The Reporter, October 1982

The Reporter is a publication produced by Western Carolina University featuring news, events, and campus community updates for faculty and staff. The publication began in August of 1970 and continues digitally today. Click on the link in the “Related Materials” field to access recent issues.The A Weekly Newsletter for the Faculty and Staff of Western Carolina University Cullowhee, North Carolina October 19 1982 COOPERATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAM RECEIVES DEMONSTRATION GRANT Western's Cooperative Education Program has received a $352,718 demonstration grant from the U.S. Department of Education and been recommended for an additional $135,861 in 1984-85. Western was one of only ten colleges and universities in the nation to receive demon­stration grants and will have the only com­prehensive co-op program in North Carolina. The grants will quadruple the size of the existing co-op program at WCU. Chancellor Robinson calls the new program "one of the most significant forward steps at Western Carolina, and in our state, for the benefit of students and the advancement of higher education and employment oppor­tunities ." Co-op students, Dr. Robert E. Stoltz said, get "a foot in the door" when it comes to seeking and getting jobs. The new program, he said, should contribute to making WCU graduates more attractive to business and industry. Co-op students, Stoltz noted, "tend to get higher entering salaries." The cooperative education program enables students to alternate semesters of full-time employment in a career-related field with semesters of academic study. Last year, WCU co-op students averaged monthly earnings of $850 with such com­panies and agencies as NASA, Burroughs Wellcome, IBM, Ingersoll Rand, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the CIA. Western's co-op program is in its fifth year. "Our goal is to reach 500 students within the next two years and 750 students by the end of the third year," Susie R. Ray, program director since 1978, said. Students must have sophomore standing and a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 to enter the undergraduate program. One objective of the expansion program is to extend co-op training/study programs to graduate students in all major areas of study. Students from all five undergraduate schools — Arts and Sciences, Business, Edu­cation and Psychology, Nursing and Health Sciences, and Technology and Applied Sci­ence — have participated since 1979-80. Thirty-two different academic program areas are represented this year and students from at least 40 different majors have had co-op assignments. Western officials said they consider expan­sion of the program vital for four major reasons: —It provides a unique opportunity for rela­tively inexperienced students to acquire new knowledge and develop skills in varied job settings. —It strengthens the university's ability to attract and retain quality students. —It strengthens the university's much-needed financial assistance to students who could not otherwise afford a college educa­tion. —It gives WCU students credibility in the job market. Employers know what the stu­dents are capable of doing. The cost effectiveness of the program in terms of student financial assistance was 2 emphasized by Mrs. Ray. Between 1977 and 1982, WCU received a total of $159,540 in federal funds for co-op education. Through 1980-81 (latest figures available), co-op students earned about $700,000, or about four times the amount invested by the fed­eral government for administration of the program. She pointed out that in 1980-81, $15 mil­lion was appropriated for co-op education and the students who received work assign­ments generated $44 million in tax money. The cooperative education demonstration grants funded this year are designed to ex­pand co-op programs to include nearly all academic departments or disciplines and reach a significant number of an institu­tion's students. The co-op staff at WCU will be expanded from three to seven members, with a coopera­tive education specialist assigned to work in job development with each of the five undergraduate schools. Other comprehensive co-op grants under this year's $14.4 million program went to East­ern Kentucky University, Holyoke (Mass.) Community College, Wilberforce (Ohio) Uni­versity, Trenton (N.J.) State College, Temple University, Montclair (N.J.) State College, Medgar Evers College of City Uni­versity of New York, Arizona Western Col­lege, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. PASSING RATES FOR NURSES IMPROVE Passing rates for Western's nursing gradu­ates jumped significantly in July, rising by 14 percentage points over the same pe­riod in 1981. The North Carolina Board of Nursing Tuesday notified the WCU School of Nursing and Health Sciences that 47 of 50 graduates tak­ing the state exam in July passed, a 93 per­cent success rate. In July 1981, the passing rate for WCU nursing graduates was 79.1 percent. Dr. Thomas F. Connelly, Jr., dean of the school, said much of the improvement in WCU nursing scores is attributable to changes in the state exam and to the help WCU nur­sing students receive through training af­filiations with regional clinical agencies. The program has clinical affiliations with hospitals, health departments, nursing homes, home health agencies, and mental health units in Buncombe, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain, Clay, Cherokee, and Graham counties. The agencies, he said, "have made significant contributions." Western also has tried to make its program more sensitive to the individual needs of student nurses and advise them, aca­demically, according to those needs, he said. No major changes have been made in the WCU nursing curriculum since last year, and both Connelly and Dr. Kay Hart, head of the department of nursing, said the improvement in scores was more a reflection of changes in the exam. They said the changes more accurately test the true nursing ability of nursing graduates. Connelly said the nursing exam in North Carolina, given in February and July each year, for too many years was viewed by the public as a measure of the quality of the instructional programs "which it was not intended to be." In its present form, he said, "the exam is a better test of the entry level qualifications of the beginning nurse, which is what it ought to be." Based on the July exam results for WCU and other University of North Carolina system nursing programs, Connelly said, "it is obvious to me that the quality of nursing education at WCU is as good as it is anywhere in North Carolina. The results of the exam should be the final proof that we are in the same league with Chapel Hill and the larger institutions in the state with nursing programs, despite a substantial difference in the level of funding. Hart said, "we put a lot of emphasis on teaching students how to take care of pa­tients, and the new exam does a better job than the old one did of measuring that ability." Passing rates for other UNC system pro­grams, according to wire reports, were: East Carolina, 77 of 82, 94 percent; Chapel Hill, 108 of 113, 96 percent; UNC-Charlotte, 88 of 92, 96 percent; UNC-Greensboro, 80 of 83, 96 percent; N.C. Central, 11 of 12, 92 percent; Winston-Salem, 6 of 6, 100 percent; and N.C. A&T State, 8 of 12, 67 percent. 3 NOMAD MATERIAL CHOSEN FOR ANTHOLOGY A drawing, a poem, and a photograph from Nomad '82, WCU1s art and literary maga­zine, have been selected by the Student Editors Association to be published in an anthology of college magazines. The three works selected to appear in this year's Fountain of Youth are a drawing by Diane Withrow, a poem entitled "Corporate Policy Memo #14: Lunch Break" by William Paulk, and a black and white photograph by Mark Clark. Withrow is a studio art graduate student from Ellenboro. She received her bachelor of fine arts degree in painting and drawing from Western in 1974. Paulk is an associate professor of English at Western. A native of Georgia, he has had plays, short stories, poetry, and non-fictional articles published. Clark of Winston-Salem is a senior art ma­jor concentrating in photography. He has exhibited his work at the Museum of Art in Greenville, S.C., and won the judge's award for photography in the 1981 WCU student art show. The 1982 edition of the Nomad was edited by Jeff Ryan, a senior geology major from Raleigh. Published last spring, it includ­ed 37 works of art and literature by stu­dents and other area artists and writers. The 1983 edition, scheduled to be published next March, will be edited by Monica Henson, an English and French major from Hayesville who served as literary editor for the 1982 edition. The deadline for sub­mitting works for the upcoming Nomad will be in February. LITTLE THEATRE PREMIERES FACULTY PLAY Little Theo, a historical comedy written by a Western Carolina University professor, will premiere Oct. 7-12 at the Little Theatre. The play, written by Dr. Constance Head, a professor of history and religion, is a comical reenactment of Byzantine history that revolves around Emperor Theodosius II and his search for a suitable wife. The play is set to music, some of which Dr. Head composed, and tempered with 20th cen­tury overtones. "It is not a history les­son," Dr. Head said. "It's designed to be enjoyed and taken in good fun. If one learns a little history, that's all the better." The cast includes Tracey L. Davies as Pulcheria; Howard Allraan as Theodosius; John Kisiah; Betsy Bisson; Felix Batton; Chris Eicher; James Smith; James Baker; Gray Smith; Carla Higdon; Beth Stillion; Linda Strahan; Tamra McClain; Cheryl Suffet; Sharon Davis; and David Lee. Little Theo is directed by Dr. Kathleen A. Sandquist with music directed by Dr. Temple Smith. Assistant director and stage manager is June Cagle. Scene design is by Christopher Zink, lighting design is by Richard S. Beam, and costume design is by James B. Wood. The production will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Little Theatre. There will be an afternoon matinee at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 10, with no evening performance. The cost for tickets is $3 for adults, $2 for students and senior citizens, and $1 for children. All seats are reserved. For ticket reservations, call ext. 7365. ANNOUNCEMENTS DAVID MCLINTOCK, A STAUNCH OPPONENT OF NUCLEAR ARMS, will speak at Western at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4. McLintock's address on "Nuclear Disarmament" will be held in the auditorium of the Natural Sciences Building as part of WCU's University Forum for Contemporary Issues. AUDITIONS FOR BURIED CHILD, a drama by Sam Shepard, will be held at 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 4-5, in Hoey Auditorium. The cast requires five males and two fe­males. Scripts are available in Room 122 Hoey. Buried Child depicts the disinte­gration of the American family. It will be presented Nov. 15-20 at the Little Theatre. THE INTENSIVE LANGUAGE PROGRAM was host to four faculty members from the Foreign Lan­guage Department at Valdosta State College in Georgia Aug. 23-27. After observing the workshop, classes, and drill sessions of the program, the visitors decided to recom­mend the establishment of a similar Inten­sive Language Program at Valdosta State. The visiting faculty members were 4 professors Dennis Hale (head), C. Lee Bradley, Moses Hardin, and J. Grady Lacy. SEVERAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS from the Uni­versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will meet with pre-health professional stu­dents at Western on Wednesday, Oct. 6. The program, sponsored by WCU's Pre-Health Pro­fessional Student Association, will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 327 of the Natural Sci­ences Building. Evelyn McCarthy, director of the Summer Medical Education Development Program at the UNC-CH School of Medicine, will discuss her program, which is designed to prepare students for medical and dental school. Richard Crow, an administrator for the School of Public Health at UNC-CH, will out­line educational opportunities available at his school, and Dr. Harold Heyraann, a facul­ty member in the School of Dentistry at UNC-CH, will discuss the dental program. Two UNC students, one in medical school and one in dental school, also will be there to talk about their own educational experi­ences . The program is open to all interested persons. There is no charge for admission. For more information, call Dr. Paul Wright in the Department of Biology, ext. 7244. NAMES IN THE NEWS THEDA PERDUE (History) conducted a course for the National Wildlife Federation on Cherokee Culture and History at the Blue Ridge Assembly June 28-30. The Jackson County American Cancer Society presented TYREE H. RISER (Admissions), ALEX LESUEUR (Music), and GERALD SCHWARTZ (His­tory) with certificate of achievement awards at their awards supper on August 17. ROBERT DALLEY (Industrial Education & Tech­nology) appeared on the Fanny Reefer Show, CJOR Radio Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia. On the half-hour talk show Dalley discussed his book, Are You Burning Money? A Handbook of Energy Savings De­vices , and what energy devices would be effective in British Columbia. AUSTIN SPENCER (head) and MAX SCHREIBER (Economics and Fincance) presented a brief­ing on the national and local economy to the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce in Hickory, Aug. 22. ALLEN M. MOORE (Biology) presented a paper (co-authored with Rick Wall, a graduate stu­dent), entitled "The Effect of Temperature and Ambient Vapor Pressure on the Drying Rate of Hardwood Leaf Litter" at the 1982 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. JAMES R. NICHOLL (English) was an invited speaker at the Second Annual Conference of the Microcomputers Users Group/University System of Georgia at Georgia Southern Col­lege in Statesboro, Sept. 9-11. His topic was "College English Teaching and the Micro­electronics Revolution: The Next Twenty Years." JAMES W. WALLACE (Biology) attended the an­nual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. He represented the Southeastern Section of the Botanical So­ciety of America during the National Council Meeting. STEVE OWENS (Management) will present a pa­per "Project Management and Behavioral Research Revisited" as part of the techni­cal program of the 1982 Project Management National Symposium to be held at Toronto, Canada, October 4-6. The Project Management Institute encourages industrial and acade­mic research related to the management of project systems in diverse industries throughout the world. A slide-sound presentation, "Different From You and Like You, Too," written by JANE SCHULZ (Education) and produced by the Media Center, has been published by Lawren Productions, Inc., of Mendocino, Calif. The presentation is designed to explain handicaps to children and to encourage their questions and discussion. Although it was intended for young children, the pre­sentation has been used with students, teachers, and parents. ROGER BISSON (Modern Foreign Languages) re­cently directed a special six-week inten­sive French program for the Committee for International Medical Exchange. The pro­gram was designed for 30 Americans going to Lille, France, to begin their medical stud­ies at the Faculte Libre de Medecine. Fol­lowing the program in Cullowhee, Bisson ac­companied the group to Europe to introduce them to France, the city of Lille, and the school, and to coordinate their initial activities with the dean and the faculty. The A Weekly Newsletter for the Faculty and Staff of Western Carolina University Cullowhee, North Carolina October 8, 1982 HENDON AND CLARKE MEET AT FORUM The Democratic and Republican candidates for the 11th Congressional District seat will meet head-to-head here Tuesday, Oct. 12, in the University Forum series. Incumbent Congressman Bill Hendon R-NC and Democratic challenger James McClure Clarke each will speak at the 8:30 p.m. meeting in Hoey Auditorium. The University Forum for Contemporary Is­sues at WCU was begun in 1977. It provides a platform for discussion of matters of cur­rent interest and importance among schol­ars, students, and community members. Under arrangements for the meeting, Hendon and Clarke each will deliver a 20 to 25 min­ute speech and each will have 30 minutes to answer questions from the audience. The meeting between the two candidates was arranged by Dr. Gordon McKinney, head of the department of history, and Dr. Theda Perdue, associate professor of history. The Hendon-Clarke forum, one of a series to be held during the fall semester, is open to the public. The forum also constitutes a course of study for enrolled students. WCU ESTABLISHES TIES WITH SWAZILAND Western Carolina University is one of 10 American universities selected by the U.S. Information Agency for an experimental pro­gram to establish cooperative ties between American and African universities. Western will assist the University of Swaziland to improve some of its degree pro­grams and to undertake a more direct role in the economic and social development of the African kingdom. The Swaziland institution will reciprocate by providing training in African studies for WCU students and faculty. A team of WCU officials will go to Swaziland in mid-October for a week of discussions and planning sessions. Dr. Robert Stoltz, Vice Chancellor for Aca­demic Affairs, will lead the WCU team and represent Western at ceremonies celebrating the establishment of the University of Swaziland as an independent institution on October 16. He will be joined there for the following week's discussions by Dr. Gurney Chambers, Dean of the School of Education and Psychology, and Dr. Jerry Cook, coordinator of vocational education in the School of Technology and Applied Science. Creation of university level programs in primary and vocational education will be disussed. Officials of the two universities also will explore the possibilities of a science-technology advisory group becoming involved in development policy and project assess­ment . The project is being funded by the Director­ate for Educational and Cultural Affairs of the USIA under the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, and will continue through August 1985. Both universities have said they in­tend to continue cooperative efforts after the experimental phase. Other American universities selected for the program are Brown, UCLA, Duke, Ball State, Iowa, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, SUNY-Stony Brook, and Penn. State. The project director is Ellerd Hulbert, Director of International Instructional Programs. BIDS OPENED FOR ACTIVITIES CENTER Apparent low bids totaling $3,342,500 were received Wednesday on the plumbing, mechani­cal, and electrical base contracts for the proposed new University Regional Activities Center, Bids on the general construction contract will be opened at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, in the auditorium of the Mountain Heritage Center. The apparent low bidder on the mechanical (heating, ventilation, and air condition­ing) contract at $1,850,000 was Bolton Corporation of Raleigh. Apparent low bidder for the plumbing con­tract was Industrial Maintenance Overflow Corp. of Hendersonville at $497,900. Eicon Corporation of Hendersonville was the appar­ent low bidder on the electrical contract at $994,600. The three contracts attracted an unusually large number of bidders. Eight other plumb­ing firms, seven other mechanical com­panies, and eight other electrical con­tractors submitted bids. Other plumbing bids were Community Heating and Plumbing of Greensboro, $519,00; Condor Mechanical Contractors of Burlington, $509,662; Freeman Mechanical Inc. of Greenville, S.C., $515,318; Lake Plumbing Inc. of Eustis, Fla. $527,000; Mecklenburg Plumbing Co. of Charlotte, $520,000; Moser Inc. of Asheville, $563,100; Bolton Corp. of Raleigh, $687,000. Other mechanical bids were Commmunity Heating and Plumbing, $1,909,000; Condor Mechanical Contractors, $1,999,000; Freeman Mechanical Inc., $1,945,950; G.M. Mechanical Corp. of Greenville, S. C., $1,869,000; Moser Inc., $1,890,000; T.R. Driscoll Sheet Metal Works of Lumberton, $2,019,000; and W.H. Sullivan Co. of Greensboro, $2,270,000. Other electrical bids were El de Co. Inc. of Greenville, S.C., $1,480,800; Hayes and Lunsford Electric Co. of Asheville, $1,324,390; M.B. Haynes Electric Corp. of Asheville, $1,296,000; Overcash Electric Co. of Mooresville, $1,013,686; Port City Electric Co. of Mooresville, $1,174,600; Starr Electric Co. of Greensboro, $1,074,000; Talley Electric Co. of Greensboro, $1,076,000; and Watson Electrical Construction Co. of Wilson;, $1,214,378. Bids also were taken on a number of alter­nates, including plumbing and electrical work for fire protection; plumbing, mechani­cal and electrical work for a possible out­door ice rink; and lighting of two parking lots and an access walk that will serve the proposed center. MUSIC MAJORS HAVE NEW OPTION A new option for music majors — a concen­tration in Music Industry — has been initiated by the department of music this fall to open a wider variety of music-related careers for WCU students. The concentration is a new alternative within the bachelor of arts degree program. One of the fastest growing fields in the business world, the music industry offers career opportunities in such varied areas as the retail music trade, publishing, busi­ness aspects of the recording industry, in­strument manufacturing and sales, arts management, radio and television music, and commercial music, according to Dr. Thomas Tyra, department head. The new program option will be "interdisci­plinary, M involving course work in the de­partments of music, English, speech and theatre arts (radio, television), and the School of Business. Flexibility will be the hallmark of the pro­gram, Tyra said, to enable a student to ex­plore various aspects of the music industry or to concentrate in a specific area. Tyra said the new opt