Regents Approve Dining Facility Name

The Board of Regents approved SouthPaw as the name for the new south campus dining facility on Friday (Nov. 21) during its meeting at SHSU, reports Today@Sam. SouthPaw is scheduled to be completed Dec. 2 and to open in the spring.

A random panel of students, faculty and staff recommended the name of the facility, to be approved by the regents, after Residence Life opened a contest for student submissions. The top three choices, out of 174 proposed names that were voted on electronically, included “Bearkat Café", "Eat ‘em up Kafe" and "SouthPaw."

The winning proposal was submitted by three students: Andy DiMambro, Jason Plotkin and Kara-Lea Roberts. Those students will receive $100 Bearkat Express, divided between the three.

The other two finalists, Barbara Roberts and Jessica Gallow, will each receive $50 Bearkat Express.

November 2003 Regents Report

The Texas State University System Board of Regents held their regular quarterly meeting, according to Today@Sam:

...the regents tabled a motion concerning a name change for Angelo State University. Proponents of the change to Texas State University-San Angelo said it would give them an advantage in marketing to potential students by including both the state and city name, neither of which is in the present name.

A number of individuals from various constituent groups of Sam Houston State University were interested in the regents' action and whether it might signal a move to change other system schools to generic names such as Texas State University-San Marcos.

The regents held a similar discussion and heard testimony on the proposed name change for the former Southwest Texas State University in February 2002, also during a meeting on the SHSU campus, and also tabled a motion regarding that proposed change. The name was later changed through action by a state legislator.

In other Sam Houston State University business, the regents awarded a contract to Turner Construction Company of Houston for a $6.25 million 37,000-feet Recreation Center Building addition to the Health and Kinesiology Center. Construction on the new facility, which will include a new weight room, climbing wall, and multi-purpose room and pool, will begin in January with completion in the spring 2005.

A contract was also awarded to SpawGlass Construction Corp. of Houston for the $8.3 million Smith-Hutson Business Building Addition, with construction also expected to begin in January and completion also in spring 2005. The new 46,781 square feet facility will have 14 new classrooms and 41 faculty offices.

The expenditure of $674,792 for the first phase of a campus-wide card access system was also approved. The new system using card access technology rather than old style locks and keys is expected to provide better security for students in its first phase, and later for all employees if the second phase is implemented.

A contract for installation of the new technology in university housing units could be awarded in January, with completion by the fall 2004 semester. The Bearkat OneCard, which was issued beginning this past summer, has the capability to be programmed for card access equipment.

Also approved were a $1.6 million renovation of Estill Hall, which will be done during the upcoming summer and fall semesters in time for the dorm's use in spring 2005, and offering of Master of Education and Master of Arts with major in Instructional Leadership distance learning degree programs.

Houstonian: Fraternity House To Be Built On Fraternity Row

The Nov. 13 edition of the Houstonian tells of new activity coming to the land east of main campus:

"A hidden room behind the walls with limited access for secret rituals," is only one of the amenities that will be in the new $800,000, two-story, 8,000 sq. ft., Delta Tau Delta house, located at 287 Bearkat Boulevard, behind the prison cemetery.

"The university told us that they wanted us to come in closer to the campus," said James Fewell, Delta Tau Delta President. The fraternity was the "first national recognized fraternity," on our campus. "We were the first ones here, under the name of the 'Esquires'," said Fewell. The old Delta Tau Delta house was located about three miles out of town, and was lived in since the late 70's.

Delta Tau Delta's new home is a part of the reemergence of the "Fraternity Row," that stood on our campus from the 60's through the 80's, located by present day Pritchett Field. "We are hoping to have a 'Fraternity Row,' just like the quadrangle that I lived in when I was here in the 60's." It was a wonderful experience to live amongst fellow fraternities, said [Dr. Robert Roush, Immediate Past President of Delta Tau Delta International]. "We would love to have that atmosphere again."

The city of Huntsville already approved the new 'Fraternity Row' and divided it into five plots, said Fewell. "We bought the first plot of over 2 acres of land, and it is already paid for in full." The house is scheduled to be built and ready to move in by 2005.

Houstonian: New residence hall to open doors next fall

A new parking garage will be built on campus, but it will be underground of the new residence hall called Sam Houston Village.

Located on the northwest end of campus across from Jackson-Shaver, Sam Houston Village will be the newest addition to apartment housing on campus. This new facility is set to open Fall of 2004 and will accommodate 546 freshmen only.

New services will be available for this new apartment housing. The garage built directly below the facility will be reserved only for the students living in the residence hall.

Houstonian: Three names chosen for South-side dining

From the Houstonian:

Bearkat Café, Eat 'em up Kafé, and SouthPaw have been chose as finalists for the naming of the campus' new south-side dining facility.

The students who submitted these names are Barbara Roberts (Eat 'em up Kafé), Andy DiMambro, Jessica Gallow, Jason Plotkin (Bearkat Café), and Kara-Lea Roberts (SouthPaw).

"(The facility is on) the south side of campus and I figured that since the main food court is called the Paw Print, why not call it SouthPaw," said Kara-Lea Roberts. "I figured it's a little more creative than Café Belvin."

Houstonian: Garage opens; permit prices decrease

From the Houstonian:

The newly built parking garage opened Monday (November 10) and allowed students to park in their pre-paid spot, or browse the lot for a space.

The parking permits for personal spots in the garage originally cost $400 but now cost $200 for faculty, staff and students. Colonel Culak of the university police department said prices were lowered because of the amount of time that was left in the fall semester. The garage was supposed to open in October, but since it opened later than expected, the prices have been reduced. If students wish to get a parking permit, they will have to pay $200 and the permit will last until the end of the spring semester.

Houstonian: Gaertner focuses on positive changes at SHSU

Reporter Stephen Payne writes in today's Houstonian that President Gaertner's recently-released biannual column deals with general information about the school and statistics about the student body:

The fall enrollment has increased for the past five consecutive....

SHSU is the 12th largest among the 36 four-year state universities in Texas in the third largest university system in the state. Gaertner said the minority enrollment at SHSU is slightly lower than the state average.

The total annual budget for the last academic year was $146 million. State appropriation makes up only 35.6 percent of the school's budget. Gaertner said the rest is raised through tuition, fees, grants, gifts and auxiliary activities. The percentage will drop to 34.3 this year, with the indications that state appropriations to higher education will continue to decrease in the future.

Gaertner added that in order to make up for the lost revenue, the university will take advantage of the recent tuition deregulation and pass the cost of operations on to the student consumer to remain as competitive as possible.

Houstonian: Questions answered about yearbooks

Three days...I mean six years...later, the Alcalde is resurrected.

From the Houstonian:

The new yearbook staff has many challenges ahead of them in the upcoming months.

The long laborious process of collecting information and pictures has begun and proves to be slower than predicted.
The biggest challenge for the staff is to highlight the last six years without the yearbook.

"The yearbook will have a segment on parchment paper that will tell about the past six years," [Alcalde advisor Patsy] Ziegler said. "We could use help from students, faculty and staff to provide information about the past six years. We are looking through archives, old Houstonian's and Today @ Sam."