Who Will Get Your Vote?

The Retriever Weekly is running an informal poll on their website - head over there and vote for your favorite SGA Presidential candidate! Results will be published in an upcoming issue of the newspaper.

Debates Online

UMBCtv has posted a recording of the live video stream from the debates. If you were unable to attend or just want to refresh yourself about what was said I highly recommend watching it.

Check it out here. Comments can be left on the UMBCUnderground post.

After 90 days in Annapolis...

Each year, the Maryland General Assembly meets for 90 days from January to April. Last night, the 2008 Session ended. Here is a brief list of highlights from the session:

- no textbook-sale regulation was passed because the Senate and the House of Delegates could not come to agreement on minor details
- USM state funding increased 9% from last year
- UMBC state funding increased 8%
- with such funding, it seems as though Chancellor Kirwan is ready to propose a tuition freeze to the Board of Regents
- with a tuition freeze with the third straight year, Maryland public institutions will drop in cost from 6th in the nation (2005) to 16th (2008)

Governor O'Malley has worked hard over the past months with the legislature to maintain funding for higher education in order to keep tuition down. Even though the State is struggling economically, the Governor and the Legislature made higher education a priority by minimizing cuts from the Governor's proposed budget.

So where from here? In the coming weeks, I will be working with campus-based administrators, students, and faculty to see if we can address some of the issues related to textbook sales for the coming fall semester that were not addressed this session. These issues will include:
- publishing ISBN numbers, textbook editions, and other details on the selection of textbooks
- publishing this information well in advance of the start of the semester
- working with professors to submit textbook selections well in advance of the semester to give the bookstore ample time to place orders
- ensuring that professors are made aware of and consider the cost of potential textbook selections

Have questions, thoughts, or concerns? Contact me: (410) 294-8581 or joshmichael@umbc.edu

SGA Presidential Candidate Debates

The Election Board will be hosting a debate between the three President/Vice President tickets this week. Be sure to attend or submit questions beforehand to him via email (jmccaul1@umbc.edu). UMBCtv will be filming the debates, so they should be viewable after the fact via the UMBCtv website.

When: This Wednesday at 7:00 PM.

Where: Student Organizations Space, 2nd floor of the Commons building (between Flat Tuesdays and the Gameroom)

Teacher Ratings Update

Well everyone, after much time, energy, and threats of physical violence, the compilation of the teacher ratings are very nearly complete. All we need to do now is get them up on the web and it will be over. Until that time though, I thought I would give you all a sneak peek of stats I thought were most interesting, the individual department rankings.

As you may know, the data that was used in these ratings were taken from the SCEQ bubble sheets that we all fill out at the end of each semester. The criteria I used in the judging were whether new insights/skills were learned, preparedness of the lectures, instructor interest in the subject, clarity of lecture material, and the overall effectiveness of the instructor. Each of these criteria were weighted differently also- insights, preparedness, and clarity were each 10%, instructor interest was 15%, and overall effectiveness was 55%. Everything is based on a 5 point scale with 5 being the best. The ratings are taken from the results for fall '07.

So, with that explanation out of the way, the top five departments were:

1. Archaeology 4.74/5
2. Greek 4.73/5
3. Admin Studies- Accounting 4.64/5
4. Music 4.63/5
5. EHS 4.56/5
5. Latin 4.56/5

Congratulations to those professors for outstanding work. Now for the bottom five:

46. Computer Science 4.10/5
47. Physical Education 4.05/5
48. Chemistry 3.91/5
49. Science 3.88/5
50. Mech. Engineering 3.87/5

Better luck to those departments. Hopefully they are enjoying a stronger spring semester.

I hope everyone stays tuned for when the site goes up with not only the rest of the department power rankings, but the rankings for the individual teachers as well.

Non-Smoking Policy Forum

About two years ago, as I was only a few weeks into my membership as a Senator my freshman year, I remember having to vote on a campus wide issue - creating a non-smoking policy. This rule would ban smoking 20 feet from any entrance to a building on campus as well as anywhere on the Academic Corridor. With a majority vote from the SGA Senate along with the GSA and one of the staff senates, the policy passed without much attention from the UMBC community. The next semester, the policy officially started and was to be "enforced." SGA actually sponsored a forum for the campus community to voice their concerns, but few showed up. All of a sudden, signs of Designated Smoking Areas popped out of nowhere and ash trays seemed to disappear. After a semester of headaches and frustration, the confusion seemed to go away, not necessarily because it was working, but perhaps because people stopped caring.

Now, thanks to C.E.A.S. and UHS, people finally want to make this work. Working with Campus Police and Chief Williams, implementation and enforcement of this policy will hopefully be taken seriously. Next Wednesday the 9th, CEAS is going to be sponsoring a forum to talk about the policy and concerns about the details. As more information becomes available, I will update this post.

--ICE-- a Success

Last night I had the opportunity to attend --ICE--, an event sponsored by the SGA's Office of Diversity Affairs. The event focused on celebrating the various cultures comprising the UMBC community through a fashion show of various styles and some unique performances.

From colorful outfits to exciting dances (and even an intense display of weaponry) the event showcased the people who make our campus so unique - and such a wonderful place to learn, not only academically but about our world.

Several other upcoming cultural events include ASIA and Norouz. ASIA is by far the largest Asian cultural event of the year and is being held this Friday night. Norouz is hosted by the Persian Students Association. I had the opportunity to attend it last year and had a wonderful time. This year tickets for students to both events are free, so if you're looking for something to do on campus this weekend, stop by the Commons info desk and pick up yours.

Elani Odeyale Addresses Prove It Winner Selection

Today, Green Space was announced as the 2008 Prove It! Winning Proposal. A well-developed proposal, the space will be both practical and aesthetically pleasing, using a well-trafficked but underutilized space. This project is realistically achievable within the upcoming months, and the campus community will be invited to share in the creation of this project. Green Space serves as symbol of Prove It!, demonstrating the significant potential of academic innovation and student ingenuity. Especially given the monetary and time constraints of the intiative, we believe this proposal best represents the ideals of Prove It!. Congratulations, once again, to Michelle, David and Thomas.

As the chair of the Selection Committee, it is imperative that I express how impressed we were by these final proposals. Each of the Final Five projects presented a worthy addition to our campus. It's equally important to consider the combination of factors that impacted our decision. As I stated in this afternoon's ceremony, Prove It! challenged the entire campus community and reflected the realities of creating change on such a large scale. We are currently coordinating a meeting with the finalists to share recommendations for important modifications as well as the next steps for each of the finalists. I am excited to say that this will not be the last we hear of the final proposals.

Thank you to all who were involved with Prove It!--from the students who accepted the challenge to submit their ideas to the staff members who worked tirelessly on advertising efforts--you are greatly appreciated and should take pride in your role in such a ground-breaking initiative.

Sincerely,

Elani

Elani Odeyale
Vice President, SGA
Prove It! Selection Committee Chair

Interested in contributing to Zwybak? Send an email to com2@umbc.edu

SGA Presidential Candiates

There are three tickets vying for SGA's Presidential office this year. All three have created websites with information on their platforms for students interested in getting more information.

Michael “SteelWolf” Comberiate (running mate = Sonia Siddiqui): steelwolfforchange.com

Steve Gilmore (running mate = Tokunbo Elegbe): http://gilmore.umbcsga.org/

Elani Odeyale (running mate = David A. Indek): http://umbcnow.com/

Remember, voting will be held from April 21-April 23 via Blackboard.

Prove It Announcement Ceremony

Prove It is gearing up to announce the winning proposal this Wednesday, March 26th in the UC Plaza.

From the invitation:

Come celebrate student ingenuity and its contribution to the UMBC community at the unveiling of the winning Prove It! proposal.

The "Final Five" proposals are...

• Student Creative Center
• Transforming the Study Place
• Revamping the UMBC Pond
• Green Space
• Ropes and Challenge Course

As always, more information is available on the official Prove It website, including short videos detailing each of the proposals.