Studies have linked higher retention and graduation rates to the degree by which students feelconnected to their university community. On Sept. 12, The University of Akron hosted the sec-

ond annual Student Appreciation Day, which provides opportunities outside the classroom forstudents to engage faculty, staff and other professionals who are committed to their success.This event connected more than 10,000 students with 850 UA employees who welcomedthe students to themed booths in front of their primary buildings. A number of giveawayswere distributed, including “Fear the Roo” t-shirts, hot dogs and beverages. It is wonderfulseeeing students wearing their “Fear the Roo” t-shirts on campus and at sporting events.The students and the University community enjoyed many interactive/fun activities and

cultural performances across the campus. Such events foster the development of Universityculture, tradition and spirit that contribute to our University’s broader goals of greater student

success, retention and graduation. Next year’s Student Appreciation Day is planned for Sept. 10, 2008.

DR. VICTOR PINHEIRODEPARTMENT CHAIRPHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON

University CollegeThe University of Akron302 Buchtel MallAkron, OH 44398-6201

The University of Akron is an Equal Education and Employment Institution © 2007 By The University of Akron / 1107-SS-17

To the family of:

Student Appreciation Day

Mark Your CalendarWinter Recess

Dec. 17, 2007 - Jan. 12, 2008

Spring 2008 SemesterBegins Mon., Jan. 14, 2008

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. HolidayMon., Jan. 21, 2008 - No classes

President’s Day ObservanceTues., Feb. 19, 2008 - No classes

Spring 2008 Semester RecessMarch 17-23, 2008

Spring 2008 Semester Final Exam WeekMay 5-9, 2008

Students gather for information and giveaways outside the Student Union.

If the first phase of the University’s NewLandscape for Learning campus enhance-ment program was about transformation, thesecond phase is about growth. On the north-western, southeastern and southern bound-aries of campus, new facilities are underway,in development or recently completed.

In August the University opened the doorsto its newly constructed Exchange StreetResidence Hall. The six-floor facility canaccommodate almost 500 students, and fea-tures large, shared single rooms, as well astwo- and four-person apartment units — allwith private bathrooms.

Each two- and four-person apartment isequipped with a kitchen that includes a full-size refrigerator, stove, dishwasher andgarbage disposal. These units also have fur-nished living rooms and their own washersand dryers. The shared single suites eachhave private bedrooms, and laundry facilitiesare located on those floors.

The ground floor includes an art supplyshop, a home furnishings store, a

bike shop and a combination ice cream/ con-venience grocery store. Each of these has aseparate, street-level entrance and is accessi-ble to the public.

In November the University finalized itspurchase of the Quaker Square Complex.About 95 rooms of the hotel portion of thefacility will remain open per an agreementwith the City of Akron, and will operateunder the name the “Quaker Square Inn atThe University of Akron.”

The facility’s retail stores will remain openindefinitely, office tenants’ contracts will behonored, and hotel and restaurant employeeshave been encouraged to apply for openingsunder the new ownership. Although thehotel will remain open, the Universityexpects to begin its residence hall operationswithin the facility after Jan. 1, 2008.

And finally, a long-held dream is comingtrue on the southeastern corner of campus.On Sept. 12, 2009, the Zips will play theirhome opener football game against theUniversity of Kentucky Wildcats at

InfoCision Stadium/Summa Field, UA’s firston-campus stadium. Named in recognition ofUniversity supporters Gary and KarenTaylor, owners of InfoCision ManagementCorp. of Akron, and Summa Health Systems,the stadium will have a capacity of 30,000,including 486 club seats, 172 open-air logeseats and 15 private suites.

In keeping with the University’s new look,the stadium’s exterior will be constructedusing the classic red-brick and glass design.The stadium will also feature 10 concessionstands, a full team shop, a second merchan-dise location, a ticket office and two auxiliaryticket booths. A sound system with speakersthroughout the stadium, concourse and rest-rooms will ensure that fans will always knowthe score. At the center of all of the excite-ment is a state-of-the-art scoreboard withvideo screen.

It won’t be all fun and games at InfoCisionStadium, however. Also included in thedesign is space for academic classrooms andlabs that can be used six days per week.

FamilyFocusN E W S L E T T E R

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE FALL 2007

UA Grows with Phase Two of New Landscape for Learning

The Quaker Square complex, right, will begin housing students in 2008, and InfoCision Stadium, center

and left, is scheduled to open in 2009.

The Freshman Experience at UA, Two Different Perspectives

Remember the old adage, timing is everything? BryanYorgey, a pre-admit student to Summit College’s SurgicalTechnology program, would certainly agree to the efficacyof that adage. Out of high school, Bryan allowed the lure ofa good job and a decent wage to put him into the work-force, not into the college classroom. As time progressed,and one of Bryan’s jobs folded, another took its place. Itwasn’t time for change yet. Bryan married, helped raisefive children and kept working. Even 15 years ago wasn’tthe “right time” to start school – although Bryan admits tothinking about it.

In fall of 2005 Bryan’s life took a different turn. Anotherjob shift brought with it the realization that at 40+, he wasn’tas marketable in the labor force as he wanted and neededto be. At that point, Bryan began to look at college as away out of the factory/warehouse revolving door.

Bryan knew what he wanted — a career in a hospitaloperating room. After extensive research, he chose TheUniversity of Akron’s Surgical Technology program. Hebegan his college career in spring 2006 as a part-time student taking two developmental courses, Basic Math IIwith Mary Hlavack and Basic Writing with MichelleMiller. Rather than looking at the developmental classes asa negative, Bryan claims “It’s the best thing that couldhave happened to me. The classes broke the ice. I provedto myself I could learn.” They must have done exactlythat as Bryan was named the Developmental Program’sStudent of the Year for 2007.

Bryan has taken advantage of every on-campus resourceavailable to him. He has used Adult Focus’ computer lab,worked with graduate assistants to become computer savvy,participated in the Adult First-Year Mentor program andstudied in the program’s lounge. He has learned, adaptedand persisted. He has worked a full-time job and attendedschool part-time. As a result of his persistence and dedica-tion, he should be ready to apply to his clinical program inspring 2008.

What advice would Bryan give to his peers? Don’t wait.Take the first step. “The hardest part of school was walkingthrough the door the first time. Everyone at The Universityof Akron has been helpful and supportive. Do it.”

Whether students follow a non-traditional path to collegelike Bryan Yorgey, or are coming directly from high school,attending college for the first time can be just as big a challenge. Freshman Sarah Campbell, who graduated from Jackson High School in Stark County in 2007, reflects on some of her initial experiences at UA.

“Heading into the fall semester as a new freshman incollege I’ll admit that I was a little nervous, and I didn’treally know what to expect. I knew, of course, that it wasgoing to be much different from high school, but I had noidea how different.

“My first week was such arelief. My instructors allseemed really nice, and theyseemed like they wanted to getto know their students andhave their students get to knoweach other. Another thing thatcaught me by surprise was thework load. I imagined hoursupon hours of homework everysingle night, but so far this

semester my load hasn’t been too heavy, and I have man-aged to get everything done a head of time…this was apleasant shock.”

Sarah’s advice to her peers, “Instead of being nervousand feeling uneasy about starting at a new school awayfrom people you have known your whole life, try toremember that everyone else is feeling the same way.Don’t worry about meeting new people, there are so manystudents and so many opportunities to make new friends.Don’t worry about professors and tough classes. I havenoticed that instructors are willing to meet you half way —you just have to try. Stay on top of your school work andget it done, but enjoy your spare time relaxing with your new friends. After all, isn’t college supposed to be the best years of your life?”

LAURA CONLEYINTERIM DIRECTORUA ADULT FOCUS

Sarah Campbell

Z-Alert:Emergency Notification at UA

Student safety and well-being always has been a primary concernat The University of Akron. Even prior to recent incidents at othercampuses, the University was exploring ways to inform studentsand families in case of an emergency. After a great deal of study andinvestigation, the University developed a comprehensive plan thatembraces several different techniques, including sirens, a publicaddress system, broadcast voice mails, broadcast e-mails, use ofcampus radio and TV stations, rapid Web site updates and cellphone texting.

Cell phone texting has emerged as a key component of emer-gency notification systems in universities around the country. It isquickly evolving to become a standard feature of most schools. Itspotential reaches beyond emergency notification to accommodate awide range of uses — emergency notification, group activities andevents, discussion groups and so on. As a starting point at UA, wefocused on the emergency notification feature with an eye to devel-oping other uses in the future.

UA’s emergency texting system incorporates cell phone textingand e-mail notification. Family and students can sign up to receiveeither or both. In the event of an emergency, a text message outlin-ing the nature of the emergency is sent to the cell phone numberand/or e-mail address provided by individuals.

This is a free service provided by the University, however cellphone service providers may still charge for text messaging fees.For that, students need to speak with their carrier or review theirservice agreements.

To receive emergency text messaging and/or e-mails notifications,students and parents can sign up by going to the University’sZipLine web page, http://zipline.uakron.edu. Parents and familycan sign up on that page by selecting the Z-Alert icon. Studentsshould log into ZipLine and register there.

JIM SAGEVP INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & CIO

More than 1,100 pre-registered volunteers and over 100 walk-in workersfilled the Student Union ballroom with students, faculty, staff, and com-munity volunteers in the early morning hours of Saturday, Oct. 27 to par-ticipate in Make a Difference Day. Employees from Summa HealthSystem, the Akron Beacon Journal, and other area businesses joined stu-dent-athletes, engineering students, fraternity and sorority members,service learning classes and many others. Even Zippy joined in the fun,as the number of participants more than doubled last year’s total and setnew records for the number of volunteers and projects.

Despite the cold and damp weather, hundreds of volunteers rodebuses or walked to more than 60 different project sites at schools,churches, parks, nursing homes and non-profits. They helped rehab fourhomes, installed solar lighting for 30 homeowners, cleaned windows, andcollected over 1,300 pounds of trash and recyclables from neighborhoodstreets and sidewalks. Others painted murals, spent time with nursinghome residents, painted, and helped pack for a school move. In all, over4,000 hours of time were donated to create a successful day of service forthe University Park neighborhood.

Sponsors and donors also contributed significantly. The major sponsorwas the newly-created University Park Business Association lead by recentPolsky Humanitarian Award winner Phil Maynard. Dozens of other organi-zations contributed cash, food, advertising space, transportation services,and more. Finally, many UA colleges and departments provided essentialassistance in planning the event and recruiting the volunteers.

Perhaps most importantly, both volunteers and benefactors consideredthe day a huge success. Volunteer surveys overwhelmingly praised theevent, with more than 80 percent indicating they would recommend par-ticipation to others. The organizations benefiting from the volunteerwork were even more supportive, with 100 percent of those reportingindicating their expectations were met or exceeded.

Reverend Jay Groat of First Congregational Church served as theevent chairman and had this to say about the event: “This was an amaz-ing experience for me. The level of enthusiasm, the new relationships,and the enormous goodwill surprised even me. I consider it a fun learn-ing experience for everyone involved, and I know our church will beinvolved in the future.”

While only a one-day event, Make a Difference Day in UniversityPark creates lasting impacts by building a web of new relationshipsbetween UA and the community. Consider these comments from NancyWhitehead at the Akron Beacon Journal: “I had raved about this experi-ence not only to UA staff but also to the management and staffers hereat the Beacon Journal. This event was a simple way to give back to thecommunity and I’m so glad you organized and implemented this project.I look forward to participating next year!”

With dozens of additional service and service-learning opportunities avail-able throughout the year in University Park, others looking for ways to makea difference can contact the University Park Alliance at 330-972-8859.

KENNETH STAPLETONSENIOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISEREXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY PARK ALLIANCE

Make a Difference Day Sets New Records, Builds New Relationships