Newspapers / Winston-Salem State University Student … / Oct. 1, 2003, edition 1 / Page 8
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The News Argus, October 2003 Campus ■news Winston-Salem State University Grade Sheets Professor Rating CSrdL lirdrl^n 5.0 Soncerey Montgonery 5.0 laoy Little 4.8 Rzest CSrto: 4.0 CSasaiia O Jfeil 3.8 RATE, from page 5 be taken seriously, but says the hotness rating doesn't bother her. "It's amusing," she said. The Web site's creator, John Swapceinski, admits the gim mick was meant to drum up interest in the site. "It's a hin thing," said the Silicon Valley software engineer. Some students use it to denote sexiness while others simply want to give good professors a great rating. Either way, it's boosted the entertainment value of, and traf fic on, the site, said Swapceinski. Students also provide com ments. Antoniou, for instance, was lauded by students for her caring and competence, and earned a 4.9 in 14 evaluations. Other professors don't fare as well. "Completely clueless, yet kind of hot. A sad combination," one student wrote about a pro fessor at Ramapo College. A stu dent at another school noted the number of ceiling tiles in his classroom — the counting of which may be a clear indicator of a boring instructor. Just about every college and university in New Jersey is rep resented. Seton Hall and Rutgers universities are among the top- posting schools. Rutgers, for instance, has 3,077 posts rating 830 teachers. Rutgers students have several way to rate their teachers. A new student-developed Web site on campus, ScheduleAgent.com, lets students plan their sched ules, rate their teachers, and seU their textbooks. The university also operates an elaborate system of receiving feedback on faculty, through, among other things, forms that students fill out at the end of each semester. Based on those evaluations, statistics are gener ated, which are available to everybody with a Rutgers e-mail address. The university jjrocessed more than 300,000 such forms last year. The volume makes the system more credible than self-selecting Web sites like RateMyProfessor, yet the appeal of the latter, and its capacity for instant feedback, can't be denied, administrators say. "Students' environment has very much changed and this (the Internet) is their environment," said Nancy Omaha Boy, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rutgers-Camden. She said the sites also can pro vide faculty with timely feed back for midcourse corrections. But faculty members aren't always receptive. "I've gotten nasty letters from professors demanding to have their names removed from the site or they are going to contact their lawyer," said Swapceinski, the creator. "It's kind of funny, the number of people with Ph.D.s who don't have a concept of the First Amendment." Last year, there was a flap at Seton Hall after an adjunct pro fessor responded with an invec tive e-mail to students when she got a bad rating on another site. Her contract was not renewed by the university. It doesn't cost anything to rate a professor or to review ratings, but users who seek more than one page of ratings on a given teacher are charged a fee. Otherwise, the site depends on advertisers. Swapceinski said the site isn't making money yet. Nor is its companion site for high school students, RateMyTeachers.com. For now, Swapceinski will keep his day job. Swapceinski started his site in 1999 after a grueling semester in graduate school at San Jose State University in CaUfomia. "I had one teacher in particular who was a real ogre," he said. "I found out later there was anoth er teacher who taught the same class. I realized I could have saved myself three months of hell." When postings start at a par ticular school, the site is more "of an entertainment or novelty," said Swapceinski. "As time goes by, and once it passes 1,000 (postings), you have a critical mass. There is enough feedback and traffic that it becomes statis tically relevant." Henry Amoroso, a Hackensack attorney and business law pro fessor at Seton Hall, says he takes his teaching seriously and is mindful of the student evalua tions that his department solicits. But he'll take the unscientific chili pepper too. "Isn't that a delight?" said Amoroso, who got a 4.9 rating on RateMyProfessors.com. "Education is a service busi ness, students are becoming smarter customers," he said. "They don't want to go to school to waste time." His dean at the Stillman School of Business, Karen Boroff, said student evaluations are important in assessing profes sors. She s^d most students rec ognize what makes a good teacher — even if that teacher isn't an easy grader. And most provide constructive comments in getting at what can be the most important part of an undergraduate's learning experi ence. "When I interview faculty here, I tell aU of them no amount of research, no matter how great it is, will ever trump teaching," Boroff said. It only makes sense that Professor Mark Hillringhouse at Passaic County Community College would get a good online rating. After all, for the past year, he has taught his philosophy and French classes online. HiUringhouse, a poet who came to teaching 20 years ago, got a whopping 5.0 rating in eight evaluations, not to men tion a chili pepper after three students rated him hot. He was praised for changing students' lives and opening their eyes. "I'm flattered," he said. "I guess the reason I'm popular with the students is that I'm always in contact with them. That's the one thing they like — the reassurance that the instructor is there." UNC, from page 6 better, but you're not going to get as much of it,' " said Charles Norwood, another member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. "1 don't buy that trade-off." Legislators would not have to approve this change. But the General Assembly does approve tuition and the university system's annual budget, giving them a cer tain influence in the debate. Admissions officers estimate the change could mean 1,000 more non residents in the entire 180,000-stu dent system in any given year. At UNC, Chancellor James Moeser says it could bring 45 more out-of- state students annually to his school, assuming enrollment contin ues to grow. This year, 635 of almost 11,000 nonresident applicants enrolled at UNC Chapel Hill. Sixty percent of about 7,000 in-state applicants were accepted. North Carolina's flagship school is far kinder to homegrown talent than, say, the University of Virginia. There, out-of-state residents make up a third of the population.The debate, however, is about more than statistics. The University of North Carolina is widely considered one of the best public universities in the country, and is the top choice among many North Carolina parents both because of its high quality and rela tive value. Out-of-state residents played a dramatic role in the UNC system's rise to national stature, an emer gence that has in turn made Chapel Hill more attractive for students from inside and outside North Carolina. In 1992, the average SAT score of in-state freshmen at UNC Chapel Hill was 1,186 — compared with 1,288 for those out of state. Ten years later, the average SAT score for in-state freshmen had risen to 1,255 — and the average nonresi dent score was 1,326. Out-of-state applicants that UNC rejected last year included almost 1,000 who scored 1,400 or higher on the SATs. Among the top 100 out-of-state students who didn't get in, 50 were valedictorians, Moeser said. A POSSIBLE CHANGE Under the current University of North Carolina system policy, out- of-state residents can make up no more than 18 percent of any year’s freshman class. The UNC system Board of Governors is con sidering a change: O Schools would be able to exceed the 18 percent cap on out- of-state freshmen by no more than 4 percentage points over a five- year period. The new nonresident spots, essentially exemptions similar to those allowed for athletes and other special groups, would go to “academically superior students," including National Merit •Scholars, National Achievement Scholars and National Hispanic Scholars. O Campuses that decide to take a greater percentage of out-of- state students would have to agree to seek ways to admit more North Carolinians as well. UNC system President Molly Broad and the UNC Board of Governors would agree to monitor student popu lations annually to ensure that North Carolinians are not losing out. Campuses would lose the right to add more out-of-state residents if the number of N.C. students does not increase at an acceptable rate. "I have to say, at first I thought raising the cap was a bad idea, but it seems like the only way to stay competitive," said Matt Tepper, UNC's student body president and a senior from Raleigh. "Having out-of-state people — and people from out of the country, too — adds this incredible wealth of knowledge." UNC administrators say adding more students from elsewhere isn't merely a matter of attracting non resident talent: Last year, half the North Carolinians admitted to Chapel Hill but who declined to enroll wound up at colleges out of state. Chapel Hill leaders say a more competitive student body will help convince North Carolina's best high school seniors to stay at home. UNC Chapel Hill administrators are driving the push for more out- of-state students, and during a Board of Governors debate on the matter Friday, Moeser took pains to promise that his school will look for ways to admit more in-state stu dents, too. Yet Chapel Hill isn't the only cam pus that could welcome more new comers. East Carolina University, Elizabeth City State, North Carolina Central and UNC Asheville all bumped against or exceeded the 18 percent cap in 2002. North Carolina A&T and the North Carolina School of the Arts enjoy exemptions. There are financial reasons for adding nonresidents. Many of the system's biggest potential donors are wealthy grads who moved out of state. Out-of-state students pay a larger share of their educational costs — 96 percent, on average — than in state students. Generally, in-state students pay a quarter to a third of the cost of their education. The pre cise figures vary from campus to campus. Yet in this fight, political and his torical arguments will play as big a role as fiscal ones. The UNC system does not limit out-of-state enrollment in most graduate programs or after under graduates' freshman year. Out-of- state students make up 41 percent of the state system's doctoral pro grams, for example. Former university system presi dent Bill Friday, who pushed the current cap, says the UNC system should continue to seek a mix of students — but not at the expense of giving North Carolinians ample shot at the freshman class. "The freshman year entrance is and must remain the focal point of interaction between N.C. citizens and their universities," he said. "At that point, we should always favor the home-town family. If that's old- fashioned, then I'm proud to be old- fashioned." Cool New Concept Visit the The Colombo Shop and have a smoothie Now that the weather is turning cooler, we have something new to warm your heart. WSSU Dining Service is excited to announce the opening of the new Colombo Shop in the Ram Food Court, in the Thompson Student Center. This new shop will feature Colombo Yogurt Smoothies, ice cream, sundaes, milk shakes and fresh baked cinnamon rolls hot from the oven with assorted fruit toppings. Smoothies are a popular trend on college campuses — perfect for breakfast, as a meal replacement, between-meal snack or dessert. Made with yogurt, fruit, and fruit juices, smoothies are delicious and nutritious. We believe this new concept will be the perfect compliment to ^ meal in the Ram Court. MJl Everyday discounts for students l-Topping Pizza $799 $099 Medium Large i'2003 PiZLi Hut. bcTV Pox* Hi«* rwMiK.ioto Md rtbcednurVt trt ol ftza Hut. he. Ddvvry rntf Deftovr ^iv«n any no riMrt than $36 (3&© lAteaff 3069 Kernersville Road 788-9052 Dine-ln or Carrvout
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Oct. 1, 2003, edition 1
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