The Reporter

volume 117b Creative writing celebrates en years Dr. Terri Witek granted endowed chair Alicia Hickman news writer In February of this year, donors presented the university with an endowment of $3.5 million dollars intended for use in the Creative Writing Program as it approaches its ten-year anniversary. The endowment fund 15 permanent student scholarships for those in the creative writing program, along with five courses each year and visits from well-know authors, like Mark Strand former poet laureate who visited the campus this spring. This endowment is said to be one of the largest given to an undergraduate writing program in the United States, bringing with it national prestige and recognition. The foundation for the new endowment bases its structure on the granting of an endowed chair in the Creative Writing program. The Creative Writing See CREATIVE, 2A SURE grants awarded for Summer 2005 Tiffany Saulter news writer The SURE grant, or the grant for Stetson Undergraduate Research Experience, allows students to have the chance to receive funding for a summer research project. This year, 13 grants were awarded to students. The program, which was started with the Hollis Renaissance fund, is being continued with the support of the university. The recipients were recognized at an Honors Convocation Ceremony on April 22, 2005. When asked about her plans for her research with the SURE grant, recipient Kelsey Donegan, a third year, fine arts major stated, "I'm going to spend the summer creating an encaustic medium which incorporates properties of beeswax and paraffin [wax]. I want to enhance my methods of en- See SURE, 24 Unive Loivtetta Wilson news editor V f n \X RAN DOW? HOUSE AMERICA! . GREETINGS ..-..-/...v.-. •--'.*".■ 'J\fe}fc&ft*- PIERCE HANSON / THE REPORTER In an attempt to clarify the university's mission, enhance its reputation, and recruit and retain more students, the Board of Trustees has enlisted the help of an internationally successful branding finns, Patrick Davis Communications and Kiku Obata and Company. With an estimated 78% retention: irate from Fall 2004 to Spring 2005 semesters, the university hopes that the Board of Trustees' financial aad philosophical support of the re- branding project will help the university better manage current and future challenges. These challenges include funding, recruitment, and academic quality. The efficient implementation of the university's re- branding includes estabhshing a reputation consistent with the goals of academic excellence, community nurturing, and effective teaching. During the discovery stage of the re-branding process, Patrick Davis Communications identified equal degrees of negative emotions and loyalty involving such issues as the values agenda, diversity, student service, and strategic planning that may be damaging the perception of the university. Authorized by the Trustees in May 2004, re-branding involves a five-step process: discovery, study, strategy, launch, and evaluation. Currently, the university is in the launch stage. This stage produces a 'toolbox' that is applied to launch the brand publicly through new marketing, advertising and public relations materials. It also offers guidance for future administrative decisions. According to Michael Raymond, professor of the English department, the "idea is to establish a promise or a text for running the university. That 'text' guides Stetson's operations and is used to evaluate the success of the university." "The proposed text is the promise that Stetson stands for a shared commitment—students, faculty, staff, administration, and alumni—to protecting, developing, and guiding the community to the following: 'thought leadership,' a profound commitment to teaching, an environment of dialogue, engaged citizenship, a sustainable environment, and living the values we profess," said Raymond Specifically, the re-branding aims to challenge every avenue of the university by .encouraging stronger leadership, more effective educational practices among faculty, and the students' participation in the development of skills necessary for success. "This is in the best interest of the Board of Trustees," said Raymond. "A healthy, vibrant university will sustain itself. The Board will not be called on to bail Stetson out financially over and over again. If Stetson becomes the university that it can, they will be the ones who did it." In the past, the marketing of the university has been the SeeREBRAND!NG,24 Chris Fowle news writer The university's First Year Program is slated to undergo enhancements in order to attract more students as well as preserve those already attending. One of the first of these enhancements is the placement of Dr. Leonard Nance as Dean of the First Year Program. Dr. Nance will be responsible for the Academic Support Program, as well as the Discovery program and FOCUS. Dr. Mike Raymond, professor of 'While publicly supporting the concept of first-year programs, the university administration seems...interested in preserving the old and covering their backsides,' DR. LEONARD L. NANCE dean of the first-year program English, takes an interest in the program. "From what I understand, the enhancement of the First Year Program is the cornerstone of the re-branding of Stetson University," said Raymond. "The focus will be on a community which takes care of itself, of each other, of others, of the environment, and of the worlds inside and outside the campus. It is to be a place of dialogue." However, this concept is still far from reality. Ideally, the Dean of the First Year Program will have some authority on the Council of Deans and be able to execute programs that will improve the first-year experience of most students. Unfortunately, Dr. Nance has been granted an "insubstantial" budget of only $10,000 and is now being forced to seek funding from external sources. "While publicly supporting the concept of first-year programs, the university administration seems more interested in preserving the old and covering their backsides,"said Nance. "I find it ironic that in times such as these that See FIRST, 2A acuity raises inadequate Billy Perry associate news editor Many of the university's staff and faculty will receive their annual performance review and earn a hearty pay raise of approximately three percent. Several professors The Reporter contacted were concerned about the small rate of pay increases, but did not want to be quoted in this article. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which measures inflation, the rate of annual inflation in the Daytona Beach area grew 3.9 percent, from 2003 to 2004. There fore, an average pay increase of 3 percent does not even keep pace with local inflation. Once the rate of inflation is calculated into a staff member's pay, they actually receive a pay cut of almost 1 percent. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the price measurement of a number of consumer products and the weighted market price is tracked to determine price, change, thus inflation. Dr. Ranjini Thaver, professor of Economics, said, "CPI actually understates the rate of inflation because medical costs and computers were not considered major expenditures as part of the CPI market basket." However, university professors who may feel their pay increase is not keeping pace with inflation are not alone. SeeRAISE.ZA i iniikiwii/ i i i l Mary Wyer gave a lecture in the Instructional Media Center on Tuesday, April 19th on integrating women studies into SME curriculum. Wednesday's Forecast: T-Storms High 77, Low 58 LIFE METRO REPORT NEWS 16 2A 2A OPINIONS REVIEWS 3A 2B &*.*$# f porter Online For archived stories and | photographs, visit the offi- i cial website of the Reporter 1 stetson.edu/org/rej3orter Darfur Awareness Students hold an event in the Forest of Arden to raise awareness of the atrocities in Sudan STORY 1B Movie Review. Blair Townley reviews "The interpreter" starring Academy Award Winner Nicole Kidman STORY 2B