Public Meeting Story

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Public Meeting Report
12-1-2010
By Dalton Hammonds

The Executive Committee of the Marshall University Faculty Senate Monday sent a revised incomplete grade policy back to a standing committee and approved a new section of the student handbook for discussion at the next faculty senate meeting.
The new incomplete grade policy grants individual instructors the ability to give eye grades and set parameters for course completion. It is being sent back to the Budget and Academic Policy committee for revision.
An addition to the student handbook regarding the grievance procedure for acts of discrimination and/or harassment was passed without opposition.
Summer sessions were a cause for debate among the committee members.
“The summer sessions aren’t considered a semester when a student is attempting to improve on an incomplete,” Senate chair Camilla Brammer said.
Faculty Senate members determined academic good standing to be when a student has a 2.0 grade point average or better.
Clinical courses have a satisfactory or unsatisfactory grading system, which complicates the process.
“The professor determines what is satisfactory and what is not. There is no letter grade to go by,” Executive Committee Recording Secretary Sandra Prunty said.
The final act of the meeting was to approve the agenda for the next Faculty Senate meeting that will take place on December 9.
University President Dr. Stephen Kopp and Provost Gayle Ormiston are scheduled to speak.

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Meeting Questions

1. Describe the experience of a meeting: It was an enlightening experience since I had never covered one before. I felt out of the loop at times and I need to improve how I go about covering a meeting.

2. When did you attend this meeting? November 29, 2010 at Noon in the John Spotts Room of the Marshall University Student Center

3. Name of the governmental unit you covered: Executive Committee of the Facutly Senate

4. Number of members of the body you covered: 9 voting members present along with some other non-voting members

5. Number of other members of the audience in attendance: 14

6. Were there any votes? Yes

7. 2 Major issues: Incomplete grade policy was sent back to a committee to be revised. Student handbook addition was voted to be discussed at the next Faculty Senate meeting.

8. Lead Paragraph:
The Executive Committee of the Marshall University Faculty Senate Monday sent a revised incomplete grade policy back to a standing committee and approved a new section of the student handbook for discussion at the next faculty senate meeting.

Public Event Speech

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Public Speech Story
November 11, 2010
By Dalton Hammonds

A political science professor said Wednesday in front of Marshall University students that participation is a vital part of any election.
George Davis told members of his political science class to get out and participate in both mid-term and general elections.
“It’s important for younger voters to get out and vote because you guys [students] are the ones who will be choosing leaders of this country for years to come.”
Davis, who is originally from New York, told his students that there are two main types of voters, spectators and gladiators.
A spectator, Davis said, is someone who usually votes, who might follow the issues on the news, but who do very little else.
“They [spectators] don’t make phone calls for candidates, they don’t get involved in campaigns and they don’t do the things that make campaigns happen. The majority of Americans are spectators,” Davis said.
Gladiators, Davis said, are the people who are most engaged in the political process.
“These are the people make campaigns run. They go door to door and try to get you to vote for the issue or candidate that they support,” Davis said.
Davis said that other factors determined the likelihood of voter participation.
“Ethnicity, level of education and gender are things that have to be looked at when finding out how likely a registered voter will actually get out and get to the polls,” Davis said.
Davis gave reference to a George Mason University study that projected only 37% of registered voters cast their ballot last Tuesday in the general election.
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Arnold Story Revision

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Arnold 2
November 4, 2010
By Dalton Hammonds

The doctor was in at Marshall University Tuesday.
George T. Arnold, one of the nation’s leading language experts (a doctor of language), author of a popular media textbook and retired professor of journalism at Marshall, said to 14 journalism school students good writing requires hard work.
Arnold said that any writing that journalists do has to be correctly and with proper grammar and language.
“I love coming back to Marshall,” Arnold said. “I’ve been teaching around this same round table since 1968.”
Arnold, a self-proclaimed grammarholic, encouraged the students to always fix grammar mistakes even if it upsets those around you. Arnold citied an incident he had at the West Virginia State Fair where he was angrily asked to leave a crafts stand after offering to correct the artist’s grammatical errors.
Accents were another topic that Arnold shed his wisdom on. “Don’t apologize for your accent,” he said.
Arnold released his first book, the “Media Writer’s Handbook,” in 1995 and has since released four more editions with a sixth edition expected to come out in the near future.
“There wasn’t really a good book to cover the material I was attempting to cover,” Arnold said. “I started to make handouts and soon the handouts got so thick that a publishing company wanted to know if I wanted to do a book.”
The “Media Writer’s Handbook”, published by McGraw-Hill, is used on more than 80 college and university campuses nationwide.
Arnold was a recipient of Marshall University's Marshall and Shirley Reynolds Outstanding Teacher Award and is also an inductee into the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism Hall of Fame.
Arnold retired in 2004 and relocated to South Carolina in 2008 to be closer to family.
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Revised ECU-Marshall Story

HUNTINGTON, W.Va.-- East Carolina used a balanced offensive attack Saturday to pull away from Marshall in the second half en route to a 37-10 victory in Greenville, N.C.

The Conference USA leading-Pirates (5-2, 4-0) gained 190 yards on the ground with 110 of those yards coming courtesy of senior running back Jon Williams who scored on a 29-yard touchdown run late in the first half to give the Pirates a 17-10 lead.

Marshall (1-6, 0-3) had possession of the ball longer than East Carolina, but was hampered in the first half by three interceptions thrown by senior quarterback Brian Anderson. East Carolina scored 17 of their 20 first half points off Marshall turnovers.

Anderson went 27 for 47 through the air for 217 yards for Marshall. He connected with junior receiver Troy Evans on a nine-yard pass for the Thundering Herd’s only touchdown midway through the second quarter.

The Thundering Herd defense was led by redshirt freshman cornerback Monterius Lovett who had nine tackles and sophomore safety Donald Brown who had eight tackles and forced East Carolina’s only turnover, an interception with 2:15 to go in the first quarter.

East Carolina junior quarterback Dominique Davis completed 23 of his 39 passes for 208 yards and two touchdown strikes to receivers Lance Lewis and Mike Price. Davis also ran for 26-yard touchdown to start the second half for the Pirates.

East Carolina scored 27 unanswered points to account for the final margin of victory.

“You have to give East Carolina credit,” Marshall head coach Doc Holliday said in his post-game press conference. “They went in at halftime and made some adjustments and we had a hard time stopping them in the second half. I thought in the first half we got by with some things and slowed them down a bit.”

Marshall returns home for a cross-divisional matchup against the UTEP Miners on October 30. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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Class of the Conference: Pirates dominate Thundering Herd

East Carolina used a balanced offensive attack to pull away from Marshall in the second half en route to a 37-10 victory in Greenville, N.C. on Saturday night.

The Conference USA leading-Pirates (5-2, 4-0) gained 190 yards on the ground with 110 of those yards coming courtesy of senior running back Jon Williams who scored on a 29-yard touchdown run late in the first half to give the Pirates a 17-10 lead.

Marshall (1-6, 0-3) had possession of the ball longer than East Carolina, but was hampered in the first half by three interceptions thrown by senior quarterback Brian Anderson. East Carolina scored 17 of their 20 first half points off Marshall turnovers.

Anderson went 27 for 47 through the air for 217 yards for Marshall. He connected with junior receiver Troy Evans on a nine yard pass for the Thundering Herd’s only touchdown midway through the second quarter.

The Thundering Herd defense was led by redshirt freshman cornerback Monterius Lovett who had nine tackles and sophomore safety Donald Brown who had eight tackles and forced East Carolina’s only turnover, an interception with 2:15 to go in the first quarter.

East Carolina junior quarterback Dominique Davis completed 23 of his 39 passes for 208 yards and two touchdown strikes to receivers Lance Lewis and Mike Price. Davis also ran for 26-yard touchdown to start the second half for the Pirates.

East Carolina scored 27 unanswered points to account for the final margin of victory.

“You have to give East Carolina credit,” Marshall head coach Doc Holliday said in his post-game press conference. “They went in at halftime and made some adjustments and we had a hard time stopping them in the second half. I thought in the first half we got by with some things and slowed them down a bit.”

Marshall returns home for a cross-divisional matchup against the UTEP Miners on October 30.

Non-Profit Questions and Info

Questions I will ask my Non-Profit Organization (John W Hereford Boys and Girls Club of Huntington)

1. What are the advantages of being such a well known oganization?
2. What types of programs do you offer to improve the lives of children in the area?
3. What collaborative efforts do the United Way and your organization stage to better the community?
4. In 2008, your organization suffered an over 50% drop in public support from the previous year, what factors do you think caused the drop?
5. What are the challenges of being a non-profit organization?

3 Web Addresses I will use

1.www.guidestar.org
2.www.independentsector.org
3.www.sos.wv.gov

3 Documents I will request

1.Tax Exemption Letter
2.Annual Report
3.Tax Returns from the past 3 years

United Way 2

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United Way 2
10-14-2010
By Dalton Hammonds

A United Way of the River Cities executive said the agency will shift from its traditional focus of fundraising to increasing the number of people who donate to the organization.

“Fundraising was the end...until about 15 years ago when we (United Way) looked at ourselves and thought maybe we’re not being as effective as we thought we were”, said Laura Gilliam, executive director of the United Way.

Gilliam spoke in front of 100 Marshall University faculty and students Thursday in a luncheon hosted by the SGA and Faculty Senate in the John Marshall room of the Student Center.

In the past the United Way had been only a fundraising vehicle for other organizations throughout the community. “Our focus has been transitioning from a very transactional organization, to an organization that really is looking at what are the major problems and what can we be doing to address the root cause of those problems”, said Gilliam.

The United Way has pinpointed 4 “focus areas” to improve on the aforementioned problems. Learning and earning is a point that focuses on students who leave high school without a diploma as well as adults who lack basic life skills. Health and wellness is concerned with childhood obesity and substance abuse with in the community.

Another area, families and children, is concerned with decreasing unemployment and providing children with positive interaction inside and outside of the home. Basic needs and unforeseen hardships focus on giving independence to individuals who are chronically dependent on community agencies as well as accounting for rare scenarios.

The United Way determines areas of need through community needs assessments and data collected over a period of a year by volunteers.

The United Way remains diligent in its activities to decrease dropout rate, stop childhood obesity and in other areas such as substance abuse, early learning and financial stability. They partner with other organizations in the area to achieve those goals.

“The United Way judges success not by how much money we raise, but by how we achieve the goals that we set,” said Gilliam.

Gilliam said her and the director of resource development and marketing, Cassey Bowden, look to increase the donor base for the organization by 15 percent because they feel it helps them raise the funds they need to improve the community and achieve their goals.

United Way Executives Visit Marshall University

            A United Way of the River Cities executive said in front of Marshall University journalism students Tuesday the agency will shift from its traditional focus of fundraising to increasing the number of people who donate to the organization.

            Cassey Bowden, director of resource development and marketing, said, “what matters is that everyone is giving and that those dollars are being used to positively impact the community.”

            The impact Bowden is referring to is something that the United Way wasn’t exactly focused on in the past. “Fundraising was the end...until about 15 years ago when we (United Way) looked at ourselves and thought maybe we’re not being as effective as we thought we were”, said Laura Gilliam, executive director of the United Way.

            In the past the United Way had been only a fundraising vehicle for other organizations throughout the community. “Our focus has been transitioning from a very transactional organization, to an organization that really is looking at what are the major problems and what can we be doing to address the root cause of those problems”, said Gilliam.

            The United Way has pinpointed 4 “focus areas” to improve on the aforementioned problems. Learning and earning is a point that focuses on students who leave high school without a diploma as well as adults who lack basic life skills. Health and wellness is concerned with childhood obesity and substance abuse with in the community.

            Another area, families and children, is concerned with decreasing unemployment and providing children with positive interaction inside and outside of the home. Basic needs and unforeseen hardships focus on giving independence to individuals who are chronically dependent on community agencies as well as accounting for rare scenarios.

The United Way determines areas of need through community needs assessments and data collected over a period of a year by volunteers.

The United Way remains diligent in its activities to decrease dropout rate, stop childhood obesity and in other areas such as substance abuse, early learning and financial stability. They partner with other organizations in the area to achieve those goals.

            “The United Way judges success not by how much money we raise, but by how we achieve the goals that we set,” said Gilliam.

            Bowden said the organization wants to raise increase the donor base by 15 percent because they feel it helps them raise the funds they need to improve the community and achieve their goals. “Fundraising is only the means to an end,” said Bowden.

United Way Assignment

The United Way of the River Cities is a non-profit organization serving the greater Huntington area.

Their mission is simple: to better the human condition in the Huntington community. The United Way of the River Cities supports a variety of programs and strategies that address issues such as Health and Wellness, learning and earning, families and children and basic needs/ unforeseen hardships.

The United Way accomplishes these programs through fundraising, grant writing and convening partnerships. Net assets of the United Way in 2007 were $1,902,191. They showed their appreciation for contributors in March when they hosted a “celebration of excellence” as well as various other family friendly events.

The Financial Stability Partnership of the River Cities is an initiative started to help families maximize their income as well as gain and benefit from savings and assets, such as homeownership, continued education, small business development and retirement planning. The Success by Six is another program that seeks to ensure that children in the River Cities will be ready physically, mentally, developmentally, emotionally and socially to begin kindergarten.

The executive director of the United Way of the River Cities is Laura Gilliam. Gilliam graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1985 with a degree in business administration.

Gilliam moved to West Virginia in 1990 and has been active in the community ever since as well as serving on a variety of local and state level committees. Gilliam has been with the organization since 2005. Gilliam’s husband Frank is on the faculty at Marshall University and they have two children.

Cassey Bowden is the director of resource development and marketing for the organization. Bowden was born and raised in Beckley, W. Va and then moved to Huntington to attend Marshall University where she received her degree in marketing and economics.

Bowden began working for the organization in 2004. Fundraising is the main focus of Bowden’s job. Bowden had several opportunities to leave the area for other jobs; however, Bowden and her firefighter husband Wes liked the area so much they decided to stay. Bowden had her first child in May of 2007.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Huntington is an organization funded by the United Way of the River Cities. The club’s main objective is to provide a place for children 6-18 a safe place to learn and grow. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Huntington offer educational and recreational activities for members. Free meals and transportation is also available for those eligible.

Common Mistakes

I recently had to write a descriptive story about one of my classmates. The article did have some flaws. Among them was the way that I put the date in the story. I also had many instances where I didn't answer the question how do you know? There were also times when I was wordy in the story, as well as not placing the quotation marks in the right position. Correcting these errors will improve my writing and make my stories better. Use of the AP Stylebook is crucial to improving these errors.

Protect This House?

The rumor mill has been busy surrounding the highly anticipated Friends of Coal Bowl between Marshall and West Virginia on September 10th. However, a certain rumor surrounding the use of the campus rec center was the topic of discussion around school today. Rumor has it that WVU have made plans to rent out the rec center the night of the game, which they can do since technically the city of Huntington is responsible for it. Mountaineer faithful will without a doubt drown the rec in gold and blue if given the opportunity to do so. If the rec is surrendered to WVU it will take gameday to another level. While this rumor could not be confirmed nor denied it is an issue that could make this rivalry just a little bit more personal than it already is between the state's two biggest college institutions.

Furyk's $10 Million Mistake

Jim Furyk overslept. The 2003 U.S Open champion was supposed to be on the tee at 7:30 A.M on Wednesday for the Pro-Am that preluded The Barclays that started Thursday. However, Furyk's cell phone alarm didn't go off and he missed his tee time by five minutes. Furyk arrived to Ridgewood Country Club without a belt, socks, and an untied pair of shoes on his feet only to be told he had been disqualified. Golf is a game of rules, one just has to look at this year's PGA Championship to know that, but this could be a rule that could cost Furyk a shot at the FedEx Championship and its $10 million grand prize. Golf is often known as the "Gentlemen's Game" and penalizing Furyk to this degree doesn't sound very gentlemanly does it?