1C1
July 10, 2001
ume 107 ~ Issue 168
6 pages
ws in Brief
INGELESfAP-*, _
Try Levan, whofi P il S
ik Menendezs BN looks for fans
UL ESPN is seeking cast mem-
actor Kobe:; ^ ; f or j ts program "Sidelines,"
self-inflicted. 3-week documentary series
the head, an jt will follow the 2001 Texas
unday. H football season through
54, reportedly I eyes of fans.
Militating ilb A series of open casting calls
npedoverthe H pe held throughout this
nis car Saturd;v ? n, h-
fie former 1 Casting director Francis
er was parkedatB tyre says the series wi ”
cterv F Biere on October 5th.
t<insv confirm S c,ntyre says the shoW wil1
lopsy nn , ^ the development of its
findings that-Brnembers as a series of
c ^ ulclde >, “Bier plots against the back-
t Coroners! 0 p 0 f the Aggie football
<1- ason.
vas acocoun| aduation dates
z, who was senttM
hour paroletr#es announced
Jier Lyle for The Office of Admissions
=nts. Levin rtB Recorcls has announced
ed Blake, star J ™ mer 2001 graduation
TV series, rP e,S-
priday, August 10, 7:30 p.m.
Colleges of:
• Agriculture
• Architecture
• Business
J George Bush School of
brother-in- .overnment and Public Ser-
r, Ron Dorfc ice
senes, -
•der is unsolved
also the lead^
in a case stem
;ed corruptioc:
e department
ered fromGacj
i inheritederd
disorder thataj
bleed andbrnkl
s in constants
wife, Debbie
day morninC
e could tier
> at work, C'
•Veterinary Medicine
Saturday, August 11,9a.m.
Colleges of:
• Engineering
• Education
• Geosciences
• Liberal Arts
• Medicine
• Science
State
INSIDE
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•Volume
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Jackson, City
High reviewed
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lion technology
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<ittalion News Radio:
57 p.m. KAMI! 90.9
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the house arres ted for
ivife becanv.«f. . , ,
police. n„ n J ur 'ng daughter
ut 2 p.m. atLcs ! | DALLAS (AP) — A 20-year-
tnal Cemeten Id mother was jailed Monday
.ait Richard Grfhile her infant daughter re-
lav that invest* nec l hospitalized in Fort
“■somee*n»' orth J with a fractured skull,
)n ScnJay, i andle 9 s - — .
l B a ura Ann Ramirez of
MatthewMcl* ssa was charged with
d to e la bora k M n y j n j ur y to a child. Offi-
nvestigatingrt|J S WO uld be hand-
occurred on: jbver to Odessa authorities
tei this week.
Bdessa police said a war-
H was issued Sunday after
r imirez acknowledged to
|jjt Worth police that she in-
zed from Poked her 2-month-old
lughter, Miranda. "She's be-
l die Navasot. g evas j ve anc j not rea | c | ear
-edar C.reek ) 0u t how the injury oc-
irled," said Odessa police
of-town season apt. D.C. Orren.
who do nonv The child's grandmother,
distances, the^o lives in Arlington, noticed
it anA tn at the girl was running a
somerae Jf durin 9 a weekend visit by
ij) imirez, her husband and their
E h ° tels rt /o children,
n policy. j| ie grandmother took the
on requiresgu i |j| c j t 0 Arlington Memorial
weeks prior to 3spjtal, where doctors said
and the Ramaiey found numerous frac-
ur cancellation red bones in various stages of
those rooms c !a l in 9-
-minute ticket The child was transferred to
for a room. TChUdren's Medical C ® n ’
aid the best4"£" t Worth where police
id >he was in intensive care in
.build another ab|e condjtjon
station,
bey will builds
re,” Otholdv
if they will, b»i|
id it needs to
ople.”
i Super 8 emp
lived e saidth
:ekends, such
ie football
ill hotels and
mile radius
will ask why
hotels or nioi
Schwede said
roblem is tbs
.You onlyl
me weeken
.ther six to
vww.thebatt.com
CIMS director gears programs
toward getting graduates jobs
Elizabeth Raines
The Battalion
Dr. George Fowler became the direc
tor of the Texas A&M Center of Man
agement Information Systems (CIMS)
last January. Ever since, it has been his
full-time job to ensure that A&M grad
uates stay busy.
He is in the process of developing
two new programs, CMIS Scholars and
a mock interview program, both de
signed to produce students who will be
snatched up by businesses as soon as
they graduate.
“As director, my goal has been to re
orient CMIS to project focus,” Fowler
said. “CMIS is an academic center. We
concentrate on determining what kind
of employees the industry wants and on
forming partnerships with leading com
panies to help produce the kind of stu
dents that fulfill those expectations.”
The CMIS is an organization with
in the Information and Operations
Management Department that serves
We ore one of the best
MIS departments in the
country, and the
companies come to us
because they want to
meet our students.”
Dr. George Fowler
CIMS director
as a liaison between the students, fac
ulty and MIS industry. It is made up of
a student advisory board, a faculty ad
visory board and a corporate advisory
board.
“There has to be a partnership with
the industry,” Fowler said. “We are one
of the best MIS departments in the
country, and the companies come to us
because they want to meet our stu
dents.”
Fowler said the CMIS Scholars Pro
gram, which will begin in the fall, will
be sponsored by five companies from
the corporate advisory board and will
give five chosen MIS students the op
portunity for an internship and a
$2,000 scholarship.
The mock interview program, also
scheduled to begin this fall, has compa
nies from the corporate advisory board
send representatives to A&M to stage
simulated job interviews with MIS stu
dents. The representatives then will pro
vide them with critiques and pointers for
improved performances.
Along with these two new activities,
Fowler said he will keep an existing pro
gram designed to have a company pres
ent students with a problem that MIS
majors would likely come in contact with
in a potential job. The students then
have a week to come up with a presenta
tion of their grasp on the problem and a
proposed solution.
“It allows students who don’t have the
best grades to shine through,” Fowler
said. “It gives them an opportunity to be
seen by corporate representatives.”
Fowler said his life in academia has al
ways been about his students.
“I am proud of our students,” Fowler
said. “And I like to think that CMIS con
tributes to making them good students
for good companies to hire.”
Preparations
■^^bbhbhbb
■
T\' a ‘ : v: , :• a/
,,f: 111 1
ANDY HANCOCK/TH£ Battalion
Jeff Harper lays mortar at the new review stands being erected on O.R. Simpson
Drill Field Monday afternoon.
A&M faculty
checking for
book errors
Stuart Hutson
The Battalion
enhance our
more accurately
If students in Colorado
think it is hot in Texas, they
may believe that because the
earth’s equator runs through
Austin. This was one mistake
found in a recent review of
Colorado textbooks.
To ensure that similar mis
takes do not appear in Texas
textbooks, the Texas Education
«
We're excited to
be involved in
ensuring the
quality of public
textbooks.”
— Timothy Scott
program director
Agency (TEA) has hired Texas
A&M to check proposed sci
ence textbooks for accuracy.
“Because the science text
books will be in the classroom
for the next six to eight years,
it is to our benefit that we so
licit the help of Texas A&M
faculty to assist us with this
important initiative,” said Eu
gene Rios, TEA’s director of
development for textbook ad
ministration. “We believe in
cluding University faculty
along with public school
teachers will
ability to
document factual errors and
ultimately improve our
process.”
The TEA will pay the Uni
versity $80,000 to review
more than 60 books and oth-
"er learning aids such as CD-
ROM$ for grades 6 through
college.
The process began in June
and is scheduled for comple
tion by the end of August.
“We’re excited to be in
volved in ensuring the quality
of public textbooks,” said
Timothy Scott, the director of
the program at A&M and an
associate dean for the College
of Science. “When we first
took on the program, I was
afraid that we wouldn’t be
able to get enough people to
help out. Now, we are turning
people away.”
One of those who was eager
to participate was physics pro
fessor Lewis Ford, who is re
viewing several college-caliber
physics books.
“This is extraordinarily im
portant work because text
books used in public schools
have to be the highest quali
ty,” he said. “If they aren’t, we
are not just shortchanging the
schools, we are shortchanging
See Books on Page 2.
Burned University of Texas student
will return to school for Fall 2002
AUSTIN (AP) — His small hame is
wrapped in white bandages that cover
second- and third-degree burns. He
struggles to walk and talk, his words com
ing sohly, with a heavy Malaysian accent.
Yet, two months after Zawardy Ab-
Latiff nearly died in a fire at his Univer
sity of Texas dorm, his message is large
and loud: “I can be strong.”
Ab-Latiff suffered burns over 45 per
cent of his body in the May 1 fire at Uni
versity Towers, a high-rise luxury private
residence hall near UT’s Austin campus.
Surround.ed by hiends and family in his
Austin apartment Monday, the sopho
more recalled nightmares of the fire in his
Brooke Army Medical Center hospital
bed, where he once thought he would die.
Doctors agreed; they gave him only a
5 percent chance of survival.
Today, though, Ab-Latiff “has the po
tential to be as functional as he was pri
or to his injuries,” wrote Dr. Marjorie
Beebe in a recent medical report. “Mr.
Ab-Latiff has an excellent attitude and is
very motivated and has been a delight to
have as a patient.”
/ was surprised they
blamed my roommate
for that.”
— Zawardy Ab-Latiff
UT sophomore
Ab-LatifPs roommate, Anoor Hajee,
died in the blaze, which investigators say
he intentionally started.
“I was surprised they blamed my
roommate for that,” said Ab-Latiff, who
recalls only smoke and heat before pass
ing out near his apartment door.
Both students’ families have hired in
dependent investigators.
“Right now, all we know is that there
was a fire,” said James Furman, Ab-Lat-
iff’s attorney. “There is no direct evi
dence that (Hajee) actually set the fire. If
I were to have to go to court to try to
prove it, I couldn’t prove it based on that
type of speculation.”
Ab-Latiff said he is not angry and has
no time for blame.
He is focusing on recovery. It will be
six months before he can go outside or
remove his bandages. Doctors have told
him he will have to wear sun block the
rest of his life.
Until then, he must complete hours
of occupational and physical therapy
every day to regain strength and motion
in his limbs. His wounds must be
cleaned, medicated and dressed twice
daily. Future operations will be needed.
“It’s going to be hard,” Ab-Latiff said.
Next week, Ab-Latiff plans to return
home to Malaysia with his mother, Nik
Semah, who came from Trengganu to
care for her son. He wants to spend
time with his seven brothers and sisters
and his father, who is sick with diabetes.
Ab-Latiff said he plans to return to
UT in the fall of 2002 and finish his pe
troleum engineering degree.
“I won’t give up,” he said. “I hope I
will get the normal life back.”
Ab-Latiff said he has learned the val
ue of friendship and family.
He’s also taught a few lessons.
“Zawardy is very strong,” said Azlan
Ali, a friend and fellow student from
Malaysia who has spent his summer
break helping to care for Ab-Latiff. “We
treat our friends like our brothers.”
Ali is spearheading a fund-raising
campaign to help Ab-Latiff pay for
growing medical bills that so far total
in the hundreds of thousands of dol
lars. The costs have surpassed his in
surance limit.