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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1983)
state Battalion/Pan! February 2, . < ' Truckers in Texas avoid strike United Press International DALLAS — A spot check of Texas truck drivers indicated that most decided it was better — certainly more profitable — to keep on trucking and duck trouble Tuesday, the second day of a nation-wide independent truckers’ strike. “We can’t afford to strike, but we can’t afford to keep on the road either,” Judy Price, an in dependent trucker from Austin, said. “Our costs have gone up constantly, but we can’t raise rates.” Price is referring to a new that law President Reagan signed in January which in creases taxes on truck parts and truck use and raises federal fuel tax 5 cents a gallon. Truckers across the nation responded to the new law by organizing a general strike that went into effect at midnight Sunday. “There’s just a lot of talk now but I don’t think anyone knows what will happen, said Claude Jones, vice president of Truck Harbor Inc. which owns a truck stop on Houston’s northside. “We’re as anxious as you all are to find an indication. Right now, the ones who have a load will run. The ones without loads have pretty much gone home.” A trucker from Spring, Texas, who supplies fuel to ab out 21 customers including some independent service sta tions, said, “I’ve been asked by several of the independent truckers if I was going to shut my trucks down and I said ‘No, I could not until Gulf, Exxon, Shell and the majors shut theirs down.’” He said there had been no re ports of violence in his area and didn’t anticipate any. He also said that there was little evidence the strike had slowed business. Hugh Schmieder, owner of the Union 76-truck stop in Brookshire, about 20 miles west of Houston, said, “It’s just as peaceful as Christmas Eve.” “From what I can observe this morning, there’s absolutely no impact from the strike,” he said. UT graduate programs among nation’s best United Press International AUSTIN — The University of Texas’ doctorate programs rank 6th among the nation’s state-supported universities, making it the premier university in the Southwest, says UT presi dent Dr. Peter T. Flawn. The study released Monday showed UT had eight doctorate programs listed in the nation’s Top 10, including the best botany program. Flawn said the study “makes it clear that UT-Austin has now become one of the small group of truly outstanding state uni versities in the nation.” And, he said the report proved that UT is first in doctor al training among universities in the Southwest region, which in cludes Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. The Jones-Lindzey Report ranked UT first in botany, third in linguistics and Spanish, sixth in Germanic languages and civil engineering, eighth in classics and zoology and 10th in compu ter sciences. The survey of 2,700 graduate programs at 228 universities also showed UT ranked in the top 20 in chemistry, geosciences, French, music, chemical, elec trical and mechanical engineer ing, anthropology, psychology and sociology. Only six state-supported uni versities had a greater number of top 10 programs than UT. They were the University of California-Berkeley, UGLA, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan and Cornell Univer sity. UT ranked 22nd overall in top 10 programs. The top 10 rated universities were Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Princeton, MIT, Col umbia, Pennsylvania, California Institute of Technology and Duke. William S. Livingston, vice president and dean of graduate studies at UT, said the survey, the first in a decade, “shows us Toddler shoots herself United Press International HOUSTON — The 3-year- old daughter of a Houston-area police officer was critically wounded while playing with her father’s revolver, police said Tuesday. Homicide Detective S.P. Wil son said that Patricia Kennedy remained in critical condition at Hermann Hospital after appa rently shooting herself in the abdomen while playing with her father’s .357 magnum pistol. Wilson said the sound of a gunshot about 12:15 a.m. woke up the girl’s parents. Lake Shores Police Officer Timothy Kennedy and his wife. The couple ran into the living room and found their daughter lying in a pool of blood with the gun at her side, Wilson said. The child was rushed to a nearby hospital and then flown by emergency helicopter to Her mann Hospital for surgery. where some of our weaknesses lie and it gives us a chance to inform prospective students ab out the quality of our prog rams.” The Jones-Lindzey Report is confined to 32 research- doctorate programs and does not include programs in architecture, business, com munication, education, law, lib rary and information science, nursing, pharmacy, public affairs or social work. Valentine Special 14 Kt. Gold Add-A-Beads 3mm - .50 4mm - .85 5mm - 1.45 6mm - 2.20 7mm - 3.00 8mm - 4.50 We will put beads on your chain at no extra charge. Douglas Jewelry Culpepper Plaza and 212 No. Main Downtown Bryan Student Discounts not applicable on this event. No Credit Cards. Charge, or Layaway. GET HAPPY FEET Un HOU njv Ge filed lav treatme contribi Houstoi All-Nigv For III ♦ * ★ k + *★ ****** **♦!♦* ******, J ★★★ Util Stperda Feb. 19-20 12 noon to 12,| BRAZOS CENTER REGISTER (JAN. 24-FEB. 1!) at The Commons 11:00-2I| MSC 10:00-3:1 Sbisa 11:00-H Registration Fee $2.50 per person All proceeds to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy The RITQTNJFCC Monthly Newsletter of the students of the College of Business Administration, Texas A&M University miiiiimimMiiiiiiiMiMiiiiMiiimiimmiiiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiM VolumeS, Number4 Paid advertising, prepared by the College of Business Administration INVENT Brings Ideas to A&M Help Desks Open For Students by Diane Yount by Kim Schmidt Eager entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize on new inventions or business ideas soon will be able to get expert advice and aid for their ventures through a newly estab lished institute at Texas A&M Uni versity. The Institute for Ventures in New Technology, or INVENT, is designed to help inventors create businesses to market their new creations. "INVENTS purpose is to com mercialize new technologies in Texas," said Mr. Frank Sekera, Di rector of the institute. But, although INVENT is in terested in marketing new inven tions, it will not attempt to prom ote all new product ideas submit ted, Sekera said. Instead, it will evaluate each idea and promote only those which have been identi fied as having the highest technic al and market potential. Sekera feels INVENT will be a success because of the abundance of ideas for new inventions which have already flooded his office and because of the uniqueness of the program. Operating as a division of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, INVENT is a collaborative effort linking researchers in busi ness administration and engineer ing, as well as other relevant disci plines. "It is unique in that it is the only place in the United States where the goal is to create business while involving academic staff, faculty, and students," Sekera said. And, Sekera said, any time con tact between the business and academic worlds is increased, good things are bound to happen. Sekera said inventors will be nefit from the great wealth of knowledge and resources at the University. In exchange for its efforts, IN VENT will receive a percentage of the revenues from the new busi ness, Sekera said. Initially funded by state monies, the institute will eventually use these earnings along with donations as its means of support. Students will also benefit. Sekera hopes that a credit course can be started to give students class hours for participating in technical and market research and planning the business start-up. He maintains that it would offer stu dents a great opportunity to gain needed business experience. INVENT began operating on campus in January, 1983, will be operating Texas-wide by April, and will be up to full operation by September. Students, faculty and staff who wish to participate in IN VENT activities or who have in ventions they wish to discuss should contact Frank Sekera at 845-0538. Finance Prof Visits England Faculty members need time away from the day-to-day de mands of teaching, research work, and committee responsibilities to refresh and renew their skills. Fa culty development leaves provide the opportunity for faculty mem bers to step out of daily routines to brush up on old skills and develop new ones. Dr. Donald Fraser, Pro fessor of Finance in the College of Business Administration at Texas A&M, had the chance to take the opportunities offered by a de velopment leave during the spring '82 semester. He was invited to be visiting scholar at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Fraser wanted to study the changes in British financial poli cies, institutions, and markets— particularly under the Thatcher government—to determine whether Britain's experiences hold any examples for the U.S. Because he teaches a financial markets course, Fraser felt that this re search would make a strong con tribution to his teaching. "On this development leave, re search was a means to improve my teaching, not primarily a means to more publications," he said. "I did not go simply to complete the re search necessary for a specific pap er. I viewed the experience more as one where I could develop and learn." Dr. Fraser has more than 100 publications to his credit, plus 5 books and monographs. While at the University of Sus sex, Fraser was less than an hour from London, and he made sever al trips to the financial district of London, which is one of the two major financial centers of the world and the major center for in ternational financial markets. He interviewed both American bank ers (in the London operations of Texas banks) and British bankers, sounding them out on recent and prospective developments in in ternational banking and finance. Reflecting the purpose of the de velopment leave as well as the na ture of the British university struc ture, Dr. Fraser's responsibilities at the University of Sussex were fairly light. Professors do not hold regularly scheduled lectures two or three times a week. Classes meet early in the semester, and students are given a heavy reading assignment. The classes meet again several times in the semes ter, and infrequent exams are given, sometimes only once a year. Fraser gave one seminar during his semester at Sussex, and partici pated in several other seminars. The rest of his time he devoted to research at the University of Sus sex and in London. He has drawn some preliminary conclusions on the Thatcher gov ernment's attempt to control the money supply and government spending. "The Thatcher experiment has. in my opinion, been a failure, and the parallels between Mrs. Thatch er and President Reagan are some what disturbing," said Fraser. "Thatcher tried to reduce the size of the government and has failed. It is much more difficult to modify big government and change a wel fare state than it appears on the surface." The Bank of England has not or could not conduct the monetarist policy the government wanted, he continued. While the Federal Re serve here has done a much better job of controlling the money supp ly than has the Bank of England, Fraser feels we're in danger of making some of the same mistakes they have. Dr. Fraser is currently working on several ideas for articles he has developed from his research. His semester in England was not all work and no play, however. He and his family visited Scotland, Belgium, France and Germany during their three and a half month stay. The benefits gained from this development leave are not limited to Dr. Fraser alone. The students in his classes have also benefitted from his experiences and research at the University of Sussex. Actual experience backed up by research gives substance to the theories dis cussed in the classroom and en riches the quality of the education received by students in the College of Business Administration. "Text and homework problem assignments promote understand ing of course subject matter. If you do not understand and/or cannot solve the assigned homework, you should seek help. Help is avail able. " This paragraph is typically in cluded in course syllabuses for the College of Business Administra tion. The Departments of Accounting, Finance and Business Analysis all sponsor help desks designed to help students through their courses. "We have resource people there to help students." says Dr. John Groth, Associate Professor of Fi nance. "In the fall semester, the finance department had a help desk open 30 hours a week." The help desks are located in Room 303B of the Academic and Agency building. The hours for each desk are determined by the graduate assistants who staff them. Usually, help is available be tween 10a.m. and3p.m., Monday through Friday. "We want students to have am ple time to get help without hiring tutors." Groth says. "There is no reason a sincere student can't get help, but the student has to make an effort." If a student is unable to get to the help desks during the day, even ing help sessions are offered once a week by department professors. "I ran three evening help ses sions in the fall." Groth said. "We had one evening session a week, except for the weeks like bonfire and dead week. But the help desks still stayed open." One of the problems with the help desks and evening help ses sions is that few students advantage of the resource. "We didn't get very man take fi- ly n nance students at the finance help desk for the first six weeks.” Groth said. One of the reasons for the lack of use of the help desks is the lack of space, Groth says. "Some people can't work in that room because it gets noisy.” Groth said. "Shortage of space make it difficult for a student to find a quiet spot to get away from things and study." "We would like to find a room just for finance people," he said. "It needs to be the same room all the time. If it changes every day it becomes impractical to the student — people don't remember where the room is." Business Week '83 Wednesday, February 2, 1983 1:30 pm Company booths reopen, A&A Bldg, first floor. Retailing Career Symposium con tinues, Rudder Tower. 6:30 pm 'Take a Student to Dinner," Re cruiters host selected students at local restaurants. Thursday, February 3 Speaker: MGMT 435, 11 am; MGMT 436, 12:30 pm Jim Garrison, Attorney, Texaco, U.S.A. HAPPY HOUR 5-7 Mon.-Thurs. 4:30-6:30 Fri. Sat. 11-5 Mon.-Sat. 10-Closing OPEN 11-11 Mon.-Thurs. 11-12 Fri.-Sat. 11 -2:30 Sunday Brunch 5-10 Sunday ■JVTERURBA1V MONDAY—Sorority Night! Bring in your greek letters and drink all night for half-price!!! WEDNESDAY—Ladies Night! All ladies’ drinks half-price from 5 till closing!! INTERURBAN EATING HOUSE 846-8741 505 University Drive iiimiiiiiniiiiiiHiiiiiniiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiMmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiNiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii