6A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY OF LAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY,MAY 5,2009
NASA (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Karen Ohmes, Hutchinson junior, floats in zero gravity while aboard the Boeing 727. The experience was created by the rapid ascent and descent of the plane.
experiment cost about $4,000,
which Student Senate and various
science departments funded.
"It was really great getting to
"It was really know the other teams, collaborating with them and seeing their experiments." Ohmes said.
Ronald Barrett
zongalez, associate professor of aerospace engineering and the
"It was really great getting to know the other teams... and seeing their experiments."
KAREN OHMES
Hutchinson junior
teams' adviser, said the experiment was "wildly successful."
He said besides making technical progress on their experiment, the students were able to learn in a unique way.
"What's more important to me as an instructor is that they learned along the way and were able to experience things they could not
have in a classroom," Barrett-Gonzalez said.
He said he thought the students were able to reaffirm their enthusiasm for their future careers.
"I know a lot of people who go to work every day and hate what they do." Barrett Gonzalez said. "These
Edited by Susan Melgren
young people will wind up being the whole opposite of that. They will love what they do"
Because he had to miss two weeks of classes for training, Zacharias said he was unable to turn in projects. He said most of his teachers were understanding, but he received poor grades in some classes as a result.
MILITARY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Zacharias wasn't the only student who was frustrated with the way the system worked, which is why the University created a "one-stop withdrawal" policy a few years ago that allows students in the military to remain enrolled while still deplored.
Betty Childers, the Veterans Affairs certifying official, works
with students in the military to help ease the transition. The number of students she works with is relatively small, but she said the role was an important one for the University and for its students.
"This was started so students would have more time to spend with their family," Childers said. "You have to have a bit of compassion and know that they need that time and we need to do whatever we can do to make it easier, because not only are they students at the University who need some help, but they're also
When students receive deployment orders they can speak with Childers. Childers then works with various departments, including the Bursar's Office and the Computing Center, so that all areas of campus will be informed about the student. She said being a communications liaison for students was one of the major ways she could help students.
William Hardy, who has been deployed twice since 2006, said he wished he had made better use of the services the University provided.
serving our country."
"At the time I was aware of a policy that would withdraw me from all of my classes," Hardy said. "In the end it worked out well for me, but I am sure if I had followed the policy I may have had fewer headaches."
Childers said the University was working to make students more aware of the services it provided to students in the military.
Now, with the help of Childers,
Zacharias is back in classes, preparing for finals.
LANGUAGE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Edited by Casey Miles
problem was that students tended to study commonly taught languages rather than try others the University offers. Currently, the University offer more than 30 foreign languages, according to www.languages.ku.edu, including Mongolian; Wolof, the official language of Senegal; Hausa, the official language of Nigeria, and Yiddish.
Tsutsui said that graduates with advanced language skills, especially in an LCTL, would have a foot up in the competitive employment market of the 21st century.
"In the competitive global economy we all live in today, students will need something extra to differentiate themselves on the job market," Tsutsui said. "Languages are a valuable, bankable skill in many sectors of the economy, from finance to law to government and military work."
Anne Liggett, Portland senior, started studying Uyghur (Ooighur), which is spoken in central Asia, in Fall 2007. She said that in her first year there were two students and another student auditing, but both her classmates have graduated since.
"There are not very many schools across the country that offer Uyghur, while most schools teach Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, so I wanted to take
advantage of it here", Liggett said. "And to be taught by a native speaker is a rare blessing."
Liggett said there were few students studying obscure languages, which made for a more individualized learning experience.
"There aren't very many classes where you can get one-on-one instruction," Liggett said. "On the other hand, we always love to have more people study the language. Even if the language seems obscure to us, they are the heart language of millions of people."
Zach Holden, Topeka senior, was first exposed to Tibetan while teaching English in Nepal and India last year. He decided to study the language this semester. There is only one other student in his class. He said he thought there should be more reasons for learning a language than the practicality of international economics.
"By exposing yourself to an exotic language you expose yourself to a new way of seeing the world," Holden said. "I believe this is critically important for everyone, as it reduces ethnocentrism, fear and bigotry."
Languages that currently fulfill the CLAS requirement:
Holden said that as an anthropology major, he believed that cultural preservation was very important. He said that 40 years ago there were more than 6,000 languages spoken; now only about 3,000 of those are being
www.advising.ku.edu
passed on. Diversity of language and culture is critical to humanity's survival as a species, Holden said.
"Keeping small languages and cultures alive should be part of the global agenda as we move into the 21st century," Holden said.
Edited by Melissa Johnson
WORLD
Iraqi government votes
for departure of troops
BAGHDAD — Iraq's government Monday ruled out allowing U.S. combat troops to remain in Iraqi cities after the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, despite concern that Iraqi forces cannot cope with the security challenge following a resurgence of bombings in recent weeks.
The departure of heavily armed combat troops from bases inside the cities is important psychologically to many Iraqis, who are eager to regain control of their country after six years of war and U.S. military occupation.
U. S. officials played down the Iraqi decision, with Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman saying it's up to the Iraqi government to request an extension of the U.S. presence in the cities.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, told reporters Monday that violence had not risen to a level that would force a change in the withdrawal schedule.
The U.S.-Iraq security agreement that took effect this year calls for American combat troops to leave urban areas by the end of June, with all U.S. forces out of the country by the end of 2011.
Associated Press