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NEWS
| SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
Student Life
Students chat with leaders
Lamas, Sawyer answer questions
from students in hour-long online chat.
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| The Shorthorn: Scott Russell |
| Student Congress President Josh
Sawyer, far left, and Frank Lamas, vice president for
Student Affairs, meet for MavChat on Tuesday
afternoon in Davis Hall. Sawyer and Lamas answered questions
online regarding student life but tried to stay away from
questions about football and parking. |
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By Heather
Ann White
The Shorthorn staff
Students reached out to Student Congress President Josh Sawyer and
Frank Lamas, vice president for Student Affairs, on Tuesday in the
first MavsChat of the semester. They took 18 questions, suggestions
and compliments during the one-hour online chat.
The purpose of the chat was to encourage student participation,
discuss new ideas on student life and introduce Dr. Lamas and Sawyer
as new leaders on campus.
“I thought the chat went great,” Lamas said. “I
thought the questions were well thought out, and the students were
very interested in making their community better.”
The chat began with a student’s question about any programs
or activities Lamas and Sawyer would like to implement to encourage
more school spirit. Lamas said he is pleased with the programs designed
for smaller groups but would like to see larger-scale programming
that provides students with more memorable experiences.
Sawyer agreed with Lamas.
“Plus, I think students need to become more involved with
the traditions we already have such as Oozeball, Bed Races, Homecoming
and athletics — more collaboration between organizations and
departments,” Sawyer said.
Lamas also addressed the services provided for international students.
“We have a great International Education Services Office that
provides orientation, visa information, employment assistance, access
to student organizations, programming activities as well as many
other activities and services,” Lamas said.
One student proposed longer hours for the University Center’s
Connection Café and Plaza for students on campus at night.
Lamas said this issue was discussed last week at the president’s
roundtable discussion and said they are planning to talk to University
Center management.
Lamas and Sawyer have not discussed how many MavsChats there will
be in the future but Lamas said he hopes that they will happen more
often. Sawyer said that students did a good job representing the
campus as a whole and said many areas were covered.
“There was definitely a high interest from the students who
want to make their UTA experience memorable,” Lamas said.
“That’s our goal.”
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