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Bronco
Spotlight
Name: Carolyn Ortiz
Hometown: Fayetteville, Nortli Carolina
Education: Bachelor of Science in Psychology
from Fayetteville State University, Master of
Sociology from Fayetteville State University
Years at FSU: Six and one half years
Department: Center for Personal Development and
Department of Social Sciences
Title: Wellness and Mediation Coordinator,
Counselor, Instructor and Advisor to Peace and
Conflict Educators (PACE)
Family: Married with a six year old son
Favorite Book: And Then There Was One by
Agatha Christie
Hobbies: Reading, research, and spending time
with family
What is your most memorable moment at FSU?
My most memorable moment here at FSU is when I
received my Bachelor of Science in Psychology in
1994. I am a first-generation college graduate, so
having my family there to support me was wonderfiil.
What is your inspiration?
My spirituality and my family are my inspiration. Both
keep me grounded.
What keeps you smiling?
My belief that tomorrow will be a much better day than
today.
W hat are your short-term and long-term goals?
My short-term goal is to get my son through first
grade. My long-term goal is to attend UNC Chapel
Hill or Duke University to get my Doctorate in
Sociology. Getting my Doctorate is mainly for
personal growth and self-satisfaction.
What is your personal motto? Despite what
others think of you or believe you to be, never let them
determine who or what you are, give them the
unexpected!
When did you fall in love with mediation?
I love helping people and I fell in love with mediation
when 1 started working in the Center for Personal
Development. As a coordinator in the center I was
able to see how much the mediation process helped
FSU and also how I could help FSU. Since then it has
been my goal to keep the mediation center
progressively moving forward.
More....
“Most people do not know that I love to teach,” she
says. “I find it invigorating to know that I helped
someone understand material that they didn’t think
they could understand.”
Ortiz began teaching as a graduate assistant in
1998. Her experience at FSU and Fort Bragg started in
2000. She is currently teaching an Introduction to
SPSS course on Fort Bragg.
As the advisor to Peace and Conflict Educators
(PACE), a student organization formed last semester,
Ortiz feels that PACE is very important and vital to
FSU. It is her belief that be looking at the violence and
lack of understanding in society today, it is obvious to
see why an organization like PACE is needed to guide
individuals through the conflict resolution process.
“PACE gives individuals the tools to resolve
conflicts in life, these tools last a lifetime and can take
them anywhere,” says Ortiz.
*¥’4
Students Can Now Determine
Who Their Professors Will Be
In an age when students can order term papers
over the Internet, the spread of Pick-A-Prof has
triggered a fresh debate about the effects of
rapid technological change on education.
From KRT Campus
Before registering for
classes, students at the
University of Wisconsin
campus here soon will be
able to use the Internet to
see just how tough it would
be to ace courses.
Many students say they
are eager to log on to
pickaprof com as they
decide which classes to
enroll in - or which
professors to avoid. Bar
charts on the Web site show
what percentage of each
instructor’s students
received As, Bs, Cs, Ds or
Fs during past semesters.
“I’ll be strongly tempted
to look, like a bear with a
honey jar,” said Thomas
McKinney, 27, a graphic
design major. “You could
always hear this kind of
stuff through the grapevine.
Now you can just punch it
up.”
The University of
Wisconsin student
association recently decided
to pay $10,000 to Pick-A-
Prof, joining more than 50
public universities
nationwide that subscribe to
the three-year-old service
based in Texas.
And student leaders at
the University of Illinois at
Chicago (UIC) and Wright
College are debating
whether to bring it to their
campuses next year.
In an age when students
can order term papers over
the Internet, the spread of
Pick-A-Prof has triggered a
fresh debate about the
effects of rapid
technological change on
education.
Many students relish
having easy access to
grading histories, but
college instructors here and
across the country are
complaining that Pick-A-
Prof is the worst blow to
the integrity of higher
education since Cliffs
Notes.
“There is no relation
between an easy A and the
quality of learning,” UW
sociology professor Carrie
Yang Costello said.
Critics say publishing
grading histories on the
Internet will make it simple
for students to choose
professors who are most
likely to grade gently.
Students inevitably will try
to play the odds to give
themselves the best chance
of posting high grade-point
averages and attracting job
offers, said George Davida,
a computer science
professor and faculty senate
member.
“It’s a no-brainer,”
Davida said. “This will turn
the university into a
casino.”
Professors warned that
Pick-A-Prof will result in
grade inflation.
“There will be an
influence on professors to
bring students into their
classes by not grading too
hard,” said Jennifer Maher,
an associate professor of
women’s studies.
Pick-A-Prof is a simple,
if novel, concept. Data on
the grading histories of
professors at public
universities are open to the
public. Pick-A-Prof
requests the information
from universities and places
it on its password-protected
Web site.
At most universities where
Pick-A-Prof is used, the
student associations pay the
company to construct and
maintain the site.
Pick-A-Prof also runs
message boards featuring
anonymous reviews of
professors, which the
company screens for
profanity and personal
attacks.
Company officials say
the screening process
makes Pick-A-Prof’s
reviews more useful than
the feedback that students
post on other Internet sites,
such as
myprofessorsucks.com.
Pick-A-Prof is in
operation at some of the
nation’s largest universities,
including the University of
Texas, University of
Massachusetts, University
of Maryland, University of
Kentucky and Indiana
University.
Pick-A-Prof founders
Chris Chilek and John
Cunningham began the
company while students at
Texas A&M University,
where they graduated in
1999.
Cunningham, a
marketing major, and
Chilek, who studied
computer science, knew
they had the right to view
professors’ grading history.
But they noticed that few
students went to the trouble
of asking university
administrators for the fat
binders that contained the
paper records.
“We recognized the
opportunity to put it online,
where there would be more
access,” Chilek said in a
telephone interview from
the Pick-A-Prof office in
Austin.
Professors who criticize
the service underestimate
their students, Chilek said.
“The students know that
if they go for the easy A,
then they won’t have the
background they will need
to succeed in a higher-level
course,” he said.
Some college students
defend the site as a valuable
tool for increasing
accountability among
professors and giving
students more information
as they choose expensive
courses.
“You pay for a class and
you want to get something
out of it,” said Kory
Kozloski, the UW student
association president.
UIC student government
President Angel Alvarez has
proposed subscribing to
Pick-A-Prof The company
chose the campus as a trial
site, meaning some data are
already available to UIC
students on a test basis.