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Sen. Elizabeth Dole to speak at Spring Commencement

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole will deliver the commencement address on May 8.

The Saturday, 10 a.m., Spring Commencement will be held outdoors on the old soccer field next to Lumbee Hall. Admission tickets are required.

A limited number of tickets for faculty and staff will be available for this event. Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis (faculty - 1 ticket; staff - 2 tickets). To reserve your tickets please call Phyllis McGirt at ext. 6249. The reservation deadline is April 23. Tickets will be available April 30 and can be picked up at the Office of University and Community Relations in Room 421 of Lumbee Hall.

More than 400 students will receive diplomas and Chancellor Meadors will preside.

Sen. Dole, who grew up in Salisbury, N.C., graduated with distinction from Duke University and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a degree from Harvard Law School in 1965 and also holds a master’s degree in education and government from Harvard.

As Republican Senator representing North Carolina, Dole serves on the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Banking and Aging committees. Every year since 1996, the Gallup Poll has named her one of the top 10 most admired women in the world.

Before winning election to the Senate in 2002, Sen. Dole had a remarkable public service career, serving five presidents.

As Secretary of Transportation, Dole was the first woman to serve as the department head of a branch of the military, the U.S. Coast Guard.

From 1969 to 1973, Dole served as deputy assistant to President Nixon for consumer affairs, beginning a career of dedication to public safety, for which she received the National Safety Council’s Distinguished Service Award in 1989. She served six years (1973-1979) as a member of the Federal Trade Commission and two years (1981-1983) as assistant to President Reagan as public liaison.

In February 1983, Dole joined President Reagan’s Cabinet as Secretary of Transportation, the first woman to hold that position. She was sworn in by President Bush as the nation’s 20th Secretary of Labor in January 1989.

Dole left President Bush’s Cabinet in 1991 to become the second woman since founder Clara Barton to serve as president of the American Red Cross.

In January 1999, Dole concluded her service at the Red Cross and sought the Republican presidential nomination. In her campaign for president, Dole became the first viable woman candidate from a major political party.

Sen. Dole’s awards are numerous, ranging from honors for civic service and leadership in government to accolades for her charitable commitments and dedication to issues surrounding women in the workplace. She was named “North Carolinian of the Year” by the North Carolina Press Association in 1994.

She has also received the Foreign Policy Association Medal and the Radcliffe College Medal for her outstanding accomplishments. Sen. Dole received the Christian Woman’s Association award as Christian Woman of the Year. She was also honored by the League of Women Voters as the recipient of its Leadership Award in 1994.

It is only the second time in University history that Commencement will be held outdoors, a move necessitated by the growing number of graduates.

Grand Marshal for the ceremony will be Dr. Patricia Valenti (English), the 2004 recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Teaching Excellence Award.

From left: Club President-elect Crystal Caton, a junior from Swansboro; Treasurer-elect Cheryl Joseph, a junior from Laurinburg; Tracy Hankins, and Secretary Tracy Hankins, a senior from Fayetteville; Chancellor Meadors; President Carla Jacobs, a senior from Lumberton; Rebecca Giddens, a senior from Fayetteville; Treasurer Crystal Luther, a senior from Fayetteville; and Advisor Sharon Bell.

Accounting Students Association establishes book scholarship

Accounting students in the School of Business understand the effects of rising costs on the economy.

That was the case this spring when the Accounting Students Association established a scholarship to provide relief from high textbook prices.

Officers of the undergraduate student club met March 24 with Chancellor Meadors to discuss the $500 book scholarship they funded.

Textbooks are so expensive for us,” said Tracey Hankins, club Vice President. “Last semester, I spent $800 on books.”

Club President Carla Jacobs said a book scholarship was the first item on the group’s agenda during the 2003-4 school year.

“When we were elected last spring, a scholarship was the first thing on our list,” Jacobs said. “We planned the whole year around raising money, and we raised $3,000 altogether.”

Chancellor Meadors thanked the club members for its support of their fellow students.

“Few things are more important in our society than philanthropy,” Chancellor Meadors said. “The students in the Accounting Students Club have demonstrated their support of others by breaking down some of the financial barriers of earning a college education.”

Club Advisor Sharon Bell (Business) said it has been a good year for the Accounting Students Club.

“This has been a very active group,” Bell said of the 15-member club. “There were no book scholarships for accounting students before this group established one.”

Funds from the Accounting Students Association Book Scholarship will go to an accounting student who is in good academic standing at the University with demonstrated financial need. The $500 annual scholarship will be available at the campus Bookstore in amounts of $250 per semester.

For information about this scholarship or other ways to give to UNCP, please contact the Office of Donor Relations at (910) 521-6213 or email teresa.oxendine@uncp.edu.

Biology Department adds Environmental Science major

On this day, Dr. Leon Jernigan looked the part of the coordinator of the new environmental science program at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Tan and wearing camouflage pants, t-shirt and hiking boots, Dr. Jernigan (Biology) had just returned from a Biology Club community service outing to pickup roadside trash. He will help the Biology Department launch the new environmental science major in the fall 2004 semester.

“I started working on this program almost the day I got here two years ago,” Dr. Jernigan said. “The students seem to have a high degree of interest in the program, and I think it will be very popular.”

The new major in environmental science requires courses from the three departments - biology, chemistry and math and computer science. Several new courses will be added to the science curriculum as well.

“ We have created six new core courses and an internship for the degree – field botany, field zoology, field microbiology, freshwater ecosystems, soils and hydrology, environmental laws and regulations and an internship,” Dr. Jernigan said. “Yes, we will be getting out in the field.”

Dr. Jernigan, who has 14 years experience in environmental consulting, said the internship program is a unique requirement.

“The internship is a great feature of the program,” Dr. Jernigan said. “Students will have the opportunity to find out what their job future will be like with a private consulting firm or with a government agency.”

Internship opportunities will be available with private companies and with a variety of government agencies like the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, or with private non-profits like the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society.

Dr. Jernigan said there are some interesting electives available to environmental science majors.

“Another interesting feature of the program is the elective, introduction to cartography, that the geography program offers,” he said. “Students will learn mapping skills as well as practical skills, like using GPS (global positioning systems) and GIS (geographic imaging systems).”

Some of the other electives include oceanography, weather and climate conservation biology and environmental geology. Ten biology courses, six chemistry courses and two math courses are required.

“Our goal is to turn out a student who has the techniques and skills to enter the job market in an entry-level position or to go on to graduate school,” Dr. Jernigan said.

Biology Department Chair Andy Ash said the new program fills a critical need in the region.

“We are very fortunate to have found someone with Dr. Jernigan’s qualifications to coordinate the environmental program,” Dr. Ash said. “There is a documented need for such a program, and it will represent a new dimension to the outreach role of the University in Southeastern North Carolina.”

Dr. Jernigan earned a master’s degree in zoology and a Ph.D. in botany/applied ecology from NC State University. He taught part-time at UNCP for five years before joining the faculty on a full-time basis in 2003.

This is the second new major announced this spring. A Spanish major was added to the Department of English, Languages and Theatre.

Questions about the new major may be directed to Dr. Jernigan at (910) 521-6884 or to leon.jernigan@uncp.edu.

UNCP to offer a minor in gender studies

Gender studies will be offered as a minor course of study beginning in fall 2004.

The program requires 18-hours, including six hours of core courses and 12 hours of electives from disciplines, including sociology, criminal justice, social work, history, English, American Indian studies and nursing. Any student may elect the minor.

Sociologist Dr. Leslie Hossfeld is the coordinator of the program and will teach a core course.

“I am going to launch the core course – Gender and Society – in spring 2005,” Dr. Hossfeld said. “When we talk about gender studies, we are not just talking about women. Examining the way masculinity and femininity are constructed is a major component.”

As an interdisciplinary program, starting a Gender Studies program required cooperation from across campus, Dr. Hossfeld said.

“I am glad that gender studies has been institutionalized, and I am glad it’s interdisciplinary,” she said. “It was fairly easy to get everyone on board. My hope is that other departments will begin to offer courses that may be incorporated into the minor.”

“Gender studies provides an academic approach to thinking critically about the origin and meaning of gender identity and the impact of gender on our lives,” Dr. Hossfeld said. Gender studies will look at family, health, historical, economic, social and cultural issues.

A lecture by feminist scholar Margaret Anderson will be a highlight of the launch of UNCP’s gender studies program.

“Dr. Andersen is an internationally recognized feminist scholar, who has written many books on the intersections of race, class and gender,” Dr. Hossfeld said.

Dr. Hossfeld wrote a grant for a Feminist Lectureship Award of the Sociologists for Women in Society to host Dr. Andersen. The Department of Sociology, the Distinguished Speaker Series, the Office of Minority Affairs and the Teaching and Learning Center will co-sponsor the lecture.

Dr. Hossfeld, who spent 10 years teaching in South Africa as Apartheid was breaking up, is a research sociologist whose primary field of study is poverty and inequality. She is currently working on a manufacturing “job loss” project in Robeson County that included a March 28, Washington, D.C., briefing for the Congressional Rural Caucus, that includes 7th District (Robeson) U.S. Representative Mike McIntyre.

More than 50 students, faculty and staff participated in the Washington briefing.

Dr. Hossfeld did her undergraduate work at UNC Wilmington, earned a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Mississippi and a doctorate from NC State University.

For more information on gender studies at UNCP, please email leslie.hossfeld@uncp.edu or call (910) 521-6472.

Grants office joins online database

The Center for Sponsored Research and Programs subscribed to a new funding source database in addition to the Community of Science online database. The new subscription is to the Foundation Directory Online and promises to provide information about 350,000 grant programs throughout the U.S.

The center also joined the National Council of University Research Administrators and the Society of Research Administrators International. Both organizations provide numerous resources, publications and networks that will benefit grant activity with faculty.

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