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Announcements can only be accepted from off-campus groups that are non-profit. The Web address for the Monday Memo is http://www.enmu.edu/mondaymemo.
The Monday Memo is a weekly electronic newsletter published for the faculty and staff of Eastern New Mexico University.
Department of Communication Revamped
story by Jennifer Conlee; photos by Spencer O'Keefe
Communication Services
The goal of the changes is to make the department a destination for communication students, where they can receive a top degree at an affordable cost.
Over the past few months, the faculty of Eastern New Mexico University Department of Communication have been working to make changes to the graduate program to benefit both the students and the university.
“We looked at the program and compared it to similar programs across the U.S.,” said Dr. Amanda Gatchet, assistant professor of communication and graduate coordinator for the program. “We gave it more focus, and made it more competitive nationally.”
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| Drs. Roger and Amanda Gatchet |
Dr. Gatchet said the goal of the changes was to make the department a destination for communication students, where they can receive a top degree at an affordable cost. The program has been designed to help students prepare to enter the workplace with a strong background in communication studies or to pursue a doctoral degree.
Many significant changes have been made in both the admissions requirements and the curriculum. The changes have been implemented as a way to draw in students from all over the country, while ensuring that the classes offered will be a benefit to the students.
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In order to make the program more competitive, applicants must now submit GRE scores and a 10-page academic writing sample, as well as having an undergraduate degree of 3.0 or higher, three letters of recommendation, and a one page statement of purpose to outline their goals, which allows advisors to help the students select classes that fit with their goals.
“The requirements are a lot more strenuous,” Dr. Gatchet said. “We want more information to ensure a better fit.”
A major change to the curriculum is that students who choose the thesis program are no longer required to complete comprehensive exams; only those who choose the non-thesis programs must do so.
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The faculty are very excited about the new classes which will be offered in the coming semesters, including Rhetoric and Popular Culture, which will be taught by Dr. Roger Gatchet next semester, and Communication and Social Change, a course that explores the communication strategies utilized by movements for social change. The goal of the new courses, said Dr. Amanda Gatchet, is to reflect both student interest as well the faculty's expertise and research/teaching interests.
As an added benefit, the department has recently updated its website, and now included a page dedicated to graduate profiles. The site, according to the Gatchets, allows recruiters a link to a professional page that features each of the graduate students, where their research goals and projects are listed.
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Graduate students can still apply to be graduate assistants, either in a teaching position or as a research assistant.
“We try to fund as many students as we can,” said Dr. Amanda Gatchet.
Though the department is small, its diverse course offerings that allow students to study subjects that may not be offered elsewhere in the region should prove to be a draw for many new students, which will benefit the university as well.
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ENMU Grad Named Hospice Nurse of the Year
by Charley J. Wasson, M.S.
Executive Director/CEO
Hospice of Lubbock and Covenant Palliative Medicine Program
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ENMU grad Amber Maul, RN, BSN was recognized as the Hospice Nurse of the Year at the Texas/New Mexico Hospice Organization's Annual Meeting in March.
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| Amber Maul |
Best Computer Programmers at ENMU Identified
by Sunny Choi
Instructor of Computer Science
The ENMU Computer Programming Contest was held March 31. There were nine contestants in two divisions. Division I was for programmers who had not completed two programming classes at ENMU, and Division II was for the rest.
The participants had a variety of academic backgrounds, including Digital Film Making, Geology, Computer Science, Electronics Engineering Technology, Information Systems, and Music.
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Photos from Spring Programming Contest, 2012 |
The three-hour-long competition early Saturday morning must have been a stressful event, but everybody was in good spirits and was highly engaged. The survey afterward indicated that all thought that it was great fun. We were especially happy to see the first year programmers, who were brave enough to tackle the challenges and stayed with the problems without giving up. As far as we were concerned, they were all winners.
For Division II, the first prize went to James Janzi and the second prize to Bryan Watson. Hannah Miller got the first prize and Thomas Watson got the second prize for Division I. Honorable mentions go to William Andersen and Jake Berry, both of Division II. The ranks were determined by the number of problems solved correctly, and the tie breaker was the time spent for the same number of problems solved correctly.
The three Judges were Dr. Thomas Brown and Dr. Sunny Choi of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and Dr. John Chandler, an emeritus professor of computer science from Oklahoma State University.
We could not have had this event without the support of Information Technology Services. We thank Janice Stockard and her staff for working on Saturday and making sure everything was running smoothly.
Dr. Brown and I thank all of the contestants and the support personnel for the event.
Teleconferencing Writeup: Career Presentation by Sandia Labs
by Sunny Choi
Instructor of Computer Science
Tthree panelists from the Sandia National Laboratories gave a career presentation to the ENMU campus via teleconference on Wednesday, March 28.
We had a full house in the thirty-person-capacity presentation room, and some chairs had to be brought in from the neighboring offices. The audience included faculty members from the Departments of Mathematical Sciences and Physical Sciences as well as administrators. The two-way communication was very lively with good questions about careers at SNL and good answers.
There was a lot of good advice to the students, but one of the repeating themes was that the students need to pay attention to foundations. In the case of computer science, fundamentals such as data structures, algorithm analysis and mathematical foundations are important. When you get a job in a place like SNL, you will be re-trained for your specialties. If you don’t have good foundational work in the background, you will be hard to train.
The importance of writing was also brought up. Just because you are a technical person does not mean that you don’t have to write. You need to be able to demonstrate your ideas in writing as well as in oral presentations.
To the question of what SNL looks for in an interview, one of the panelists who is a recruiter responded that he looks for someone who will fit in. Being technically good is important, but it is also important that you be able to work well with others in the environment.
Applying for internships was strongly encouraged. Another piece of advice, that applies specifically to places like SNL was because of high security clearance, it is important that you “keep your nose clean.”
The survey at the end of the session indicated that all of the attendees really liked the interactive format and the information shared, such as what it takes to get a job at a place like Sandia Labs.
We appreciate the panelists (Mr. William Atkins, Mr. Samuel Jones, and Mr. Roberto Rodriguez) taking the time to talk to us and the support personnel in SNL who helped us organize it. Also, we appreciate Janice Stockard and Bonnie Sink of Information Technology Services for coordinating with New Mexico Computing Applications Center for the teleconferencing.
| Three Men and Baby Flowers |
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| Darin Fike, Ted Fares and Mike Nuckols cultivate beautiful spring flowers (photo by Wendel Sloan) |
| Vic and Tory Birthday Party Friday in CUB (photos by Wendel Sloan) |
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| Human Cake |
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| Canine Cake Made of Chicken and Bacon |
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| Paparazzi |
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| Plenty of Bones to Pick |
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| Gingerbread Bones: For Humans or Vic and Tory? |
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| "You Say It's Your Birthday..." |
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| T- Shirts for Sale |
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| Let'em Eat Cake |
| Frisbee Break (photos by Spencer O'Keefe) |
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| ENMU Folks Perform at Mark's Restaurant (photos and video by Wendel Sloan) |
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(L-R) Jon Barr, Travis Erwin, Ryan Wood and Roger Gatchet performed at Mark's Restaurant in Portales on Saturday night for a crowd with largely ENMU connections. |
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| Mark's Restaurant | Video Alert |
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Watch video of ENMU folks performing Saturday night at Mark's Restaurant in Portales. – [video] |
