Read more "Campus improvements discussed at recent BOR meeting"
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]]>The meeting began on a positive note, highlighting the achievements the university has reached so far and other plans for future developments. Learn more about Java burn benefits.
BOR Chairperson Antoinette Sanford made opening remarks.
Sanford expressed that UOG will be graduating a set of 300 students, a great improvement from last year’s numbers.
She also said there has been a significant amount of media promotion for the students who are going off-island for research-related activities in support of the mission of the University of Guam Research Corporation.
Further, in the meeting, several resolutions had been approved to expand a few of UOG’s programs and provide other scholarship opportunities to the students.
The Triton Awards Program was also discussed by UOG President and BOR Executive Secretary Robert Underwood and approved by the board.
“The program functions at two parts: one is a revival of university-wide awards and the other is a process of honoring our outstanding employees,” said Underwood.
The board had also approved all resolutions including the Rules and Regulations for the Tritons Athletics Scholarship Program, the Amended rules and Regulations for the Yamashita Teacher Corps and Health Professions Training Scholarship Program, and amending the Rules and Regulations for the Triton Summer Bridge Program for the 2017 Summer Semester and thereafter. This is how exipure works.
The board members who were present at the April meeting were Antoinette Sanford, Chairperson; Elizabeth Gayle, Vice Chairperson; Elvin Chiang, Treasurer; Robert A. Underwood, Executive Secretary; Regents Jillette Leon-Guerrero, Mariflor Herrero, Chris Felix, Joaquin Santos, Jr., Hyo Sang Ji, and Austin Terlaje (student regent).
Also in attendance at the meeting were representatives from the Student Government Association and various UOG faculty and professors.
According to the UOG website, the University’s Board of Regents has general supervision over UOG.
They “set the policies governing the duties, conditions of employment, compensation, and salary of all University employees.” Part of the BOR’s duty is to also submit an annual budget to the legislature.
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]]>Read more "Chemistry forum aims to inspire young scientists"
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]]>With a planning team that included Maika Vuki, Professor of Chemistry, Ph.D., the Chemistry Department and their sponsors, the forum was welcomed with a full house of aspiring students, faculty and staff.
The forum hosted a notable panel of professionals who shared their stories and discussed career opportunities with the students.
In the panel were Monica Salas, a scientist at the Guam Crime Lab; Jon Kristofferson, a senior officer of the US Navy; Karen Song, a pharmacist; John Limtiaco, a UOG Alumnus representing L&K Company; Denise Chargualaf, a teacher at Guam High School; and Claire Perez and Ana Capati, both undergraduate students at UOG.
Frank Ishizaki was the featured guest speaker. Ishizaki is an adjunct instructor at the School of Business & Public Administration and an alumnus of the UOG Chemistry program.
Ishizaki is also a recipient of the 2016 CNAS Distinguished Alumni award, and a former senator, police commissioner, and FBI special agent.
Ishizaki shared stories of his time as a student at UOG. His post-UOG journey took him places from Hawaii, California, to being a University of Pittsburgh student, and back to Guam.
Upon returning to teach at UOG, Ishizaki expressed that he has seen a substantial amount of development in the Chemistry program.
Ishizaki expressed there are many opportunities for anyone but you will have to make tough decisions and take risks along the way
“My chemistry journey took me many places in the world and allowed me to meet with and work with all kinds of people,” Ishizaki said.
“I am very thankful for my UOG education and can say to you that my education was great.”
Gerard Chargualaf, a Tropical Agriculture major, said that it was a great event for the Chemistry Department to present their ideas to students and community members.
“I think science, in general, is interesting because there is many different aspects of science that one can specialize in,” Chargualaf said.
“Information can be shared through a cooperative effort with the science community as a whole to help each other learn about different concepts or to observe a specific phenomenon.”
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]]>Read more "Isla Center for the Arts hosts 19th annual Art-a-thon"
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]]>The Isla Center for the Arts hosted the 19th Annual Art-a-thon, which was open for public viewing through April 14.
The exhibit showcased over 60 artworks and pieces that were selected from 800 students from 22 schools who participated in the 2016-2017 Isla Art-a-thon.
The schools that participated in the exhibit included Simon Sanchez High School, Agueda Johnston Middle School, Harry S. Truman Elementary School, LP Untalan Middle School, and John F. Kennedy High School.
The exhibited artworks were selected by a small committee that looked at elements like perspective, color, shapes, and sometimes the overall theme of the artwork. Chosen participants received certificates and small prizes for overall elementary, middle, and high schools.
The students created remarkable pieces using a variety of methods such as graphite, pastels, colored pencils, ink, collage, mixed media, crayon, watercolors, print, foil relief, and acrylics.
According to Velma Yamashita, assistant professor of Art and coordinator of the Isla Center for the Arts, the exhibit had attracted over 430 visitors.
“It wasn’t too bad, it was better than last year’s [attendance],” said Gi Flores, an assistant at the Isla Gallery.
“The past few years have been a challenge. Financially it was hard to get people involved in the event,” Flores said.
According to a UOG announcement, this year’s Art-a-thon raised over $29,000 with 40 percent of the funds, or $11,000, given back to the participating schools to assist with art-related materials for their students.
Flores said they never have to raise a specific amount of money. The money comes from the work of the student.
“It’s really hard for the kids to have the courage to ask their relatives for donations, so we never pressure them,” Flores said.
The goal of the Art-a- thon is to recognize and promote student’s artworks and achievements, particularly for students at the K-12 level.
“It is our hope that the students not only enjoy creating the artwork but also learn to appreciate art and exhibits,” Yamashita said.
The Isla Center’s next show is the UOG student exhibit, which will run from May 4 to June 23. This exhibit will feature works produced by seniors and other undergraduates.
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]]>Read more "UOG prof. receives film award from international academic organization"
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]]>Raymond Anderson, Ph.D., a UOG associate professor in Mass Media, will receive an award of excellence from the Broadcast Education Association (BEA).
The award is for a film script Anderson entered in the Festival of Media Arts competition.
BEA is the flagship international academic organization for the National Association of Broadcasters.
Both organizations collaborate to inspire and educate individuals who are interested in the field of radio and television broadcasting.
Anderson will attend the BEA conference in Las Vegas in mid April to receive the award.
Anderson, who is originally from Jamaica, has been teaching at UOG for about two years.
Prior to moving to Guam, he served as an associate professor at Sterling College in Kansas.
“It is refreshing to be back on an island,” Anderson said.
He also enjoys connecting with the island’s local residents.
The script he wrote is a drama/comedy called “The Centenarian’s Birthday Party.”
Anderson explained that the script went into development and outlining in 2013, but that core writing did not begin until 2016.
“I kind of had been wanting to do this one for quite a while because I felt so passionate about it,” Anderson stated in a Pacific Daily News article.
The script’s plot is centered around a married Jamaican man and the troubled relationship he has with his family while living in the United States.
Conflict in the story arises when the husband has an affair with another man, which prompts his wife to take their two children and leave him to go back to Jamaica.
The husband later decides to marry the man, but longs to connect with his family after being ostracized for his decisions.
The husband hopes to make amends at his father’s party where he becomes a centenarian, or a person who is 100 years old.
The fundamental ideas and inspiration for the script came from Jamaican culture and Anderson’s experiences as a Jamaican transitioning to living in the United States.
Anderson was also inspired by a movie called “Monsoon Wedding,” a 2001 film that employed dramatic and comedic elements to discuss the bonds that bring families together.
With his background in film and broadcasting, Anderson hopes to inspire his students in the Communication program and the community through his teachings and work so they could pursue their own aspirations.
“I’d really like to help build Guam’s ability to tell stories more regularly in film form both as fictional documentaries and short films,” Anderson said.
Anderson has plans to collaborate with UOG’s English program to create more student short films regularly and hopes to enter them into student film festivals.
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]]>Read more "Guam Systems for Assistive Technology holds annual fair"
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]]>The Guam Systems for Assistive Technology (GSAT) held their 23rd annual fair at the Micronesia Mall on Saturday, March 4 at the mall’s center court.
The event hosted a number of organizations that came out to support and offer helpful information about their services.
Organizations such as the Guam Early Intervention System, the Guam Head Start Program, Project Karinu, Project Tinituhon, the Autism Community Center, the Guam Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, the Guam Vet Center, and the Guam Community College American Sign Language program were among those that participated in the event.
Established in 1995, GSAT is administered and federally funded under UOG’s Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (CEDDERS) and authorized under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998.
“The purpose of this fair is to provide awareness to individuals with or without disabilities about assistive technology or AT,” said Leah Abelon, GSAT center coordinator.
According to Abelon, AT is any item, equipment, or product system, such as mobility chairs, that are used to help increase, maintain, and improve the lives of individuals with disabilities.
“Our mission here is to help people acquire these types of assistive technology to help them live independently and be part of the community,” Abelon said.
One of the members of the Guam Early Intervention System showcased assistive technology for speech, and provided a free developmental assessment for children at their early stages of growth.
“The GSAT fair is important for the community to see what services are available along with their related assistive technology,” said Ramon Castro, a GEIS social worker.
The fair also had a fair number of entertaining local performances to liven up the mall.
Recording artist from Saipan, Candy Taman, was among the performers. Taman sang some of his popular songs that debuted 20 years ago.
Students of the GCC American Sign Language class staged a flash mob around the center court, signing to one of Bruno Mars’ recent hit songs.
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]]>Read more "38th CLASS Research Conference attracts local, international scholars"
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]]>The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences held its 38th Annual Research Conference on Friday, March 10 at the Humanities and Social Sciences Building. The theme for this year’s conference was “Science & Art: Convergence in Oceania.”
The participants represented a wide range of scholarly disciplines, and discussed various topics related to art, communication, culture, language, science, and Pacific Island Studies.
This year, there were over 60 presentations. Fifteen of the presenters were from other countries such as the Philippines Japan, and others.
The conference’s key note speaker was Vincente Diaz, Ph.D., a faculty member of American Indian Studies and History at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and the author of “Repositioning the Missionary: Rewriting the Histories of Colonialism, Native Catholicism, and Indigeneity in Guam.”
The key note address was held at the UOG Lecture Hall, where Diaz presented his topic on “Stepping In It: Decolonizing and Indigenous Nation Rebuilding through Olfaction and Multi-sensory Analyses.”
Diaz spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of about 300 attendees. His presentation discussed the possibility of retracing and acquiring indigenous knowledge through an olfactory approach, which refer to using the sense of smell.
“I talked about an article I wrote recently that called people to learn how to smell our histories,” Diaz said.
“This presentation continued that by asking exactly how do you do it and I used that as an example to open up more complexities about smelling.”
Irena Keckes, Ph.D., assistant professor of art, and chairperson of this year’s CLASS Conference said she was very satisfied with the conference’s outcomes.
“The novelty was also to engage students and teaching assistants to chair and time keep the sessions,” Keckes said.
“It was the first time for the event to take place on a separate date from the Charter Day, which enabled the UOG community to more actively take part in the conference.”
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]]>Read more "University still challenged by financial shortfall"
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]]>UOG was slated to receive $30.6 million in appropriated funds for facilities operations for FY2016. Roughly $5 million of that amount still has not been released by the Guam Department of Administration.
“They have closed the books on 2016,” University of Guam President Robert Underwood said.
Cash allotments for the University have been provided by the Government of Guam since 1952, and are generally used for the payment of permanent employees and to cover the cost of utilities for the campus.
With this situation at hand, the University has not been able to hire new employees, including full-time faculty. It has resorted to hiring part-time adjunct instructors to meet demands.
In addition, utilities maintenance works, including scheduled installations of new backup generators for the facility, have been pushed back.
Underwood also said other resources such as the University’s reserve funds have been depleted around January of 2017.
“We had to use up all of our reserves. We had money put aside and we had to use it all up,” Underwood said.
Reserve funds were set aside for capital improvement plans for instance repairing classroom air conditioning and other improvement projects which are not funded through Gov Guam and DOA.
“It’s not just about the giving us money to run the University, they’re (Gov Guam) risking your future,” Underwood said.
Among the consequences of the budget shortfall, a tuition increase may have to come into play in order to counter the shortage and a deficit in their audit for last year even though the university was just accredited last year for another 8 years.
Underwood questions, “Will we have to go through this again this year?”
However, Underwood reassures that the University is steadily balancing funds from other accounts and tuition funds to secure remaining operational costs in order to keep the facility from going under.
Moving forward into Spring 2017, the University will still continue with its daily operations and scheduled classes.
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]]>Read more "Graduation and retention rates show slight increase"
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]]>The six-year graduation rate for 2010 has reached 30 percent, which is the highest it’s ever been, and showing a slight increase of 3% when compared with 2009.
The data for the six-year graduation rate for the Fall cohort first-time, full-time freshmen from 2011 through 2016 have not yet been calculated.
According to Deborah (“Dee”) D. Leon Guerrero, director of academic assessment and institutional research, student cohort retention can be measured by talking and checking in with student groups regularly.
The baseline data are collected during the Fall semesters from groups of students who are first-time and full-time freshmen. Subsequently, data are collected if the students initially sampled return the following Fall, and if they graduate after 6 years.
These data serve as indicators of issues that students experience from the time they first enrolled at UOG, delineating the types of issues, and when such issues are more likely to occur.
Leon Guerrero said, “the plan is to make the experience for our students feel like they belong because studies have shown that when a student feels like they belong in that type of environment, they tend to stick with it and continue on.”
According to the current UOG Fact Book, a total of 336 degrees were conferred during the academic years of 2004 to 2005. This includes 286 undergraduate and 50 graduate conferred degrees.
The University has experienced a jump in the numbers of degrees conferred. For the academic years of 2015-2016, a staggering amount of 459 undergraduate and 112 graduate degrees, totaling 571 degrees, were conferred.
However, there is a Pending Graduation Certification for Summer 2016 as the students who graduated over the summer have yet to be included.
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]]>Read more "Youth For Youth: A Shining Light in Guam’s Young Community"
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]]>Fortunately, Youth For Youth LIVE! Guam has been helping kids get over these problems. The program is a non-profit, community-based, youth-centered, youth-driven organization that promotes and educates teens from the ages of 11 to 17 on how to live a positive drug-and alcohol-free lifestyle.
Youth For Youth LIVE! Guam was originally known as the Dededo Drug Free Organization when it first started.
It was founded in May 1988 by Gayle R. Osborn and Barbara S. N. Benavente. Twenty years later, the organization is still centered on the belief that the youth are the leaders of today and have much to contribute to making positive changes in our island community.
The organization hosts a variety of activities and workshops such as anger and stress management, bullying prevention, team building, and suicide prevention. The activities and workshops also varies in youth-led where the kids lead the activity or adult-led where the adults teach the workshop.
Vera Jose, a 13 year old student from Jose Rios Middle School, talked about her first encounter with the organization and what it meant to her.
“I actually heard about it when I was sixth grade,” Jose said.
Jose described the organization like a second family. She’s always feeling welcomed upon entering their facility.
“This past summer I joined the swim program, so starting in maybe late July or August that’s when I started actually coming to Youth For Youth meetings and that’s when I became an official member,” Jose said.
Located in the Behavioral Health and Wellness Center-Prevention and Training Branch (PEACE) office at the J & G Commercial Center in Hagatna, the facility always welcomes newcomers and volunteers.
“It changed me a lot like I’m an open person but not around a lot of people but when I come in the office and they’re all greeting me and hugging me, it makes me just feel like family,” Jose said.
Sean Rupley, 22, is an adult advisor for the Youth For Youth LIVE! Guam and also a University of Guam student. He has been a YFYLG member since 2007.
“The program is a very unique non-profit organization with the notion that the only way to empower the youth is through youth community itself,” Rupley said.
“Our youth officers and members are the change agents in their community. They’re the ones who go out and coordinate these outreach events, big events, and big programs,” Rupley added.
At the weekly meetings officers and members get together to talk about upcoming events and have office games and activities. The meetings is also a great place for new members to make new friends and participate in educational events and workshops.
“We always have new people coming in and it’s such a great experience to have that variety of kids just wanting to help out and to spread that awareness,” said Jan Michael Marin, 16, YFYLG Youth Treasurer and student at Father Duenas Memorial School.
For more information on Youth For Youth LIVE! Guam, check out their website at www.yfyliveguam.com or contact Sean Rupley at 689-0818.
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]]>Read more "UnderWater World Halloween A-Scary-Um"
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]]>The event started at 10 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Trick-or-treating for the kids started at 2:30 p.m. through 5:30 p.m. Stores in The Plaza such as Godiva, IHOP, LeaLea Lounge, Rimowa, Beyond The Box, and Sea Grill restaurant joined in on the Halloween spirit as well. Employees wore costumes and gave out candies to the children and some adults.
The Plaza building complex was bustling with people from the morning through the late afternoon. The parking lots, the exterior of the building, and the lobby were filled with all kinds of trick-or-treaters.
People came dressed as Marvel characters like Spiderman and Deadpool, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bag Bad Wolf, Game of Thrones characters, and many more. Locals and tourists enjoyed the variety of costumes that were present and others took pictures with their favorite characters.
Crowds of friends and families formed a line that ran throughout The Plaza. Parents waited about an hour or more just to take their kids or younger relatives inside the aquarium.
“We came here like at 1 p.m., so about 2 hours,” said Colbrick Diego, a student at George Washington High School. “I’m here with my aunt taking my younger cousins trick-or-treating.”
Dave Crisostomo, another attendee, took his granddaughters out trick-or-treating while waiting for their parents to return from buying food. “It’s super crowded. It’s a lot more crowded than I thought it would be,” Crisostomo said.
Some parents decided to leave because of the long waiting times, but most eager parents kept in line to celebrate Halloween with their family.
LeaLea Lounge on the first and second floor opened their play port for children to play and their parents to relax. Restaurants and cafes such as IHOP, Godiva, Cafe de Sirena, and Sea Grill’s Tumon Tacos also opened seats and tables for attendees to have a bite to eat.
First time father, John Calvo, shared his first Halloween outing experience with his son, Cassius, and wife, Paulette.
“We love it! You know it’s our first Halloween together and our son is eight months old,” Calvo said.
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