at the American University in Cairo, Carapico has lost most of her American students that were studying abroad, she said, because they were forced to evacuate the country by their home university during the protests. Carapico had seen some American news coverage on the growing tensions in Egypt when she was home in January, but her first big news of the revolution came from Facebook, she said. Circulating through Facebook was a video of a mother whose son had been beaten so badly in a police station that he was killed, she said. The four-minute video showed the woman pleading in Arabic for people to protest on Jan.
Theft Feb. 14, 3:54 p.m. A university staff member's IBM ThinkPad, valued at $1,200, was stolen from Gottwald Center for the Sciences. Feb.
"Faces of Communism," a student-filmed documentary featuring first-person accounts of Bulgarians' memories of communism, will be shown at 4 p.m.
F.W. de Klerk, former President of South Africa, spoke at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a sold out Jepson Alumni Center. His speech, "The Challenge of the Century: Leading Change and Diverse Societies," discussed the important lessons of negotiation, management of change and leadership that led to the peaceful end of apartheid, according to the Jepson website. De Klerk currently leads The Global Leadership Foundation, an organization that is "near and dear to his heart," said Theo C.
Click here to download the February 17, 2011, full PDF edition of The Collegian.
It is that time of year again when seniors are putting last-minute touches on their plans for life after graduation. "I applied to eight schools all across the country," said Bryn Allen, who is going to the Medical University of South Carolina's College of Dental Medicine for the next four years.
The Office of Alumni and Career Services, formerly known as the Career Development Center and the Office of Alumni Relations, is currently working on a strategic plan to further enhance its services for students and alumni with support from President Edward Ayers, said Joe Testani, associate director of the Office of Alumni and Career Services. The Career Development Center and the Office of Alumni Relations merged into the Office of Alumni and Career Services last July.
A recent outbreak of pink eye on campus has the University of Richmond's health center staff preaching one thing: Wash your hands. Because pink eye, or conjunctivitis as it is formally called, is spread through a virus lurking on railings and computers throughout campus, washing hands and keeping them away from eyes is crucial in preventing the spread of the infection, said Sarah Fisher, nurse supervisor at the health center.
A male-only Living and Learning community scheduled to start next fall for first-year students interested in business has ignited controversy with some women in the Robins School of Business. The program, called "R" Business, is designed to help students develop necessary business skills through interactive programs, lectures and events, according to a statement released by Patrick Benner, associate dean for student life. "Participants of the program will not only live together with other motivated business-minded students, but will have the advantage of direct connection to members of the Robins School faculty," Benner said. The program is not connected to an academic course, however, like the Sophomore Scholars in Residence programs in Lakeview and Freeman halls.
The University of Richmond's Campus Activities Board will sponsor an 18-hole miniature golf tournament in the Forum on April 1 to raise money for Camp Kesem, a summer camp for children with parents who have, or have had, cancer. There are 24 Camp Kesem sites across America, but Richmond hosts its week-long camp in Goochland, Va., in August.
Contact opinion assistant Kristy Burkhardt at kristy.burkhardt@richmond.edu
Vandalism Feb. 8, 12:08 p.m. A rear window, valued at $10, was damaged. A door mat was vandalized with the word "risk" in the 1600 block of the University Forest Apartments. Feb.
Students from the T.C. Williams School of Law and undergraduate students are taking to the streets. Street Law is a program sponsored by the law school that teaches elementary, middle and high school students how the legal system works in their everyday lives. Tom Liu, a second-year law student, is the current president of Street Law. He said the students involved in the program travel to three different sites within the community, the North Richmond YMCA, the Tuckahoe Family YMCA and the Friends Center, to educate youth about the legal system, focusing on their rights and responsibilities. "The program is also meant to empower [youth] when they feel those rights are being violated," he said.
Approximately 100 volunteers will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19 in the Alice Haynes Commons, and by the time three hours are up, will have packaged 20,000 balanced, nutritional meals through the Stop Hunger Now organization. "It's kind of a mad house, a big assembly line of people putting together bags of food," said Robert Maddux, adjunct professor of management. Maddux brought the Stop Hunger Now initiative to Richmond last semester, after deciding to pursue a meal-packaging effort for severely underprivileged children at a school in Orissa, India. Adrienne Piazza, coordinator of student development and educational programs for the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, has helped Maddux garner support for the program from faculty, staff and students. "We have actually reached our goal of $5,000," Piazza said.
The University of Richmond's debate team has put its mission to save the program on hold in order to prepare for competitions this semester, team member Travis Henschen said. Next year, the department-affiliated policy debate program will become a student club and lose much of its funding, according to the Richmond website.
Skin-on-skin writhing and Italian subtitles heated up the projection screen in the International Commons on Feb.
Representatives from the athletic department at the University of Richmond plan to move the student fan section of the Robins Stadium to the opposite end zone and change the game day atmosphere in the process. After evaluating turnouts from the first season of on-campus football games, the biggest change to be implemented was the location and size of student seating, said Jana Ross, assistant athletic director for marketing and fan development.