2013 Undergrad Commencement
On May 19, 2013, Otterbein undergraduate students turned their tassels and walked across the stage to shake the hand of President Kathy Krendl after receiving their diploma.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of T&CMedia's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query.
7 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
On May 19, 2013, Otterbein undergraduate students turned their tassels and walked across the stage to shake the hand of President Kathy Krendl after receiving their diploma.
The Otterbein University Senate has proposed new bylaw changes to the number of committee members, but the change-making process has been slow due to delays in voting.
Ah, Valentine’s Day. For some, it’s one of the most romantic days of the year. Others feel that Valentine’s Day is an over-celebrated, Hallmark holiday. Then there are the folks that don’t have much money to spend on their special someone. I’ve always wondered … what is there to do on Valentine’s Day that isn’t tried and true?
Otterbein's Department of Information and Technology Services is taking steps to improve Internet quality on campus. Campus Internet is now faster and more spam-free. The Internet is running faster because the bandwidth was increased. Bandwidth is defined as the amount of data that can be transferred in a given period of time, so faster bandwidth means videos download faster, pictures upload faster and pages load faster. The bandwidth was increased in late October by nearly 150 MB of general Internet. Freshman undecided major Sarah James said that at first she didn't immediately notice a change in Internet speed. "But YouTube does run a bit faster and doesn't freeze anymore. The Internet speed was kind of horrible before." IT monitors the overall use of Internet bandwidth to decide if the bandwidth should be increased. When a certain average threshold is met, the IT department goes before the Cabinet and President Krendl and makes recommendations to increase the current bandwidth. Executive Director of IT Jeff Kasson said, "Our current Internet connection exceeds most of our peer institutions' bandwidth. It is important that we have sufficient bandwidth to allow our students and faculty to access all of their school and personal resources, including video, chat and research." The U.S. Department of Commerce recently discovered that two-thirds of colleges in the U.S. do not have the speedy broadband connections needed. In a press release from the White House last July, the Obama administration said that increasing broadband could bring new opportunities for the economy. High-speed Internet could make it possible for professionals to make connections with clients thousands of miles away. The Federal Communications Commission is hoping to connect 100 million U.S. households to broadband connections of 100 MB by 2020. This will also include college communities like Otterbein. Amanda Carlisle, a freshman nursing major, said that campus broadband is not sufficient. "Some days, the Internet is pretty decent, but most days it's just too slow." To keep the Internet clean and running well, it also has to stay virus-free. To do this, the IT department is working to protect computers from spam. While there are no specific words that can trigger e-mails to go into spam folders, if nothing is written in the subject line, an e-mail will be directly caught by spam filters. Not all spam can be prevented, however. Campus Internet has an anti-spam server to protect against unwanted spam, viruses, phishing and malicious e-mails, and school e-mail programs have built-in protection against spam. Users have to prevent spam on their own as well. Marissa Muniak, a freshman undecided major, said, "Otterbein's e-mail doesn't have as much spam as other e-mail sites. I don't think I've had spam in my campus e-mail." Kasson's advice to preventing spam is to not give out Otterbein login credentials. t&c;
In a world where the "brain drain" is sucking graduates out of college towns, one central Ohio area is managing to keep its students. Columbus has gained .16 percent more adults with college degrees each year between 2007-2009. This is according to the American Community Survey, conducted by the Brookings Institution for the U.S. Census Bureau every year. In fact, Columbus houses 110,000 students on 11 college campuses, second only to Boston in students per capita. Audra Fry, assistant director of the Center for Career Planning, said, "Students are staying near Columbus because they are getting connected to future employers through networking." However, many seniors won't find out about job opportunities until April or May. Megan Studebaker, a senior nursing major, thinks most seniors would like to stay in Columbus. "It will depend on how many of us can actually get the jobs we want," Studebaker said. Fry also said there are more students getting internships and more students planning to attend graduate school than in previous years. In recent years, many cities have been badly affected by the brain drain. Brain drain is when a student goes to college in one city and then leave after graduation, taking his or her knowledge to a different city. This causes cities to lose money as well as possible future employees. Over the last few years, Columbus has not been sucked into the brain drain and is gaining potential employees. In a matter of four years, Columbus gained .39 percent in young adults with college degrees. The Ohio State University Alumni Association Inc. reports that out of its 467,000 mailing list recipients, 59 percent live in Ohio. Emily Edwards, a senior music therapy major, and Catelyn Gleason, a senior equine business administration and facility management major, are both planning to continue their education and stay in Columbus. Edwards will continue her studies at Columbus State Community College for its sign language program. Feeling secure in the area is also a big factor for most seniors. "I have a steady job and I know the area. The fact that I am already settled here gives me a lot of potential by staying," Edwards said. Gleason said she "likes the safety of most of the surrounding suburbs of Columbus." One factor most seniors agree on is that they truly like the area of Columbus, with its multiple shopping areas, thousands of restaurants, clubs, many music venues and movie theaters. "Being from a small town that didn't offer anything for people my age to enjoy really convinced me to stay in such a bustling area," Gleason said. Not only are Columbus graduates staying here, but graduates from all over Ohio are coming to take advantage of the fast-growing field of technology. A survey conducted by Dice showed there are nearly 75,000 job openings in the IT and technology fields nationwide. Many of these openings have been in midwestern states that experienced a harder hit during the economic decline. Columbus was recently ranked fourth at 57 percent growth for technology jobs. Cincinnati and Cleveland ranked second and third. Thanks to this influx of job openings, all the city's offerings and the foundations students have built here, time will tell if Columbus and the rest of Ohio will continue to beat the brain drain. t&c;
In remembrance of the first Freedom Ride, a group of 40 college students re-enact the ride with original Freedom Riders every year. The first Freedom Riders rode from Washington, D.C. to Jackson, Miss. in May 1961. Their goal was to challenge segregated travel facilities and to raise national awareness about the injustice of segregation. From May to December of 1961, the original Freedom Riders organized more than 60 rides. On May 4, the first Freedom Ride began its journey in Washington, D.C. with 13 riders. Almost immediately after traveling farther south, riders ran into trouble. They were arrested in North Carolina and attacked in South Carolina before meeting up with Martin Luther King Jr. nine days later. When the riders reached Alabama, one of their buses was firebombed, forcing them to ride on one bus for the remainder of the ride. When the second bus reached Birmingham, the riders were met by a huge mob of Ku Klux Klan members and local police. The mob attacked the riders, horribly beating them. The Kennedy Administration stepped in and offered the riders protection so they could finish their ride. When they reached New Orleans by plane, the original riders decided to end the Freedom Ride. Members of the Nashville Student Movement decided to continue the Freedom Ride. They began to travel north toward Tennessee. There, riders and 1,500 supporters were trapped inside a church in Montgomery, Ala. by an angry mob. Federal troops were eventually sent to protect the riders. They then traveled out of Alabama to Mississippi, where they were immediately arrested. The riders who continued to travel to Jackson, Miss. through the summer were sent to jail. In September, four months after Attorney General Robert Kennedy issued his petition to end segregation in interstate travel facilities, the Interstate Commerce Committee voted unanimously to desegregate the facilities. From May to December, there was a total of 436 Freedom Riders. The re-enacted Freedom Rides follow a similar route of the first ride. The trip lasts 10 days and they travel to over seven states. They make stops in the following cities for the ride: Fredericksburg, Va.; Richmond, Va.; Petersburg, Va.; Lynchburg, Va.; Greensboro, N.C.; High Point, N.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Rock Hill, S.C.; Sumter, S.C.; Orangeburg, S.C.; Augusta, Ga.; Atlanta; Anniston, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Montgomery, Ala.; Selma,Ala.; and Jackson, Miss. Each year there are speakers who participate in the ride and speak to the new participants about the original ride of 1961. Some of this year's speakers will be filmmaker Stanley Nelson, journalist Jerry Mitchell, former assistant to Robert Kennedy John Seigenthaler, and Raymond Arsenault, author of the book "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice." Five original riders will also be speaking: Charles Person, Ernest "Rip" Patton, Joan Mulholland, Bernard Lafayette Jr. and Catherine Burks- Brooks. t&c;
To help students and faculty become healthier, Otterbein has allowed several fitness programs on campus. These programs are Weight Watchers, the OtterFit Health and Fitness Program, and the Lunch 'N' Learn programs. Weight Watchers is on its fourth visit to campus. It focuses on choosing a healthier lifestyle, not necessarily dieting. Meetings will start Jan. 21. Lorraine Martin, an administrative assistant in the Student Affairs office, said, "If you are like me, and ate a few too many cookies over the holidays, please consider joining us." OtterFit started off as a class assignment for health and fitness majors, but it has now turned into a full program. For an assignment, students become personal trainers for Otterbein personnel for the quarter. Trainers design workout programs and teach their clients how to safely use equipment in Clements Recreation Center and Rike Center. Kim Fischer, associate professor from the Health & Sport Sciences Department, said that student trainers and their clients really "enjoy their relationship" they make. OtterFit started out as a one-quarter program. Due to its growth in popularity, the program is now offered year-round. The OtterFit program is free to all Otterbein staff. President Kathy Krendl is one of many Otterbein personnel that participated in OtterFit. "I was so impressed by the knowledge that our student trainers have developed and by their ability to apply it with different individuals. It was a great experience for me," Krendl said. The Lunch 'N' Learn programs are free 30-minute informational presentations. Seven programs will be given by students in the organization and management health fitness promotion class and will be held at the Campus Center in Room 1 from 1-1:30 p.m. The first presentation will be held Jan. 27. While participation has been low in the past, women's cross country head coach Brenda Buffington has higher hopes for this year's presentations. "We are hoping that any students and other Otterbein University community members who attend will learn practical, life-changing information and motivation," Buffington said. Liza Elliott, a freshman early childhood education major, thinks that Otterbein is smart to provide programs to keep students and faculty healthier. "At college, we're busier than ever and it's hard to make good decisions. By having these programs, it gives us motivation to live healthier lives," Elliot said. t&c;