News – Page 15 – The Transcript

OWU Hires New Vice President for Enrollment and Communications

By Tiffany Moore, Online Editor

tpmoore@owuStef.edu

Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) looks to continue to bring in more prospective students from diverse backgrounds with its latest hiring.

Stephanie Niles is OWU’s new vice president for enrollment and communication. In this role, Niles will help determine enrollment goals, monitor financial aid policies, and work with the University Communication Team to determine the most effective messages and the communication tools needed to interact with prospective students, parents, college counselors, current students, their parents, alumni and the public.

“Ultimately, my goal in this first year is to learn as much as possible about OWU’s enrollment efforts and work to ensure that we have the necessary people, tools, and strategies in place to achieve our desired enrollment outcomes.” Niles said.

Senior Will Ashburn is president of the Student Executive Admissions Board. Although he does work with Niles daily, he says, “she is really supportive of the student workers. She understands the importance current students have in recruiting prospective students and supports us all accordingly.”

At the end of September, Niles will be the president of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC). This is an organization that currently holds around 16,000 in enrollment as well as counseling professional members around the world.

“My role as the NACAC president is a highly visible one, and hopefully will serve to bring more recognition of Ohio Wesleyan to college and independent counselors.” Niles said.

Originally, Niles wanted to be a Broadway star, and she majored in musical theatre at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York. After deciding that it wasn’t the right fit, she transferred to three different schools. At the University of Virginia (UVA), Niles found an interest in the admissions process. She received an internship in the admissions office at UVA, then later obtained her master’s degree in higher education/student affairs.

“I have a great job – I get to help students realize their college choice and introduce them to the pathways that will shape the rest of their lives.” Niles said.

Niles is passionate about her family and says that after her son finishes his senior year in Pennsylvania and goes off to college, her daughter, husband, two dogs, and cat will join her in Ohio.

“I love watching my kids discover their joys and passions and help them pursue their dreams.” Niles said.

The Passing of a President

By Jesse Sailer, Sports Editor

The death of Ohio Wesleyan University’s (OWU) 12th president provides an opportunity to look back and acknowledge the adversity faced and dedication required when it comes to shaping a place of higher education such as OWU.

Dr. Thomas E. Wenzlau died Aug. 1 at the age of 91 in Colorado Springs.

Wenzlau served for 15 years as Ohio Wesleyans 12th president from 1969-1984 and was honored in 1985 with an alumni award for his accomplishments as Ohio Wesleyan’s president.

His career at OWU was marked with change and progress and the oversight of campus growth.

Wenzlau saw the creation and completion of the $33.5-million XIVth Decade development program as well as the establishment of the need-based system of grants and funding that allowed students to pay for college and university.

He oversaw campus projects that furnished facilities such as the Chappelear Drama Center, the expansion and remodeling of Sanborn Hall and the construction of the Branch Rickey Arena.

When it came to academics, Wenzlau created the Reach for Quality Program, which aimed to reinforce the university’s tradition of educational quality and its commitment to intellectual achievement.

The Reach for Quality program, and its commitment to academic excellence, caused a disconnect between the Ohio Wesleyan student body and the president. The program resulted in reducing enrollment from its high of 2,500 to 1,800 by the fall of 1985.

Although the student body believed Wenzlau had taken the wrong risk in reducing enrollment, the university claimed its best freshman class in five years with a number of freshmen commitments from the top one-fifth of their high school class climbing 5 percent, and test scores increasing exponentially.

Some such as Edward B. Fiske, a New York Times reporter, seemed to side with the Ohio Wesleyan student body.

“The administration at Ohio Wesleyan says that it is looking for students interested in a wide range of nonacademic options,” Fiske wrote, “but it seems to have collected a student body interested mainly in a good time.”

In an interview with OWU Magazine, Wenzlau shared his thoughts on leading the University through the 1970s, calling the era “a decade of important causes, of students pursuing the rights and recognition of young adults, of the black minority and female majority seeking equality of opportunity and elimination of double standards, of concern for the environment, and of students focusing on careers and employment opportunities.”

Wenzlau was the choice of an Ohio Wesleyan trustee selection committee, assisted by faculty and student representatives after screening more than 150 candidates.

Commenting generally on the appointment of a new president for a small liberal arts school, and specifically on his move to Ohio Wesleyan, Wenzlau said,“A new man coming in is more likely to bring fresh ideas, although it does take some time for him to become acquainted with the functions of the institution,” to “learn what makes it tick.”

Prior to becoming Ohio Wesleyan’s 12th president, Wenzlau taught at Wesleyan University, Kenyon College, and Lawrence University, where he served for a year as associate dean of the faculty before returning to his alma mater.

A 1950 OWU alumnus, Wenzlau received his Bachelor of Arts degree with departmental honors in economics. He was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa and served as president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Wenzlau’s success extended into athletics as he lettered in track, basketball and football, captaining the team in 1949 as a pass receiver and kicker.

He set multiple records as kicker including highest punting average in a single game, as well as the season record and career record, earning him an induction into the Battling Bishop Hall of Fame in 1972.

Wenzlau is survived by his daughters, Kathy Wenzlau Comer and Janet Wenzlau Von Kraut and sons, David and Scott Wenzlau.

New York Arts Program Under New Director

By Spencer Pauley, Managing Editor

An Ohio Wesleyan managed program based in New York has new goals set in mind with its new interim director.

The New York Arts Program was led by director Linda Earle for 10 years. But on July 1 of this year, that changed. Earle moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be a part of the faculty at the Tyler School of Art, which is a part of Temple University.

Emilie Clark is serving as interim director of the New York Arts Program after Earle’s departure. Clark had been teaching at the program for 14 years before she was appointed director. Clark is excited to improve the program after working side by side with Earle.

“I learned a lot from Linda during her time here,” Clark said. “When Linda left, it gave opportunity for me to put things in place that could enhance the program.”

Clark and the rest of the members of the New York Arts Program have set two initiatives: regain continuity with alums and build relationships with faculty members of the Great Lakes College Association (GLCA), which Ohio Wesleyan and many other North Coast Athletic Conference schools are a part of. These initiatives were set after a growing interest in improving a sense of community. Clark said that students in the program rarely got to interact with all the other students outside of their specific program within the New York Arts Program.

To change this, the program has set up more events to create more opportunities for interaction. The initiatives have influenced what these programs are about. For instance, with the goal of regaining continuity with alums, the program has created events that have alums come in and showcase themselves and what they do with their careers.

As for the goal of building relationships within the GLCA, the program has set up events where faculty members that are a part of the GLCA come and give a lecture for program members.

The associate director of the New York Arts Program, Susan Childrey, said that despite a new director, the program’s main goal remains the same.

“The [New York Arts’] goal has always been helping artists come to New York and gain cultural experience,” Childrey said.

Clark can attest with what Childrey said. She believes that the core of this program is healthy and exciting. When students join the program, they change at a real rapid pace during their time there.

“People [gain] experience from living in an urban environment like New York City,” Clark said.

Five students from OWU are attending the New York Arts Program this semester and will be the first group under the direction of Clark.

OWU Hires its First Chief Diversity Officer

By Tiffany Moore, Online Editor

Tpmoore@owu.edu

Diversity has become a huge concern for most college campuses across the country. To maintain this diverse appeal, Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) welcomes its first chief diversity officer, Dr. Juan Armando Rojas Joo.

“Up till now many of us have placed much efforts. Unfortunately, many of these well-intentioned inclusivity efforts lacked a mechanism for its continuation,” Rojas said.

For the first time in 14 years, the Council for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy Statement has been revised. One of [Rojas’] many goals is to create a more comprehensive academic environment for all students, faculty and staff of under-represented groups. By finding ways to improve organizational culture and existing policies he believes that this goal will be met.

“A chief diversity officer plays a crucial role in defining the institutional diversity ideal, or political equality across academia,” Rojas said.

To help create a more inclusive culture on campus, Rojas says that he feels empowered to making greater academic and administrative contributions. Junior Paris Norman says, “It would be nice to have more available classes that are not Eurocentric.”

In Rojas’ previous position as associate dean for diversity and inclusion here at OWU, he was active in implementing ways to attracting a more diverse faculty and staff while also embedding diverse views, perspectives and experiences throughout the curriculum. Rojas says that he will continue to do this as chief diversity officer. Rojas recently attended the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education annual conference in Washington, DC and plans to continue his participation in regional and national seminars, workshops and conferences to bring updated and practical information to his role.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion matters require someone that can offer positive and active communication and for that reason, I have been trained in institutional inter-dialogue,” Rojas said.

His essay, Advocating for a Diversity and Inclusion Commitment at Liberal Arts Colleges: Essential Conversations in the Role of the Chief Diversity Officer will be published as a chapter in the upcoming book, Valley of Hope: Campus Diversity Triumphs. The book examines the experience educators have while working towards sustaining diversity, equity, inclusion and multiculturalism on college campuses.

Rojas grew up in Ciudad Juárez, México. After graduating high school his plan was to be an industrial engineer. He was accepted into The University of Texas in El Paso (UTEP) where he had to commute every morning by waiting one or two hours for the international crossing bridge. This took a toll on his academic success. He was not given the academic guidance he needed and in turn, he took a year off school and worked as a salesperson.

“One night, during dinner, I told my parents that I wanted to be a poet and complete a Ph.D. in Spanish,” Rojas said.

He went back to UTEP and finished his B.A. and M.A. in Spanish. He later obtained his Ph.D. in Spanish at the University of Arizona. He taught language and cultural studies to first generations students college students, Spanish heritage students, international students and nomad students.

“[I] realized that many challenges that I experienced as an undergrad student were similar or the same than those limiting my students’ possibilities to succeed,” Rojas said.

He wanted to help. In 2004 Rojas became a member of the OWU community. He says that he is passionate about helping create a culture where everyone can thrive and succeed. To do this, he says that he must help create an environment that is equitable and inclusive.

“This role offers me the possibility of helping in the creation of an inclusive culture, but we all need to work together, this is not a one-person role, and many students, faculty, staff and administrators are already putting efforts, but we need many more people engaging,” Rojas said.

In Remembrance of John McCain

By Kienan O’Doherty, Editor-In-Chief

As the world watched an emotion-filled service yesterday for late U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) remembers the passionate politician.

Sen. McCain came to OWU twice, both in 1997 and again in 2010, to serve as the keynote speaker for commencement addresses.

McCain died on Aug. 25 after deciding not to continue medical treatment for glioblastoma, a form of brain tumor.

McCain will be remembered for his 22 years in the U.S. Navy and 36 years in both the U.S. House and Senate. McCain also made headlines as he ran for president twice.

His memorial service included two former presidents, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, as speakers. Two men who ideally conflicted with McCain’s political views, but had an ultimate of respect for the Arizona Republican.

“So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse, can seem small and mean and petty, trafficking in bombast and insult, in phony controversies and manufactured outrage,” Obama said in an New York Times article. “It’s a politics that pretends to be brave, but in fact is born of fear. John called us to be bigger than that. He called us to be better than that.”

Many people watched as Obama and McCain went toe to toe in the 2008 presidential election, but it was McCain’s graciousness toward his opponent that wowed the country, defending Obama on multiple occasions.

That tone of graciousness and positivity carried over during his visits to OWU, encouraging students during the 2010 address to appreciate freedom and to make a positive difference in the world.

Attached below is the transcript of his 2010 commencement address, as OWU and the world remember Sen. John McCain:

U.S. Senator John McCain
May 9, 2010

“Thank you. It’s an honor to be here, to join in the chorus of congratulations to the Ohio Wesleyan Class of 2010, and to share your pride and celebration. This is a day to bask in praise. You’ve earned it. You have succeeded in a demanding course of instruction from a fine university. Life seems full of promise. Such is always the case when a passage of life is marked by significant accomplishment. Today, it must surely seem as if the world attends you.

But spare a moment for those who have truly attended you so well for so long, and whose pride in your accomplishments is even greater than your own – your parents. When the world was looking elsewhere, your parents’ attention was one of life’s certainties. And if tomorrow the world seems a little indifferent as it awaits new achievements from you, your families will still be your most unstinting source of encouragement, counsel and often—since the world can be a little stingy at first—financial support.

So, as I commend the Class of 2010, I offer equal praise to your parents for the sacrifices they made for you, for their confidence in you and their love. More than any other influence in your lives, they have helped make you the success you are today and might become tomorrow.

I thought I would show my gratitude for the privilege of addressing you by keeping my remarks brief. I suspect that some of you might have other plans for the day that you would prefer to commence sooner rather than later, and I will not to detain you too long.

It’s difficult for commencement speakers to avoid resorting to clichés on these occasions. Given the great number of commencement addresses that are delivered every year by men and women of greater distinction, insights and eloquence than I possess, originality is an elusive quality.

One cliché that works its way into hundreds of addresses before graduating classes from junior high schools to universities is the salutation: “leaders of tomorrow.” Like most clichés, it represents an obvious truth. You and your generational cohort will be responsible for the future course of our civilization, and much of the course of human events in your time. But will you, with all the confidence and vitality you possess today, assume the obligations of professional, community, national or world leaders?

Many of you have already given your hearts and talents to causes greater than yourselves. I know it is a point of pride for this university and for many of you individually that Ohio Wesleyan received a Presidential Award for Excellence in General Community Service, one of just three schools to be so recognized. It’s an impressive distinction, and an encouraging one for those who hope your generation’s contributions to the progress of humanity will exceed the contributions of previous generations, and your leadership of causes and communities, our country and the world will surpass the achievements and correct the deficiencies of my generation’s leadership.

When you reach my age, experience with failure and a humbler appreciation of your achievements is as difficult to avoid as hardened arteries. When you’re young, or when I was young, anyway, it seems natural to doubt time’s great haste. But eventually most people come to understand how brief a moment a life is. That discovery does not, however, have to fill you with dread. You learn you can fill the moment with purpose and experiences that will make your life greater than the sum of its days. You learn to acknowledge your failings and to recognize opportunities for redemption.

No one expects you at your age to know precisely how you will lead accomplished lives or give your talents to the worthy causes of your time. You have time before these choices and challenges confront you. It’s been my experience that they reveal themselves over time to everyone. They are seldom choices that arrive just once, are resolved at one time, and, thus, permanently fix the course of your life. Many of the most important choices you will face emerge slowly, sometimes obscurely. Often, they are choices you must make again and again.

Once in a great while a person is confronted with a choice, the implications of which are so profound that its resolution affects your life forever. But that happens rarely and to relatively few people. For most people, life is long enough and varied enough to overcome occasional mistakes and failures.

You might think that I’m now going to advise you not to be afraid to fail. I’m not. Be afraid. Speaking from considerable experience, failing stinks. Just don’t be undone by it. Failure is no more a permanent condition than is success. “Defeat is never fatal,” Winston Churchill observed. “Victory is never final. It’s courage that counts.”

For twenty years a woman of astonishing courage and grace, Ang San Suu Kyi, has voluntarily endured imprisonment, threats to her health and life, the loss of loved ones, and all manner of cruelty at the hands of tyrants who resist her every effort to liberate her country from the iniquity of their rule. And the millions of Burmese people who love her, and who lawfully elected her their leader, have risen time and again in peaceful opposition to the regime, and to claim their natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They have been imprisoned, tortured and murdered. When it isn’t looking the other way, the civilized world has often given them little more than rhetorical support, and the imposition of inadequate and porous sanctions against the regime that oppresses them.

When Ang San Suu Kyi’s husband was dying of cancer, the Burmese junta refused him permission to travel to Burma to bid his wife a last good-bye. Instead, they told Suu Kyi she could leave the country to visit him. But she knew that were she to leave, she would never be allowed back, and the inspiration she provides by sharing the struggle and suffering of her people would be lost to them. So she stayed under arrest, deprived of contact with her people and the world, and suffered her heartbreak alone.

But she and her people persist in their righteous cause. No defeat has undone them. No defeat ever will. The tyrants who try to silence and terrorize and destroy them will not outlive the moral courage that resists them. I have always believed, no matter how long it takes, how many setbacks are suffered, how resilient the forces of injustice, the righteous will prevail. I believe that for the people of Burma and Iran and Sudan and anywhere where darkness prevails for a time and inflicts its terrible miseries on the innocent, before the light of human conscience extinguishes it forever. We won’t all live to see it, but I cannot accept that the day won’t come eventually, when a blessed generation will see the triumph of good over evil in the last, dark corners of the world.

I have seen a lot of things in my life—a lot of things, like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Cold War that I doubted I would ever witness in my lifetime. Though I see a lot of gathering storms on our horizon, I remain optimistic about the promise of our world, and the day of reckoning that will eventually come for those who sought worldly glory by denying the inherent dignity of others. And much of that optimism is based on my faith in your generation’s character.

I have faith that you understand that assaults on the dignity of others are assaults on the dignity of all humanity. You will not look upon tyranny and injustice in faraway places as the inevitable tragedy of mankind’s fallen nature. You will see them as a call to action – a summons to devote your time and talents to a just cause that is greater than yourself, the cause of human rights and dignity. Make this your legacy, and 20 years from now, maybe longer, you will be able to know that you made history, and made our country and world better. Not perfect, but better.

I believe American leadership in opposition to human rights abuses is the truest expression of our national character. The United States, since its founding, has embraced a set of moral duties, among which, I believe, is the obligation to respect the God-given dignity of every human being, and to experience assaults on anyone’s dignity as an assault on our own conscience.

It is surely right to say, first and foremost, the United States has an obligation to set a moral example in the world, and we failed that duty when we used torture to interrogate captured terrorists. That moral failure has made it harder for us to encourage other nations to respect the dignity of their citizens or to rally world support for the cause of the oppressed. But it hasn’t relieved us of the responsibility.

No, we are not a perfect nation. We did not act on reports of the Holocaust. We ignored the slaughter in Rwanda until it was too late. We have not made enough of an effort to stop the atrocities in Sudan and Burma and elsewhere. For too long, we refused to respect the full civil rights and dignity of Americans whose skin color was a shade darker than others. We mistreated enemies in our custody. But with each failure, our conscience is stung, and we resolve to do better. Each time, we say, never again, and fall short of that vow again. But whatever our flaws, whatever dangers we face, however sharp our debates, we must remain a country with a conscience. And we must feel ashamed when we ignore its demands.

All Americans share in the obligation to stand with those who are denied the rights we too often take for granted here. Even if you are never elected to any office or never meet a foreign policy professional, a responsibility remains. If the defense of human rights abroad is a concern of the American people, it will remain the concern of our elected officials. And if it is a concern of our government, the world will take notice.

It is your responsibility, your good fortune, to be expected to do better than your predecessors have done to advance our ideals; to live in your own time the authentic character of a country that was founded not to preserve tribal or class distinctions, but to defend human dignity. I envy your opportunities, and I regret the occasions when I failed to make the most of mine.

Twenty years, ago, I watched on television as the Berlin Wall came down, and it called to mind a quote from William Faulkner. “I decline to accept the end of man,” Faulkner said in his Nobel lecture. “I believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.”

That faith has cost many lives, but liberated many more. It is the faith that tears down walls and builds bridges between peoples. It is the faith that made our nation the hope of mankind. And it is the faith we now rely on you to strengthen and advance. Take good care with it.

Not all of us will bear arms for our country. Few of us will ever rush into burning buildings to save the lives of strangers. Not many will devote their lives entirely to the well-being of others. But we do have an obligation to be worthy of our ideals, and the sacrifices made on their behalf. We have to love our freedom not just for the autonomy it guarantees us, but for the goodness it makes possible. We must love freedom for the right reasons, and on occasion our love will need courage to survive.

We are all afraid of something, whether it’s failure, or dispossession, or mortality, and the sacrifice of time that becomes so precious to us. But we should not let the sensation of fear convince us we are too weak to have courage. Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice. No one is born a coward. We were meant to love. And we were meant to have the courage for it.

Congratulations, again. Thank you for inviting me and for the privilege of addressing you, to whom history, and the dreams of mankind, will soon be entrusted.”

OWU Hires New Associate Dean for Student Success

By Maddie Matos, Arts and Entertainment Editor

mrmatos@owu.edu

With yet another new hiring on campus this fall, Ohio Wesleyan University aimed to continue the pattern of student success.

Doug Koyle will be taking over the role of associate dean for student success and will work with students to ensure that the university is helping them.

“In this role, I work closely with residential life, counseling, student conduct and the Student Health Center to support students as they work toward their academic and personal goals,” Koyle said.

Koyle has worked with students in the past, at Ohio State University (OSU) for over 30 years. Koyle held the role of assistant vice president for student life and that role helped him prepared for his new job at Ohio Wesleyan.

“In his final set of responsibilities, [Koyle] provided oversight for most of the same areas he is now overseeing at Ohio Wesleyan, so his experience was almost a perfect fit,” said Dwayne Todd, vice president for student engagement and success.

Koyle and his office plan to work on improving student life at Ohio Wesleyan and listen to the critiques made by students about the campus and college life. Koyle said he hopes that his work will help students throughout their academic careers.

“I will be working with students to make sure that they have the support and care that they need and that we help them connect with the great resources that are available to them,” Koyle said.

The university hopes that through his hire, Koyle will improve issues on campus that have been persisting through years.

“The university has made a significant commitment to provide enhanced support of student success, and Doug reflects that commitment and is instrumental in our ability to achieve this objective,” university president Rock Jones said. “Ultimately the university will benefit from higher retention and graduation rates and from higher levels of student satisfaction and success.”

Koyle has a well-respected reputation among his colleagues. As part of the American College Personnel Association, the Association for Student Conduct Administration and the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Koyle succeeded in his roles on college campuses, and left a lasting impression on students and staff.

“Doug’s reputation among his OSU colleagues was extremely strong with many people testifying to his competency, kindness, and commitment to his work,” Todd said.

OWU Hires New Quantitative Tutor

By Maddie Matos, Arts and Entertainment Editor

mrmatos@owu.edu

Student resources at Ohio Wesleyan recently expanded with the addition of a new quantitative skills tutor.

Katie Boyd was hired by the university as the new coordinator for the Quantitative Skills Center. Students go to the center for assistance in the subjects of math and science.

The center is located inside the center, which serves as a place for students to receive help for their classes, across multiple subjects.

Boyds experiences with college student from her previous jobs. Boyd worked at Ohio State University as a teacher’s assistant and currently works at Columbus State Community College as a math professor.

“I truly love working with college students and being a part of their educational experience as they formulate their dreams and complete their corresponding, supporting goals,” Boyd said.

Working with technology will be part of Boyd’s role on campus with the new addition of TutorMe.

“Katie also has extensive computer and technology training and proficiency in My Math Lab, Math Excel, ALEKS, LaunchPad, and Blackboard,” said James Stull, assistant dean of academic advising and director of the sagan academic resource center.

Boyd will also help with the hiring of new tutors for the university’s Math Peer Tutors program. The program hires students in math or science majors to tutor students in lower level courses in those fields.

Boyd will act as a public relations representative for the center, encouraging students to get help for their courses as well as the new online tutor assistant program.

Throughout her career, Boyd has received numerous accolades, including being nominated for distinguished teacher of the year. Boyd was nominated five times for the award during her time at Hilliard Darby High School, located in Hilliard, Ohio.

Interacting with students is a key component to the center and is a key reason for Boyd’s hiring.

“Katie has a great demeanor and will connect with students, Katie is also versed in current methods of instruction, so she will work effectively with students who have a wide range of skills and individual learning styles or preferences,” Stull said.

With the hire of Boyd, the university continues its commitment to student success on campus.

“Ultimately the university will benefit from higher retention and graduation rates and from higher levels of student satisfaction and success,” university President Rock Jones said.

Out With the Old and in with the New: First Thoughts

By Kit Weber, Photo Editor

The beginning of a new semester can be rough, but it can be even more rough with a new food service provider.

AVI Foodsystems joined the campus community in May and has brought more hours and no declining point system. Students at Ohio Wesleyan now have anytime dining, which means food at the Smith Hall cafeteria all day, any day and the Marketplace in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center is open from morning to evening.

But with change comes confusion.

Burnt coffee, pink meat, mislabeled food and more have left some students reconsidering their dining expectations.

Coffee is a staple of the college student diet. But Sunday morning left a friend saying one of the coffee choices was so watery that it looked like tea, while another friend said it was so burnt that no creamer could change its color.

Undercooked food has left some hanging too. My roommate had once cut into the chicken with a pink center and ultimately refused to eat it. When I scooped up some unusually hard rice, I had to stop too.

If you chose the smallest meal plan, there is no dining dollars unless you put money out-of-pocket on your card. This means no Merrick, T-store, or the Science Café without using personal money.

Even though anytime dining at Smith and the Marketplace are unlimited swipes, it does not always mean they are my first food choice.

This change is new and will naturally have some obstacles until things settle. I think some issues have easy solutions, such as simply adding more dining dollars to each meal plan, including the lowest. Even on the medium plan, I do not see myself having enough dining dollars to get me through the semester.

When it comes to the food, attention and communication would both help. Talk with students and figure out what dishes could be improved or added. Students wanted the T-Store to remain on the residential side of campus instead of moving to Hamilton-Williams, and it stuck.

Better communication between employees and students will improve the new system together and expectations can be achieved.

Tri Delta rides the buck of the bull for St. Judes

By Kienan O’Doherty, Editor-In-Chief

The block was hot for Delta Delta Delta’s (Tri Delta) latest philanthropy event.

The sisters of the OWU sorority hosted their second annual Deltas on the Block on Saturday, April 12. Among the amenities included Dan’s Deli, a mechanical bull, and an ice cream truck.

Students, faculty, and family members alike flooded Fraternity Hill to help Tri Delta support their longtime partner St. Jude. However, the best part is Tri Delta doesn’t keep a single cent of the proceeds raised, and none goes towards marketing.

“I thought it went really well, there was a great turnout and people seemed to have fun.” Tri Delta President Leah Crawford said.

The most popular activity was the mechanical bull riding. Students gathered around the inflatable structure and laughed as one by one people were thrown off the bull. Delta Tau Delta Fraternity member John Bonus said the bull riding was the best.

“My favorite part was watching our Delta Tau Delta President Francisco Mejia try to ride the bull and fell off.” Bonus said.

Extreme cold weather in Southeast China

By Dianyi Li, Special to the Transcript

With global warming increasing at a rapid pace, no one would believe a country went cold.

In January of 2016, there was an extreme cold wave which attacked Southeast China. From January 20th to 25th of 2016, the strong cold air pushed the Chinese snowline southwards to its southernmost position since 1951. The average temperature was 6 to 8 degrees (Celsius) below the normal temperature.

Dianyi Li’18 conducted her student research project on exploring the relationship between Arctic Oscillation (AO) and this cold air outbreak in Southeast China.

Arctic Oscillation is a counterclockwise wind around the arctic area and could be quantified with AO index. When in AO index in a positive phase, the pressure over polar area is lower than normal, and the jet stream is as stable as a wall to prevent cold air in the arctic are from moving southward. While the it is in a negative phase, Air pressure is higher than average over the Arctic and lower than average over the mid-latitudes and the jet stream around arctic is weak, allowing an easier southward penetration of
cold arctic air masses.

When talking about the reason why she tried to correlate the cold wave with AO, Li said: “At the beginning part of this research, I generated climate maps of the general situation and the studied
weather event period. By comparing these maps, an abnormal location and more extreme value of the high-pressure center and low-pressure center are overserved.” These two pressure centers are the Siberian High and Aleutian Low which are major influential factors of winter climate of east Asia.

“Since the AO index is a projection of the anomalous atmospheric pressure patter, and there were papers studied similar relationship between AO and temperature, I decided to adopt this method to my study on this event,” Li said.

She then chose four weather stations to collect temperature data and ran regression between temperature and the corresponding AO index.

“The four weather stations I chose located from north to south, and from costal to inland,” Li said. “Temperature plotting of these stations show similarities between the trends. And when I plotted the 2016, January temperature data with the AO index, I noticed that before the temperature came to the nadir, the AO also came to a negative phase since the beginning of that month and came to a nadir on the 16th”

However, the regression results did not show a significant relationship. She used the regional average data instead of data from single weather stations and rerun the regression. However, the results also did not show significant correlation.

“This might be because AO only affects the extreme abnormal weather event but in this research I included general situations into analysis.” Li said.

The further work of her research will focus on picking up the days with extremely abnormal low temperature and rerun the regression with corresponding AO.

As a student majoring in economics and geography, she expects to combine her majors into these research projects.

“This January cold-air outbreak not only brought cold weather to Southeast China but also cause a huge amount of economic loss because of freezing and snow hazards came up with the low temperature,” Li said. “Many people lost their home because of the cold hazard. Agriculture and fishery also got hurt
seriously.”

Li said that the investigation of the relationship between AO and extreme cold wave would help explain propagation of the migration of extreme cold air over this region. She expects the result will help to develop a more precise forecasting and prediction of the extreme cold winters in Eastern China.

“With the global trending of climate change, there is potential danger of the increasing intensity or frequency of extreme weather. Beside taking measures to mitigate climate change, we should also think of how to protect ourselves from those disasters.” Li said, “Once we could use AO to improve the prediction, I then want to take use of my economic background to help mitigate the social and economic vulnerability of the freezing and snow hazards.”
Li has conducted this research as an independent study under the direction of Dr.Rowley from the geology and geography department. She will also develop a senior thesis on this research to apply for graduating with geography departmental honor.