Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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•__News Registrar from page 1 Computer Services to get Web-based prod ucts to student and faculty, said Stan Yarbrough, director of information sys tems at Computer Services. The registrar and Computer Services work together through the Visual Infor mation Processing system Web page (http://vip.sc.edu). Seventy-two percent of registration transactions this fall were online, Yaibrough said. Psychology senior Jessica Rozinski, a transfer student from Canada, ljkes the idea of registering on VIP as opposed to waiting in line to have her courses ap proved. “It was great. It was easy,” she said. “It was better than actually having to stand in line to wait for different courses to be approved.” Business freshman Tranaka Oglesby said the VIP Web page was “efficient and simple.” In her University 101 class, she learned how to use the Web page. jne aiso learneu now 10 sei up cam pus e-mail, how to find dates and times of campus events, and how to drop and add classes. “I feel like I know a little more about campus, and if I don’t know, I can find out,” she said. Computer Services will be working on a new e-mail system for the universi ty, and it will probably be ready by fall 2000, Yarbrough said. After it’s ready, the registrar will use it and think of new ways to communicate with students. Under this system, every one would have the same server. H The idea of putting grade distributions online has been well received at the Uni versity of Indiana and other universities. This means that students can get the grade distributions and GFAs of each class from the past semester before registering for classes. However, this hasn’t become a priority at USC. “I think it’s going to be the new wave of the future,” Blaney said During registration, the registrar gets assistance from the Bursar, Financial Aid and Admissions. They help out with the process of paying fees and sending out scholarships. Students can get transcript informa . tion by coming to customer services on the third floor of Petigru, calling the registrar’s office, using the telephone or e-mail. Rozinski is familiar with the registrar’s office. She has visited there a few times “to get her record straight” after trans ferring. The registrar is now working on a new computer program, where people can interact on the Web page with someone from customer services. Blaney said the program is tenta tively being called “Live Help.” The pro- . viding of good information is paramount, she said. “We’re going to provide as many ways to get to the information as possible,” she said. The registrar works with the acade mic department by giving information to deans and advisers, so they know how to advise a student. Also, the registrar works with the de partment to let professors know which sections of a class are full. Also, me registrar worKs wnn Mous ing. Housing tells the registrar who is liv . ing on campus and makes sure the regis trar has that student registered. Blaney she stresses the importance of two-way communication with students, too. “We need more opportunities to in teract with students because we don’t hear what they need sometimes,” she said. The registrar not only takes students’ questions seriously, but also their ideas, she said. “We like to hear from students,” she said. “Sometimes they have the best ideas of all.” The registrar will collaborate with Fi nancial Aid and the Bursar’s office to form a “one-stop center” in the near future. “We’ll have a core office that knows how to solve problems in all offices,” Blaney said. She said the office will be like the VIP Web page and do everything in one place. Leaders from page 1 they will also learn about time manage ment, team-building methods, goal-set ting techniques, campus resources and appreciating diversity, she said. All Emeig ing Leaders are also required to complete a community service project. Students participate in weekly lead ership activities and assemble as a group to listen to a campus or commu nity leader. Past speakers have included USC President John Palms, Vice President for Student and Alumni Services Dennis Pruitt and Director of Student Life Jer ry Brewer. Emeiging Leaders will be meeting student leaders, campus administrators, fellow future leaders, key contacts and university staff. “Emeiging Leaders is a wonderful opportunity to get involved. It is one of the best structured programs at USC,” Brewer said. Freshmen interested in joining Emeiging Leaders must fill out an appli cation first, stating what community and extracurricular activities they were in volved in during high school. They also have to answer questions, such as “What do you expect to gain as a student at USC?” and “What do you hope to become involved in as a student here at USC?” Freshmen have until Tuesday to turn in the application. There are no more than 75 spaces in the program, so fresh men are encouraged to apply early. Once students graduate from the Emeiging Leaders program, they are con sidered an Emeiging Leaders mentor and sometimes decide to continue their lead ership education. Spring Board is an organization that allows Emerging Leaders mentors to con tinue their leadership training. “Spring Board is an organization based on leadership education. This is the next step a student will take as an Emerging Leader graduate,” Benton said. All sophomores, juniors and seniors with prior leadership experience are en- ^ couraged to apply. Students who are interested in the Emerging Leaders program or who would like additional information about other leadership opportunities can call the Cam pus Activities Center at 777-6688. Biology from page 1 simply be associated with this is a priv ilege.” Vance said that her “booster se quence” would be commercialized. A company has already licensed it. “This is really useful information. People can make a huge profit off of it. They can grow tobacco to make good things,” Vance said. Vance’s research is only one of about 100 projects that take place in the de partment of biological sciences. De partment chairman Frank Betger said that with 41 fac ulty members, each probably works on two to three projects. “Our experiments span the entire spectrum from research about molecules to environmental science,” Berger said. The biology labs are in Coker Life Sciences, but they might move to the physical sciences building when the chemistry and biochemistry labs move to the new graduate research center. Faculty members occupy the labs, but they have graduate students doing thesis research with them, and under graduates may work a semester or more with a faculty member. Research gets funding from differ-' ent agencies, such as the National Sci ence Foundation, Department of Ener gy and the National Institutes of Health. Many of the labs use animals in experi ments. “We work with animals like fish, mollusks, insects, mice, and some re search involves rats,” Beiger said. Before animals can be used in the . labs, researchers must obtain an ani mal-use protocol. An Animal Care Committee meets to approve the usage of all ver tebrates in all labs. They look at the va lidity of the research and also check to be sure that the animals are treated with care. ' Animals are either collected from the wild or provided by commercialized oiganizations. Beiger works on a project research ing the treatment and management of colon cancer in which mice are used. “We are trying to find better ways to reduce the toxicity of the drugs used in chemotherapy,” Beiger said. This research project is a collabora tion of the departments of chemistry and biochemistry, as well as the South Car olina Cancer Center at Palmetto Rich land. Using mice as subjects, they are try ing to find a resistant from of an enzyme to put into bone marrow cells so that the dosages of chemotherapy can be in creased. They are also trying to under stand the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs. Undergraduate Katherine Trexler works with DNA mutations in the lab. She said, “Lab puts perspective from what you learn in class. It gives you a place to apply what you learn in class.” Another current project involves cleaning up the environment. Laszlo Marton has been working for four years to genetically engineer plants to accu mulate heavy metals so that they can be harvested and recycled. “We have to be careful about the en vironment. Time is running out; we can no longer wait. We have to do something to improve the environment and elimi nate pollution,” Marton said. He believes that the cord grass sparti na can collect the heavy metals in the tops of plants, instead of at the roots, when a yeast gene is introduced to it. He has also found that spartina cells are beneficial because their cells pro duce an enzyme that will break down halogenated oiganic compounds in the environment. 1 He plans to take the gene that codes for the enzyme and introduce it to oth er plants. Research associate Mihaly Czako and graduate student Thomas Lockwood aid Marton in lab. Lockwood said, “If we can get this project to work, it would be a tremen dous ecological as well as economical value. I do believe it is going to succeed.” Biology labs keeping busy Faculty in the department of biological sciences are working on dozens of research projects. Among them: • Professor Vicki Vance has created a process that would , allow tobacco plants to produce anti-cancer drugs. • Professor Frank Berger is researching the treat ment and management of colon cancer in which mice are used. • Professor Laszlo Marton is working on genetical ly engineering plants to accumulate heavy metals so they can be harvested and recycled. 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