2008 Woodie Awards
Editorials
ByLast update: 5/17/06 at 8:20 AM CST
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Search for vice president critical
After two searches that yielded no candidates and an impending retirement by Executive Vice President Thomas Hoy, this college may finally get a new vice president.
After months of searching, the selection committee has culled five finalists from a pool of 22.
Kudos goes to the committee headed by Ruben Flores, dean of evening, weekend and distance education, for the open process in the search for a vice president, particularly knowing two previous searches failed.
Dr. Vivian Lilly, dean of health and human services at North Harris College in Houston, the first of five candidates visited on Tuesday and was interviewed at this campus.
Thursday welcomed Dr. Charles Abasa-Nyarko, vice president of academic services of Gloucester County College in Sewell, N.J. Three others will visit next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
We hope the committee has found a candidate in this pool who will meet with President Robert Zeigler's approval as an executive vice president.
With Hoy's departure only a few months away and this college's involvement in a capital improvements project, stable leadership from a new executive vice president is a necessity.
Power failure, communication failure
Students, faculty, and staff got an unexpected gift Monday from this college: an extra day of spring break.
Because of a malfunction in an electrical transformer Sunday, power was lost in Moody Learning and Fletcher Administration centers. The outage also affected telephone and Internet equipment.
The dissemination of this information to the SAC community was inconsistent at best.
By late Sunday evening, the decision was made to cancel day classes, and public relations Director John Hammond began contacting local media after midnight. Thanks to the passing thunderstorms, most local stations were broadcasting live.
By Monday morning, most media outlets reported the incident and class cancellation but classes meeting after 5 p.m. would take place as usual. Then, late Monday afternoon, when it was clear the problem would not be fixed in time, the decision was made to cancel evening classes.
That's where another glitch became apparent. Staff and students showed up for evening classes and work schedules.
The college closure line did not work because of the phone outage. One media outlet published the college's main phone number with advice to call for more information. That line was not working either.
A special phone line that is isolated from possible disruption should be put in place for that purpose.
In this day of technology and communication innovation, a better way to notify the college community of closures should be found.
Take advantage of help for finals
Although it might seem like a long time, final exams are creeping closer - just five weeks away.
The drop date is even closer on April 7.
Now is the time to start reviewing material before the upcoming tests.
It would be a waste of money and time to drop your classes now.
Do you really want to take the class again?
Especially with the newly introduced three-peater fee, students have to pay out-of-state tuition when they take a course a third time - and that can add up.
So suck it up, sit at your desk and start learning the material that you might not have ignored or understood yet.
And if you want to give up, just tell yourself that it's only a couple more days before the semester ends.
The Ranger features weekly academic success tips for students on Page 5, in a column called "Survivor."
You should take advantage of the opportunities you can read about in The Ranger or that are offered on campus.
Take free tutoring if you are stuck with a problem, visit a lab if you need help with an essay and visit the library to get help with a research paper.
The next couple of weeks will be busy, so just remind yourself about the feeling of accomplishment that you might experience when you finish a course.
Or, if that doesn't help, remind yourself of how you will feel in six weeks when you realize that you have to retake all the courses that you just dropped in a wave of laziness.
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