Programs aid minorities
Engineering
recruits youths
By Rainbow Rowell
Staff Reporter
In the late 1970s, minorities
represented less than 1 percent of
UNL engineering students.
But two programs through the
College of Engineering and Tech
nology at the University of Nc
braska-Lincoln arc working to at
tract minority students to engineer
ing and prepare them for college.
Tom Sires, a professor of con
struction systems technology at
UNL, said the Mid-America Con
sortium for Engineering and Sci
ence Achievement and the Minori
ties in Engineering Program were
started because something had to
be done to enroll and graduate more
minority engineers. MACESA
began at UNL in 1988, and MIE
was started in 1988.
Sires is the coordinator of both
programs.
In the past, Sires said, recruit
ment attempts failed to produce
minority engineering students who
remained at the university beyond
their freshman year.
But with help from cooperating
businesses, he said, MIE and
MACESA work with schools across
the state. Donations from Chemi
cal Industries for Minorities in
Engineering enable the MACESA
program to work with students in
western Nebraska high schools.
MIE begins recruiting students
in the eighth grade, while MAC
ESA works with students in grades
nine through 12.
Sires said this year was MIE’s
first year in Lincoln Public Schools.
At the junior high level, he said,
engineers visit students and ex
plain their jobs as well as different
types of engineering.
During the summer, Sires said,
a week-long on-campus learning
experience is offered to selected
eighth-grade minority students from
schools across the state.
Participants stay in a UNL resi
dence hall and take engineering
classes designed specifically for
them, he said. All are hands-on
classes. Last summer, students built
personal AM/FM radios.
“At that age level, it has to be
hands on,” he said. “They really
don’t get anything out of a lec
ture.”
At the high school level, Sires
said, MACESA is treated as a club
and directed by a teacher within
each school.
MACESA students at partici
pating universities can attend a
yearly two-week summer program,
he said.
Mela Goner, a sophomore me
chanical engineering major at UNL,
said she became involved with
MACES A in the 11th grade. The
summer program helped her choose
which subfield of engineering she
wanted to enter, Goner said.
“We listened to different engi
neers talk about their fields, and
they made the decision easier for
me to make,” she said.
Goner said she thought the pro
gram was helpful even if a student
did not pursue a career in engineer
ing.
“It helps minority students to
become focused on the future —
on a college education,” she said.
Sires said he had manyjgoals for
the programs, including getting more
Nebraskan students involved ear
lier in school.
He said he would also like to see
female students of all races in
cluded.
“You sec some of these kids,
and at some point someone ha$
told them that they can’t and they
won’t,” he said. “But you give them
a chance, and they can, and they
will, and they do.
“We arc trying to give the op
portunity to succeed to people who
have never had that opportunity —
to give them the idea of the Ameri
can Dream.”
Family
Continued from Page 1
UNL employees would have 12
weeks in consecutive 24-month peri
ods for family leave, he said.
Employers would have the right to
negotiate terms of the leave with their
employees, he said, if the leave would
cause “undue hardship on the depart
ment or university.”
The University Association for Ad
ministrative Development, the Uni
versity of Nebraska Office Personnel
Association, the Chancellor’s Com
mission on the Status of Women and
the Academic Senate participated in
discussion about the policy, Russell
said.
Although operational questions may
arise about how it will work, he said,
many UNL faculty support such a
policy.
Discussion about a family leave
policy at UNL began several years
ago, he said, but stopped when Con
gress addressed similar legislation that
eventually was vetoed.
Russell said he had been working
on the policy ever since.
“We wondered what we woe going
to do,” he said. “We began to draft a
policy as a university. We hope to
finalize it and that people will be
comfortable with it.”
Russell said the policy was drawn
up to “reflect what is happening in
society.” -
“There are a lot of dually em
ployed (couples) who need time off
for child care,” he said. “Things have
changed and become more compli
cated in 10 to 20 years.
“People are taking care of elderly
parents, and they need a mechanism
to allow them the time off without the
threat of job loss.”
Copies of the policy have circu
lated among university employee
advocacy groups, and Russell said he
hoped the groups would take the pol
icy to their constituents for feedback.
He said that ideally, the policy
would be in place by July 1. But he
projected it would be in place by the
fall semester.
Culture
Continued from Page 1
Leadership II: Changing the Face of
Leadership,” was organized to help
minority students learn why it was
important to get involved on campus.
The conference will be split into
two parts. The first part will begin at
11 a.m. with a keynote address from
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, fol
lowed by a number of sessions.
The sessions will cover a range of
topics, including self-motivation,
networking skills, women of color as
leaders and how to keep one’s iden
tity on a predominantly white cam
pus.
Minority student leaders and their
accomplishments will be recognized
during the second part of the confer
ence, a ceremony set for 7:30 p.m. at
the Culture Center.
Scott Butterfield, principal of Sara
toga Elementary School, 2215 S. 13th
St, and a member of the Winnebago
tribe, is scheduled to be the keynote
speaker for the ceremony, Ray said.
The idea for the recognition con
ference came from students, she said.
Coordinators expanded on the Shades
of Leadership conference held last
year.
The students have worked hard to
see this year’s conference become a
reality, putting together everything
from the agenda to the topics, she
said.
Ray said she hoped the conference
would become an annual event. With
more lime to plan next year, she said,
officials hope to make the conference
a bigger event.
Ray said 75 to 100 students were
expected to attend the conference.
Anyone may attend the confer
ence, she said, although it is targeted
toward minority students.
UNL looks for ways
to increase day care
By bean ureen
Senior Reporter
Budgetary and space concerns may
hinder, plans to improve day-care
services on East Campus, an official
said Monday.
Because of renovation and a lack
of funds, day-care services on East
Campus are operating at 60 percent
capacity, said Karen Craig, dean of
the College of Home Economics at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Craig spoke to members of the
Chancellor’s Commission on the Status
of Women, which is considering ways
to increase day care on both City and
East campuses.
CCSW serves as a resource for
those interested in the status of women
at UNL and provides opportunities
for women on campus to exchange
ideas and offer support to other women.
East Campus’day care—the Ruth
Staples Lab — is understaffed be
cause of budget cuts to the home
economics college, Craig said.
Four staff members are in charge
of the 92 pre-school-aged children
cared for by the lab, she said.
Craig said the primary mission of
the lab was to provide student-teach
ing experience for students interested
in small-child care.
A second mission of the lab is
research, Craig said. Research activi
ties were suspended because of badly
needed renovation, she said.
The final mission of the lab is to
provide child-care services to the
community, she said, but those also
have been cut back because of budget
reductions.
Craig said she had suggested that
the lab consider raising child-care
fees from S70 to S80 a month, but that
plan was rejected because it would
have prevented lower-income fami
— — —
lies trom utilizing the service. I he
plan also would have taken away the
opportunity for student teachers to
work with children from those fami
lies, she said.
“Philosophically, I am in favor of
increasing child care on East Cam
pus,” Craig said. “But the financial
reality of that goal is another matter.”
Craig said the lab also was one of
the most inexpensive and most ethi
cally run day-care centers in the coun
try that emphasized research and in
struction.
“1 have lots of empathy for those
having problems with day care,” Craig
said. “But in dealing with the reality
of our situation, I don’t know how
much we will be able to do.”
Mary Beck, chairwoman of CCSW,
said she asked Craig to attend the
meeting to open the dialogue and to
involve the College of Home Eco
nomics in the effort to increase day
care.
“We want to start looking for some
way to increase day care on East
Campus,” Beck said. “But we shouldn’t
develop a concept or proposal with
out the help of the College of Home
Economics.”
Judith Kriss, a counselor at the
UNL Counseling Center, said the
problem of insufficient day care was
a hidden problem because many po
tential students did not enroll in classes
until they had child care.
Craig said another problem with
day care was that students only had
pre-school-aged children for a few
years and then had no need for day
care.
“Each few years there is a differ
ent group of people who need day
care help,” she said. “But there con
tinues to be a sizable work force
needing day care, and I agree we
should try to do something about it.”
- — — — — — — — — — ^
POLICE REPORT
Beginning midnight Saturday
3:33 a.m. — Pizza and bag
stolen, Sigma Nu fraternity, 62 5
N. 16th St., S49.
8:29 a.m. — Vehicle passenger
window broken, Abel Residence
Hall parking lot, S100.
10:59 a.m. — Party trespassing
in vacant house, 1950 T St.
Beginning midnight Sunday
3:48 a.m. — Gate arm dam
aged, parking lot at 14th and U
streets, S25.
3:48 a.m. — Light pole dam
aged, hit-and-run accident, park
ing lot at 14th and U streets,
$1,000.
1:54 p.m. — Vehicle window
broken, Cathcr Residence Hall
parking lot, S200.
7:38 p.m. — Bike stolen, Abel
Residence Hall, $150.
10:36 p.m. — Follow up on
false report, GEO Research
Building, one person arrested.
10:36 p.m.—Follow upon two
stolen compact discs, GEO Re
search Building, one person ar
rested.
11:08 p.m. — Verbal harass
ment and assault, Nebraska
Union.
* . '«
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