Mustangs replace old Hardin logo
Ashley Bear | Managing Editor

With the change of mascots, MSU found itself in need of something else: a new logo.

According to Janus Buss, MSU public information officer, bids were sent out to seven different graphic design agencies. One design was submitted by Mandy Wells, MSU’s public information and marketing assistant.

The finished designs were laid out on tables and students, faculty, staff and administration were invited to come and give input on the best one.

Wells’ design silhouetting three mustangs was by far the favorite, Buss said.

“It was more like who we are than any of the other graphic representations,” she said, although the lettering was taken from Graphic II’s design.

The new Mustangs mascot has been a source of controversy since it was adopted in November. Many are unhappy with a mascot that is shared with some local schools and Southern Methodist University.

Carl Nichols, announcer at MSU ball games and academic coordinator of MSU’s athletic department, told the Times Record News that although he will go along with the new mascot because he is part of the staff, he will use the name as little as possible.

“I just have a hard time with it,” he was quoted as saying. “I don’t particularly approve of it, but nobody asked me.”

A committee recommended the Mustangs to MSU President Dr. Jesse Rogers in November, and it was selected without much discussion or fanfare, to the displeasure of many.

A lack of promotion and excitement over the new mascot may have contributed to the reluctance of many to accept the change, but Buss said her office is working to create a buzz over the logo.

“We took pictures for the cover of Sunwatcher magazine, and anyone who came to the photo shoot got a free t-shirt with the logo on it,” she said. “We gave out about 300 t-shirts.”

There will be more giveaways, she said, and soon the bookstore will start ordering products with the new logo. About 25 pole banners will also be erected throughout the campus.

“Everybody seemed to really like it (the logo),” Buss said. “It allows us more variations on the design. On the maroon shirts, the horses are gold, on some they are black. In the past we were stuck with the tower. This logo allows us a lot more flexibility.”

Hardin Tower served as the university’s logo, Buss said, because Indian’s couldn’t be used.

MSU music professor hikes across Himalayas
Rhonda Boelen | For The Wichitan

For most people, reaching Mt. Everest’s base camp at an elevation of more than 17,000 feet would be enough of a challenge.

Not for Dr. Ruth Morrow.

After she made that ascent in Nepal last summer, she participated in a 12-hour, 42-kilometer marathon.

Morrow, a classical pianist and music professor at MSU, began running marathons about 10 years ago.  After adopting a healthier lifestyle in 1995, she ran in a half-marathon sponsored by the Fine Arts Department at the University of Oklahoma.

“I didn’t know what I was doing.  I went out too fast.  I couldn’t walk for three days afterwards,” Morrow recalled.

Later, while planning vacations in Hawaii and Colorado, she found that both states were hosting marathons seven weeks apart.  English Professor Jim Hoggard, a fellow runner, encouraged her to run in both.

“He was a mentor in the beginning of it, because at that time he was still running marathons,” she said. “Within 10 minutes in our conversation, he went from, ‘Two marathons in seven weeks! That’s way too much’ to ‘You can do it; you should do it!’”  

Since, Morrow has participated in marathons in 49 of the 50 states, including Washington D.C.  She is now focusing on running marathons on all of the continents.

From her long flowing skirts and mid-back length brunette hair, an observer would not take Morrow for the outdoors type. But a love of snow-capped peaks drew her to the National Marathon of Nepal.

“My favorite places are all rural and hilly,” Morrow said.

The Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon is held May 29 every year to commemorate the historical climb to the summit by the Tenzing Norgay, a sherpa (guide), and Sir Edmund Hillary on in 1953.  The trek begins at Mt. Everest base camp (17,593 feet) and ends at Namche Bazar (11,283 feet).  

“I can’t say we come down.  We end up at a lower elevation.  There is no such thing as level in the Himalayas for more than a few yards,” Morrow said.

She was one of a few foreigners, including six Americans, three Polish, and three Germans. Nepali participants totaled 90.   

Her adventure began when she flew into Lukla at an elevation of 9,321 feet.  The runners walked the ascent to base camp over a span of 10 days so that their bodies could become acclimated to the thin oxygen and high altitudes.  

The day before reaching base camp, the group traveled to Kala Patar (18,200 ft), the highest point reached in Morrow’s trip, in order to see Mt. Everest.  

“You can’t see Everest from base camp because you’re too close,” Morrow explained.

The lower level of oxygen affected almost everyone, she recalled.  She battled her own problems with altitude sickness the day before arriving at Gorak Shep (16,859 feet), the last stop of civilization before reaching base camp.

“After lunch, I was fine and all of a sudden I realized that I had absolutely no idea which way was up.  I told myself, ‘Stop, don’t move. I’m going to make a conscious effort to sit down.’ Then I was fine,” Morrow said.  

Morrow soon learned that the marathon would be different from others she had participated in because there were no trail markers. Numerous yak trails made the route more confusing.  

She and a German woman became lost within the first six kilometers (3.6 miles) from base camp. Within minutes, all of the other participants were out of sight, and Morrow realized they were staying on the glacial moraine too long. They knew they had to do something before missing their first checkpoint.

The course map was emblazoned on the back of some T-shirts.  It just so happened that the German woman was wearing hers.  

“Every now and then she would have to stop, take off her backpack, and turn around so we could try to see where we needed to be,” Morrow said with a laugh.

Eventually, the pair climbed up a hill and realized they were on the right trail. The Everest marathon took Morrow 11.5 hours to complete, compared to her fastest marathon time of 4.5 hours.

Looking back, Morrow believes she gained a better understanding of the Nepali people.

“I did fall in love with the country. They cannot live the way we live because the geology won’t permit it. They have to live communally and barter for things,” Morrow said.

The steepness of the mountainside requires that all goods be carried by humans or yaks. At one point, Morrow was surprised to witness a boy about 16 years old wearing purple flip-flops and carrying a pack filled with towels, a 20-inch television and seven cases of beer.

Morrow was also amazed to find American items in the shops of Namche Bazar.  All of the restaurants offered native dishes, but alongside those Morrow found pizza and sandwiches.

Morrow’s pursuits of other marathons have made her realize how much she enjoys traveling and learning about other cultures.

“If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would spend as much money on travel as I do, I would have told them they were nuts,” she said.

She admits that before running marathons and traveling extensively, she was obsessed with material possessions.

“I really spent a lot of money on stuff.  I was the self-designated kitchen appliance queen. For a while I had every single possible way of making coffee.”

Now, if she has a yearning to visit a foreign place, she goes.  

“Lord knows how long I would let it be a desire and not do it,” Morrow said.  “If I can’t find someone to go with, I just go. I try to check out that it’s a legitimate outfit. I don’t want to end up being flown somewhere and getting left, or worse.”

This summer she plans to travel to South American and run a marathon along the Inca trail that ends in Machu Picchu.

Morrow’s travels have allowed her to develop a philosophy about life in the United States.

“I believe that everybody who lives in the U.S. should live in a foreign country for at least six months,” said the Fulbright scholar who studied in Austria. “By traveling, I’ve tried to understand people of different cultures. I always come back with a greater understanding of what we have here in this country.”

Commuting costs some students time, money
Shawn Cheney | For The Wichitan

Most of the students who attend MSU are born and raised in Wichita Falls and surrounding areas.

Others commute short distances.

The unlucky few drive up to an hour just to get to campus.

An hour-long drive doesn’t seem like much when it’s a weekend trip to visit some friends. But imagine if it was something you had to do every day or every other day, just to sit in a windowless room to hear professors ramble on and on. More MSU students commute long-distance than you think. Dr. Claudia Montoya’s Spanish I class had six people who drove over an hour and five who drove about 30 minutes.

One student, Jeremy Tiller, drives 75 miles from Decatur. Tiller said he normally comes up the night before class and stays with his brother so that he doesn’t have to wake up that much earlier to make it to his 8 a.m. class.

“The drive makes me go nuts,” Tiller said. “Sometimes I have to just stop the truck and walk around for a while.”

Tiller is lucky in the sense that he only has to come up to the campus every other day, but even at that he still goes through more than two tanks of gas a week. Tiller drives a truck and a tank of gas runs about $40. That’s $80 a week.

Another student, Angela Kruger, drives 60 miles from Graham four times a week. Kruger drives a newer utility vehicle and gets a little better gas mileage than Tiller. But Kruger drives to school more, so they end up spending the same amount in gas every week. Kruger is a non-traditional student; she is in her 40s and has children.

“I don’t really mind the drive ­-- it gives me time to myself," she said. This cannot be said for all, but alone time is important when you’re raising three children, working and goes to school full time.

Sabrina Rathwell, however, drives about 100 miles from Childress every other day. She said the two-hour trip means waking up at 4 a.m. She goes to work at a hotel she manages, then drives to the campus.

Rathwell stays at school all day. She arrives in time for an 8 a.m. class and leaves anywhere from 1 to 5 p.m. Like Kruger, she has three children.

“I don’t really like the fact that I have to be at school all day and miss spending so much time with my kids,” Rathwell said. She still manages to keep above a 3.0 GPA, but credits that to her job, which gives her lots of free time.

Rathwell drives a small car and spends about $60 a week on gas.

Study shows college students lack life skills 
Katy Poole | Staff Reporter

Can you balance your checkbook?  Can you calculate a 15 percent tip when eating at a restaurant?  Will you be able to comprehend this article when you are done reading it?  According to a recent study, more than half of students at four-year colleges lack the skills to do so.                 

This literacy study, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, found students falling behind in three areas: analyzing news stories, understanding documents and having math skills needed for balancing checkbooks or calculating restaurant tips, with math being the biggest point of concern.

The study also showed that without these skills, many students aren’t able to understand a table about exercise and blood pressure or able to comprehend credit card offers. 

According to CNN.com, the survey given used the same test as the National Assessment of Adult Literacy.  The tests, done in 2003, were given to a group of 1,827 students at both public and private schools with a margin sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.  The students surveyed were near the end of their degree programs.       

What is MSU doing to ensure that its students do not become one of these statistics?  There are several requirements in place and tools readily available.

Let’s start with core curriculum.  Students, no matter the degree plan, must take a basic math requirement.  They are also required to complete two semesters of English comprehension courses, to include an English usage exam taken by all juniors.

Chair of Economics and Finance Dr. Stuart MacDonald has much to say on the topic.  His department teaches a personal finance course, however, he feels that with the core curriculum, students should not have to take the elective finance course.

“If we are doing our job and students are doing their job by taking responsibility of learning than they won’t become a statistic,” MacDonald said.

Dirk Welch, director of the Career Management Center (CMC), shares the same sentiment.  He says, “They (students) do gain most of the skills and should be able to apply them.”     

Even so, the CMC still offers several tools to help students prepare for the future.  Many seminars are held here at the university, and “are developed to help students transition to life after college,” Welch said. 

For instance, last year the CMC and the Office of Student Development held a seminar focused on money.  A few of the areas covered in the seminar included checking accounts, student loans, credit cards and developing good credit.   

Another seminar is called “Translating Day 1 at Work.”  This seminar explores three areas: work attire, understanding and selecting health insurance and retirement options and how to fill out the new employee paperwork, such as W-4s.

When each student graduates from MSU, along with a diploma, they receive a reference guide.  This book is bought by the Alumni Association Annual Fund, Office of Student Development and the CMC and presented by Cap & Compass, LLC.

This guide, titled, “Life After School. Explained.” was purchased after Welch received information from employers about a series of skills they are specifically looking for.  The book covers numerous topics such as dinner etiquette, money, finding a place to live, day one at work, taxes, insurance and so much more. 

Do MSU students fall into the statistics presented in the study?  That is hard to say. 

“The information I get is not that they are lacking in those skills.  They are taught complex tasks, to be literate and analyze.” Welch said. “I am not getting any feedback that they are lacking.”

MacDonald also finds it hard to gauge whether or not MSU’s students are part of this statistic, but he does put stock into the findings of the study.

“I think it’s true.  It squares with my experience and other studies that have been done,” he said. 

MacDonald talks of society and the lack of emphasis on math skills and technological advances. 

“I am a lawyer and when I look at how competitive it is getting into the first year of law school and how many of the best and the brightest are getting in and the salaries on the other side.  Then I compare those to salaries (of) engineers and hard sciences it leaves me greatly concerned.” MacDonald said. “We are becoming an overly legalistic and bureaucratic society fixated on process and we are ignoring technological advances, which are the real source of our growth and our prosperity.” 

MacDonald believes in the math core requirements as a tool for students’ futures.  However, he feels without everyone doing their part in education, even the students, “we are not going to remain competitive.”

 “If someone asked me to list what the greatest threat to America’s national security was, over the long run, I would put inadequate education in math and science first.  I would rate that as a greater threat than terrorists with weapons of mass destruction,” MacDonald said.