Not just print anymore

After several years of planning, the university’s student newspaper, The Slate, has its own website at www.theslateonline.com/. Unveiled late in the spring semester, the Slate staff used the summer months to tweak various elements to make the site even better. The site will include elements from the print edition, updates, and breaking news. Archives of past issues will also be part of the site.

SU wins with ABET

Shippensburg University joins some elite company with its newest accreditation.

The American Board of Engineering Technology (ABET) accredited the undergraduate computer science degree program and its concentrations. The accreditation places Shippensburg among 30 Pennsylvania colleges and universities that have accredited ABET programs and one of 10 that include computer science programs.

Currently 550 colleges and universities have some 2,700 programs recognized by ABET, the accreditor of programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology.

The accreditation assures Shippensburg’s computer science degree meets quality standards set by the profession and evaluated by ABET’s Computing Accreditation Commission. According to the ABET website (www.abet.org), many employers, graduate schools, and licensure, certification, and registration boards require graduation from an accredited program as a minimum qualification.

ABET is comprised of more than 25 professional and technical member societies on an international scale and has set the higher education standards in its fields for nearly 75 years.

Checking the past

Anyone hired by Shippensburg University in the future will have passed a critical element in the hiring process–that of a criminal background check.

The personnel change, reflecting a growing trend in higher education, will search for any convictions in a person’s record. This search will now accompany the verification of education and employment already in place and will pertain to all individuals hired by the university including faculty.

President’s Cabinet approved the change in the Pre-Employment Information Verification policy at the start of the semester. The university has hired an outside vendor to conduct criminal history checks that will be completed before an applicant is offered any job on campus. Those checks will be conducted in Pennsylvania and in any other state in which the finalist has lived.

Ship welcomes Fulbright Scholar

Ship’s first Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Dr. Omaima Abou-Bakr of Cairo University in Egypt will spend approximately six weeks on campus this fall semester. Dr. Abou-Bakr is a professor of comparative literature. Her research interests include gender and women’s studies in Islam, pre-modern history of women in Muslim societies, medieval comparative literature, and female mysticism. Besides visiting classes as a guest lecturer, she will be participating in a panel discussion on the three major religions of the world with several SU faculty members, and presenting a lecture on Islam and its context in today’s world. Both of these events are open to the public.