| Written by Lindsey Hoyt |
| Thursday, 20 November 2008 09:36 |
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A crowd usually sits in silent scrutiny eyeing the lone figure standing on stage with a microphone. They wait to hear something worthwhile. Those lone figures on stage sometimes opt for the company of an acoustic guitar, props or even a PowerPoint presentation. Either way, they try to provide ear candy. They only want one thing: laughter.
On Friday, patrons of JJ’s Bar will be the crowd for a quintuplet of stand-up comedians who will use wit and wordplay to prowl for laughter. The cost is $3 at the door.
“We’re letting people know there is comedy to actually go to in this town,” Matt Willford, one of the two University of Wyoming comedians in the five-person lineup, said.
Willford, a senior in architectural engineering and an opinion columnist for the Branding Iron, will be hosting the show.
He will keep the crowd warmed up for the other four acts: UW student Shawn Davis, Amy “Mo” Welch and Nathan Lund, Abbey Jordan and Dick Black of Denver.
Lund has opened for comedian Doug Stanhope, and Black has opened for Eddie Griffin and Dave Chappelle. Willford said Black’s performance will be the longest Friday.
Willford has been interested in doing comedy for over three years. He has recently been performing at comedy clubs in Denver to gain experience, and he is planning to relocate there in the future. His goal is to better establish himself.
Right now he doesn’t feel too much pressure to succeed since he’s not professional, but he said that comedians always have to work on successful material and get an act together.
Willford doesn’t limit himself to certain topics for jokes. He said he tries to write regularly but often prefers to let jokes come naturally, out of nowhere or while he’s talking with friends who laugh at something he says.
The last time he performed in Laramie was a few weeks ago at The Grounds coffee shop. He thought it was a good turn out of about 40 people, and is glad JJ’s is larger to accommodate more people.
“The bar setting will make it different,” Willford said.
Until Willford moves to Denver, he and the two other Laramie comedians want to recruit a continuing roster of new comedians to come perform here.
“It’s good to see fresh faces,” Willford said.
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| Written by Max D’Onofrio |
| Wednesday, 19 November 2008 10:51 |
The new Peter M. and Paula Green Johnson Business Career Center has opened its doors to students.
Its focus is to engage and serve as a resource in preparation for students entering the market place. The center is directed mostly at business students.
The man behind the operation, Steve W. Farkas, is newly hired and is the first director of the Johnson Career Center. His job will be engaging with students, teachers, and businesses.
“I will help students with their career strategy. Helping them think through their strategy, resume preparation, and networking them with companies that might be a good match for them.” Farkas said.
A large part of Farkas’ time will be spent traveling to employers, encouraging them to look to the University of Wyoming when they want to hire someone. It also gives him a chance to see what exactly employers are looking for now, and how the program can be tweaked to improve chances for business students when they are trying to get hired.
Farkas has worked in business for over 17 years before he decided to switch to working for the College of Business. This experience means Farkas knows what businesses are looking for and how students should best present themselves if they want the top chance of being hired.
Farkas decided to go into the education side of business because he thought that the Career Center was important.
The career center provided him an opportunity to lend his background and experience to the great things that the College of Business was doing.
“It allows you to draw upon all your career experience and really serve in a more mentoring or advising role,” Farkas said. “It is an opportunity to spread your knowledge around.”
The Johnson Career Center will also collaborate with the current UW Career Center, though its focus will be only on jobs specific to business. In this way, students, as well as employers, will find the best fit for themselves.
Though the center is small right now, when the College of Business moves back into their new building in 2010, there will be a permanent setup with a larger staff. Until then, the center has a temporary location in Crane Hall.
The center was created when the university was given an endowment of $1 million from Peter and Paula Johnson to help prepare students in getting a career. Their gift to UW was matched by state funds.
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| Written by Andrea Halbach |
| Wednesday, 19 November 2008 09:09 |
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A free performance at the Agriculture Auditorium tonight will explore the effects of sexual assault. The play will help audience members to explore the emotional aftermath of sexual violence, the perpetrators perspectives, the possibility of hope and healing, and the harmful effects of myths about sexual violence.
“Until Someone Wakes Up” was written in 1992, by Carolyn Levy and students at Macalester College, a private liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minn. Since the performance opened in 2000, over 25,000 people have seen the play which contains scenes of comedy, drama and satire according to a press release.
One audience member said, “I have never seen a more intelligent, to-the-point, real way of getting this information across. Its messages are thought-provoking and real-life.”
The script is based on interviews with survivors and perpetrators of sexual violence. All the scenes presented are true, SAFE Project Outreach Coordinator Hope Wilson said.
Wilson said the performance starts at 7:30 p.m., lasting approximately 90 minutes, with a question and answer session with the cast and after the performance.
There are approximately 10 cast and crew members involved in the production, all of whom are from the Fort Collins Sexual Violence Advocacy Center, Wilson said.
The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network Web site says one in six women and one in 33 men will be assaulted in their lifetime. This means every two minutes someone is sexually assaulted in the U.S.
The Web site also says that college-age women are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other women.
“We hope to raise awareness, prevent assaults from occurring and give a message of hope to those who are survivors of this crime,” the show’s coordinators said in a news release.
The performance is sponsored by STEP Up!, Greek Men Against Assault, Women’s Action Network, ASUW and Albany County SAFE Project.
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| Written by Andrea Halbach |
| Wednesday, 19 November 2008 09:05 |
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Students inboxes have been filled with emails containing a link to a survey that asks a variety of questions such as “Was the material covered and assigned applicable to the nature of the course?” or “Did you ever meet with your professor during office hours?” Students are asked to complete the surveys in an effort to increase productivity and effectiveness of course. The ultimate goal is always better learning.
Although the surveys appear very consistent from department to department, there is no campus-wide survey tool, Robin Hill, the coordinator for the Instructional Services Center, said. Hill said some departments still survey students by hand with bubble sheets but many colleges are moving to the online survey tool.
The Online Survey Utility known as SelectSurvey is from ClassApps, a company used by well known groups such as Hilton, Visa, Microsoft, and IBM.
The University of Wyoming purchased this program for approximately $1,000, Robert Morrison, Director of Telecom System Support Services, said.
The university also pays a few hundred dollars each year for maintenance and updates, Morrison said.
The tool is updated approximately once a month, although changes are kept to a minimum to maintain user friendliness of the program.
It is difficult to estimate exactly how much the tool is used because the usage is not tracked.
Morrison said there are currently over 400 people who can create surveys and there are approximately two to three surveys in circulation each week.
The survey tool is used more by professors and graduate students than the IT department originally projected.
“We underestimated the use of the survey utility,” Morrison said.
The IT department plans to implement changes in the program to help prevent spam surveys and will require a valid UW email address so that surveys cannot be sent out anonymously. These changes will help to increase effectiveness of the tool, Morrison said.
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