NEWS

'M' Club offers Change to Win Car
Tiffany Merger | Staff Reporter

Students now have the chance to either win a trip to Hawaii or a brand new car. All they have to do is support the MSU athletic program.  The “M” Club, a booster club for MSU athletics, is sponsoring these raffles to raise money for the men’s basketball team.
The team will compete in the Hoop N’ Surf Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, from Dec. 17-23.  Basketball coach Jeff Ray said the team will play Catawba North Carolina and Quachita Baptist from Arkansas.
Money raised by the raffles will go towards the trip.  One raffle includes a chance to travel with the team to Hawaii. The prize includes airfare, hotel, breakfast, and game tickets.  Raffle tickets are $20 each.  Ray said the $1,800 trip will be paid for by the raffle sales.
“We will hopefully raise more than that in ticket sales,” Ray said, “We hope to raise $4 or $5,000 in sales for the trip.”
 Tickets for the second raffle are a little more expensive. Each one costs $100, but only 300 chances will be sold.  Students can buy a chance to win a 2005 Aveo LS 5-door hatchback.   Ray said Herb Easley gave the car at cost to the “M” Club for the raffle.
Drawings for both raffles will take place during halftime at the Dec. 10 game against Southwestern.
The “M” Club, consists of individuals willing to financially commit to the MSU athletics program.  Members have raised more than $2.5 million since the birth of the club in 1970. 
The State of Texas does not directly provide money for intercollegiate athletic programs.  Student activity fees and private contributions keep the program afloat.  Money raised by the club helps with the costs of recruiting, travel, scholarships and other necessities.
Several types of gifts are accepted as contributions.  Cash is always welcome and provides immediate aid to the program.  Ray said members give as little as $10 a year up to $2,000 a year.  Businesses and certain individuals do give more, but this puts them into a corporate sponsor group.
Goods and services have also proved to be helpful.  Hotel rooms, transportation, food and equipment are needed donations.  Some members have also been known to donate gifts of stock such as real estate and bonds.
The booster club has already raised over $90,000 for the 2005-2006 school year, according to Ray.  He said he expects much more to come in through the rest of the year. 
Benefits are offered by MSU for being an “M” Club member.  All members receive quarterly newsletters from each athletic department.  Game ticket priorities, reserved parking and advertising at games are a few special treatments given to members.


Pierce Hall reopens After Much-Needed Renovations
Micaela Lechuga | Staff Reporter

All the complaints about Pierce Hall were answered. The outcome was newly renovated dormitories fit for students to live in.
“The main issues for renovations were the fire suppressants,” Director of Housing and Residence Life Daniel Reddick said. “Basically fire marshals changed fire codes due to accidents on other university resident halls. That was very important to us for safety.”
Reddick said putting in the suppressants was costly, so it would be worth spending a little more to renovate.
“Student comments have all been positive. It was well worth the time and money spent in both buildings because they were in bad shape,” he said.
MSU student Jon Durand is a resident assistant for Pierce Hall for the first time. He has lived at Pierce Hall for two years.
“The walls are 10 times better. They are made out of double impact sheet rock. Before, there used to be massive holes,” Durand said. “The ceiling tiles were down and there were cords everywhere.”
Both Reddick and Durand agree that a big change that stands out is the bathrooms.
“Bathrooms are now semi-private instead of a community bathroom,” Reddick said.
Durand said everyone likes their privacy and are glad that even the showers are bigger.
“It’s more comfortable with the bigger space. Now it doesn’t feel like we are in such close quarters,” he said.
He feels even the rooms are a little bigger and more spacious than they used to be.
“There is a huge difference. Our lounges are bigger and nicer looking. Before it was like steps leading to a pit, it was so worn down. The office I work in is bigger,” Durand said.
Even the lighting is brighter and now they have four pool tables in the lounge area.
Durand said they had nothing like that before.
Still they are feeling the effects of overflow situations.
“One of the perks I was told by being an RA was that I would have my own room,” Durand said. “I have a roommate because we are completely booked.”
However, he doesn’t mind.
“My roommate is really cool and I understand the situation.”
He said right now there are five students living in personal study lounges because there are no rooms available.
“I haven’t heard any complaints because they have their own space still,” Durand said. “This is the first year that Sunwatcher, Trigg, Killingsworth and Pierce all opened at the same time. When booking rooms, we have a certain percentage of what is considered ‘no shows,’ but everyone came,” Durand said.
Still, he hears no complaints, and to him that is the main thing.
The renovations of Pierce Hall to students and faculty alike have been positive.
“A lot of my football buddies who lived here freshman year wanted to see the dorms now and they were all amazed,” Durand said. “It was well-spent time and money. The outside may still look the same but the inside is completely different. It is 100 percent restored on the inside.”

 
Hundreds Turn out for Family Day
Brent Kim | Staff Reporter

A total of 750 people registered to attend MSU's Family Day this past Saturday. Last year, 900 people attended, and this year's aim was 1,000. Family Day has been a long-running tradition of Midwestern State University, having been held for over 10 years since evolving from Parents Day. Family Day is an opportunity for friends and family to spend time with their college students and to tour the campus.
People remained in lines in the Clark Student Center Atrium until past 1:00 p.m. for the entertainment provided at the event.  The activities available throughout the Clark Student Center and Sunwatcher Plaza were laser tag, gladiator jousts, bungee runs, family portraits, magazine cover photos, and the production of wax hands. Several students also took this opportunity to tour the campus with their parents and siblings.
A 2 p.m. showing of National Treasure was provided for guests at the Shawnee Theater. Later, the preparations for the football game between MSU and Southeastern Oklahama began, which included an hour-long convoy and tailgate party at Memorial Stadium.
Among the fun, two fundraisers were held for the coastal areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. A raffle which offered a $500 prize for the MSU bookstore stood at the entrance of the Clark Student Center Atrium. A food drive was also available at the game.


New Art Gallery Director Hopes to Draw Students
Noel Walker | Staff Reporter

At the moment, empty canvases line the walls of the C-wing foyer in the Fain Fine Arts Center, however, starting on September 16 until November 30, the room will house its first exhibit under MSU’s new professor and art gallery director, Catherine Prose.
“I’m from Lubbock, Texas, and my husband, and my son and I moved here at the end of July,” Prose said.
Prose is the former director of Lubbock’s Buddy Holly Center, a job she was hired on to fresh out of graduate school at Texas Tech University, where she and her husband received their Masters of Studio Art. The Buddy Holly Center is part of large municipal museum, half of it dedicated to Texas music.
“We had 2,500 square feet of fine arts galleries,” Prose said. “I think the whole building was at 12 to 13,000 square feet.”
Prose said she left the Buddy Holly Center because she really wanted to try her hand at teaching.
“In this position, I’m an assistant professor of art and gallery director, so I’m taking my experiences from the Buddy Holly Center, while taking on teaching,” Prose said.
Before taking on the job of director at the Buddy Holly Center, Prose was doing the kind of work any college student would – such as jobs in the areas of retail and food service.
 “The Buddy Holly Museum was my first experience with the professional world,” Prose said. “I’m hoping to apply that sense [of professionalism] to teaching.”
Prose also said that, hypothetically, her new schedule will allow her more time at home to spend time with her son and to work on her own art. Prose’s field is in printing, while she said her husband is a painter and a sculptor.
“Hypothetically,” Prose smiled.
Prose is in a unique position in that most university gallery directors are considered staff.
“I’ll be seeking to balance my administrative position, making sure there’s adequate preparation for my classes and working at the gallery, so that’s a new place for me” Prose said. “It’s definitely tiring, but I’m confident it will all equal out.”
When asked about her responsibilities to the art gallery, Prose said, “In a typical gallery you will find many positions.”
Prose said that an art gallery generally has a director, assistant director, a registrar who takes inventory, a position for museum preparatory, a fabricator, a person who coordinates receipts and return of artwork, along with an education coordinator, among other positions.
“All of those are my responsibilities, but I am fortunate to have David Gillispi,” Prose said.
Gillispi is an exhibition preparatory and tech assistant.
“He’s pulled in several directions as well,” Prose said.
Prose is settling in right at home at MSU.
“I was able to tour these facilities about 8 years ago, just out of curiosity,” Prose said. “I was, and still am, just stunned by the level of professionalism at this department. Each area is just state of the art.”
As to how the new professor is enjoying teaching, Prose said, “I like teaching a lot. So far I’m very comfortable doing it.”
To fulfill her job as gallery director, Prose said she will be taking this fall and spring semester to see what changes might need to be made to the gallery.
“This is my personality. I have to know what’s working well first. I can’t just walk in and change things, because I have to know how everything works,” Prose said.
Prose does hope to bridge the age gap with gallery goers.
“My mission right now is to make it more appealing to younger audiences, particularly since we’re at a university,” Prose said.
Prose said that the function of the gallery is first, to serve the students at MSU.
“The shows that are placed in this gallery are directly related to the courses that are taught here,” Prose said.
As for example, Prose said that since MSU does not offer a glass-blowing program, there will not be a glass-blowing exhibit at the gallery.
“We’re placing exhibits in which the students can utilize,” Prose said. “So that would include: painting, drawing, print-making, photography, sculpture, ceramics, metal-smithing, and so on.”
Prose’s first plan for the art gallery is the Selections Show.
“Each faculty, in their own areas, choose some of their students’ work to be exhibited,” Prose said.
Prose said that although the Selections Show will be open for viewing beginning on September 16, the first actual event for the art gallery will be on October 14, at 8 p.m., when visitors to the gallery will be able to talk with MSU students from the Selections Show about their work. That night will also be the opening for another exhibit featuring two professional artists, husband and wife, Juregen and Heidi Strunck. That show will be open from October 14 until December 19, in the main gallery.
“Juregen is a print-maker, and his wife Heidi is a sculptor,” Prose said.
Prose said that some of Heidi Strunck’s work could qualify as installation art. Installation art uses elements of sculpting and other forms of media, even new media such as sound and video.
“The are both professional artists that have been around the circuit for awhile. We are very happy to have them,” Prose said.
On whether the Struncks will make an appearance at MSU, Prose said the details are still being worked out, but it remains a possibility.
When asked about her thoughts on the local art community, Prose said, “Since I’m new, I don’t really have a sense of that quite yet, but I think that Wichita Falls has, in terms of, their art community, just made three major moves.”
Those three changes are the newly appointed positions of the director of the Kemp Center for the Arts, along with Prose as the MSU art gallery director, and Cohn Drennan as the director of the Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, recently acquired by MSU.
“Although not knowing the art community well yet, it seems that the three major sources of art are moving forward,” Prose said. “So that’s positive.”


Pan goes to the Park
Michelle Ward | Staff Reporter

The Caribbean Pan Ensemble is having a concert at Lucy Park on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m.  The event will be sponsored by the Wichita Falls Parks and Recreation Department.  This will be the last concert of their summer series in the park. 
Alan Black, director of the band, said people can expect “exciting, fun and danceable music.”
“They can’t sit still,” he said.  The upbeat music allows people to let loose and have fun.  Black said the concerts in the park usually have around 100 to 200 people. 
 The band includes a small group of about 10 to 15 Caribbean students that bring a diverse musical experience to MSU.  The group travels throughout Texas and Oklahoma performing shows and has been part of MSU for almost 10 years.
The music began on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in the 1940s.  The citizens had no instruments but had plenty of oil barrels lying around that were left from World War II.  Playing the barrels became their way of expression.
Black brought this type of music to the university in 1996 because of its prevalence around the world.  Around that same time, the Caribbean students started arriving at MSU.  The program at MSU originated with the percussion department but soon became mixed with Caribbean students.
Chandra Henry plays the double tenor for the band and has played for nine months.  Being from Grenada, Henry has been around the instrumental music all of her life.  She said she loves playing in the pan ensemble because she gets to meet and integrate with other Caribbean students, travel and keep in touch with her native music.  She believes students will like the concert. 
“People can’t sit and listen to the music, they have to tap their feet and nod their heads,” Henry said.  “The band is doing some new music that is known around the world, so more people are familiar with it.”  It is the old Caribbean style of music that has been around for a long time.
 This is the last concert in the park, but the Caribbean Pan Ensemble will also be performing at the upcoming Carib Fest on campus.  
 


MADD to Present Alcohol Dangers in Success Series
Staci Good | Staff Reporter

The student development office has invited Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to the MSU campus as a part of the Student Success Series. MADD is an organization that educates students on the dangers of drinking.
Sophia Rodriguez, director of Student Development, believes that binge drinking and drinking and driving have become a problem for many college students. 
Rodriguez believes that alcoholism is affecting students more than in the past.  She explained that the problem is not just diving while intoxicated but drinking too much at one time.
Rodriguez explained that binge drinking is often overlooked because students may not be in public when consuming alcohol.
There have been many deaths on college campuses related to alcohol abuse.  These deaths are not all caused by drinking and driving.

Matt Smith, 19-year-old biology major, also thinks there is a problem.
“Drinking and driving is a problem because it can mess up your life,” Smith said.  “And it happens a lot with college students.”
Yola Craig, MADD representative, will be on campus to speak on these issues.
“New students need to learn to be responsible if they decide to drink,” Rodriguez said.
The focus of this success series is to show students how binge drinking and drinking and driving can affect students’ lives. 
In addition to the speaker, a victim of drinking and driving will attend to send a powerful message to students about the horrors it can cause.
The Student Success Series will have many speakers throughout the semester to inform students on drug, cultural and drinking issues that many college students face.
The MADD series will take place on Sept. 26, in the Comanche Suites of the Clark Student Center.
The speaker will begin at 8 p.m. and admission is free.
If there are any questions, contact the office of student development at (940)-397-4898.

Source:
Sophia Rodriguez- 397-4898, director of student development
Matt Smith- 19, biology major, 214-725-0914