The UALR Forum: January 15 - 28, 2014

Nursing Department lands grant for patient simulator

Alexis Williams Editor aawilliams3@ualr.edu

The Nursing Department recently received a grant for $32,000 from the Arkansas Community Health and Education Foundation. The department will use the money to purchase a high-fidelity patient simulation device.

According to their website, ACHEF exists to “serve as a vehicle to improve public health by providing maintenance and preventative disease educational activities, programs and services throughout the communities, corporations and schools.” ACHEF spearheads many well-known programs in Arkansas like the AED Placement Program and Diabetes Awareness & Screening Conference.

The need for effective human patient simulators has become more pervading in the medical field, particularly nursing. In her book “Patient Safety and Quality: An Evi-

dence-Based Handbook for Nurses,” author Carol Fowler points out that patient simulators allow for minimal medication errors and maximum patient safety. Fowler says

that simulators promote “effective communication without fear of harming a live patient.”

Jeff Carmack is the SimLab Director at UALR. In a

recent press release, Carmack said, “The department is fortunate to have had our existing simulator since 2006, but it was nearing the end of its lifecycle.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. remembrance planned

day of service across community

KenDrell Collins Editor Kdcollins@ualr.edu

On Monday Jan. 20, the nation will celebrate the life and legacy of one of the greatest voices for the civil rights movementDr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will join in on the celebration as well, with an entire week dedicated to service and outreach.

Campus will be closed on Monday, which is MLK Day, allowing students the opportunity to participate in what the Office of Campus Life has dubbed “A Day of Service”.

The activities will take place over the course of the day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Little Rock locations such as Our House, Salvation Army, and the United Cerebral Palsy center. Students who both sign up at the Office of Campus Life and complete the service project will receive a hoodie sweatshirt.

Tuesday will feature a Diversity Scholarship Work-

shop in which underrepresented students will receive information on applying for scholarships. Sponsoring the event are Diversity Programs, Non-Traditional Student Programs, and UALR Private Scholarships.

Students are encouraged to donate jeans to the Blue Jean Drive, which is set to take place on Wednesday, Jan. 22 and Thursday, Jan. 23 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The drop-off site will be in the Solicitation Area of the Donaghey Student Center, near the Conference Services office. Students will be given a hoodie in exchange for their donation and the joy of knowing that the jeans will go to working homeless individuals at Our House shelter.

Dr. King’s actual birthday is on Jan. 15, but the holiday is celebrated annually on the third Monday in January. President Ronald Regan singed MLK day into law as a national holiday nearly 15 years after King’s assassination.

Learning a language without uttering a single word

Kezia Nanda Contributing writer Kananda@ualr.edu

Each semester, about 80 students at UALR learn a language without uttering a single word. Classes taught by Dr. Glenn Anderson, Dr. Linda Stauffer, and other ASL professors require someone to hear with their eyes and to speak with their hands.

e World Federation of the Deaf, which describes itself as an "international non-governmental organization," says there are approximately 70 million deaf people around the world.

Although not all can sign and sign language di ers from one country to another, Gallaudet University has reported that American Sign Language is one of the most commonly used languages in the United States.

UALR's Anderson, who is the rst deaf African-American in the United States to earn a Ph.D., said social development can su er and a deaf person can become very isolated if all hearing people do not know how to sign.

American Sign Language allows communication between a hearing person and a deaf or hearing-impaired person or communication between two deaf or hearing impaired individuals.

A hearing person with knowledge of ASL can serve as a conduit between the hearing community and the deaf community, lling the role as an interpreter between the deaf and the

hearing.

Stau er, the Interpreter Education Program Coordinator at UALR, said a couple of her students assist as interpreters at Good Shepherd retirement community. She said that this is a good match for the students because it is a non-threatening environment and has a low-impact interpreting, unlike work or school related interpretation. At Good Shepherd, they have programs such as yoga, bingo, and a lot of interacting time. Niki Charles, a thirdyear student at UALR majoring in both the ASL/English interpreting and Spanish programs, serves as one of the interpreters.

Charles said the experience has been gratifying.

“My experience has been phenomenal to say the least. Having the ability to communicate in other languages has its advantages, but facilitating communication between two individuals for maximal clarity has even big-

ger advantages. No person is le behind!”

Good Shepherd is one of the places that interpreting students can apply their knowledge to reality and give service to the community.

Charles said, “I have no deaf people in my family and no close friends with deaf people in theirs. It makes it much harder because I wasn't raised around deaf people, but when you set your mind to wanting to help people, you can climb pretty high ladders to reach your goals.”

UALR o ers the only interpreting program in the state and one of only nine accredited bachelor's interpreting program in the country. Anderson, who has been teaching American Sign Language at UALR for six years, shared his experience teaching all of his students who are hearing.

“On the rst day, I have to write my name on the board and I let them know that I'm deaf, and they [are] kind of

From boot camp to bookstore, soldiers transition to student life

Pauline Mothu staff writer Pxmothu@ualr.edu

Making any change in life can be challenging. This is particularly true for soldiers who decide to go back to school. Moving from the military lifestyle to a student setting can bring difficulties in everything from social interactions to classroom environment adaptation.

Wendy Lyons and Nicole Ackerman are both students at UALR who share something in common: they were, at one time in their lives, in the military.

ey both joined the military in 1995 and served for several years before deciding to attend college. Lyons said she decided to go back to school "because my boss hounded me to have a college degree in order to be his successor to the company, should anything happen to him or upon retirement."

Ackerman, on the other hand, said she decided to earn a college degree for a di erent reason. "I had put my education on hold for my country, and I felt it was my turn. I also wanted [my daughter] to realize that education is an asset. Taking grades seriously, as well as the habits we learn as we grow up, will a ect our future."

Most of the students do not share what Lyons and Ackerman have experienced; it is thus sometimes di cult to nd common grounds. "War is not like in the movies or video games," Ackerman

says. "It can shake you to the core and disrupt the fabric of who you were before, changing you forever."

Moreover, serving in the military taught both these women much. While Ackerman learned that "life is far too short to be angry and self-centered or any of the petty things that people can be", the military taught Lyons respect and discipline. It also taught her that "everything we do can hurt or bene t those around us."

Time management can also be a problem when veterans transit from the military environment to the school one. Days are more structured in the military. Lyons said, "During basic training, they yelled at you and made you reach out and talk to your family, even if you did not want to. School is a di erent environment. Students have more freedom, and some soldiers may have di culties managing their schedules, especially if they have a job and family."

Although not always easy, Lyons and Ackerman manage to take care of school work and families but still enjoy a social life. Ackerman can concentrate on school and her family--thanks to federal funds and her GI Bill--but circumstances are di erent for Lyons. "I never used my GI because I was completely intimidated by it," she said. "I had no idea who to talk to or how much it would pay." Her

GI expired and she had to get a full-time job. Fortunately, she was awarded scholarships from Cynda Alexander of the Non-Traditional Students Program O ce and Stephanie Conrad of the Financial Aid Department. Working a full-time job, taking full-time college classes, and nding time for family, friends, and socializing is not easy, but Lyons manages to do it. She says she takes advantage of what the military had taught her and "constantly checks calendars and deadlines to stay a step ahead."

Both these students admit that, although it changed their lives, the military had a great in uence on their lives. "I certainly wouldn't be the successful, dedicated person I am today if I hadn't joined the Air Force een years ago, says Lyons. I to realize how much better my life is because of my military experience. "

shocked,” he said. is is not a problem, he said, because sign language classes are taught with no voice-- regardless of who the teacher is and whether or not they are hearing, hearing impaired or deaf.

As part of welcoming a new year, many people make new year's resolutions. With a fresh mind a er the holidays, learning a new language such as American Sign Language can be a fun and valuable resolution.

Stau er, who has 32 years of experience being a certi ed interpreter, commended the language. “It's a very beautiful, visual, gestural language, and people either love it or they don't do it.”

An American Sign Language website, Handspeak.com, demonstrates basic signs, such as “I love you,” which is done by putting one's thumb, index nger and pinkie up, while keeping one's middle nger and ring nger down. Not only is it a fun language

to learn, Stau er said, but when it comes to looking for a job, understanding ASL can put someone above others with similar education, since it demonstrates that someone may be more open-minded.

“I think anytime you study a second language, it broadens your perspective about the world, because you learn not only about the language but the people who use it,” Stau er said.

Learning ASL helps students understand hearing-impaired and deaf people. Some common questions that frequently arise concern the ability of deaf and hearing impaired people and whether they can drive or not.

Stau er explains that deaf people can drive with the help of two mirrors. Stau er also said that the quality of deaf people's speech is not tied to their intelligence, another question she said is commonly asked.

Each year, interpreting majors and "Sign Language Klub" members host a variety of shows to help bridge the gap between the hearing and deaf community, such as “See-A-Song,” which is a night of interpreting music into ASL. e event is always free and open to the public. e o ce of Interpreter Education is located on the h oor of Dickinson Hall.

Anatolia brings Mediterranean to Little Rock

Alyssa causey staff writer Arcausey@ualr.edu

Mediterranean restaurants have rapidly gained popularity in Central Arkansas in the past few years. Little Rock sports several popular Mediterranean hotspots: Layla’s, Istanbul, and two Taziki’s locations.

In August of 2013, Anatolia arrived on the scene and opened its charming doors to Little Rock’s emerging Mediterranean scene. I arrived at Anatolia during the typical “lunch rush.” There was only one other customer waiting, money in hand, for a to-go order. The Anatolia server greeted me immediately and let me pick out my own table. The size of the menu was

impressive, considering the actual size of the restaurant: small but cozy. The interior of the restaurant had green walls and an orange accent wall.

The appetizers were generously priced, some ranging from $4 to $5. That price is almost impossible to beat. For my appetizer, I ordered the dolmas—seasoned rice encapsulated in grape leaves. The dolmas were warm and filled my sinus cavity with one thought – olive oil.

The leaves tasted ever so slightly of pickles, granted the grape vine leaves are indeed pickled. I couldn’t imagine taking a more condensed bite of Mediterranean food if I tried. In stark contrast in flavor and consistency to the dolmas were the falafel. The falafel was crispy and flavorful, the way any good fried food should be.

Any self-proclaimed carnivore would balk at how satisfying this vegetarian dish is.

Most of the entrées were priced somewhere around $11. The chicken doner, or gyro, was my entrée of choice. It was more food than I should have been able to eat, but I like challenges, and cleaned my plate.

For around $12, my plate arrived with a large serving of roasted, well-seasoned chicken, gobs of perfectly cooked rice, a slice of tomato, two pickle slices, a wedge of cooked green pepper, and my favorite part of the whole meal--tzatziki sauce. No other tzatziki sauce that I’ve ever had has compared to it. I will be going back to Anatolia, and I will be eating more of that tzatziki sauce in the near future.

Chilled to the bone on this icy day, the lentil soup warmed

me from the inside out. Steaming with warmth, the soup was mildly spicy. The soup had a nice balance of frothy lentils. Squirt a little bit of the juice from the lemon wedge that the soup is served with, and you’re set.

What’s more is that this vegetarian-friendly restaurant gives student discounts (with a valid student ID).

With that being said, I don’t think the student body needs any more incentive to give Anatolia a try.

UALR falls at home to Troy in rst clash of SBC Trojans

After a four-game win streak, which included three-straight wins against Sun Belt Conference opponents to start conference play, the UALR Trojan Men’s basketball team were stopped Saturday night by the other Trojans in the SBC, the Troy Trojans.

In the fi rst clash of the

Trojans this season, UALR shot worse than 40 percent from fi eld and only 62 percent from the line in a 75-62 loss on Jan. 11 at the Jack Stephens Center against the Troy Trojans. The loss dropped the team to 3-1 in the SBC and 8-8 overall. Troy shot only 38 percent from the fi eld, but were 10 of 23 from three point range and managed to out-rebound UALR 46 to 33. UALR

never lead in the game, trailing from start to fi nish and did not attempt a free throw in the fi rst half, which pointed to a lack of aggressiveness that head coach Steve Shields blamed on himself.

“That’s all on me. My team wasn’t ready to play. I said we’ve got to have an edge every time we come to the fl oor,” Shields said while also giving Troy credit for its play.

Shields compared his team’s slow start to that of the one they had against South Alabama in their previous game. In that matchup, the Trojans were able to turn the tide late in the second half and come away with a 65-60 victory, despite the slow start. However, the team wasn’t able to reverse the fl ow against Troy and Coach Shields commented on the team’s mental approach.

“It’s a mentality. You’ve got to have some dog in you. Coolness doesn’t win. Toughness wins across the board,”

two contests at home.

BASKETBALL (W): Taylor Gault was named Sun Belt Player of the Week after posting 50 total points in a two-game span. The team is currently on a three-game winning streak, the longest of the season.

BASKETBALL (M): The team had a four game winning streak before losing to Troy. They currently stand tied in second place in the conference with Arkansas State. Both teams currently have a 3-1 conference record.

SOCCER: Ariel Galleti was named the Arkansas Democrat Gazette Student Athlete of the week

he said. He pointed to the 23 three-point attempts as too many for the team. “That’s a passive mentality that I take full responsibility for,” Shields said.

“This is disappointing when you don’t have an edge coming to the fl oor in front of a nice crowd right here, but we’ll get better from it,” Shields said.

The Trojans have a chance to get that edge back Thursday, Jan. 16, in a road game against Western Kentucky, which is followed by a nonconference road matchup against Georgia State Jan. 18.

Ibegin this new year by bringing tidings of football.

The BCS is DOA along with the streak of dominance from the SEC. and the NFL is down to the AFC and NFC conference finals. That’s a lot of initials and lot of great football.

Florida State and Auburn put on a great show in an epic college football final as the Florida State Seminoles took home the title, but now it’s time for the pros to take over.

We are less than three weeks away from the biggest sporting event of the every year. Yes, it’s almost Super Bowl time.

The four remaining teams are the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. This Sunday will feature great games between the Seahawks and 49ers and between the Broncos and Patriots.

The Seahawks and 49ers game will have an interesting clash between young quarterbacks Russell Wilson (Seahawks) and Colin Kaepernick (49ers), but the matchup between Tom Brady’s Patriots and Peyton Manning’s Broncos will be one that every football fan should really cherish and enjoy. The two star quarterbacks are in the twilight of their careers which means that games featuring this head-to-head matchup will soon be a thing of the past.

Before the quarterbacks meet this weekend for the fourth time in the postseason, I thought it would be fun to have a look at their differences and similarities.

Both are adept at media relations and have well-crafted images which have allowed each to enjoy several endorsement deals with different companies.

Both are still considered among the top quarterbacks in the league. In fact, Peyton just broke the single season touchdown record that had been set by, you guessed it, Tom Brady.

Neither quarterback leaves the pocket to run very often and both men are pretty much statuesque, rarely making much happen with their legs. Brady could have the edge over Manning in a race, but it would be like watching two turtles race and I’m not talking about the ninja turtle kind.

Both men will be first ballot Hall of Famers when they finally call it a career. They both hold several records and have four Super Bowl victories between them. Each come in with defenses that have lost major players throughout the season and will be pieced together for the game.

The two men are considered older for professional athletes with Brady at 36 and Manning at 37, though both are still considered the standard among the quarterbacks in the league.

Now some differences: Let’s start with one of the most obvious. Manning is a cutup off the field as evidenced by his many commercials and appearances on Saturday Night Live. ‘Cut that meat’ Peyton (you have to see the commercial) makes everyone comfortable with his “awshucks” demeanor while Brady is known for his model good looks (at least according to women everywhere) and is himself married to an actual model. Then there are the head-tohead matchups. Brady has gotten the best of Manning on most occasions and leads their 14 matchups 10 to 4.

Then there are the championship totals. Peyton has one from his days as an Indianapolis Colts and Brady has three, though it has been 7 and 9 years respectively since either has won.

Regardless of who you are pulling for, it just could be a game for the ages so sit back and enjoy two of the best to ever do it. Like former Eagles wide receiver one famously said: “Get your popcorn ready!”

Monday, January 20

A Day of Service

The MLK Day of Service, will take place from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at various sites in Little Rock. Our targeted areas we will be volunteering are the following locations: United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), Salvation Army, and Our House. Students will have a chance to work on projects for each agency, earn volunteer service hours, and will receive a hoodie after completing their projects. Please sign up in the Office of Campus Life.

Tuesday, January 21

Diversity Scholarship Workshop

Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter A, 11:00 a.m.

This workshop will help underrepresented students apply for scholarships. Please stop by to learn more about receiving free money!

The deadline for most general private scholarships is March 1, 2014. This event is co-sponsored by the Office of Campus Life’s Diversity Programs, NonTraditional Student Programs and UALR Private Scholarships

Wednesday, January 22 & Thursday, January 23

Blue Jean Drive

Donaghey Student Center Solicitation Area

11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Donate a pair of jeans and receive a FREE hoodie! Jeans will be donated to Our House Shelter.

For more information on MLK Week call 501.569.3308.