Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011

What we asked you last week on asuherald.com:

Hear something funny or interesting on campus? Tweet it to@OverheardAtASU and you could see it printed in The Herald!

Campus Corner, page 6opinion, page 2

twitter.com/ASUHeraldtwitter.com/ASUHeraldSports youtube.com/ASUHeraldfacebook.com/ASUHerald

Vol. 90 Issue 17

Homecoming events photo spread Gender in the Middle East Zombies to walk for good cause

Of interest online

Are you participating in any Homecoming events this week?

Informing Arkansas State University since 1921The herald

asuherald.com

Yes!, 45%

Professor challenging students to make a differenceMegan HeylStaff Writer

No, I've got plans, 55%

Paint the Sheets

phoTos, page 4

Abdullah Raslan/HeraldFreshman photojournalism student Tyler Nance of Imboden participated in Paint the Sheets

with his Making Connections class Tuesday outside the Student Union. The event was one of several this week to prepare for Saturday's homecoming game against North Texas.

Every semester, thou-sands of students chip away at their general ed-ucation courses just trying to get them done.

Chris Harper, assis-tant professor of communi-cations, didn't agree with this attitude.

“I think its impera-tive that we create assign-ments that ask our stu-

dents to move beyond an-swering questions in a mul-tiple-choice format. That’s not really how the world works,” Harper said.

Harper decided to do something different for his Oral Communications courses. Instead of just hav-ing students write speech-es, give presentations and memorize terms for a text-book, he told his students to change the world.

Students' adverse reac-

tions were to be expected. Domenique Elkins-Brown summed it up best,

“This man must be nuts. Changing the world takes serious time, effort and commitment.”

Some students felt in-stantly inspired.

“It's not every day that the opportunity to make a difference is presented to you,” Brody Elder, a soph-omore agriculture busi-ness major of Malden, Mo.,

said.Like it or not, these stu-

dents had their assign-ment and Harper expected results.

“Ever wonder what five students and five dollars can do?” Harper asked his class. Then he proceeded to tell his class what other students had done.

“He said some students raised money to buy wa-ter wheels in Africa, and I thought how do you com-

pare to that?” said Bran-igan Evans, a sopho-more accounting major of Jonesboro.

The students were split into groups and required to write up a constitution detailing their vision for the project and how they planned on achieving it.

The students were not allowed to use more than $5 of their own money but could raise funds.

Elkins-Brown, a sopho-

more athletic training ma-jor of Texarkana, and his group are working on what they call “Love in a Bag.”

The group will be raising money and buying dried goods to be bagged up and distributed to the homeless around Northeast Arkan-sas and in Memphis, Tenn.

“This way we know the people we are sending the food to,” said Eric Escue, a senior pre-pharmacy

See DIFFERENCE, page 5

Arkansas State interna-tional students, American students and community members living near ASU enjoy interacting with each other through the Conver-sation Partner Program of-fered by the International Center for English (TICE).

“I’m learning American culture and religious tra-ditions such as praying be-fore eating and also learn-ing how people behave in America,” said Takaya Sudo, English as a Second Language student of Saita-ma, Japan.

His conversation part-ner, Edward Tanner of Jonesboro, said, “Anyone can do research on the In-

ternet or in the library, but having someone in per-son tell you the real story about their country would be so much better.”

Rani Cooksey, an ad-ministrative specialist at the International Center for English, said any stu-dents in ESL and interna-tional academic students are welcome to come to the office in the International Center to sign up for a con-versation partner.

Once the application form for the Conversation Partner Program is com-pleted, it takes about two weeks to match up each student with a conversa-tion partner, Cooksey said.

American students liv-ing near ASU who want to be conversation part-

ners for international stu-dents can also sign up for the program. They must go to an orientation before be-ing a conversation partner, she said.

Members of Central Bap-tist Church, students in Global Challenge, Making Connections, psychology and sociology classes, and resident assistants have volunteered for the pro-gram. “Those groups help the Conversation Partner Program a lot,” Cooksey said.

She mentioned some benefits for American peo-ple who are conversation partners. “At the same time they’re teaching interna-tional students a lot about America, they are taught international cultures as

well,” Cooksey said. Since many students at

ASU do not have the oppor-tunity to travel overseas, she said, being in the pro-gram gives American stu-dents a chance to experi-ence other cultures such as China, India, Japan and Turkey.

Rachel Purtee, a se-nior graphic design major of Jonesboro, said, “I have really enjoyed and bene-fitted from having a con-versation partner. I think there's more to the world than our country and cer-tainly Jonesboro.”

While some people spend thousands of dollars to travel and get a limited world experience, she said by befriending internation-al students she has learned

much about their culture and lives.

Cooksey said it is diffi-cult to get volunteers for the program during sum-mer months because a lot of American students go home.

“This is the time that we really need a lot of volun-teers,” she said.

TICE advertises about the conversation partner program mostly on the ASU digest. Cooksey said they also arrange opportu-nities for international stu-dents and .American stu-dents to interact.

TICE sponsors activ-ities such as ice skating and bowling and organizes trips to the Memphis Zoo, St. Louis, Branson, Little Rock and Hot Springs. She

said those activities and trips are open to the in-ternational students, their conversation partners and other American students.

“We want them to be able to interact as much as possible,” Cooksey said.

Tolunay Guney, a junior computer science major of Istanbul, Turkey, who pre-viously had a conversation partner, said, “My conver-sation partner made me opened up about different subjects in which I have never discussed with an American.”

Because of this, he learned a lot of new forms of speaking and different ways to pronounce each word, Guney said.

Another internationalSee PROGRAM, page 5

Conversation Partner Program helping students make friends, learn language

Tanja McKay, entomol-ogy professor at ASU, was recently chosen by the Entomological Society of America (ESA) as the win-ner of the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching.

“It was funny because they sent out an email on Sept. 2, but I didn’t receive it. So I didn’t find out un-til about a month later on Oct. 8 that I had won. It was a very exciting and good day. I was honored and I couldn’t believe it,” McKay said.

McKay was raised in Nova Scotia. She attended Acadia University, where she received her bachelor’s of science in 1994.

She earned a master’s of science in 1998 from the University of Manito-ba, and after moving to the U.S. in 1998, she got her doctoral degree from Kan-sas State University.

After finishing her Ph.D., McKay did her post-doctor-al training at the Universi-ty of Arkansas working in chicken houses, studying fly control, and beginning her career in entomology.

“Entomology is the study of insects. It also deals with other arthropods, like spiders, but it’s most-ly insects,” She said. “I al-ways enjoyed collecting in-sects as a young child, and I also had a very good en-tomology teacher in my fourth year at university.

She taught great lectures and was amazing. I’ve al-ways had the interest, but it was the professors along the way that made the dif-ference.”

McKay was hired at ASU in 2004, and teaches all the entomology classes.

“This semester I’m teaching general entomol-ogy and forensic entomol-ogy. I’ll teach medical vet-erinary entomology in the spring. I usually have an underclassman level and upperclassmen level course each semester,” Mc-Kay said.

Since coming to ASU, McKay has had several accomplishments includ-ing receiving over $4 mil-lion in competitive funding and appearing on the Dis-covery Channel television

show “Dirty Jobs.”“It was about two sum-

mers ago in 2009 [when she appeared on the show]. We had a fun day of look-ing at dung beetles in the ASU pasture; it was very exciting,” she said. “It was a research project done through a student, Justin Fiene, who is now a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M. We took them out for the day and looked at dung beetle diversity; it was very en-joyable.”

McKay’s most recent grant, received from the USDA (United States De-partment of Agriculture) NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) in the amount of $450,000, is for red flower beetles and integrative pest manage-ment in rice fields.

McKay said her next project will be utilizing the grant by working in rice mills to do store product research.

In order to be selected as the recipient of the ESA’s Distinguished Achieve-ment Award in Teaching, McKay first had to win the award for her region. After McKay indicated her inter-est and was in need of being nominated, Thomas Risch, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, nom-inated her for the award. He wrote two letters of rec-ommendation on McKay’s behalf and those were ac-companied by a recommen-dation by Karen Yanowitz, associate

See PROFESSOR, page 5

Entomology professor receives teaching award

Emily Alexander/HeraldTanjay McKay, associate profes-

sor of entomology, was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching by the Entomological Society of America.

Emily AlexanderStaff Writer

Ari YukiStaff Writer

Check out our slideshow of Homecoming events at asuherald.com.

President Obama has taken steps to make pay-ing back college loans a little easier and it comes not a moment too soon.

With the total student debt load nearing (or just above) $1 billion, the situation facing current degree-seekers and those already out in the job market is one of the big-gest drags on the nation’s economy. Unemployment for this demographic is rising and very few ex-perts see it improving in the near term.

Let me offer some realism here. I began my undergraduate studies in the spring 1987 semester. No, that’s not a misprint! I was quite fortunate in that my parents had the financial means to cover tuition, fees and allow me some spending money on top of it. Even then, I knew a number of stu-dents whose academic lives depended mostly and entirely on loans (and grants to a lesser extent).

Today’s students face the same situation and their debt loads are likely to be a lingering presence for years to come.

That’s the tough part; the bad news, if you will.

The good thing is actually nothing many of you haven’t heard before. Costs tied to higher educa-tion are rising but the value of having a degree still carries a lot of finan-cial and social weight. The average college graduate earns about a $1 million more over a lifetime than someone possessing a high school diploma and even more than those without a 12th grade education.

Outside of having a nice diploma from Arkan-sas State University to hang on the wall, many career fields require at least a bachelor’s degree just to get in the door. Some jobs only consider applicants with graduate-level degrees and still others expect one to hold a doctoral degree. I vividly remember my parents stressing the importance of furthering my education beyond Nettleton High School. I passed that on to my son, who is a thriv-ing undergraduate on this campus.

One of the nice things for Arkansans attending in-state colleges is the existence of state lottery scholarships (in addition to all the private and publicly funded scholar-ships). It has enabled a lot of people to either supple-ment their education or pay for most of it, depend-ing on tuition, fees, etc. at different schools.

It would be inexcusable for anyone not to apply for the lottery scholarship. Period.

Back to my experi-ence - I wound up getting loans about 20 years ago and still have a monthly payment to pay them off. Do I regret the decision to take out the money? Kind of, sort of - but not really. The choice and resulting debt was (and is) mine. The decision to shift ca-reer paths at this point in my life falls into the same category. Learning and progressing carry no price tag. So, I urge you to look at the true importance of having a degree. It is far more than dollars and cents.

Childress is a graduate student in political science of Jonesboro.

The Herald is a public forum. Its content is written by students, for students, faculty and staff of Arkansas State University. Student editors of The Herald have the authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.OPINION

The Herald is located in Room 224 of the Communications Building.

The Herald is published twice weekly during the fall and spring semesters and is distributed around the Jonesboro campus. Its content is normally written by students. “Our View” represents the opinions of the editorial staff. Columns, letters to the editor, cartoons and other content on the opinion page are the views of the author.

Content does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Herald.Editorial Number Advertising Number(870) 972-3076 (870) 972-2961 asuherald.com

— Our View —

Be a part of the ASU familyIt’s a great week to be a Red Wolf. Not only is it homecoming week, but as of

Saturday, Arkansas State is ranked number one in the Sun Belt Conference. And why shouldn’t we be?

Here at ASU, we’re a family – we’re all a part of the team. So, being there to support the team so we are named as the champions in the conference should be on everyone’s mind.

People have really started looking at ASU and watching us because they are finally seeing just how great we are. The idea of being at the top is a great boost for the school, even if it is only in football for now.

There is a love for this school that is unlike many schools around the country, and that’s because we are unlike many schools around the country. We are excellent and we plan to stay that way.

Here at ASU, we have so much to offer. We have wonderful professors, a great sense

of community and top-notch athletics programs. But, to maintain all of this, everyone has to show pride and support of this university.

It’s clear this season has been great for our school with a new coach and everyone’s spirits up, we are witnessing one of the greatest years for ASU football.

Not even weather or hunting season should prevent the truly devoted fans from coming out to support the university.

Everyone from alumni to faculty to students should be proud this week of our accomplishments as a university. And, this being our homecoming, everyone should be at the game helping our team win.

Whether you enjoy sports or not, showing your support and cheering on this university is something we should all participate in.

So, with this type of recognition this week, fans should be there to watch our university maintain this honor and show their school pride. Why the howl would you not want to be a part of it?

“Our View” is written by the editorial staff. The opinions are not necessarily reflective of the student body, faculty or administration of Arkansas State University.

PAGE 2 Thursday, Oct. 27 The Herald

- Samuel G. Smith, editorsamuel.smith@smail.astate.edu- Raven Hearton, news editorraven.hearton@smail.astate.edu- Beth Bright, opinion editorbethany.bright@smail.astate.edu

- Lindsey Blakely, photo editorlindsey.blakely@gmail.com- Michaela Kaberline, features editormichaela.kaberline@smail.astate.edu- Daniel McFadin, sports editordaniel.mcfadin@smail.astate.edu

- Rachel Carner, online editorrachel.carner@smail.astate.edu- Rachel Meredith, ad managerrachel.meredith@smail.astate.edu Bonnie Thrasher, adviserbthrasher@astate.edu

“... the value of having a degree still carries a lot of financial and social weight.”

Anthony Childress

The Herald welcomes letters to the editor in electronic form and under 300 words.We reserve the right to edit for space.

Please email letters to:

bethany.bright@smail.astate.edu

samuel.smith@smail.astate.edu

Letters to the editor

Gender dynamics and the Middle East

Editor’s note: Smith and three other students from the College of Communica-tions spent two weeks this semester in Kuwait as part of a faculty-led trip to the Middle East. The students visited several Kuwaiti me-dia outlets including tele-vision stations and news-papers to learn more about global mass media as well as Kuwaiti and Arab cul-ture. The following is a post from Smith’s blog written before the students’ return; for more entries, visit post-cardfromkuwait.tumblr.com.

Gender is a big deal in Kuwaiti culture.

In the U.S., there are levels of gender separa-tion so deeply ingrained we don’t generally think about them.

University housing is commonly segregated be-tween male and female.

So are restrooms, dressing rooms and locker rooms. In some cases, such as boys’ or girls’ schools, entire schooldays are spent with-out interacting with the opposite sex.

In their more subtle forms, U.S. culture dic-tates our gender roles in ways beyond who we can room with in a dormitory or which fitting area we use in a store. We’re ex-pected to like certain col-ors, dress a certain way or even use or not use a particular soap, and even the most progressive of us can find ourselves offend-ed when someone breaks these rules.

In Kuwait, the levels of separation are more wide-spread and institutional-ized.

At the Gulf University for Science and Technolo-gy (GUST) in Kuwait City, classes are segregated and there are entire sections of the library that are male- or female-only. In public, women dressed in the traditional hijab (head covering) seem uncomfort-able with me or other men around. While each person is different and there are

more traditional and some more progressive Kuwait-is, generally it seems in-appropriate for men and women to interact unless strictly for business or pro-fessional reasons.

The other students on our trip don’t think twice about sitting at the same table with the opposite sex. It’s a different story for Kuwaiti students. On the GUST campus during lunchtime we saw main-ly same-sex interaction: groups of girls or groups of guys walking with each other or dining tables with just guys or just girls. We didn’t get stared at too much when we all sat down to eat together, but we cer-tainly got some looks.

In traditional Kuwaiti culture, men enjoy privi-leges women don’t have. Our 26-year-old Kuwaiti friend who lives with her parents told us she has a 10:30 p.m. curfew, some-thing that shocked a group of Americans used to late nights and few rules im-posed on us once we reach adulthood. There simply isn’t any reason for women to be out later than that, she said. People aren’t sur-

prised when men go out late at night to a coffee shop or leave the home for a dewaniya, a social tradi-tion in which people gather to talk about politics, play games or just hang out. Even things as common here as shisha (hookah) are not always acceptable for women, who often do it just in the home or opt for a partition to be put up in a restaurant so they can-not be seen smoking.

Kuwaiti women gained the right to vote in 2005. Kuwaiti society is chang-ing rapidly, with more and more people moving away from strict conservatism to a more progressive mental-ity. Are women oppressed and unhappy about their situation in the culture? No, I don’t think that’s the case for most. But there is certainly an undertone of lingering male dominance, just as there is in the U.S. It will be interesting to see how gender dynamics in the Gulf and Arab culture develop as the younger generation matures.

Smith is a senior pho-tojournalism major of Hughes.

“In Kuwait, the levels of separation are more widespread and institutionalized.”

Samuel G. Smith

If you’ve ever paid any attention to the groups of people sitting at tables in the café, you might notice that everyone at one table or in one area looks alike.

Asians sit with Asians. Whites sit with whites. Blacks sit with blacks.

There are some cases where you see one Asian sitting at a table with blacks or a black student sitting at a table with all whites, but it’s rare.

There is little variation among the races.

For a campus that prais-es diversity, we don’t seem to be doing a great job of showing it.

At a campus with more than 14,000 students rep-resenting 58 countries, you would think there would be a little more variation.

The only conclusion I can come up with for this clustering of same races is fear.

Is it a fear of not being accepted, fear of a group’s perceived character?

I’m not sure, but some-thing is holding us back.

I think the fear comes from stepping outside our comfort zone and into the unknown.

We don’t want to risk talking to that person who doesn’t talk like us or look

like us because there is a lingering discomfort from not being with people who are like us.

Legal segregation ended a long time ago in 1954 when the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Edu-cation decision made ra-cial segregation in public schools illegal, but some-how we’ve managed to re-vert back to old ways and segregate ourselves.

How are we going to ever learn anything if we just stay inside our safe bubbles?

What’s the worst thing that can happen?

Maybe we’ll learn some-thing; maybe we’ll stereo-type less and understand more.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to hang out with people who are similar to us because who doesn’t want to hang out with their friends.

I am saying that we should take a look at why we only hang out with peo-ple who are like us.

Sometimes, it is abso-lutely necessary to have those people we can relate to, but all too often we stay in our safe zone because of self-consciousness and ig-norance.

This self-segregation is almost an unconscious ac-tion.

We don’t even think about the fact we may be missing out on the dozens of cultures around us or that we’ve surrounded our-selves with people who are an exact reflection of our-

selves.ASU does a great job of

implementing multicultur-al programs and events, but I think individually we drop the ball once the event is over.

The grouping together of like races and ethnici-ties in and of itself is not a bad thing, it’s when it starts to be frowned upon or questioned by the group when a person does decide to step out that makes it a problem.

Groups may begin to feel as though if a person decides to branch out then they must think they’re too good to hang out with peo-ple who are like them.

I used to see this all the time in high school and I see it here at ASU as well.

This separation between the races only further re-inforces stereotypes and even racism.

I think we like to have things in categories and when there is one thing that is not like the others, then we kind of don’t know how to react or act at all.

It’s about time we stopped being afraid and open our eyes to the fact that this is a big world we live in and not everyone is just like us and that’s OK.

If we’re going to say we’re diverse then let’s ac-tually be diverse.

Hearton is a senior jour-nalism major of Augusta.

“... We should take a look at why we only hang out with people who are like us.”

Raven Hearton

“I can’t draw that good on my toes.”

“Sparknotes isn’t really cheating, is it?”

For more comments overheard on campus, visit us on Twitter @OverheardAtASU.

Self-segregation on a diverse campusHaving a degree outweighs high tuition costs

SPORTSPAGE 3 Thursday, Oct. 27 The Herald

GRIDIRONFORECAST

Kelsey Dow,

Communication Disorders

Cody Jackson,

Biology Pre-Professional

Emily Garren,

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Meredith Scott Staff Writer

Arkansas State will play for their first 4-0 start in Sun Belt Conference his-tory when they host North Texas (3-5, 2-2) at 6 p.m. on Saturday for Homecom-ing.

The Red Wolves (5-2, 3-0) are one win away from being bowl eligible after defeating Florida Interna-tional last Tuesday.

Not only would it be ASU’s best conference start, it would give the Red Wolves their first five-game winning streak since the 1986 season when they won eight in a row.

Up on Top

North Texas’ win over Louisiana-Lafayette last Saturday ended the Ca-juns’ six game win streak, placing the Red Wolves in the league’s number one spot.

Freeze said the target on ASU’s back won’t get in the way of the team’s suc-cess.

“We won’t change our message at all. Every game you play in this league, you can get beat or win,” he said. “We preach one game at a time, one play at a time. We won’t change the way we go about prepar-ing or the way we address team at all.”

Although it may be on the team’s and coach-es minds, bowl eligibility is not what beating North Texas is all about.

“Goal number one was to compete for conference and number two was to go to a bowl game,” Freeze said.

“But we haven’t talked about it and we don’t plan to. North Texas has im-proved every game, so our question is how do we deal with where we are now?

On the Down Low

“[Bowl eligibility] is something we don’t plan on talking about until it

becomes a reality.” Freeze continued.

Freeze said his biggest concern with the team is over-confidence in the way the Red Wolves handle suc-cess.

“As we work on changing the mind set here and the expectations of our kids, the first thing that can be our enemy is ourselves.

"We talked about that yesterday and know that none of us really had an idea of how [the season] would work out this year,” Freeze continued.

“I do think the first en-emy that will creep up af-ter winning a few games and hearing...the excite-ment level of all the peo-ple around our program is something we should be on guard about.”

A Green Offense

North Texas’ sophomore quarterback Derek Thomp-son had a career high per-formance last week against Louisiana-Lafayette with 332-yards passing on 23-of-39 attempts.

Thompson also threw three touchdown passes af-ter going two games with out one.

The UNT offense came alive against ULM, earn-ing 459 yards of total of-fense in a 38-21 win.

“[Thompson and the of-fense] have gotten bet-ter and better every week. They played a brutal early week schedule facing Ala-bama, Tulsa, and Houston, and opening up at FIU for a young team.

“This is a brand new sys-tem for them and I’m cer-tain they’re all still learn-ing,” Freeze said.

“Saturday night was some form of validation for the kids and coaches there showing they were getting more comfortable and the quarterback had a great game. They were able to throw the football effective-ly which they haven’t done a lot of. They are more of a dual threat team.”

North Texas will also have a dangerous running back in their backfield in the form of senior Lance Dunbar.

Dunbar has 672 yards rushing on the season and five touchdowns. Against Lafayette, Dunbar had 139 yards rushing and one touchdown.

In the last two meetings between the teams, Dun-bar totaled 126 yards rush-ing and one TD in 2009 and 105 yards and a touchdown in 2010.

Aplin’s Way

Arkansas State’s own quarterback, junior Ryan Aplin, has recorded at least 300-yards in four games this season, ranking him 13th nationally with 304.9 yards of total offense per game.

Aplin set a career high in rushing with 164-yards against FIU, though Freeze said only five quar-terback runs were called all night.

Freeze said balancing Aplin’s skill with his feet and his passing game is difficult.

“The course the game takes will define all of that. Some of the runs the other night were not called quar-terback runs, but it is our system that if [their de-fense] gives you pull reads on the zone game, you got to make them pay for it, and he did that well,” Freeze said.

Since the 2003 season, ASU has won seven of their last eight Homecom-ing games.

Arkansas State is 55-27-1 all-time in Homecom-ing contests and hope to re-deem themselves after last year’s Homecoming loss to Louisville.

Arkansas State holds a 12-8 lead against the Mean Green and have won the last six meetings.

The game will kick off at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at ASU Stadium and can be heard on 107.9 FM.

Bring on the MeanAshley Helliwell/Herald

Junior quarterback Ryan Aplin throws a pass over the head of defensive lineman Brandon Joiner during practice Tuesday at ASU Stadium. Joiner has recorded a partial sack in nine of the last 12 ASU games dating back to last season.

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Daniel McFadin Sports Editor

John Brady’s 2011-12 ASU men’s basketball team has quite a bit to live up to after last season.

Seven months after see-ing their season end in the second round of the Sun Belt tournament, the Red Wolves will return to the Convocation Center this Saturday for the first of two exhibition games with a 1 p.m. tip off against Cen-tral Baptist.

The game will mark the return of a team that was the first ASU men’s bas-ketball squad to go unde-feated at home in 20 years.

Brady led the Red Wolves to a 13-0 record at home in his third season on the job, which helped ASU win the Western Division title.

The Red Wolves are the Sun Belt coaches pre-sea-son favorite to win the West this year, after receiving eight first place votes.

“We’ve gone from last to first in three years in the Western Division. I think we’re in the discussion,” said Brady, who is 47-46 after three years at ASU.

“We have to meet that expectation by making practices challenging and difficult. But it’s a bet-ter place to be than three years ago when we were picked to finish last.”

Early practices have fo-cused on rebounding and defending to develop tough-ness and competitiveness Brady said, in order to help the team “understand that sometimes offensive-ly you’re not going to make every shot.

“But if you play with ef-fort and you understand defending and rebound-ing, you have a shot to be in most games regardless of whether or 5 for 6 or 2 for 6 from the field.”

Last season ended with-out the services of junior Trey Finn, who suffered a torn patella tendon in the week leading up to the Sun Belt tournament.

Finn started in all 31 regular season games last year, while averaging 8.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, which ranked third on the team.

“We’re taking it easy with him, the doctors have released him. We let him go on how he feels. He’ll go a couple of days, [then] ice it down,” Brady said. “Trey

has earned that right be-cause of the player he is and kind of person he is. If it was totally up to him, he’d be out there playing on a peg if he had to.”

When Finn is at full strength, he will work with perimeter shooters junior guard Marcus Hooten and sophomore guard Edward Townsel.

Townsel averaged 4.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 31 games last year.

“We thought last year he had some really good games for us,” Brady said.

“What we’ve been work-ing with him…and watch-ing film on, is taking care of the ball when the game becomes half court. In the open floor, his speed is a good as anybody’s in the league.”

Hooten, a junior college transfer from Copiah-Lin-coln, averaged 21.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while leading his team in free throw accuracy with 72 percent.

The three returning starters for the Red Wolves fofllowing the departure of Donald Boone and Rashad Allison are Finn, senior center Martavius Adams and junior forward Bran-don Peterson.

Other returning letter men include junior guard Adam Sterrenberg and se-nior forward Malcoln Kirk-land.

“I like Martavius, I like Malcoln. They bring us some experience, they know what it’s about, Bra-

dy said. “We’re going to keep them closer to the bas-ket and give the perimeter more options out front.”

The regular season for ASU will tip off with an away game at Lamar on Nov. 11, eight days after the final exhibition game against Henderson State.

The first home game that counts will be Nov. 15 against Missouri State.

Of their 16 conference games, seven of them will take place at the Convoca-tion Center.

Notable non-conference games this season include the first game against Cen-tral Arkansas since 1956 on Dec. 10, away games at Ohio University and Louisville, and two games against Seattle.

Even though they did not win the Sun Belt cham-pionship last year, the Red Wolves will have a target on their backs as the de-fending Western Division champions.

That is a challenge Bra-dy believes his team is ca-pable of handling.

“We have size, we have experience, we have a good influx of recruits that have brought positive additions to our team,” Brady said.

“If we focus on the things that are necessary that lend themselves to winning and not have any distractions along the way, I feel we...have a chance on our schedule outside of possible one team, maybe two; to beat everyone else we play.”

Men’s hoops begin defense of division title Saturday versus Central Baptist

Staci Vandagriff/HeraldMen’s basketball head coach John Brady addresses the media during the ASU

press day on Oct. 20. Brady is 328-262 in 20 seasons of head coaching.

North Texas visits Jonesboro for Homecoming

PhotosPAGE 4 Thursday, Oct. 27 The Herald

HOWLoween Homecoming

The annual homecoming step show took place on Wednesday night at the ASU Convocation Cen-ter. This year the ladies of Alpha Gamma Delta (Top center) placed first with their rendition of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Placing second was the Chi Omega sorority (Top left) followed by Alpha Omicron Pi placing third. (Top Right) Appearing for the first time this year was A Touch of Class dance team (Top).

Ashley Helliwell/Herald

Abdullah Raslan/HeraldAshley Helliwell/Herald

Abdullah Raslan/Herald

Ashley Helliwell/Herald

Staci Vandagriff/Herald Abdullah Raslan/Herald

(Left) Harry Higgins, freshman business administration major of South Africa, participated in the Fear Factor event held Tuesday at the Sun Belt Lounge.(Top left) Students participate in a pumpkin carving contest Tuesday at Centennial Hall.(Top right) Delta Zeta sorority member tries to knock a bottle of water using a ball placed in a pair of panty hose.

NEWSPAGE 5 Thursday, Oct. 27 The Herald

On Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Sunbelt Lounge, the Student Activities Board will be hosting an event featuring award-winning spoken word performers, The ASIA Project. The event will also feature FREE Starbucks beverages. The event is free to all members of the ASU-J community.

PROFESSOR, CONTINUED

Campus Crime

Oct. 20

UPD officer Robert Peevey reported he had noticed a vehicle parked in Village Apartments with the taillights on occupied with two subjects. Peevey said 42-year-old Eric Taylor was in the driver’s seat. The passenger’s name was not released.

Peevey reported he asked both of them if they were students. The two stated they were just visiting a friend in the apartments. Peevey had dispatch check for local warrants on both occupants. Peevey said dispatch advised him that Taylor had two warrants out of Craighead County. The warrants were confirmed as two COC non-payments of fine warrants with a cash-only bond of $1,470.

According to Peevey, Taylor was taken into custody and handcuffed and was transported to the Craighead County Detention Center without incident. A contact card was completed on the passenger but Peevey did not report of any warrants for him.

Oct. 22

On Saturday, UPD officer Ron Smith reported that communications received a call that 21-year-old Ian Simmons was in Kays Hall and that he had been banned from all university housing property. Smith said Simmons was found in room 223 and was placed under arrest for criminal trespass and was transported to the Craighead County Jail.

DIFFERENCE, CONTINUED

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major of Jonesboro.Students can make donations to

“Love in a Bag” through donation jars at Kays Hall, University Hall and Arkansas Hall.

They also have a donation jar set up at Tropical Smoothie on East Net-tleton Avenue and 20 percent of the profits made there 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Nov. 3.

Another group is also working to help the homeless. They are work-ing with the Memphis Union Mis-sion whose facilities cater to home-less in the Memphis area. Their goal is to raise money to provide a free weekend stay for 220 homeless in Memphis. “A lot of people don't real-ize this, but it costs money for peo-ple to stay at homeless shelters,” said Harper.

They are also starting a student organization called Step Up with the mission statement “to create and raise awareness of problems faced by developed nations and their com-munities.” They will have a table set up in the Student Union Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Elder is working with a group to raise money for Freedom Calls, an organization that provides internet connected computers that allow sol-diers to video call their families at home.

“Through their service, we have the rights we do. So I wanted to thank a few of them by raising mon-ey to connect them to their loved ones back here in the states,” Elder said.

“We hope that our project makes

a big positive impact on soldiers and their families,” said Bailey Sisson, a sophomore communication disorders of Vilonia.

Evans is part of a group hoping to help families through the Adopt-A-Family program, which takes dona-tions to supply families with items they need for Christmas. They have adopted four families already. “We're really just trying to cover as many families as we can,” Evans said.

Harper seemed confused that some didn't understand why this type of project was in an Oral Communica-tions course.

“When most people think of the Oral Communication, they think it's all about giving speeches,” Harp-er said. Harper explained that there are actually three sections in oral communications: public speaking, small group communication and one-on-one communication. “A project like these forces students to used all three types of communication.”

“I'm more open and more easy about talking to business people and organizations,” Evans said.

Step Up member Jeanette Merca-do, a sophomore international busi-ness of Wynne, says that communi-cation between her group has been good.

Fellow group member Beth Crowe, a sophomore interdisciplinary stud-ies major of Beebe, said making con-nections with some of the off-cam-pus businesses “has been the hardest part of this assignment.”

This is now the fifth year that Harper has given out this assign-

ment, and in that time he has seen what some students are capable of. Mike Gray, a graduate communica-tions studies major of Jonesboro, was one of Harper's Oral Communica-tions students.

Gray and his group started ASU 4 Kiva, which is now known as Arkan-sas Communication Colleges 4 Kiva.

Kiva is a non-profit organization that specializes in micro-loans, which are small personal loans through the organization to individuals around the world who are looking to start a business.

These loans are interest-free and smaller than what a bank would loan out.

A $25 loan can give people from remote parts of the world the funds needed to start a business.

“If you sent $25 to feed a family for a month, that's great, but you'll have to do it again the next month. With micro loans you can make them self sufficient,” Gray said.

When the loan is paid back, lend-ers have the choice to reinvest or col-lect their money. Arkansas Commu-nication Colleges 4 Kiva has raised $350 dollars but though reinvest-ment, it has actually lent out almost $4,000.

Gray said he would never have gotten involved with Kiva had it not been for Harper's class.

“When I start teaching, one of the first things I'm going to tell my class is 'before the semester is over, you are going to change the world,” he said.

professor of psychology and counseling.

In one of Risch’s let-ters, he wrote, “Tanja not only works very hard on her teaching, but she is always enthusiastic in a way that her passion be-comes contagious. She ele-vates all those around her by serving as an example of what excellent teaching is all about. Reflective of Dr. McKay being honored with the SEB-ESA Dis-tinguished Achievement Award in Teaching, it is my firm conviction that Dr. McKay is an outstanding nomination for the ESA Distinguished Achieve-ment Award in Teaching at the national level, and I enthusiastically nominate her.”

McKay, accompanied with her student, Jason Gaspar, will be leaving on Nov. 12 for Reno, Nev. for the ESA’s annual meeting, where they both will be presenting papers and Mc-Kay will be receiving her award.

Gaspar’s paper is on

fungal associates in mos-quito larvae, and McKay’s is on store product insects in rice mills. Her award will be presented during the awards session on Nov. 14, and consists of a plaque and a $500 prize.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to go to Ne-vada for this award,” she said.

McKay’s future plans include continuing her en-tomology research and teaching.

She would like to pursue more work in her favorite projects and add more in-formation and research to her insect collection.

“I like mosquito projects. We just finished a project examining dogs for heart-worms, that’s a nematode, and it’s very important for the Mississippi Delta area,” she said. “We’re cur-rently working on a flea project for cats and dogs. I’m going to stick with en-tomology research and it’s likely that I’ll always con-tinue teaching.”

student, Abdullah Aljawad, a junior finance major of Qatif, Saudi Ara-bia, said he did not have a conver-sation partner when he first arrived at ASU, but he would have liked to have had one because there were few Arab students then. “I had to speak English a lot,” he said.

While TICE provides opportuni-ties to speak English, Aljawad said having a conversation partner is not enough to get fully involved in the American culture.

Cooksey recommended interna-tional students use the language lab in the International Student Center to enhance speaking skills. “We actu-ally have a lot of good software,” she said.

Students can use headsets and audio television to practice listening and speaking in the language lab.

Cooksey also encouraged interna-tional students to visit the tutoring room in the International Student Center.

There are tutors who will be able to assist international students with listening and speaking skills on an individual basis, she said.

“Just practice, practice, practice,” Cooksey said.

She noted coming in touch with the native tongue is important for in-ternational students to enhance their speaking skills. If students have more opportunities to speak English, they would be more comfortable living in the foreign culture, Cooksey said.

PROGRAM, CONTINUED

Campus Crime

Briefs

PAGE 6 Thursday, Oct. 27 The HeraldCampus Corner

Homecoming Court '11• Major: Biology, pre-Professional• Hometown: Jonesboro• Hobbies: He likes hunting, fishing, meeting new people and putting a smile on anyone’s face he comes in contact with. He is also a member of Kappa Alpha.• What makes you a good candidate for Homecoming King? “I feel as if I represent ASU and Jonesboro very well. I am very involved on campus and in the community. I have many leadership roles at Arkansas State and I have a variety of volunteer services in the community.”

Broc Arender, Senior

Justin Dupree, Senior

• Major: Political Science, pre-Law• Hometown: Stuttgart• Hobbies: He likes basketball, working out, church, community service and helping others succeed. • What makes you a good candidate for Homecoming King? “I embody everything an ASU student should such as intelligence, school spirit and a will to succeed. I take honor in being a Red Wolf and representing my constituents well and giving back to the community.”

Hunter Petrus, Junior

• Major: Management and Marketing• Hobbies: He likes being outdoors, camping, hiking and hunting. He is also a member of Sigma Chi.• What makes you a good candidate for Homecom-ing King? “I would say a good king is someone who rep-resents the University well through academics, leader-ship and school spirit. I definitely strive everyday to do just that and make ASU even better than it already is.”

• Major: Economics and Journalism• Hometown: Lake City• Hobbies: He likes hanging out with his Alpha Lamb-da Chi brothers, attending ASU athletic games and jiu jitsu. • What makes you a good candidate for Homecom-ing King? “A good candidate for homecoming is a person who has a passion for life at ASU, has a relationship with fellow students and teachers and strives to accomplish their goals in college and at life for their future.”

JP Phillips, Senior

• Major: International Business • Hometown: Jonesboro• Hobbies: He loves to travel and said “music is the rea-son I get out of bed every morning.” He is also a member of Sigma Chi.• What makes you a good candidate for Homecom-ing King? “I am very passionate about this university and I am very honored to be elected on the 2011 Home-coming Court. I have dedicated a lot of time to the uni-versity, and it is a huge reward to serve on the court. I know that any of the four other guys will represent the university well, but I would be ecstatic to represent my peers and mentors. I love this university and would do anything to better the campus.”

Taylor Woodruff, Senior

Candi Biggers, Senior

• Major: Communications Disorders• Hometown: Jonesboro• Hobbies: She likes to spend time with her friends, family and boyfriend, exercising, running and shop-ping.• What makes you a good candidate for Homecom-ing Queen? “I am a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, an Orientation Leader, Vice-President of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and Co-Captain of Diamond Dolls. I volunteer regularly with the NEA Down syndrome Association Buddy Walk, Mir-acle Rodeo, Relay for Life and the United Cerebral Palsy Telethon. I pride myself in how much I love ASU.”

Alyssa Goodin, Junior

• Major: Biology, pre-Professional• Hometown: Wynne• Hobbies: She likes playing golf, singing, working in the community with her Chi Omega sisters and being with her family and friends. • What makes you a good candidate for Home-coming Queen? “I feel like I am a good candidate for Homecoming Queen because I represent a vast major-ity of ASU through participating in ASU Women’s Golf, Greek Life and ASU Honors College.”

Kohl McCone, Senior

• Major: History and Fine Arts Theatre• Hometown: Monticello• Hobbies: Checking things off her bucket list such as skydiving and spending her 21 birthday at the midnight premier of Harry Potter. She also competes in pageants and held the title of Miss Arkansas International 2010. • What makes you a good candidate for Home-coming Queen? “I have worked with or for students on campus the Student Activities Board, Student Gov-ernment Association and Orientation Leader. I am so thankful for the opportunities at ASU and the students and faculty that have provided me with a home away from home. I love ASU. HOWL YES!”

• Major: Biology, pre-Professional • Hometown: Batesville• Hobbies: She loves physical fitness, running, serving Central Baptist Church, being involved on campus with community service and singing. • What makes you a good candidate for Home-coming Queen? “I love ASU and the students here. I have a lot of school spirit and am a die-hard fan. I repre-sent not just one group of people but also the every day student.

Arielle Moss, Senior

• Major: Exercise Science• Hometown: Jonesboro• Hobbies: She is Alpha Gamma Delta President, a Wolf Ambassador, a part of the Honors College Associa-tion, Physical Therapy Student Association and is the Sigma Chi Sweetheart. • What makes you a good candidate for Homecom-ing Queen? “I feel like I would be a great Homecoming Queen for Arkansas State because the queen should be someone who cares about their academics, is involved on campus, as well as, the community and has a great reputation; and I possess all four of those qualities.”

Haley Petrus, Senior

ASU students can learn more about the 2011 Homecoming Court on the Student Activities Board's Facebook page through the "Meet the Candidate" interviews. Be sure to vote for your favorite Homecoming King and Queen Nominee. Voting opened at 9 a.m. today and will close at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Special Occasions Entertain-ment is hosting the first Zombie Walk in Jonesboro on ASU cam-pus Nov. 5. Edward and Karen Under-wood are able to host the walk on campus through the nursing department. They decided to host a Zom-bie Walk to raise money and awareness for the American Red Cross. “Fifty percent of the ticket profits we get will go to the American Red Cross,” Karen said. “A portion of proceeds for zombie costume ideas bought at the Golden Grotto will also be donated to the Red Cross. The

Red Cross will also have booths set up for donations and will probably have some information about what the American Red Cross does and info about volun-teering.” The Zombie Walk will begin and end at The Edge Coffeehouse off Aggie Road. The walk starts at 2 p.m. The zombies will walk from The Edge to the front of the library, make their way to Caraway then to Johnson and back to The Edge where they can sit and enjoy a meal or drink with their fellow zombies. “The Zombie Walk is a fun, quirky way for people to get in-volved with the American Red Cross and to get to dress up like a zombie,” Edward said. “It would

be great if ASU students could dress up how they would for their major and tweak it some-how to look like a zombie. That way it symbolizes more of what a real zombie apocalypse would look like. We would have zombie nurses, zombie bookworms, zom-bie athletes, zombie everything.” The Underwoods do have a code of conduct for the zombies participating in the event. “The zombies should stay in a group and not completely dis-turb others on campus,” Karen said. “We don’t want to hassle those not in the walk. We want everyone to dress up and have fun with it, but to be present-able. No too revealing clothes or too disturbing costumes.” If the Zombie Walk is a success

this year, the Underwoods are hoping to make this an annual event on campus. “We are hoping for at least 100 zombies,” Edward said. “Halloween will still be on students’ minds,” Karen said. “So they can extend their Halloween festivities one more weekend by coming out and dressing up like zom-bies.” Those interested in partic-ipating in the Zombie Walk need to purchase tickets in advance at specialoccasion-sentertainment.com for $25. Participants can also find sign and costume ideas along with the rules on the web-site.

Michaela KaberlineCampus Corner Editor

The Zombie Walk will begin at 2 p.m., Nov. 5 at The Edge Coffeehouse.

photo courtesy of specialoccasionsentertainment.net

Zombie Walk to benefit American Red Cross