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.