TODAY'S LOCAL HEADLINES

• Study confirms health risks of eating too much red meat
• NAU offers online degrees
• ASU Students Scalping Obama Graduation Tickets
• ASU selects Brian Williams as 2009 Cronkite Award winner
• Competition for scholarships intensifies due to economy
• New director to highlight digital art
• Business students team up with nonprofit
• UA Press celebrating 50 years
• Pima's chancellor pitching tuition hike
• Daycare a possibility for UA
• Graduate elections budget-focused
• Faculty alters Colleges
• Summit aims to spur ideas on easing deficit

TODAY'S NATIONAL HEADLINES

• Arizona State's 'Origins Initiative' Opens With a Bang

TODAY'S OPINIONS

• Taking away a choice
• Front of the class to the back of the line
• History We Can’t Afford to Repeat

LOCAL HEADLINES

Study confirms health risks of eating too much red meat
By Rheyanne Weaver. ASU health experts are suggesting that students eat less red meat "three to four times a week, at most" in order to decrease the risk of early death, cancer and heart disease. Red meat includes beef and pork products, and was compared against effects of processed meat and white meat. A recent study, supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, examined the effects of eating red meat in half a million people ages 50 to 71 years old.
(ASU State Press: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5741)

NAU offers online degrees
In an innovative new initiative, the NAU Department of Health Sciences offers a number of online degree completion programs that allow a current or prior student with an associate's degree to earn their bachelor's degree. These degrees are designed to assist individuals in allied health fields or with an interest in allied health to attain their four-year credential and continue to work.
(White Mountain Independent: http://www.wmicentral.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20291919&BRD=2264&PAG=461&dept_id=506172&rfi=6)

ASU Students Scalping Obama Graduation Tickets
By Peter Busch. On Web sites like Craiglist, ASU students are selling tickets to watch President Barack Obama deliver the keynote speech at the Spring graduation ceremony. One student, who only wanted to go by Jack, said he sold a pair for $225. "The particular people that I sold to have seen President Obama previously and wanted to see him again," Jack said. Most students are selling for anywhere between $50 and $100.
(KPHO-TV (CBS) Ch. 5: http://www.kpho.com/news/19112951/detail.html)

ASU selects Brian Williams as 2009 Cronkite Award winner
Brian Williams, the anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News," the nation's top-rated evening network newscast, will be this year's recipient of the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, Arizona State University announced Monday.
(KTAR Radio 620 AM -92.3 FM: http://www.ktar.com/index.php?nid=6&sid=1116058)
(The Arizona Republic: http://www.azcentral.com/rsslinks/989690)

Competition for scholarships intensifies due to economy
By Anne Ryman. Arizona's tough economy, coupled with rising college tuition, has triggered a flood of applications for scholarships from students. Some non-profit scholarship groups are getting double or triple the applications that they normally receive, making the competition tougher during a time when students need financial help more than ever. The Arizona State University Parents Association, for instance, saw a record 500 applications for its $4,000 annual scholarship, up from about 300 last year. The scholarship is given to 40 students and asks them to write a short statement on why they need the scholarship. College officials say increases in federal grants may help offset the tougher competition for private scholarships. The Pell grant is increasing by $500, to a maximum $5,350. "The message is, there's still financial aid available," said Michelle Castillo, director of financial aid at Northern Arizona University.
(The Arizona Republic: http://www.azcentral.com/rsslinks/990621)

New director to highlight digital art
Herberger College of the Arts will welcome a new School of Art director on July 1, and she's ready to digitally enhance art education at ASU. Adriene Jenik, who comes to the Herberger College after 11 years at the University of California, San Diego, has been described as a "telecommunications media artist," a concept she said includes the use of digital media within the creative process.
(ASU State Press: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5743)

Business students team up with nonprofit
By Tessa Muggeridge. A local nonprofit organization that transports extra food from Valley businesses to homeless shelters and food banks is looking to put suggestions made by ASU students into action. Three W. P. Carey master's of business administration students drafted a study last semester as part of a final class project.
(ASU State Press: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5734)

UA Press celebrating 50 years
By Matt Lewis. University of Arizona Press, the college's publishing arm, is celebrating 50 years in business. UA libraries are hosting an exhibit honoring UA Press called "Fifty Years of Publishing Excellence: The University of Arizona Press, 1959-2009." It runs through May 29 at UA's main library, 1510 E. University Blvd.
(Tucson Citizen: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/all_headlines/113779.php)

Pima's chancellor pitching tuition hike
By Renae Schafer Horton. The head of the Pima Community College District will ask the college's governing board Wednesday to increase tuition on each of the college's six campuses next year. Chancellor Roy Flores is recommending that the board increase both in-state and out-of-state tuition, but he is not recommending a specific increase.
(Tucson Citizen: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/all_headlines/113777.php)

Daycare a possibility for UA
By Marissa Hopkins. While the UA remains the only school in the Pacific 10 conference that does not have an on-campus daycare for student parents and faculty, the possibility of a daycare is in the works again, according to Amanda Brobbel with the Commission on the Status of Women. Brobbel said she has been working on the issue of getting a daycare at the UA for about six years, and this time she feels they are closer than ever. There are two companies currently interested in providing daycare service, she said, and when they met with President Robert Shelton to discuss it recently, he was very encouraging.
(UA Daily Wildcat: http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/2009/04/07/News/Daycare.A.Possibility.For.Ua-3700220.shtml)

Graduate elections budget-focused
By Shain Bergan. It was not quite the drama voters have come to expect of student government - no one cried, unlike ASUA elections - but the Graduate and Professional Student Council elections last night yielded over 600 total votes, double the turnout of last year. Hot button issues such as the current state budget crisis were what probably put the election over the edge and gained the attention of UA graduate students, GPSC officials said.
(UA Daily Wildcat: http://wildcat.arizona.edu/home/news/2009/04/07/News/Graduate.Elections.BudgetFocused-3700216.shtml)

Faculty alters Colleges
The UA Faculty Senate endorsed the UA reorganization process of academic programs at their meeting on Monday. According to Gail Burd, vice provost of academic affairs, the process in order to decide which programs would change began with the Office of Academic Affairs. They went through and identified all the low degree-producing programs and gave that information to the individual college deans. The deans were then invited to close, merge or come up with other interesting arrangements with the academic programs within their college.
(UA Daily Wildcat: http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/2009/04/07/News/Faculty.Alters.Colleges-3700215.shtml)
(UA Daily Wildcat: http://wildcat.arizona.edu/home/news/2009/04/07/News/Proposed.List.Of.Academic.Organizational.Units-3700224.shtml)

Summit aims to spur ideas on easing deficit
By Betty Beard. Arizona's deepening budget crisis has prompted Gov. Jan Brewer and political and business leaders to gather for a budget and economic development summit Thursday at the Tempe Center for the Arts. The Greater Phoenix Economic Council began organizing the two-hour summit about a week and a half ago after it became clear that many business and economic development leaders were not grasping the severity of state's economic situation, said Michael Bidwill, Arizona Cardinals president and GPEC chairman. Other speakers include Arizona State University President Michael Crow, Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria; House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa; and Barry Broome, GPEC's chief executive.
(The Arizona Republic: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2009/04/06/20090406biz-gpecadvance0407.html)

NATIONAL HEADLINES

Arizona State's 'Origins Initiative' Opens With a Bang
By Katherine Mangan. More than 70 of the world's most influential scientific thinkers, including eight Nobel laureates and a smattering of best-selling authors, gathered at Arizona State University here over the weekend to hash out their ideas about the origins of the universe, the stars and planets, human life, consciousness, and culture. The four-day symposium, which some participants described as "the scientists' Woodstock," culminated in a daylong series of public lectures on Monday and kicked off an interdisciplinary, universitywide "Origins Initiative," an endeavor that supports expanded research, education, and outreach on issues at the frontiers of science.
(The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/daily/2009/04/15330n.htm)

OPINIONS

Taking away a choice
By Andrea Summers. The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) recently launched a campaign to shut down Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) and prevent them from advertising on college campuses. The organization has also declared next Monday to be National Crisis Pregnancy Center Protest Day. Just as I believe abortion clinics ought to comply with the law and with human decency in reporting the rape of under age girls (see my Feb. 17 column), I believe that on the opposite end of the spectrum, CPCs ought not to coerce women into a decision or disseminate false medical information.
(ASU State Press: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5728)

Front of the class to the back of the line
By Janne Gaub. As the end of the school year draws to a close, many students are steeped in job applications, resumes and cover letters. For seniors, especially, graduation means entering the real world, which requires a job. Unfortunately, the job hunt in Arizona is less than appealing. Many have found themselves in a situation akin to a hamster running a wheel, myself included.
(ASU State Press: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/5727)

History We Can’t Afford to Repeat
By Patrick M. Callan and Robert H. Atwell. Higher education’s response to economic downturns, however, has changed little. States and their colleges and universities have used the same strategy in every recession of the past generation, doing less of the same -- reducing access, cutting programs and services -- and charging students and their families more. Lawmakers in Florida are moving to allow every public university to increase tuition by as much as 15 percent per year despite widespread public opposition. Three of the nation’s largest public university systems -- the University of California, California State University, and Arizona State University -- are proceeding with plans to cap or cut enrollment amid rapid growth in their states’ college-going populations.
(Inside Higher Education: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/04/07/callan)