Spinnaker [Distributed: Wednesday, January 10, 2007]

A shuttle system is coming to the University of North Florida, but the services it will offer and the cost to students has not yet been decided.

The engineering and transportation consulting company hired by the university estimates that a shuttle system will cost between $960,000 and approximately $1.1 million per year. The majority of funding for the system is expected to come from a Transportation Access Fee that students will pay per credit hour.

"Students will pay if they want a shuttle system - which they do," said Everett Malcolm, associate vice president for Student Affairs. "Yet to be determined is what the university will invest."

This estimate does not include the cost of building the infrastructure needed for the shuttle system, Malcolm said. It only includes the cost of running the system, he said.

The university hired Skipper Consulting Inc. in November to assess the transportation needs of the campus and make recommendations for a possible shuttle system.

Late last year, Skipper studied the campus and surrounding areas, met with campus focus groups and conducted an online survey to ask the university community what they want in a shuttle system. They then composed a report outlining their preliminary recommendations and feedback from the university community. Mickey Hall of Skipper Consulting returned to campus Jan. 9 to discuss the recommendations integrating the feedback.

Skipper recommends having two routes, a North route and a South route. Under the recommendations, the North route would have three buses making a series of nine stops around campus with six-minute intervals between buses. The route would originate in the North parking lot, follow the North/South Connector Road and circle campus on the loop road, back up to the North lot. The North/South Road is scheduled to be built later this year and connect Lot 14 near the Child Research Development Center to Lot 18 on the north end of campus, Malcolm said.

The South route would have three buses stopping at eight stops with six-minute intervals, and would circle the core of campus on the loop road but also provide service to the AOL building, if it is purchased by the university.

Skipper is proposing both routes run 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays. At night, Skipper suggests having one bus on each route from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays, with 15-minute intervals.

Because weekend service was suggested by the university community, Hall said Skipper suggests service on Sunday evenings from 6 p.m. to midnight with one bus on one route making 12 stops throughout campus with 30-minute intervals.

Summer service was also recommended by Skipper from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Friday, with one bus on each route with 15-minute intervals.

Service to the St. Johns Town Center and to Melrose Student Suites on Kernan Boulevard were also considered by Skipper. Service to both locations were presented as options for the shuttle system but will cost an estimated additional $300,000 - $370,000 to operate. Service to Tinseltown was suggested but "in the surveys we didn't see an overwhelming desire for it," Hall said.

The university has yet to make a decision regarding the recommendations from Skipper consulting because the Student Fee Assessment Committee is scheduled to meet next week and discuss the fee that will be associated with the shuttle system, said Shari Shuman, vice president of Administration and Finance.

Over the next week, Shuman urges students to review the transit information that will be available on the UNF Web site and to provide feedback to student government.

'This is a student driven project," she said. The shuttle system is scheduled to be up and running for the fall 2007 semester.

Parking proposal to go before BOT

The future of parking at the University of North Florida will soon be decided. The parking proposal for the 2007-2008 year is scheduled to go before the UNF Board of Trustees Jan. 26.

The proposal highlights includes restructuring of the permit categories, increases in parking rates and ticket prices and changes to daily parking passes.

Under the proposal, a new premium permit will replace general, 2nd and 3rd floor permits and encompass almost all parking within the loop road, said Vincent Smyth, director of Auxiliary Services. Under the proposal, residential students will purchase residential permits at a 1:1 ratio, meaning only one permit will be sold for each residential space with the rest of the residential students parking in Lot 18 he said.

Prices for the permits will also change under the proposal, with each category seeing an increase. Each price includes sales tax and is formulated to end in a zero or five, to make it easier for money handling purposes, Malcolm said.

Permit price changes under the proposal are as follows: reserved increases from $378 to $400; designated increases from $252 to $255; 1st floor garage increases from $269 to $275; residential permits increase from $146 to $200; discount permits increase from $73 to $90; motorcycle permits increase from $49 to $60 and premium permits will cost $155. Parking tickets will also increase from $25 to $30.

Daily parking passes will also change under the proposal. Currently, daily permits cost $3 and allow parking in any general space on campus, Smyth said. Next year, daily permits will still cost $3 but will be separated into two categories: standard day passes and premium passes. Standard day passes will allow parking in Lot 18, Malcolm said.

Premium day passes will allow parking in premium spaces and will be issued to vehicles displaying a disability parking permit, all vehicles with two or more occupants, and to vehicles with individuals who are attending specific events or visiting specific departments, Malcolm said.

At its December meeting, the council recommended a mid-semester review of the new daily permits next year to evaluate them and make any changes necessary, according to council minutes from Dec. 8.

After unanimous approval from the Parking Council in December, the parking proposal was forwarded to UNF Vice President of Administration and Finance, Shari Shuman for consideration. The structure received approval in December with one change, Smyth said.

Shuman suggested amending the proposal from the recommended $120 for a discount parking permit next year, to $90, Smyth said.

The proposal was also approved by the Board of Trustees' Finance and Audit Committee in December, Malcolm said.

"If you get that kind of unanimous support, it's rare you are ever going to get opposition from the full board," Malcolm said.

"The final proposal is a thoughtful, practical solution that was arrived at after many revisions and respectful debate by all members of the Council," said Dr. Chip Kostermeyer, Faculty Association president.

Nick Peres, attorney general in Student Government, said he was happy with the pricing for next year, but student interests are under-represented on the council.

"I think that the process itself needs to be looked at," Peres said. "Students, who are the largest consumers of parking, should have a much larger say on the council."

The Board will meet Jan. 26 and if approved, the proposal will become official.

Parking Services moving on up

Construction is scheduled to begin at the beginning of February on a new Parking Services building at the University of North Florida, and it is expected to be completed in September.

The 3,000-square foot building is currently budgeted at $1.2 million and will be constructed in the center of Lot 100, near the Robert W. Loftin Nature Trails. It will replace the current information booth, said Vincent Smyth, director of Auxiliary Services. The current information booth will remain open through the coming months but will be demolished upon completion of the new building, he said.

"Essentially there will always be the ability to get a day pass from the St. Johns entrance and the Kernan entrance both during the construction and after the construction," Smyth said.

Parking Services is currently located in the Martin P. Garris Building, along with the University Police Department. Once parking services are relocated, UPD will use the vacated space for their records and lost and found departments, said UPD Chief Mark Foxworth.

Lot 100 currently contains 65 general parking spaces, Smyth said. Once it's redesigned to accommodate the new building, it will contain 59 premium spaces, most likely including a few 15-minute loading zone spaces, he said. During construction, a minimum amount of spaces will be available, Smyth said.

The new building will provide more space for the Parking Services offices and employees, Smyth said. It will also be more visually appealing than the current booth, he said.

"It [the new building] will have nice sight lines, a lot of glass, not a lot of brick and I think we'll end up with a much better visual entrance to our campus from St. Johns Bluff than we currently have," Smyth said.

Students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus will still be able to appeal tickets, purchase permits and get information in the new building, Smyth said. Campus visitors will still be able to purchase daily parking permits at the new building by driving up to a window, Smyth said.

Parking services currently employs 10 full-time employees along with six to 15 patrollers, Smyth said.

Funding for the building is coming from the parking services fund balance, he said.

New study suggests cramming costs

College freshman Edie Weiner arrived home for winter break on a Saturday night, fell into her childhood bed and didn't get up for 20 hours.

By the time the 18-year-old stumbled out from hibernation at 5 p.m. the next day, her parents were growing a bit anxious.

Weiner, like many of her classmates, was recovering from a sleepless, caffeine-fueled week of cramming for finals - a sort of celebrated ritual that has long played out on college campuses.

But while some parents may be annoyed about their teenagers' unusual sleep patterns when they return home for break - the word "lazy" might even be muttered on occasion - medical experts describe the students as sleep-deprived and say new research provides cause for concern.

A study published in the Dec. 18 issue of the Nature Neuroscience journal examined how memories are processed in the brain during sleep. During the nondreaming portion of sleep, the brain replays the day's events, helping people reflect on recent happenings and learn from them, said Matthew Wilson, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.

The bottom line: Information crammed into the brain during a sleepless night has less chance of sticking. When deprived of sleep, students may be able to regurgitate information they've memorized overnight, but they have decreased their ability to understand its meaning or to apply it to future experience.

"Sleep isn't just a passive event," said Wilson, co-author of the study, which interpreted the memories of rats by inserting electrodes into their brains.

"The best way to take advantage of sleep is to have it interspersed between periods of wakefulness in a regular way," he said.

Parents may feel better about cramming for exams because they see that when their exhausted students return home for break, they sleep excessively to catch up.

"They are trying to replenish themselves," said Dr. Phyllis Zee, a neurology professor and director of Northwestern University's Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology. But both she and Wilson said sleep gained days later isn't as beneficial as systematic sleep.

"You can't make up for the lack of past sleep by just loading up on it," said Wilson. Adding to the problem, Zee said, is that many students don't return to a healthy sleep pattern after recuperating from exam week.

Since emerging from her sleepathon, Weiner often awakens at 9 a.m. for breakfast, then naps from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. before heading out the door to hang with friends until 2 a.m. or so.

"[My parents] don't think it's typical, but I do," said Weiner, a freshman at Southern Illinois University.

Weiner concedes she spent too much time socializing at school and found herself sleeping through some of her classes. She isn't sure she will resume her equine studies classes next semester. "She just went kind of crazy at school," her mother, Gwen Weiner, said with a sigh. "Where the problem comes in is the maturity and making the right decisions."

Other parents relate stories of their children returning home transformed into nocturnal creatures that doze by day. The families tend to cut their kids some slack as long as the students are performing well at school.

"They're good kids. This is their time off," said Eileen Carusona, 50, who has already seen one son through college and has another, a junior engineering major, home for break.

"Their day and night clock is a little confused," Carusona said. "They're out late meeting friends they haven't seen since high school. I truly think they sleep when they can."

Her younger son, Zach, 20, is usually still in bed when his parents leave for work. But he said he has improved his habits since freshman year, when he admits he pulled all-nighters with friends or camped in front of his computer.

"There are always people up, always people around, and it's easy to get distracted," he said. "... as a freshman, that's really hard to get used to. It's something you don't really realize. You're just tired all the time."

Researchers are still studying the long-term ramifications of sleep deprivation, but this much they know: It can lead to chronic fatigue, depressed moods, irritability, headaches and weight gain.

Studies also show there is a relationship between people who sleep less than six hours on average and the likelihood of developing metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and high blood pressure, Zee said.

While few studies have focused on college students, researchers know that teens often begin to sleep less during their high school years, when their circadian rhythms, or internal clocks, shift by several hours, she said.

The independent National Sleep Foundation released poll results last March showing that only 20 percent of adolescents get the recommended nine hours of sleep on school nights. The poll, which consisted of a random phone survey of 1,602 caregivers and their children in Grades 6 through 12, also reported that as the child ages, the amount of sleep declines. By 12th grade, the students slept an average of 6.9 hours nightly.

By college, some students learn their limits quickly.

Emily Avellone, 20, a junior at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said she signs up for classes only if they are scheduled at 11 a.m. or later.

"These days, there is no way I would be able to get up for an 8 a.m. class," said Avellone, who juggles school and a job at Northwestern University.

During finals, she stayed awake 40 consecutive hours by chain-smoking and drinking coffee so she could write two papers, she said. She received a top score on the first one, but is not sure if she fared as well on the second.

"I'm big on procrastinating," Avellone said. "My intentions at the beginning of the school year are not to procrastinate and work as hard as possible, but it never ends up that way. This is just the way to get my work done."

Geoffrey Cubbage, 20, a junior at Grinnell College in Iowa, drove home to Illinois for winter break fueled on coffee and exhausted after dropping two friends off first.

His dad took one look at his son and described his appearance as "death warmed over."

Cubbage went to bed that afternoon, woke up to eat dinner, returned to bed and stayed there until past noon the next day, he said.

Since then, "The amount of coffee I've been drinking has gone down dramatically," he said.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE

Thinking caps not 'one-size-fits-all'

Didn't do as well on your final exams as you thought you would? Think you didn't take enough notes, or you just crammed too much?

Your answer could determine what type of learner you are. Do you retain information more effectively when it's spoken to you, or does it tend to stick in your memory longer if you read it? Figuring out if you're a visual or a verbal learner could help you become a better college student.

Adam Hedrick, a junior accounting major at the University of North Florida, saw an improvement in his grades after he was able to tweak his studying techniques by realizing he was a visual learner.

"I started using visual aids, like textbooks and notes, and that helped my test scores," he said.

Obviously, it takes more than just recognizing what type of learner you are to up that GPA or maintain that scholarship. Studying is a daily ritual for many UNF students, but for many, it takes practice to figure out the best strategies to attain the desired results.

Before you can perfect those techniques, you may want to ask yourself a few questions to better determine the best learning and studying styles for you. You should also assess certain parts of your genetic makeup along with past experiences.

Dr. Susan Perez, an assistant professor in the UNF Department of Psychology, said individual differences and a combination of heredity and learning environments contribute to how a student retains information. She also said experiences had and the amount of experiences themselves can determine what type of learning style a student favors.

Some individuals believe they have a dominant side of the brain, meaning they are better at some tasks than others. The left hemisphere of the brain holds the language abilities in humans while the right hemisphere houses spatial abilities that include reading maps and interpreting technical diagrams. Typically, left-brained students excel at retaining verbal information, and right-brained students hold visual information better.

A student's gender can determine how strong these skills are.

"The one gender difference that is all over the place is males have better spatial abilities," Perez said. However, not all males outperform all females in spatial tasks.

"Individual differences do exist," Perez said.

James Anderson, a senior engineering major at UNF, has studied with sports psychologists throughout his golf career to better determine how he learns best. He has trained with instructors from the PGA Tour who, along with sports psychologists from Ohio State University and the University of Florida, have given him simple tips to figure out whether he is left or right-brain dominant.

"Let's say you go to balance a checkbook," Anderson said. "The left-brained person will strive for perfect accuracy down to the very last cent. The right-brained person will round off to the nearest dollar amount."

Planning, or a lack of, can also determine what thinking strategies a student is particularly strong in.

"If you are left-brained, you enjoy making schedules and usually do most of the planning," Anderson said. Left-brained people will complete tasks in order, then check them off when finished. Right-brained people will always flip from one track to another.

"Most will get the same amount completed, just in a different order and not putting priorities first."

If you're still not sure which half of your brain is dominant, think back to how you typically prefer to study.

Hedrick would rather see the information in his textbooks than hear it from his professors.

"I paraphrase the chapters, then study that over and over," he said.

Hedrick could be classified as a right-brained person because he prefers visual methods of learning over verbal. A student who prefers critical and analytical thinking intuitive and perceptual thinking could be classified as a left-brained person.

Studying can take many forms, and with computer software and iPods capable of replaying lectures, study techniques continue to change and adapt with new technology. However, some of the older methods are still favored by college students.

Some students believe flashcards are ideal ways to study because writing the information down on the cards is rehearsal itself. Others prefer to put off studying, instead wishing to spend the entire day before an exam reading all of the chapters, notes and PowerPoint slides.

While many students think rehearsing test information repeatedly will get them the desired grades, Perez warns against using that technique alone.

Perez encourages her students to have conversations with each other on the subject material and to take notes.

The UNF Academic Center for Excellence offers college success workshops aimed to equip students with study skills. Certain workshops concentrate solely on note taking or test taking, while others combine strategies to help students improve their overall productivity.

These workshops also focus on time management, an important concept for college students who suddenly find themselves juggling multiple time-consuming responsibilities.

While writing down the information is important, usually getting a passing grade on that next exam requires more than just a single session of scribing while in class.

Megan Fee, a senior advertising major, likes to reshape her notes after lectures to better suit her studying style.

"I try to take different key words and make acronyms," she said. She will take core concepts from her notes, such as categories or stages, and create acronyms to help her remember the words and their orders. Fee also favors a hands-on approach to studying like making flash cards, rather than cramming formulas and figures.

Anderson offered some advice to UNF students who recognized whether they are left or right-brained.

"Right-brained students need to know that it will take them longer to write a paper and the paper may need more revision before it says what they want it to say," Anderson said. "Always, always allow extra time to write a paper before it is due. I will say to left-brained students to take advantage of your organizational skills and always make checklists. You are naturally prepared to excel in life."

Starbucks opens doors on campus

Holocaust survivor speaks on service

After experiencing the worst in humanity during the five years he spent in Nazi concentration camps, Holocaust survivor Henri Landwirth has devoted his life to providing for the disadvantaged.

During a Jan. 9 presentation sponsored by Academic Affairs, Student and International Affairs and the Jewish Student Union, more than 400 people occupied the Robinson Theater to experience his harrowing 80-year life story.

Entitled "An evening with Henri Landwirth," the program consisted of a screening of the documentary "Borrowing Time," based on Landwirth's journey back to the land of his birth and subsequent captivity.

Spanning two years of his life, the film follows Landwirth as he returns to the ghettos of Krakow, his family home in Belgium and his former prison at Auschwitz.

His twin sister, a fellow Holocaust survivor, as well as his son, daughter and wife also took part in the documentary.

The film also focuses on Landwirth's work as a philanthropist, as he has established five charity organizations. He attributes his generosity to his time in five different death and labor camps from the age of 13 to 18.

"My life spent in camps has a lot to do with what I do today," Landwirth said. "That was the very worst, and I want to others to have the very best."

Held captive until the end of the war, he and four other prisoners were released by a German soldier who had been ordered to execute them. At the age of 20, Landwirth moved to the United States to change his life and get away from Europe.

"I came to America with $20 in my pocket, I spoke no English and I only had a sixth grade education," Landwirth said.

He moved to Florida in 1954 and began a lucrative 50-year career in the hotel business, which allowed him to retire and devote the last 20 years of his life to his various charitable organizations.

Give Kids The World, a non-profit resort for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, is one of the organizations Landwirth has founded. According to him, the program has helped more than 76,000 families since its inception in 1986.

Located in Orlando, Give Kids the World allows the children and their families a week-long getaway.

"Anything they want for their vacation is provided for free," Landwirth said. "The children could eat ice cream from 7 a.m to 9 p.m. if they wish."

Another charity organization founded by Landwirth is Dignity U Wear, a Jacksonville-based foundation that provides clothes to homeless and disadvantaged families.

Landwirth said the program distributed $16 million worth of clothing to 63 different charity agencies. A major supporter of Dignity U Wear is national clothing store Steinmart. According to Landwirth, all 20,000 Steinmart associates actively raise funds for the program.

After years spent working to help those around him, Landwirth still feels that his life is a gift.

"I've been living on borrowed time for the past 61 years," Landwirth said. "I feel that God wanted me to be here, and I will go wherever he sends me and help whoever that needs it. My emphasis is on helping young adults and children because they are our future."

Landwirth said that all of his actions are reinforced by the message he wishes to share.

"We need to start forgiving, stop hating, minimize prejudice and begin to understand diversity. This is the mission I have set out for myself."

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NEWS

Shuttle system coming to campus

Parking proposal to go before BOT

Parking Services moving on up

New study suggests cramming costs

Thinking caps not 'one-size-fits-all'

Starbucks opens doors on campus

Holocaust survivor speaks on service

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Fraternity returns to campus

Inspection reports available in February

Business Development Center to host contest

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