CAMPUS

BUZZ

REPUTATION

More than lip service. UT Arlington has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction. The award goes each year to a handful of institutions and is the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for volunteering, service learning and civic engagement. UT Arlington was cited for its student involvement in volunteer activities, service-learning classes and internships that contributed more than 120,000 service hours to local, national and international communities.

High marks. Design Intelligence magazine ranked the School of Architecture’s graduate program No. 2 in the South in its 2008 issue on America’s best architecture and design schools. The area includes Texas and Oklahoma and the states extending to the East Coast and stretching north to Virginia. “Any ranking system has questionable merits, but it is indicative of a rising reputation of the school within the profession and testimony to the success of our graduates,” architecture Dean Donald Gatzke said. The rankings are based on evaluations by the region’s architectural firms that have hired School of Architecture graduates in the past five years.

Making headlines. The Shorthorn, UT Arlington’s student newspaper, has been named best college newspaper by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. It is the paper’s fifth consecutive year to win the award and sixth in seven years. “The students work hard and think hard to produce the best possible paper each and every issue. That’s the goal,” Student Publications Director Lloyd Goodman said. “This prestigious award is icing on the cake.” The Texas APME is a statewide organization of newspaper professionals.

Upwardly mobile. The School of Urban and Public Affairs ranks among the nation’s top graduate public affairs programs, according to U.S. News & World Report. The 2008-09 rankings are based on survey responses of deans, directors and department chairs representing master of public affairs and administration programs in the United States. SUPA, which jumped 19 places from last year, tied with several universities, including Rutgers, Auburn and Brown. In Texas, only UT Austin (the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs) and Texas A&M (the Bush School of Government and Public Service) ranked higher.

Architect of collaboration. School of Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke recently received the President’s Award from the American Institute of Architecture’s Fort Worth chapter. He was recognized for his work with AIA Fort Worth and AIA Dallas to strengthen the bond between the University and area professionals. “He has worked to get both the business and academic communities to realize the needs of the other and to learn to respect those needs,” said outgoing 2007 AIA Fort Worth President Stephen Darrow.

The art of winning. Art Adjunct Assistant Professor Debbie DeWitte (‘00 BA) has received the Platinum Best Practices Award for Excellence in Distance Learning Teaching from the United States Distance Learning Association. She was honored for her online instruction in art appreciation. “Debbie DeWitte and UT Arlington have raised the bar of excellence,” USDLA CEO John Flores said. UT Arlington Distance Education Director Jenny Jopling said DeWitte worked closely with the Center for Distance Education to create a pleasing online learning experience requiring intense visual, historical and conceptual interpretation by students. Jopling said the course has required additional sections since it debuted in 2006.