Newsreel

A periodic compilation of references to Ithaca College in the media.

Businesses can tap the brains of private college researchers using a new search engine on the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) website. The nonprofit organization is the trade association for the state’s private educational institutions. Launched last month, the search engine uses a keyword system to link searchers to researchers at New York’s 106 private colleges. "Bringing academic research to industry is part of a college’s mission," says Michael McGreevey, executive assistant to the president at Ithaca College. "We want to make sure," he says, "the business community is aware of our programs."

—CNNfn, October 6, 2000

Sex is a successful sales tool because it is still provocative, says Sharon Mazzarella, associate professor in the department of television and radio at Ithaca College in New York. "Kids at younger and younger ages are targeted with sexual messages in general, whether it’s bisexuality or heterosexuality, reaching down to younger and younger ages," she says. "So much of their pop culture is so sexually charged. . . . And yet there still seems to be this titillation factor, this taboo mentality."

—Dallas Morning News, October 6, 2000

Surveys and interviews show today’s college-age voters do care a great deal about politics, but on the local level more than nationally. As one Ithaca College student told me, many of them would rather clean up a vacant lot or tutor a child than vote for a presidential candidate who promises cleaner air and better education programs. So, while apathy in some people is a sign of laziness, in others it is a sign of protest, a signal that the system is not speaking to them with the right language or candidates.

—Los Angeles Daily News, October 26, 2000

The Net is one of the most pervasive—if not the most pervasive—tools for college information. Nearly all schools have websites; they offer course descriptions, information about the student population, application deadlines, and costs. But many colleges are doing more, offering "virtual tours" as a preview to the inevitable college visit. Designing virtual tours presents some very real problems. How do we maintain a unique Web presence without useless amenities? New York’s Ithaca College has an answer. Its site has five guides—including majors in music and business—who lead viewers on a tour of campus buildings. If you’re a business major, you can follow senior Tori Furhman to Smiddy Hall. "While you’re here in Smiddy," the text reads, "check out the display cases of failed new products—a marketing nightmare!"

—Newsweek, October 30, 2000

Although [college] students often spend their study time alone, study in groups can be extremely helpful. Leslie Schettino, who teaches learning strategies courses in New York State at Tompkins Cortland Community College and Ithaca College, asks members of study groups to compare lecture notes, read problems aloud, pretend they are tutors in, say, the math lab, and end a meeting only when everyone understands the most important concepts. Often students discover that the best way to master material is to be forced to explain it to someone else.

—New York Times, November 12, 2000