the optimist - 08.29.12
DESCRIPTION
A product of the JMC Network of student media at Abielen Christian UniversityTRANSCRIPT
Members of the ACU com-munity from around the world gathered to inau-gurate Abilene Christian’s 107th session in Monday’s Opening Chapel.
Throughout the cer-emonies, the diversity and exceptionalism of all at-tending students, faculty, alum, family and guests were frequently referenced by the speakers. This se-mester’s new students were particularly emphasized.
“This morning, there are more than 1,250 new Wild-cats among us, and more than 1,060 of them are new undergraduates,” said Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university. “We are ex-traordinarily proud of this group of freshmen, who
comprise one of the most academically prepared co-horts in ACU’s 107 year his-tory, with a record number of students who graduated top 25 percent of their high school classes, and have an increased average overall GPA. The ethnic diversity of this class is more than 30 percent, an all-time high for ACU.”
Also recognized were Dr. Billy Curl and Larry Bonner, who were the first full-time African-Ameri-can students to enroll in Abilene Christian College.
Last year, ACU began to commemorate the historic event of their enrollment.
“Other opportunities for reflection and celebra-tion are planned as we mark this 50th anniversary of their arrival on the cam-pus,” said Vice President Dr. Gary McCaleb. “Today, we celebrate a 50th anni-versary and we celebrate all the students that have followed.”
Schubert called their presence an honor, men-tioning that the courage they had to blaze a path for racial equality at ACU made the current ethnic diversity possible.
Dan Branch, a Texas State Representative, spent some time reflecting on ACU’s athletic program.
“When I look around y
Abilene Christian University
Leading ChangeNew EVP
brings range of experience
FeaturesPage 7vol. 101, no. 2 wednesday, august 29, 2012 1 SECTION, 10 PAGES
Mandy Lambright chief Photographer
Dr. Billy Curl, member of the Board of Trustees, and his wife, Mary, are recognized during the Opening Chapel of the 50th year since he was enrolled in Abilene Christian College. Curl and Larry Bonner, also recognized in the ceremony, were the first African-American students at the college.
josh garciastaff reporter
page 6
Dead day revision proves admin will listen to organized student reaction
OPINION
OPINION
acuoptimist.com
See the press conference announcing ACU’s move to D-I
VIDEO
INSIDE
Page 5
Chancellor Money named director of Institute for Church Ministry
NEWS
Page 3
Senior design major designs Pura Vida Salon before summer opening
NEWS
Page 4
Two infuential academic members died of cancer
NEWS
Mark Smith remembers lessons learned from his summer internship
page 6
Page 10
Information on each of ACU’s future Southland opponents
SPORTS
Page 10
Soccer team to begin sesaon Thursday at Dallas Baptist
SPORTS
Page 10
Football team to take on McMurry for first time in 41 years
SPORTS
Page 5
Increased enrollment prompts faculty pay raise
NEWS
ONLINE
Page 3
This year’s RecFest to celebrate rec center’s birthday
NEWS
GRANDOPENING
New provost makes quick impact
ACU’s new provost has been in office for only a few months, but has revived dead day, facilitated search-es for three permanent deans and created plans for supporting the campus af-ter a round of budget cuts.
Dr. Robert Rhodes was named provost in early April
and began serving in the position July 1.
A f t e r r e v i e w i n g student and faculty re-sponses to the removal of dead day
last semester, Rhodes de-cided to set the finals week schedule back to the previ-
ous format, which included dead day.
Rhodes said some more short-term goals involve finding support following the budget cuts and reeval-uating ACU’s mission.
“Over the last few years ACU has gone through some budget reductions, and we’re taking a look at what areas faculty and staff do need support in. We need to find what resources
we have to support faculty’s scholarly activity, teaching and service,” Rhodes said. “Another part of our goal is to spend time strategically planning, including revisit-ing ACU’s core vision and how to advance academi-cally to support our core mission, whether that’s in academics, athletics or oth-er areas in the university.”
Rhodes helped to coor-dinate the creation of three
search committees to find permanent deans in the College of Biblical Stud-ies, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education and Human Services. Dr. Ken Cukrowski was the vice provost but is serving as interim dean of the CBS. Dr. Susan Lewis, associate professor of jour-nalism and mass communi-
administration
mark smitheditor in chief
mandy lambright CHIEF Photographer
Nathan Amerman, sophomore art major from Spring Hill, Tenn., bears the Tennessee state flag during the Parade of Flags in Moody Coliseum. The parade is an annual tradition associated with Opening Chapel ceremonies.
First-day Chapel honors pioneers, focuses on future of athletics and academics
see provost page 8
Dr. phil schubertpresident of the
university
We are extraordinarily proud of this group of
freshmen.”“
see chapel page 8
Committees begin search for deans
The search for the new dean of the College of Arts and Sci-ences, dean of the College of Biblical Studies and dean of the College of Education and Human Studies is underway.
Beginning last month, the three positions have been advertised in the Christian Chronicle, and the chairs
heading the search commit-tees have been named. Car-ley Dodd has been named chair for the College of Arts and Sciences, John Weaver for the College of Bibli-cal Studies and Dr. Nancy Shankle for the College of Education and Human Stud-ies.
The chairs are taking nominations from depart-ment heads to create com-mittees for each search. Each
committee will contain six to eight members. Dodd said he is looking for some spe-cific attributes to create a varied committee.
“We will look for three criteria - departmental di-versity, demographic diver-sity and time to devote to the committee,” Dodd said. “Once we get the nomina-tions, sift through them and pick the committee mem-bers, that’s phase one, and
we’re hoping to finish this within a week or two.”
The committee chairs will report to Dr. Robert Rhodes, provost of ACU. Rhodes said that the deadlines for the three dean positions will be in November in order to give enough time to review the applications, conduct phone and on-campus interviews and announce the positions.
“The goal is to be able to search and then request
on-campus interviews and host those in the spring,” Rhodes said. “I would like by mid-spring to be able to an-nounce those positions so whomever it is, especially if they have to move, we can give them enough time to join us. We’re looking at a July first start date.”
During this time, interims will be holding the three po-
administration
marissa jonesmanaging editor
see deans page 8
RHODES
29 30 31 1Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1 p.m. ACU Volleyball VB vs. Colo. State - Pueblo
5 p.m. ACU Volleyball vs SE Okla. State U
6 p.m. ACU Football vs McMurry U
7:30 p.m. The 39 Steps - ACU Theatre
11 a.m. ACU Volleyball vs St. Edward’s U
4 p.m. RecFest 2012
7 p.m. ACU volleyball vs SW Okla. State U
7:30 p.m. The 39 Steps - ACU Theatre
11 a.m. Mark Lewis - Chapel 101
4:30 p.m. Students’ Association Congress Interest Meeting
6 p.m. ACU Soccer at Dallas Baptist U
Police Log
3 93@acuoptimist
The Optimist
Wednesday 08.29.12 2
Announcements
Around Abilene
Aug. 29
6:30 p.m. The Key City Squares will host a square dancing workshop at the Wagon Wheel in Tye. All ages invited.
Aug. 30
6:30 p.m. The Abilene Public Library will be hosting a notebook creating workshop in the auditorium of the Main Library. Participants will learn how to make and decorate personalized, recycled note-books with recycles boxes. Materials will be provided.
Aug. 31
8 p.m. Billiard’s Backroom will be hosting Three Shades Blue with special guest The Transporters. Billiard’s Backroom is located at 5495 S. 7th St.
Sept. 1
10 a.m. Attend Chili Super Bowl XXXI in Buffalo Gap to see and sample the world’s largest bowl of chili, enjoy live music, concessions, and evening dance. The cook-off benefits the Ben Richey Boys Ranch.
Students interested in joining The Wild-cat Reign can sign up at thewildcatreign.com. The Wildcat Reign serves to provide students the ability to facilitate Wildcat pride on campus and serves as a linking point between students and Wildcat ath-letic events.
ACU Theater presents their fall comedy, The 39 Steps, in Fulks Theatre. The play will be showing on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, call 325-674-2787 or purchase tickets online at acu.edu/theatre.
The ACU Roller Hockey Club Team is accepting new members who are inter-ested in playing roller hockey. For more information on the team, you can post on the ACU Wildcat Hockey Facebook page or email at [email protected].
Treadaway Kids will be having an inter-est meeting in the Campus Living Room on Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. Applications can be found at acutwk.wix.com.
Students’ Association Congress will be hosting an interest meeting on Aug. 30 from 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
The Royce & Pam Money Student Recre-ation & Wellness Center will be celebrat-ing its first birthday with RecFest 2012 Aug. 31 from 4 p.m. to midnight. Come play in the dodgeball tournament, and join the Zumba Party.
A general information meeting for Sing Song host and hostess auditions will be held in Cullen Auditorium on Sept. 6 at 11:30 a.m.
Seekers of the Word, a drama ministry group, will be holding auditions Sept. 5 at 8:30 p.m. in Bible 130.
Dan Austin, co-founder of 88bikes.com will be coming for a Speaking Forum in Hunter Welcome Center on Sept. 12 at 11:45 a.m.
ACU Speech and Debate Team is seek-ing new members interested in speech and debate. For more information email Dena Counts at [email protected] or text/call 325-428-6699.
Volunteer Opp0rtunities
The Abilene Zoo is looking for volunteers to help with general labor such as grounds cleanup and painting any weekday at any time between noon and 4 p.m. The Zoo is located at 2070 Zoo Ln. Contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487 for more information.
Child Protective Services needs volunteers for clerical work as well as volunteers who can organize a play-room. Volunteers are needed any weekday anytime between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Child Protective Services are located at 3610 Vine St. Background checks are re-quired and are done at the center. Background checks usually are cleared in about two weeks. For more in-formation call V. Danette Cummings at 325-691-8214.
Medical Care Mission is looking for volunteers to as-sist medical or dental staff with patients any weekday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. For more information contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or email [email protected].
Abilene Hope Haven Inc. needs volunteers to pro-vide childcare while parents are in class, any evening Monday-Thursday from 6:45 - 8:15 p.m. Abilene Hope Haven is located at 801 S. Treadaway Blvd. For more information contact Kathy Reppart at 325-677-4673 or visit www.abilenehopehaven.com/volunteer.
The Abilene Boys and Girls Club needs help any weekday between 3:30 - 6 p.m. helping children of all ages with games, art, gym time, reading and com-puter skills. Locations are 4610 N. 10th St. or 1902 Shelton St. Contact Mark Denman at 325-672-1712 for more information.
Volunteers are needed to enjoy a free lunch with students at Bonham Elementary School on a weekly basis. This would be sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., and would involve spending lunch time with students and having a positive impact on their lives. Contact Jason Shaw at 325-639-3745 or e-mail [email protected].
Meals on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with disabilities Monday-Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s license. Training is provided. A Chapel exemp-tion is available if delivery time conflicts with Chapel. Contact Jessica Stewart at 325-672-5050 or email [email protected].
The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is looking for volunteers to participate in Lunch Buddies. Bigs and Littles will enjoy lunch together at the child’s school once a week. Students can earn Chapel credit for each visit. Big Brothers Big Sisters is also looking for volunteers for its Community Based program. Bigs are matched with Littles in a one-on-one relation-ship and spend four to six hours per month togeth-er in the community. To sign up or learn more visit www.bbbstx.org or call 325-674-3113.
New Life Alliance is looking for volunteers to help with
their after school program on Monday-Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. You will help with snacks, homework, crafts, games and other activities in addition to mentoring and building relationships with youth. Contact Ashley Kee at 325-672-1636 or e-mail [email protected].
The House That Kerry Built is looking for volunteers to assist in the day care of medically fragile children any day Monday-Friday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or e-mail [email protected] for more information.
Rescue The Animals is looking for volunteers anytime between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. They need help around the adoption center with general cleaning, socialization of the animals, helping potential adopters and other tasks. Contact Mindi Qualls at 325-698-7722 or email [email protected]. The center is located at 5933 S. 1st St.
Young Life Ministries needs volunteers Mondays, Tuesdays and weekends from 6-9 p.m. Volunteers will hang out with kids, experience leadership roles, serve others and introduce students to Christ. Young Life is located at 1917 S. 6th St. For more in-formation contact Chuck Rodgers at 325-676-1211 or email [email protected].
Disability Resources, Inc. is looking for volunteers to assist developmentally disabled residence. Help is needed with activities, art projects, reading books, ex-ercise activities, assisting with vocational training needs and other interactions Monday-Friday from 9 a.m-4 p.m. For more information contact Becky Moody at 325-677-6815 or e-mail [email protected].
Volunteers are needed to read to Taylor Elementary School students Monday-Thursday afternoons at UCC from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Enter through the south entrance. Contact C.G. Grey 325-668-2842.
Da’ Cipher 360, a program for at risk children, is look-ing for volunteers on Monday evenings from 5-8 p.m. at the Rose Park Activity Center, 2625 S. 7th St. Vol-unteers can help in a variety of ways including helping with set up, learning activities for kindergarten-3rd graders, tutoring 4th-8th graders, and assisting with clean up. Contact Alvina Scott at 847-333-7026 or e-mail [email protected].
The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers for a variety of needs including sorting and pricing items in the thrift store, helping in the kitchen and/or doing yard work. Times are flexible. Volunteers are needed throughout the week Monday-Saturday. The Salvation Army is located at 1726 Butternut St. For more infor-mation contact J.D. Alonzo at 325-677-1408 or visit www.satruck.com.
The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs volun-teers to help sort and stock food and other items any weekday Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. The Food Bank is located at 5505 N. 1st St. For more information contact Janice Serrault at 325-695-6311 or abfoodbk@
camalott.com.
Access Learning Center is looking for volunteers to help elementary school kids with homework, reading, computers and games. The center is located at 2102 Ambler Ave. For more information contact Bret Hines at 325-670-9727. Call ahead to schedule a time to volunteer.
College Heights Friendship House needs child men-tors Monday-Thursday from 3 - 5 p.m. Contact Dusty Garison at [email protected] for more infor-mation.
Center for Contemporary Arts needs a gallery as-sistant to greet patrons, answer phones, and answer basic questions about the Center and its programs. This oppotrunity is open Tuesday-Friday. The Center for Contemporary Arts is located at 220 Cypress Street. For more information contact Jessica Dulle at 325-677-8389 or visit: http://www.center-arts.com/
The National Center For Children’s Illustrated Litera-ture is looking for volunteers to greet patrons, assist with art activities, sell books and make visitors feel welcome. Help is also needed for special events like Artwalk and exhibit openings. The NCCIL is located at 102 Cedar St. For more information on times and dates contact Debby Lillick at 325-673-4586 or visit: http://www.nccil.org/index.htm
Breakfast on Beech Street is seeking volunteers to help set up, prepare and serve breakfast to homeless/lower income folks any Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 5:30 a.m. or Tuesday at 5 a.m. B.O.B.S is lo-cated at First Christian Church on 3rd St. and Beech St. Service times must be scheduled in advance. To serve on Mondays contact Jody Depriest at 325-669-3312 or [email protected]. To serve on Tuesdays contact Allen Daugherty at 325-660-6949 or [email protected]. To serve on Wednesdays contact Jane Harvey at 325-695-0092 or [email protected]. To serve on Thursdays contact Margaret Beasley at 325-692-4149 or [email protected]. To serve on Fridays contact Rachel Brown at [email protected].
The Christian Ministries of Abilene: Food Pantry is searching for volunteers to greet and interview neigh-bors, do computer entries, shop with neighbors, take groceries to vehicles, bag, stock and pick up orders on Mondays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m.-2:15 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. The Food Pantry is located at 701 Walnut St. For more information contact Camilla Becton at 325-672-1890 or email [email protected].
For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/ccsl/ministry-service/volunteer-opportunities/
Chapel checkup
wednesday 08.29.123 campus news
Senior designs Pura Vida for grand opening
An old space was renovat-ed this summer to provide a new home to some of the city’s hair stylists and spa specialists.
Located on Campus Court in what was the Abilene Educational Sup-ply, Pura Vida Salon and Spa opened its doors to existing clients on July 9. A grand opening on July 17 celebrated the new busi-ness and opened reserva-tions to residents as well as faculty, staff and students.
The salon houses eight stylists, many of which had been working previously in Abilene and surround-ing areas, and intends to soon add a ninth. The full-service spa also offers pedicures, manicures, fa-cials and massages.
Pura Vida aims to be-come more than a simple salon and spa though.
“We, as a team, got to-gether and decided what was important to us,” said lead designer Cindy Sea-bourn.
What the team estab-lished was a mission state-ment that not only pro-motes a welcoming and exceptional environment, but also an experience that “enhances the spirit, body and soul.”
“Our goal is to provide a place where people really feel welcome,” Seabourn said. “And focus on not just outer, but inner body as well.”
Toby Vernay, Pura Vida’s director of education, has been charged with help-ing to keep the stylist’s up to date on trends and Sea-bourn says the staff has been “constantly learning new techniques.”
With school beginning, Seabourn says a few stu-
dents have already made their way in for an ap-pointment but one stu-dent in particular has been involved with Pura Vida from the start.
Kelsie Pinckard, senior graphic design major from Lewisville, began working on Pura Vida’s interior de-sign in January.
After planning for months, she was excited to see her design in action at the grand opening.
“It was exciting to see people enjoying the space after pouring my entire last semester into it,” she said.
Pinckard, who applied for the position through Business Services, began her career at ACU as an interior design major be-fore switching to graphic design. Despite the switch, interior design has re-mained a passion and she helped to redesign both the Edwards Hall lobby and a study room in Nel-son Hall.
After talking with Pura Vida, Pinckard began working on a sleek, wel-coming and gender neu-tral plan for the space.
“We went for an upscale and chic look,” she said, “but also something really inviting.”
Pinckard is glad to see her design in use and Sea-bourn looks forward to how the salon grows as the school year begins.
Students can reserve an appointment with Pura Vida through their website or front desk and also the concierge desk. Many ser-vices are available at a 10 percent discount with the use of any college I.D.
services
david singeropinion page editor
contact singer [email protected]
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Kelsie Pinckard, senior graphic design major from Lewisville, was involved in the design process for the interior of the Pura Vida Salon and Spa.
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Students from ACU and members of the Abilene community take advantage of Pura Vida
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Welcome Week brought in over 960 new students, a number significantly higher than recent years.
Eric Gumm, director of the First Year Program, said several changes had to be made to accom-modate this larger class. Because Sikes is housing freshmen, the hall had to be added to activi-ties involving residence halls. Two new sections of Cornerstone were add-ed which required more group and peer leaders to be hired. Gumm said a few growing pains were felt as well.
“We definitely stretched our feeding capacities,” Gumm said. “And in terms of having enough rooms for people to meet in, we had to find more. But it’s nothing huge and nothing we can’t deal with. We love having new students, so
we’re happy to be flexible with that.”
Gumm said a large number of freshmen at Welcome Week is indica-tive of an even larger number once school be-gins. Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the univer-sity, reported over 1,060 freshmen currently en-rolled on campus. Enroll-ment numbers will be fi-nalized once twelfth day numbers are released.
Though Gumm is ex-cited for the large num-ber of students, problems could arise in the future if enrollment and reten-tion numbers continue to grow.
“When we bring in a big class, if they retain at the same rate we’ve seen historically or higher and then we bring in another big class, then we’re going to see a challenge there for housing, meal service and around the campus in gen-eral,” Gumm said. “This year we had some flexibil-
ity with housing because the sophomore class was a little bit smaller, but when these freshman become next year’s sophomores and they don’t become smaller, then we have some problems.”
Gumm said the in-crease in numbers might require changes to be made to class require-ments or scheduling.
“We’ll have some chal-lenges I imagine in some courses that are tra-ditionally taken at the sophomore year,” Gumm said. “We’ve made chang-es with the Core class that creates some f lex-ibility already.”
Freshmen are noticing the effect of their large class first hand, especial-ly during Welcome Week activities.
“It’s definitely been cra-zy, but I love having a large class because I’m meeting tons of people everyday. Every day is an adventure and a fresh opportunity,” James Churchill, fresh-man English major from Abilene, said. “The events were very crowded, which forced me to break out of my comfort zone. There wasn’t enough space to ignore the people next to me, so I had to converse. Welcome Week events pushed me to talk to new
people, and I’m glad for that.”
Gumm thinks that this year’s freshman class will effect the university in years to come. He said this class is energetic and will add something to the campus.
“I think there will be a
lot more energy on cam-pus this year,” Gumm said. “And when people are visiting on campus, that could create a buzz for next year’s group.”
wednesday 08.29.12 4news
Two academic influences die over summer
Two of the most influential and respected members of the ACU academic com-munity died after battles with cancer during the summer. Dr. Dwain Hart died on July 5 and Dr. Charles Siburt died on July 11 after a nearly three-year battle with cancer.
Hart, 80, served in many academic and athletic roles throughout his ACU career. He was the head tennis coach from 1956-71, professor and chair of what is now known as the Department of Kinesiol-ogy and Nutrition for more than 20 years and director of women’s athletics. He served as dean of the Col-lege of Professional Stud-ies, the Graduate School and the College of Arts and Sciences. Later in his career, he served as vice president for academic affairs in 1991 and was named provost in 1995. He retired two years later and worked part time as a uni-versity liaison until his full
retirement last August.
H a r t came to Abilene in April during a reunion of former ten-nis players. Hart was h o n o r e d with the announce-ment of the Hart Tennis Endowment Fund, let-ters from p l a y e r s , a tribute video and a celebration of his 80th birthday.
His daughter, Dr. Kerri Hart, is one of three pro-gram directors for the Stu-dent Recreation and Well-ness Center. She said her father’s influence is appar-ent to her everywhere on campus.
“There’s not a single area on this campus that I don’t have memories of him,” Kerri said. “Every day someone comes up to me tells me about the im-
pact he had on their lives. He will be remembered for his gentle spirit and the encourager he was to ev-erybody.”
Kerri Hart said her fa-ther was more involved in different areas of ACU than she knew before he died.
“We didn’t know about all the roles and programs he had a place in until this summer,” Kerri said. “He was a major part in creat-ing pass/fail classes, and he even helped bring the Special Olympics track and field competition to Texas.”
Siburt will be remem-bered for his ministry work with Churches of Christ and students at Abilene Christian University.
Siburt, 68, was diag-nosed with IGM Multiple Myeloma, a cancer that destroys antibody-produc-ing cells, in August 2009. He underwent a bone-marrow transplant in March 2010 and went into remission before relapsing in January 2011.
Siburt became a full-time member of ACU fac-
ulty in 1988. He has since served as associate dean for ministry programs and services, O.L. and Irene Frazer Professor of Church Enrichment, director of the Doctor of Ministry pro-gram and director of the Center for Church Enrich-ment. He also led ACU’s ElderLink Forum program since it began in 2000.
Dr. Tom Milholland, as-sistant provost and profes-sor of marriage and fam-ily therapy at ACU, had known Siburt for about 35 years since they both served in ministry in the Lubbock area. Milholland most recently worked with Siburt at ACU and as elders at the University Church of Christ. He said Siburt served as an excellent role model for students.
“Charlie was very pas-toral in his approach to communications and took his job very seriously,” Milholland said. “He was the kind of person aspir-ing pastors would like to model themselves after. He was an all around good guy and very pleasant to be with.”
Milholland said Siburt’s cancer treatments at Park-land Hospital in Dallas severely limited his abil-ity to teach this year. Si-burt was able to return to teach a little in May, and participated in the spring graduation commence-ment. Milholland said the last class Siburt was able to teach was a one-week Doctor of Ministry course in June, which was very special to him.
Dr. Phil Schubert, presi-dent of ACU, sent an email to all university faculty and staff to let them know about Siburt’s death.
“We have lost a great friend, professor, alumnus and selfless servant leader. Few people over the past 20 years have had more influence in Churches of
Christ around the world than he has,” Schubert said in the email. “Dr. Siburt’s mentoring and ministry to church leaders is legend-ary, and his voice in the life of Abilene Christian will be dearly missed.”
Milholland said Si-burt will be remembered as a man who loved God, his family, teaching and preaching.
“He was a great hus-band, father and church leader, and all of his stu-dents loved him,” Mil-holand said. “He fought a long, hard fight. We’re go-ing to miss him but we’re glad he’s in glory.”
obituary
mark smitheditor in chief
contact smith [email protected]
Hart
siburt
Dr. Tom Milhollandassistant provost and professor of marriage
and family therapy
He fought a long, hard fight. We’re going to miss him, but we’re glad he’s in glory.”“
Welcome Week sees increase in numbersstudent life
marissa jonesManaging editor
contact jones [email protected]
mandy lambright f Photographer
Freshmen participate in the annual giant Twister game at Welcome Week. Large numbers of students at Welcome Week required administrators to make changes to events.
Eric Gummdirector of the first year program
I think there will be a lot more energy on campus this year. And when people are visiting on campus, that
would create a buzz for next year’s group.”“
Dr. Royce Money, Chancel-lor and former president of ACU, has been named the first executive director of the Institute for Church Ministry. The decision was announced to the faculty and staff on Aug. 22.
The new Institute for Church Ministry took for-mation at the beginning of the year when Dr. Schubert, president of the univer-sity, asked Money to do an assessment of churches’ relation to ACU. Money met with several people to discuss the betterment of church relations. Money delivered the assessment was delivered to Schubert in early June. A few weeks later the president asked him if he would take over the project.
“I’m a churchman,” he said. “I was in full time ministry for 14 years before I came to Abilene Chris-tian, so it seemed to be a natural thing to do. I’m also a faculty member in the College of Biblical Studies,
so I have a good network of people. It seemed to be something that was need-ed and I”m certainly will-ing to do it.”
He said the work he is doing is an extension of the work done by his personal friend, Dr. Charles Siburt, who served as the director for the Office of Church Re-lations. Siburt passed away in early July.
“In simple terms, the Institute for Church Minis-try is the vehicle by which ACU carries on a mean-ingful relationship with churches. It’s the new ver-sion of the old Church Re-lations position.”
An example of the ser-vices offered by the insti-tute include workshops for elders which will be held across the country. The institute also will pro-vide resources for minis-ters and church leaders. Money said he plans to talk with ministers and church leaders to ask what they need.
Money described the new program as a “work in progress” because it is in the process of form-
ing. He said the focus of the program was based on ACU’s desire to reach out to churches and serve their needs.
“I believed at the time
we needed to give new emphasis to providing ser-vices for local churches,” he said. “Our primary con-stituents are Churches of Christ, but our services
are available to any church who wants to use them.”
He said the loss of his friend “Charlie” Siburt was “inestimable.” He said that instead of taking
Siburt’s place, he is simply “taking up the cause.”
wednesday 08.29.125 NEWs
Money chosen as first Director of Ministryadministration
melany coxonline managing editor
contact cox [email protected]
curtis christian Staff Photographer
Royce Money was named the first executive director of the Institute for Church Ministry on Aug. 22. The focus of this position is to help ACU better serve the needs of churches.
Rec Center to celebrate success of inagural year
To start off the school year, the Royce and Pam Rec Center will be celebrating its one-year anniversary by hosting the second RecFest as a birthday party.
RecFest will begin Fri-day at 4 p.m. and will last until midnight. Activities will include intramural volleyball, basketball and dodgeball tournaments and a Zumba party. Live music will also be pro-
vided. Unlike last year, RecFest will only last un-til midnight instead of 6 a.m. There will also be free birthday cake, popcorn and snowcones available for students.
Courtney Ray, sopho-more health promotions major from Allen and a staff member at the Rec Center, said the event will give fresh-men a thorough look at what the Rec Center has to offer.
“I think RecFest is a great opportunity to get involved at ACU,” Ray said. “New students can come check out the Rec Center and try out some new exer-cise classes.”
Joel Swedlund, the new excecutive director of the Rec Center, is also excited about the upcom-ing event. He is hoping to make this an annual event that brings all of the stu-dents together.
“I’m really excited for all of the freshman and new students to come check out the Rec,” Swed-lund said. “This event is the perfect opportunity to explore different classes and get plugged into the ACU community. It is a new semester, and RecFest is the perfect way to start things off.”
Students who had a good time at last year’s grand opening celebration are looking forward to this year’s.
“Last years RecFest was great because we were able to see what the Wellness Center had to offer and enjoy spending time with friends,” said Morgan Wat-ten, sophomore account-ing and finance major from Coppell. “It was really nice to be able to try out new classes and explore all the new things we were going to get to use.”
RecFest will also ad-vertise classes available. This year, Yoga, Zumba, Circumference, Cardio Kickboxing, Boot Camp and Core Performance will be available along with new classes such as R.I.P.P.E.D. Maria Morrell, staff member and junior
nursing major from Bry-an, said they hoped to tar-get more male students by offering the new classes. She said popular class-es, such as Yoga, Zumba and Circumference, will be offered many times a week due to high demand. Class schedules will be available online and at the front desk of the Rec Center.
The Rec Center also lowered the cost of class memberships in order to reach out to more students, said Morrell.
“Last year’s rate of $60 a semester was expensive for many students,” Mor-rell said. “After looking at how many were enrolled
as members of those class-es and listening to many others asking the price to be lowered, our direc-tors discussed the price change and concluded that a lower rate would be much more beneficial to the students.”
To celebrate the Rec Center’s anniversary, memberships will be discounted to $25 and classes will be available to preview for free this week only.
Student life
Staff report
contact the optimist [email protected]
Joel swedlundexecutive director of the rec center
This event is the perfect opportunity to explore differ-ent classes and get plugged into the ACU community.”“
@acuoptimistThe [email protected] ACUOPTIMIST.com
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Students enjoyed grand opening of the Rec Center at last year’s RecFest. The center looks to recreate the suc-cess with this year’s event.
Most college students don’t believe they can make a difference on their campus. After all, they are just students and they don’t have a say in anything. Right?
The students and fac-ulty of Abilene Christian University proved that through our thoughts and words, we can make a dif-ference in our commu-nity. When we, the people of Abilene Christian Uni-versity come together and speak, we are heard.
After much talk, peti-tioning and surveys, dead day is back.
Dead day was the first Monday of finals week. It was an exclusive day that had been put in place for students to study, relax and sleep right before their lives were turned upside down by finals week. However, ACU broke this longstand-ing tradition during the spring semester of 2012 and decided to get rid of dead day.
As word spread around campus that dead day was gone, it quickly be-came apparent that the students were outraged about the elimination.
Everyone had thought about it, everyone talked about it and most had complained about it, but one student decided to do something about it.
Alexander Hill started a petition to bring dead day back. The support that he got was over-whelming. More than 500 students signed this peti-tion and because of the petition and survey, dead day was brought back.
For most students, our voices can sometimes feel unheard. However, the resurrection of dead day is evidence that someone
listens. Students should be more involved with events that surround them in their every day lives. When students stand together to support or protest an issue, they are heard.
Students have a voice and often don’t realize it. We need to recognize that we have a say in things like politics, campus is-sues and the Student As-sociation elections. If we speak up about the prob-lems that we see around us and get more involved, then we can help get them fixed.
These problems di-rectly effect us and often we just complain instead of initiating some action. The only obstacle stand-ing in our way, is our voice.
Sometimes we don’t realize how valuable our voices are. If we can bring back dead day by forming a petition and replying to
a survey, who knows what else we can do. Now what can we do about Core?
6WEDNESDAY 08.29.12Opinion
Mark Smitheditor in chief
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Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.
Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.
The Optimist encourages reader response through let-ters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing
personal attacks, obscen-ity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy. Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.
Address letters to: ACU Box 27892Abilene, TX 79609
E-mail letters to: [email protected]
published by the department of journalism
and mass communication
editorial and management board
editorial and Letter Policy
During my internship at the Abilene Reporter-News, the news assignments ranged from rodeo events to children reading to dogs. These are my stories.
I applied for intern-ship after internship after internship in December and January. It is unbe-lievable how early some deadlines are.
After countless hours spent searching online for good internship op-portunities, I finally gave up and began packing for the spring semester. Most of my applications were for paid internships, which I realized many others like me probably did also. I had realized too late I would be com-peting with a large num-ber of people for those few intern openings at ESPN, ABC, CNN and The Cheesecake Factory. I kid you not, The Cheesecake Factory had a journalism internship, which would include working on their magazine publication. It sounded too good to be true: a paid internship in my field and cheesecake, too?
I’m glad I didn’t get that one. I wouldn’t have been able to kind of stay in shape.
There was one place I knew I wanted to intern at but wasn’t able to find an application for.
(That was a poorly constructed sentence for a journalism major.)
I had done some work for the Abilene Report-er-News in the past and wanted to have that op-portunity to work in a city I knew somewhat well. I made several calls to the interim editor, hoping to see if they could have me on as an intern.
The spring semester wore on. I hadn’t heard much from them but I wasn’t going to give up.
I’m going to sell these cheesy movie rights.
I heard back from Greg Jaklewicz, the con-tent editor, in April and scheduled an interview.
On the day of my last final as I was moving out of my dorm room, I got the call from Greg. I was set up to work as a stringer for six weeks in Abilene later in the summer.
The internship went very well. I received assignments each day, went out and cov-ered events and happenings around Abilene during one of the hottest summers I’ve
ever seen.During one of my last
weeks, I was to report on some features from the State 4-H Horse Show, because I obviously fit in very well with cowfolk. Each day I was out at the Expo Center, searching for an interesting feature.
It was a great experi-ence for me to learn not just about reporting and writing, but about the life of newspaper employees. I got a glimpse of what a managing editor has to manage each day, how late the night editor has to work to make sure the paper looks good on peo-ple’s front porch and how far photographers have to travel to cover a story. The newspaper is made up of committed people working for one goal, and I truly appreciate the op-portunity I had this sum-mer to intern at the Re-porter-News.
And no, I still can’t spell Greg’s last name from memory.
My days are numbered.College is almost over
and the real world is get-ting closer and closer. And it’s not the kind of Real World where you get to drink and be sexually promiscuous with eight random roommates. It’s the kind where a body running solely on Ramen drags itself from inter-view to interview before finding somewhere to spend the rest of your life.
One of college’s sole purposes is preparation for life after diploma.
Yet, somehow, there are some major differences between how I live my life now and I imagine my life will be come June.
America is in a reces-sion and unemployment continues to rise, yet I currently have three jobs. As unemployment lines grow longer, so do my responsibilities at work. If only I could pawn the assignment of intramu-ral referee off on one of those recent pink slip re-cipients.
Instead of turning
down extra jobs so I can play intramural pickle-ball or get more than five hours of sleep each night, I picture myself franti-cally searching for some-thing, anything to pay the bills.
Seriously, anyone hire me. I will do anything.
My sleep schedule is something that will take a huge hit come gradua-tion. I currently do about 15-20 hours of work per week during normal busi-ness hours (assuming I don’t skip class). The rest of that time is a mixture of naps, food, general horseplay and a bit more napping.
The rest of my work is done sometime between sundown and most nor-mal human beings’ deep sleep cycle. When I enter
the “real” world and get a “real” job that isn’t going to fly. I’ll have to some-how trick my body into waking and working with the rest of the world.
I do, however, look forward to actually hav-ing weekends. You know, days between the weeks where I don’t have to work and can spend time on more important things like taking my wife to dinner, picking out paint samples and complaining about my job.
I can’t say for sure now, but I expect life after col-lege to be quite a wakeup, and my alarm couldn’t even do that this morn-ing.
contact SMITH [email protected]
contact singer [email protected]
contact the optimist [email protected]
column
column
Editorial
Dead Day proves voices can inspire changethe issue
Student’s often feel like their opinions go unnoticed and thus, leave them unsaid.
our take
The reinstatement of dead day shows that the administration is will to listen and work for what we support.
EVAN’s marks evan marks
Internship, thy name is Slippery
WELL, THISIS AWKWARD
MARK SMITH
Classification: Senior
MAJOR: Graphic Design
HOMETOWN: San Diego, CALIF.
Evan once heard a loud crash outside his house when he was young. Outside he found a glowing stone from space that gave him magical powers. Evan’s entire life has been devoted to hiding those powers from others.
MEET THE CARTOONIST
WOAH! IS MEDAVID SINGER
College life approaching grad wakeup
hashtagACUDan Branch is prob-ably the most coherent speaker this side of the Red River.
@realzekemorgan @mandamariee153 @misshollybear@_jujuv
11:56 a.m. Aug. 275:35 p.m. Aug. 27
9:52 a.m. Aug. 28Walking around ACU with a backpack on act-ing like I go here. #ACU-problems
@leigh_foith@paigeeileen41
1:18 p.m. Aug. 27
11:38 p.m. Aug. 27
nothing says senior year quite like getting a LinkedIn request from the Bean piano guy #what
To the kid who held the Oklahoma flag in the opening ceremonies today, nice move w/ the Thunder shirt but this is #mavsnation
I am truly more excited about the side entrance to the library than the fact that ACU is going D1 #truthtweet
The guy sitting next to me is barefoot. I am of-ficially back at acu.
12:58 p.m. Aug. 27
It was a great experience for me to learn not just
about reporting and writ-ing, but about the life of
newspaper employees. “
wednesday 08.29.127 features
TAKING ON NEW GROUNDACU’s new executive vice president well qualified to lead university alongside President Schubert
r. Allison Garrett held a very re-spected and influential position at Oklahoma Christian Universi-ty. Last year as senior vice presi-
dent for academic affairs, she oversaw three colleges and was one of the two fi-nalists being considered for presidency at Oklahoma Christian. This year, Garrett has given all of that up for the opportunity to fill the position of executive vice president of ACU and to be a part the great things she anticipates in its future.
“It’s going to be fun to play in new sand-boxes,” Garrett said.
The role of executive vice president was last filled by Dr. Phil Schubert, presi-dent of the university, and has remained unfilled for the past two years.
“She’s going to bring new ideas and thoughts to the table,” Schubert said. “She’s an experienced leader, I feel like God brought us the right person for the job and that she’ll bring a positive change to ACU.”
Schubert said Garrett will be taking on a significant portion of the internal op-erations of the university, allowing him to spend more time representing the univer-sity and working to secure the resources needed to fund ACU’s mission and vision.
“Her role is ensuring strong finan-cial operations, building a strong image for ACU through marketing and helping achieve a quality campus environment for learning to occur,” Schubert said.
Wide Range of Experience
Garrett has filled a variety of roles dur-ing her career – from lawyer to regulator, from professor to provost. After graduating law school, Garrett took a job at a law firm and was immersed in a case involving a huge security fraud scandal that victimized many Hollywood celebrities and was cov-ered for months by the Wall Street Journal.
Before getting into higher education, Garrett spent more than 10 years working
as the general counsel for corporate legal services at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. where she worked on many of the deals that allowed Wal-Mart to expand into several different countries. She also served as the compa-ny’s vice president for benefits compliance and planning where she managed a bud-get of more than $550 million.
“I was intrigued after reading her re-sume and biography; the combination of her business experience in the legal world and at Wal-Mart combined with her five years as provost gave her a unique com-bination of strong academic understand-ing and business and legal background,” Schubert said. “She looked like a stellar candidate for a leadership role.”
Garrett also worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington D.C. before entering into leadership roles in higher education, serving as a provost, professor and filling other high adminis-trative positions.
“I think the single most important thing in any job is to treat people with a lot of respect,” Garrett said.
As a professor for business law, Garrett said she really enjoyed getting to know the students.
“I tried to have a lot of fun and do some crazy things in class,” Garrett said. “Be-cause business law can be a deadly boring subject if you’re not careful.”
Fighting for Rights
When Garrett went into the practice of law in the mid-80s, she was one of two women at a firm of more than 30 lawyers. In many of the positions she has held, she has been a pioneer in breaking through the barriers placed before women in the work-place. This carried on to her consideration for the presidency at Oklahoma Christian.
“I was excited to have the opportunity to, maybe not break the glass ceiling, but to crack it and I felt fairly confident that I would at least get a serious look,” Garrett said. “I don’t know if women have applied for positions of presidencies at Church of Christ schools in the past, but I thought it would be nice to cause people to start
thinking a little differently than maybe they have been thinking.”
Garrett said she is confident that, in the next few years, there will be a woman board chair for at least one of the universities af-filiated with the Churches of Christ. She said a different world today is offering more opportunities for women in leadership.
“ACU is blessed to have several very talented female board members,” Gar-rett said. “In higher education, just as in other industries, women have made a lot of progress over the past couple of decades, but women of-ten still face unique chal-lenges in the
workforce.”
E a r l i e r this year, Garrett testi-fied before C o n g r e s s against the requirement that employers provide birth control – including the abortion pill – re-gardless of their religious convictions.
“I’ve never really dabbled in politics or that particular issue but I felt strong-ly about the issue of religious liberty,” Garrett said. “There are other ways for the government to reach this same end without making people violate their First Amendment rights.”
Garret said she believes religious liber-ty is crucial to this country and to Ameri-cans as individuals.
“It’s one of the things that makes it so wonderful to live here and it’s important that those of us who are Christians be able to exercise our religion,” Garrett said.
Sharing Wisdom
Garrett encouraged students to take advantage of the networking possibilities here at ACU and also advised that students follow their interests.
“Look for connections, if someone were to come to me with a strange assortment of skills and interests, I know that some-where out there is the perfect job for that person,” Garrett said. “Really follow your interests and see what kinds of connec-tions you can make.”
As a student, Garrett said she prob-ably did not even know that the position she now fills existed. It was a process of seeking her passions that brought her to where she is now.
“Don’t let your job get in the way of you
living your life as a Christian and don’t let it get in the way of your family or even at work, just being able to enjoy your col-leagues,” Garrett said. “In a bigger com-pany you occasionally get to see the bad side and it is so important not to sacrifice your principles.”
Garrett also said humor is a great tension
dissipater for really awkward discussions and she believes in figuring out ethical al-ternatives for reaching the same means that others may try to solve unethically.
Looking at where Garrett has come
from, she brings a rich and varied history of experience to her position serving ACU.
“The exciting thing is that I really feel
like I can make a difference,” Garrett said. “A lot of people talk about multiply-ing their impact, and when you work in a place with amazing young people who can go out into the world, what little you do can have this multiplier effect and it’s really exciting to influence people who are making decisions about where their life is going to take them.”
Schubert said Garrett has an incredible understanding of Christian higher educa-tion and of the needs of the students.
“She knows what we stand for,” Schubert said. “Her own personal values and integrity promote God and higher ed-ucation. I’m excited and thankful for what she can do for ACU.”
Dsamantha sutherland
features editor
contact sutherland [email protected]
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Dr. allison garrettexecutive vice
president of the university
“It’s going to be fun to
play in new sandboxes.”
“
nication, is filling his old position on an interim basis.
Rhodes earned a Ph.D. in school psychology from the University of Northern Colorado and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Oklahoma Christian Uni-versity. He was associate dean for students and pro-grams at New Mexico State University before agreeing to come to ACU as the uni-versity’s chief academic officer.
Dr. Phil Schubert, pres-ident of the university, said Rhodes shares the university’s mission, an essential characteristic of the provost.
“The president and provost must have a com-mon vision and mutual trust,” Schubert said. “I am very impressed with Dr. Rhodes.”
Rhodes said the change has taken some time to adjust to ACU’s differenc-es from NMSU, but he’s pleased with the transition.
“Whenever you come to a new campus you’re never quite sure what to expect until you’re actually here,” he said. “Everyone I’ve worked with has been welcoming and engaging. ACU has a more personal nature and I like that is designed with a kingdom approach and greater spir-ituality.”
sitions: Dr. Greg Straughn for the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Ken Cuk-rowski for the College of Biblical Studies and Dr. Donnie Snider for the Col-lege of Education and Hu-man Studies.
Rhodes acknowledged that challenges some-times accompany changes in administration, but he remains optimistic about how ACU is handling it.
“There are times where you have interims in place and they’re kind of just care-taking for the job, and there’s not a lot of forward movement,” Rhodes said. “This is a different group.
They’re very skilled. All of them really aren’t missing a beat. They’re moving the college forward and are very engaged and individ-ually impressive people.”
Rhodes said his hope was for each interim to ap-ply for the permanent po-sition.
Straughn said he has enjoyed working with the departments in the Col-
lege of Arts and Sciences and is considering ap-plying for the position as dean.
“I’ve not ruled it out. I’ve not made a final deci-sion at this point, either,” Straughn said. “I’m wait-ing for the committee to finalize the description and qualities of the posi-tion, and I know that will happen pretty soon. I’m happy to serve right now and have been blessed by different opportunities to serve in different roles over the last couple of years.”
wednesday 08.29.12 8NEWS
Deans: Search committees formedadministration
contact jones [email protected]
this coliseum, and I look at all the banners that rep-resent the great heritage that this school has, I’m reminded of your excel-lence in not only character education but in athletics and academic education,” said Branch. “To me this
is the reason that Texas Monthly at the end of the last millennium said that the greatest sports dynasty in Texas is ACU track.”
Branch said he believed ACU will find success in Division I, congratulated the university at that ac-complishment, and also mentioned the two new
Olympians on campus, Reyare Thomas of Trinidad and Tobago and Elea Mar-iama Diarra of France.
“See your future, and seize the day,” Branch said.
Chapel: Speaker stresses future, education
contact garcia [email protected]
Provost: Chief academic officer adjusting to position, campus
administration
contact smith [email protected]
continued from page 1
continued from page 1
continued from page 1
mandy lambright CHIEF Photographer
Dan Branch, a Texas State Representative, speaks during Opening Chapel.
Dr. robert rhodesprovost of the
university
This is a different group. They’re very skilled.”“
wednesday 08.29.129 sports
Elliot Cribby hired as new pitching coach
ACU head baseball coach Britt Bonneau announced earlier this month that El-liot Cribby will be the new pitching coach for the Wildcats this upcoming season.
“I feel that as we move forward into Division I, it is really important for the program that we have a strong pitching coach to help out our guys,” Bon-neau said.
“He is a high energy guy. He’s young, he wants to be a coach, and above all he wants to win. And anyone who knows anything about baseball knows how impor-tant your pitching is to win.”
Many factors went into the decision, but the main reason for the new addi-tion to the staff was the recent move to Division I.
“He has had a lot of ex-perience with Division I ball,” Bonneau said.
“He’s played in it, coached in it, and he has a lot of contacts that can help us as a team as far as recruiting. It will improve our own team network-ing. Plus, as a team mov-ing forward, you want to have guys with you that have had experience with Division I and have been around that.”
Bonneau hopes to im-prove on the team’s lack of success from a pitching stand point.
“I think myself, Coach
Bonneau, and Coach Sto-ver can all agree we really underachieved last season on the mound,” pitching Coach Elliot Cribby said.
“I’m excited because I feel like I have received the keys to a Ferrari. It’s a talented group of arms and we will bring an up-tempo and aggressive ap-proach to our game plan every day.”
Before coming to ACU, Coach Cribby experienced
success as both a player and a coach.
“I played at the Uni-versity of Washington and established myself as a premier closer in the PAC-12 while I was there,” Cribby said.
“I actually closed games for Tim Lincecum. Having experience in that conference and playing in the Cape Cod League in the summer really gave me a better understand-ing of what it takes to suc-ceed at a higher level.”
After finishing out his career as a player, Crib-by decided to become a coach instead.
“I chose to coach in high school versus the ju-nior college route because I wanted to have experi-
ence running a program of my own rather than just being an assistant,” Crib-by said.
“In the two years I was at Mount Si, we estab-lished ourselves as one of the premier high school programs in the country being ranked in the Top 25 multiple times.”
Cribby began to stand out from the other candi-dates towards the end of the process.
“At one point, we were looking at five guys in-cluding Elliot,” Bonneau said. “But after weeks of talking and really getting to know these guys and seeing what their true col-ors were, Elliot just stood out from among the rest. His passion for the game,
his eagerness to win, his strong faith, and core val-ues really made the deci-sion easy for us.”
The Wildcat nation hopes that Cribby’s new energy will correlate into wins on the diamond and a rebirth of baseball here in Abilene.
“My goal is simple: win,” Cribby said. “We will prepare in the fall to do so and with the work ethic instilled, everything else will take care of it-self. ACU deserves a trip back to the College World Series and our goals fall nothing short of that.”
elliot cribbyPitching coachACU baseball
ACU deserves a trip back to the College World
Series and our goals fall nothing short of that.“
Youth: ‘Cats open season with tourneyspecialist/libero Madison Hoover will be splitting time with Robinett on the defensive side of the ball. Both players are de-scribed as excellent at ball control.
The last new face is freshman Sarah Siemens. She and Rhoads will both be starting at the setter position.
“Haley is very reliable and has a great mental game while Sarah is a lit-tle more athletic and has a better walk,” Mock said.
The Wildcats have the difficult job of replacing Kelsie Edwards, ACU’s ca-reer holder in digs, and All-American outside hit-ter Jennie Hutt. Both were seniors last year.
“It’s hard to replace girls like that but Jen-nie, Loerch and Madison Hoover are very similar players to Hutt and Ed-
wards in regards to what they bring us on the court and their mentality,” Mock said. “We have some great tools that can pro-vide a similar outcome.”
The ‘Cats will be mov-ing up to Division I next season so the team is looking to leave the con-ference on a good note.
“We want a confer-ence championship,” Allen said. “A lot of us have friends on the other sports teams and they all have conference rings. We want to be apart of that.”
ACU is picked to finish third in the LSC behind West Texas A&M University and
Angelo State University.The Wildcats play in
the St. Edward’s/St. Mary’s Tournament this weekend. Their opponents will in-clude Southwestern Okla-homa State University, Colorado State University-
Pueblo, Southeastern Okla-homa State University and host St. Edward’s University.
volleyball
contact isaacs [email protected]
from page 10
Kalynne Allensenior right side hitter
acu volleyball
We want a conference championship.” “
mandy lambright chief Photographer
The volleyball team gets ready to play in Moody Coliseum.
Lady ‘Cats to kick off season at Dallas Baptist
After finishing last season 20-2-1 at the NCAA Division II national championship quarterfinals, it’s safe to say that the ACU women’s soc-cer team is ready to pick up where they left off this year.
“We have quite a bit of returning starters and player from last year,” head coach Casey Wil-son said. “The experience coming back after last season takes a lot of the apprehension out of what we can do as a team.”
The Wildcats are coming back with eight starters, all of which were key members of the 2011 Lone Star Con-ference and regional title winning team. Only three players are not from last year, keeping the bulk of the team in tact.
The roster will once again feature junior all-American forward Andrea Carpenter, recently recog-nized as the LSC preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Carpenter claims a ca-
reer total of 38-goals in 44 starts, an ACU record.
Seniors Julie Coppedge, Arielle Moncure, Stepha-nie Heron, Lexi Stirling, and Krysta Grimm are also expected to lead their team once again.
“All five seniors are very talented players who have made quite an impact on this program,” Wilson said. “A lot of the seniors have played in many of the games here, so that’s excit-ing in itself.”
In addition to the re-turning players, Wilson is looking forward to several newcomers in the program.
“Lindsey Jones, Mandy Stratton, and Allie Vinson are three freshman that I feel could make an impact this year,” Wilson said. “They have quite a bit of experience that can help us out.”
Jones and Stratton are expected to play on defense and in midfield throughout the season.
The Wildcats will begin their season at Dallas Bap-tist University on Thursday. After winning two close
games against the Patriots the previous season, ACU is prepared for what could easily be an exciting game.
“We played them for the first game of the season and for the regional cham-pionship at the end of last year, winning both games in overtime,” Wilson said. “They’re a good program and I think it will be an ex-cellent test right off the bat. We’re excited to go into our first game and have our first game be an important one is great to have our girls focused. They know what they’re getting into and who we’re gonna play so I think they are ready to go.”
Heavily favored to win this year’s Lone Star Con-ference title once again, the Wildcats are eager to jump into action this sea-son with a great start.
“I feel like we can hit the ground running one more year with the amount of ex-perience we have,” Wilson said. “And that’s exciting.”
soccer
natalie goinassistant sports editor
contact goin [email protected]
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Senior midfielder Julie Coppedge drives the ball down the field last year against Dallas Baptist at Wildcat Soccer Pitch.
contact zepeda [email protected]
daniel zepedasports reporter
baseball
wednesday 08.29.12 10sports
Football opens its season on Saturday, Sept. 1 against McMurry University at Shotwell Stadium. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.
Soccer begins its season on Thursday, Aug. 30 at Dallas Baptist University. The match starts at 6 p.m.
The volleyball team travels to the St. Edward’s / St. Mary’s Tournament in Austin and San Antonio on Friday, Aug. 31 and Saturday, Sept. 1 to begin its season. The Wildcats open up the tournament on Friday in Austin when they play St. Edward’s at 11 a.m. and Southwestern Oklahoma State University at 7 p.m.
The men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Waco to the Baylor Twilight Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 1 for their season opener.
volleyball
standings
briefings
ex- factor
Upcoming
The football team will began its season ranked No. 10 in the country by the American Football Coaches’ Association pre-season poll. The ‘Cats are picked to finish second in the Lone Star Conference.
Soccer begins its season ranked No. 7 in the pre-season poll released by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. ACU is the only LSC team to make the top-25 poll.
The volleyball team is third in the preseason conference ranking. West Texas A&M University is first and Angelo State University is second.
football
TeamACUASUENMUUIWMSUTSUCommerceTAMU-KWTAMU
Div.0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0
Ovrl.0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0
Texans defensive back Danieal Manning forced and recovered a fumble Saturday night against the Saints.
Daryl Richardson, run-ning back for the Rams, led his team against the Cowboys Saturday with 10 carries for 51 yards and a reception for 9 yards.
Bears defensive end Aston Whiteside played in the first game of his NFL career Friday in a win over the Giants.
TeamACUASUCameronENMUUIWMSUTSUCommerceTAMU-KTWUWTAMU
Div.0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0
Ovrl.0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0
soccer
TeamACUASUENMUUIWMSUCommerceTWUWTAMU
Div.0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0
Ovrl.0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0
Central ArkansasMascot - Bears/Sugar BearsLocation - Conway, Ark.Enrollment - 11,444Sports - men’s football, baseball, basketball, soc-cer, track & field, cross country, golf; women’s basketball, volleyball, track & field, cross country, ten-nis, golf, soccer, softballJoined Southland - 2006
LamarMascot - Cardinals Location - BeaumontEnrollment - 14,522Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis, track & field; women’s basket-ball, cross country, track & field, golf, soccer, tennis, volleyballJoined Southland - 1963
McNeese StateMascot - CowboysLocation - Lake Charles, La.Enrollment - 8,900Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, cross country,
try, golf, football, track & field; women’s basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, volleyballJoined Southland - 1972
Nicholls StateMascot - ColonelsLocation - Thibodaux, La.Enrollment - 6,404Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, football, golf, tennis, cross country; women’s basketball, cross
country, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, vol-leyballJoined Southland - 1991
Northwestern StateMascot - DemonsLocation - Natchitoches, La.Enrollment - 9,191Sports - men’s basketball, football, baseball, track, cross country; women’s basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, volleyballJoined Southland - 1987
Oral Roberts
Mascot - Golden EaglesLocation - Tulsa, Okla.Enrollment - 3,212Sports - men’s baseball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, track & field; wom-en’s basketball, golf, soccer, tennis, cross country, track & field, volleyballJoined Southland - 2012
Sam Houston StateMascot - BearcatsLocation - HuntsvilleEnrollment - 17,612Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, track & field; women’s basketball, bowl-ing, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, volleyballJoined Southland - 1987
Southeastern LouisianaMascot - LionsLocation - Hammond, La.Enrollment - 15,351Sports - men’s basketball, baseball, football, cross country, golf, track & field; women’s basketball, cross country, soccer, track & field, softball, tennis, vol-leyballJoined Southland - 1997
Stephen F. AustinMascot - Lumberjacks/Lady JacksLocation - NacogdochesEnrollment - 12,845Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, cross country, football, track & field, golf; women’s basketball, bowl-ing, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, volleyballJoined Southland - 1987
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Mascot - IslandersLocation - Corpus ChristiEnrollment - 10, 200Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, cross coun-try, tennis, track & field; women’s basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, volleyballJoined Southland- 2006
Incarnate WordMascot - CardinalsLocation - San AntonioEnrollment - 7, 100Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swim-ing and diving, tennis, track & field; women’s basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, synchronized swim-ming, tennis, track & field, volleyball
Joined Southland - 2012
University of New Orleans
Mascot - PrivateersLocation - New Orleans, La.Enrollment - 10, 903Sports- men’s baseball, basketball, cross coun-try, golf, tennis, track; women’s basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, track, volleyballJoined Southland - 2012
Houston BaptistMascot - Huskies Location - HoustonEnrollment - 2,300Sports - men’s baseball, basketball, cross coun-try, golf, soccer, track; women’s basketball, cross country, golf, track, soft-ball, soccerJoined Southland - won’t be a member until 2013 and will start football in 2014
Wildcats to begin LSC farewell tour
The first week of classes means one thing to seri-ous football fans in the big country: It is football time.
First year head coach Ken Collums has inherited the tenth ranked football team in the nation, and the boys of fall are looking to put together a playoff run after last year’s early exit in the first round.
Offensively, ACU scored like a pinball machine last year, and not much will change, as the high-flying Wildcat attack looks as menacing as ever.
Darian Hogg, Taylor Gabriel and Darrel Cantu-Harkless will lead a star studded group of play-makers this year for the ACU offense that will give LSC coaches fits on the outside all year long.
Darian Dulin takes
over as the defensive co-ordinator after the team fought through some rough patches on the de-fensive side of the ball last year, giving up over 400 yards a game.
“I think our defense is going to be very good” quarterback Mitchell Gale said. “We have had some good defenses the past few years, but we go against really good of-fenses a lot too.”
Dulin will be looking to revamp a defense that will not have a shortage of talent. Hard-hitting line-backer Thor Woerner and playmaker Darien Wil-liams should have mon-ster years this year, after the two players combined for 134 tackles in the 2011 campaign.
The Wildcats did not do themselves and favors with the schedule
ACU will face off against four teams ranked
in the top 25, including ri-val West Texas A&M on the road and a showdown in Abilene against the fourth ranked Midwestern St. Mustangs.
“Our approach since the spring has been that it doesn’t matter who you play, we had better show up and be ready to go,” Collums said. “Every week we have to go in there and play a clean game.”
The Cats will also travel to perennial pow-erhouse Delta State and face off against West Ala-bama at Shotwell in early November.
The Wildcats first game of the 2012 season will be at Shotwell Stadium on Sat-urday at 6:00 p.m. against fellow Abilene school Mc-Murry University.
football
matthew sloansports reporter
contact sloan [email protected]
Young squad set for season opener
Moody Coliseum has been buzzing with action this week as the volleyball team prepares for its sea-son opening tournament this weekend.
The Wildcats are com-ing off a 2011 season in which they went 21-14 overall and 14-6 in the Lone Star Conference. They qualified for the NCAA Division II tourna-ment but lost a five-set heart breaker to the Uni-versity of Central Missouri
in the South Central Sub-Regional.
This year the ‘Cats sport a young squad led by the lone senior on the team, right-side hitter Kalynne Allen. She will be joined by several key re-turners including sopho-mores Sara Oxford, Haley Rhoads and Rachel Riley and juniors Madelyn Rob-inett, Caley Johnson and Neely Borger.
Head coach Kellen Mock said the youth of the team can be both a posi-tive and a negative thing.
“I think we are a resil-ient team, maybe even
more so than last year,” she said. “We aren’t emo-tional. Our experience level could be a factor though. We will have a lot of freshman and sopho-mores on the floor.”
Allen isn’t phased by all the newcomers.
“We are young, but
we’re also talented,” she said. “I think this group of girls has maybe more tal-ent than any other ACU team I’ve been on. It’s ex-citing for me to have some younger girls challenging for spots.”
Allen also said she en-joys being one of the lead-ers for the team.
“That’s something I desire and strive for,” she said. “I try to lead by example, however it’s a shared responsibility. I can’t do it all on my own.”
One of the new faces this season is middle blocker Corrie Reeder
who is listed at 6-foot-1. Mock said she will see sig-nificant playing time since Borger, who is expected to be out until mid-Sep-tember, is still recovering from an off-season injury.
“Corrie is tall and dy-namic,” Mock said. “You will be seeing her a lot.”
Rookie outside hitter Jennie Loerch emerged as one of the better hit-ters during two-a-days ac-cording to Mock and said she can play anywhere on the outside.
Freshman defensive
volleyball
Edward Isaacssports editor
A look into the Southlanduniversity
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Running back Reggie Brown breaks away for a big gain.
Kalynne allenSenior right-side hitter
ACu volleyball
I try to lead by example, however it’s a shared
responsibility. I can’t do it all on my own.”“
see youth page 9
ACU will join 13 teams when it moves to Div. I