The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 15, 2005 Page: 1 of 28
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ice Thresher
Vol. XCII, Issue No. 25
SINCE 1916
Friday, April 15, 2005
MARSHALL ROBINSON/THRESHER
And the beat goes on
Baker College senior Skye Schell plays drums at the KTRU Outdoor Show,
held April 3 on the field next to Ray Courtyard at the Student Center.
Keller-McNulty to succeed
Burrus as engineering dean
by Amber Obermeyer
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Sallie Keller-McNulty will become
Rice's eighth engineering dean in
July, ProvostEugene Levy announced
April 4. Keller-McNulty is currently
the group leader for the Statistical
Sciences Group at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory
Keller-McNulty will replace Sid-
ney Burrus, who has served as dean
of the George R. Brown School of
Engineering since 1998. Burrus will
retire from his positions as dean and
professor but will continue to teach
and work with Rice's Connexions
project, a collection of free scholarly
materials and educational software.
Levy, President David Leebron,
and other deans and vice presidents
interviewed four finalists for the
position early this semester. None
of the four finalists was from Rice,
Levy said.
"[Keller-McNulty] was clearly
energetic, and she has serious
accomplishments and leadership,
particularly in the Los Alamos
National Laboratory," Levy said.
"She comes with a set of ambitions
to move the school forward that
are admirable. She's well-known
nationally, and she understands the
environment in which a school of
engineering operates."
Keller-McNulty said Rice's em-
phasis on collaborative research
appealed to her.
"Rice has always been attractive
because of its preeminence and its
reputation for undergraduate educa-
tion," she said. "What really intrigued
me was the way Rice approaches
interdisciplinary science.... A lot of
places talk about interdisciplinary
research, and a lot of places can
create interdisciplinary centers, but
Rice is making it real, and that was
very exciting."
The choice
With Keller-McNulty's arrival,
Rice will become the only major
research university with female
deans of both natural sciences and
engineering.
Dean of Natural Sciences Kath-
leen Matthews, who became a dean
in 1998, chaired the search committee
for the engineering dean.
Matthews, a biochemestry and
cell biology professor, said Keller-
McNulty's experience with national
organizations will help Rice secure
more research funding.
"What stands out about her is the
diversity of her career," Matthews
said. "She has had experience not
just in the academy, but also at the
National Science Foundation and in
a national lab. She has this web of
connections across the country, and
her service on national academies'
committees indicates how well she is
See DEAN, page 8
Number of Beer-Bike EMS
calls similar to previous years
by Risa Gordon
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Except for last-minute cancellations of
several colleges' parade trucks and a crash
during the alumni race that caused the race
to end early without a winner, Beer-Bike
proceeded routinely this year.
Beer-Bike injuries were similar to those
of the past two years in severity and number,
and parade fines decreased for the second
consecutive year.
Most of the calls to Rice Emergency Medi-
cal Services April 2 were for minor injuries,
although four people required transportation
to the hospital, REMS Captain Nate Deal said.
REMS responded to 25 calls related to Beer-
Bike, 15 of which were associated with the
parade and 10 of which were associated with
the race. Last year, REMS responded to 24 calls,
with four people requiring hospitalization.
Of the 15 calls associated with the parade, 11
were calls for people injured by water balloons.
Deal, a Jones College senior, said. Other injuries
during the parade included minor scrapes and
abrasions. None of the calls made during Beer-
Bike was alcohol-related.
"Twenty-five calls does seem like a lot... but
a lot of people would come up to us for
very minor injuries and ask for our opinion
about whether or not they needed to go to
the hospital," Deal said. "And looking at the
numbers, most people didn't [need to go to
the hospital]. It was [usually] just a very
minor thing that we could treat there and
send them back ... to continue doing what
they were doing."
Deal said in previous years, REMS had
trouble treating a large volume of injuries
in a short period of time during Beer-Bike.
This year, 17 emergency medical technicians
were divided into four teams that were spaced
throughout the parade and in the race area.
Race
The most severe Beer-Bike injury oc-
curred during the alumni race. Will Rice
College biker Larry Fossi (Will Rice '79)
collided with Kerry Loughran (Martel '04),
who was running as part of Martel College's
alumni team. The Martel team ran the race
rather than biking it in tribute to Martel's
2002 victory in Beer-Run, which replaced
See BEER BIKE, page 6
ERIC WILLIAMS/THRESHER
Here comes the heat
Will Rice College senior Keia Watkins clocks the speed of a fan's pitch with a radar gun at
Take Me Out to the Ballgame Tuesday. The event was held before the baseball game against
Texas A&M and included games, giveaways and a dunk-RUPD-offlcer 220 booth.
Economics eliminates 212,
changes major requirements
by James Sulak
THRESHER STAFF
In conjunction with changes to its major
requirements, the economics department has
eliminated the introductory macroeconomics
course, ECON 212: Principles of Econom-
ics II. Under the new requirements, which
take effect in the fall, economics majors
must instead take ECON 375: Macroeco-
nomic Theory. ECON 375 will probably be
made less difficult, Economics Chair Peter
Hartley said.
The department may introduce a 100-level
introductory macroeconomics course for non-
majors in the future. Hartley said University
Professor and former President Malcolm Gillis,
who is an member of the economics depart-
ment, may teach the new course, but he has
not yet agreed to do so. During the 2004-'05
academic year, about 200 students enrolled in
seven sections of ECON 212, which counts for
Group II distribution credit.
In an e-mail sent to economics and math-
ematical economic analysis majors April 6, the
department also announced other changes to
major requirements for the economics degree.
The quantitative course requirement, which
currently allows students pursuing an econom-
ics degree to choose from several different
courses — including ACCO 305: Introduction
to Accounting — is being dropped in favor
of requiring SPAT 280: Elementary Applied
Statistics or a higher-level statistics class and
either ECON 446: Applied Econometrics and
Economic Modeling or ECON 400: Economet-
rics. The economics major will still require a
total of 10 courses.
Economics Professor Jim Brown said
students will ultimately benefit from the
changes.
"In the short run, some students may per-
ceive it as more of a hurdle," Brown said. "In
the long run, it will make it a better program
for undergraduates. On balance, I think we
will end up with more enrollment."
Sid Richardson College sophomore Justin
I,ane, who is majoring in economics, said
the increased difficulty of the major is a
positive change.
"In general, I think the changes make the
See ECONOMICS, page 5
INSIDE
Election for Honor Council
at-large representative
Students who plan to run for the Honor
Council at-large position should send an
e-mail to John Brawley (brawley@rice. edu) by
5 p.m. Tuesday. Voting will take place in the
Kyle Morrow Room of the RMC from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
More information is available at
http://wwtv. ruf. rice, edu/-honor.
Hard Rock Rondelet 2005
Rondelet will be held Saturday at the
Hard Rock Cafe, on Texas Avenue down-
town. There will be shuttles to and from the
venue, picking up and dropping off students
at the Sallyport.
Tickets will cost $15 in advance and $20
at the door.
Self-scheduled exams
Self-scheduled exam registration will take
place Monday-Friday. Registration is online at
http://wu>ui ruf. rice. edu/~reg/self schedule/.
Schedule now or pay later.
OPINION Page 3
Distribution needs improvement
A&E Pages 10
Brown play impressive
SPORTS Page 14
Women's tennis hosts Texas A&M
Quote of the Week
"You're not going to see her on campus all the
time, but when all Is said and done and the
school has more money, you'll see the trickle-
down effect." — Martel College senior Chris
Gibson, undergraduate representative to the
dean of engineering search. See story, page 1.
Scoreboard
Baseball
Texas A&M 3, Rice 5
Rice 11, Louisiana Tech 4
Men's Tennis
Rice 3, Minnesota 4
Women's Tennis
Rice 1, SMU 6
Weekend Weather
Friday
Sunny. 59-77 degrees
Saturday
Mostly sunny, 56-76 degrees
Sunday
Cloudy, 60-78 degrees
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 15, 2005, newspaper, April 15, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443034/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.