Student no confidence vote for Rochon is open

As of Nov. 4, the polls are open for Ithaca College students to vote to express their confidence, or lack thereof, in President Tom Rochon.

According to the Student Government Association, a no confidence vote is when a constituency says it does not support the people in authority and disagrees with their actions. On college campuses, votes of no confidence have historically been used by students and faculty in order to assess the campus’s confidence in their college president.

The vote is confidential and includes no personally identifying information. Students have been issued their own link and can only vote once. Data collected from the Office of the Registrar will be used by the SGA to provide a report that expresses overall student confidence as well as confidence by school, major, race and gender. The results from this vote will be released at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at the weekly SGA meeting in the Taughannock Falls Room on the third floor of Campus Center.

The Ithacan receives two 2015 Pacemaker Awards

The Ithacan was honored with both the 2015 Newspaper Pacemaker Award and the 2015 Online Pacemaker Award for overall excellence by the Associated Collegiate Press at the Fall National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 31.

The Pacemaker, one of the nation’s most prestigious college journalism awards, is widely regarded as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism.” Founded in 1921, the ACP is the oldest and largest membership organization for college student journalists in the country.

The Newspaper Pacemaker was awarded for issues produced during the 2014–15 academic year under Jack Curran ’15, editor in chief. The Online Pacemaker judges evaluated websites during the Spring 2015 semester.

In addition, The Ithacan won Third Place in the convention’s on-site Best of Show competition, for which each paper represented at the conference submits a single issue to be judged. The award was for The Ithacan’s Oct. 22, 2015, issue.

Registration for student network trip now open

Students can register now and save a spot to visit and network with employers from Maine to Virginia in January 2016. Participants will be able to get a firsthand glimpse into the
professional world by visiting companies during winter break though Road Trips to the Real World. This series of employer site visits is scheduled for Jan. 4–15 and is provided for those searching for a job or an internship.

Attending the site visits will provide participants with the opportunity to network with employers. They will also include panel discussions with employers and interns. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. The last day for registration is Dec. 4. There is a non-refundable fee of $10 per site, which must be paid by the student at the time of registration. Students are only allowed to sign up for a maximum of five visits. Transportation will not be provided for this program. Students can register online at http://www.eace.org.

International Programs opens faculty workshops

The Office of International Programs is inviting all faculty and staff to attend its upcoming workshops designed to assist in the development of short-term study abroad programs. They recommend that all interested in developing short-term study abroad opportunities for students attend both workshops in order to have a full understanding of the process  and requirements for designing and leading short-term study abroad programs.

The first workshop will be Risk Management and Student Safety in Short-term Study Abroad Programs. It will be held 12:10–1 p.m. Nov. 17 in the Center for Faculty Excellence in 316 Gannett Center. This workshop will feature Nancy Pringle, vice president and general counsel, as the guest speaker. She will discuss claims and court decisions that have arisen in the context of international programs involving college students, steps faculty and staff can take to help protect the health and safety of their students from reasonably foreseeable harm on study abroad trips, proactive risk assessment and crisis management, and specific risk-reduction and mitigation techniques that one can employ to better protect students, faculty and staff on short-term study abroad programs.

The second workshop will be on Program Planning and Proposal Submission Logistics for Short-term Study Abroad Programs. It will be held 12:10–1 p.m. Nov. 19 in 209 Job Hall. In this workshop, participants will discuss the college’s  program proposal and approval process, guidelines for working with outside organizations for program planning and implementation, the student application and admission process and International Programs and group leader collaboration.

Oracle Honor Society gains 158 new members

The Oracle Honor Society, an Ithaca College honor society that recognizes academic excellence, inducted 158 new members Nov. 2 in Emerson Suites. Students who achieved a GPA in the top 10 percent of students in their school after completing two semesters at the college are invited to accept membership.