Identity crisis?

Once upon a time a lady named Cele went on a vacation. She left an out-of-the-office message on her computer. While she was gone, her computer, abetted by electronic oddities, sent 250 messages to each member of the discussion list cue-l (College and University Editors).

Now, every year the Cele Garrett Award honors cue-l users “who inadvertently send personal messages over cue-l, turn on their e-mail reply function or otherwise make technical (or tasteless) errors over the Internet.”

This past year one such user was the editor of UDQ , who sent to the list a message (asking for printer suggestions) addressed to the editor of another magazine.

So this year Cele graces my office.

It’s hard to tell whether such a honor was a high or a low point for the year.

A high point certainly was just hearing from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) that UDQ has won two awards: a gold medal in the tabloid publishing category, a silver for resource management.

So in early June you will have delivered to your mailbox a university periodical that can claim to be one of the best of the cheapest or one of the cheapest of the best.

Take your pick. Just keep reading about UD.

Sports update

It’s been a good couple of weeks for some current and former Flyer athletes:
• On Saturday, Senior Luke Trubee became the first baseball player in Dayton history to record 200 career strikeouts as UD beat Charlotte 6-2 at Time Warner Cable Stadium.
• Across the street at UD Softball Stadium, graduating senior Melissa Myher struck out 11 batters in two games on Saturday to finish her career with 408 strikeouts, second all-time at UD.
• This week, former UD soccer player Mark Schulte was featured in a Sports Illustrated story. He is the first American to play professional soccer in Uruguay and one of only a few Americans ever to play in South America.
• Chris Rolfe, also a former UD soccer player, was named this week as an alternate to the U.S. Men’s National Team playing in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany in June and July. Rolfe, the leading scorer for the Chicago Fire and runner up for MLS Rookie of the Year, is one of three forwards named as alternates to the 23-man roster.
• At the end of April, current UD student John Pastorek, president of the UD Men’s Lacrosse Club, was named to the Italian National Lacrosse Team and will play in the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship in London, Ontario, in July.
• Not to be outdone, Rudy Flyer was named a top-10 “Hot Mascot” by Sports Illustrated in April.

Graduation day

1,546 University of Dayton students — 1,143 undergraduate, 303 graduate and 13 doctoral — received degrees Sunday, May 7, at UD Arena.

Breathe deep, head south

Two years ago, Michael Vehar tromped through the sweltering Amazon rainforest, vegetation lashing at his calves, mosquitoes circling in attack patterns around his head. He had traveled two days by bus, then microbus, then canoe to hike the last hour into the tiny Bolivian village to show people how to harness the energy of the sun to help save their lives.

This June he heads back for at least six months, bringing with him donations to help even more.

“I believe that engineers should be fighting indoor air pollution and we should be doing it at UD,” said Vehar, who will graduate with a degree in industrial engineering technology in May.

Vehar and senior Collin Whelley, who will graduate with degrees in political science and psychology, are raising funds to spread solar cooker technology in Bolivia with the help of partner company Sobre la Roca, run by Bolivian native Ruth Saavedra in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Two facts keep Vehar motivated: Worldwide, 1.6 million people die each year of respiratory illness, and indoor air pollution is the No. 1 killer of children under the age of 5 in all developing countries around the world, according to the World Health Organization.

In past years, Vehar traveled with the UD program ETHOS — Engineers in Technical, Humanitarian Opportunities for Service-learning. This year, he organized his own venture and recruited several alumni and current students to join him for part of the summer. All are paying their own way so every dollar they raise can support classes where women learn about and build their own solar cookers, reducing air pollution indoors where the family meals are usually prepared.

Every $100 raised will support courses for two families. Every $500 raised will pay for the course’s transportation to a remote area.

“I love telling people that,” he said of his post-graduation plans, “because I get to explain what I’m going down to do and the problem we are helping to fight.”

Vehar and Whelley have raised $1,700, with the goal of $13,000 to fund transportation of the course throughout the region.