The Famuan January 25, 1999 the VOICE of FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY - TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA Vol
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
'2 The Famuan January 25, 1999 THE VOICE OF FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY - TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA Vol. 89 - No. 4 Financial aid to have new director Delores Davis headed Hampton'sfinancial aid office for nearly five years. BY SHARON PUGH started working, she has begun familiariz- hang up." Davis said. ing herself with many of the problems and For those in the application process for Contributing Editor complaints of students. 1999-200, the new priority date for the "The student vice president said that the financial aid deadline has been moved to Starting Feb. 1. a new face will be in the biggest concerns of students [arel long March 1. financial aid office. Dolores Davis, the for- lines and net checks arriving late." Davis Students who meet the deadline can mer financial aid director for Hampton said. expect to receive their net checks within University, will be the new financial aid She said she plans to find out why stu- the first three weeks after classes start. director. dents and parents cannot seem to get Vice President for Student Affairs, A. Davis has been Hampton's financial aid through on the telephone lines in financial Delories Sloan, said she has high expecta- director for almost the last five years. She aid. tions of Davis. flew down to meet and set up training "I have experienced some things first- "I know she can move us in the arena workshops with the office's staff Dec. 29- hand. I can't get through the office, even where FAMU needs to be in financial aid. 30. when I call another office and ask some- She's very knowledgeable, has a pleasant "I'm doing an assessment/review of one to transfer me," Davis said. "I wonder attitude and is a friendly manager," Sloan jobs and functions. Right now I notice that what students and parents must go said. Sloan described Davis as "fair" and the structure is not customer oriented," through." "firm." Davis said. But Davis said she is not quick to blame Student Government Association vice One of the main things Davis said she financial aid workers for the phone prob- president, Cornelius Minor, gave his plans to do is make sure every student has lems. appraisal of the new director. a key person he or she can talk to and "When I first started working at "She's organized and goal-oriented, and know by name. Hampton, all the lines were busy and when FAMU needs a lot of that. Her leadership "Each counselor will be responsible for it did pick up, it put you on hold and the style is new, and only time will tell the a group of students for a two-year period," operator never came back on to let you outcome," Minor said. Davis said. know that all the lines were tied up. The Minor was on the committee that select- Even though Davis has not officially only way out was for the individual was to ed Davis. FAMU readies computers for Y2K carry out. have at least I((00megahertz of speed in BY MARIE IGNATZ FAMU should be ready for the year order to make the transition to the year Correspondent 2000 when it comes. 2000 successfully. Otherwise, she said, - "Our goal is to have it completed by they will have to be replaced. With less than a year left, computer June 30th of this year," Johnson said. Software versions made before 1995 owners everywhere are pressed for time to FAMU is not the only institution getting will malfunction. make their computers Y2K-compliant. new computers. "For example," Berrien said, "the 1997 Y2K stands for "year 2000." The prob- Management Information Systems for version of the program Excel is lem known as the millennium bug origi- Leon County is urgently working to get all Y2K-compliant, but the 1995 version is nated when programmers, to conserve Leon County computers ready for the year not." memory space, used two digits to record 2000. The Roll Out 95 plan is currently MIS's Role Out 95 plan is not unlike the year. being implemented to head off the Y2K Microsoft's Modified Rapid Replacement As a result, when the year 2000 arrives, problem, said MIS user services adminis- Strategy. According to Microsoft's Year several computers may shut down or mal- trator, Judy Berrien. 2000 Readiness Disclosure and Resource function from an inability to recognize The Role Out 95 plan involves an on- Center Web page, their strategy is "built "00" as the year 2000. site visit to every county computer. around the concept of overcoming scarce FAMU has been working on a time and project headed by Sterlin Adams, resources." director of planning and analysis The and FAMU data administrator, to OO OO Leon County get the university's computers Volunteer prepared for the millennium bug S I ] Services Office since September 1997. is one of the At the time, it was estimated 10 _ places where that 2,500 of FAMU's computers OO,computers would have to be either replaced were replaced or fixed. by MIS. There are two groups that are "There working on the Y2K problem at are pros and FAMU, said Ausey Johnson Jr., cons to having computer programmer-analyst our computers manager, who coordinates the replaced. We actions of the two groups. have to learn One group is a project team some new pro- made up of computer program- grams on the mers who wrote the programs to new comput- handle the problem. They work ers," said with the mainframe and midframe Kristy Kugler, computer systems. internship team The other group is a liason leader. "We group made up of representatives also have to from all of the schools and colleges on Information about each computer is then create a whole new database for the new campus. entered into an inventory database, and an computers to track over 1,800 volunteers Both groups have separate monthly analysis is done as to whether the comput- since the old computers aren't connected meetings to discuss their progress on the er needs to be replaced. to the county network anymore. But it's plans that they have been designated to Berrien said that computers need to worth it because we needed them. News 2 The Famuan/Janiuary 25,1999 r Clubs to face SGA in budget hearings Funds will be allocated to campus organizations based on their needs. meet with the committee, and budget much money we'll have." BY SHAUNDRA LEE preparations have been ahead of schedule, A&S agencies receive allocations based Staff Writer on need, which are based on budget predic- The FAMtJ Activity and Service agen- tions. The organization and finance com- cies will meet with the Student mittee, which is made up of five student Government Association's Organization senators, five students-at-large, SGA Eligibility Committee throughout the week comptroller, the Senate A&S committee, to decide what clubs will be reinstated or the chief justice, and the Senate president, added to the 1999-2000 budget. will hold budget hearings to allocate funds. "All small clubs are reviewed each After funds are allocated, the budget year," said Condra McGee, SGA comptrol- must be approved by the Senate, FAMU ler and committee chair. Some A&S agen- comptroller and President Frederick S. cies include the Rattler Cheerleaders, the Humphries. Honda Campus All-Star Team and The Despite careful planning and scheduling Famuan. one of the largest A&S budget among Along with McGee, 20, the committee HBCUs, McGee and Holden said it is not includes two representatives from each easy. branch of SGA, who meet in a closed ses- Incomplete forms and lack of communi- sion. cation are just some of the problems, said There were 37 A&S agencies during the Holden, who has chaired the organization 1998-99 school year, with a $2.74 million said McGee and Wendell Holden, SGA and finance committee two years in a row. budget total. The money comes from the organization and finance committee chair. "This job is time-consuming. There are $9 per credit hour A&S fees students pay "The hard part is deciding how much always going to be difficulties, but we when they register for classes. their {organization) is going to get," said know it's going to work out," Holden said. At least 40 clubs and organizations will Holden, who is a sophomore senator. "Especially since we don't know how riuiu ~ivruiu ~r~vvr) VVL ~ ~l\~ ~l)l~rv1 I trovesial1.killing of 19-yer1l Arican-American Tyisha Miller. Expo ends; Miller was etlnnghoe n D c:.: when she got a lttire. Milerwa locked inside the car, shain ucon- work starts' trollably with a gn. under the seat, for students Rag BY OMAR KELLY Staff Writer FAMU students who partook -in last week's Career Expo. beware: the journey for a professional job or internship this IIF~ oS summer isn't over. Dressing up in a suit and handing out resumes is only the starting point to landing employment. Much of the important leg work that goes into getting an offer from a prospective company takes place once the SP -RagiS. expo has ended, as students continue to cor- respond with recruiters and begin to learn professional etiquette for the workplace. " Many companies consider FAMU a gold mine because they know that our stu- dents are not only mature, but they also have the initiative, drive and enthusiasm 3, o.S needed for the workplace." said Delores Dean, interim director of FAMUI's Career Center.