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104™ YEAB • ISSUE 162 • 6 PAGES
TEXAS ASM UNIVERSITY ■ COLLEGE STATION. TEXAS
Tomorrow
Aggielife:
Summer movie craze over
comets, meteors prompts
in-depth expert report on
impact possibility
with Earth.
WEDNESDAY • JULY 1 • 1998
A watery past
A&M nautical archaeology department discovers a bit of Southern history
* U % / I A r WT* T *—Ur-’ A T-» »—v■% r ' I ' •11 1 ^
By Patrick Peabody
Staff Writer
Bi’he Texas A&M Department of
Nautical Archaeology will explore
i fiiece of Confederate history sit
ing on the ocean floor.
The project officially began
when the Denbigh, one of the two
most successful blockade-runners
of the Confederacy, was rediscov
ered in December 1997. Archaeolo
gists and students have been map
ping out the site since May 1998.
Barto Arnold, the project's lead
archaeologist, said the sunken ship
was not hard to find.
"We expected to find it some
time," Arnold said, "but it came as
a surprise when we found it our
first time out."
I y:
lurday
Ifficeor
I mole
I of the
Photo Courtesy of Barto Arnold
The project gained momentum
when the project received dona
tions totaling over $200,000 from
Houston Endowment, Inc., The
Hillcrest Foundation, The Strake
Foundation, and the Trustees of
Communities Foundation of Texas.
"This project will be completely
funded by donations," Arnold said.
"The money we have now is only
about 10 percent of what will we
need to finish this project."
The project is expected to last ap
proximately five years with the first
year dedicated to preliminary field
work and test excavations.
The Denbigh ran more than 26
trips through the blockade before
being sunk, while most runners av
eraged only four.
The Denbigh was constructed in
Liverpool, England in 1860 as an
ordinary merchant vessel. It is ap
proximately 180 feet long and 22
feet wide.
It was purchased in 1863 by the
European Trading Company, a con
sortium of Confederate, English
and French companies.
Two months after refitting,
the Denbigh arrived in Cuba and
began preparing for the trip to
Mobile, Ala.
On Jan. 10, 1864, it successfully
completed the first of its many runs
through the Union blockade.
The converted merchant ship
continued to make runs from Ha
vana, Cuba, to Mobile, Ala., and
Galveston where it provided sup
plies to the Confederacy.
On the night of May 23,1865, six
weeks after the Confederacy sur
rendered, the Denbigh was sunk
near Bolivar Point by blockading
Union ships.
Although the nautical archae
ology department recently found
the ship, the Denbigh was never
truly lost.
The iron-hulled steamer was a
harbor landmark for many years af
ter the Civil War, and parts of the
ship can be seen when the tide is ex
tremely low.
An 1880 Corps of Engineers
map clearly marked the location
of the wreck, and sport divers
and fishermen have know about
it for years.
see Denbigh on Page 2.
Ice c:
Professor recognized for work
in medical journalism field
Duntyj;
lachof’i
By Rod Machen
City Editor
A professor in the department of
shotrjjjjlimalisrn has been honored for her ac
complishments in medical journalism.
■ Barbara Gastel, associate professor
’ of journalism and of humanities in
medicine, has been awarded the
Harold Swanberg Distinguished Ser-
ypev Award by the American Medical
inters Association.
I Gastel will receive the award at the
HlWA annual meeting in Vancouver,
British Columbia in October.
■ She recently returned from the
Bople's Republic of China where
she taught an intensive four-week
/©urse in medical writing at Beijing
> Medical University.
In the course she taught editors of
Chinese medical journals and facul
ty members how to submit articles to
English language medical journals.
Gastel's most recent publication is
the Health Writer's Handbook, a guide
for writers of medical journalism for
the popular media.
Gastel believes medical journalism
is an established field that has recent
ly, gained popularity.
"As the population has aged, in
terest in health has increased," Gastel
said. "Also, various institutions have
become more active in disseminating
information on health."
Gastel came to Texas A&M in 1989
as the University began preparation
for a graduate program in science and
technology journalism.
The program was first requested in
the late '80's, and after several set
backs from the Texas Higher Educa
tion Coordinating Board, the first stu
dents entered the program in the fall
of 1996.
The journalism department had
long desired a graduate degree. Dr.
Charles Self, professor of journalism
and head of the department, said sci
ence journalism fits with A&M's
strong science programs.
"One of the things that has distin
guished A&M is its science and tech
nology mission," Self said.
Gastel summarized her mission and
the goal of the graduate program.
"I teach people how to distill tech
nical information clearly, interesting
ly and accurately," Gastel said.
TH
Jt
mmmk:
JiHi
Dr. Barbara
Gastel, associate
professor of
journalism and
humanities in
medicine,
received the
Harold Swanberg
Distinguished
Service Award by
the American
Medical Writers
Association
(AMWA) for her
accomplishments
in medical
journalism.
Gastel will re
ceive the award
at the AMWA an
nual meeting in
Vancouver,
British Columbia
in October.
Photo By Jake Schrickling/The Battalion
Artistic expression
fo-. . A 1 ’Vv-
**»• :ii‘ i
STEPHANIE CORLEY/The Battalion
Basel Hunter, a Ph.D. student in Recreation, Parks and Tourism Science and a local
artist, paints a portrait of the legendary Sullivan Ross. Basel considers art “an expression
of the soul — it has nothing to do with literal representation.”
p—News Briefs—
from staff and wire reports
Accounting fraternity
^cognized as 'superior chapter'
[ The Texas A&M University
ctla pter of the national account-
ln 9 fraternity, Beta Alpha Psi, has
^rned "superior chapter"
Cognition for the seventh con-
Se cutive year.
The members of Texas A&M's
e lta lota chapter completed
0re than 1,800 hours of service
u hng the past academic year.
I 'his was a major factor in earn-
9 recognition as a superior chap-
® r , noted a local spokesperson for
the fraternity.
Students donated their time to
0re than a dozen organizations
Cr °ssthe Brazos Valley, providing
services to elementary schools and
a nursing home, for example.
In addition, chapter members
offered support to the Lowry Mays
College and Graduate School of
Business through tutoring and
grading practice problems.
The national fraternity is com
posed of upper-level accounting
students with a 3.0 or better
grade-point ratio. Members re
main active by earning points
through participation in service
activities, professional meetings
and committee.
The A&M chapter was char
tered in 1974.
Austin ISD spends $1.2 M for , 98- , 99 school
year to increase number of bilingual teachers
AUSTIN (AP) — In an effort to attract more
bilingual teachers, trustees of the Austin In
dependent School District have voted to
spend $1.2 million in the 1998-99 school year
to pay certified bilingual and special educa
tion teachers $1,000 annual stipends.
Some 12,000 students, about 16 percent of
AISD's enrollment, sought help last year
from the district's bilingual program, which
offers instruction in four languages through
high school.
Spanish-speaking students make up
about 93 percent of students in the program.
Most other students speak Korean, Chinese
or Vietnamese.
But educators say support for the pro
gram sometimes falls short. And like other
districts, Austin has fewer certified bilingual
education teachers than it needs.
Such shortcomings make learning English
more difficult, teachers said. They want de
ficiencies addressed soon, because state offi
cials want districts to use state achievement
tests to determine whether a student should
be promoted.
Kocurek Elementary teacher Rita Haeck-
er said students in Austin's bilingual pro
gram could succeed on the same level as
their English-speaking peers if they got
Spanish editions of the same textbooks and
materials.
"We do need the tools and we need the
same quality of tools as the English-speak
ing students get," Haecker, president-elect
of the Austin Area Association for Bilingual
Education, said.
Della May Moore, director of the district's
bilingual education department, said Austin
hires about 500 teachers each year.
It hired 80 bilingual teachers in the 1996-
97 school year, 69 for 1997-98 and another 28
by the end of May.
Yet the district still was understaffed by
62 certified bilingual teachers at the end of
last school year.
"We recruit all year long," Moore said.
"Bilingual teachers in particular are in
high demand. And we're up against some
big, big, big competition."
Other districts, such as Dallas, Fort
Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Manor,
offer incentives to recruit and retain certi
fied bilingual teachers.
Austin already offers those teachers
one-time $1,500 signing bonuses.
The district also wants to offer $1,500 to
entice certified teachers who are working
elsewhere in the district back into the
classrooms where they are needed.
The 1998-99 budget proposal also in
cludes $150,348 for two additional bilin
gual coordinators.