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WJ.tAT1~ INsidE CMU VisiT PAGE 2 ACC FouNdATioN PAGE 4 TOURNAMENT ACTiON PAGE 6 S1udENT LifE . PAGE 8 T UE 4 AlpENA CoMMUNiry CollEG~ Surveys· let students speak anonymously AmyWallot Co-Editor Do you have a better idea about how to spend class time? Don't like your text book? Was the instructor always late to class? Student opinion ~urveys are opportunities for students to voice their opinions anony- mously. The surveys help instructors improve their teach- ing methods. "There's nothing called perfection, and there's always room for improvement," said Sonya Titus, department chair of humanities and fine arts. Each semester every in- structor is evaluated by one class of their choice. The evaluations have two parts. The front is a set of questions that ask the student to rank the in- structor. The back has questions· with room for comments. The survey~ are tabulated and given to the department . chair~ who then pass them on to the instructors. "I read them all," said Ray . Herek, a part-time history in- structor. "You should expect your comments to mean some- thing." Herek has made changes · to his course as a result of com- m~nts from the student opinion surveys. If a student felt that a topic wasn't covered enough or wasn't covered and should have been, he takes it into con- . sideration in planning his next course. "I have never. .. felt by look- ing at these that I need to one- on-one with an instructor," Titus said. She feels that she has a good group · of people in her department. New instructors are also ' evaluated by the department chairs and administrators while they are on probation. Then after a year or two, they are granted tenure. Tenured instructors are evaluated by peers from their department and members of the college administration on a ro- tating basis. "It's important to·get feed back from students. This is one way we can do it, and they know it will be anonymous," Titus said. • DECEMbER 7, 1999 Christmas. Capers A door de.corating contest, crafts . fo,r. children and a visit from Santa Claus were: all part of ACC's annual Christmas Cane·r on Nov. 30. The activities kicked off the college's holiday celebration. Photos by Amy Wallot I r ! 1 : ... Chance encounter improves awareness of Nigerian culture · Seon Clarke Staff Writer Wow! It's amusing that most people think they have to go to different countries or read huge books, encyclopae- di~ or even go on the. Internet to find out fascinating details about different cultures, lifestyles, people or food not grown in their country. Yes, sometimes you have to, but other times the oppor- tunity already exists. Take for instance, ACC's campus. Look around and you can find people from different countries such as Denmark, China, Pa- kistan, Nigeria and many more .fascinating places. You just can't underesti- mate what you will learn from one individual. Books are fine, but by the time they are pub- lished many are outdated. You can find more interesting and educational information from an individual about their lifestyle,culture and much more if you just ask politely . . For example, the Global Awareness series on Sept. 28, 1999, featured a performing group from Africa (Kayaga) which presented their culture through music and dancing. You never know where you can learn about different cultures, without even leaving Alpena. In the ACC library, for example, I recently met an in- teresting woman named Modupe Adewunmi, originally from Nigeria. Adewunmi, her husband, AdedoKqn, their two sons, Adegbile and Adebisi, and daughter, Adelola, came from Nigeria in June 1995. Adegbile is 20; Adebisi is 16; and Adelola is seventeen~years old. Adegbile attends Purdue University in Lafayette, Indi- ana. Adebisi attends Alpena High School, and Adelola at7 tends the University of Michi- gan. See NIGERIA on Page 2 Mac Master leaves _Polemic to focus on workplace training By Lora Bauer Staff Writer Don MacMaster, assistant dean and director of work- force development, is leaving his position as Polemic advi- sor because the duties for h1s full-time position have grown significantly. MacMaster explained that the business and industry's need for training has grown very quickly. His position re- quires· him to find out businesses' training needs and do the necessary work to meet those· particular needs. The growth of this vocation does not allow the proper time for advising and teaching journal- ism anymore, he said. MacMaster, originally . fro.m Alcona, graduated from .high school in 1977. He at- tended the University ,of Michigan, earning a BA de- sports editor for the Marshall ___ ..., Chronicle, a daily newspaper, Photo by Lora Bauer Don MacMaster, who advised the Polemic for five years, · will focus on workplace and industry training. gree in communications and dren: Rachel, 7; Joseph, 5; journalism, then completed a Rebecca, 4; and Sarah, 15 master's degree from CMU in months. 1996. He has been employed When MacMaster first be- at ACC since 1991 and be- gan teaching and advising for came Polemic advisor, in the Polemic five years ago, he, 1994-95. 'brought with him practical ex- MacMaster and his wife, perience as a journalist. He Dr. Tina Rossi, have four chit.,. had worked one year as a near Battle Creek. He was a freelance reporter for the De- troit Free Press, where he published a couple of cover stories for the Sunday maga- zine. And then for seven years, MacMaster wrote fea- tures for the Ann Arbor Observer magazine, a city monthly with a circulation of about 75,000. After MacMaster' s first semester as Polemic advisor, he picked up a sequence of four journalism classes, two one-hundred level courses and two two-hundred level courses. MacMaster said. that his number one enjoyment was working with the students. Ije was truly delighted when stu- dents found a topic that they were interested in and became motivated enough to go out and investigate. MacMaster believes this is often unpre- dictable, but the interest is reflected in the quality of the story. " ... This is what it is all about," he said. , He enjoyed facilitating and encouraging students in this environment. While advisor, the Po- lemic did extremely well in competitions with other com- munity college newspapers. The staff held their own with bigger community colleges like Lansing and Grand Rap- ids. .MacMaster said he also report, write and . to be pub- lished," he said. "It's truly applied learning. It is much more public, and it is a g:reat experience." With the help of ACC and advertisements in the past five years, the Polemic has ac- quired new computers, printers and a scanner. Internet access was hooked up , to the computer lab, which al- lows the students to go online . for information and enables · them to see other community : college newspapers. appreciated the students' de- "Five years is a good run," : sire to put out a good product. MacMaster said. "It is now : MacMaster believes that time for someone with a dif.:. : Alpena students do have something to say and they prove this by being able to compete. "The paper gives them op- portunities to comment, ferent set of experiences to . come in. I feel good about : the time and effort I put intq : the Polemic. I definitely en.,. : joyed it and enjoyed th~ : students immensely."