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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1993)
September 2, 1993 University of Nebraska Lincoln Vol. 93 No. 10 4 SPORTS Nebraska Cruises TheHusker volleyball team defeats Iowa in straight sets. Thursday 72/54 Today, mostly cloudy with chance of showers. Friday, mostly sunny and warm. UNO engineers’ future rests on shaky ground By Dionne Searcey Senior Reporter he future of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s engineer ing program was up in the air as officials determined how to best serve the needs of students, an official said. Joan Leitzel, UNL’s senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, said administrators were deciding how to expand the UNO curricula to give more attention to graduate education and continuing education in engineer ing. Davis Clements was expected to be appointed as director of UNO’s engineering program, but Leitzel did not give Clements’ recommendation for appointment to the NU Board of Regents. The decision was delayed not be cause of a personal preference, she said, but because officials have not yet decided the fate of the UNO engir neering program. “It’s not a very stable situation over there,” Leitzel said. The UNO engineering program is now part of the University of Nebras ka-Lincoln’s College of Engineering and Technology. For most engineer ing programs, students can take the first two years of courses in Omaha, but must complete their degrees at UNL. Civil engineering and technical programs are the only programs stu dents can complete at UNO. Techni cal programs include construction systems, electronics engineering and industrial systems technology. Officials are exploring many op tions that include creating a separate engineering college for UNO. -4* It’s not a very stable situation over there. — Leitzel senior vice chancellor for academic affairs That option, Leitzel said, would be costly because it would call for the hiring of a new dean and staff mem bers. University ofNebraska Regent Don Blank of McCook said he would be -If against creating a new school at UNO. “That would be one of the last things I’d want to do,” he said. “I don’t rule it out, but if we’re going to See ENGINEERING on 6 _2 Travis Haying/DN All Moeller, an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, uses creative techniques to help her college students reach their own students. Show, not tell Curriculum and instruction professor changes shape of teaching By Stacie Hakel Staff Reporter Anyone who’s taken a class taught by Ali Moeller knows she teaches using a different method. Moeller, an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in UNL’s teaching college, trains her students to . teach using shapes, sizes, colors, history and more. Called method teaching, Moeller’s technique helps students see things concretely and thus learn at a quicker pace, she said. The teacher shows the student, and doesn’t just them tell them the information, she said. “The teacher becomes a facility... someone you go to as a resource," she said. “Not someone of knowledge who is going to pass that knowledge on to you." Moeller, who is the only lull-time foreign language specialist in Nebraska, teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in foreign language methods, educational foundation and research methods. With a doctorate degree in German literature, Moeller said she found that method teaching worked well with young foreign language students who were trying to learn foreign words and grammar. “If you immerse kids in language and allow them to construct ... they will learn much quicker,” Moeller said. “It’s not to teach Spanish as a separate entity, but to reinforce the tool—kind of like learning shapes. “It is a content-based education, and the kids just love it,” she said. Moeller has taught elementary school, junior high, senior high and now teaches college classes, which she says enables See MOELLER on 3 Students, staff get help kicking urge to smoke Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories focusing on UNL’s efforts to lower health care costs and promote better health for faculty and students. By Ted Taylor Staff Reporter With the start of the new no-smoking policy on campus, the University Health Center is offering student and employee smokers free classes on how to quit the habit. UNL’s new “Clean Air” policy prohibits the use of tobacco products in aU university-owned buttdmgB or vcfedw on both But tmd CtVy campuses. Residence hall rooms for students who smoke are the only exception to the policy, which went into effect Aug. 1. David Bower, the University Health Cen ter’s alcohol and drug prevention specialist, said turnout at the classes had been great. “When the no-smoking policy went in effect on Aug. 1, we needed a free program on campus to help students, staff and faculty quit smok ing,” he said. The class does charge $5 for use of class materials, but the money is given back if the person stops smoking completely. Bower said 33 students and faculty members attended the June session, and nearly 140 have signed up or started courses for August and September. The majority of those attending are University of Nebraska-Lincoln employees, he said. “We offered one class in June and July and have two classes this and next month. October, we’re not sure about yet,” he said. The course lasts six weeks. Students meet twice the first and second weeks, once the third week and once at the end of the second month. Participants are asked to give up smoking completely during the first week of the class. Bower said the class had four main objec tives: • to provide a support-group forum for participants to discuss their feelings about smok ing. • to educate partipants about the benefits of quitting and the risks of continuing to smoke. • to modify behavior that triggers partici pants to light up. • to teach students to remain smoke-free. See SMOKE on 6 HIV-negative ID cards spread false sense ot security Condom can offer t protection - not card, official says By Steve Smith sink* Report* _ When it comes to identifica tion cards that show the hold er has tested HIV-negative, state and local officials are telling Nebraskans they can’t believe every thing they read. Virginia Wilkinson, AIDS program administrator for the Nebraska De partment of Health, began warning people this week about a Colorado company selling identification cards that show the cardholder allegedly has tested negative for HIV, the virus that eventually leads to AIDS. Wilkinson said the cards offered students and the general public a false sense of security. "An individual who tested nega tive for HIV a few weeks or months ago may be infected today," W ilkinson said. The cards are sold by a Leadville, Colo., company known as the HIV Negative Recording Service, Wilkinson said. To receive an HIV negative card, individuals must fill out an application, send a recent pho to and the original copy of HIV-neg ative test results to a post office box. The card costs $8.50. Wilkinson said she doubted that people who tested for HIV in Nebras ka had copies of their test results. The counseling and testing sites sponsored by the Nebraska Depart ment of Health do not use names with the tests, she said. The only way to obtain written results is through test ing by piivate physicians. In addition, having a recent HIV test with negative results does not necessarily mean someone is free of HIV infection, Wilkinson said. A neg ative result simply means a blood test turned up no HIV antibodies at that particular time. Antibodies usually develop about two weeks to three months after expo sure to HIV, Wilkinson said, but they could take as long as six months. Wilkinson said the card took ad vantage of the public’s fears about the HIV status of others, but didn’t pro vide them with any real protection. “You can* t tell by looking at some one whether that person has HIV or not,” she said. “It may take years to develop symptoms of AIDS. Wilkinson said condoms, not ID cards, were the best protection against disease. “Taking responsibility for your actions is very important,” she said. Individuals need to realize the risks of becoming HIV-positive, she said. Wilkinson said the company re sponsible for the cards had suspended issuing them for now. But she said her office was still alarmed about any existing ID cards. “I would be quite leery of anyone who showed you a card that said they were HIV-negative,” she said. Pat Tetreault, the sexual counsel ing coordinator at the University Health Center, agreed. “Even if someone tests negative, it’s going to contribute to a false sense of security,” Tetreault said. “I’m afraid See AIDS on 3