QJ
Volume 31 Issue 1
February 3, 2000
$62,000
stolen
By Alison Watson
staff Writer
PHOTO BY WALTER FYLER
The money was stolen from the business office on
Jan. 11 and Jan. 14.
burse all of the students for
any stop payment costs.
Foley said that, ordinarily,
there are two cashiers work
ing. However, registration is
such a busy time for the cash
iers office, more employees
fill in. Foley estimated that
there were five to 10 UNCA
employees working other than
cashiers. Statements were al
ready taken from all the em
ployees involved.
“Unfortunately, at this point,
because this is under investi
gation, I cannot offer further
details on this matter.” said
Epstein. The ongoing investi
gation makes any information
that is not already public
record, unavailable.
The incident report was filled
out on the day the money was
discovered missing. Foley said
the business office was very
“Because of the good inter
nal procedures that we have in
the cashiers office, we were
able to determine the funds
were missing,”said Foley.
At the end of the day, the
controllers made record of
their deposits and found the
money to be missing and re
ported it immediately.
The Chancellor said he in
tended to prosecute to the full
extent of the law. Until SBI
completes its procedures,
more information and names
will not be released.
Over $62,000 in cash and
on-endorsed checks were re-
orted stolen from UNCA’s
lusiness Office during regis-
ation, according to incident
:ports by Public Safety. The
tate Bureau of Investigation
5BI) has been called in to
ivestigate the matter. Busi-
ess office employees reported
757 in cash and $10,223 in
on-endorsed checks stolen
n Jan. 11. A second report
laimed $1,500 cash and
30,5 00 in non-endorsed
hecks also missing on Jan.
Jolene Moody, a UNGA
itroller, reported the losses.
The SBI stepped in because
if money is stolen from
JNCA, it is stolen from the
said Merianne Epstein,
irector ofpublic information.
Public Safety has already
osed i
ate. The money was collected
: registration and part of the
olen cash and checks were
^posits for tuition and other
e payments.
Arthur Foley, vice chancel-
of financial affairs, stated
lat at least 11 students would
;placement
lecks and most had already
>pped payment on the origi-
als. The university will reim-
Corrigan evaluates athletics
By Kathryn Krouse
Staff Writer
An assessment of the
UNCA athletic program by
Gene Corrigan, former Na
tional Collegiate Athletic As
sociation (NCAA) President,
will provide guidelines to
search for a new athletic di
rector after the current
director’s retirement.
“He stands for everything
that’s right about college ath
letics,” said Associate Ath
letic Director Mike Gore.
“We always want to look to
improve, and this is a perfect
time to bring in someone
like Gene Corrigan to look
over our program. He can
tell us what we are doing well
and what we’re not doing so
well. It’s just fantastic.”
Tom Hunnicutt, UNCA’s
athletic director for seven
years, announced he will re
tire in April. Chancellor
James Mullen has taken this
opportunity to evaluate the
program before hiring a new
athletic director.
Hunnicutt’s announce
ment has given the school
ample time to look at the
program and see where im
provements can be made,
according to Mullen.
“I think Gene Corrigan
coming in to assess where we
are now, what our possibili
ties are and the timeliness of
him coming is excellent,” said
Hunnicutt.
Right now, there are no can
didates for Hunnicutt’s po
sition. A committee will do a
nationwide search for a new
athletic director after
Corrigan’s assessment. His
evaluation will give the com
mittee aspects to look for in
a new athletic director, said
Mullen.
Corrigan has chosen not to
comment on his assessment
until it is completed.
Corrigan will suggest ways
for the athletic program to
continue to increase public
awareness of UNCA teams
and strengthen the program
itself to bring more money
into it, according to
Hunnicutt.
A range of issues concern
ing the athletic program will
be Corrigan’s focus, yet he
will not be looking at the job
perfo rmances of UN CA per
sonnel, according to Mullen.
His
assessment
how UNCA can successfully
compete in Division I ath
letics.
Corrigan’s efforts will deal
with how to organize tocom-
pete, how to budget money,
fundraising and recommen
dations on increasing com
munity relations, according
to Mullen.
As a smaller athletic pro
gram that does not include a
football team, finances are a
challenge, according to
Hunnicutt. UNCA’s athletic
focus, the men’s basketball
team, continues to gain com
munity support.
“It’s very important that the
community continue to de
velop a sense of ownership
for our teams in this pro
gram, that they feel a com
mitment to attend our games
and support our programs,”
said Mullen.
Corrigan met with com
munity represeritativSftOdis- ■
cuss ways to gain support.
A prominent figure in in
tercollegiate athletics,
Corrigan was president of
the NCAA and commis
sioner of the Atlantic Coast
Conference, according to
Gore.
Corrigan also served as ath
letic director of the Univer
sity of Notre Dame and the
University of Virginia, and
has done assessments of pro
grams similar in size to
UNCA’s, like that at Niagara
University.
“Gene understands inter
collegiate athletics in a way
that very few people do. He
understands not only large
PHOTO BY JASON GRAHAM
Gene Corrigan’s assessment of the athletic department will establish
criteria for the new atheltic director.
programs, but how programs
of our size can compete and
succeed in Division I,” said
Mullen.
Hunnicutt’s retirement an
nouncement gives UNCA
the time to evaluate the pro
gram before hiring a new ath
letic director.
“We’ve gotten
where I feel its time tor me to
step aside and let someone
with some new ideas and
maybe some experiences that
I haven’t been exposed to,
come in and raise the level of
our programs,” said
Hunnicutt.
“Chancellor Mullen could
not have picked a more
prominent man to come and
take a look at UNCA,” said
Hunnicutt. A private donor
funds his efforts at UNCA,
so funds will not come from
the university’s budget, ac
cording to Mullen.
The current position of
the athletic program provides
an opportune time for
Corrigan’s assessment. Sup
port from the community
continues to increase and
UNCA athletes continue to
staj^ompetitive, athletically
See ASSESS page 8
fob options increase for graduating students
Bachelor's Degree Candidates
Total Offers = 29,777
PROPORTION OF OFFERS BY CURRICULAR AREA
Business 38.9%
Communications
Education & Home Economics
Humanities & Social Sciences
Engineering 31.5 %
Agricultural & Natural Resources
Computer Sciences
Health Sciences
Sciences
2.6 %[
3.2%
1.9%!
8.7% ' '
1.6%
4.1 % ;
Master's Degree Candldates-lnexperlenced
Total Offers - 2,095
Communications
Education
Humanities & Social Sciences
35.7 % Engineering
Computer Science
Health Sciences
Sciences
UNCA’s Career Center provides students with illustrations of growing career fields.
By Davon Heath
staff Writer
Jobs for college students rose 31-5
'ercent nationally from 1998 to
‘999, yet the job opportunities for
new graduates are not as abundant UNCA Career Center director.
inWesternNorthCarolina(WNC) “The challenge behind all that is
as they are nationwide, according the job opportunities depend a lot
to a representative from the UNCA on what kind of a job you’re look-
Career Center. ing for and geographically what
“I think we’ve known for the last you’re looking for.”
year (that) the job market has been About half of the graduates that
much improved for graduates com- use the UNCA Career Center ser-
ing out,” said Kerri Day Keller, vices are looking for jobs in WNC,
according to Keller.
“The unemployment rate for col
lege graduates is the lowest it has
been in 30 years and the demand
for skilled employees is very high,”
said Ken Ramberg, Co-Founder of
Jobtrak.com. “The index shows a
31.5 percent increase in total jobs
with an average starting salary of
$36,897.”
There are two contributing fac
tors to account for the job increases.
The Internet and other technical
developments are contributing to
the growth of the economy. Also, as
baby boomers retire, there is a short
age of qualified candidates to fill
their positions, according to a
Jobtrak.com press release.
The most promising fields are
education and high-tech. “These
two industries have the greatest dis
parity between the demand for
employees and the supply of recent
graduates,” said Ramberg.
“As far as teaching goes, I think
the area is wide open,” said Donnie
Alan Slye, a continuing student
majoring in education. “You can
find a job if you’re willing to look
for it.”
“I don’t think the opportunities
for a history major are expanding
like technology, service and educa
tion,” said Reed Wood, a senior
history major.
“I feel optimistic,” said Becca Cau
sey, a junior Spanish major. “I think
with a Spanish degree, I can use it
no matter what. I think it will help
a lot because the way things are
going, it’s pretty marketable now.”
“There’s a wide array of manage
ment positions, but that’s not just
for management majors,” said
Keller. “Some folks may be inter
ested in applying their liberal arts
skills to a business type setting.
“Broad studies of liberal arts indi
cate a payoff down the road,” said
Keller. “Those are people that are
the chief executive officers, manag
ers and people in higher level posi
tion, so there is hope.” ■
Jobtrak.com is an on-line job
listing and resume service. Jobtrak
works with over 960 colleges and
univesity career centers nationwide.
“The Jobtrak index provides in
formation about the job market for
recent college graduates, details
about the employment outlook, hot
jobs, salaries, career planning and
development,” according to the
“Since Jobtrak has a unique rela
tionship with university career of
fices and has posted jobs from'more
than 400,000 employers, it is in the
See JOBS page 8