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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1997)
Page larch 4,151 es Mizzoui 3 '4 pointsi The Battalion olume 103 • Issue 106 • 12 Pages The Batt Online: http:// bat-web.tamii.edu Wednesday, March 5, 1997 ouncil to evaluate education program M's teacher' education vgram hopes to maintain mb accreditation. ID By Benjamin Cheng The Battalion TexasA&M’s teacher education program 1 oping to make the grade as the Nation- fjCouncil for the Accreditation of Teacher nation makes a visit. Five members of the council’s board of ex- I inerswill evaluate the teacher education program. The council is the sole organization in the country that accredits teacher educa tion programs on a national level. Dr. Jon Denton, executive associate dean of the College of Education, said the coun cil measures the program’s progress in teacher preparation. “It tells parents, the legislature and oth er teacher education programs that we’ve met the [national! standards,” Denton said. Dr. Bill Deaton, chair of the visiting council board and the dean of education at Auburn University in Montgomery, said about 500 of the 1,200 teacher edu cation programs in the country are council-accredited. Deaton said two- thirds of all new teachers are produced by accredited schools. “Generally speaking, NCATE institutions have stronger programs than non-NCATE accredited institutions,” Deaton said. Dr. Mary Conoley, dean of education, said A&M’s teaching program is one of nine among the more than 60 in Texas to be NCATE-accredited, and she hopes it will stay that way. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” Conoley said. “It (accreditation visit) keeps you honest because you have to look at yourself.” The quality of faculty and the experience of students in the program are two of the 20 standards the council uses to measure teacher education programs. A council board of examiners last visited A&M in 1992 to accredit the teacher educa tion program. The purpose of the current visit is to determine if accreditation should continue for another five years. The 1992 board reported a number of deficiencies, including a shortage of mi nority faculty members in the program. Since 1992, the percentage of minority faculty members has increased from 5 to 7 percent. “It’s not a big increase, but we’re moving in the right direction,” Conoley said. Teachers from council-accredited schools have an easier time finding out-of-state jobs because they do not have to go through an exhaustive background check, Conoley said. “NCATE is recognized throughout the country,” she said. Conoley said the A&M program is known for being one of the best in Texas. “Tve met with superintendents from across the state and they say they (teachers from A&M) are ready to teach,”’ she said. See Education, Page 5 Fee Allocation Board implements changes ► A new rotation process will help ensure board membership continuity. By Marissa Alanis The Bati align The Student Services Fee Allocation Board has undergone several structural changes to maintain its original purpose. Every year, the board makes recommenda tions on the level of the fee and analyzes the budgets of the 20 departments that it funds. The departments range from the Memorial Student Center to the Aggie Band. Last fall, the 16-member board implemented new guidelines to increase continuity of member- ► Texas Aggies Making Changes ship and to better train members for their positions. The board consists of 12 undergraduate stu dents and four graduate students. To maintain board membership, eight new members and eight returning members from last fall will be selected at the beginning of April. The eight returning members will be on the board for one more year, while the new ones will serve for two years. Eventually, the rotation process will have each representative serve a two-year membership. Members will be selected through an application and interview process. Shelley Howell, a committee member and a senior finance and marketing major, said she thinks participants might become shortsighted if they are on the board for too long. See Board, Page 5 Committee increases student representation ienate passes college admissions bill |95 8Cyl- n cars we 11 )t timing, t 0Sl tion parts 69 95 post cars EEL WENT 9 95 1 carsJF R ome. 17, C 0017 u Stew Milne, The Battalion Iri I I Lane G'B es P' e / a pfiys'Ccil pl ant wor l <e fi P a ' nts P^ldr'g s P aces fc >e hii nc l the III * I I’K t-J I I | Reed McDonald Building Tuesday afternoon. By Erica Roy The Battalion Texas Aggies Making Changes, a Student Gov ernment Association committee formed last se mester, tries to help Texas A&M by giving all stu dents an opportunity to be represented in Student Government. Sarah Lewis, committee chair and a junior journalism and economics major, said the committee allows more students to be in volved in the association. “We try to enrich Student Government through service and promote Student Govern ment through new active members,” she said. “A person can gain a priceless overall awareness of the opportunities of Student Government.” Kristen Paris, vice president of programs and operations and a junior biomedical science ma jor, said the association turns away students who want to participate each year. “It (the committee) is a way to give more stu dents a chance to get involved in Student Gov ernment,” Paris said. Lewis said a general committee in the gov ernment was necessary to allow for more stu dent representation. “Student Government needs to be more repre sented andTAMC helps them do that,” Lewis said. Nathan Garcia, a committee member and junior biology major, said his involvement in the committee has increased his knowledge of the association. “It (the committee) has gotten me involved,” Garcia said. “I’ve become more aware of the oth er branches of Student Government.” The committee now has about 90 members. Paris said the number of members is impres sive for a new committee. “That’s incredible to have that many sticking on to a new committee,” she said. The committee provides the government with the manpower to implement programs. Last semester, committee members helped get Designate a Bus Transit started and con ducted a General Use Fee poll. See TAMC, Page 12 The bill would require a uniform application to be used at four-year universities. AUSTIN (AP) —Prospective students ould find it easier to apply to four-year diversities under a bill passed by the ixas Senate that would require a uni- dtnadmissions form and one-stop fil- igat university systems. The measure by Senate Education ommittee Chair Teel Bivins, R-Amar- passed 31-0 Tuesday and now goes to the House. “The goal... is to increase access to higher education,” Bivins said. The bill would require the Higher Ed ucation Coordinating Board to adopt a uniform admissions application form to be used at four-year universities. The uni versities could require additional infor mation from students, such as essays. In addition, a student could apply to any or all campuses within a particular university system by submitting one form. “With (submission of) two applica tion forms, you could apply to every in stitution in the UT (University of Texas) and the A&M systems,” Bivins said. The UT System currently has cen tralized admissions for its medical and dental programs. UT-Austin also refers the names and addresses of applicants who aren’t admitted at that campus to other UT system institutions. Bivins said that under his bill, each cam pus likely would still respond to let students know whether they have been accepted. “I originally thought the system ought to respond, but what the compo nent schools pointed out... is that that acceptance letter is kind of a marketing tool for them, to say, ‘You’ve been ac cepted, and here are these great things about our school,”’ Bivins said. Kibler heads to Germany to take part in seminar The Battalion INSIDETODAY MEN OF VALOR: Sev- en Aggies have won the Congressional Medal of Honor for courage on the battlefield. Aggielife, Page 3 Toons Sports Opinion Page 5 Page 7 Page 11 Clinton travels to Arkansas to survey tornado damage ARKADELPHIA, Aik. (AP) — His black cowboy boots kicking up bits of glass and wood, President Clin ton surveyed the dam age and comforted the victims of tornadoes that swept through his home state. “I wish there were more I could say and do,” he said Tuesday. Surrounded by buildings reduced to kindling wood and jagged scraps of metal, Clinton said, “I’ve been down every one of these 4k I| HHHk jflHI I Clinton streets before. I’ve been in every one of these stores.” Clinton has toured countless disaster sites as president, but never before has it cut this close to home: Arkadelphia, situ ated squarely between his two home towns, Hope and Hot Springs, was a fre quent stop for politics and policy during his 12-year tenure as governor. “It is different when you know the peo ple and you know the community,” said Clinton, who was called “Bill” by several residents lined up amid the rubble to shake his hand. See Clinton, Page 5 ► He will study academic dishonesty and integrity in Germany's higher education system. By Rebecca Torrellas The Battalion Dr. Bill Kibler, associate vice president for Stu dent Affairs, is among 50 administrators in high er education who were selected to go Germany for the 1997 Seminar for U.S. Administrators in International Education this April. The seminar is conducted by the Fulbright Commission for three weeks in April to study Germany’s system of higher education. Kibler said Germany is well-known for its high-quality education system, and he hopes to gain ideas from the seminar to improve the cur rent higher education system at Texas A&M. “I want to share the information through pre sentations around the country,” Kibler said. His focus during the study will be.academic dishonesty and integrity. “I want to know how they (Germans) address the problem, if it is a problem there,” Kibler said. Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president of Student Affairs, said he is proud of Kibler’s selec tion for the Fulbright Educational Grant because it is a competitive process. “This particular experience is all related to high er education,” Southerland said, “so there is a di rect impact on the perspective, ideas and experi ences of Dr. Ki bler that will im pact his career as a Student Affairs professional.” Southerland and Dr. Jan Winniford, as sociate vice president for Student Affairs, will take care of Kibler’s duties at A&M while he is attending the seminar. “We will both help, depending on what the sit uation is,” Win niford said. Kibler applied and submitted a proposal last September and received an acceptance letter last week. As associate vice president for Student Af fairs, Kibler oversees management of programs run by the Memorial Student Center, Student Health Services, Special Event Facilities, Stu dent Counseling Services and the University Center Galleries. Kibler, who joined the Texas A&M staff in 1980, is also an assistant professor of education al administration in the College of Education, where he teaches in the Student Affairs Admin istration in the Higher Education Program. Tim Moog, The Battalion Dr Bill Kibler, associate vice president for Student Affairs, will travel to Germany to study the higher education system.