2008 Woodie Awards
It's a done deal - UTD finally has its fourth president, David E. Daniel. After 16 months of ups and downs, the dean at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) was unanimously voted UTD's next president by the UT System Board of Regents during its Feb.
As the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) readies itself to spearhead UTD's assault on Tier-1 status, new Associate Dean and Director of Development Marjie French will build the team to reach ECS's $100-million fundraising goal. A development specialist with experience raising funds for the University of Houston and UT Austin's "We're Texas" $1.
A bill that would lift undergraduate enrollment caps and ease restrictions on UTD's ability to compete with other area institutions' academic programs has been filed in the Texas Senate. Proposed Jan. 25 as S.B. 254 by Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), the bill would effectively lift undergraduate enrollment caps at UTD (Section 70.
New Geoscience Ph.D. offered Beginning next fall, UTD will offer a Ph.D. in geospatial information sciences (GIS). The program will combine data collection, mapmaking and spatial analysis. The degree will be offered as a joint academic program by the School of Social Sciences, the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.
Angie Abbott, a literary studies UTD grad, posted this flyer on campus selling pen caps, claiming "pen ran out of ink, no longer needed." She said she's sold a few pen caps, but added she still has more. "I have almost an unlimited supply, you might say," Abbot said.
Emory University Professor Deborah Lipstadt recounted her legal battle with historian David Irving to a full audience in the Conference Center auditorium Feb. 6. The Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Lipstadt's legal troubles began when she labeled Irving a "Holocaust denier" in her 1993 book "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory.
The United States' use of torture in recent years has led many in the international community to consider the United States a "rogue nation," an Amnesty International (AI) U.S.A. official told a UTD crowd Feb. 8. Chip Pitts, AI U.S.A. chairman of the board, spoke to approximately 40 UTD students, faculty and staff in the Texas Instruments Auditorium of the Engineering Building on the increase in human rights violations, especially in the form of interrogation torture, at the hands of U.
Starting this June, the Comet Card could be worth a lot more than free entry into campus events - that is, if the student checking account has any money left in it. Wells Fargo and UTD have announced a new program to transform UTD identification cards into debit cards linked with Wells Fargo checking accounts.
Students can look forward to burning the midnight oil with a 24-hour operating schedule during midterms. Dean of Libraries Larry Sall said due to many student requests, the library will stay open continuously from Feb. 28-March 3 to provide students with extra study time for mid-semester exams.
In January, UTD entered a strategic alliance with the Dallas Museum of Natural History (DMNH), which will allow the two institutions to collaborate on research, build exhibits and exchange information. Initially, the process began as an attempt to get UTD students involved with science and math education outside the classroom.
While some UTD students and professors express their emotions of hope in the aftermath of the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections, others see the elections as no reason to rejoice. Professor of Arts & Humanities Stephen Rabe said the election is only a step toward democracy.
Although LL Cool J has yet to reschedule a date to perform on campus, it hasn't stopped the Student Union and Activities Advisory Board (SUAAB) from organizing more events. Comedy Central humorist Lewis Black was voted the student favorite from a pool of seven artists for this semester's comedy night.
Police Blotter report
UTD police have charged a 21-year-old Dallas man with the Oct. 20 aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery in a Founders Building lab after he confessed to police Feb. 4. Kaytron Barnard Banks, 10951 Stone Canyon Road, was initially arrested Jan. 25 by UTD police shortly after stealing a purse from a female student in a third-floor women's restroom in Jonsson Building.