Student and staff opinions at Rio Grande Campus
UT Professor Dr. Daniel Hamermesh recently said in an article in The Daily Texan that UT is not “[ACC] or Texas State University. We [UT] should be training the leaders of tomorrow to think.” Do you agree?
The African Student Association held a Cultural Night at Rio Grande Campus Novemeber 20, 2009. Throughout the first part of the evening, the audience was entertained by on-stage performances by comedians, singers, poets and dancers. Members of the association also setup a simulation of ritual African dances and chants to the rythm of the continent's musics. After the artistic performances, the Association set up a sampler of native meals for the crowd to enjoy.
“1940’s Radio Hour” to raise money to fund trip to Carnegie Hall
ACC’s choir program generated buzz this week when its much anticipated production of “The 1940’s Radio Hour” debuted on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at the One World Theatre.
Set in 1942, “The 1940’s Radio Hour” captures the essence of this time period with 20 musical numbers that incorporate song, dance, and pop culture concepts into one big musical production.
Gym turned into faculty office space
Left empty for 35 years, Austin High’s former gymnasium on West avenue will soon be filled with students. On schedule and on budget, the gym is expected to be open for the summer 2010 semester as RGC Building 3000.
Dept. head petitions for more space
A small exhibition space is being built in the remodeled gym at Rio Grande Campus, but Art Department Chair Gary Webernick said the department still needs a larger gallery. Webernick and the ACC Art Department are once again petitioning the ACC administration for more gallery space in which to display student and faculty art.
The ACC Book store was closed from Oct. 12 to Oct.19 as it moved to its new location on the ground floor of the Rio Grande Parking Garage. Students and faculty who once had to cross a busy road to reach the old book store now can find needed supplies only a few feet away from their cars.
Students for Environmental Outreach club host fair at RGC
The ACC Students for Environmental Outreach club hosted the Water Awareness Fair on Sept. 24 at the Rio Grande campus student lounge. The Lower Colorado River Authority, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, City of Austin Watershed Protection Development Review, and ACC’s Environmental Science Department were all present at the event and representatives spoke to students about the environment in and around Austin as well as job opportunities.
Students, faculty find old parking issues solved as new ones arise
The new Rio Grande Parking Garage is up and running for the fall semester. There is a total of 543 new parking spaces with 346 open for students, 195 reserved for faculty and staff and two additional spots for the retail space that is yet to open.
Welcomepalooza at Rio Grande Campus
Held every fall semester, the Welcomepalooza event is a place of entertainment but also educates attendees as they learn more about their community and the services offered by ACC and the Student Life office. Students, faculty and employees who attended the event made new connections and discovered activities that they can enjoy on or off campus during the school year.
Student questions left unanswered
Capital Metro's forum hosted by the Student Government Association (SGA) took place at the Rio Grande lounge on Thursday April 23. At this event representatives from Capital Metro discussed new bus routes and spending plans with students. By next fall Capital Metro Board Member John-Michael Cortez plans for the $10 parking fee to make ACC's relationship with Capital Metro more environmentally sustainable by using it to pay for a semester bus pass and more amenities for bicyclists.
Starting Fall 2009, ACC will begin offering BMGT 1371 Sustainable/Green Business: Principles, Practices, Opportunities. The course will meet at the Rio Grande Campus on Tuesday evenings from 6:00-8:40 p.m. The course examines the reasons why sustainable business practices are necessary and looks at minimizing natural resource utilization and waste generation, reducing energy consumption, and the impact of consumer usage and disposal of products.
Crime logs are not completed, not compliant
Former ACC student Rita Pena was stabbed in 2006 by ACC student Reginald Cooper, whom she did not know. She was trying to get in her car, parked at a meter just off ACC Rio Grande Campus. She was leaving her ACC math class. ACC Officer Joanna Weaver found Pena on the ground while patrolling near the campus.
In the first week of April, a celebration of Arts & Humanities called Carnival ah! will be hosted at ACC's Rio Grande Campus. Program Director Jodie Jinks, the theater director at ACC, and Dean of Arts at ACC, Lyman Grant, have organized meetings with a few dozen local art groups, including representative Grady Hillman, who is quoted as saying that "Austin does not have a good reputation of being a community arts town.
Honors society students spent two and half hours picking up trash and cigarette butts outside the Rio Grande campus on Feb. 18. Julie Gorkowski-Day, a Phi Theta Kappa officer who chairs the Clean Communities committee organized the event. Gorkowski-Day, Taylor Flanagan and Latif Almanzan, both Phi Theta Kappa members, worked to clean the campus.
The parking garage at the Rio Grande campus is currently on target for its completion date of Aug. 2009. The garage, located on the corner of 12th and Shoal Creek, was approved for another level in late Oct. of last year, making the planned structure seven stories.
Austin Community College's Student Government Association partnered with the Mac Users Club to educate students about the election on Nov. 4. Rio Grande Campus Senator Bri Minnis approached Kevin Haley, president of the Mac Users Club and Apple Campus Representative for the Austin area, with the idea of using Mac computers to offer information to student voters.
Jenessa Hernandez Staff Writer "Bacchae," a play based on Greek mythology, is directed by Arthur Adair and put on by Austin Community College's Drama Department at the Mainstage Theater on the second floor of the Rio Grande Campus. The play runs Nov. 14-16 and Nov.
Diversity Outreach Conference engages students in political discussion
"SPEAK OUT!," Austin Community College's second annual Diversity Outreach Student Conference, capitalized on the high level of civic participation due to the upcoming presidential election. The event was organized by the ACC Office of Student Life and hosted at the Eastview Campus on Fri.
The Rio Grande Board forum was held on Oct. 21 in the Student Lounge. Austin Community College's Board of Trustees member Allen Kaplan along with other college representatives were available to answer students' questions and hear their concerns. Most of the conversation centered around improving the facilities at the Rio Grande campus, particularly the inadequate parking and lack of hot water in the bathrooms.
to be performed at Rio Grande Campus
The ACC Arts and Humanities Division will present Caryl Churchill's "Far Away" for two weekends in late October. "Far Away" is an hour-long play about the horrors of the world that we live in and are increasingly becoming accustomed. The title of the play is believed to encourage the audience to ponder how "far away" we are from getting to the point of no return.
On Monday Nov. 5, the Rio Grande Campus Gallery Theater hosted a poetry reading with noted poets Stan Sanvel Rubin and Judith Kitchen. Rubin, the author of "Hidden Sequel" and many other volumes of poetry, is also the Director of the Rainer Writing Workshop.
The issues of civil unions and homosexual marriage are currently hot topics around the nation. In response to the 19 states which already have placed amendments in their state constitutions, and as many as 17 more currently slated to have such amendments on upcoming ballots, the ACC Ethics Resource Center held a symposium at the Rio Grande Campus on Feb.
Students concerned about dwindling parking spaces may not see an expansion this semester, but a recent report has indicated that numerous projects are being evaluated in the hopes of addressing the parking problems that have plagued various ACC campuses.
The assailant who allegedly assaulted and repeatedly stabbed 24-year-old Austin Community College student Rita Pena near ACC's Rio Grande campus on Oct. 25 was described by acquaintances as a quiet loner who was prone to aggressive and hostile behavior, especially towards women.
An Austin Community College employee has sued the college in response to a reprimand handed him following comments he made before the ACC Board of Trustees. Mark Goodrich, an ACC maintenance technician, voiced his disapproval of the administration's handling of Room 221, a room that has been subject to concern over mercury contamination since a 2003 lawsuit claimed faculty had been exposed to unsafe levels.
When one thinks of old buildings, does the word "asbestos" come to mind? It might have crossed your mind as you walked through the halls in some of the older Austin Community College campuses. Currently, the Rio Grande Campus and Pinnacle Campus are the only two campuses that have asbestos containing materials (ACM).
Is ACC responsible for leaving her vulnerable?
An Internet petition started by former ACC student Rita Pena, 24, is demanding the college admit liability for life-threatening injuries sustained in an attack near Rio Grande Campus that left her with only partial use of her left hand. Pena was found by ACC police lying near West Avenue and 12th Street after being stabbed multiple times after walking to her car from her evening math class on Oct.
It took four years, but a room on the second floor of Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus closed due to mercury contamination is set to reopen in the spring. Room 211, located below a chemistry lab, does not pose a hazard, officials say. The room has been remodeled and cleaned and will be reopened as a the-ater scene shop.
After his recent performance at Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus to a patio filled with dozens of students, Cyril Neville talked about his performance, his music, the recovery going on in his hometown of New Orleans and what he hopes people - especially young people - take away from his music.
Without a gallery of their own, the Art and Photography Department heads are waiting for ACC administrators to see the big picture
Walk through the front doors and into Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus and you may not notice anything out of the ordinary. But when some students took a harder look around the entryway, they noticed the sculpted faces hanging in a display case that have long welcomed them in.
Forum at RGC addresses most concerns
While the last half of the spring semester winds down at Austin Community College, design plans for a new parking garage at the Rio Grande Campus have been solidified. The garage, one of two construction projects at the campus, will contain 456 parking spaces - at a cost of nearly $33,000 per space.
Rio Grande area undergoes a facelift
During the next 18 months, students and faculty at ACustin Community College's Rio Grande Campus should be prepared to battle even more parking shortages - and a storm of dust. Several construction projects are slated for the area beginning this summer. The erection of an Austin Community College parking garage and the rennovation of the RGC gymnasium are part of a dual plan made possible by the ACC Board of Trustees' recent approval of $15 million and $12 million budgets, repectively.
After years of health concerns and legal battles, renovation could finally end college's headache
John O'Connor Staff Writer To some, the long-disputed history of Rio Grande Campus Room 221 rings like a campy horror flick, and to others it screams of a real life nightmare. The former science office is undergoing renovations and is expected to be completed in the coming weeks to make way for a drama department scene shop.
New skate park construction at a standstill
Christina Chapman Staff Writer The City of Austin through the Austin Recreation Center at Shoal Creek plans to build a skate park adjacent to the parking garage that ACC is building for the Rio Grande Campus. While construction for the parking garage has begun, construction on the skate park is at a standstill.
About 70 new parking spots opened up for students at the Rio Grande Campus. The Shoal Creek tennis courts located next to the AISD House Park and the Recreation Center have been turned into parking. The addition is only temporary. The spots will be available until spring of 2009.
Students who used the Dillos to get to school have had to seek out alternate routes. On Aug. 24, the day before classes started, Capital Metro redesigned the Dillo system, eliminating the stops at ACC. The Dillos will cover a smaller area and service downtown Austin.
Carnival ah! seeks to connect Arts and Humanities disciplines
Carnival ah! is an event that hopes to bring students from the Arts and Humanities division together through student projects and discussions. Both of these will focus on this year's theme: Voice, Identity, Dissent. Student projects will be presented at the carnival on Apr.
Energy turns green this spring at ACC
The sunshine will be sprouting more "green" in Austin this spring with the building of a new solar panel at Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus (RGC), as well as at the Riverside Campus (RVS). With recent approval from the Texas Historical Society (THS), ACC's plans for building and installation at RGC will soon be underway.
The Rio Grande Campus may soon be home to a new solar panel. The three kilowatt panel, which will be used to convert solar energy into electricity, will generate approximately enough energy to run an average household. Although Rio Grande's electricity use is many times that of the average household, 100 percent of the solar energy gained from the panel will be converted to electricity and utilized.
"Saved by the Bell" star joins industry professionals at Actor's Expo
Aspiring actors and film industry buffs were treated to inside industry tips when they attended The Actor's Expo on Jan. 20 at the Rio Grande Campus. The Expo, sponsored by ACC, among others, boasted actor Mario Lopez, director Renny Harlin, producer Kia Jam, and Agent Nick Reed, vice president of International Creative Managemment.
The dance department presented its annual fall dance concert at the Rio Grande Campus Mainstage Theater to benefit the drama and dance scholarship fund. Performances were conducted with choreography II students under Kathy Dunn Hamrick, adjunct dance professor; and faculty choreographers Roxanne Gage and Darla Johnson.
Three Atlanta-based dancers and a professor representing the Spelman College Dance/Theater were hosted Sept. 25 through Sept. 28 by the Dance department and the ProArts Collective at the ACC Dance Studio on Rio Grande Campus. The dancers and Spelman Dance Professor Nicole Wesley gave lectures, demonstrations and taught master classes in Modern Technique.
The city of Austin is no stranger to growth, with a booming population that is only expected to rise in upcoming years. A sure sign of Austin's expansion can be found in its ever increasing downtown skyline, which looks more like Houston or Chicago with each passing day.
Rio Grande Campus Patrol Officer Joanna Weaver was given the 2006 ACCPD Life Saving Award due to her involvement in the recovery of stabbing victim and ACC student, Rita Pena, on the evening of Oct. 25, 2006. Weaver said that she arrived on the scene before the paramedics and the Austin Police Department because she saw Pena while patrolling.
A building adjacent to the Rio Grande Campus parking lot is boarded up and unused. Nearby are dilapidated tennis courts and a makeshift skate park popular among local youth. The inside of the building is filled with graffiti and litter. Walking inside can be dangerous.
Bob McConaughy is an adjunct assistant professor of history at Austin Community College. He is in his second year with the school, teaching primarily History I at the Rio Grande Campus. He also teaches an advanced placement History II class at Georgetown High School.
Almost two months after stabbing, doubts still linger
In light of the Oct. 25 stabbing of student Rita Pena near Austin Community College's Rio Grande campus at the corner of 10th and Rio Grande Streets, on- campus safety is an issue on the minds of ACC students and staff alike. Part of the concern is due to limited access to parking at ACC's Rio Grande campus.
Students may now take a collective yawn of relief.
Students around Austin Community College's Rio Grande campus need not worry the next time they doze off before class. Most students who have time to spare between classes and possibly a lack of sleep the night before from, um, studying can sometimes be found asleep on benches.
From his tiny corner behind the counter at the Little Store, Dorian White has long been one of the most familiar faces at Austin Community College's Rio Grande campus. After having spent more than a decade serving ACC students, however, White is now saying goodbye to his many friends and customers.
Austin Community College recently hosted three speakers from Israel at Heart, a nonprofit group whose mission is "to promote a better understanding of Israel and its people." Israel at Heart, who visited the Rio Grande campus Oct. 11, sends delegations of three Israeli university students worldwide to increase "understanding of Israeli culture, its people, and its challenges.
The Gay Straight Alliance of Austin Community College hosted a Transgender Awareness Meeting on Oct. 5, at the Rio Grande Campus. The guest speaker was Shane Whalley, a social worker, UT Lecturer, and Director of Personal Empowerment and Counseling at Out Youth, a group that offers support to openly gay youths.
If you should happen to see Lemuel Bradshaw roaming the halls of Austin Community College's Rio Grande campus, you may not notice anything particularly special about him - and that's just the way he likes it. As the recipient of a heart transplant, Bradshaw, 34, is in fact a very special man - one who owes his life to the miracles of modern medicine and the kindness of strangers.
Due to the generosity of former graduate and Texas' latest millionaire, Lauren Esparza, Austin Community College will receive $2.5 million, if the school agrees to add a new language course. Imagine for a second you're Texas' latest jackpot winner. You've paid off your family and close friends' debt and you're back from a European dream vacation, what's a millionaire to do? "I've been able to take care of my family, my close friends and now I'm ready to give back to my community," said Esparza.
Karry Evans, a government professor at Austin Community College, challenged students to question the government's reaction to the Sept. 11 terror attacks in "Freedom vs. Order: Search and Seizure Protection after 9/11," a lecture at the Rio Grande Campus held on March 3 by the ACC Ethics Resource Center.
ACC Drama Department delivers a story of love, violence, and vengeance
This spring, the Austin Community College Drama Department will be putting on "Blood Wedding," a show with ample amounts of family feuding, gore and death. "Blood Wedding," written by Federico Garcia Lorca (1933), is the story of a bride who runs away with her lover and subsequently is murdered by her husband.
A recent study conducted at Austin Community College's Rio Grande Campus discovered substantial quantities of lead in the water supply. In some cases, the lead content exceeded by as much as three times the acceptable levels. A sampling taken on Dec. 19 from 79 water sources at RGC revealed nine sources where the water samples exceeded the action level of lead concentration.
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