LOCAL NEWS THURSDAY April 4, 2002 An Inside Look: ■ News ............................................3 ■ A & E ............................................7 ■ Sports ........................................16 The Student Newspaper of The University of Texas-Pan American Page 8 Page 8 ■ MCALLEN— Gearing up for his U.S. Senate run-off against Victor Morales April 9, Ron Kirk received some needed support by way of endorsements of two Hispanic labor associations Tuesday. Both the Hispanic Contractors Association de Tejas and the Texas Association of Hispanic Firefighters gave their nods to Kirk, who traveled to McAllen to accept the endorsements. Kirk, former mayor of Dallas, used promises to support legislation which promotes fair work standards to secure endorsements from other groups, including the United Farm Workers, in addition to local politicians. Although Morales fared well in Hidalgo County by earning over 50 percent of the vote in the March 12 Democratic Primary, local Democrats feel Kirk will have a stronger showing in a run-off election. Tuesday’s appearance marks the seventh time Kirk has visited the Valley area. The run-off is a result of no one candidate receiving the majority of the vote in the primary. Page 4 Campus VOICE Should the US be directly involved in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict? Mary Zuviri/The Pan American BALLOTS — Junior Billy Gonzalez casts his vote in the Student Government Association elections Wednesday as Junior Kenhya Longoria looks on. Voting took place Tuesday and Wednesday. ■ Daylight-Saving Time begins April 7. Don’t forget to set clocks forward one hour. REMINDER The recent rise in enrollment at the University of Texas-Pan American and the growth expected to take place in the next 10-to-15 years has increased the demand for new degree programs across campus. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is one of six colleges at UTPA with plans for new programs. Homer Garcia, dean of CSBS, said plans for a new doctoral program is just a few stages from becoming reality. Other plans for new graduate pro- grams are on the drawing board and in the very early stages. Garcia said at the top of the college’s agenda is the creation of a doctorate in clin- ical psychology. “We’re in stage three of five,” Garcia said. “We need to get permission from the council of deans to further research this project.” Garcia said it is the university’s responsi- bility to recognize the growing population in the region, and implement new programs to better serve the Valley. “We have done studies to what extent clinical psychology would serve the Valley,” Garcia said. “The Valley is underserved in this area. We’re in great need of therapists and child psychologists.” Garcia said one of the biggest catalysts in spearheading this new program is psycholo- gy department chairman Etzel Cardena. “Etzel [Cardena] has done a splendid job,” Garcia said. Garcia reiterated that right now the CSBS is in the third stage of the full proposal. “We have to put a curriculum together,” Garcia said. “We have to estimate costs con- figured in terms of staffing.” Garcia said a completed proposal should be ready and presented to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for their approval by June. “We know there is a need,” Garcia said. “We’re hiring psychologists to teach gradu- ate and undergraduate classes, but will even- tually become Ph.D. professors.” Garcia said once the THECB grants the By Eladio Jaimez The Pan American CSBS adding new degrees University of Texas-Pan American officials are hoping to announce a new Student Government Association president by Friday. “We should have the results of the election by week’s end,” said Dana Garza, coordina- tor of student development. UTPA students exercised their right to elect student representatives Tuesday and Wednesday. Although results of the SGA elections were not available at press time, student voter turnout was good, according to Garza. “Last year, around 500 students voted,” Garza said. “But [Tuesday] alone about 600 students voted.” Garza attributes increased voter turnout to a number of factors, and feels that student participation in the SGA process makes a dif- ference for both the university and for stu- dents. “We encourage people to get involved on campus,” Garza said. “We went to several student organization meetings to get the word out, and we encouraged more students to run for office or to vote. Everyone on campus is really involved now.” An increased number of candidates may have also played a role in improved student participation. According to Garza, 13 candi- dates ran for senate positions this year, com- pared to just four in last year’s elections. In the presidential race, UTPA students had four president and vice president tickets to choose from, compared to just two tickets last year. One of four candidates will replace current president Zeke Moya. Junior William By Matt Lynch The Pan American SGA election results wait for final vote tabulations See SGA page 5 UTPA: Vision of Success FOURTH IN A CONTINUING SERIES See NEW PROGRAMS page 6 The ROAD less TRAVELED
April 4, 2002
Apr 07, 2016
volume 58 number 23
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
LOCAL NEWS
THURSDAYApril 4, 2002
An Inside Look:
■ News ............................................3■ A & E............................................7■ Sports ........................................16
T h e S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f T e x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n
Page 8Page 8
■ MCALLEN— Gearingup for his U.S. Senaterun-off against VictorMorales April 9, RonKirk received someneeded suppor t by wayof endorsements of twoHispanic laborassociations Tuesday.Both the HispanicContractors Associationde Tejas and the TexasAssociation of HispanicFirefighters gave theirnods to Kirk, whotraveled to McAllen toaccept theendorsements. Kirk,former mayor of Dallas,used promises tosuppor t legislationwhich promotes fairwork standards tosecure endorsementsfrom other groups,including the UnitedFarm Workers, inaddition to localpoliticians. AlthoughMorales fared well inHidalgo Count y byearning over 50 percentof the vote in the March12 Democratic Primary,local Democrats feelKirk will have a strongershowing in a run-offelection. Tuesday’sappearance marks theseventh time Kirk hasvisited the Valley area.The run-off is a result ofno one candidatereceiving the majorit y ofthe vote in the primary.
Page 4
CCaammppuussVOICEShould the
US bedirectly
involved inthe Israeli-Palestinianconflict?
Mary Zuviri/The Pan American
BALLOTS — Junior Billy Gonzalez casts his vote in the Student Government Association electionsWednesday as Junior Kenhya Longoria looks on. Voting took place Tuesday and Wednesday.
■ Daylight-Saving Timebegins April 7. Don’t forgetto set clocks forward onehour.
REMINDER
The recent rise in enrollment at theUniversity of Texas-Pan American and thegrowth expected to take place in the next10-to-15 years has increased the demand fornew degree programs across campus.
The College of Social and BehavioralSciences is one of six colleges at UTPA withplans for new programs. Homer Garcia,dean of CSBS, said plans for a new doctoralprogram is just a few stages from becomingreality. Other plans for new graduate pro-grams are on the drawing board and in thevery early stages.
Garcia said at the top of the college’sagenda is the creation of a doctorate in clin-ical psychology.
“We’re in stage three of five,” Garciasaid. “We need to get permission from thecouncil of deans to further research thisproject.”
Garcia said it is the university’s responsi-bility to recognize the growing population inthe region, and implement new programs tobetter serve the Valley.
“We have done studies to what extentclinical psychology would serve the Valley,”Garcia said. “The Valley is underserved inthis area. We’re in great need of therapistsand child psychologists.”
Garcia said one of the biggest catalysts inspearheading this new program is psycholo-gy department chairman Etzel Cardena.
“Etzel [Cardena] has done a splendid job,”Garcia said.
Garcia reiterated that right now the CSBSis in the third stage of the full proposal.
“We have to put a curriculum together,”Garcia said. “We have to estimate costs con-figured in terms of staffing.”
Garcia said a completed proposal shouldbe ready and presented to the Texas HigherEducation Coordinating Board for theirapproval by June.
“We know there is a need,” Garcia said.“We’re hiring psychologists to teach gradu-ate and undergraduate classes, but will even-tually become Ph.D. professors.”
Garcia said once the THECB grants the
By Eladio JaimezThe Pan American
CSBS addingnew degrees
University of Texas-Pan American officialsare hoping to announce a new StudentGovernment Association president by Friday.
“We should have the results of the electionby week’s end,” said Dana Garza, coordina-tor of student development.
UTPA students exercised their right to electstudent representatives Tuesday andWednesday. Although results of the SGAelections were not available at press time,student voter turnout was good, according toGarza.
“Last year, around 500 students voted,”Garza said. “But [Tuesday] alone about 600students voted.”
Garza attributes increased voter turnout toa number of factors, and feels that student
participation in the SGA process makes a dif-ference for both the university and for stu-dents.
“We encourage people to get involved oncampus,” Garza said. “We went to severalstudent organization meetings to get the wordout, and we encouraged more students to runfor office or to vote. Everyone on campus isreally involved now.”
An increased number of candidates mayhave also played a role in improved studentparticipation. According to Garza, 13 candi-dates ran for senate positions this year, com-pared to just four in last year’s elections. Inthe presidential race, UTPA students had fourpresident and vice president tickets to choosefrom, compared to just two tickets last year.
One of four candidates will replace currentpresident Zeke Moya. Junior William
By Matt LynchThe Pan American
SGA election results waitfor final vote tabulations
See SGA page 5
UTPA: Vision of SuccessFOURTH IN A CONTINUING SERIES
See NEW PROGRAMS page 6
TheROAD lessTTRRAAVVEELLEEDD
JORDAN GROUNDED:The Washington Wizardsplaced Michael Jordan onthe injured list Wednesdayand the future Hall ofFamer said he was donefor the season. Jordandecided to sit out the restof the season follwing his lowest scoringgame ever Tuesday nightagainst the Lakers. Jordanwoke up the next day witha swollen right knee andsaid enough was enough.Jordan averaged 22.9points per game, the low-est average in his career. Inhis second season with theChicago Bulls (1985-86),he averaged 22.7 ppg inonly 18 games. The 39-year old said he would playnext year once again if heis able.
NBA
NFL
PARK IT IN HOUSTON:Everybody in the NFL knewit. Anybody who follows theNFL knew it. The HoustonTexans knew it. The expansion team confirmedwhat everyone alreadyknew. They’ll make FresnoState quar terback DavidCarr their number one pickin the upcoming NFL draft.In 37 games with FSU,Carr completed 62.8 per-cent of his passes for7,849 yards. He complet-ed 70 touchdowns and had23 interceptions. As astar ter, Carr compiled an18-8 record, including thepostseason.
SPORTS■ Sports Clipboard. . . . . ..15
■ Bronc Baseball . . . . . . .15
PAGE 16
In the past, the University ofTexas-Pan American has builtathletic programs that haveopened many doors for athletesas well as the university. But onedoor that remains closed is anorganized soccer team.
Student athletes played soccerat UTPA for 28 years before theprogram was axed in 1998. Theprogram was abolished in searchof equity in the gender represen-tation in sports at UTPA. Therewas one more male sport thanfemale, so soccer was cut fromintercollegiate competition atUTPA, according to vice presi-dent for business affairs MarkSaenz.
The program had its share ofdominant players during its time.Efren Lopez played four yearswith the Broncs in the 1980s. Inthe early 1990s, Mario Ribera ofSanta Cruz, Bolivia scored 29goals, a single-season Sun BeltConference record, in his fresh-man year for UTPA. Salvador
Garcia ofBrownsvilleHanna, whomany consid-er one of thebest highschool soccerplayers inValley histo-ry, alsoplayed fourstrong seasons for the squad.
At what used to be PanAmerican College, the soccerprogram began as a club organ-ized by students in 1970.
Bronc soccer reached theDivision I level when the teamjoined the Sun Belt Conferencein 1991. From then until 1998,conference opponents includedVanderbilt, Western Kentucky,Jacksonville, and South Alabama.
Dr. Miguel Paredes, the lastsoccer coach (1995-98), has fondmemories of his teams.
“It was an interesting period oftime,” said Paredes, now a math-ematics professor at UTPA. “Itwas a combination of academicsand soccer. I thought I was
doing something important interms of taking good care ofthem [players]...I have greatmemories of all of them, andthey were great guys.”
Among those old players, manyspoke of the benefits of the for-mer program.
Former UTPA player HectorLopez is disappointed in the uni-versity’s lack of a soccer team.
“I feel that kids in high schooldon’t have anywhere to go aftergraduation,” Lopez said. “Rightnow, you would have to be a verygood player so that scouts fromother universities can watch youplay.”
Lopez played for UTPA from1992-96 and feels it’s unfortunate
that Valley players are not able tocompete locally at the collegiatelevel.
“I feel bad and I started think-ing of all those kids that don’thave the money to go anywhere,”Lopez said.
Athletic Director WilliamWeidner realizes the popularityof soccer in the area, not to men-tion internationally, but feels nowis not the time for the re-forma-tion of a soccer program atUTPA.
“Right now, in terms of anyparticular sport, we have 14Division I programs, and ourimmediate goal is to reinforcethose programs so that they can
Anna Stowra/The Pan American
See SOCCER page 14
Field of past dreamsA former player and coachreminisce about the dayswhen UTPA had a soccer program. Now both ponder why the Bronc athletic department hasn’ttaken advantage of aresurgent interest in thesport throughou the country, especially in the predominantly Hispanic-populated Valley,and made an effort toreestablish the soccer program.
WHERE’S THE GOAL?: TheField once used by the UTPA soc-cer team now stands useless, sur-rounded by the track used by stu-dents and the Bronc track team.UTPA fielded a soccer programfor 28 years until 1998 when theprogram yielded to gender equity.
By Mike GonzalezThe Pan American
“And down the stretch they come.”ABC sportscaster Al Michaels excites
thoroughbred racing fans everywherewith that simple phrase every summer.Those same six words could also be usedto describe the days preceeding ElectionDay.
Run-off elections take place April 9,but candidates in Hidalgo County havebeen preparing for the photo finish sinceMarch 13, the day after the primary elec-tions.
Incumbent Eloy Pulido and Edinburgattorney Ramon Garcia are vying for theHidalgo County Judge seat and bothagree intense campaigning has been nec-essary in the last three weeks.
Pulido said his campaign has run a fewmore television and radio ads, but hasspent only $8,000 during the runoffstretch. Pulido said his campaign hasspent approximately $360,000 to date.The annual salary of the Hidalgo CountyJudge is $72,000.
“Ramon [Garcia] easily has spent over$1 million,” said Pulido, who added thathe believes his past four years in officewill will make the difference in theminds of voters come Tuesday.
“We’re telling people ‘this is whatwe’ve done,’” Pulido said. “We have aplatform people can reflect on.”
Despite Pulido’s claims that residentsof Hidalgo County are content with theway the county is being run, Garcia saidcounty residents are ready for change.
We’re pushing for change, sixty-fivepercent of the voters already said theywanted change,” said Garcia, in refer-ence to the percentage of votes in favor
of Garcia and Ricardo Perez in the pri-maries.
“Since Judge Pulido has been judge,taxes have gone up every year,” Garciasaid. “It’s gone up 32 percent, and ourtaxes are actually higher than in placeslike Dallas, Austin, Houston, or ElPaso.”
Garcia stressed that a serious financialproblem is affecting the county, andsomething needs to done.
“We don’t have control over ourspending problems,” Garcia said. “Weneed to go back to basics. We have to seewhat we have to work with.”
However, Pulido stands by his recordand hopes his experience as a judge willbe key on Tuesday.
“We’ve done a good job in the lastthree years,” Pulido said.
Pulido said Garcia’s record should alsohelp him win the race. Pulido said Garciamay have burned a few too many bridgesthrough his lawsuits against hospitalsand businesses in the county.
“The medical community knows whothe biggest enemy is,” Pulido said. “He[Garcia] has 55 lawsuits against McAllenMedical Center alone, and three to fourhundred against doctors for malpractice.”
Valley doctors have scheduled a walk-out April 8 in protest of what they con-sider lawsuit abuse in the area which isdriving up insurance costs.
Meanwhile, Garcia said Pulido’s majorcontributors are lawyers.
“A substantial amount of my support-ers are business people,” Garcia said.
Pulido believes he can come out of therunoff victorious, but it’ll be toughbecause of Garcia’s deep pockets.
“This will be a close race becausewe’re fighting against big money,” saidPulido said, who noted that Garcia rentedover 40 vehicles used by “politiqueros,”to transport people to the polls.
“Some people are working with themon a full-time basis,” Pulido said.
Both candidates agreed getting theword out is expensive. Pulido said mostof the money he’s spent on the campaignhas come from contributors.
“If I had $350,000, I’d never spend iton running for judge,” Pulido said.
Garcia said money was not the decid-ing factor in this race and reiterated thatpeople were ready for change.
“We have to evaluate every countyposition and bring people to the tablethat need to be there,” Garcia said.
He mentioned that several county offi-cials have been vocal about opposingPulido, including the county sheriff andcounty commissioners of precincts oneand three, who decided to back Garcia.
Pulido said he can’t take the decisionmade by commissioners Sylvia Handyand Joe Flores personally. He said that ifhe wins things will continue to run asbefore.
“It’s politics,” Pulido said. “From whatI’ve heard [La Joya mayor] Billy Leoasked Joe [Flores] to vote for Garcia.Sylvia was supporting me, but then sheswitched over, but in politics you’realways cutting deals.”
1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539(956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122
http://www.panam.edu/dept/panamerican50th Year – No. 23
EditorMatt Lynch
Layout Designers
Gabriel Hernandez
Celeste Y. Tello
Reporters
Blake Daniels
Jaime Garcia Jr.
Mike Gonzalez
Elizabeth Martinez
Linda Martinez
Nikki Ramirez
Belinda Reyes
Cesar Trevino
Photographers
Anna Stwora
Mary Zuviri
Advertising
Dagoberto Perez
Circulation
Jesus M. Gonzalez
Advertising Coordinator
Juanita Sanchez
Adviser
Greg Selber
the PAN AMERICAN is theofficial studentnewspaper of TheUniversity ofTexas-PanAmerican. Views presentedare those of thewriters and do notnecessarily reflectthose of theuniversity.
The Pan Americangladly acceptsletters fromstudents, staff andfaculty regardingnewspaper contentor current issues.The Pan Americanreserves the rightto edit submissionsfor grammar andlength. Please limitsubmission lengthto 300 words. ThePan Americancannot publishanonymous letters,or submissionscontaining hatespeech orgratuitouspersonal attacks.Letters are printedat the discretion ofthe editor andmust include thewriter’s name,class/title andphone number.
Letters policy
April 42 0 0 2
Readers with dis-abilities mayrequest an alter-native format ofthis publicationat The PanAmerican busi-ness office. For special assis-tance to attendany event listedin this publica-tion, contact thecoordinator of theevent at least oneweek prior to theadvertised date.
Sports EditorEladio Jaimez
Celebrating 50 years
A & E EditorAshley Brooks
News EditorCristina [email protected]
Copy EditorMelissa
NEWSPAGE 2
ELECTION HEATING UP: By Eladio JaimezThe Pan American
Border bulletin Frontera fills in cracksThere have never been as many news out-
lets as there are today, ranging from cabletelevision to the Internet, to more traditionalmedia such as newspapers. On-line infor-mation sources have proliferated since1995, recognized as the year that theInternet came of age, as its use increased 37percent.
For those seeking information about theborder region that may not be found indetail in mainstream media, Greg Bloomhas a solution. Bloom is the editor ofFrontera NorteSur, a news service availableonline for no charge.
What started out as a newsletter nineyears ago has blossomed into a subscriptionservice with over 1,500 readers, one-third ofwhom are in Mexico.
“It went online in 1996,” said Bloom,whose service emanates from New Mexico
State University and acts as an outreachprogram for the Center for Latin Americanand Border Studies at the Las CrucesUniversity.
“This allowed us to reach more peopleand save money on mailing costs which wecan spend on traveling the border and pro-ducing original news."
When Bloom took over the FNS in 1997,the coverage area was limited to Paso delNorte (El Paso and Juarez), but he expandedthe reach to the entire 2,000-mile length ofthe border connecting Mexico and theUnited States.
The service now focuses on a handful ofpopulated areas from California to Texas,including Reynosa/McAllen and Rio Bravoand Matamoros/Brownsville. But it alsoattempts to report news from lightly popu-lated areas as it arises.
“About one-third of the readers are pro-fessors and graduate students,” Bloom said.
“One-third are in government and anotherthird in the private sector.”
He added that a number of professorshave also begun to integrate the daily read-ing of FNS into their border or developmentclasses.
One of the recent FNS stories was anupdate on the death of a rape-murder sus-pect after a police chase near Cuidad Juarez,which happened Feb. 5.
The site tries to plumb the depths of bor-der events, and usually gives more indepthcoverage than the average news consumercan get through national or even local chan-nels of information.
The site added photography in 2000 andall stories are archived for easy reference.Bloom hopes to install a better searchengine soon, to aid those doing research onborder issues.
To see the site or subscribe for free, go to:http://frontera.nmsu.edu.
The Pan American Staff
County judge race enters homestretch,Pulido and Garcia run neck and neck
Graphics EditorGabriel O.Hernandez
By the numbersApril 4, 2002 sports Page 15
Kreuser honoredEDINBURG– It’s been over a month and the basketball honors still keep coming. However,
this one isn’t coming the men’s way. The Lady Broncs’ Kelli Kreuser was named to the first team All-Independent squad and
named Newcomer of the Year for the 2001-2002 season.Kreuser was chosen by head coaches and sports information directors at the nine Division I
independent schools.Kreuser averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game this season.
The Bettendorf, Iowa native started all 28 games and averaged more than 37 minutes a game. Kreuser made 72.7 percent of her free throws and and scored in double figures 23 times,
including each of the last 20 games.
Chatman recognized thriceEDINBURG–He’s not done yet. Senior UTPA guard Mire Chatman continues to garner
award after award after award. Even six weeks after the season ended.Chatman was named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year yesterday by
coaches and sports information directors of the Division I independent schools, in addition tobeing named to the first team All-Independent. Chatman ranked third in Division I in scoring(26.2 points per game) and steals (3.6 per game) this season.
UTPA head coach Bob Hoffman was named Coach of the Year, in his third season at UTPA.Hoffman led the Broncs to their best season in 12 years, posting a 20-10 record, winning thechampionship of the San Juan Shootout, and receiving consideration for a berth in the NationalInvitational Tournament.
Senior center Marcus Quinn was also named first team All-Independent. Quinn was UTPA’sleading rebounder, averaging 7.2 rebounds per game, and their second leading scorer, averaging12.5 points per game.
Junior guard Kevin Mitchell made the second team. Mitchell led UTPA by averaging fiveassists per game. He was the quarterback of the Broncs’ high-powered offense that ranked 24nationally in scoring (79.6 points per game) and 21 nationally in field goal percentage (47.7 percent).
SPORTS CLIPBOARD BASEBALL
BRONC LEADERS
Batting Average
Juan Saenz .435
Matt Eichel .344
Matt Sisk .324
Adam Farek .304
Tony Ortiz .258
Homeruns
Matt Eichel 2
Matt Sisk 2
Jarrad Maddox 1
Sean Flynn 1
Tony Ortiz 1
RBI
Matt Sisk 17
Matt Eichel 9
Jarrad Maddox 8
Tony Ortiz 8
Sean Flynn 8
Skip Weast 7
Hits
Matt Sisk 36
Jerome McCoy 31
Bruce Kennedy 23
Tony Ortiz 16
Jarrad Maddox 11
Runs
Matt Sisk 19
Jerome McCoy 17
Jonathan Mason 9
Bruce Kennedy 12
Sean Flynn 9
TEAM NUMBERS
Batting Average .262
Homeruns 7
RBI 96
Hits 255
Runs 117
*baseball stats do not include last night’s game against SWT.
BASKETBALL
BRONCS
ALL-INDEPENDENT FIRST TEAM:
Mire Chatman, UTPA
Brian Evans, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Bruce Fields, Gardner-Webb
Marcus Quinn, UTPA
Andrew Wisniewski, Centenary
PLAYER OF THE YEAR-Mire Chatman, UTPA
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR-Mire
Chatman, UTPA
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR-Andrew Wisniewski,
Centenary
CO-FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR-
Jeff Dancy, Lipscomb
Otis Daniels, Gardner-Webb
Jakob Sigurdarson, Birmingham Southern
COACH OF THE YEAR-Bob Hoffman, UTPA
* junior guard Kevin Mitchell named to second team
All-Independent
LADY BRONCS
FIRST TEAM ALL-INDEPENDENT
Lindsay Boyett, Birmingham Southern
Casey Collins, Gardner-Webb
Amy Gearlds, IUPU-Fort Wayne
Kelli Kreuser, UTPA
Kristin Rogers, Texas A&M-CC
PLAYER OF THE YEAR-Lindsay Boyett,
Birmingham-Southern
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR - Kelli Kreuser, UTPA
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR - Lori Tanner -
Centenary
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Atia Agee,
Birmingham-Southern
COACH OF THE YEAR - Frank Bennett, Lipscomb
Just a year ago, the Broncs went 12-40and thought that it couldn’t get any worse,but their record so far this season suggestsotherwise.
Left on their schedule are three teams inthe NCAA Baseball Top 25 and one rankedfive in the National Association ofIntercollegiate Athletics Top 25. TheBroncs may not reach last year’s win total.
One problem is that Bronc batters havegone into hibernation at the plate. The teamhas only 62 hits in 277 at bats in the lastnine games. The Broncs took it on the chinand the nose losing 7-3 to Southwest TexasState University Wednesday night in SanMarcos.
The Broncs dropped their third straightgame.
Senior Ed Marko took the mound againstthe Bobcats and threw a decent game, giv-ing up six hits and two runs.
The breakdown came in the middlerelief, though. Justin Dowd hurled two-thirds of an inning only, but gave up fourruns on three hits. Dowd’s record droppedto 0-6.
Jacob Casanova started for the Bobcatsand pitched six innings, but Michael Gultzimproved his record to 2-0 with the win.
The Broncs take their 8-23 record on theroad to College Station to take on the 19th-ranked Aggies of Texas A&M tomorrow at7 p.m.. The two play a second contest onSaturday at 7 and conclude the series onSunday at 1 p.m.
The Broncs return to Edinburg Stadiumon Tuesday to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville in a double-header, and April12-13 to play the Huskies of HoustonBaptist in a three-game series. The Huskiesare ranked fifth in the NAIA.
On Tueday, Justin Bogy dropped to 2-2with the 14-2 loss to the Bobcats. MikeCalvert relieved Bogy in the middle of thefourth. Mike Killian finished off the lasttwo batters in the eighth after Calvert gaveup five runs on three hits in four innings.
The Bobcats started things off with threeruns on four hits and one error in the firstinning. Then they scored four runs in thethird with a three-run home run over theleft center wall to highlight the game.
The Bobcats scored two more runs in thefourth on three hits before the Broncs goton the scoreboard when Mission nativeMarco Garza reached on an error andadvanced on a wild pitch. Jerome McCoydoubled to right field to score Garza andMatt Sisk grounded out to shortstop toscore McCoy. The Broncs ended the inningwith two runs on one hit and two errors.
The Bobcats scored five runs on threehits before the bleeding stopped in the bot-tom of the eighth inning.
The Broncs had seven hits in 35 at batswhile leaving 11 on base against theBobcats. They have left 67 runners on basein the last nine games and 223 this season.
“Our quality at-bats are not good rightnow,” said head coach Reggie Tredaway.The stats only corraborate what coachTredaway said. The Broncs’ team battingaverage is a measly .262 and the Broncshave only 96 runs batted in compared totheir opponents’ 239 RBI.
The Broncs are coming off five games inthree days. They stole a win in a three-game series against Texas A&M-CorpusChristi and split with Houston BaptistMarch 29-31 at Edinburg Stadium.
The Broncs had to switch shortstopMcCoy to second base and move Garza toshortstop due to McCoy’s sore throwingarm. The move proved a good choice byTredaway as McCoy was error-free andstellar at second.
Travis Parker finished off his best effortthis season in the top of the ninth by strik-ing out one Islander and getting the nexttwo batters to fly out.
Parker pitched a complete game, allow-ing two runs on five hits and striking out 10to improve his season record to 2-6.
“We have had three pitchers sick thisweek. We played like two different teamsin these two games, like night and day,”said assistant baseball coach John Johnson.
After dropping the first game of a dou-ble-header to Houston Baptist, Justin Bogythrew the team’s fourth complete game andhis first of the season to help the Broncswin 7-2.
“The defense helped me to pitch well.My curve ball and fast ball were workingtoday. I have so much adrenaline right nowI could go another nine,” said Bogy.
The Broncs held a 3-0 lead until the topof the seventh inning when the Huskiesscored two runs to pull within one. But theBroncs pulled away with three runs in thebottom of the seventh to put the gameaway.
Lopez and Sisk reached on errors andLopez scored after Adam Farek reached ona fielder’s choice. Mission native JuanSaenz doubled to right center to scoreGarza and Skip Weast singled to centerfield to score Saenz.
The Broncs added one run when Lopezreached on an error and scored Matt Eichel.The Huskies scored one run in the ninthbefore Bogy retired the last batter.
“Pitching made the difference with theway we played in the two games,”Tredaway said.
By Blake DanielsThe Pan American
Pitching does Broncs in against Bobcats
PAGE 3■ Campus Voice . . . . . 4
■ Global . . . . . . . . . . .12
■ Retention . . . . . . . . . 6NEWSValley author honors Mexican beauties
A Mexican author has brought backthe women of past Mexican cinema.
Rogelio Agrasanchez Jr. was at theUniversity of Texas-Pan AmericanThursday, March 28 and discussedhis new book “Bellezes del CineMexicano,” or “Beauties of MexicanCinema.”
The book is divided into four sec-tions and consists of over 250 blackand white and color photographs ofsome of the most attractive femaleactresses of the 1940s through the1960s, according to Agrasanchez.
Agrasanchez added that there were
many fans interested in beautifulfemale performers.
No one had published a book withimages of all the Mexican stars so hebegan collecting graphic material andinformation.
“ It took me two years to researchand publish the book,” Agrasanchezsaid.
As a member of a family involvedin the Mexican film industry,Agrasanchez has been writing bookson Mexican cinema since 1995 andhas published six books.
“The main idea behind this andother books that I have published isto introduce the general audience toMexican movies — especially the
Golden Age (1936-1956),”Agrasanchez said.
“ I believe that this twenty-yearperiod is one of the most attractive
and interesting periods of world cine-ma.”
Before Agrasanchez began writingbooks on Mexican cinema, he didresearch on 19th-century Mexicanhistory.
Agrasanchez is from Mexico Cityand attended St. Edward’s Universityand the University of Texas at Austin.
He acquired a Bachelor’s of Artsdegree in philosophy and continuedhis education by earning a Master’sdegree in Latin American Studies.
Anyone interested in purchasing hisnew book can find it at the HidalgoCounty Historical Museum inEdinburg or via the Internet atwww.agrasfilms.com.
University police fill out a report for the two-car accident that occurred Monday morningon Sugar Road just north of the crosswalk. The accident occurred when a 2000 SaturnSL (right) hit an ‘89 Pontiac Grand Am from the rear and flipped over the top of it, landingupside down, according to police. The driver of the Saturn sustained minimal injuries andthe driver of the Grand Am, along with four children and one adult, were not injured.
Matt Lynch/The Pan American
By Nikki RamirezThe Pan American
ROLLOVER
UTPA journalistscompete at TIPA
Feedback on performance comes in many packages. In college jour-nalism, it results from student, staff, and faculty readership and com-ment. It also manifests itself in the form of awards from the TexasIntercollegiate Press Association.
When nine journalists from the University of Texas-Pan Americanattended the yearly TIPA conference in Fort Worth last week, they par-ticipated in on-site skills competitions and collected several awards forcollege publication work from the past fall semester.
There were over 30 Texas schools represented at the conference, heldat the Radisson in downtown Fort Worth. Schools were sectioned offby enrollment for the fall work review, with UTPA in Division II, a sec-tion below major schools such as Texas A&M and the University ofTexas. The on-site competitions lumped students of all schools into onefree-for-all group.
In a review of last semester's work, The Pan American student news-paper finished fifth overall in its division. There were several studentswho won individual awards, including page designer Gabe Hernandez.He received one second-place certificate and one honorable mention.
Current editor Matt Lynch placed in one category while former edi-tor Ryan Henry placed in three. Current entertainment editor AshleyBrooks made a strong showing for the school, garnering three awards.
Melissa Ciomperlik, this semester's copy editor, placed first in thepublic relations crisis management on-site competition, and EladioJaimez came home second in the sports writing event.
The Gallery student literary magazine also brought home a handfulof awards for last year's magazine, including second place overall in itsdivision. Dara Kayla De la Rosa won first place and a third for illustra-tion, while Edward De los Reyes took a second with his feature photo.
The Pan American Staff
Rogelio Agrasanchez Jr.
April 4, 2002 sports Page 14
SOCCER continued from page 16compete on a national and Division Ilevel,” Weidner said. “As we seek fundsand raise money and community supportin Bronc athletic foundation, we’re rein-forcing the existing programs.”
Weidner further explained that financ-ing is another reason why UTPA lacks asoccer program.
“It’s certainly an issue that has to beconsidered because if we were to addany sport, we want to make sure that itis funded properly so that we provide apositive experience for the student ath-letes that are involved,” Weidner said.“You can do more damage if you attemptto create a program that’s not properlyfunded. If you don’t have money to getquality coaching, you’re not going tohave a real learning experience.”
There is another possible obstacle togetting soccer back at UTPA. Since theinstitution of Title IX in 1972, collegeprograms have paid particular attentionto gender equity. Title IX prevents col-leges and universities from discriminat-ing against athletes based on gender, bymandating equal creation and funding ofboth men’s and women’s athletics pro-grams. Around the country, men’s sportssuch as wrestling, swimming, and soccerhave been scaled back or eliminatedaltogether in the quest to ensure equalwomen’s access to collegiate sports.
But Weidner insists that Title IX is anon-issue in the creation of a soccer pro-gram at UTPA.
“The direction that we’ve chosen to gois to ensure that women’s sports arefully funded because we feel we matchup very well, and have made greatstrides in addressing 13 components ofTitle IX since I’ve been here,” Weidnersaid.
But Lopez also thinks that UTPAshould not only bring back men’s soccer,but create a women’s soccer program aswell.
“If you look around the high schools,girls are playing in high school now andare getting better and better,’’ Lopezsaid.
Lopez added he and his former team-mates went to a Spanish radio stationtwo months ago trying to learn whyUTPA’s soccer program was slashed.
“We had a lot of people calling inexplaining that they want to have soccerand would back it up by going to thegames,” Lopez said.
Hispanics comprise approximately 85percent of the Valley population, and thepopularity of soccer in Latin Americancountries all over the world is dominant.Considering this, Weidner has an openmind about bringing the sport back toUTPA.
“Right now I can’t say, but never saynever,” Weidner said. “We want a posi-tive experience for our athletes, but atthe present time we’re not moving inthat direction. It doesn’t mean thatwe’re not for it.”
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 4
– Anna Stwora
Fabian CuellarPsychologyJunior
We shouldn’t risk anymore Americanlives and I think we have enoughproblems of our own.
Abby LopezSpanishSophomore
I don’t think we should get involvedin other countries’ affairs. Weshould let them handle their ownconflicts.
Albert ContrerasPharmacyJunior
Definitely. Because I figure if we don’tthen the US will be affected eventually.
Should the US be directlyinvolved in the Israel-
Palestine conflict?
Nazli CantuTheaterJunior
No. They shouldn’t get involvedbecause the US should take care of itsconflicts before engaging in others.
VOICECCaammppuuss
Daniel PallaisComputer ScienceSenior
No. We agreed that there shouldn’t be anyUS involvement in their conflict.
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 13
REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES& ADOPTION AFFILIATES
SINCE 1973
WE UNDERSTAND... WE CARE... AND WE HELP
LICENSED BY THE TEXAS DEPT. OF HEALTH #009PROVIDING SURGICAL AND MEDICAL ABORTIONS
WITH THE COMFORT OF IV SEDATION, EMERGENCYCONTRACEPTION, SONOGRAMS, BIRTH CONTROL
SERVICES AND FREE PREGNANCY TESTING.ADOPTION SERVICES ALSO AVAILABLE
1-800-270-6757613 SESAME DRIVE WEST HARLINGEN, TEXAS 785501-800-575-8604 MEX. 001-800-010-1287
www.reproductiveservices.com
CAMPUS LIFEPAGE 12
■ W h a t s t u d e n t s a r e d o i n g a t U T P AApril 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 5
Education expo heralds jobopportunities for students
May is just around the corner, and studentsare getting ready to graduate.
For University of Texas-Pan American stu-dents majoring in education, UTPA’s Officeof Career Placement Services is offering ateacher job expo Thursday April 4 from 9a.m. to 5 p.m. in The Fieldhouse.
UTPA’s Office of Career PlacementServices work with the College of Educationto have local school district representativescome on campus to interview students andinform them of career opportunities in educa-tion available in the area.
“It’s a chance for students to ask aboutsalary, weigh their options and see whichschool and school district they would be inter-ested in working at,” said Velinda Reyes,assistant director of the Office of CareerPlacement Services.
The teacher job expo is geared specificallyto the College of Education, but any studentinterested in the field of education can attendand participate in the job expo.
“Anybody that is undecided whether edu-cation is something they want to do can cometalk to the participants and ask them the dailywork life of a teacher,” Reyes said.
According to Reyes, between 60 and 90employers (schools) will attend the expo,including representatives from local school
districts, throughout Texas and outside ofTexas.
The job expo benefits student teachersgraduating in May because it allows them tovisit with all the schools in one setting.
“We bring the school districts to the stu-dents, and we bring the job opportunities tothem,” Reyes said. “ So we try to encouragethe students to utilize it and take advantage ofthe job expo.”
It is recommended that students bring sev-eral resumes to hand out to different employ-ers, giving an opportunity to be interviewedby prospective employers on the spot.
“We do advise students to come dressedprofessionally and to come with severalresumes to hand out and a general cover letterintroducing themselves” Reyes said.
The Office of Career Placement Serviceshas eight career fairs throughout the year. Thenext event is the Health Science Job ExpoApril 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the northquad directly behind the student union.
This fair is held to get hospitals, govern-ment agencies and private industry to comedown and provide students with career oppor-tunities and inform them of what is available.
Reyes also added that if a student inHealth Science and Human Services wishesto talk to a certain organization they can con-tact the Career Placement Services so theycan send that particular organization an invi-tation.
By Nikki RamirezThe Pan American
Homosexual group seeks identityDenim Day gave them their 15 minutes
of fame at the University of Texas-PanAmerican, but the misinterpreted posterswere part of a message that this often mar-ginalized group is trying to convey to thepublic.
The Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Alliance(GLOBAL) co-sponsored Denim Day onMarch 7 to make a point that people shouldbe judged not by their exteriors, but by thecontent of their character. Posters advertis-ing the event were placed throughout theUTPA campus. Some posters had picturesof jeans while others bore pictures of thelower halves of people wearing jeans.
A letter to the editor of The PanAmerican expressed Samuel Cook’s opin-ion of Denim Day. According to Cook, itdidn’t make sense to pick a general cloth-ing item, such as jeans, to demonstrateaffiliation with GLOBAL.
In a later issue, GLOBAL presidentNyssa Cruz, responded by saying that thepoint of the posters was not to demonstrate
affiliation but to show that “no one canjudge a book by its cover.”
All controversy aside, GLOBAL is a rec-ognized organization at UTPA. The organi-zation has 36 members with about 15-20active members.
Three-quarters of the organization iscomprised of females. Nearly 10 percent ofthat population is known as the straightalliance. The straight alliance is a faction ofthe members who are heterosexual and stillactive in the organization.
“The straight alliance is there for supportand to bounce ideas off,” Cruz said. “Theyhelp neutralize clashing ideologies.”
Numbers about nation-wide membershipin homosexual clubs are hard to pin down.Members of another GLOBAL organiza-tion, at Canada’s Wilfrid LaurierUniversity, claim that they do not have aregular attendance, but that their “member-ship” is at about 50.
Laurier’s GLOBAL has 60 percent malemembers, and currently has no straightalliance. The group works to provide a sup-portive, positive, safe environment for gay,lesbian or bisexual individuals in the
Laurier community.Cruz describes UTPA’s GLOBAL as
“more of a support group” and a non-profitorganization.
“We want people to know that it’s okay ifthey are gay, they will be accepted...ourorganization is here for support,” Cruz said.
GLOBAL is only one of the many gayalliances or organizations in the UnitedStates, according to the Valley AidsCouncil. It is difficult to tell how many gayorganizations are in the United States., saida spokesperson at the council, who addedthat individuals on college campuses areprobably more exposed to gay movementsthan the general population.
While one of GLOBAL’s main goals is toreach out to the gay community and pro-vide support, it is currently in the processof restructuring its organization.
GLOBAL is currently working withorganizations such as GLADD (Gay andLesbian Alliance Against Defamation) toensure that they are following acceptableguidelines during the restructuring process.
“We’re trying to organize a somewhatdisorganized organization,” Cruz said.
According to Cruz, the organization iscurrently rewriting its constitution, whichwas last revised in 1999. GLOBAL is alsolooking into a new name.
“They [GLOBAL] have been looking ata name change to make their purpose moreclear,” said temporary adviser ChristineCarruthers.
Carruthers said that the organization hasbeen stronger this year than in past years,adding that GLOBAL has been trying toincrease its participation in campus life.
GLOBAL took part in the “Stop theHate” campaign this spring, where Cruzspoke about the need for open-mindednessand the need to be less judgmental aboutpeople. Aside from that on-campus activity,GLOBAL will be hosting a gay film festi-val at Montroe’s this weekend.
UTPA’s GLOBAL usually conductsinformal meetings due to the hectic sched-ules of many members. Cruz hopes toimplement a more formal meeting schedulein the future.
“I usually meet with some of the mem-bers between classes or on the phone,” saidCruz.
By Celeste Y. TelloThe Pan American
Vaughn, sophomore Francisco Vielma, senior Alyssa Munoz and junior Efrain MolinaJr. are all vying for SGA’s top position.
“Students have many tickets to choose from this year,” Garza said. “All of the candi-dates are very qualified.”
At press time, Garza was hard-pressed to pick any one candidate or ticket who wasfavored in the minds of students.
“Everyone has a good shot. It depends on campaigning and who students are see-ing,” she said.
Garza feels all of the candidates have something to offer students, regardless ofwhich candidates the final vote favors.
“It will be a learning experience for all of the candidates,” Garza said. “They are allqualified and eager to do something for students.”
SGA continued from page 1
Faculty union has cloutThe Texas Faculty Association (TFA) is
the state’s largest organization serving theinterests and rights of university faculty.
On a local level, the Pan AmericanUnited Faculty (PAUF) is the organizationthat represents University of Texas-PanAmerican in the state TFA with 109 tenure-track members, according to Dr. KenBuckman, professor of philosophy andpresident of PAUF. Buckman also serveson the executive committee of the stateorganization.
“Our campus has the largest membership(in the state) and by far we have the largestpercentage of membership in the state,”Buckman said. “We have 109 membersthat are full-time tenured. That is a verylarge percentage and we have a tremendousinfluence at the state level.”
Charles Zucker, executive director ofTFA, lobbies the legislature in support offaculty issues and been an instrumental ingetting legislation to protect faculty rights,Buckman added.
At UTPA, PAUF helps members withany concerns that they may have withindepartments.
“We disseminate information face to faceon issues that concern [members] locally.We find grievance officers and [assign]them to [members] who may have prob-lems in the department and try to resolveissues,” said Buckman.
“A lot of times administration can viewthe organization as antagonistic, but it isnot about “us versus them,” we want toestablish good working relationshipsbetween faculty and administration.”
Thomas Pozorski, professor of anthro-pology and treasurer and secretary forPAUF, feels that TFA provides a number ofbenefits to members such as legal counsel,optional life insurance, and discounts atcertain hotels.
“TFA has done remarkably well in sup-porting legislative bills that help facultyand state universities and in general, havehelped keep harmful legislation frombecoming law,” Pozorski said.
“That is why TFA is vital for helping tomaintain a quality university system and aquality core of faculty.”
Dr. James Aldridge, professor of psy-chology and president of TFA, said the his-tory of the PAUF predates the existance ofTFA. What is now known as PAUF wasfounded in 1981. TFA was founded in 1985by a group of organizations includingPAUF.
Aldridge is serving his first term as pres-ident and running unopposed for a secondterm.
“Higher education faculty in Texas neverhad much clout. My personal goal is toremedy that and put together a strongorganization,” Aldridge said.
Before TFA, there were organizationsthat PAUF cooperated with, AmericanFederation of Teachers and AmericanOrganizations of University Professors.The heirarchy begins with NationalEducation Association and consists ofTexas State Teachers Association (TSTA)and TFA as the higher education divisionof TSTA.
The TFA provides a monthly newsletterto all university faculty members that con-tains information about faculty laws, budg-ets for pay raises, and other topics.
By Belinda ReyesThe Pan American
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 11
Many college students dread mathcourses, so the University of Texas-PanAmerican has implemented a projectthat may make college algebra easierand more comprehendible to students.
The University Retention AdvisementProgram was designed to fulfill UTPA’sgoals to increase retention and gradua-tion rates.
“The university itself has undergonelots of changes to help increase reten-tion and graduation rates,” said MonicaTrevino, student development specialistof URAP. “So we came along as one oftheir strategies.”
URAP started in 1999 and consists ofone overall assistant director and sixstudent development specialists, onewithin each of the university’s six col-leges.
The student development specialistshelp students integrate into the univer-sity community and provide academicadvisement for undeclared students.
URAP offers a variety of academicretention programs to students, includ-ing one that helps students pass collegealgebra. UTPA’s math departmentdesigned the College Algebra Project inspring 1998 and URAP joined the effortin 1999 to help increase the pass rate ofthe course.
“It was taking our students an aver-age of two and a half to three times toget through the college algebra course,”said Rene Torres, lecturer in the mathe-matics department and coordinator ofthe College Algebra Project.
The College Algebra Project requiresstudents to register for an additionalclassroom hour that gives themincreased interaction with the professorand other members of the class. It alsoallows them the opportunity to havemore frequent evaluations in the formof exams and quizzes.
Some students and professors say theincreased interaction is what makes theproject successful.
“We get an opportunity to cover morematerial,” said Monika Hannah, fresh-man pre-med major and participant inthe project. “A lot of students are shyand don’t like to ask questions, but inhere they feel comfortable.”
“We try to be clear and up front fromthe very beginning,” Torres said. “Wefeel that if you tell students what youwant them to know, then they’ll go offand learn it.”
The project is open to all studentswho meet the prerequisites for the col-lege algebra course, and it requires stu-dents to sign up for an additional labhour that they do not have to pay for.
There are currently six faculty mem-bers working with the project and 18college algebra sections availablethrough the project.
Plans are in the works to make all ofthe college algebra courses part of theproject, according to Torres. There arecurrently five sections that are three-hour classes and not part of the project.
“This is primarily a commuterschool,” Torres said. “We found thatthere were a limited number of studentswho would actually stay for extra quali-ty time, either going to tutoring or com-ing in during office hours.”
The success rate of the program hascaused those students who were leery ofthe additional hour to now welcome theproject with open arms.
“Originally, there was a little uncer-
tainty with some of the students…butword has gotten around,” Trevino said.
“Students are hearing that these aregood classes. The professors are goodand they care about you learning, sostudents are signing up for these class-es.”
The pass rate (a grade of C or higher)of students who are enrolled in the proj-ect compared to that of non-enroleesshows that the project has helped stu-dents.
In Fall 2001, there was a 78-percentpass rate for students enrolled in theCollege Algebra Project and a
39-percent pass rate for those justenrolled in the three-hour class itself.
In Fall 2001, there were 574 studentsenrolled in the project and 171 enrolledin just the three-hour classes.
This was up from Fall 2000, when400 students were enrolled in the proj-ect and 398 were enrolled in the three-hour courses.
“We surveyed the students [in theproject] and over 90 percent of the stu-dents that were surveyed all said thatthe fourth hour was worth it,” Torressaid.
OTHER RETENTION EFFORTS
In addition to helping with theCollege Algebra Project, URAP heads anumber of other different retention pro-grams. The Early Warning System is a
fairly new program that started at UTPAin Fall 2000.
EWS is a device that targets primarilyfirst-and-second-year students, or any-one who is enrolled in a gateway coursesuch as history, political science,English, biology and math, all of whichhave high failure rates.
Gateway courses are those requiredfor all students to take, and which leadto more advanced courses.
EWS allows the professor to receivea roster for their class in which theycan check any of four categories to letstudents know when they have exces-sive absences, a low class average,when they should be referred to tutor-ing and when they submit incompletework.
This roster is then put into the com-puter and letters are mailed out to stu-dents.
“We advise them early on so they cango to the faculty or they can come to usand hopefully they can pick up theiraverage before it’s too late in thesemester,” Trevino said.
There are currently 60 course sectionsthat have the EWS available and therehave been approximately 146 sectionsand 125 faculty members involved sinceFall 2000.
According to Trevino, on average,nearly 60 professors are asked to partic-ipate and of those, 70 percent actuallyparticipate and fill out the information.Professors are asked to contribute on avoluntary basis.
“We have had really great results withthe faculty participation,” Trevnio said.“They have been great.”
There are plans to put this service on-line in Fall 2002 and eventually make itavailable to all UTPA professors.
URAP offers an assortment of otherprojects, including the Fourth HourProject, Learning Communities, theHonors Program, the TeacherRecruitment Center, and the Bachelorof Applied Arts and Sciences program,in addition to the College AlgebraProject and the Early Warning System.
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 6
Programs aid student performance
By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American
CSBS approval, the only thing left to dois offer the classes and graduate the firstcandidates with a clinical psychologydoctoral degree.
“My hope is that within two or threeyears this will be off the ground,”Garcia said. “ Everyone in the commu-nity is excited about this and so arewe.”
UTPA currently offers Ph.D.s in busi-ness administration (with an emphasisin international business), pharmacy,and educational leadership.
The CSBS also plans to make changesand improve a few existing graduateprograms. Garcia said the college is cur-rently talking about evolving the gradu-ate program in public administration.
“We want to create an area of special-ization, maybe in public health,” Garciasaid. “We have future community lead-ers, politicians and government officialsthat will come out of this program.”
Garcia said another graduate programin the works is in international politics.He said this program is in the very early
stages and a preliminary proposal wasput together only last year. The proposalwould go before the graduate counciland then the college could begin offer-ing classes.
Garcia said it is time UTPA preparesprofessionals in international politicsand foreign policy, especially followingthe Sept. 11 terror attacks.
“We have to consider the whole issueof globalization and its effects on multi-national corporations,” Garcia said,adding that the graduate program would
be interdisciplinary and will include theCollege of Business and Arts andHumanities.
Garcia said a professional in foreignaffairs should be sensitive to diversecultures, and fluent in various lan-guages.
Just like the graduate program in pub-lic administration, the international pol-itics program must go before the gradu-ate council and be approved beforeclasses can be offered.
Next Week: the College of Business.
NEW PROGRAMS continued from page 1
URAP has eight separate plans designed to bolster retention rates
Originally there was a little uncertainty withsome of the students but word has gotten
around. Students are hearing that these are goodclasses. The professors are good and they careabout you learning, so students are signing up forthese classes. ”das
df -Monica TrevinoStudent Development Specialist
“
To a writer, words mean every-thing. But especially when thosewords span cultural boundaries.For author Kathleen Alcala, herability to borrow words from bothEnglish and Spanish gives her anadvantage in reaching readers ofvarious cultures. But Alcala’s mul-ticultural background, outside ofwriting, has had its disadvantages.
Alcala, an award-winning authorof “Mrs. Vargas and the DeadNaturalist,” “Spirits of theOrdinary,” “The Flower in theSkull” and “Treasures in Heaven,”will read excerpts from her novels,sign books, and answer questionstonight in the Student UnionTheater at 7:30 p.m.
She was raised in SanBernardino, Calif., an inland work-ing town (about 64 miles from LosAngeles) that seemed secludedfrom the rest of society.
“We were aware that there was aworld out there, but other thanknowing that the world had abeach, we weren’t too sure aboutit,” Alcala said.
The community she lived inreflected the unrest of the 1960s,as changes and tribulations shookcommunities worldwide. Despitechanging mind-sets around thenation, the San Bernardino areaseemed to hold fast to stereotypesabout non-white cultures.
“I came of age during the post-’60s ‘hangover’; both Kennedys,MLK and Ruben Salazar had allbeen shot, and the [SanBernardino] Police Departmentdispatched their SWAT team on aregular basis to quell race riots at
my high school,” Alcala said. “Myfather taught social studies at thebaddest junior high in town, so hisstudents knew me in [high school],which probably accounts for thefact that I am still alive.”
Armed police officers patrolledthe rooftops of Alcala’s highschool and anyone who could notprove where they were during ariot, or who appeared in a photo ofa riot in the local newspaper, wasautomatically suspended.
While the road to reaching herpotential took hard work and self-motivation, Alcala’s efforts wereeventually rewarded with a schol-arship to attend StanfordUniversity.
“We may have had a dream[beyond San Bernardino], but noone was going to make it easy forus.”
According to Alcala, she comesfrom a working class Mexican-American family. Her father’s par-ents walked across the border fromJalisco, Mexico, to work for therailroads after losing almost every-thing in the Mexican Revolution of1910-1917, a story not unlike thatof other emigrating families of thetime. Despite the hard times suchfamilies faced, her family wasgiven an opportunity that manystill dream of having come true:the chance to make a better life forthemselves.
But the dream was double-edgedin terms of social acceptance.
“The fact that my father waspulled off a truck of orange pickersand sent to Redlands Universitytuition-free meant that we skipped
a generation in terms of educa-tion,” Alcala said. “But not interms of social attitudes.”
Alcala followed in the footstepsleft by her father by attending col-lege herself, but the battle to stepout of the stereotypes of the timeproved more difficult when somestudents at Stanford couldn’t lookpast the color of her skin.
Although she received the schol-arships on her own merit, theracial tensions of the time began tosurface when she was accepted tothe college considered “theHarvard of the West.”
“I know I had a big chip on myshoulder that served as self-defense. It served me well in a uni-versity full of extremely privilegedpeople who assumed that Ireceived ‘special consideration’ toget in...”
Alcala said that while atStanford, she battled preconceivednotions of other students whobelieved she was accepted basedon her color, not her mind.
“When I got to Stanford, thegeneral assumption by the whitestudents was that all non-white stu-dents had been admitted accordingto lower standards. They said thisto our faces. The only way toprove them wrong was to get bet-ter grades than they did.”
During her time at Stanford,Alcala studied linguistics and psy-chology, and found that writing forthe Stanford Daily, the schoolnewspaper, fulfilled part of herinterest in writing. Alcala hadalways enjoyed writing, but foundthat doing it as a career was notconsidered an ideal profession.
“It was not a time when peoplewere encouraged to be ‘writers,’per se. Most of my classmateswere pre-law or pre-med. Plus, Idid not know any writers, so Ifocused my interest on languageitself,” Alcala said. “I didn’t knowany writers growing up, but I wasalways drawn to the written word.”
Although being a professionalwriter was a far cry from being apsychologist, Alcala hit a turningpoint in her life, while still at col-lege, that pushed her love of writ-ing further. A friend gave her acopy of the book “The NewJournalism” and told her to read aparticular essay about Alcala’shometown.
“The essay was ‘Dreamers of theGolden Dream’ and that experi-ence was a testament to the powerof the printed word. It was also thefirst time I read about a place Iknow, people I recognized.”
Since graduating from Stanfordin 1976, Alcala has published fournovels, several of which are basedon family stories from Mexico,and has had a number of short sto-ries, reviews and articles pub-lished. Throughout the span of herwriting career, Alcala has also
■ Oscar Adame . . . .8 - 9
■ UPB . . . . . . . . . . . . 10ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
PAGE 7
AroundTown
Taste of the Valley 2002April 4 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.Tickets: Tickets are $10Place: Pharr InternationalConvention CenterInfo: Various Valley restau-rants give out samples oftheir food to patrons.Call: (956) 787-1481
Harry Potter, and theSorcerer’s StoneApril 4 at 2 p.m. (studentpreview), April 5 at 2 and 6p.m. and April 6 at 2 p.m.Price: Students are freewith a valid UTPA identifi-cation card, general admis-sion is $1, and childrenunder 12 are free withadult supervision (limit 5children per adult).Refreshments are free.Place: Student UnionTheater
3rd Annual Symphony inthe ParkApril 6Event: The award winningUTB/TSC Jazz Band willperform to benefit theBrownsville LiteracyCenter.Place: Washington Park inBrownsville.
Faculty Trio ConcertApril 7 at 3 p.m.Price: General admissionis $3 and $2 for UTPA stu-dents with identificationand senior citizens.Place: Fine ArtsAuditorium.Call: (956) 381-3471
Psychology ColloquiumApril 9 from noonto 1 p.m.Event: “Examining BasicAssumptions: FertileGround for Research,” byDr. Grant Bentham.Place: Room 119 in theSBS building.
By Ashley BrooksThe Pan American
I didn’tknow any
writers growingup, but I wasalways drawnto the writtenword. ”- Kathleen Alcala
Author
“
See ALCALA page 10
‘SPIRITS OF THEORDINARY’
‘SPIRITS OF THEORDINARY’(TRANSLATED)
‘FLOWERS IN THESKULL’
(TRANSLATED)
KATHLEEN ALCALA
Weaving history and cultureAuthor Kathleen Alcala uses her personal and family history, as wellas her culture, as the basis for a number of novels and short stories
April 4, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 10
Tuesday evening, the Student Unionat the University of Texas-PanAmerican was decorated to look like acoffee house, and filled with peoplegathered to hear folk musician StevenJackson.
This was one of the many eventssponsored by the University ProgramBoard which is set up to allow stu-dents to host programs or events oncampus that are of interest to students.
Five student committees comprise
UPB. Diversions Committee isresponsible for the movie program-ming on campus. In April, “HarryPotter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,”“Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius” and“Ali” are scheduled to be presented inthe Student Union. Diversions has theadvantage of showcasing moviesbefore they are released on VHS orDVD.
“The movie program provides enter-tainment to students in school, thosewho live on campus and people in thecommunity,” said Sara Sanchez, chairof the Diversions Committee.
The Special Events Committee is incharge of larger annual events such asthe Carnival of the Great Pumpkin,Bronc Olympics, and Parent/ChildDay Picnic.
The Showcase Committee organizessmaller (weekly or monthly) coffeehouse-style productions on campus.Including Jackson’s performance.Students involved in the committee
listen to a pile of CDs, make decisionson the talent booked, and coordinatepublicity.
The Ideas and Issues Committeefocuses on health and cultural issuessuch as AIDS Awareness Day, EarthDay, or Hispanic Heritage Month. Forthese events, educational programs arearranged and lecturers are invited tospeak on campus.
The Band Booking Committee con-trols all aspects of musical entertain-ment. It recently produced AcousticNight, a competition between UTPAstudents who play acoustic guitar.This event gave students an opportuni-ty to perform in front of their peers.On April 9, Recycled Percussion, aband that creates music using recycledmaterial, is scheduled to perform atthe Student Union.
“UPB is an educational and culturalform of entertainment for students andgets them exposed to something theywouldn’t receive in the classroom,”said Hector Leal, UPB president.
“It gives students a chance to relaxbetween classes and meet other stu-dents.”
Gregg Simmons, assistant directorand adviser of UPB, said that the pur-pose of the program is not only toenhance the out-of-classroom experi-ence, but provide a learning experi-ence to members.
He said that each committee is stu-dent-run and each event is producedby students.
“We try to get the students to domost of the work,” said Simmons,who believes that through studentinvolvement, a better idea of what stu-dents want is achieved.
With all of this action going onaround campus, coordinators are sur-prised the student turnout isn’t higher.Despite solid turnouts at some events,Simmons questions why more stu-dents do not take advantage of whatUPB has to offer. He explained howthe Carnival of the Great Pumpkindrew 1,000 people, including children,compared to the 13,000 studentsenrolled at UTPA.
The funding for UPB comes fromstudent activity fees and StudentUnion fees, receiving no money fromthe state. That’s why most events arefree to students who present a validcollege identification card.
“Students are paying the fees, sothey should attend the events,”Simmons said. “I would like to seeevery person who attends school toshow up to at least one event.”
“The first thing I would like to do isincrease membership, then increaseattendance and eventually increase thenumber of events we produce,” saidSimmons. “I’d like to make every-thing bigger and better.”
Website: dimmu-borgir.comBook: “Paradise Lost”by John MiltonMovie: “Willy Wonka and theChocolate Factory”
CD: “Much Afraid”by Jars of ClayBook: “The Outsiders”by S.E. HintonMovie: “Dazed and Confused”
CD: “A Perfect Circle”by Mer de NomsBook: “Count of Monte Cristo”by Alexander DumasMovie: “Sense and Sensibility”
Maritza CantuFreshmanMusic
Pamela ReyesSophomorePsychology
Sean TempeltonFreshmanComp. Graphics
CULTURE CLUBWhat students like to read, listen to and surf.
TheBy Elizabeth MartinezThe Pan American
UPB provides campus entertainment
been given the title of“Latino author.”
It’s a small title that car-ries a lot of weight.
Some authors with multi-cultural backgrounds find itdifficult to reach mass audi-ences because their booksare given a title like“Latino,” “NativeAmerican” or “AfricanAmerican.”
“I know a psychologistwho is African American,
and when she finds herbooks just with the African-American writers, shemoves them over to thenonfiction/psychologybooks, which will be seenby many more people of allbackgrounds.”
But whatever title she isgiven, Alcala’s focus isclear.
“What people call medoesn’t change who I am,or what I write about. Like
all writers, I hope that whatI write has some universalbasis and appeal,” Alcalasaid. “All good writing,from Shakespeare’s sonnetsto Joanna Russ’s sciencefiction, is about the humancondition. “
Although the road toachieving her dreams wasfraught with difficulty,Alcala’s story is not basedon pity, but instead is basedon her strength as an indi-
vidual, her family and herheritage. She knew whatshe wanted and strove for it.
“Now that I have theopportunity to teach andlecture, I try to extend the‘possibilities’ of being awriter, or achieving in otherways, to people who mightfeel as I did,” Alcala said.“You cannot strive forsomething before you canimagine it. You have toknow it’s there.”
Guitarist and singer Steven Jackson performed Tuesday in the Student UnionFood Court as one of the events sponsored by the University Program Board.
Anna Stwora/The Pan American
ALCALA continued from page 7
KRGV-TV Channel 5 newsanchor Oscar Adame tells of histravels from Donna to Houston and back,high school graduate to UTPA alumnus, andeverything in between
Oscar Adame remembers being 34years old and embarking on a newchapter in his life.
In fact, it was here at the Universityof Texas-Pan American where hedecided to do just that and finish hisdegree after a long interruption.
Although it may seem as if he tookthe long way around, Adame’s life andcareer has been fulfilling, giving him awealth of experience he will never for-get.
Adame has been a news anchor atKRGV-TV Channel 5 since 1999, buthas an extensive resume that revealshe is truly a jack-of-all-trades.
Adame grew up in Donna and grad-uated from Donna High School in1972, starting college at UTPA thesame year. With an increasinglydemanding work schedule, he decidedto put school on hold for a while, afterattending for four semesters.
Adame’s radio career began in 1977at KBFM where he stayed for twoyears until he decided to move to theHouston area to work for an oil fieldand shipping company. He soon decid-ed to come back to the Valley in 1980and was married that same year to hiswife, Cris. That’s when he decided tofinish what he had started at UTPA,enrolling part-time and going back towork at KBFM.
He joined KRGV radio, a Top 40station, in 1980 as the afternoon DJ,and also worked in on-camera produc-
tion and television news. “As I look back now, production
was always my favorite part aboutradio,” Adame said.
On the job, Adame said he wasgiven a script and told to make some-thing of it, which he did.
“You had to be alittle creative and itat least gave you theopportunity to becreative,” Adamesaid.
During this time,Adame was going toschool in the morn-ing and working full-time in the after-noon. His oldestdaughter, Andra, wasborn in 1981 and hispriority quicklybecame focused onproviding for the family rather thanfinishing school.
“It became more important to workfull-time at that particular time in mylife,” Adame said.
In 1988, Adame took a look at hiscareer and wondered if he wanted todo radio broadcasting for the rest ofhis life.
“It was getting to a point where mypay wasn’t going to get any better,”Adame said. “So, it was really want-ing more out of life and career.”
That same year he decided to goback to UTPA as a full-time student, atage 34.
“Going back to school was fun,”
said Adame. “I knew I just had a littlemore to go.”
Three of his professors at the timeare still teaching at UTPA today andall attest to Adame’s great personalityand dedication.
“What I recall most about him washis constantlypleasant personali-ty,” said MarianMonta, communi-cation professor atUTPA. “He alwaysseemed to be in agood mood--cheer-ful. I rememberhis smile andthought he wouldmake a very goodTV pitchman,which is what hewas for such a longtime.”
George McLemore, associate profes-sor of communication at UTPA,remembers Adame as being an ener-getic student who always had suchinteresting speeches because he had anattractive voice.
“He was just an all-around fine stu-dent,” McLemore said. “He had areally good sense of humor.”
Jack Stanley, professor of communi-cation at UTPA, said that Adamealways took his work seriously andkept his focus, absorbing everythingthat was given to him.
It was these qualities that his profes-sors saw years ago that led him to earna degree and eventually hold several
positions in public relations, market-ing, sales and to even own his ownbusiness.
In 1990, Adame worked as directorof public relations marketing forMcAllen Medical CenterRehabilitation Institute for ninemonths and left to become a pharma-ceutical sales representative.
He was a sales representative forBristol-Myers until 1994 when he andhis wife decided to start their ownbusiness, Mi Casa Home Care. In1999, they sold their business becauseit was consuming too much of theirtime.
Once he sold his business he begananother job hunt and was just about toaccept another pharmaceutical salesposition when KRGV-TV called andtold Adame about an open position fora weekend anchor and weekdayreporter.
“This was something that I hadwanted to do since I worked in radiohere [at KRGV],” said Adame. “Thedoor never did open and now the doorwas opening.”
Adame had wanted to do TV whenhe was in radio and finally 15 yearslater, made the career change. He cur-rently works as a news anchor atChannel 5 News and has lived inMcAllen for 20 years with his wifeand two daughters Andra, 20, Alina,15 and son, Adrian, 11.
He was on campus last year andnoticed the changes that have takenplace at UTPA, since he was last here.
“I was really impressed,” Adame
said. “I hadn’t been there in such along time, but it looked very nice.”
Adame feels that education is veryimportant and tells high school stu-dents and even his own daughter, asophomore at UTPA, to take advan-tage of the time they have in school.
“As I look back now, going to col-lege and getting my degree gave methe confidence that I could do any-thing that I wanted,” Adame said.
“I have done so many differentthings,” Adame said.
“Had I not had my degree—bottomline, I wouldn’t have been able to doany of that.”
Adame said there are so manyoptions out there for students rightnow, from four-year colleges to techni-cal schools.
“Whatever that choice is, go in com-plete and finish,”
Adame said. “The bottom line is togo and get your degree. Then if youdecide to go and do something differ-ent, you can.”
When asked if he had a message forstudents, he replied with advice that hehas learned over the years.
“Take advantage of the time youhave because it’s so easy to get sidetracked,” Adame said. “Just stayfocused and really follow your heart.”
“Sometimes you have to long takethe long way around,” Adame said.“But, learn as much as you can abouteverything you can. Take all of life’sexperiences and file them away,because you never know when youmight be needing that.”
April 4, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 9April 4, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 8
Oscar Adame joined KRGV-TVChannel 5 in 1999 as a news anchor.
Take all of life’sexperiences
and file themaway, because younever know whenyou might be need-ing that. ”- Oscar Adame
News anchor
“
Melissa Ciomperlik/The Pan American
By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American
• 1972 - Began col-lege at UTPA.
• 1977-79 - Workedat KBFM radio sta-tion in the Valley.
• 1979 - Moved toHouston area.
• 1980 - Returned tothe Valley, got mar-ried, started collegeat UTPA again,worked at KRGVradio as a DJ.
• 1988 - Went backto UTPA as a full-time student.
• 1990 - Worked asdirector of ppublicrelations marketingfor McAllen MedicalCenter RehabilitationInstitute.
• 1990-94 -PharmaceuticalSales Representativefor Bristol-Myers.
• 1994 - Opened hisown business, MiCasa Home Care,with his wife, Cris.
• 1999 - Startedworking at KRGV-TVChannel 5 as aweekend anchor andweekday reporter.
• Currently -Weekday newsanchor for KRGV-TVChannel 5.
30 YEARS
OF OSCAR
I remember hissmile and
thought he wouldmake a very goodTV pitchman,which is what hewas for such along time. ”- Marian Monta
UTPA communication professor
“
RTRRAAVVEELLEEDD
The lessAO D
KRGV-TV Channel 5 newsanchor Oscar Adame tells of histravels from Donna to Houston and back,high school graduate to UTPA alumnus, andeverything in between
Oscar Adame remembers being 34years old and embarking on a newchapter in his life.
In fact, it was here at the Universityof Texas-Pan American where hedecided to do just that and finish hisdegree after a long interruption.
Although it may seem as if he tookthe long way around, Adame’s life andcareer has been fulfilling, giving him awealth of experience he will never for-get.
Adame has been a news anchor atKRGV-TV Channel 5 since 1999, buthas an extensive resume that revealshe is truly a jack-of-all-trades.
Adame grew up in Donna and grad-uated from Donna High School in1972, starting college at UTPA thesame year. With an increasinglydemanding work schedule, he decidedto put school on hold for a while, afterattending for four semesters.
Adame’s radio career began in 1977at KBFM where he stayed for twoyears until he decided to move to theHouston area to work for an oil fieldand shipping company. He soon decid-ed to come back to the Valley in 1980and was married that same year to hiswife, Cris. That’s when he decided tofinish what he had started at UTPA,enrolling part-time and going back towork at KBFM.
He joined KRGV radio, a Top 40station, in 1980 as the afternoon DJ,and also worked in on-camera produc-
tion and television news. “As I look back now, production
was always my favorite part aboutradio,” Adame said.
On the job, Adame said he wasgiven a script and told to make some-thing of it, which he did.
“You had to be alittle creative and itat least gave you theopportunity to becreative,” Adamesaid.
During this time,Adame was going toschool in the morn-ing and working full-time in the after-noon. His oldestdaughter, Andra, wasborn in 1981 and hispriority quicklybecame focused onproviding for the family rather thanfinishing school.
“It became more important to workfull-time at that particular time in mylife,” Adame said.
In 1988, Adame took a look at hiscareer and wondered if he wanted todo radio broadcasting for the rest ofhis life.
“It was getting to a point where mypay wasn’t going to get any better,”Adame said. “So, it was really want-ing more out of life and career.”
That same year he decided to goback to UTPA as a full-time student, atage 34.
“Going back to school was fun,”
said Adame. “I knew I just had a littlemore to go.”
Three of his professors at the timeare still teaching at UTPA today andall attest to Adame’s great personalityand dedication.
“What I recall most about him washis constantlypleasant personali-ty,” said MarianMonta, communi-cation professor atUTPA. “He alwaysseemed to be in agood mood--cheer-ful. I rememberhis smile andthought he wouldmake a very goodTV pitchman,which is what hewas for such a longtime.”
George McLemore, associate profes-sor of communication at UTPA,remembers Adame as being an ener-getic student who always had suchinteresting speeches because he had anattractive voice.
“He was just an all-around fine stu-dent,” McLemore said. “He had areally good sense of humor.”
Jack Stanley, professor of communi-cation at UTPA, said that Adamealways took his work seriously andkept his focus, absorbing everythingthat was given to him.
It was these qualities that his profes-sors saw years ago that led him to earna degree and eventually hold several
positions in public relations, market-ing, sales and to even own his ownbusiness.
In 1990, Adame worked as directorof public relations marketing forMcAllen Medical CenterRehabilitation Institute for ninemonths and left to become a pharma-ceutical sales representative.
He was a sales representative forBristol-Myers until 1994 when he andhis wife decided to start their ownbusiness, Mi Casa Home Care. In1999, they sold their business becauseit was consuming too much of theirtime.
Once he sold his business he begananother job hunt and was just about toaccept another pharmaceutical salesposition when KRGV-TV called andtold Adame about an open position fora weekend anchor and weekdayreporter.
“This was something that I hadwanted to do since I worked in radiohere [at KRGV],” said Adame. “Thedoor never did open and now the doorwas opening.”
Adame had wanted to do TV whenhe was in radio and finally 15 yearslater, made the career change. He cur-rently works as a news anchor atChannel 5 News and has lived inMcAllen for 20 years with his wifeand two daughters Andra, 20, Alina,15 and son, Adrian, 11.
He was on campus last year andnoticed the changes that have takenplace at UTPA, since he was last here.
“I was really impressed,” Adame
said. “I hadn’t been there in such along time, but it looked very nice.”
Adame feels that education is veryimportant and tells high school stu-dents and even his own daughter, asophomore at UTPA, to take advan-tage of the time they have in school.
“As I look back now, going to col-lege and getting my degree gave methe confidence that I could do any-thing that I wanted,” Adame said.
“I have done so many differentthings,” Adame said.
“Had I not had my degree—bottomline, I wouldn’t have been able to doany of that.”
Adame said there are so manyoptions out there for students rightnow, from four-year colleges to techni-cal schools.
“Whatever that choice is, go in com-plete and finish,”
Adame said. “The bottom line is togo and get your degree. Then if youdecide to go and do something differ-ent, you can.”
When asked if he had a message forstudents, he replied with advice that hehas learned over the years.
“Take advantage of the time youhave because it’s so easy to get sidetracked,” Adame said. “Just stayfocused and really follow your heart.”
“Sometimes you have to long takethe long way around,” Adame said.“But, learn as much as you can abouteverything you can. Take all of life’sexperiences and file them away,because you never know when youmight be needing that.”
April 4, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 9April 4, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 8
Oscar Adame joined KRGV-TVChannel 5 in 1999 as a news anchor.
Take all of life’sexperiences
and file themaway, because younever know whenyou might be need-ing that. ”- Oscar Adame
News anchor
“
Melissa Ciomperlik/The Pan American
By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American
• 1972 - Began col-lege at UTPA.
• 1977-79 - Workedat KBFM radio sta-tion in the Valley.
• 1979 - Moved toHouston area.
• 1980 - Returned tothe Valley, got mar-ried, started collegeat UTPA again,worked at KRGVradio as a DJ.
• 1988 - Went backto UTPA as a full-time student.
• 1990 - Worked asdirector of ppublicrelations marketingfor McAllen MedicalCenter RehabilitationInstitute.
• 1990-94 -PharmaceuticalSales Representativefor Bristol-Myers.
• 1994 - Opened hisown business, MiCasa Home Care,with his wife, Cris.
• 1999 - Startedworking at KRGV-TVChannel 5 as aweekend anchor andweekday reporter.
• Currently -Weekday newsanchor for KRGV-TVChannel 5.
30 YEARS
OF OSCAR
I remember hissmile and
thought he wouldmake a very goodTV pitchman,which is what hewas for such along time. ”- Marian Monta
UTPA communication professor
“
RTRRAAVVEELLEEDD
The lessAO D
To a writer, words mean every-thing. But especially when thosewords span cultural boundaries.For author Kathleen Alcala, herability to borrow words from bothEnglish and Spanish gives her anadvantage in reaching readers ofvarious cultures. But Alcala’s mul-ticultural background, outside ofwriting, has had its disadvantages.
Alcala, an award-winning authorof “Mrs. Vargas and the DeadNaturalist,” “Spirits of theOrdinary,” “The Flower in theSkull” and “Treasures in Heaven,”will read excerpts from her novels,sign books, and answer questionstonight in the Student UnionTheater at 7:30 p.m.
She was raised in SanBernardino, Calif., an inland work-ing town (about 64 miles from LosAngeles) that seemed secludedfrom the rest of society.
“We were aware that there was aworld out there, but other thanknowing that the world had abeach, we weren’t too sure aboutit,” Alcala said.
The community she lived inreflected the unrest of the 1960s,as changes and tribulations shookcommunities worldwide. Despitechanging mind-sets around thenation, the San Bernardino areaseemed to hold fast to stereotypesabout non-white cultures.
“I came of age during the post-’60s ‘hangover’; both Kennedys,MLK and Ruben Salazar had allbeen shot, and the [SanBernardino] Police Departmentdispatched their SWAT team on aregular basis to quell race riots at
my high school,” Alcala said. “Myfather taught social studies at thebaddest junior high in town, so hisstudents knew me in [high school],which probably accounts for thefact that I am still alive.”
Armed police officers patrolledthe rooftops of Alcala’s highschool and anyone who could notprove where they were during ariot, or who appeared in a photo ofa riot in the local newspaper, wasautomatically suspended.
While the road to reaching herpotential took hard work and self-motivation, Alcala’s efforts wereeventually rewarded with a schol-arship to attend StanfordUniversity.
“We may have had a dream[beyond San Bernardino], but noone was going to make it easy forus.”
According to Alcala, she comesfrom a working class Mexican-American family. Her father’s par-ents walked across the border fromJalisco, Mexico, to work for therailroads after losing almost every-thing in the Mexican Revolution of1910-1917, a story not unlike thatof other emigrating families of thetime. Despite the hard times suchfamilies faced, her family wasgiven an opportunity that manystill dream of having come true:the chance to make a better life forthemselves.
But the dream was double-edgedin terms of social acceptance.
“The fact that my father waspulled off a truck of orange pickersand sent to Redlands Universitytuition-free meant that we skipped
a generation in terms of educa-tion,” Alcala said. “But not interms of social attitudes.”
Alcala followed in the footstepsleft by her father by attending col-lege herself, but the battle to stepout of the stereotypes of the timeproved more difficult when somestudents at Stanford couldn’t lookpast the color of her skin.
Although she received the schol-arships on her own merit, theracial tensions of the time began tosurface when she was accepted tothe college considered “theHarvard of the West.”
“I know I had a big chip on myshoulder that served as self-defense. It served me well in a uni-versity full of extremely privilegedpeople who assumed that Ireceived ‘special consideration’ toget in...”
Alcala said that while atStanford, she battled preconceivednotions of other students whobelieved she was accepted basedon her color, not her mind.
“When I got to Stanford, thegeneral assumption by the whitestudents was that all non-white stu-dents had been admitted accordingto lower standards. They said thisto our faces. The only way toprove them wrong was to get bet-ter grades than they did.”
During her time at Stanford,Alcala studied linguistics and psy-chology, and found that writing forthe Stanford Daily, the schoolnewspaper, fulfilled part of herinterest in writing. Alcala hadalways enjoyed writing, but foundthat doing it as a career was notconsidered an ideal profession.
“It was not a time when peoplewere encouraged to be ‘writers,’per se. Most of my classmateswere pre-law or pre-med. Plus, Idid not know any writers, so Ifocused my interest on languageitself,” Alcala said. “I didn’t knowany writers growing up, but I wasalways drawn to the written word.”
Although being a professionalwriter was a far cry from being apsychologist, Alcala hit a turningpoint in her life, while still at col-lege, that pushed her love of writ-ing further. A friend gave her acopy of the book “The NewJournalism” and told her to read aparticular essay about Alcala’shometown.
“The essay was ‘Dreamers of theGolden Dream’ and that experi-ence was a testament to the powerof the printed word. It was also thefirst time I read about a place Iknow, people I recognized.”
Since graduating from Stanfordin 1976, Alcala has published fournovels, several of which are basedon family stories from Mexico,and has had a number of short sto-ries, reviews and articles pub-lished. Throughout the span of herwriting career, Alcala has also
■ Oscar Adame . . . .8 - 9
■ UPB . . . . . . . . . . . . 10ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
PAGE 7
AroundTown
Taste of the Valley 2002April 4 from 6:30-9:30 p.m.Tickets: Tickets are $10Place: Pharr InternationalConvention CenterInfo: Various Valley restau-rants give out samples oftheir food to patrons.Call: (956) 787-1481
Harry Potter, and theSorcerer’s StoneApril 4 at 2 p.m. (studentpreview), April 5 at 2 and 6p.m. and April 6 at 2 p.m.Price: Students are freewith a valid UTPA identifi-cation card, general admis-sion is $1, and childrenunder 12 are free withadult supervision (limit 5children per adult).Refreshments are free.Place: Student UnionTheater
3rd Annual Symphony inthe ParkApril 6Event: The award winningUTB/TSC Jazz Band willperform to benefit theBrownsville LiteracyCenter.Place: Washington Park inBrownsville.
Faculty Trio ConcertApril 7 at 3 p.m.Price: General admissionis $3 and $2 for UTPA stu-dents with identificationand senior citizens.Place: Fine ArtsAuditorium.Call: (956) 381-3471
Psychology ColloquiumApril 9 from noonto 1 p.m.Event: “Examining BasicAssumptions: FertileGround for Research,” byDr. Grant Bentham.Place: Room 119 in theSBS building.
By Ashley BrooksThe Pan American
I didn’tknow any
writers growingup, but I wasalways drawnto the writtenword. ”- Kathleen Alcala
Author
“
See ALCALA page 10
‘SPIRITS OF THEORDINARY’
‘SPIRITS OF THEORDINARY’(TRANSLATED)
‘FLOWERS IN THESKULL’
(TRANSLATED)
KATHLEEN ALCALA
Weaving history and cultureAuthor Kathleen Alcala uses her personal and family history, as wellas her culture, as the basis for a number of novels and short stories
April 4, 2002 Arts & Entertainment Page 10
Tuesday evening, the Student Unionat the University of Texas-PanAmerican was decorated to look like acoffee house, and filled with peoplegathered to hear folk musician StevenJackson.
This was one of the many eventssponsored by the University ProgramBoard which is set up to allow stu-dents to host programs or events oncampus that are of interest to students.
Five student committees comprise
UPB. Diversions Committee isresponsible for the movie program-ming on campus. In April, “HarryPotter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,”“Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius” and“Ali” are scheduled to be presented inthe Student Union. Diversions has theadvantage of showcasing moviesbefore they are released on VHS orDVD.
“The movie program provides enter-tainment to students in school, thosewho live on campus and people in thecommunity,” said Sara Sanchez, chairof the Diversions Committee.
The Special Events Committee is incharge of larger annual events such asthe Carnival of the Great Pumpkin,Bronc Olympics, and Parent/ChildDay Picnic.
The Showcase Committee organizessmaller (weekly or monthly) coffeehouse-style productions on campus.Including Jackson’s performance.Students involved in the committee
listen to a pile of CDs, make decisionson the talent booked, and coordinatepublicity.
The Ideas and Issues Committeefocuses on health and cultural issuessuch as AIDS Awareness Day, EarthDay, or Hispanic Heritage Month. Forthese events, educational programs arearranged and lecturers are invited tospeak on campus.
The Band Booking Committee con-trols all aspects of musical entertain-ment. It recently produced AcousticNight, a competition between UTPAstudents who play acoustic guitar.This event gave students an opportuni-ty to perform in front of their peers.On April 9, Recycled Percussion, aband that creates music using recycledmaterial, is scheduled to perform atthe Student Union.
“UPB is an educational and culturalform of entertainment for students andgets them exposed to something theywouldn’t receive in the classroom,”said Hector Leal, UPB president.
“It gives students a chance to relaxbetween classes and meet other stu-dents.”
Gregg Simmons, assistant directorand adviser of UPB, said that the pur-pose of the program is not only toenhance the out-of-classroom experi-ence, but provide a learning experi-ence to members.
He said that each committee is stu-dent-run and each event is producedby students.
“We try to get the students to domost of the work,” said Simmons,who believes that through studentinvolvement, a better idea of what stu-dents want is achieved.
With all of this action going onaround campus, coordinators are sur-prised the student turnout isn’t higher.Despite solid turnouts at some events,Simmons questions why more stu-dents do not take advantage of whatUPB has to offer. He explained howthe Carnival of the Great Pumpkindrew 1,000 people, including children,compared to the 13,000 studentsenrolled at UTPA.
The funding for UPB comes fromstudent activity fees and StudentUnion fees, receiving no money fromthe state. That’s why most events arefree to students who present a validcollege identification card.
“Students are paying the fees, sothey should attend the events,”Simmons said. “I would like to seeevery person who attends school toshow up to at least one event.”
“The first thing I would like to do isincrease membership, then increaseattendance and eventually increase thenumber of events we produce,” saidSimmons. “I’d like to make every-thing bigger and better.”
Website: dimmu-borgir.comBook: “Paradise Lost”by John MiltonMovie: “Willy Wonka and theChocolate Factory”
CD: “Much Afraid”by Jars of ClayBook: “The Outsiders”by S.E. HintonMovie: “Dazed and Confused”
CD: “A Perfect Circle”by Mer de NomsBook: “Count of Monte Cristo”by Alexander DumasMovie: “Sense and Sensibility”
Maritza CantuFreshmanMusic
Pamela ReyesSophomorePsychology
Sean TempeltonFreshmanComp. Graphics
CULTURE CLUBWhat students like to read, listen to and surf.
TheBy Elizabeth MartinezThe Pan American
UPB provides campus entertainment
been given the title of“Latino author.”
It’s a small title that car-ries a lot of weight.
Some authors with multi-cultural backgrounds find itdifficult to reach mass audi-ences because their booksare given a title like“Latino,” “NativeAmerican” or “AfricanAmerican.”
“I know a psychologistwho is African American,
and when she finds herbooks just with the African-American writers, shemoves them over to thenonfiction/psychologybooks, which will be seenby many more people of allbackgrounds.”
But whatever title she isgiven, Alcala’s focus isclear.
“What people call medoesn’t change who I am,or what I write about. Like
all writers, I hope that whatI write has some universalbasis and appeal,” Alcalasaid. “All good writing,from Shakespeare’s sonnetsto Joanna Russ’s sciencefiction, is about the humancondition. “
Although the road toachieving her dreams wasfraught with difficulty,Alcala’s story is not basedon pity, but instead is basedon her strength as an indi-
vidual, her family and herheritage. She knew whatshe wanted and strove for it.
“Now that I have theopportunity to teach andlecture, I try to extend the‘possibilities’ of being awriter, or achieving in otherways, to people who mightfeel as I did,” Alcala said.“You cannot strive forsomething before you canimagine it. You have toknow it’s there.”
Guitarist and singer Steven Jackson performed Tuesday in the Student UnionFood Court as one of the events sponsored by the University Program Board.
Anna Stwora/The Pan American
ALCALA continued from page 7
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 11
Many college students dread mathcourses, so the University of Texas-PanAmerican has implemented a projectthat may make college algebra easierand more comprehendible to students.
The University Retention AdvisementProgram was designed to fulfill UTPA’sgoals to increase retention and gradua-tion rates.
“The university itself has undergonelots of changes to help increase reten-tion and graduation rates,” said MonicaTrevino, student development specialistof URAP. “So we came along as one oftheir strategies.”
URAP started in 1999 and consists ofone overall assistant director and sixstudent development specialists, onewithin each of the university’s six col-leges.
The student development specialistshelp students integrate into the univer-sity community and provide academicadvisement for undeclared students.
URAP offers a variety of academicretention programs to students, includ-ing one that helps students pass collegealgebra. UTPA’s math departmentdesigned the College Algebra Project inspring 1998 and URAP joined the effortin 1999 to help increase the pass rate ofthe course.
“It was taking our students an aver-age of two and a half to three times toget through the college algebra course,”said Rene Torres, lecturer in the mathe-matics department and coordinator ofthe College Algebra Project.
The College Algebra Project requiresstudents to register for an additionalclassroom hour that gives themincreased interaction with the professorand other members of the class. It alsoallows them the opportunity to havemore frequent evaluations in the formof exams and quizzes.
Some students and professors say theincreased interaction is what makes theproject successful.
“We get an opportunity to cover morematerial,” said Monika Hannah, fresh-man pre-med major and participant inthe project. “A lot of students are shyand don’t like to ask questions, but inhere they feel comfortable.”
“We try to be clear and up front fromthe very beginning,” Torres said. “Wefeel that if you tell students what youwant them to know, then they’ll go offand learn it.”
The project is open to all studentswho meet the prerequisites for the col-lege algebra course, and it requires stu-dents to sign up for an additional labhour that they do not have to pay for.
There are currently six faculty mem-bers working with the project and 18college algebra sections availablethrough the project.
Plans are in the works to make all ofthe college algebra courses part of theproject, according to Torres. There arecurrently five sections that are three-hour classes and not part of the project.
“This is primarily a commuterschool,” Torres said. “We found thatthere were a limited number of studentswho would actually stay for extra quali-ty time, either going to tutoring or com-ing in during office hours.”
The success rate of the program hascaused those students who were leery ofthe additional hour to now welcome theproject with open arms.
“Originally, there was a little uncer-
tainty with some of the students…butword has gotten around,” Trevino said.
“Students are hearing that these aregood classes. The professors are goodand they care about you learning, sostudents are signing up for these class-es.”
The pass rate (a grade of C or higher)of students who are enrolled in the proj-ect compared to that of non-enroleesshows that the project has helped stu-dents.
In Fall 2001, there was a 78-percentpass rate for students enrolled in theCollege Algebra Project and a
39-percent pass rate for those justenrolled in the three-hour class itself.
In Fall 2001, there were 574 studentsenrolled in the project and 171 enrolledin just the three-hour classes.
This was up from Fall 2000, when400 students were enrolled in the proj-ect and 398 were enrolled in the three-hour courses.
“We surveyed the students [in theproject] and over 90 percent of the stu-dents that were surveyed all said thatthe fourth hour was worth it,” Torressaid.
OTHER RETENTION EFFORTS
In addition to helping with theCollege Algebra Project, URAP heads anumber of other different retention pro-grams. The Early Warning System is a
fairly new program that started at UTPAin Fall 2000.
EWS is a device that targets primarilyfirst-and-second-year students, or any-one who is enrolled in a gateway coursesuch as history, political science,English, biology and math, all of whichhave high failure rates.
Gateway courses are those requiredfor all students to take, and which leadto more advanced courses.
EWS allows the professor to receivea roster for their class in which theycan check any of four categories to letstudents know when they have exces-sive absences, a low class average,when they should be referred to tutor-ing and when they submit incompletework.
This roster is then put into the com-puter and letters are mailed out to stu-dents.
“We advise them early on so they cango to the faculty or they can come to usand hopefully they can pick up theiraverage before it’s too late in thesemester,” Trevino said.
There are currently 60 course sectionsthat have the EWS available and therehave been approximately 146 sectionsand 125 faculty members involved sinceFall 2000.
According to Trevino, on average,nearly 60 professors are asked to partic-ipate and of those, 70 percent actuallyparticipate and fill out the information.Professors are asked to contribute on avoluntary basis.
“We have had really great results withthe faculty participation,” Trevnio said.“They have been great.”
There are plans to put this service on-line in Fall 2002 and eventually make itavailable to all UTPA professors.
URAP offers an assortment of otherprojects, including the Fourth HourProject, Learning Communities, theHonors Program, the TeacherRecruitment Center, and the Bachelorof Applied Arts and Sciences program,in addition to the College AlgebraProject and the Early Warning System.
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 6
Programs aid student performance
By Melissa CiomperlikThe Pan American
CSBS approval, the only thing left to dois offer the classes and graduate the firstcandidates with a clinical psychologydoctoral degree.
“My hope is that within two or threeyears this will be off the ground,”Garcia said. “ Everyone in the commu-nity is excited about this and so arewe.”
UTPA currently offers Ph.D.s in busi-ness administration (with an emphasisin international business), pharmacy,and educational leadership.
The CSBS also plans to make changesand improve a few existing graduateprograms. Garcia said the college is cur-rently talking about evolving the gradu-ate program in public administration.
“We want to create an area of special-ization, maybe in public health,” Garciasaid. “We have future community lead-ers, politicians and government officialsthat will come out of this program.”
Garcia said another graduate programin the works is in international politics.He said this program is in the very early
stages and a preliminary proposal wasput together only last year. The proposalwould go before the graduate counciland then the college could begin offer-ing classes.
Garcia said it is time UTPA preparesprofessionals in international politicsand foreign policy, especially followingthe Sept. 11 terror attacks.
“We have to consider the whole issueof globalization and its effects on multi-national corporations,” Garcia said,adding that the graduate program would
be interdisciplinary and will include theCollege of Business and Arts andHumanities.
Garcia said a professional in foreignaffairs should be sensitive to diversecultures, and fluent in various lan-guages.
Just like the graduate program in pub-lic administration, the international pol-itics program must go before the gradu-ate council and be approved beforeclasses can be offered.
Next Week: the College of Business.
NEW PROGRAMS continued from page 1
URAP has eight separate plans designed to bolster retention rates
Originally there was a little uncertainty withsome of the students but word has gotten
around. Students are hearing that these are goodclasses. The professors are good and they careabout you learning, so students are signing up forthese classes. ”das
df -Monica TrevinoStudent Development Specialist
“
CAMPUS LIFEPAGE 12
■ W h a t s t u d e n t s a r e d o i n g a t U T P AApril 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 5
Education expo heralds jobopportunities for students
May is just around the corner, and studentsare getting ready to graduate.
For University of Texas-Pan American stu-dents majoring in education, UTPA’s Officeof Career Placement Services is offering ateacher job expo Thursday April 4 from 9a.m. to 5 p.m. in The Fieldhouse.
UTPA’s Office of Career PlacementServices work with the College of Educationto have local school district representativescome on campus to interview students andinform them of career opportunities in educa-tion available in the area.
“It’s a chance for students to ask aboutsalary, weigh their options and see whichschool and school district they would be inter-ested in working at,” said Velinda Reyes,assistant director of the Office of CareerPlacement Services.
The teacher job expo is geared specificallyto the College of Education, but any studentinterested in the field of education can attendand participate in the job expo.
“Anybody that is undecided whether edu-cation is something they want to do can cometalk to the participants and ask them the dailywork life of a teacher,” Reyes said.
According to Reyes, between 60 and 90employers (schools) will attend the expo,including representatives from local school
districts, throughout Texas and outside ofTexas.
The job expo benefits student teachersgraduating in May because it allows them tovisit with all the schools in one setting.
“We bring the school districts to the stu-dents, and we bring the job opportunities tothem,” Reyes said. “ So we try to encouragethe students to utilize it and take advantage ofthe job expo.”
It is recommended that students bring sev-eral resumes to hand out to different employ-ers, giving an opportunity to be interviewedby prospective employers on the spot.
“We do advise students to come dressedprofessionally and to come with severalresumes to hand out and a general cover letterintroducing themselves” Reyes said.
The Office of Career Placement Serviceshas eight career fairs throughout the year. Thenext event is the Health Science Job ExpoApril 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the northquad directly behind the student union.
This fair is held to get hospitals, govern-ment agencies and private industry to comedown and provide students with career oppor-tunities and inform them of what is available.
Reyes also added that if a student inHealth Science and Human Services wishesto talk to a certain organization they can con-tact the Career Placement Services so theycan send that particular organization an invi-tation.
By Nikki RamirezThe Pan American
Homosexual group seeks identityDenim Day gave them their 15 minutes
of fame at the University of Texas-PanAmerican, but the misinterpreted posterswere part of a message that this often mar-ginalized group is trying to convey to thepublic.
The Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Alliance(GLOBAL) co-sponsored Denim Day onMarch 7 to make a point that people shouldbe judged not by their exteriors, but by thecontent of their character. Posters advertis-ing the event were placed throughout theUTPA campus. Some posters had picturesof jeans while others bore pictures of thelower halves of people wearing jeans.
A letter to the editor of The PanAmerican expressed Samuel Cook’s opin-ion of Denim Day. According to Cook, itdidn’t make sense to pick a general cloth-ing item, such as jeans, to demonstrateaffiliation with GLOBAL.
In a later issue, GLOBAL presidentNyssa Cruz, responded by saying that thepoint of the posters was not to demonstrate
affiliation but to show that “no one canjudge a book by its cover.”
All controversy aside, GLOBAL is a rec-ognized organization at UTPA. The organi-zation has 36 members with about 15-20active members.
Three-quarters of the organization iscomprised of females. Nearly 10 percent ofthat population is known as the straightalliance. The straight alliance is a faction ofthe members who are heterosexual and stillactive in the organization.
“The straight alliance is there for supportand to bounce ideas off,” Cruz said. “Theyhelp neutralize clashing ideologies.”
Numbers about nation-wide membershipin homosexual clubs are hard to pin down.Members of another GLOBAL organiza-tion, at Canada’s Wilfrid LaurierUniversity, claim that they do not have aregular attendance, but that their “member-ship” is at about 50.
Laurier’s GLOBAL has 60 percent malemembers, and currently has no straightalliance. The group works to provide a sup-portive, positive, safe environment for gay,lesbian or bisexual individuals in the
Laurier community.Cruz describes UTPA’s GLOBAL as
“more of a support group” and a non-profitorganization.
“We want people to know that it’s okay ifthey are gay, they will be accepted...ourorganization is here for support,” Cruz said.
GLOBAL is only one of the many gayalliances or organizations in the UnitedStates, according to the Valley AidsCouncil. It is difficult to tell how many gayorganizations are in the United States., saida spokesperson at the council, who addedthat individuals on college campuses areprobably more exposed to gay movementsthan the general population.
While one of GLOBAL’s main goals is toreach out to the gay community and pro-vide support, it is currently in the processof restructuring its organization.
GLOBAL is currently working withorganizations such as GLADD (Gay andLesbian Alliance Against Defamation) toensure that they are following acceptableguidelines during the restructuring process.
“We’re trying to organize a somewhatdisorganized organization,” Cruz said.
According to Cruz, the organization iscurrently rewriting its constitution, whichwas last revised in 1999. GLOBAL is alsolooking into a new name.
“They [GLOBAL] have been looking ata name change to make their purpose moreclear,” said temporary adviser ChristineCarruthers.
Carruthers said that the organization hasbeen stronger this year than in past years,adding that GLOBAL has been trying toincrease its participation in campus life.
GLOBAL took part in the “Stop theHate” campaign this spring, where Cruzspoke about the need for open-mindednessand the need to be less judgmental aboutpeople. Aside from that on-campus activity,GLOBAL will be hosting a gay film festi-val at Montroe’s this weekend.
UTPA’s GLOBAL usually conductsinformal meetings due to the hectic sched-ules of many members. Cruz hopes toimplement a more formal meeting schedulein the future.
“I usually meet with some of the mem-bers between classes or on the phone,” saidCruz.
By Celeste Y. TelloThe Pan American
Vaughn, sophomore Francisco Vielma, senior Alyssa Munoz and junior Efrain MolinaJr. are all vying for SGA’s top position.
“Students have many tickets to choose from this year,” Garza said. “All of the candi-dates are very qualified.”
At press time, Garza was hard-pressed to pick any one candidate or ticket who wasfavored in the minds of students.
“Everyone has a good shot. It depends on campaigning and who students are see-ing,” she said.
Garza feels all of the candidates have something to offer students, regardless ofwhich candidates the final vote favors.
“It will be a learning experience for all of the candidates,” Garza said. “They are allqualified and eager to do something for students.”
SGA continued from page 1
Faculty union has cloutThe Texas Faculty Association (TFA) is
the state’s largest organization serving theinterests and rights of university faculty.
On a local level, the Pan AmericanUnited Faculty (PAUF) is the organizationthat represents University of Texas-PanAmerican in the state TFA with 109 tenure-track members, according to Dr. KenBuckman, professor of philosophy andpresident of PAUF. Buckman also serveson the executive committee of the stateorganization.
“Our campus has the largest membership(in the state) and by far we have the largestpercentage of membership in the state,”Buckman said. “We have 109 membersthat are full-time tenured. That is a verylarge percentage and we have a tremendousinfluence at the state level.”
Charles Zucker, executive director ofTFA, lobbies the legislature in support offaculty issues and been an instrumental ingetting legislation to protect faculty rights,Buckman added.
At UTPA, PAUF helps members withany concerns that they may have withindepartments.
“We disseminate information face to faceon issues that concern [members] locally.We find grievance officers and [assign]them to [members] who may have prob-lems in the department and try to resolveissues,” said Buckman.
“A lot of times administration can viewthe organization as antagonistic, but it isnot about “us versus them,” we want toestablish good working relationshipsbetween faculty and administration.”
Thomas Pozorski, professor of anthro-pology and treasurer and secretary forPAUF, feels that TFA provides a number ofbenefits to members such as legal counsel,optional life insurance, and discounts atcertain hotels.
“TFA has done remarkably well in sup-porting legislative bills that help facultyand state universities and in general, havehelped keep harmful legislation frombecoming law,” Pozorski said.
“That is why TFA is vital for helping tomaintain a quality university system and aquality core of faculty.”
Dr. James Aldridge, professor of psy-chology and president of TFA, said the his-tory of the PAUF predates the existance ofTFA. What is now known as PAUF wasfounded in 1981. TFA was founded in 1985by a group of organizations includingPAUF.
Aldridge is serving his first term as pres-ident and running unopposed for a secondterm.
“Higher education faculty in Texas neverhad much clout. My personal goal is toremedy that and put together a strongorganization,” Aldridge said.
Before TFA, there were organizationsthat PAUF cooperated with, AmericanFederation of Teachers and AmericanOrganizations of University Professors.The heirarchy begins with NationalEducation Association and consists ofTexas State Teachers Association (TSTA)and TFA as the higher education divisionof TSTA.
The TFA provides a monthly newsletterto all university faculty members that con-tains information about faculty laws, budg-ets for pay raises, and other topics.
By Belinda ReyesThe Pan American
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 4
– Anna Stwora
Fabian CuellarPsychologyJunior
We shouldn’t risk anymore Americanlives and I think we have enoughproblems of our own.
Abby LopezSpanishSophomore
I don’t think we should get involvedin other countries’ affairs. Weshould let them handle their ownconflicts.
Albert ContrerasPharmacyJunior
Definitely. Because I figure if we don’tthen the US will be affected eventually.
Should the US be directlyinvolved in the Israel-
Palestine conflict?
Nazli CantuTheaterJunior
No. They shouldn’t get involvedbecause the US should take care of itsconflicts before engaging in others.
VOICECCaammppuuss
Daniel PallaisComputer ScienceSenior
No. We agreed that there shouldn’t be anyUS involvement in their conflict.
April 4, 2002 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 13
REPRODUCTIVE SERVICES& ADOPTION AFFILIATES
SINCE 1973
WE UNDERSTAND... WE CARE... AND WE HELP
LICENSED BY THE TEXAS DEPT. OF HEALTH #009PROVIDING SURGICAL AND MEDICAL ABORTIONS
WITH THE COMFORT OF IV SEDATION, EMERGENCYCONTRACEPTION, SONOGRAMS, BIRTH CONTROL
SERVICES AND FREE PREGNANCY TESTING.ADOPTION SERVICES ALSO AVAILABLE
1-800-270-6757613 SESAME DRIVE WEST HARLINGEN, TEXAS 785501-800-575-8604 MEX. 001-800-010-1287
www.reproductiveservices.com
PAGE 3■ Campus Voice . . . . . 4
■ Global . . . . . . . . . . .12
■ Retention . . . . . . . . . 6NEWSValley author honors Mexican beauties
A Mexican author has brought backthe women of past Mexican cinema.
Rogelio Agrasanchez Jr. was at theUniversity of Texas-Pan AmericanThursday, March 28 and discussedhis new book “Bellezes del CineMexicano,” or “Beauties of MexicanCinema.”
The book is divided into four sec-tions and consists of over 250 blackand white and color photographs ofsome of the most attractive femaleactresses of the 1940s through the1960s, according to Agrasanchez.
Agrasanchez added that there were
many fans interested in beautifulfemale performers.
No one had published a book withimages of all the Mexican stars so hebegan collecting graphic material andinformation.
“ It took me two years to researchand publish the book,” Agrasanchezsaid.
As a member of a family involvedin the Mexican film industry,Agrasanchez has been writing bookson Mexican cinema since 1995 andhas published six books.
“The main idea behind this andother books that I have published isto introduce the general audience toMexican movies — especially the
Golden Age (1936-1956),”Agrasanchez said.
“ I believe that this twenty-yearperiod is one of the most attractive
and interesting periods of world cine-ma.”
Before Agrasanchez began writingbooks on Mexican cinema, he didresearch on 19th-century Mexicanhistory.
Agrasanchez is from Mexico Cityand attended St. Edward’s Universityand the University of Texas at Austin.
He acquired a Bachelor’s of Artsdegree in philosophy and continuedhis education by earning a Master’sdegree in Latin American Studies.
Anyone interested in purchasing hisnew book can find it at the HidalgoCounty Historical Museum inEdinburg or via the Internet atwww.agrasfilms.com.
University police fill out a report for the two-car accident that occurred Monday morningon Sugar Road just north of the crosswalk. The accident occurred when a 2000 SaturnSL (right) hit an ‘89 Pontiac Grand Am from the rear and flipped over the top of it, landingupside down, according to police. The driver of the Saturn sustained minimal injuries andthe driver of the Grand Am, along with four children and one adult, were not injured.
Matt Lynch/The Pan American
By Nikki RamirezThe Pan American
ROLLOVER
UTPA journalistscompete at TIPA
Feedback on performance comes in many packages. In college jour-nalism, it results from student, staff, and faculty readership and com-ment. It also manifests itself in the form of awards from the TexasIntercollegiate Press Association.
When nine journalists from the University of Texas-Pan Americanattended the yearly TIPA conference in Fort Worth last week, they par-ticipated in on-site skills competitions and collected several awards forcollege publication work from the past fall semester.
There were over 30 Texas schools represented at the conference, heldat the Radisson in downtown Fort Worth. Schools were sectioned offby enrollment for the fall work review, with UTPA in Division II, a sec-tion below major schools such as Texas A&M and the University ofTexas. The on-site competitions lumped students of all schools into onefree-for-all group.
In a review of last semester's work, The Pan American student news-paper finished fifth overall in its division. There were several studentswho won individual awards, including page designer Gabe Hernandez.He received one second-place certificate and one honorable mention.
Current editor Matt Lynch placed in one category while former edi-tor Ryan Henry placed in three. Current entertainment editor AshleyBrooks made a strong showing for the school, garnering three awards.
Melissa Ciomperlik, this semester's copy editor, placed first in thepublic relations crisis management on-site competition, and EladioJaimez came home second in the sports writing event.
The Gallery student literary magazine also brought home a handfulof awards for last year's magazine, including second place overall in itsdivision. Dara Kayla De la Rosa won first place and a third for illustra-tion, while Edward De los Reyes took a second with his feature photo.
The Pan American Staff
Rogelio Agrasanchez Jr.
April 4, 2002 sports Page 14
SOCCER continued from page 16compete on a national and Division Ilevel,” Weidner said. “As we seek fundsand raise money and community supportin Bronc athletic foundation, we’re rein-forcing the existing programs.”
Weidner further explained that financ-ing is another reason why UTPA lacks asoccer program.
“It’s certainly an issue that has to beconsidered because if we were to addany sport, we want to make sure that itis funded properly so that we provide apositive experience for the student ath-letes that are involved,” Weidner said.“You can do more damage if you attemptto create a program that’s not properlyfunded. If you don’t have money to getquality coaching, you’re not going tohave a real learning experience.”
There is another possible obstacle togetting soccer back at UTPA. Since theinstitution of Title IX in 1972, collegeprograms have paid particular attentionto gender equity. Title IX prevents col-leges and universities from discriminat-ing against athletes based on gender, bymandating equal creation and funding ofboth men’s and women’s athletics pro-grams. Around the country, men’s sportssuch as wrestling, swimming, and soccerhave been scaled back or eliminatedaltogether in the quest to ensure equalwomen’s access to collegiate sports.
But Weidner insists that Title IX is anon-issue in the creation of a soccer pro-gram at UTPA.
“The direction that we’ve chosen to gois to ensure that women’s sports arefully funded because we feel we matchup very well, and have made greatstrides in addressing 13 components ofTitle IX since I’ve been here,” Weidnersaid.
But Lopez also thinks that UTPAshould not only bring back men’s soccer,but create a women’s soccer program aswell.
“If you look around the high schools,girls are playing in high school now andare getting better and better,’’ Lopezsaid.
Lopez added he and his former team-mates went to a Spanish radio stationtwo months ago trying to learn whyUTPA’s soccer program was slashed.
“We had a lot of people calling inexplaining that they want to have soccerand would back it up by going to thegames,” Lopez said.
Hispanics comprise approximately 85percent of the Valley population, and thepopularity of soccer in Latin Americancountries all over the world is dominant.Considering this, Weidner has an openmind about bringing the sport back toUTPA.
“Right now I can’t say, but never saynever,” Weidner said. “We want a posi-tive experience for our athletes, but atthe present time we’re not moving inthat direction. It doesn’t mean thatwe’re not for it.”
“And down the stretch they come.”ABC sportscaster Al Michaels excites
thoroughbred racing fans everywherewith that simple phrase every summer.Those same six words could also be usedto describe the days preceeding ElectionDay.
Run-off elections take place April 9,but candidates in Hidalgo County havebeen preparing for the photo finish sinceMarch 13, the day after the primary elec-tions.
Incumbent Eloy Pulido and Edinburgattorney Ramon Garcia are vying for theHidalgo County Judge seat and bothagree intense campaigning has been nec-essary in the last three weeks.
Pulido said his campaign has run a fewmore television and radio ads, but hasspent only $8,000 during the runoffstretch. Pulido said his campaign hasspent approximately $360,000 to date.The annual salary of the Hidalgo CountyJudge is $72,000.
“Ramon [Garcia] easily has spent over$1 million,” said Pulido, who added thathe believes his past four years in officewill will make the difference in theminds of voters come Tuesday.
“We’re telling people ‘this is whatwe’ve done,’” Pulido said. “We have aplatform people can reflect on.”
Despite Pulido’s claims that residentsof Hidalgo County are content with theway the county is being run, Garcia saidcounty residents are ready for change.
We’re pushing for change, sixty-fivepercent of the voters already said theywanted change,” said Garcia, in refer-ence to the percentage of votes in favor
of Garcia and Ricardo Perez in the pri-maries.
“Since Judge Pulido has been judge,taxes have gone up every year,” Garciasaid. “It’s gone up 32 percent, and ourtaxes are actually higher than in placeslike Dallas, Austin, Houston, or ElPaso.”
Garcia stressed that a serious financialproblem is affecting the county, andsomething needs to done.
“We don’t have control over ourspending problems,” Garcia said. “Weneed to go back to basics. We have to seewhat we have to work with.”
However, Pulido stands by his recordand hopes his experience as a judge willbe key on Tuesday.
“We’ve done a good job in the lastthree years,” Pulido said.
Pulido said Garcia’s record should alsohelp him win the race. Pulido said Garciamay have burned a few too many bridgesthrough his lawsuits against hospitalsand businesses in the county.
“The medical community knows whothe biggest enemy is,” Pulido said. “He[Garcia] has 55 lawsuits against McAllenMedical Center alone, and three to fourhundred against doctors for malpractice.”
Valley doctors have scheduled a walk-out April 8 in protest of what they con-sider lawsuit abuse in the area which isdriving up insurance costs.
Meanwhile, Garcia said Pulido’s majorcontributors are lawyers.
“A substantial amount of my support-ers are business people,” Garcia said.
Pulido believes he can come out of therunoff victorious, but it’ll be toughbecause of Garcia’s deep pockets.
“This will be a close race becausewe’re fighting against big money,” saidPulido said, who noted that Garcia rentedover 40 vehicles used by “politiqueros,”to transport people to the polls.
“Some people are working with themon a full-time basis,” Pulido said.
Both candidates agreed getting theword out is expensive. Pulido said mostof the money he’s spent on the campaignhas come from contributors.
“If I had $350,000, I’d never spend iton running for judge,” Pulido said.
Garcia said money was not the decid-ing factor in this race and reiterated thatpeople were ready for change.
“We have to evaluate every countyposition and bring people to the tablethat need to be there,” Garcia said.
He mentioned that several county offi-cials have been vocal about opposingPulido, including the county sheriff andcounty commissioners of precincts oneand three, who decided to back Garcia.
Pulido said he can’t take the decisionmade by commissioners Sylvia Handyand Joe Flores personally. He said that ifhe wins things will continue to run asbefore.
“It’s politics,” Pulido said. “From whatI’ve heard [La Joya mayor] Billy Leoasked Joe [Flores] to vote for Garcia.Sylvia was supporting me, but then sheswitched over, but in politics you’realways cutting deals.”
1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539(956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122
http://www.panam.edu/dept/panamerican50th Year – No. 23
EditorMatt Lynch
Layout Designers
Gabriel Hernandez
Celeste Y. Tello
Reporters
Blake Daniels
Jaime Garcia Jr.
Mike Gonzalez
Elizabeth Martinez
Linda Martinez
Nikki Ramirez
Belinda Reyes
Cesar Trevino
Photographers
Anna Stwora
Mary Zuviri
Advertising
Dagoberto Perez
Circulation
Jesus M. Gonzalez
Advertising Coordinator
Juanita Sanchez
Adviser
Greg Selber
the PAN AMERICAN is theofficial studentnewspaper of TheUniversity ofTexas-PanAmerican. Views presentedare those of thewriters and do notnecessarily reflectthose of theuniversity.
The Pan Americangladly acceptsletters fromstudents, staff andfaculty regardingnewspaper contentor current issues.The Pan Americanreserves the rightto edit submissionsfor grammar andlength. Please limitsubmission lengthto 300 words. ThePan Americancannot publishanonymous letters,or submissionscontaining hatespeech orgratuitouspersonal attacks.Letters are printedat the discretion ofthe editor andmust include thewriter’s name,class/title andphone number.
Letters policy
April 42 0 0 2
Readers with dis-abilities mayrequest an alter-native format ofthis publicationat The PanAmerican busi-ness office. For special assis-tance to attendany event listedin this publica-tion, contact thecoordinator of theevent at least oneweek prior to theadvertised date.
Sports EditorEladio Jaimez
Celebrating 50 years
A & E EditorAshley Brooks
News EditorCristina [email protected]
Copy EditorMelissa
NEWSPAGE 2
ELECTION HEATING UP: By Eladio JaimezThe Pan American
Border bulletin Frontera fills in cracksThere have never been as many news out-
lets as there are today, ranging from cabletelevision to the Internet, to more traditionalmedia such as newspapers. On-line infor-mation sources have proliferated since1995, recognized as the year that theInternet came of age, as its use increased 37percent.
For those seeking information about theborder region that may not be found indetail in mainstream media, Greg Bloomhas a solution. Bloom is the editor ofFrontera NorteSur, a news service availableonline for no charge.
What started out as a newsletter nineyears ago has blossomed into a subscriptionservice with over 1,500 readers, one-third ofwhom are in Mexico.
“It went online in 1996,” said Bloom,whose service emanates from New Mexico
State University and acts as an outreachprogram for the Center for Latin Americanand Border Studies at the Las CrucesUniversity.
“This allowed us to reach more peopleand save money on mailing costs which wecan spend on traveling the border and pro-ducing original news."
When Bloom took over the FNS in 1997,the coverage area was limited to Paso delNorte (El Paso and Juarez), but he expandedthe reach to the entire 2,000-mile length ofthe border connecting Mexico and theUnited States.
The service now focuses on a handful ofpopulated areas from California to Texas,including Reynosa/McAllen and Rio Bravoand Matamoros/Brownsville. But it alsoattempts to report news from lightly popu-lated areas as it arises.
“About one-third of the readers are pro-fessors and graduate students,” Bloom said.
“One-third are in government and anotherthird in the private sector.”
He added that a number of professorshave also begun to integrate the daily read-ing of FNS into their border or developmentclasses.
One of the recent FNS stories was anupdate on the death of a rape-murder sus-pect after a police chase near Cuidad Juarez,which happened Feb. 5.
The site tries to plumb the depths of bor-der events, and usually gives more indepthcoverage than the average news consumercan get through national or even local chan-nels of information.
The site added photography in 2000 andall stories are archived for easy reference.Bloom hopes to install a better searchengine soon, to aid those doing research onborder issues.
To see the site or subscribe for free, go to:http://frontera.nmsu.edu.
The Pan American Staff
County judge race enters homestretch,Pulido and Garcia run neck and neck
Graphics EditorGabriel O.Hernandez
By the numbersApril 4, 2002 sports Page 15
Kreuser honoredEDINBURG– It’s been over a month and the basketball honors still keep coming. However,
this one isn’t coming the men’s way. The Lady Broncs’ Kelli Kreuser was named to the first team All-Independent squad and
named Newcomer of the Year for the 2001-2002 season.Kreuser was chosen by head coaches and sports information directors at the nine Division I
independent schools.Kreuser averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game this season.
The Bettendorf, Iowa native started all 28 games and averaged more than 37 minutes a game. Kreuser made 72.7 percent of her free throws and and scored in double figures 23 times,
including each of the last 20 games.
Chatman recognized thriceEDINBURG–He’s not done yet. Senior UTPA guard Mire Chatman continues to garner
award after award after award. Even six weeks after the season ended.Chatman was named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year yesterday by
coaches and sports information directors of the Division I independent schools, in addition tobeing named to the first team All-Independent. Chatman ranked third in Division I in scoring(26.2 points per game) and steals (3.6 per game) this season.
UTPA head coach Bob Hoffman was named Coach of the Year, in his third season at UTPA.Hoffman led the Broncs to their best season in 12 years, posting a 20-10 record, winning thechampionship of the San Juan Shootout, and receiving consideration for a berth in the NationalInvitational Tournament.
Senior center Marcus Quinn was also named first team All-Independent. Quinn was UTPA’sleading rebounder, averaging 7.2 rebounds per game, and their second leading scorer, averaging12.5 points per game.
Junior guard Kevin Mitchell made the second team. Mitchell led UTPA by averaging fiveassists per game. He was the quarterback of the Broncs’ high-powered offense that ranked 24nationally in scoring (79.6 points per game) and 21 nationally in field goal percentage (47.7 percent).
SPORTS CLIPBOARD BASEBALL
BRONC LEADERS
Batting Average
Juan Saenz .435
Matt Eichel .344
Matt Sisk .324
Adam Farek .304
Tony Ortiz .258
Homeruns
Matt Eichel 2
Matt Sisk 2
Jarrad Maddox 1
Sean Flynn 1
Tony Ortiz 1
RBI
Matt Sisk 17
Matt Eichel 9
Jarrad Maddox 8
Tony Ortiz 8
Sean Flynn 8
Skip Weast 7
Hits
Matt Sisk 36
Jerome McCoy 31
Bruce Kennedy 23
Tony Ortiz 16
Jarrad Maddox 11
Runs
Matt Sisk 19
Jerome McCoy 17
Jonathan Mason 9
Bruce Kennedy 12
Sean Flynn 9
TEAM NUMBERS
Batting Average .262
Homeruns 7
RBI 96
Hits 255
Runs 117
*baseball stats do not include last night’s game against SWT.
BASKETBALL
BRONCS
ALL-INDEPENDENT FIRST TEAM:
Mire Chatman, UTPA
Brian Evans, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Bruce Fields, Gardner-Webb
Marcus Quinn, UTPA
Andrew Wisniewski, Centenary
PLAYER OF THE YEAR-Mire Chatman, UTPA
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR-Mire
Chatman, UTPA
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR-Andrew Wisniewski,
Centenary
CO-FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR-
Jeff Dancy, Lipscomb
Otis Daniels, Gardner-Webb
Jakob Sigurdarson, Birmingham Southern
COACH OF THE YEAR-Bob Hoffman, UTPA
* junior guard Kevin Mitchell named to second team
All-Independent
LADY BRONCS
FIRST TEAM ALL-INDEPENDENT
Lindsay Boyett, Birmingham Southern
Casey Collins, Gardner-Webb
Amy Gearlds, IUPU-Fort Wayne
Kelli Kreuser, UTPA
Kristin Rogers, Texas A&M-CC
PLAYER OF THE YEAR-Lindsay Boyett,
Birmingham-Southern
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR - Kelli Kreuser, UTPA
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR - Lori Tanner -
Centenary
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Atia Agee,
Birmingham-Southern
COACH OF THE YEAR - Frank Bennett, Lipscomb
Just a year ago, the Broncs went 12-40and thought that it couldn’t get any worse,but their record so far this season suggestsotherwise.
Left on their schedule are three teams inthe NCAA Baseball Top 25 and one rankedfive in the National Association ofIntercollegiate Athletics Top 25. TheBroncs may not reach last year’s win total.
One problem is that Bronc batters havegone into hibernation at the plate. The teamhas only 62 hits in 277 at bats in the lastnine games. The Broncs took it on the chinand the nose losing 7-3 to Southwest TexasState University Wednesday night in SanMarcos.
The Broncs dropped their third straightgame.
Senior Ed Marko took the mound againstthe Bobcats and threw a decent game, giv-ing up six hits and two runs.
The breakdown came in the middlerelief, though. Justin Dowd hurled two-thirds of an inning only, but gave up fourruns on three hits. Dowd’s record droppedto 0-6.
Jacob Casanova started for the Bobcatsand pitched six innings, but Michael Gultzimproved his record to 2-0 with the win.
The Broncs take their 8-23 record on theroad to College Station to take on the 19th-ranked Aggies of Texas A&M tomorrow at7 p.m.. The two play a second contest onSaturday at 7 and conclude the series onSunday at 1 p.m.
The Broncs return to Edinburg Stadiumon Tuesday to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville in a double-header, and April12-13 to play the Huskies of HoustonBaptist in a three-game series. The Huskiesare ranked fifth in the NAIA.
On Tueday, Justin Bogy dropped to 2-2with the 14-2 loss to the Bobcats. MikeCalvert relieved Bogy in the middle of thefourth. Mike Killian finished off the lasttwo batters in the eighth after Calvert gaveup five runs on three hits in four innings.
The Bobcats started things off with threeruns on four hits and one error in the firstinning. Then they scored four runs in thethird with a three-run home run over theleft center wall to highlight the game.
The Bobcats scored two more runs in thefourth on three hits before the Broncs goton the scoreboard when Mission nativeMarco Garza reached on an error andadvanced on a wild pitch. Jerome McCoydoubled to right field to score Garza andMatt Sisk grounded out to shortstop toscore McCoy. The Broncs ended the inningwith two runs on one hit and two errors.
The Bobcats scored five runs on threehits before the bleeding stopped in the bot-tom of the eighth inning.
The Broncs had seven hits in 35 at batswhile leaving 11 on base against theBobcats. They have left 67 runners on basein the last nine games and 223 this season.
“Our quality at-bats are not good rightnow,” said head coach Reggie Tredaway.The stats only corraborate what coachTredaway said. The Broncs’ team battingaverage is a measly .262 and the Broncshave only 96 runs batted in compared totheir opponents’ 239 RBI.
The Broncs are coming off five games inthree days. They stole a win in a three-game series against Texas A&M-CorpusChristi and split with Houston BaptistMarch 29-31 at Edinburg Stadium.
The Broncs had to switch shortstopMcCoy to second base and move Garza toshortstop due to McCoy’s sore throwingarm. The move proved a good choice byTredaway as McCoy was error-free andstellar at second.
Travis Parker finished off his best effortthis season in the top of the ninth by strik-ing out one Islander and getting the nexttwo batters to fly out.
Parker pitched a complete game, allow-ing two runs on five hits and striking out 10to improve his season record to 2-6.
“We have had three pitchers sick thisweek. We played like two different teamsin these two games, like night and day,”said assistant baseball coach John Johnson.
After dropping the first game of a dou-ble-header to Houston Baptist, Justin Bogythrew the team’s fourth complete game andhis first of the season to help the Broncswin 7-2.
“The defense helped me to pitch well.My curve ball and fast ball were workingtoday. I have so much adrenaline right nowI could go another nine,” said Bogy.
The Broncs held a 3-0 lead until the topof the seventh inning when the Huskiesscored two runs to pull within one. But theBroncs pulled away with three runs in thebottom of the seventh to put the gameaway.
Lopez and Sisk reached on errors andLopez scored after Adam Farek reached ona fielder’s choice. Mission native JuanSaenz doubled to right center to scoreGarza and Skip Weast singled to centerfield to score Saenz.
The Broncs added one run when Lopezreached on an error and scored Matt Eichel.The Huskies scored one run in the ninthbefore Bogy retired the last batter.
“Pitching made the difference with theway we played in the two games,”Tredaway said.
By Blake DanielsThe Pan American
Pitching does Broncs in against Bobcats
LOCAL NEWS
THURSDAYApril 4, 2002
An Inside Look:
■ News ............................................3■ A & E............................................7■ Sports ........................................16
T h e S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f T e x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n
Page 8Page 8
■ MCALLEN— Gearingup for his U.S. Senaterun-off against VictorMorales April 9, RonKirk received someneeded suppor t by wayof endorsements of twoHispanic laborassociations Tuesday.Both the HispanicContractors Associationde Tejas and the TexasAssociation of HispanicFirefighters gave theirnods to Kirk, whotraveled to McAllen toaccept theendorsements. Kirk,former mayor of Dallas,used promises tosuppor t legislationwhich promotes fairwork standards tosecure endorsementsfrom other groups,including the UnitedFarm Workers, inaddition to localpoliticians. AlthoughMorales fared well inHidalgo Count y byearning over 50 percentof the vote in the March12 Democratic Primary,local Democrats feelKirk will have a strongershowing in a run-offelection. Tuesday’sappearance marks theseventh time Kirk hasvisited the Valley area.The run-off is a result ofno one candidatereceiving the majorit y ofthe vote in the primary.
Page 4
CCaammppuussVOICEShould the
US bedirectly
involved inthe Israeli-Palestinianconflict?
Mary Zuviri/The Pan American
BALLOTS — Junior Billy Gonzalez casts his vote in the Student Government Association electionsWednesday as Junior Kenhya Longoria looks on. Voting took place Tuesday and Wednesday.
■ Daylight-Saving Timebegins April 7. Don’t forgetto set clocks forward onehour.
REMINDER
The recent rise in enrollment at theUniversity of Texas-Pan American and thegrowth expected to take place in the next10-to-15 years has increased the demand fornew degree programs across campus.
The College of Social and BehavioralSciences is one of six colleges at UTPA withplans for new programs. Homer Garcia,dean of CSBS, said plans for a new doctoralprogram is just a few stages from becomingreality. Other plans for new graduate pro-grams are on the drawing board and in thevery early stages.
Garcia said at the top of the college’sagenda is the creation of a doctorate in clin-ical psychology.
“We’re in stage three of five,” Garciasaid. “We need to get permission from thecouncil of deans to further research thisproject.”
Garcia said it is the university’s responsi-bility to recognize the growing population inthe region, and implement new programs tobetter serve the Valley.
“We have done studies to what extentclinical psychology would serve the Valley,”Garcia said. “The Valley is underserved inthis area. We’re in great need of therapistsand child psychologists.”
Garcia said one of the biggest catalysts inspearheading this new program is psycholo-gy department chairman Etzel Cardena.
“Etzel [Cardena] has done a splendid job,”Garcia said.
Garcia reiterated that right now the CSBSis in the third stage of the full proposal.
“We have to put a curriculum together,”Garcia said. “We have to estimate costs con-figured in terms of staffing.”
Garcia said a completed proposal shouldbe ready and presented to the Texas HigherEducation Coordinating Board for theirapproval by June.
“We know there is a need,” Garcia said.“We’re hiring psychologists to teach gradu-ate and undergraduate classes, but will even-tually become Ph.D. professors.”
Garcia said once the THECB grants the
By Eladio JaimezThe Pan American
CSBS addingnew degrees
University of Texas-Pan American officialsare hoping to announce a new StudentGovernment Association president by Friday.
“We should have the results of the electionby week’s end,” said Dana Garza, coordina-tor of student development.
UTPA students exercised their right to electstudent representatives Tuesday andWednesday. Although results of the SGAelections were not available at press time,student voter turnout was good, according toGarza.
“Last year, around 500 students voted,”Garza said. “But [Tuesday] alone about 600students voted.”
Garza attributes increased voter turnout toa number of factors, and feels that student
participation in the SGA process makes a dif-ference for both the university and for stu-dents.
“We encourage people to get involved oncampus,” Garza said. “We went to severalstudent organization meetings to get the wordout, and we encouraged more students to runfor office or to vote. Everyone on campus isreally involved now.”
An increased number of candidates mayhave also played a role in improved studentparticipation. According to Garza, 13 candi-dates ran for senate positions this year, com-pared to just four in last year’s elections. Inthe presidential race, UTPA students had fourpresident and vice president tickets to choosefrom, compared to just two tickets last year.
One of four candidates will replace currentpresident Zeke Moya. Junior William
By Matt LynchThe Pan American
SGA election results waitfor final vote tabulations
See SGA page 5
UTPA: Vision of SuccessFOURTH IN A CONTINUING SERIES
See NEW PROGRAMS page 6
TheROAD lessTTRRAAVVEELLEEDD
JORDAN GROUNDED:The Washington Wizardsplaced Michael Jordan onthe injured list Wednesdayand the future Hall ofFamer said he was donefor the season. Jordandecided to sit out the restof the season follwing his lowest scoringgame ever Tuesday nightagainst the Lakers. Jordanwoke up the next day witha swollen right knee andsaid enough was enough.Jordan averaged 22.9points per game, the low-est average in his career. Inhis second season with theChicago Bulls (1985-86),he averaged 22.7 ppg inonly 18 games. The 39-year old said he would playnext year once again if heis able.
NBA
NFL
PARK IT IN HOUSTON:Everybody in the NFL knewit. Anybody who follows theNFL knew it. The HoustonTexans knew it. The expansion team confirmedwhat everyone alreadyknew. They’ll make FresnoState quar terback DavidCarr their number one pickin the upcoming NFL draft.In 37 games with FSU,Carr completed 62.8 per-cent of his passes for7,849 yards. He complet-ed 70 touchdowns and had23 interceptions. As astar ter, Carr compiled an18-8 record, including thepostseason.
SPORTS■ Sports Clipboard. . . . . ..15
■ Bronc Baseball . . . . . . .15
PAGE 16
In the past, the University ofTexas-Pan American has builtathletic programs that haveopened many doors for athletesas well as the university. But onedoor that remains closed is anorganized soccer team.
Student athletes played soccerat UTPA for 28 years before theprogram was axed in 1998. Theprogram was abolished in searchof equity in the gender represen-tation in sports at UTPA. Therewas one more male sport thanfemale, so soccer was cut fromintercollegiate competition atUTPA, according to vice presi-dent for business affairs MarkSaenz.
The program had its share ofdominant players during its time.Efren Lopez played four yearswith the Broncs in the 1980s. Inthe early 1990s, Mario Ribera ofSanta Cruz, Bolivia scored 29goals, a single-season Sun BeltConference record, in his fresh-man year for UTPA. Salvador
Garcia ofBrownsvilleHanna, whomany consid-er one of thebest highschool soccerplayers inValley histo-ry, alsoplayed fourstrong seasons for the squad.
At what used to be PanAmerican College, the soccerprogram began as a club organ-ized by students in 1970.
Bronc soccer reached theDivision I level when the teamjoined the Sun Belt Conferencein 1991. From then until 1998,conference opponents includedVanderbilt, Western Kentucky,Jacksonville, and South Alabama.
Dr. Miguel Paredes, the lastsoccer coach (1995-98), has fondmemories of his teams.
“It was an interesting period oftime,” said Paredes, now a math-ematics professor at UTPA. “Itwas a combination of academicsand soccer. I thought I was
doing something important interms of taking good care ofthem [players]...I have greatmemories of all of them, andthey were great guys.”
Among those old players, manyspoke of the benefits of the for-mer program.
Former UTPA player HectorLopez is disappointed in the uni-versity’s lack of a soccer team.
“I feel that kids in high schooldon’t have anywhere to go aftergraduation,” Lopez said. “Rightnow, you would have to be a verygood player so that scouts fromother universities can watch youplay.”
Lopez played for UTPA from1992-96 and feels it’s unfortunate
that Valley players are not able tocompete locally at the collegiatelevel.
“I feel bad and I started think-ing of all those kids that don’thave the money to go anywhere,”Lopez said.
Athletic Director WilliamWeidner realizes the popularityof soccer in the area, not to men-tion internationally, but feels nowis not the time for the re-forma-tion of a soccer program atUTPA.
“Right now, in terms of anyparticular sport, we have 14Division I programs, and ourimmediate goal is to reinforcethose programs so that they can
Anna Stowra/The Pan American
See SOCCER page 14
Field of past dreamsA former player and coachreminisce about the dayswhen UTPA had a soccer program. Now both ponder why the Bronc athletic department hasn’ttaken advantage of aresurgent interest in thesport throughou the country, especially in the predominantly Hispanic-populated Valley,and made an effort toreestablish the soccer program.
WHERE’S THE GOAL?: TheField once used by the UTPA soc-cer team now stands useless, sur-rounded by the track used by stu-dents and the Bronc track team.UTPA fielded a soccer programfor 28 years until 1998 when theprogram yielded to gender equity.
By Mike GonzalezThe Pan American
Related Documents
