The Griffin: volume 67, issue 05 - Oct. 4, 1996

              Dr. Herbert Nelson is hard at work making changes in the school adminstration. Students in Old Main may have their MTV, other alphabet soup channels and new technology in more of Old Main classrooms by the turn of the century. Dr. Herbert Nelson, acting vice president for Academic Affairs, discussed future plans for Old Main on Tuesday. Specifically, as part of the College's "Capital Campaign" that is seeking to raise money for improvements and upgrades to campus buildings, the College is interested in major classroom renovations. In the courseofconsideringthe improvements, he wants to review the level of technology necessary for each classroom, such as cable access and computer facilities. Classrooms will likely be reconfigured, and there is the possibility of adding air-conditioning. 'This is a pretty fair distance off. We're not Nelson mentioned discussion on an administrative level of possible future programs at Canisius. He stated, "We want to offer high quality, undergraduate programs with a strong liberal arts core." He mentioned three prominent proposals being discussed: a Physicians Assistant Program, an Environmental Science Program and an Undergraduate Major in Special Education. Nelson emphasized that these programs are merely being discussed and that nothing has yet been settled. In addition, Nelson mentioned three short-term goals for the academic year. One of these goals involves the implementation of an Academic Programs Board. The board is being set up for one year and consists of six elected faculty, three members of the F acuity Senate, three department chairs (one from each of the College's three going to do anyth ing until we have the money," he said. schools), the deans of the three schools, the associate vice president for Academic Affairs and the vice president for Academic Affairs. 'The board is charged to review proposals for new academic Nelson was appointed acting vice president following the departure of Joan Connell, who left Canisius in May to do consulting work. Following her departure, Canisius president Rev. Vincent Cooke, S.J., asked Nelson to take the position. He joined the faculty of Canisius College in 1968, held the Philosophy Department chair Lastly, Nelson wants to see a revision of the faculty handbook. He said, "The faculty senate has a subcommittee working on it." The last revision of the handbook was in 1988. by Information Technology Services (ITS). programs put forward by the various departments," stated Nelson. The second short-term goal involves ways to deal with classroom problems. "In the past, complaints have been directed to different offices," Nelson said. He would like to see the creation of a centralized location that will handle any minor problems such as lack of chalk or non-functioning equipment. Such a site would be located in the Registrar's Office, which would act as a referral for complaints. Exceptions to this policy would be medical or security emergencies that would continue to be handled by Public Safety and computer software problems that would be handled Wehle experiences power failure over weekend break by Chris Brownsey Griffin News Reporter Eddie Vedder (if you don't know who he is by now, get help) rocked the Marine Midland Arena Tuesday night in front of a sold-out show. Pk*otj Christina. tank Niagara Mohawk was called to the scene to disconnect the building's power from the pole before the repairs could be made. According to ITS, most of the equipment is protected by battery back-up that supplies approximately one hour of power if there is a disruption of the main service. This "grace-period" enables the equipment to be shut down in a safe and orderly fashion. "We feel very fortunate that nothing more happened," Cohen said. "We're also thankful of ITS for it's help.' The library was also affected, when their automation system shut down. The staff was forced to go into manual mode until power was restored. Last Friday, a major power failure caused a wave of panic to wash through Wehle Technology Center. The power went down at approximately 11:30 p.m. and was restored by 3 p.m. Saturday. During this period of time nearly all of the computers on campus, as well as cable television to the dorms, lost power. The failure occurred in Wehle's circuit breaker panel, says Dr. Joel Cohen, Director of ITS. Cohen goes on to say that the disruption caused no permanent damage to the sensitive electronic equipment. He also praised the hard work and quick thinking of the ITS staff which managed to solve the problem in such a prompt manner. Perot :or no::::::;: (s pag? ?); Goo-Gdoat::::: :;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;.;(see;page-7) Peacocks ;b#aten: ■ back: to-stone: age (see; page-12) FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1996 VOLUME LXVII, NUMBER 5 Philosophy professor named to new position by Phil Rico Griffin News Reporter FkMo by ASHLE Y DORCEL Y He puts the Buff back in Buffalo... See Nelson page 2 The Griffin Serving' the Canisius Community Since 1933