As usual, the week of Hobo Day is jam-packed with activities, and the Hobo Day Committee has been busy planning for weeks.

While a lot of work has already been done, the Hobo Day Committee still needs help. On Oct. 17 at 6 p.m., a meeting will take place in Rotunda A. This is a mandatory meeting for anyone who would like to help out with the parade. The committee is looking for people to be security and to drive new cars with dignitaries during the parade.

Some of the Hobo Day week activities are already under way. Competitors of the One-Month Club have already signed up and are letting the hair grow. Participating guys grow out their beards for a month, while the girls grow out their leg hair. This year, the entire wrestling team is ganging together and growing out their beards.

“It’s great to see more sports organizations getting involved this year in the festivities,” said Sarah French, this year’s Grand Pooba.

As for the week of Hobo Day, the fun begins right away on Monday. Not only does the scavenger hunt begin, but the Jackrabbit Rally will take place at 5 p.m. in the Intramural Building. A Hobo meal will be served. The cost is $3 if you dress like a Hobo, $4 if you don’t. The One-Month Club will be judged at the rally as well..

The rest of the week includes events such as Paint the Town on Tuesday, and the Homelycoming Pageant on Wednesday at the Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. On Thursday, the Bum Olympics will take place at the Intramural Building at 8 p.m. The Cavorts talent show will be held at 9 p.m. Friday night. Saturday begins with the Hobo Day 5K run at 8 a.m., and the parade starts at 9:30 a.m. The main event, the SDSU football game against UC Davis, starts at 2 p.m.

You can show your Hobo Day spirit with a free Hobo Day bumper sticker, a $1 Hobo Day pin or a $10 official Hobo Day t-shirt. Everything can be purchased in The Union the week of Hobo Day. Posters will also be up around campus to highlight the week’s activities.

#1.884185:3886693326.jpg:hobofilephoto1.jpg:Contestants line up at last year’s Hobo Day Homelycoming Pageant:

The Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence will soon start at SDSU. The center will be a partnership between SDSU and the United States Geological Survey and the EROS Data Center to combine research facilities and knowledge.

Ed Hogan, former head of SDSU’s geography department for 19 years, helped write the Center of Excellence proposal, which was given to the South Dakota Board of Regents.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for both organizations and I am confident that it will be very successful,” Hogan said.

Hogan explained that there will be two co-directors of the center. One of them is Thomas Loveland, the other will be picked by the university.

The co-directors will be in charge of research projects in different geographical areas. There will be six scientists at SDSU as well as six at the EROS Data Center. They will be split into teams of two individuals, each team focusing on a different research project.

Besides working on research projects, scientists will also teach courses at SDSU.

“Together, the combination of SDSU and EROS can become a major research group,” said Jim Sturdevant, the deputy chief of EROS. “SDSU has access to grant funding that EROS does not, and EROS has access to grant funding that SDSU does not. With the combined capabilities, the Center of Excellence could become one of the most major research facilities in the area.”

The Center of Excellence will engage both graduate and undergraduate students of many majors including geography, computer engineering, mathematics, wildlife and forestry and biological sciences.

Students will have the opportunity to apply to be involved in the program as a junior or higher.

However, students must be recommended by two faculty members.

While working through the program, students will complete an internship with Center of Excellence scientists as well as work on at least one project or have one publication acceptedby a professional journal.

In committing to this program, SDSU is expected to fulfill certain duties. SDSU must supply a co-director and a staff of scientists. On-campus space must also be provided for the South Dakota Science Center of Excellence.

Programs offered through the center will meet the standards of organizations such as the United States Geographical Survey, as well as the CIA and Department of Homeland Security.

Students seeking a Bachelor of Arts degree are required to take a foreign language. The majority of students take Spanish, German or French, fairly common languages. However, SDSU offers quite a variety of languages, including Arabic.

“Arabic is in high demand in different careers lately, especially in the security and commerce fields,” said Maria Ramos, head of the modern languages department.

SDSU offers Arabic classes at the beginning and intermediate levels along with a course focusing on the Arabic culture.

Instructor Brahim Garaoui uses a wide variety of sources for teaching the classes. Along with two textbooks, one focusing on language the other on both language and culture, Garaoui uses the Internet for inspiration.

Guest speakers are also brought in who reflect the Muslim and Arabic cultures. Students also learn about the religions of Arabic-speaking countries such as Iraq and Palestine.

“It is important that students learn about other cultures,” Garaoui said. “With 280 million Arabic people in the world, there is a common misconception about them, especially about religion. It (Muslim) is not a religion of terrorism and students will learn this.”

Melissa Lefers, a 21-year-old enrolled in the beginning Arabic class, enjoys the class for a multitude of reasons.

She enjoys the small class size, which helps her feel comfortable enough to ask questions.

“The class is a little tougher,” says Lefers, “When you look at Spanish and French words, you can sort of tie some of the words together with English words. It is quite different with Arabic, making it a little harder.”

When she went to Egypt to visit her husband who was studying there for a semester, Lefers got to experience a little bit of the Arabic culture.

“I would like to move overseas in the future,” Lefers said. “I felt Arabic would benefit me. When I spend time overseas, I would like to be able to interact with those who are from the country.”

The Arabic curriculum is in its seventh year at SDSU. The program began as a distance education course taught by an instructor at the University of Montana.

The program was popular, so SDSU hired Garaoui to teach the on-site Arabic class three years ago. In that time, it has continued to gain in popularity with the students.

Most people have had the dream of visiting New York City; a group of South Dakota State University students are lucky enough to do so.

The voyaging group will consist of Apparel Merchandising students and professors, including Professor Nancy Lyons.

Nancy Lyons sees these trips as very educational for the students.

“Often times, graduates want to move away from South Dakota into bigger cities where job opportunities will be greater,” Lyons said. “These trips to other cities such as those taken to Dallas, Chicago, London, Paris and New York City give the students a feel for the big city life as well as job perspectives.”

While on their May trip in New York, the students will not only visit shops such as Gucci and Prada but also listen to presentations and guest speakers.

Presentations will be given by those in the fashion field and will deal with all aspects, including manufacturing, design and advertising.

It is also hoped that there with be a meeting with SDSU Apparel Merchandising alumni while in the New York City area. This will give students the chance to talk with those already in the field from their home area and also to connect with others in the world of fashion.

In preparation for the trip, those partaking are enrolled in a class at SDSU. The class meets approximately 5 times in the year. During the class, the students are required to research parts of New York City and the fashion business, including shops on 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue.

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As Dr. Penny Powers begins to explain her area of scholarship, a certain twinkle is seen in her eyes and there is a great deal of affirmation in her voice.

This head of the graduate nursing program not only runs the department, but she also writes about some unknown problems in her field such as persuasion and coercion.

Powers was born in Hollywood, Calif. and received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California-Davis in Psychology and Philosophy.

Powers’ original intent was to become a veterinarian, however, only those with 4.0 GPAs made it into vet school.

“I was just having too much fun outside of school. It was during the Vietnam War and I attended all the demonstrations,” Powers said.

She settled on animal behavior in psychology even though her first love is philosophy.

With her degree, she moved to Canada with her first husband and gave birth to her daughter there.

During her 18-year stay in Canada, she and her husband divorced and she completed a two year program to become a nurse.

She then moved to Seattle, Wash. where she proceeded to get her master’s degree and doctorate in nursing.

By then, Powers knew she wanted to teach nursing and knew she couldn’t do that without her doctorate.

She met her current husband and also fell in love with Harley Davidson motorcycles during this period of her life.

Upon completion of her doctorate, she moved to Rapid City and was the department head for West Rivernursing there until 1999.

Then she moved to Brookings and took over the job of the head of the graduate nursing department at SDSU.

Alongside Powers’ job at SDSU, she and her husband also find time to write books about motorcycling. She also raises peacocks and amaryllis bulbs.

Currently, she is involved in editing and writing a chapter in a book that will be called Moralism in Health Care. Contributors come from around the world, including Canada, New Zealand, New York and the United Kingdom.

Powers’ chapter covers the topic of persuasion and coercion and the ethics of the communication by health care professionals.

She believes that the persuasive strategies employed by health care providers in the United States have become unethical, leaving patients with no choice but what the health care providers suggest.

Another piece of Powers’ work is entitled Empowerment as Treatment and the Role of Health Care Professionals. This article discusses the new meaning of “the concept of” empowerment.

She writes that “Patients are considered empowered by health care professionals only if they make the correct choices as defined by the health care provider.”

Along with this she states that patients are not always adequately informed and therefore are not allowed to make a true decision on their own.

American’s idea of empowerment is greatly changed and deformed from what it used to be. Empowerment has become a treatment, Powers said.

Another topic Powers seems to be quite passionate about is the role of women in today’s society.

In teaching, she sees both traditional and nontraditional students come through her classrooms.

The women that are nontraditional seem to be apologetic and not as confident as the younger students.

She believes this stems from what women were taught as they grew up.

Powers said that in the past, women believed themselves to be inferior to men and now women are just as successful as men in any setting.

Powers said that she thinks it is great to see women stepping up and proving what they truly can do.

Powers has her own example of how women were to act and be treated from her own life.

In the eighth grade, Powers found that she was quite successful when it came to algebra.

She and a boy often competed for the highest grade in the class, which Powers and the boy found to be fun.

One day, Powers told her mother of this little competition. Her mother was horrified and told Powers that she should not compete with the boys, that he boys wouldn’t like her if she beat them at things.

Contrary to what her mother told her, Powers continued in her success in algebra and the rest of school.

Powers decided to become a nurse when she became divorced and had to support her daughter.

Striving for success, she was able to attain not only her nursing degree, but also a master’s degree and a doctorate.

When she did receive her doctorate, a roast was held in her honor by her committee at a private party.

Those who were there to honor her were sitting around in a circle, including her daughter.

Everyone went around and said something about her time with them.

When it got to her daughter, she was surprised to hear her chime in her own thoughts. What was said meant a lot to Powers.

Her daughter stated that she was very proud of her mother for her accomplishments and all she had done with her life.

Powers was hit with a wall of emotion, including tears at that moment.

It seems that no matter what Powers is involved in, she does it with passion.

How many classes have students attended where the professor will walk in wearing a graduation cap and gown? Not many, right?

Unless, of course, that student has taken taken mastering lifetime learning skills with Cheryl Pflueger.

She may not be the professor teaching the class but her class clearly reflects her personality!

The first day of class, Pflueger shows up wearing her famed graduation cap and gown. Before class begins she busies herself with paper work and writing things on the board, to purposely avoid making eye contact with her students.

She wants to get a reaction out of her students, and in some ways, intimidate them.

Once class starts Pflueger proceeds to pass out the syllabus and a note card for the general personal information. Along with the usual name and address information she also asks what the students have heard about the class.

Then she asks them information about herself; how old is she, her favorite color, etc. The purpose of this is to find out what expectations students hold coming into the class.

“Did you expect me to be wearing this gown? No? Well, how about this?”

She proceeds to take off her previous ensemble to reveal her favorite bathrobe and soon enough, sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Her point is to prove that your expectations change based on what you observe, which in most cases can hold you back in life.

For instance, Pflueger hated history throughout her years in school – but was forced to take it in order to graduate college. She procrastinated until second semester of her senior year to take it.

Of course, she expected it to be awful and downright terrible, which in turn, caused the class to be dreadful for her.

Pflueger knows she cannot change a student’s state of mind, but hopes to influence everyone to lose their expectations. This holds true for not only her class, but also in the real world.

Ideally, she would like to students to be open to new ideas and explore their own lifestyles.

All of the activities and demonstrations she does in class serve a purpose, including wearing a purple wig to class.

“I want to get students’ minds working and keep them constantly thinking,” Pflueger said.

Pflueger has been a resident of South Dakota since 1985. She came to SDSU to finish her Master’s degree while her husband finished his doctoral degree and attained a job teaching at SDSU.

In 1987, Pflueger was approached to try and teach a new class at SDSU.

That year, mastering lifetime learning skills began as just a trial class but has evolved into much more.

All those who teach the class share ideas that work well and then add their own personality touch to it.

One part of the class is learning about your own learning styles.

Pflueger wants to help all students learn so she tries to use all different methods of learning in each lesson.

Methods include those who learn by hands-on, those who want to apply it to the outside world, those who just want the straight facts and those who want to know why they have to learn a certain thing.

Pflueger admits she likes to see the reactions on students’ faces when she unleashes a new surprise on them.

Students have told her they have increased their test scores and established themselves a set schedule with the help of her class, which is what she has been aiming for.

Pflueger obviously cannot force them to change their ways, but she encourages them a great deal and sees herself as more of a facilitator than anything.

For Pflueger, wearing the cap and gown has been part of her class since the beginning.

She has added more twists to the class, however, as the years have gone on, such as the purple wig.

In the class, students keep track of their own grades. This helps them learn more responsibility for their scores. Also, one of the first things they discuss in class is the issue of procrastination.

“Once students get back from break, they have a hard time getting back into the swing of things,” Pflueger said. “I’d like to help them with that.”

Another topic discussed in class is communication and interacting with others, professors mainly.

Pflueger wishes to encourage students to build relationships with faculty as these can be helpful in the future.

Overall Pflueger’s goal is to help students get the absolute most out of their time and education here at SDSU.

This includes achieving good grades and maintaining positive relationships with others on campus.