In a few short weeks my husband John and I, along with various other family members, will be traveling to Indianapolis. We can’t wait to get on Highway 41 North and go. We also dread the trip. Our daughter, Lenore, needs a kidney transplant. Her older brother, Philip, is donating one of his kidneys to her. John and I try not to dwell on the idea of having two of our kids in surgery at the same time. It’s easier that way. Still, so many questions find their way into our thoughts.

Where will we all stay while we’re in Indy and how much hospital food can we stand? How will we divide our time between the two of them as they recuperate? Which one of us will go home with Philip and which one stays at the hospital with Lenore? How many trips back and forth to Indy will we be making in the next few months? Who gets to do all that driving and will Beverly (our car) hold up during all those miles? Who is going to take care of the pets while we are away? How long before we can each go back to work and get on with our lives? How much is all of this going to cost?

The support of family and friends means so much to all of us. We opened the Bernard Transplant Fund in anticipation of the out of pocket expenses to be incurred by the entire family. Donations to the fund will allow us to concentrate on getting Lenore and Philip healthy again.

Thank you.

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: MARY ANN BERNARD, senior administrative assistant in the Office of Development.

The USI Foundation has reactivated the USI Family Fund in order to accept gifts of support for the family. Lenore, a 2004 USI graduate, is currently working part-time at the David L. Rice Library. She will be unable to work for up to three months following the transplant and will need assistance with medical and living expenses.

Friends and colleagues who want to assist the Bernard family with medical and travel expenses may make a contribution to the USI Foundation/USI Family Fund, with a memo indicating it is for the Bernard family. The entire amount will be made available to assist the family. Please note that gifts to the USI Family Fund are not tax-deductible charitable gifts for income tax purposes and no receipts will be issued.

Contributions should be delivered to the Business Affairs office, WA 102 in the Wright Administration Building. For more information, contact Jean Devine in the Development office at 812/464-1918.

March brings thoughts of NCAA basketball tournaments, spring break, warmer weather, and orientation for the newest members of the USI family. Yes, we start orientation for our fall new students in March. Actually many on campus have been thinking about our fall 2009 class for over a year, preparing to meet and welcome the newest members of the Screaming Eagle family. Our first group will arrive on March 26 for orientation. The students that attend this orientation session received a special invite from the Provost. This group is some of our highest academic achieving students.

There are two different orientation programs offered to new students to the university. New Student Orientation is designed for a student entering a university for the first time (freshman) or a transfer student that has earned less than 19 credit hours at a previous institution. This session is a one-day program because we spend more time on university processes and resources. We also have special sessions for parents of our new students. Our second type of orientation is Transfer and Nontraditional Student Orientation. Students attending this session would include transfer students whom have earned more than 19 credit hours at another institution and students that are 25 years of age or older. This session is shorter (half day) and focuses on what that population needs to know. There is also students that don’t need to attend orientation and they include non-degree seeking students, distance education students, students who already have earned a bachelor’s degree and USI full-time staff and faculty. Students who have earned a bachelor’s degree and USI staff and faculty need to notify us so we can remove their orientation hold and then they can get registered for classes.

Orientation at USI is a collaborative effort between all divisions of the institution and Student Development Programs is merely the coordinating office. It takes all of us to welcome and help students get ready for their first semester of classes. We appreciate all that is done across campus to make the students orientation experience a positive and welcoming one.

In conjunction with orientation, students also take placement exams to determine first courses they will take in math, English, reading and foreign languages (optional). There have been changes made to the academic placement requirements for the upcoming year. If this is an area you work with, we highly encourage you to check-out the requirements at www.usi.edu/orientation/academic_placement. It is important that students take their required placement exams prior to orientation. Academic Skills has several options for students to complete this, including testing at 4, 5 or 6 p.m. the evening prior to an orientation session. We highly encourage students to test before the morning of orientation. Students with disabilities needs to file the necessary documentation with the Counseling Center 60 days before accommodations are needed.

The morning of orientation is filled with presentations by faculty and staff and small group discussions that are lead by our AMIGOS, current USI students. We cover areas like University Core Curriculum, academic requirements, differences between high school and college, reading your DARS report, financial aid, campus resources, housing, food service, security, technology, etc. After the presentations, students will have an advising appointment with their respective college or department and enroll in their fall and summer courses. They also have time to audition for one of the campus music groups, take a campus tour or a tour of university housing, met with a financial assistance counselor, and other departments across campus. At orientation, students are given a checklist of items that most new students need to take care of before classes start in the fall. We encourage students to work through that list during the afternoon.

We try to personal a student’s orientation experience. Each student is given an individual packet that includes information specific to them. This may include individual advising appointment information, honors information, placement test results, Living Learning Community information, MyUSI information, and personalized letters to their high schools. In addition, each student’s advising appointment is individualized by faculty and staff looking at past academic records, courses they may have transferred in or received through the CAP program, talking with the student about their abilities, etc. The faculty and staff take time to really personalize a student’s advising experience. We want students to have a positive and welcoming experience and this happens when we pay attention to the little details for each student.

There are fees associated with orientation. All new students to the university pay a matriculation fee ($65) the first semester they enroll in classes at USI. This fee covers the cost of many programs associated with helping our first year students adjust to USI, including orientation. Students will pay this fee, even if they choose not to attend orientation and wait to register for classes during open registration.

All new degree seeking admitted students for Summer 2009 and Fall 2009 have received a mailing from the Office of Student Development Programs with the orientation information in late February and others have or will receive it in their admission packet. To see a complete schedule for the orientation sessions and learn more about orientation, go to www.usi.edu/orientation. You are welcome to attend any of the orientation sessions to get a firsthand experience of the orientation process.

It is the beginning of an exciting month for basketball and exciting few months of welcoming the newest members of our family to campus. I hope you too feel the excitement!

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: CARMEN STOEN, director of Student Development Programs.

The Shield created a bit of a buzz on campus when an advertising insert for Southern Illinois University Carbondale tumbled out of the Feb. 26 edition.

To complicate matters, the ad, which promotes SIUC’s new offer of in-state tuition for students in Indiana and four other states, was placed on the stands just in time for another Southern Hospitality Days.

I spent the day seeking the answer to this question: “Should a university’s student newspaper allow a competing university to advertise?”

I posed the question to my colleagues from the College Media Advisors, a national organization of student newspaper advisors to which I belong.

I received eight responses from advisors at state universities who said their newspapers accept advertising from other universities. One of those advisors even asked me for the contact information for the person at SIUC who placed the ad – her paper wanted the revenue.

An advisor at a private college was the only person who said the student newspaper had a policy against running ads for other schools.

I also learned the same ad that ran in The Shield ran in seven other student newspapers.

I turned to the Student Publications Policy Manual to see if the students had overlooked an existing policy. Here is the newspaper’s advertising policy:

“All decisions regarding the types of advertising accepted by The Shield are at the discretion of the editorial board. The board may prohibit publication of any advertisement it deems inappropriate.”

Until last week, we had only measured “inappropriate” advertising based on whether an ad is offensive, jeopardizes the health and safety of students, or is prohibited by law. To our knowledge, The Shield has not previously been approached by another school to advertise undergraduate programs.

In light of this new category – competition from other schools –The Shield editorial board convened Thursday afternoon to review the policy. (The editorial board is composed of the editor in chief, managing editor, the copy editor, and all section editors. The advisor is present for editorial board meetings but does not have a vote).

After a lengthy discussion and debate, they voted to leave the policy as is except for a procedural modification that clarifies how the advertising and editorial departments communicate about questionable advertising materials.

The policy as written allows future editorial boards (which change every academic year) to interpret what is or is not appropriate.

If you are interested in reading the student’s rationale for their decision, you can find it on the opinion page in this week’s edition of The Shield.

One of the most common arguments The Shield makes when criticizing decision makers is the lack of transparency in the decision-making process. I’ve seen them do it time and time again.

As an advisor, I always remind them they also wield a significant amount power – the power of the printed word.

So when they write an opinion, make a decision, or run a controversial ad, I’m quick to remind them to hold themselves to that same standard of transparency.

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: ERIN GIBSON, instructor in journalism and advisor to The Shield.

Copy Services has just installed a Xerox 700 color printer that and we are excited to share the news. With the new printer, we are able to offer a 25 percent savings to the University community.

The Copy Services staff felt there were some important criteria the machine had to meet: it had to be capable of handling a range of paper stocks, including 100 pounds gloss cover. Registration (or alignment) of the image from sheet to sheet and from front to back on two-sided copies had to be excellent. We wanted tight registration, and this machine has plus or minus one millimeter, which is critical on postcards, flyers, catalogues, etc.

Thanks to the Xerox 700, we are now producing short-run color work that was previously sent off campus. The 700 is adding a cost-effective alternative for low quantity, full-color jobs.
Our goal is to grow the digital print production by expanding project opportunities and reducing costs. We wanted the flexibility to produce a wide variety of printed products on both coated and uncoated paper.

We can print or copy in full color at speeds up to 70 ppm (pages per minute). This machine provides exceptional image quality with the highest resolution available – 2400 x 2400 dpi (dots per inch) – producing smooth color sweeps; sharp, high-resolution photographs; crisp, clean text; outstanding gradients; and fine detail.

The Xerox 700 prints on coated and uncoated paper with a maximum sheet size of 12″ x 18″. The Xerox 700 Digital Color Press uses a proprietary low-melt EA Toner that prints full color at fast speeds with matte finish image quality. EA Toner is Xerox’s patented chemically-grown toner; its miniscule particles help ensure high-quality halftones, smooth transitions, and rich shadow detail. This environmentally-friendly, low-melt EA Toner requires less energy to manufacture and print, minimizing the impact on the environment.

Copy Services offers many other products and services, such as: black and white copies, transparencies, lamination, folding, scoring, wire-binding, comb-binding (booklets with plastic combs), and cutting, three-hole punch, stapling, and more.

Our vision is to provide USI’s students, faculty, and staff the capabilities to create, copy, and manage their documents in a professional manner. We will meet this goal by providing reliable, high-speed equipment, unwavering customer service, and convenient location and hours. We will operate the business in a manner that is fiscally responsible and provides a benefit to USI.

Questions? Call me at ext. 1889.

POST CONTRIBUTED BY: RONNIE SMITH, Copy Services supervisor.