| Written by Lindsey Hoyt |
| Wednesday, 12 November 2008 09:04 |
In early spring 2009, The Pita Pit will come to the University of Wyoming Union food court with its healthy, low-carb menu.
The items for sale are pitas filled with meat or vegetables, and soups and salads, Interim Assistant Director of Dining Monica Wesley said. It is being decided whether the Wyoming Union Pita Pit will offer breakfast pitas and smoothies, she said.
There is not a firm opening date yet, Wesley said.
Wesley said The Pita Pit will be the first of two national franchises opened to create the desired combination of brand recognition with the house or self brands already in place – S’Pokes Pizza and Snowy Range Creamery.
The second national franchise will be Panda Express.
The Pita Pit and Panda Express were chosen based on feedback Residence Life and Dining Services and the union received from students who participated in a survey.
“Pita Pit is not only an emerging franchise but it also provides healthier options, which was also indicated on the survey as something that people were looking for,” Wesley said.
Wesley said the responses for broad food categories leaned in favor of Chinese cuisine, which Panda Express serves.
Regarding the healthier menu of The Pita Pit, UW senior Amie Arland said, “I think it’s a good thing.” Arland said she had never heard of the chain.
According to the franchise’s Web site, www.pitapitusa.com, meat pitas include chicken caesar, Philly steak, gyro, turkey, roast beef, BLT and tuna. Veggie pitas include garden, falafel, hummus, feta and American Swiss.
“We feel like it’s moving pretty quickly at this point; once we finally have a signed contract in hand, and have the drawings in hand, it is just a matter of finding a contractor to do the work,” Wesley said.
Email the author
|
| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 November 2008 10:42 ) |
| Written by Tom Schambow |
| Tuesday, 11 November 2008 09:49 |
|
The University of Wyoming’s Master of Fine Arts program featured three up-and-coming writers Nov. 8 as a part of their Visiting Writers Series. Twenty-five MFA students met with the writers during a luncheon, and a book reading open to the public took place at 5 p.m. at Second Story Books.
Chris Bachelder, Karl Iagnemma and Neela Vaswani have been ordained as important emerging writers in the contemporary literary scene.
The purpose of the emerging writers reading was to introduce young writers to MFA students here at the UW. All three of the writers were currently working on new pieces and exemplify what opportunities await MFA students after graduation.
“We really were given a realistic view of what happens after graduation,” MFA student Meagan Ciesla said. “It was fantastic to see there are more options than just teaching after we graduate.”
The MFA graduate creative writing program works to mentor a new generation of writers here at the UW. Every semester the program brings distinguished writers and new voices to the UW. Recent guests have included Salmon Rushdie, B.H. Fairchild, Art Spiegelman, Lyn Hejinian and Dorothy Allison.
|
| Read more... |
|
| Written by Max D’Onofrio |
| Tuesday, 11 November 2008 09:46 |
|
The University of Wyoming has announced the goal of drafting a new master plan in the upcoming year.
UW will create the Long Range Development Plan to provide a plan for the next 15 to 20 years. The new plan focuses on utilizing the property owned by the university east of 15th street. In essence, it is a land management plan.
UW hopes the plan will enhance connectivity, open space and support of campus services, maintaining Laramie's historic character while being technologically advanced and environmentally sustainable. Though no exact details have been confirmed yet, UW wants to look at the infrastructure and the uses of the land and then formulate areas of emphasis that they believe need to be improved.
“This is what exists today, if this occurs in the future what does that impact concerning a variety of activities?” Phill Harris, vice president for administration, asked. “Did we have a bad land use planning decision when we moved part of Molecular Biology and Animal Science out to the east? It looks at the complex overlay.”
UW has hired a consulting firm to help with the drafting. Students and faculty can also get involved with the activity through campus and community workshops.
The plan affects anyone who has a relation to the campus, starting with students, faculty, community members and the city, and extends to visitors that come to the campus.
The university has had a Master Plan for a long time, but it has only focused on the campus from 9th to 15th streets. The new plan came about with the realization that the current Master Plan didn’t really involve all of the campus. This was combined with the idea that there is a minimal amount of room left on the west campus, which raised the question of where else the university could?
“Instead of making instrumental ad hoc decisions, it is best to have an overall plan in place before you start into these new ideas.” Harris said. “I encourage as many people as possible to go to the Long Rand Development Plan Web site online to check on updates to get involved as much as possible.”
Email the author
|
| Written by Caitlin White |
| Tuesday, 11 November 2008 09:38 |
|
Upon the completion of the election, Wyoming voters had cast 257,331 ballots, with 17,189 of those being cast in Albany County, according the State of Wyoming Web site.
Around the nation an estimated 6.5 million young people under the age of 30 participated in the 2008 primaries, according the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. That is an increase in percentage from the 2000 election in which the nation’s turnout of youth was 9 percent. In the 2008 primaries the youth vote rose to 17 percent.
In the general election in Albany County a large amount of young people from the University of Wyoming turned out to vote, volunteers from Pokes Vote, a non-partisan cooperative campaign, said. The campaign maximizes student civic engagement and leadership development through voter education, registration and turnout.
Pokes Vote Coordinator Matt Haigler said that nearly 3,500 people were newly registered voters in Albany County. Pokes Vote committed to its efforts of “getting college aged students engaged in the democratic community by voting,” Haigler said. Hailger added that Pokes Vote volunteers were able to pre-register more than 600 people to vote on the UW campus and in the Laramie community.
Haigler said the 2008 general election had an increase of 5,000 votes since 2006. He added that before Pokes Vote began its efforts there were 13,816 registered voters and 1,650 more people registered on Nov. 4.
Throughout the general election Pokes Vote assisted with the new polling place at the American Heritage Center, held registration drives and provided voter and candidate drives. Pokes Vote also organized transportation to the polls and provided information to voters. Haigler said the group even passed out 3,500 Pokes Vote stickers.
CIRCLE stated that 60% of young voters voted for the now president-elect, Barack Obama, in the 2008 general election. In Albany County this pattern remained stable as Obama picked up 50.24 percent of precincts votes to John McCain’s 46.15 percent, according to poll results provided by the Albany County Clerk’s office. Albany County was one of two counties in the state to vote Democrat in the presidential election. The other was Jackson County.
Several students at UW stated they find voting in the presidential election to be more important than voting in a primary or in general elections deciding local or state positions. Jacob Swan, a student at UW, said that he possibly would not have voted in Laramie if the election of a new president had been on the ballot.
UW student Stephanie Loehr said she would have voted if the election had only considered local politics but admits that she would have been uncertain on which way to vote due to being unfamiliar with who or what she would be voting for.
Students also said their choice for president and other highlighted officials such as senator were decided before reaching the polls.
Email the author
|
|
