Newspaper Page Text
TUESDAY
December 5, 2006
Vol. 114, No. 74
| Athens, Georgia
» w
Sunny.
High 57 | Low 28
ONLINE: www.redandblack.com
An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community
ESTABLISHED 1893, INDEPENDENT 1980
SADDLE UP!
>- Equestrian team mem
ber develops passion for
horses. SPORTS, PAGE 7
lob market promising for grads
Employers hiring
more than in past
By BRIAN HUGHES
bhughes@randb.com
Attention December gradu
ates: Don’t make reservations for
your parents’ basement quite
yet.
The job market for college
graduates in the upcoming year
is booming, according to the
National Association of Colleges
and Employers.
Employers are expected to
hire 17.4 percent more new col
lege graduates in 2006-07 than
they did in 2005-06, according to
a NACE survey.
Jeff Humphreys, director of
the Selig Center for Economic
Growth at the University, said it
was a good year for students to
be graduating related to poten
tial jobs.
The increase in available jobs
isn’t merely a trickle-down effect
from a blossoming economy, he
said.
“It reflects the trend of better
prospects for higher educated
individuals,” Humphreys
explained.
The majority of newly created
jobs favor people with advanced
educations, he said, adding that
most of these jobs fall within the
service industry.
In comparison, the manufac
turing and construction indus
tries, which traditionally hire
lower educated people, have a
“bleak future,” he said.
Prospects appear particularly
favorable for college graduates
seeking employment in the
South.
Employers in the region
expect to hire nearly 26 percent
more graduates in 2006-07 than
the previous year, according to
jobweb.com, an online career
development center for college
graduates.
Business-, engineering- and
computer-related degrees are
the most coveted majors for
employers, according to the Web
site.
Graduates may not want to
stray too far from Athens, either.
Humphreys projected
Georgia to have one of the top 10
job creation rates in the nation
for the upcoming year.
This trend is mirrored by the
WHY GRADS
SHOULDN’T FRET
► Employers are expected to hire
17.4 percent more new college grad
uates in 2006-07 than they did in
2005-06.
>- Employers in the region expect to
hire nearly 26 percent more gradu
ates in 2006-07 than the previous
year.
>- The majority of newly created jobs
favor people with advanced educa
tions.
number of companies who
attended the career fair on cam
pus this fall, said Scott Williams,
> See MARKET. Page 3
ANDY MCFEE | The Red & Black
A Platoon Leader Benjamin Burch stands in front of his platoon at the ROTC’s Field Training Exercise in Ft. Gordon, Augusta.
Photo Editor Andy McFee joined the ROTC on their four-day training adventure. Check out the photo story on Page 4.
MIS major
enrollment
continues
to decline
By PEARMAN PARKER
pparker@randb.com
It’s a major in which graduates generally
have three or four job offers and starting-
salaries near $50,000.
And yet, the number of students pursuing
degrees in management information systems
has plummeted in recent years.
Only 113 students are in the MIS program
in Terry College of Business.
According to MIS department head
Richard Watson, there were 500 MIS majors
as recently as five years ago.
“It’s a strange situation where we went
from very large numbers of students in the
major, and now we’ve got the case of high
demand (from employers) and not enough
students,” Watson said.
Students with MIS degrees become appli
cation programmers, systems analysts and
information analysts, according to the MIS
Web site.
These jobs incorporate “using what com
puter science does to solve business prob
lems,” Sabrina Stein, a graduate student in
business administration from Aurora, Colo.,
said. Many of the majors go on to managerial
spots.
Watson said he thinks the decline in stu
dent enrollment is due to a fear of outsourc
ing.
A lot of students thought all informational
technology jobs were being sent to other
countries, said Stein.
However, this is not true.
“They’re the type of jobs that can’t be out
sourced,” said Stein, who graduates in May.
“There is always a need onsite for working
face-to-face with clients,” said Paul
Krasilnick, a senior from Acworth. “You real
ly need people on the site.”
Outsourcing can be a problem because
employees often are unable to interact with
the customers on a daily basis, Stein said.
MIS jobs are “way more integrated” and
“not so computer related,” Stein said.
“They’re a lot more thought provoking.”
“You have to know enough about com
puters to solve problems,” Watson said. “And
to be able to speak the language of busi
ness.”
As demand for expertise in MIS has risen
in the business world, students haven’t
returned to the major.
Watson hopes to fix this.
This August, he started a campaign to
raise awareness about the major and recruit
new students.
He has advertised through
>- See MIS, Page 3
Class has bright ideas
for energy conservation
By KATHERINE TIPPINS
For The Red & Black
As the temperature dips, students
may be taking extra steps to keep their
energy bills down.
A group of public relations students
is working with University officials to
keep the University’s bills under con
trol.
Students in Advertising/Public
Relations 5950/7950 created UGA
Unplugged, an initiative to bring ener
gy conservation awareness to campus.
Group leaders said the University blew
its energy budget last year by $6 mil
lion.
“This is a capstone course where we
took the principles that we learned in
our other public relations classes and
put them to use in a real world set
ting,” said Quiana Shepard, a graduate
student in public relations from
Raleigh, N.C.
Their client is Tom Adams, chair
man of the University’s Energy
Conservation committee.
“Actual class time was more like
meetings you would have at work. The
instructor acted as a CEO, the gradu
ate students as managers, and
the undergraduates as entry-level
employees,” said Hariqbal Basi, a
senior from Dunwoody.
“For the first two months, we
came up with things like the logo,
timeline and what would make stu
dents care about saving energy,
said Caitlin Askins, a senior from
Franklin, Tenn.
“This is the final PR class, so every
one is either a senior or a grad student.
When the graduate in your group gives
you an assignment, such as writing a
pitch letter, you’re expected to know
how to do it,” said Askins.
The course involved a lot of out-of-
class work. UGA Unplugged cam
paigned at several on-campus events
such as Dawgs After Dark, Grady
College Tailgate and the Homecoming
Block Party.
“As a whole, the class spent 984
hours working outside the classroom.
That’s equivalent to a person working
a full-time 40 hours a week for half a
year” said Kate Christian, a senior
from
>- See LIGHTBULB, Page 3
Winning not focus
for marathon man
Professor wins Atlanta race over
Thanksgiving, runs every day
By SAM STEINBERG
ssteinber@randb.com
For international affairs
professor Maurits van der
Veen, making
strides in physical
races is just as
important as mak
ing strides in elec
toral races.
Last month, van
der Veen won the
Atlanta Marathon
— the third he has
run — with a time of
2 hours, 33 minutes
and 58 seconds.
The 39-year-old
Netherlands native
won a blanket for his
efforts.
Van der Veen said he
runs in small marathons
that do not attract profes
sional runners, but winning
is not the entire focus for
the 6-foot-3, 175-pound
scholar.
“I like to run,” Van der
said. “I am still
ambitious enough
that I like to run
well. It gets harder
as you get older
to match your pre
vious performanc
es, but I think I
can get close
enough.”
Van der Veen is
sending a copy of
articles chronicling
his victory in the
Atlanta Marathon
back to his parents
in the Netherlands.
He lists his running
accomplishments on his
Web site along
► See MARATHON, Page 7
Veen
VAN DER VEEN
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Photo (706) 433-3046
Poll: How do you feel about
Georgia going to the Chick-fil-A
Bowl?
Photo stories: ROTC slideshow
under the multimedia section
Rise of Taj
page 5
Can Van Wilder’s
sidekick pull off a
movie of his own?
Read our review of
the latest National
Lampoon gem.
Basketball
page 9
Former starter Dave
Bliss returns to the
forefront after seeing a
drop in playing time. See
how he’s improving his
numbers.
Index
UGA Today 2
Wire 2
Opinions 8
Variety 5
Crossword 5
Sports 7
Sudoku 9