Spinnaker [Distributed: Wednesday, October 11, 2006]

The University of North Florida announced Oct. 7 it received a $2 million donation that will pay for the completion of the soccer and track stadium on campus.

The stadium will be renamed Hodges Stadium in recognition of the donation from George and Kernan Hodges.

The donation has already been matched 100 percent by the state, according to UNF President John Delaney, which brings the total sum to $4 million. The money will be used to build an eight-lane, 400-meter competition track and install outdoor TV-quality lighting, which will allow evening events and seating for 10,000, he said. Bench and chair-back seating will also be installed.

Construction of the stadium was funded by the state and started in the mid-90s, said Tom Strother, assistant athletic director of media relations at UNF. For six or seven years, the stadium was constructed piece by piece, he said.

The stadium currently has concrete seating for approximately 9,800 and a soccer playing surface. It is also home to the Arthur "Buster" Browning Athletic Training and Education Center and the Cerebral Palsy of Northeast Florida Lab according to a UNF press release.

"The structure is there but the amenities are not," said Strother. "The original intent was to build an Olympic quality track facility, it's just not perfectly complete."

Construction is expected to begin in spring of 2007 and be completed by the spring of 2008. Once finished, the stadium will be one of the five largest dedicated collegiate soccer stadiums in the country, according to the press release.

The new enhancements will give UNF the ability to teach outdoor athletic and academic courses, as well as provide UNF the opportunity to host national and international competitions, Delaney said. Concerts, graduations, lectures and cultural events will be held in the stadium along with sporting events, he said.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see the Atlantic Sun Conference [tournaments] held here in the future," said Dr. Richard Gropper, UNF athletic director. "We're excited about what the future holds for our soccer and track teams."

While the Hodges did not attend the announcement, Buster Browning, an Osprey Club booster member and close family friend, spoke on their behalf.

"George and Kernan always expect excellence in the things they invest in - UNF is no exception. We expect great things from UNF," Browning said.

Parking council decision causes stir

The appointment of a faculty member to the traditionally student-held position of vice chairman of the parking council has caused concern among some students at the University of North Florida.

Mike Trotter, senior store keeper/receiving clerk and president of the University Support Personnel System at UNF was selected to be vice chairman of the parking council during the council meeting Sept. 29.

Nick Peres, a senior financial planning major, Student Government attorney general and member of the parking council, was in attendance for the meeting in which Trotter was appointed vice chair.

"I'm upset about the outcome because the faculty decided to nominate another faculty member," Peres said. "Everett Malcolm was the only member of the council to vote for the student nominee, Corey Trent, unlike the rest of the committee. As students, we are the largest consumers of parking on campus and we deserve to have a majority voice on the council."

Everett Malcolm, associate vice president of student affairs and chair of the parking council, said that the appointment of Trotter will not pose a problem within the parking committee.

"The vice chair's job consists of running the parking council meetings in the event that I cannot attend a meeting," Malcolm said. "As I have yet to miss a meeting since I have been chair, all the vice chair does is attend the meetings. I don't give him any special assignments so the appointment of Mike [Trotter] will not have a large impact on the council itself."

According to the council's bylaws, the vice chair position must be filled by a member of the committee. There are no rules stating that the vice chair must always be a student. However, the meeting minutes from Sept. 8 state that while this "does not have to continue in the future, it has worked well in the past."

The parking services council is comprised of four groups: the faculty association, the administrators and professional association, the student representatives, and the USPS, said Vincent Smythe, director of auxiliary services.

The council's job consists of analyzing the parking situation on campus. The council gives recommendations on how the price of parking decals should change for every scholastic year, he said.

One of the issues the committee dealt with during the Sept. 8 meeting was how parking decals will be distributed to those who will purchase them online next year.

Some of the options that were discussed included a mass pickup date or sending the decals out via certified mail. Minutes from the Sept. 29 meeting are not yet available.

Meetings of the Parking Services Council are open to the public. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 20. Minutes from previous meetings can be found online at http://capricorn.anf.unf.edu/parking1/minutes.htm.

Mayor discusses murder rate with new council

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton said early literacy should be one of the city's major focuses in driving down crime in an Oct. 5 speech to city officials, project volunteers and members of the University of North Florida's Community Outreach Council.

Peyton met with the group at UNF to discuss the city's unusually high homicide rate this year. In his presentation he cited a core contributor to violent behavior as outlined by Dr. Michael Hallett, chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice - weak social bonds - and expanded on responses the city has undertaken to combat the swelling tide of violent crime in Jacksonville.

"Education, long-term, is our single best weapon," Peyton said. "This crime and murder situation is unacceptable."

The UNF Community Outreach Council hosted the session to announce four new initiatives it's launching with city agencies aimed at encouraging city youth to envision college education in their futures.

The project that received the most attention at the meeting was HOMEWORK ZONE, an effort geared toward literacy education in elementary and middle school children. Jacksonville City Councilman Kevin Hyde masterminded the program and spoke briefly about its merits.

Hyde called a strengthened focus toward teaching third- and fourth-grade students' essential reading skills an "academic ticket for success." He said the city should take an active role in seeking local kids' success in school when they may not get support from home.

"Not every child has a parent like that [to help them]," Hyde said.

HOMEWORK ZONE is a cooperative effort between the Mayor's office, Duval County Public Schools, Jacksonville Children's Commission and the UNF Community Outreach Council. UNF faculty, staff and students will help out by working in after-school programs with public school kids on their homework and basic reading.

Other programs discussed were "Engineering Experience," where local children participate with staff and students from UNF's Division of Engineering in an egg drop competition, and "UNF Presidential Community Outreach Ambassadors," through which the UNF Department of Residence Life will sponsor outstanding students from around the area and help them develop volunteer outreach projects to benefit the community.

Peyton also talked about some of the other moves his office has been making in recent months to fight crime. He mentioned an increased police presence, gun buybacks and the Day of Faith rally that drew a crowd of about 6,000 in August to support anti-crime ideals as successful measures.

"What you're seeing is a city that's mobilizing - a city that wants to be better than this," he said.

Hallett, who also chairs the council, said that the new initiatives represent a chance for UNF to contribute to the city in a formal capacity and to help local leaders make informed decisions about problems facing Jacksonville.

"The most pressing issue facing Jacksonville right now is the homicide issue," Hallett said. He added that the most effective way to reduce crime is to strengthen individual bonds with the community.

"Strong social bonds are far more powerful sources of behavior control than police courts and prisons," he said.

Hallett cited economic and social differences between high-crime parts of town, like downtown, and lower-crime areas, such as Southside, as contributing to the variance in crime rates. He said Duval County currently has a divorce rate of 70 percent, an indicator of social bonds that could use some work.

The ultimate purpose of the council, which first met just last fall, is "to give as much as we can to the community around us," Hallett said.

Three more projects were proposed and approved by the council in a subsequent meeting Oct. 9, Hallett said. He said he hopes to see them implemented by the end of the 2005-2006 academic year.

JSU constructs holiday 'hut'

Students from the University of North Florida Jewish Student Union built a traditional Jewish Sukkah on the Green Oct. 6.

Erected in cooperation with seventh-graders from the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville, the Sukkah will stand until Oct. 13 in recognition of the Jewish holiday Sukkot. The holiday commemorates the journey of Moses and the Israelites when they left Egypt for Israel, said JSU president Rebecca Glassman.

While this is not the first year the JSU has built a Sukkah on the Green, it is the first one in a few years, Glassman said.

The day school donated the materials for the Sukkah as part of their class's social action project, said Shari Shuman, JSU adviser and vice president of administration and finance at UNF. The class goes out every Friday and works on a different project, such as tutoring, trash clean-up or visiting the elderly, she said.

Glassman, a senior health major, said a mix of approximately 20 seventh-graders and UNF students constructed the Sukkah.

Traditionally, many Sukkahs are constructed of wood, but they can be made out of anything, as long as they allow an unobstructed view of the sky, Glassman said.

Following the tradition of taking your meals under the Sukkah, the JSU will host an event called "Pizza in the Hut" Oct. 11, Glassman said. There will also be a meet and greet Oct. 13 during UNF's family weekend.

"We want to make ourselves visible and let Jewish students at UNF know that we exist," Glassman said.

Job opportunities for grads up from last year

Research shows recent and soon-to-be graduates will have more employment opportunities in the upcoming year than in past years.

According to a Sept. 25 press release by CollegeGrad.com, "Employers are increasing entry level hiring and college grads are in the greatest demand in five years."

The press release also stated the Web site has reached a record high of entry-level jobs posted on the site in September 2006.

Along with CollegeGrad.com, many other Web sites, such as CareerBuilder.com and NACEweb.com are reporting the immediate increase in hiring college graduates among numerous corporations.

NACEweb.com posts results from their recent Job Outlook 2007 Fall Preview survey indicate a 17.4 percent jump in hiring from last year's numbers.

According to an article on CollegeGrad.com, entry level hiring is on the rise and with it the demand for recent college grads. The trick, as advised on the Web site, is taking the time to find the right job to fit each applicant.

Not only are Web sites like CollegeGrad.com and NACEweb .com seeing a large influx in numbers this year, the University of North Florida's Career Center is also seeing a strong increase in numbers compared to last year's figures.

"You can always tell when the job market is doing very well," says Richard Roberts, director of the UNF Career Center. "There is an increase in employer participation in recruiting programs' postings and a decrease in student participation."

Roberts said that at this time 127 companies have already posted job listings on UNF's career Web site, compared to last year's 134 that spanned between September and December.

The Career Center suggests students keep on top of job postings occurring this year by signing up for various Web sites designed to help college graduates and employers make contact with each other.

By going to www.unf.edu/ dept/cdc/ students can sign up with the career center and have access to a numerous array of tools that will assist them in finding the when and where to meet all the hiring corporations working with the career center.

'Fun boxes' help hospitalized children

Next week, seriously ill children in Florida hospitals will begin receiving 1000 "Big Fun Boxes" that were assembled by University of North Florida students and volunteers.

Grant Prather, a sophomore majoring in marketing and logistics, is the co-founder and creative development director of Big Fun Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization committed to helping sick children pass their time in the hospital with fun activities.

The boxes will be assembled in UNF President John Delaney's boardroom by BFFI and its volunteers Oct. 11, 12 and 13 and then delivered to hospitals statewide next week.

Prather said parents most often have to work and can't be with the children during the day when they are in the hospital. These fun boxes are a creative way to focus their attention, he said.

Ten Florida hospitals are scheduled to receive the fun boxes next week. The first two, Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville and Shands Children's Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, will be personally delivered via Mini Coopers donated by Tom Bush Mini, Prather said.

Prather said it's not possible to personally deliver to all the recipients, but that eight other hospitals throughout the state will receive boxes. The first deliveries were made possible by a large donation from Blue Cross Blue Shield, he said.

Prather, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was an infant and underwent a double lung transplant later in his childhood, said that watching television became boring when he was in the hospital.

"So my family made up different games to play." Prather said. Prather and his mother, executive director Jo Anne McKinney, both said "Head Games" is the heart of the fun box program. According to the Web site "these are games we made up to try and keep us from going out of our minds. "

"Even though I was sicker than the other children, I had more fun during my illness," Prather said. "I wanted to give something back. We didn't know how to go about doing it. We tried thinking of things that we were good at. We were great at creative fun."

"We wanted to share our games with other pediatric patients. They can use the games when they can't sleep. That's how the foundation began," he said.

BFFI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Prather and McKinney. According to the foundation's Web site, the organization's mission is "to provide pediatric patients and their families ways to use their imaginations and to give them comfort and fun in the midst of stressful situations."

"Our goals are to raise $2 million each year so we can distribute 75,000 - 100,000 BFB's to hospitals across the country," Prather said. "The qualifications for receiving a BFB are frequent hospital children - children who have already been in the hospital for five days and are expected to stay an additional 5-14 days. Illness or injury and severity of illness are not a factor. They must be between ages 7-12."

Prather said as the foundation grows they will expand the age range to include younger and older children.

Prather said BFFI is targeting health care organizations to help raise the $2 million and companies that donate $25,000 or more will be able to place their logos on the fun boxes. Blue Cross Blue Shield was the first corporate sponsor, donating $25,000, he said.

"The foundation has raised $33,000," said Prather. "All donations are tax deductible. Most donations are from individuals giving an average of $500 but $5 helps also."

Information about corporate and individual donations can be found at BFFI's Web site at http://www.thebigfunbox.org.

BFFI's board of directors includes both UNF staff and faculty members, including President Delaney, along with members of the Jacksonville community.

McKinney said that organizing the foundation has been an amazing experience. It was the next natural step in Prather's journey.

"We wanted to give something back," she said. "We're good at creating fun. Response to the project has been great. People are blown away by the idea."

New Social Sciences building dedicated

Just as the dust from the September demolition of the old Social Sciences building at the University of North Florida began to settle, President John Delaney dedicated its replacement Oct. 10.

The new Social Sciences building is a "green" building, which means the building is constructed to be environmentally friendly.

"In general, the building is really great. [It] has a lot of space for students and others to hang out and it's not as crowded or sterile as other buildings," said sociology professor Dr. Krista Paulsen.

The building may look similar to other buildings on campus, but it has several new features not readily noticeable.

According to Zak Ovadia, director of Facilities Planning at UNF, the building is "people friendly." It's carpeted with hypo-allergenic carpeting, which helps reduce dust. With little dust and a low amount of volatile organic compounds (cleaning solvents, petroleum fuels, etc.) in the building, the air is clean and easy to breathe, Ovadia said.

The building is registered with the United States Green Building Council and is the first building in Jacksonville to apply for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design certification.

The University of North Florida's goal is to receive a silver-level certification from the LEED committee. The LEED program has a checklist of criteria for existing buildings that must be met before a building may be certified.

The LEED system of rating is based on five major areas: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

According to the USGBC Web site, in order for a building to qualify for silver-level certification it needs to merit between 33 and 38 of a potential 69 points on a checklist of criteria.

"We're working towards certification," Ovadia said. Certification is expected to take another four to five months, he said.

The new Social Sciences building is three stories tall and has six state of the art classrooms along with two larger lecture halls. It measures approximately 63,000 square feet.

The building is the new home for Social Sciences faculty and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Dale Clifford.

In addition to being people-friendly, the building is also electrically friendly. Instead of relying heavily upon fluorescent lighting like most buildings, the new building depends primarily on natural lighting.

The building was constructed using recycled and recyclable materials in an attempt to reduce wasted materials, Ovadia said.

The demolition of Building 11 will wrap up around Oct. 18, Ovadia said. At that point, Elkin's Constructors will begin laying sod where Building 11 once stood.

Matt Schuran, a junior advertising major, is upset with the school's decision to sod the space but said, "At least it's not a skate park."

Ovadia said dust from the demolition shouldn't be a concern for students or faculty because special air filters, designed for dust prevention, have been installed in the surrounding buildings, and the contractors have been watering the demolition site to further reduce dust from debris.

Joe Lehner, a senior majoring in marketing, wasn't impressed by the demolition.

"It was fun to watch, but it would've been cool if they blew it up," he said.

The construction of the new building and the demolition of the old one cost UNF approximately $9.9 million.

"[The school] is making provisions to replace all parking that has been displaced by new construction," Ovadia said.

There are currently no plans for the space left by Building 11 beyond the initial laying of the sod, according to Ovadia.

Student Government aims to serve campus community

According to the University of North Florida's Student Government Web site, "the mission of the University of North Florida Student Government is to represent student concerns in all university-wide matters on a local, state, and national level."

With approximately 100 total members, Student Government consists of four committees, each designed to have a specific impact on the student body.

The first is the Student Advocacy Committee. According to SAC chair Sarah Grafton, a senior at UNF majoring in political science, the committee "acts as a liaison between the student body and Student Government."

The committee organizes programs to benefit students, including Finals Frenzy during finals week, when students can receive free scantron forms, Grafton said.

The Budget and Allocations Committee is responsible for "handling special requests for registered student organizations," said Senate President A.J. Souto, a junior majoring in political science. The committee works with the $2.8 million Activity and Service Fee Budget funded through students' tuitions. Campus student organizations must request funds from the committee during the budget process at the end of each school year, Souto said.

The organizations are allocated an amount deemed appropriate by the committee based upon their merit, or how many students they affect, he said. The funds are then used for activities and necessary materials.

The Elections, Selections, and Appointment Committee organizes elections each semester under guidelines in the Election Code. Students running for a seat in the Senate are interviewed by the committee and then must be approved by the Senate.

Once the seat is obtained, the senator must run in the next election to keep that seat. Students are encouraged to join the senate before elections to gain experience.

The Constitution and Statutes Committee acts a rules body for the Senate, continuously supervising and assessing SG's Constitution and Statutes.

Souto said the committee must review the statutes to make sure they are in compliance with the policies and laws of federal and state statutes. CSC members are the lawmakers of SG, responsible for the formation, implementation and enforcement of laws, he said.

Elections for seats one through 20 in the Senate will conclude Oct. 11 the hours at 7 p.m.

Each spring, elections are held for seats 21 through 40 in the senate and executive positions; both elections are essential to SG.

Senate meetings are held twice a month in the Senate chambers located in Building 14, room 2605.

There is a student speak segment during the meetings in which any student may voice his or her opinion.

One of the main goals of SG is to increase student involvement in university-related matters. As the voice of the student body, SG bases decisions on the opinions of the entire population. All students are encouraged to become involved with SG.

Theater to reopen soon

After two months of blocked walkways and yellow tape, construction on the Robinson Theater is scheduled to be completed by the end of the month.

The theater has been renovated and brought up to current building codes, said Zak Ovadia, director of facilities planning at the University of North Florida. American Disability Act accessibility issues have been addressed as well, he said.

The auditorium and its two adjoining lecture halls were repainted, recarpeted and the chairs in all three spaces were reupholstered and refinished, Ovadia said. Improvement to the lobby of the theater included retiling and the construction of two unisex restrooms, he said.

"The theater was over 30 years old," Ovadia said. "It was dingy and out of date. Students and Academic Affairs wanted to improve on it."

According to the UNF Web site, the theater can seat 398 people with another 300 seats available in the two lecture halls, which are able to be rotated to face the theater stage. The lecture halls have been used as classrooms on an emergency basis in the past, but are mostly used to host a variety of events, including guest speakers and music concerts.

The Office of Student Life plans to begin using the theater Nov. 3, said associate director of student life, Dr. David Crabtree.

The lecture halls may be used for classrooms in the future if needed.

BOG looks at plans for future growth

The Florida Board of Governors recently hired a consulting firm to evaluate the current State University System and make recommendations for its growth and future organization.

The SUS is comprised of 10 public universities and one honors college, with an estimated 288,000 students currently enrolled. Connecticut-based Pappas Consulting Group, Inc., was hired by the BOG earlier this year to examine the current structure and organization of the SUS and make recommendations for the future.

"They [Pappas Consulting] will be doing an assessment to help us better understand our options for the structure and organization of the State University System over the next 30 years," said Mark Rosenburg, chancellor of the State University System of Florida.

Through its consultation with Pappas Consulting, the BOG hopes to reconcile where they are now with where they need to be in the near future, said Bill Edmonds, director of communications of the Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida.

Enrollment in the SUS has increased by 20 percent since fall of 2000, and 60 percent since fall of 1990, Edmonds said. The BOG expects continued growth with an additional 56,000 students enrolling in the SUS in the next six years, he said.

Because of the state's rapid growth, there is an increasing demand for and recognition of the value of higher education, Rosenburg said. That is why the BOG decided to meet Pappas Consulting and see what they recommend, he said.

"Hopefully, Pappas Consulting can give us some options as to the size, number and roles that each university will play in the state system of higher education," Rosenburg said.

To do that, representatives from Pappas Consulting are in the process of visiting with each of the 11 schools, state business leaders, the legislature, community colleges and private institutions, Rosenburg said.

University of North Florida President John Delaney met with Pappas Consulting Sept. 26 at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee and said that they will help determine a "strategic direction as to how universities should be governed in this state." Delaney also said "there needs to be a unified academic mission for the entire state" and Pappas Consulting can help the BOG achieve that by helping the BOG find a way to "regulate universities and help them with their mission."

According the UNF office of Enrollment Services, most of UNF's students come from northeast Florida followed by central Florida. Since 2001 total enrollment at UNF has increased from 13,160 in fall 2001 to 15,420 in fall 2005, according to the UNF office of institutional research's Web site.

Pappas Consulting will continue to meet with the remaining universities this month and will produce a preliminary report for the BOG in November, Edmonds said. The group will make its final recommendations in January, he said.

"We expect them to make meaningful and appropriate recommendations that meet the needs of Florida," Edmonds said. "The board will then study those [recommendations] and take any action as they see appropriate."

Enrollment projections, stress on current facilities and faculty and the current structure of the SUS, will all be taken into consideration by Pappas Consulting, Edmonds said.

Possible recommendations may include extended hours and adding branch campuses to existing universities, Edmonds said. Adding new majors or discontinuing certain majors at individual universities may also be considered, he said.

Additionally, there is the possibility that Pappas Consulting may recommend the enlarging of existing universities and even adding more public universities, Rosenburg said.

NPR commentator discusses Katrina

Celebrated author, poet and National Public Radio commentator Andrei Codrescu concluded a visit to the University of North Florida with an evening lecture in the Fine Arts Center Lazzara Performance Hall Oct. 9.

During his lecture, Codrescu read excerpts from his recent collection of essays and poems, "New Orleans, Mon Amor: Twenty Years of Writings from the City." The pieces included commentary on New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina.

He spoke lovingly and humorously about his adopted city and said, "We're all crazy in New Orleans," and that "the place is full of people with stories." He commented about how Katrina survivors from New Orleans will transform and influence their new communities. Codrescu also noted that since there are so many artists and writers in New Orleans, Katrina and the aftermath has inspired a legion of books and stories.

"We will be the most overwritten city in U.S. history," he said. "It will be the first American city of myth."

During a question and answer session at the end of his lecture, he was asked how he would memorialize New Orleans after the devastation of Katrina. Codrescu said that he would make New Orleans a Free Port city, legalize "absolutely everything," and he added with a smile, "no taxes for writers and artists."

Codrescu, a native of Romania, came to the United States in 1966 and currently is the MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English Literature at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. He has written a number of books, poetry collections and essays, including Wakefield and many others. His travel documentary, "Road Scholar," won a Peabody Award.

Codrescu is also the editor of Exquisite Corpse, an online journal of letters and life. He is also a regular commentator for the NPR program "All Things Considered."

Former New Orleans resident and UNF Writing Program instructor Amy Baskin initiated Codrescu's visit. Baskin studied poetry under Codrescu and produced a video on his poem, "A Leafy Angel," which she describes as a love poem to New Orleans. The idea to invite Codrescu to speak at UNF stemmed from Baskin's desire to assist the CDRC, especially after they helped provide care for her son when she arrived from New Orleans.

When Baskin learned that the CDRC has received a small grant to bring a speaker to Family Fest, a literacy celebration open to the public, she suggested Codrescu as an ideal speaker about literacy and creativity.

Dr. Kathleen Hassall, writing program director and associate professor of English, added that Codrescu graciously agreed to the additional speaking duties at a significantly reduced rate.

"He really contributed, not only culturally, but out of his own pocket," she said.

During his visit, Codrescu provided a discussion about "Language Play and Your Child" during Family Fest and participated in a writer's colloquy with approximately 20 students, which allowed them to speak with him about writing mechanics, poetry ideas and what compels him to write. The evening lecture on Monday completed his visit.

"An Evening with Andrei Codrescu" was part of the Distinguished Voices lecture series presented by the Inquiry and Insight Committee and co-sponsored by the Child Development Research Center, the College of Arts and Sciences and the UNF Writing Program.

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