p. What do beetles, bears and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have in common? In the Rocky Mountains, the three are intricately linked in what might become a major ecological disaster for North America’s pine forests. The mountain pine beetle is spreading through the higher-altitude whitebark pines, threatening the trees and the entire eco-systems that depend on them.

p. Also known as pine bark beetles, the insects are commonly found in lodgepole and ponderosa pine, and have taken advantage of the slight increase in temperatures and have expanded their range into the Rocky Mountains’ higher altitudes. The females burrow into the pine bark to deposit their eggs and the spores of a fungus that eventually kills the tree after the beetles have moved on to new prey.

p. In the early stages of infection, the trees appear healthy, except for small holes in the bark from the burrowing females. However, according to research from Colorado State, while the larvae grow and track through the phloem feeding, a bluestain fungus cuts off the flow of sap through the tree, helping the beetles feed off the trees. The larvae spend the winter under the bark, and the adults emerge in mid-to-late summer to move on and infect new trees. The pine slowly dies from the fungal infection after the beetles have gone, turning a characteristic rust-red color.

p. Dr. Jesse Logan, a beetle expert from the US Forest Service, told The New York Times that once a tree is infected by the mountain pine beetle, the tree’s death is inevitable. In the Rockies, 143,000 acres are already infected. “These are true predators,” Logan said. “They have to kill to reproduce. Most other bark beetles don’t do that.”

p. But what does a spreading wave of beetles and rusty, dying trees have to do with the grizzly bear population? Although, according to Wikipedia.com, the bears have been on the threatened and endangered species lists in the United States and Canada, respectively, recent population increases mean that they might be taken off the lists in the near future. Cutting protections now could be detrimental to the bears, Logan said, because their habitats are at risk from the spreading mountain beetles.

p. We think of bears as classic omnivores — predators eating other wild mammals and occasional campers — but with more refined tastes as well, catching salmon and munching on nuts and blueberries. In fact, these food sources change with the seasons, and in the fall, the bears depend on pine-nuts for a high fat intake before the winter hibernation. With dying strands of Lodgepole and Whitebark pines across the mountains, there will be less food available for the grizzlies during the leaner fall season.

p. Right now, there are still regions of higher altitude where the voracious beetles have been unable to establish, the cooler temperatures blocking their natural reproductive cycles.

p. It might be only a matter of time before further temperature increases allow the beetles to climb higher. They required a less-than-two-degree-Fahrenheit increase to begin using whitebark pines, and current global climate change estimates are predicting a much greater increase in the century to come. The beetles might push the bears up the mountain, if trying to find a stable pine-nut supply from healthy tree keeps getting harder. If the trends aren’t reversed, however, Logan and others worry that the grizzlies and beetles might run out of mountaintops to climb.

p. The Student Assembly held its first meeting of the semester Tuesday night. Sen. Joe Luppino-Esposito, a junior, presided over the meeting for the first time as Senate chair. He shares chairmanship with Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, a senior, who served as chair last semester.

p. “Scott did an excellent job as chairman and will be a hard act to follow,” Luppino-Esposito said.

p. He also said that he wants to make meetings more open to the public and work to improve relations between the city of Williamsburg and College students.

p. Senior Victor Sulkowski stepped down from his position as senator for personal reasons and was replaced by senior James Evans, who was sworn in at the meeting.
Luppino-Esposito declined to comment on Sulkowski’s resignation but said that he was glad to be working with Evans.

p. Evans has spent the past few years working with the executive branch of the SA. He ran for an SA position his freshman year and lost.

p. “Even though I only have two and a half months, I hope I can knock some sense into the Senate,” he said.

p. The SA passed the Campus Wetlands Reclamation Act, sponsored by Sens. Zach Pilchen and Walter McClean, both sophomores. The bill allocates $892.50 from the consolidated reserve fund to purchase paludal Virginian wildflowers to be planted in and around the swamp behind the Health Center. The purpose of the plants is to beautify the land, cut down on the swamp’s odor and enhance the biodiversity of the area

p. “We want to take the swamp and turn it into something not smelly or hideous-looking,” McClean said. “It’s good for the campus and good for the wildlife area.”

p. The seeds will be purchased for and planted by the botany club and SEAC, both of whom volunteered to cover the labor of planting the flowers.

p. The bill passed 13-7-0, with some senators expressing frustration with the SA spending so much from the consolidated reserve.

p. “We continue spending on an item-by-item basis,” Senator Meghan McCarthy, a senior, said. “I don’t have [a] problem with the swamp, I have a problem with spending when we don’t know how much money is in the consolidated reserve.”

p. In addition, the SA passed the Constitutional Committee Review Act, sponsored by Luppino-Esposito, extending the deadline of the Constitutional Committee to March 5. The bill passed 18-2-0.

p. They also passed the Coalition of Youth Political Organizations Act, sponsored by Luppino-Esposito and Pilchen, 18-0-1.

p. The SA confirmed five nominees to the executive board, each by unanimous consent. Junior Seth Levy was reconfirmed as Secretary of Public Affairs, junior Will Angley, senior Katherine Zapach and senior Adam Reeves were confirmed to the review board, and junior Kelsey Williamson was confirmed as Director of Internal Affairs.

p. Students attended the Road to Richmond lobbying event in record numbers Jan. 23, where volunteers traveled to the state capitol to lobby for continued funding for the College’s new School of Education.

p. In Richmond, they breakfasted with legislators and then visited the offices of senators and representatives to talk about the College’s goals.

p. “Some of the senators and delegates ate breakfast with us, as well as some of their staff members, and seemed excited to see us there, fighting for our education,” sophomore Brittany Constance, who attended the event, said.

p. Every year those that attend also address items such as faculty salaries and other funding issues. But what seems most beneficial to the College is the simple fact that students show up consistently.

p. “The important thing is to present [the legislators] with the direct beneficiaries of the funding and policy that they establish in order to remind them what they’re working for,” Student Assembly President Ryan Scofield, a senior, said.

p. Junior Seth Levey agreed.

p. “What’s good is the reliability and that students get up early to talk to legislators,” he said. “I think we had a positive effect on the legislators. And we are consumers of the product; they get to see firsthand what the tax dollars for higher education are doing.”

p. The event is traditionally put on through a cooperative effort between the Student Assembly and the College’s Office of Public Affairs. Levey was a main contact and organizer for the event, as an intern in the College’s Office of Public Affairs and as Student Assembly secretary of public affairs.

p. Student Assembly members were not required to come, but Levey requested that they show support for the College and attend. Monday night these students and other volunteers met in the Board of Visitors Room in Blow Hall to discuss the talking points and logistical questions.

p. “The meeting we had on Monday night was great and full of energy,” Constance, also an intern in the Office of Public Affairs, said. “The Board of Visitors room was packed with well-rested students back from break ready to lobby for William and Mary.”

p. The annual event is in its 15th year. It started small with only five students, but Levey estimates that between 50 and 70 students attended last week, though he could not give an exact figure due to large discrepancies between the number of students on the sign-up list and the number that actually showed up.

p. “A lot of freshman went; I tried to get a random grouping of people for a varied look at the College,” Levey said. “Obviously I can’t force anyone to come, but it’s good to have more than government majors and people who are stuck in Morton all day.”

p. Levey and Constance agreed that it was the best turnout ever, based on other students’ comments and previous years’ experience for Levey. They were also impressed by attendees’ levels of alertness and enthusiasm so early in the morning.

p. “All the students that went were passionate about the College’s mission and all were wide awake at 5:30 a.m.,” Levey said.

p. One of the buses returned to the College after breakfast with the legislators at 9:15 a.m. Another bus took those who stayed to visit officials’ offices back at 12:30 p.m.

p. “The bus that returned late was so full I had to stand,” Levey said. “It’s a good thing; I mean, I got some exercise, and it’s just a good sign.”

p. Virginia Tech announced Jan. 3 that it will open Virginia’s fifth medical school, which will jointly operate with Carilion Medical Center.

p. The five-year curriculum will be modeled after Harvard Medical School’s Health Sciences and Technology Program and Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine, according to a Jan. 3 press release from Virginia Tech.

p. The new medical school, expected to enroll its first class in either 2009 or 2010, hopes to help ease any future physician shortages, a problem that is expected to develop over the coming decades.

p. Construction of the medical school, which will be located in Roanoke adjacent to the Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, is expected to begin next year.

p. The medical school is part of Virginia Tech’s campaign to become a top research university and is also expected to bring jobs to the Roanoke area, where the economy lags behind other parts of the state.

p. The College is ranked third in the nation on Kiplinger’s 2007 Best Value rankings for public universities, up one slot from the previous year’s list.

p. Falling behind the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the University of Florida, the College is right above the University
of Virginia — a reversal from last year.

p. The entire list was compiled by collecting data concerning academics and finances from over 500 of the nation’s public schools.

p. “One of the comparisons families must make between a student’s available options for college is their expense. We know that [the College] provides an extraordinary value, and to the extent that the Kiplinger’s methodology bears that out, we obviously concur,” Dean of Admissions Henry Broaddus said.

p. The rankings, which seek to reward universities that are “academically strong as well as affordable,” are based on a two-part analysis. First, standards of academic quality, such as SAT/ACT scores, admission rates, freshman retention rates, student-faculty ratios and graduation rates are used to eliminate the majority of the schools. The remaining schools are analyzed based on their cost and financial aid offerings. Academic measures are given more weight than cost measures.

p. Broaddus cautioned that the list was not a comprehensive indicator of quality or value.

p. “Any effort to provide a formulaic measure for the relative cost and quality of an undergraduate education is flawed by definition. Quite simply, education is not merely a consumer commodity. More profoundly, academic standing can’t be measured as easily as cost,” Broaddus said.

p. Some of the College’s strongest assets included academic measures like SAT scores, acceptance rate, student to faculty ratio and graduation rate, despite the fact that the College’s costs, at $16,406 for in-state students and $32,964 for out-of-state students, were higher than those of other schools. After four years, the average graduate has incurred approximately $14, 524 in debt, the magazine reported.

p. “Anytime a third party offers an endorsement of [the College’s] excellence, that endorsement lends additional credibility to our communication with prospective students and their families about the opportunities William and Mary provides,” Broaddus said.

p. Other Virginia schools on the list include Virginia Tech, which ranked 18, University of Mary Washington, which ranked 20, and James Madison University, which ranked 21. George Mason University ranked 78th on the list of 100.

p. Graduating seniors of the Class of 2007 may not have finalized their post-commencement plans, but regional and national employers are eager to hire. According to The Wall Street Journal’s CollegeJournal.com, the Class of 2007 may enter the best job market since those of 2000 and 2001.

p. “Nationally, some reports are as high as a 17 percent increase in job offers for seniors. It’s a pretty good market overall,” Career Center Director Mary Schilling said.

p. The immediate region has an especially strong demand in the fields of investment banking and finance, accounting, and certain sectors of teaching, such as mathematics, sciences, foreign languages and special education, Schilling said.

p. According to Heather Angerer, a representative for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., consulting is another industry with a high demand for graduating seniors. “Consulting is a very high-profile job right now, especially in [Washington, D.C.]. It’s very much in high demand.”

p. “Consulting is basically problem-solving,” Angerer said. “A client comes to us because they have a problem, and we advise them on how to fix it and assist with implementation. For students who are good with coding, they can come and develop those skills and still get out in front of a client — it’s pretty much the best of both worlds,” she added.

p. The financial sector was also well represented at the fair, especially accounting and investment services. “We’re looking for talent,” Legg-Mason representative Izabela Holmes said. “Legg-Mason is looking to put the right person in the right job — what they are best at — and design a job around them.”

p. Beyond Williamsburg, government and financial services hiring appears strong. According to Department of State Representative Robyn Hinson-Jones, the Department alone hires about four hundred new employees per year.

p. Employers at Wednesday’s Career Fair at the University Center stressed the availability of jobs in their sectors for both traditional and non-traditional majors.

p. “We’re not looking for any one major,” Hinson-Jones said. “We’re looking for well-rounded people with good judgment who can think on their feet, who are creative.”

p. According to a Department of State pamphlet available at the fair, the department has openings for people with degrees ranging from international relations and history to mathematics and journalism.

p. Some employers at the fair noted the changing needs in their fields, while others pointed to the long-term stability of their employees’ career tracks.

p. “If an applicant comes in [able to speak] Farsi, Chinese, or Arabic, critical needs languages that are difficult to learn but crucial to our foreign policy, we are really, really in need of people who speak those languages,” Hinson-Jones said. “Of course, that changes; 10 years ago, maybe Russian.”

p. “I think what we’re doing right now is very strong,” Angerer said of consulting. “Anything dealing with the greatest and the latest — it always has been a robust field to get into.”

p. Meanwhile, Legg-Mason’s Holmes pointed to the high demand in her industry. “If I were a student,” she said, “I’d shoot for accounting and internal audit because these guys are always in demand and they’ll always have a job.”

p. In addition to changing needs at various companies, many of the presenters noted that the interview process is changing with new technologies. “Everyone who expresses interest in Booz-Allen has to go through our website first,” said Angerer, noting that this was a recent development.

p. While many companies have been transitioning to “paperless,” or all-online, applications, other industries use the Internet to actively seek potential employees.

p. “We use high-tech to identify people who may be interested,” Hinson-Jones said. “Things like Jobster, Facebook, we use that.” Financial services firm Ernst and Young maintains a group on Facebook advertising itself and its corporate environment to potential employees.

p. While the internet has gained importance in the job-search process, Hinson-Jones described the recruitment process as a combination of technology and personal contact.

p. “Employers are realizing that to get the best in the business, the more face time, the more they can interact with a student on the campus, the more likely they’ll make a good decision,” Schilling said.

p. Another change in the recruitment process is the growing importance of internships for undergraduates. “We’re looking for mostly accountants and internal audit professionals, maybe someone who has done an internship in the accounting or financial sector,” Holmes said.

p. “We want the candidate to have a taste of what the job will be so there’s no disappointment,” she added. “We want management to know this candidate and where they will be [best-suited].”

p. For students still undecided on post-graduation plans, the Career Center offers a range of services, including resume reviews, consultations, help in finding internships, and a variety of career fairs.

p. According to Schilling, the Center is co-sponsoring the Georgetown Non-Profit and Government Career EXPO Feb. 22 and will be running a bus from campus. “We’re also doing an Education Recruiting Day with representatives from schools across the region,” she added.