Friday, September 7, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3
Texas A&M gets Consortium fellowship recipient
By KIM GRIFFITHS
Reporter
Cherri Smith, a 22-year-old chem-
itry graduate of Texas Southern
Jniversity, has become Texas
t&M's first fellowship recipient un-
ler the National Consortium for
iraduate Degrees for Minorities in
ilate Inc ‘ P™g ram -
, , I he Consortium, a non-profit
s 1(11 Corporation organized in 1976, is a
:)int venture of 48 engineering col
it will on ;ges and 46 industriai/governmen-
UnitedSt a l laboratories which have joined to
other to provide opportunities for
|s | ninot ity students to pursue master’s
, ' legrees in engineering,
leine. The program helps the students
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k about i: —
;et practical engineering experience
through summer work opportuni
ties at the participating laboratories
and companies. The program also
helps in financing graduate studies
toward a master’s degree in one of
the various disciplines of engi
neering at a member university.
Luann Morris, a staff assistant in
the College of Engineering working
with the GEM program, said Texas
A&M was notified in November
1983 that it had been accepted as a
member school and would be eligi
ble to enroll GEM supported grad
uate students such as Smith.
Smith said she chose Texas A&M
over other schools because of its
friendly atmosphere and because of
its strong research-oriented pro
gram in chemical engineering.
Of course, being so close to her
hometown of Houston and having a
recent Aggie graduate as a brother
helped make her choice easier.
“My brother, Charles, has told me
a lot about the friendliness of this
campus, the Corps of Cadets and the
school’s strong traditions,” Smith ex
plained. “Academics are fine as
starting point, but it was the Univer
sity as a whole that made the final
decision for me.”
Jeanne Rierson, assistant director
of minority affairs for the College of
Engineering, said that approxi
mately 6 percent of all Texas A&M
undergraduate engineering stu
dents are minorities — a figure that
she said meets the national average
at other schools. However, in the
graduate program, Rierson said only
2 percent of students are minorities.
Minorities as defined by GEM and
Texas A&M are those United States
citizens who are classified as Ameri
can Indian, Black American, Mexi
can American or Puerto Rican.
“We are trying to boost our mi
nority enrollment in the graduate
program,” Rierson said, “and the
GEM program offers us the oppor
tunity to do this on a national scale
— with students applying from ev
ery state.”
For the past three years, Texas
A&M has offered a $9,000
fellowship to a qualified minority
graduate
Under the GEM program, Smith
receives a $5,000 stipend to which
the University will add an additional
$4,000, Rierson said.
Each fellowship pays full tuition
and fees plus the $5,000 stipend for
the academic year. Summer employ
ment at a member-research labo
ratory is also provided by the
fellowship.
Smith said she expects to be em
ployed at Standard Oil Co. next
summer where she would probably
work in a refining division in either
Pennsylvania or Ohio.
GEM is presently accepting appli
cations for its Graduate Fellowship
Program which will provide 150
awards to qualified minority stu
dents.
The deadline for application
material for the 1985-86 fellowship
year is Dec. 1, 1984. For further in
formation contact the College of En
gineering or write: Graduate Engi
neering for Minorities, P.O. Box
537, Notre Dame, Ind., 46556.
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Ike's death toll
soars over 1,360;
no help taken
United Press International
■MANILA, Philippines — The
death toll from Typhoon Ike
soared to more than 1,360 Thurs
day as the government, refusing
help from abroad, shipped relief
supplies to victims of the Phil
ippines’ worst recorded storm
this century.
KTour days after Ike slammed
into the country with 137 mph
winds officials were still assessing
the extent of damage nationwide.
An estimated 1.12 million were
left homeless by Ike and by Trop
ical Storm June.
i Ike, meanwhile, was churning
across the South China Sea to
ward Vietnam.
E A compilation of reports from
the government, the military, the
Red Cross and the state-run news
agency showed 1,363 died in Ike’s
two-day rampage, with more than
300 others injured and over 500
people missing.
Ike was the deadliest typhoon
on record to strike the Phil
ippines this century, far surpas
sing the previous record of 763
people killed in a 1951 storm.
S’’ The central and southern Phil
ippines were the hardest hit by
Ike, which slammed into the
country Sunday, only days after
the northern Philippines was
struck by Tropical Storm June,
which claimed 67 lives.
As relief efforts in Ike’s af
termath continued in the south
ern and central Philippines, Pres
ident Ferdinand Marcos flew
north to his home territory to in
spect areas damaged by Tropical
Storm June.
“The most urgent, really, is the
road and bridge repair, the medi
cines for our people and the re
habilitation of all kinds of build
ings,” Marcos said during a visit
to his hometown, Laoag.
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Franklin Ebdalin said in Manila
that the Philippines had so far re
fused offers of additional foreign
relief assistance.
“The policy has been to rely on
our own resources,” he said. “Ev
erything is under control.”
Marcos authorized the imme
diate release of $4.4 million in
government aid.
The air force announced it
would begin ferrying construc
tion materials today to the south
ern province of Surigao del
Norte, where Ike flattened 90
f ercent of coastal Surigao City,
illed about 1,000 people and left
480,000 homeless.
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Students urged to ‘Adopt-a-Grandparent’
By KIRSTEN DIETZ
Reporter
Mothers and fathers are honored
each year on special days, but little
recognition is given to grandparents.
Gov. Mark White has declared Sun
day “Grandparent’s Day” in Texas to
“call attention to the contributions of
our grandparents.”
James Grabbs, information officer
for the Texas Department on Aging,
said the first Sunday after Labor Day
has been National Grandparent’s
Day since 1978, but it hasn’t been
promoted very well.
For Texas A&M students who en
joy being around older people, the
Student Y Association offers an
Adopt-a-Grandparent program
open to members of the Student Y.
Interested students fill out an appli
cation and indicate a preference for
the grandparent desired. The appli
cation is used to match the member
and the grandparent.
The official Adopt-a-Grandpa
rent program began last year, said
Don Albright, associate director of
student activities, although a hospi
tal visitation program had been in
effect for quite a while.
Gradually, the program devel
oped into the idea of each person
getting his own' grandparent and
meeting with that grandparent indi
vidually, Student Y Secretary Mike
Hardeman, said.
Cathy Mannion, Adopt-a-Grand-
parent chairman, said two group ac
tivities for the year are a Christmas
visit and a spring senior citizen Olym
pics. The activities, however, are still
in the planning stages. Skits, movies
and bingo games are some of the ac
tivities being planned for the day
long Olympics.
“It’s just kind of a day to spend
the whole day with (grandparents)
and bring them a lot of happiness
and joy,” she explained.
An activity Mannion plans to in
troduce this year is Adopt-a-Grand-
parent pen pals from Houston nurs
ing homes. She feels this will go over
well with students who don’t have
enough time to visit an adopted
grandparent, but want to get in
volved in the program in some way.
“That’s just another way for us to
reach out to some more people,”
Hardeman said.
Mannion has expanded the visita
tion program to reach more elderly
people. While last year Student Y
members visited only residents of
the Crestview Retirement Commu
nity in Bryan, this year they will visit
residents of other area nursing
homes and elderly members of the
community.
Singer/guitar player on Grand Ole Opry for 41 years
Country star Tubb dies at age 70
United Press International
Nashville, Tenn. — Ernest Tubb,
the Texan whose classic “Walking
the Floor Over You” made him one
of the legends of country music,
died of emphysema Thursday. He
was 70.
Tubb’s last performance on the
Grand Ole Opry was Aug. 14, 1982,
manager Jerry Strobel said.
“It was an Ernest Tubb Opry per
formance,” Strobel recalled. “Fie did
‘Walking the Floor Over You.’ The
crowd came down to the stage.
Flashbulbs were popping all over tne
Opry House.
“People realize that performers
like Tubb and Roy Acuff are legends
and they are lucky to be there to see
them.
“I think that Ernest Tubb, besides
being a great country music talent,
has probably done more for young
entertainers, especially through his
radio show Midnight Jamboree,
than anybody in the country music
business,” Strobel said.
“He was always willing to spotlight
the young artists on his shows and
help them get into country music
business. If the talent was great, me
diocre or below average, he ex
tended them the same courtesty that
he would have a superstar.”
Tubb was enshrined into the
Country Music Hall of Fame in 1965
at the age of 51.
Tubb had dreamed as a child of
being a cowboy movie star, and in
1942 he made a couple of movies
with Charles Starrett.
This in turn landed him guest ap
pearances on the Grand Ole Opry.
The Opry signed him as a perma
nent member in 1943.
He founded the Ernest Tubb Re
cord Shop within a stone’s throw of
the Ryman Auditorium, the old
home of the Opry, and his sideline
business interests prospered.
It was also at this time that the Er
nest Tubb Jamboree, broadcast over
WSM immediately after the final act
of the Grand Ole Opry, began to air.
It was beamed from his record shop
and soon had a respectable audience
on its own and eventually became a
fixture — now called the Midnight
Jamboree.
The Texas Troubadour had three
songs in the top 10 in 1948 and in
1949 he had seven, including “My
Tennessee Baby,” “Blue Christmas,”
“Don’t Rob Another Man’s Castle,”
“Have You Ever Been Lonely,” “I’m
Bitin’ My Fingernails and Thinking
of You,” “Slippin’ Around,” “Ten
nessee Border No. 2” and “Warm
Red Wine.”
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THE BROTHERS OF
ALPHA TAU OMEGA
INVITE YOU TO ATTEND
THEIR 1984 FALL RUSH
TONIGHT
SEPT. 7 - SOUTH OF THE BORDER
TEQUILLASHOT
MARGARITAS
ALL PARTIES BEGIN AT 8:30
uH< vegSiTT
Itamu l
VILLA MAR-lA
ATO House
2310 S. College
CCNlreAU'STATIONl
GET INVOLVED IN
Student Government
Applications deadline is today for:
Muster Committee,
Parents’ Day Committee,
and T raditions Council
Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors and
graduate students can apply for
Judicial Board through Friday
at 5 p.m.
Applications for the Student Financial
Aid Advisory Board are due Friday
at 5 p.m.
Freshman Aide application deadline
has been extended to 5 p.m. today.
Come by the Student Government
Office, 221 Pavillion, for details and
applications. Or call 845-3051.