The School of Education in conjunction with the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences has created a new sport administration major at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
“This program has nothing but positive potential, and I am convinced it will be fast and furious in its popularity,” said Dr. Susan Mullane, director of undergraduate sport administration and director of recruitment. “We are thrilled to be able to offer a sport administration major, and I am looking forward to a progressive, top-notch program that will be second to none.”
“Sport Administration offers an exciting field of study for individuals who are interested in the organization and administration of all aspects of the sport industry,” said Dr. Andy Gillentine, director of graduate sport administration and internship director. “There have been many questions regarding this program and where it leads – it seems as though a lot of people want this program.”
According to organizers, a major in sport administration prepares students for work with professional and collegiate sports, as well as fitness and wellness programs. Jobs are available in marketing, merchandising, personal agents and sports information management, as well as in a variety of other areas.
“We’ve been doing a lot of recruiting, which will only increase,” said Melissa Ethridge, internship and recruitment coordinator of sport administration. “We’re doing a lot of recruiting with student organizations, student government and fraternities and sororities, just to name a few.”
Courses required for the 39-credit major include ethics, leadership and management, sport law, sport psychology, finance, sport facilities and event management, and sports marketing and accounting. There is also a 12-credit minor in business that is required and an internship at the end of the program.
“At the University of Miami, our approach is to offer students an in-depth analysis of the sport industry and to provide as much ‘hands on’ learning as we can,” Gillentine said.
Current internships include working with the Miami Heat, the Miami Dolphins, the Florida Marlins, the NASDAQ Tennis Tournament, the Pro Wrestling Federation and the UM Athletic Department.
“We try to match students’ interests to their internships,” Mullane said. “We had somebody ask about NASCAR the other day. We’re going to see what we can do.”
Currently, the sport administration major is in the process of getting approval from the North American Society of Sport Management. The graduate program has already gained approval.
“We are very excited about this program and its potential,” Mullane said. “We are in a unique position to have the best program in the area.”
Students who want to learn more about the sport administration major should contact Dr. Mullane at 305-284-6250 or via e-mail at smullane@miami.edu

Leigha Taber can be contacted at l.taber@umiami.edu.

In a Nov. 12 issue of the Miami Hurricane, the hazardous conditions of the “art shacks,” a condemned part of the Art Department located near the Memorial and Physics buildings, were brought to the attention of UM administration.
The article was the latest of several investigative articles on the problem that date back as far as 1981.
Shortly after the front-page article was distributed, President Donna E. Shalala toured the art buildings and agreed that the condition is bad, but did not make any promise for repairs or for new buildings.
“We know we need to seriously improve the space,” Shalala said.
Some students and faculty are hoping that Shalala’s forthcoming “Capital Campaign” budget will bring in enough money to repair some of the old buildings.
“We will incorporate [the art department] into the campaign,” Shalala said.
Recently a section of one of the shacks was marked off with red tape to warn students not to walk through the area.
The second floor of the main art building is completely condemned, and the safety of all the shacks is questionable. This dangerous and un-aesthetic condition has caused art classes to be relocated to all corners of the campus.
“It’s still just terrible,” said Michael Carlebach, chair of the art and art history department. “I think we’re the only department in the University that is actually located off campus. I mean, the baseball team is closer to campus than we are.”
Members of the art faculty have lobbied for repairs and new buildings for decades and have been put off by what they refer to as empty promises made by various UM administrators.
For example, several years ago, the printmaking department was asked to move its classes to the Rainbow Building, located across from the baseball field.
The department agreed, under the impression that the painting department, with whom the printmaking department works closely, would move there also after the second floor was renovated.
“We agreed to move to the Rainbow Building when the bottom floor was renovated under the condition that the painting department would get to move the following year when the second floor would be renovated,” said printmaking professor Lisa Drost.
According to sources, the second floor was never renovated because UM decided it was too costly.
“Enrollment numbers are up,” Drost said. “And if the condition of the buildings is not hurting the University’s enrollment, then they will be less likely to fix the problem.”
According to representatives for the art department, students are still enrolling in the art program at UM for the quality of the professors and because of the beauty of the campus itself.
Economically speaking, since UM is not losing money from the condition of the art department, it is cheaper for UM to continue ignoring the hazards of the art buildings than to be concerned for the students who are both inconvenienced and endangered by the buildings.
Many believe that an accident will eventually occur in one of the dangerous buildings, for which UM will be held responsible, or the condition will become such an inconvenience that students will stop enrolling in art classes.
Graphic design major Sarah Schermerhorn transferred to UM this semester and says she is already disillusioned by the situation.
“It’s really unhealthy for an artist to be in such an unappealing place,” she said. “You walk to class and the campus is so beautiful; then you get to class and it’s gross. Some buildings are not nice places to spend three hours.”
The Hurricane will continue to investigate and follow the situation throughout the course of the semester.

Jacklyn Lisenby can be contacted at jlisenby@ umsis.miami.edu.

Leland Rapport, resident district manager of Chartwells, states that, although he agrees with most findings of the investigation conducted by the Miami-Dade County Health Department [MDCHD] to investigate a gastrointestinal illness outbreak on campus, he disagrees with the findings that suggest that Chartwells is responsible for the onset of the illness.
“First of all I would like to state that the safety and well-being of the students, faculty and administrators that dine with us each day is and has always been our top priority,” Rapport said. “I believe that the findings by both the Department of Health and our own Quality Assurance Department support the fact that there is a high level of food safety practices in place as well as thorough employee training.”
The results of the investigation, released in the December 2002 Epi Monthly Report of the Office of Epidemiology and Disease Control focuses on the Mahoney/Pearson dining hall and the Italian themed dinner held there on Nov. 13.
The MDCHD performed a series of statistical tests from Nov. 13-17, taking into account the times of onset of illness, interviews of people who reported symptoms, random questionnaires to students on campus who eat at the dining halls and laboratory test results.
According to the report, there were no confirmed cases of gastroenteritis since no pathogens were identified from stool specimens. However, 50 percent of the reported cases were classified as “probable” or “suspected,” meaning they lacked positive test results but did exhibit the necessary symptoms for gastrointestinal illness.
“Five of the probable cases and three of the suspected cases received medical care at a local hospital,” the report adds.
” believe the Health Department’s findings that there is no association between bacterial infection and Chartwells’ food is correct,” Rapport wrote in an e-mail statement to the Miami Hurricane on Jan. 17.
The report explains that there is no significant association between having eaten at the Italian theme dinner and becoming ill. The results did show a significant association between having lunch at the Mahoney/Pearson Dining Hall on Nov. 13 and becoming ill.
“A food item served at lunch on the Nov. 13 was the most likely source of the outbreak,” the report said.
Rapport, however, disagrees with these results.
“I believe that the statement on page six regarding the lunch served is contradictory to the health department’s and clinical test findings, and a statement that is based solely on statistical analysis and not fact,” Rapport said.
Ratings of “satisfactory” were given to both Mahoney/Pearson and Hecht/Stanford cafeterias. Earlier in the investigation, two ill food handlers at the Mahoney/Pearson cafeteria were suspected of having caused the illness; however, the report asserts their onset of illness occurred after the more likely cause: lunch or dinner on Nov. 13.
“I agree with the statement regarding our employees not being the suspected cause,” Rapport said.
“Laboratory testing yielded no bacteria, parasite, or Norovirus from the stool samples provided,” the report said. “Nevertheless, there is still a possibility that one of them could have been the causal agent.”
The report also states that enterotoxin should also be considered as another likely cause of this outbreak but available samples were not tested for enterotoxins.
Rapport believes that the statement regarding enterotoxins was speculative and not supported by fact.
According to the report, there was a considerable amount of interview bias involved in the case-control study.
“This bias was due to investigators interviewing cases at length; whereas controls were allowed to self-administer the same questionnaire,” the report said.
Also, confidence intervals for some of the reported statistical analyses are extremely wide, which could introduce error into the report’s conclusions.
Students are concerned about the inconclusive results of the investigation.
“I am worried about the quality and safety of the food that I eat,” senior David Abramson said. “I eat at Chartwells as little as possible. This should be investigated so that it does not occur again.”
Mel Tenen, director of auxiliary services for dining and vending services, refused comment on the issue. Rapport chose to communicate only via e-mail.
Currently, several UM professors are working with the Miami Hurricane to analyze the results and see if the MDCHD report was accurate. The Hurricane will continue to investigate the matter.

Sam Lockhart can be contacted at s.lockhart1@umiami.edu.

NewsVision, the UM student-produced newscast, won an Emmy at the 2002 Suncoast Regional Emmy awards held Dec. 7, 2002.
“Winning an Emmy is a huge honor,” Berger said. “The name implies a lot of recognition.”
Executive producer Garret Russo, news producer Maureen Capasso and sports producer Kyle Berger were awarded the Emmy in the Student program category at the Westin Diplomat hotel on Hollywood Beach.
“The newscast won an Emmy because of the fact that every aspect of the show worked,” said Carolyn Cefalo, faculty advisor. “The pacing, the content, the technical aspects, the look of the show and the talent and writing came together perfectly.”
The award-winning newscast was produced on Nov. 8, 2001 and was nominated for an Emmy over the summer of 2002, having already received awards from the National Broadcasting Society and the Associated Press.
“The show was well organized; all stories went together well,” Capasso, the current executive producer of NewsVision said. “This was as close to professional, without being professional, that we could get.”
The Suncoast Emmys are awarded by the regional chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which produces the annual Emmy Awards, and encompass English and Spanish-language broadcast and cable TV production in Florida, Puerto Rico, and portions of Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Georgia.
Capasso said that the award-wining half-hour newscast for which they received the Emmy award followed the tragic death of Chad Meredith, the UM Kappa Sigma fraternity pledge who drowned in Lake Osceola on Nov. 5, 2000.
“There was a very hard-news aspect to it,” she said.
Capasso explained that NewsVision is a campus-based show produced twice a week by undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Communication. It covers local, state, national and international news with materials produced by UM students and CNN. NewsVision also covers sports and includes a feature segment called “Lifestyles.”
Berger, who is now a senior and still works as the Sports producer, said that much of the quality of the sports segment of the newscast is owed to the quality of the teams on campus.
“Trying to find a story on sporting events at [UM] is much easier than in other universities,” Berger said. “The teams are amazing. It’s really an exciting time.”
Berger added that most of the success of the show is also due to the facilities on campus and to faculty advisors who encourage a professional production.
“Without the School of Communication and the faculty advisors we wouldn’t be able to put on as good a show as we have,” Capasso said. “We were also all good friends – we produced a good show because there was never any conflict.”
“The award reflects the hard work and commitment to excellence of our students, faculty and technical staff,” said professor Paul Driscoll, the director of academic broadcasting at UM.
NewsVision is broadcast Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7 p.m. on Channel 24 on campus and on Coral Gables AT&T Broadband Channel 96. Both broadcasts are streamed live and archived online.

Andrea Alegria can be contacted at nealegria@aol.com.

TODAY
Red Dragon will be showing at the Cosford Cinema at 8 and 10 p.m. Students get in free with a ‘Cane Card.

The Concert Association of Florida, in cooperation with the UM School of Music, presents a special master class with world-renowned pianist Joseph Kalichstein, 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at Gusman Hall. The class is free and open to the public.

Visit the Club Sports Expo from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Atrium of the Wellness Center. The club sports program offers 32 various sports and recreational clubs that are instructional, recreational and competitive in organization.

Martin Luther King Week Breakfast at 9 a.m. at Founders Hall.

Candlelight Vigil at 7 p.m. at Lake Osceola.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 22
MLK Forum: His Dream: Where Are We Now? at 7 p.m. in the UC International Lounge.

THURSDAY JANUARY 23
Jazz Night at 7 p.m. in the UC Storm Surge Cafe. “One who condones evils is just as guilty as the one who perpetrates it.” -MLK

Pass by COSO and HP’s SPRING’TING Involvement Fair from 11 – 2 p.m. on the UC Patio.

FRIDAY JANUARY 24
Come learn about the Peace Corps in an information session and video presentation, from 12 to 1 p.m. in UC 241. Contact Erin Seiler at 305-284-5398 for more information.

Metropolis will be showing at the Cosford Cinema at 7:15 p.m. Fritz Lang’s epic drama of life in the year 2026 has not been seen in its original version since a brief run in 1927. German archivists, working with material gathered from all surviving versions and using new digital technologies, have restored the film to as close to the original version as we are ever likely to see. The dazzling sets and tens of thousands of extras provide the backdrop for a wild combination of love story and political allegory of man versus machine.

SATURDAY JANUARY 25
Women’s Basketball vs. Syracuse at 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center. Wear your beach attire and get free pizza.

SUNDAY JANUARY 26
Men’s Basketball vs. Syracuse at 1 p.m. in the Convocation Center. Sign up for the Slam Dunk contest at halftime; call 305-284-5903.

TUESDAY JANUARY 28
Women’s Basketball vs. Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center. It’s also Residential Hall Night: greatest attendance wins free pizza.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 29
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar Chapter will hold a Goldman Sachs Learning Modules/Leadership Development Workshop at 7 p.m. in UC 233. Direct any questions to RA8046@students.law.miami.edu.

THURSDAY JANUARY 30
The Hurricane baseball team and head coach Jim Morris invite you to the 2003 “First Pitch” Banquet, featuring guest speaker Ron Fraser, at the Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel, Royal Poinciana Ballroom (711 NW 72nd Ave.). The banquet will start with cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. Price per person is $70, or $560 per table of eight. All reservations must be made in advance. The registration deadline is Thursday, Jan. 23. For more information call 305-284-6699.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 1
Take a FREE GMAT, LSAT or MCAT practice test at Kaplan’s Test Drive. To enroll, call 305-284-0090.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11
Are you in the process of selecting a major or considering a change of major? Are you possibly interested in adding a major? Toppel Career Center will have a Majors Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Whitten University Center Lower Lounge. Come talk with faculty representatives from these schools and colleges: Arts & Sciences, Business, Communication, Education and Nursing. The Pre-Law and Honors Programs will also have representatives to whom you will be able to talk.

Fifteen years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law making the third Monday of January a national holiday celebrating Dr. King’s birth and life. However, it was a tough time getting the bill passed. Many people were opposed to the idea of a holiday for Dr. King because the United States had honored only two individuals with national holidays – George Washington and Christopher Columbus – and felt other Americans like Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy deserved one. The bill was signed into law on Nov. 2, 1983, and the first national celebration of the holiday took place Jan. 20, 1986.

Environmental leaders and prominent academics who practice interdisciplinary approaches to environmental teaching and research will be on campus for a series of events Jan. 21 – 24 to coincide with the launch of the new Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy (CESP). The Center will create innovative initiatives designed to bridge the gap between science and environmental policy. Faculty and students wishing to attend should contact CESP Director Professor Mary Doyle at 305-284-8259.

The men’s crew team is raising money by doing your chores! For $15 per person per hour on a Saturday or Sunday of your choice, a rower will do any house or yard work. Money raised goes toward travel expenses so the team can compete in national regattas such as the South Eastern Championships and the Dad Vail National Championships. Interested? Call Ryan Jonas at 305-689-6368.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is offering up to 15 internships in Washington, D.C., for the summer 2003. College students entering their junior or senior year in fall 2003 are eligible. NEH interns receive $4,000 for 10 weeks of work. Past interns have written articles for Humanities magazine, researched emerging fields in the humanities and developed web-based tools for gathering humanities-related information. The application deadline is Jan. 21, 2003. Applications are being accepted online at http://www.neh.gov.

Come to the Teach for America Information Session, Jan. 28, at 4 p.m. in the Toppel Career Center. Teach For America is the national corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools in the effort to expand opportunity for children. Seeking all majors. No previous education experience or coursework necessary. Full salary plus $9,450 education award and loan forbearance. Final application deadline is Feb. 21. For information contact admissions@teachforamerica.org, 800-832-1230 ext. 225.

Renowned jazz recording artist and UM alumna Carmen Lundy will perform with the UM Concert Jazz Band, led by Director Dante Luciani, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at UM’s Maurice Gusman Hall. A native of Miami, Lundy has been called “One of the world’s greatest jazz vocalists” by Blues and Soul Magazine in England. Ticket prices for the concert are $10, or $5 for students and senior citizens. For information, call the UM School of Music at 305.284.4940 or log on to www.music.miami.edu.

Art festival faces a big chill
Over 250 artists braved the frigid temperatures at the 52nd annual Union Planters Bank Beaux Arts Festival this past weekend to display their work at the fund-raising event for the Lowe Art Museum.
“It’s so cold here, even the dogs have sweaters!” said Janet Mendez, a Coral Gables resident who attended the event on Saturday.
The festival appears on The Larry Harris List of the Nations Best Art Festivals, and artists came from all over the U.S. to sell their work and be judged for a variety of contests.
The Beaux Arts Organization, with the help of the Coral Gables Cultural Arts Council and the Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Council, runs the festival every year.
“I enjoyed the event a lot more last year,” Mendez said. “The sun was brighter and warmer then, and I could pay attention to the paintings more because I wasn’t shivering as much.”
Randy Eckard, from Blue Hill, ME, has been displaying his watercolors in the festival for six years.
“The weather is definitely affecting attendance,” he said. “Those who have come out to the festival are in a hurry to get home.”
“If I had wanted to be cold I could have stayed in Maine,” Eckard said.
On average, 150,000 visitors attend the event each year, and over 250 vendors showcase their work.
Prices for artwork this year ranged from ten dollars to over $10,000.
“I bought this great necklace for $20. It’s just so different from anything I’ve seen before,” said freshman Jill Sanders of her heart shaped sea glass pendant. “I wish I could afford more, but unfortunately I have to pay for tuition.”
“I loved the handmade brooms with bicycle handles,” said Josiah Miller, who came down for the weekend to go to the event with his family.
“I loved the variety of the art,” Miller said. “There was blown glass and wooden sculptures as well as paintings and photographs from all over the world.”
The event also hosted a variety of food booths serving foods such as arepas, jerk chicken, beef kabobs, kettle corn, smoothies and dessert.
“I came to look at the art but spent more time eating,” said Sarah Roberts, a retired UM employee.
Many said that they would have enjoyed the event more if the weather had been warmer.
“I can’t believe how cold it is,” said Peter Anderson, who attended the event with his wife Janet and their four kids. “We come to the festival every year, but it has never been this cold. All my kids want to do is go home.”

Leigha Taber can be contacted at l.taber@umiami.edu.