Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South Carolina T7T? TTA A V TATT ^T7 A AT^TT T? 'i. A C\C\d. Vol 98, No. 51 www.dailygamecock.com F IVLJ_'i\l ^ J_' r/V^/ F;|V1JD F/JlV Aj Z UU I Since 1908 IN THIS ISSUE ♦ NEWS Powell’s spoiled 1 diplomatic visit Dozens are killed in a Haiti prison riot while Secretary of State Colin Powell was visiting the country. Page 4 ♦VIEWPOINTS All you need is cash-money Steven Van Haren says the spirit of Christmas spending is being consumed by foolish . iove and kindness. Page 5 ♦THE MIX Dreaming of a debut Local band Guitar Show to play New Brookland to promote new album. Page 6 ♦ SPORTS Quick start for men’s hoops USC defeats the ASU Mountaineers 91-57. I Page 9 WEATHER ♦ TODAY High 61 Low 33 ♦THURSDAY High 58 Low 33 FOR EXTENDED FORECAST, SEE PAGE 2. INDEX Comics and Crossword.8 Classifieds.11 Horoscopes.8 Letters to the Editor.5 Online Poll.5 Police Report.2 V Nursing student dies from heart failure ■ Cindy Tamania was president of Open-Door program By TAYLOR SMITH STAFF WRITER Cindy Garcia Tamania, a fourth-year nursing student, died Tuesday morning of heart failure. She was 21. Tamania was the president of the Open-Door program and the vice president of service fraternity Gamma Beta Phi. Her friends and loved ones remember her as a person committed to helping others. Friends say she never put herself before others. She was a 2001 graduate of • Goose Creek High School. “She was just a great person and bright student,” said Vanessa Caoile, a fourth-year electronic journalism student and Tamania’s childhood friend. Caoile said she grew close to Tamania as the girls grew up. At USC, Caoile said, Tamania had been ill for a long time, and after Tamania left high school, her health started failing. Caoile would not go into details about Tamania’s illness. “When we got into college, we didn’t see each other much because she was so busy and she developed new friends like I did too,” Caoile said, adding: “Her death has affected me. It was a hard blow. You can’t imagine someone that close dying.” “I knew that she was suffering, but she never wanted to acknowledge it.” The funeral is today at 10 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Goose Creek. Tamania is survived by her parents, Godofredo G. Tamania and Carina Garcia Tamania, both of Goose Creek. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@givm.sc. edu PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHAS MCCARTHY/THE GAMECOCK USC has several dean vacancies, including at the School of Music. Provost Mark Becker says turnover isn’t necessarily a bad thing. HELP WANTED Vacant dean positions give administration revolving-door image By KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK With nearly half of academic dean positions recently seeing turnover or expecting new hires in coming months, USC’s administration is rapidly changing face. Five new dean searches are underway, and two new deans have accepted positions at the university this year. Students graduating after four years of study have seen all but a handful of deans stay in their positions, while USC President Andrew Sorensen is in only his third year on the job an^ Provost Mark Becker has barely completed his third month since moving here from the University of Minnesota, where he served as dean of the public health school. Becker said, however, that this kind of turnover is common among universities and estimated that more than half of deans across the nation serve less than five years. He added that some deans are opting for retirement to qualify for a state retirement benefit program. Finalists have been named in the search for the new South Carolina College of Pharmacy dean position and for the Arnold School of Public Health, ♦ Please see DEANS, page 4 I Dean Vacancies Music, School of-Jamal Rossi, Leaving USCfor Another Position in May 2005, search in progress * ’ South Carolina College of Pharmacy - Joint search with MUSC in progress Public Health, Norman J. Arnold School of-interim dean serving, search in progress Social Work, College of- interim dean serving Search in Progress South Carolina Honors College - Peter Sederberg, retiring June 2005. Search in progress * Newly formed college as the result of merger. SOURCE: PROVOST’S OFFICE Administrators meet with College Summit ■ Group gives underprivileged youth chance for college By JON TURNER THE GAMECOCK USC officials held a reception Thursday night for representatives from College Summit, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing college attendance among academically eligible but socially disadvantaged high school students. College Summit CEO J.B. Schramm spoke to USC and state officials, including state superintendent of education Inez Tenenbaum and USC vice president of student affairs Dennis Pruitt. Student Government president Zachery Scott was also in attendance. Schramm thanked the USC administration for its support of the partnership. “They’ve shown they’re committed, and they’ve rolled up their sleeves. So we’re really grateful for that,” he said. College Summit encourages disadvantaged students “better than their numbers” to succeed in life by working with them one-on-one, “eyeball to eyeball,” Schramm said. “In South Carolina, there are at least 3,000 students lost every year, and if we fix the system, we can see every one of V them ending poverty in their family line forever.” Pruitt spoke for USC President Andrew Sorensen, who was speaking at an AIDS conference in Canada. He said it was lucky the school had encountered the program. “It was kind of a right time, right place kind of thing,” Pruitt said. “We were actually going to design our own to do this to help students from South Carolina have access and figure out more ways to make it affordable to go to college.” U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., initially suggested the program, and was scheduled to give closing remarks, but couldn’t; make it to the reception. The College Summit program was much more evolved than anything USC could have produced right off the bat, Pruitt said. “We always think we can do it better, but we met with them, and the program they had was far beyond what we could design, much further along in terms of implementation. “After talking to them, we said, ‘Why would we spend all this on our own program when they have the model.’ And not only do they have the model, but they have a successful 4 model,” he said. College Summit boasts a 79 percent college enrollment rate among its students, and an 80 percent college retention rate, almost double the national average for socially or economically disadvantaged students. The program now serves almost 5,000 students across the country, and College Summit representatives said they hope to expand the program to include muic 5LUUUU in me Midlands and Lowcountry. Tenenbaum said she attended the reception to support the program. “We are always interested in helping education,” she said. “Education is the cornerstone for success. Properly educated people can rise above any situation in life.” A one-on-one approach as espoused by the College Summit program is often the solution in dealings with V reluctant students, Tenenbaum said. “I think many times it’s just having someone in your high school who listens especially to you.” • Pruitt said it was time for USC to make an effort to reach out to disadvantaged students. “The University of South Carolina has always been a haven for those kinds ♦ Please see SUMMIT, page 4 . tf) NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK J.B. Schramm is founder and CEO of College Summit, a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged youth get into college. Engineering school opts for software partnership By TAYLOR SMITH STAFF WRITER After helping to start a computer software company several years ago, USC has signed an agreement with Interactive Data Visualization to develop and sell their new program, which could bring new revenue to the school and to students. The company signed the licensing deal with the cooperation of the USC College of Engineering and Information Technology. The program the company designed, called SD3, is an innovation in system design for the building of ships and other complex structures and will be used for military applications. “I am very excited,” said Chris King, president of IDV. “We have wallowed in anonymity and this is our coming out party.” The program is innovative, King says, in allowing the designer of the systems to create their structures from not just a mechanical level, like previous applications, but the electrical level as well. He said this would enable the designer to simulate crisis situations, such as a torpedo attack of a submarine or boat, without switching applications on the computer. “It is not inconceivable for SD3 to become premiere in the world as to the number of mechanical and electrical . operations you can do,” said King, who started IDV with the help of the USC technology incubator. “A lot of our blood, sweat and tears are with USC and we wanted to go to them first.” Roger Dougal, an electrical engineering professor, started this program in 1996 with ♦ Please see DEAL, page 4 Family fund receives boost in donations By KEVIN FELLNER THE GAMECOCK The USC Family Fund, a campaign in which faculty and staff members can give a portion of their paychecks back to the university’s annual fund, has soared to an all time high this year and has nearly doubled the total for this time last year. A growing trend among universities, the initiative to have employees giving to the university in the same way alumni do, has generated $945,000 this fiscal year compared to $500,000 at the same time last year. Now in its 26th year, the Family Fund has more than 200 advocates spread throughout every university department encouraging faculty and staff members to offer as little as a few dollars off every month’s pay or a single annual donation to help fund academics in a particular department or in the form of an unrestricted donation. Family Fund chairman and USC baseball coach Ray Tanner said advocates of the program are doing their best to get the message to the entire university that employees should and do show support for the students. “We’re all here because of USC students, and these young men and women are counting on our involvement with their education,” Tanner said. Annual Giving Director Lola Mauer said having a strong show of financial support allows alumni to see how much people directly involved with students’ daily lives want to help. “And I bet 99 percent of the students don’t even know this exists,” she said, adding that officials from other universities have contacted her office to learn how to start similar programs on their campuses. ♦ Please see FUND, page 4 V