Texas Campus Compact
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state officePatricia
Paredes, M.A. Executive Director Jim Conditt Assistant
Director Lynn Prince Director of Operations executive boardDr. Charles
Cotrell, Chair President, St. Mary's University Dr. Steve Kinslow,
Vice Chair President, Austin Community College District Dr. Juliet
Garcia, Immediate Past Chair President, The University of Texas at
Brownsville and Texas Southmost College Dr. Max Castillo President,
The University of Houston - Downtown Dr. Ana Guzman President, Palo
Alto College Dr. Cary Israel President, Collin County Community
College District James Spaniolo, J.D. President, The University of
Texas at Arlington Dr. George Wright President, Prairie View A&M
University
Texas Campus Compact
702 Colorado
Suite 1.118
Austin, Texas
78701
Building Communities. Educating Citizens.
www.texascampuscompact.org 
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 | Executive Director
Visits the
Prairie View A
& M University
Research Foundation
Sheep & Goat
Research Project
Adami Tulu,
Ethiopia |
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Last Thursday, May 21, I visited
with Dr. Desta Hamito, Chief of Party, Dr. Ato Teffera, Deputy Chief of Party,
Dr. Kassahun Awgichew, Genotype Program Officer, and Dr. Alemu Yami, Training
Program Officer -- at their offices in Addis Ababa, where I learned more about
their Ethiopian Sheep and  Goat Productivity Improvement Program [ESGPIP] --
sponsored by the Prairie View A & M University Research Foundation.
Thanks to Dr. George Wright,
president of Prairie View A & M, and Texas Campus Compact board member and
Dr. Freddie Richards, Dean, College of Agriculture & Human Sciences for
PVAMU, I was able to witness first hand, the cross-breeding results of
Ethiopian goats with imported exotic goat breeds and the results are amazing --
a much bigger goat is produced, unlike the thin, lanky, Ethiopian goats -- this
production enables the goat to feed many more people and to be sold for much
more birr.
Ethiopian has over 42
million head, the 3rd largest number of sheep and goats among African nations
and ranks 8th in the world. Sheep and goats have traditionally served as a
means of ready cash and a reserve against economic and agricultural production
hardship but, the proximity of Ethiopian to large Middle Eastern markets
demanding export quality sheep and goat has led to change in the scale of their
production.
Prairie View A & M University
has 9 research sites in Ethiopia for this 5.5 million dollar project,
underwritten by USAID -- I had the pleasure of visiting one of the sites,
located in Adami Tulu -- about 2.5 hours south east of Addis Ababa. It was one
of the highlights o f my visit! We toured
through 7 towns in the countryside to get there and I gained a different
perspective of the manual labor Ethiopians must endure to live.
The first town we drove
through with Kassahun and our driver Abraham was Dekam, home to the Ethiopian
air force. We then passed through Devils
8, which means annointed oil, where we stopped for coffee and then toured
through Modjo, home to tanneries. I saw
bottles of water stored in plastic containers similar to gas cans; they were wrapped
in water soaked twine to keep them cold and displayed on the side of streets,
for passerby's to purchase.
Passing through the town
of Koka I saw
beautiful potato, corn, and onion fields, women working with oxen and donkeys
pulling them, their water and feed with carts.
It was quite a primitive site. The
Acai trees were beautiful; flat on top and many in abundance. I continue to be disturbed with the way
donkey's are abused, carrying big, big loads, with forlorn looks in their eyes.
As we progressed to
Adami Tulu, I was taken back by the lush greenery I saw, clumps of cactus
gracing the side of the roads, and green foliage everywhere with fields and
fields of homegrown vegetables which will be harvested next November. I've never seen stalks of corn so big. Then we saw herds and herds of Camels -- yes
Camels! I'd only ever seen pictures of
them in National Geographic. Sadly, I
saw my first hyiena; however it was lying on the side of the road dead.
The Camels are brought
in from the pastoral countryside for their milk [very salty] and for their meat
and no, I didn't eat any Camel. We then passed through the town of Alum Tena and then Meki as
Kassuhun geefully pointed out the "Bush Hotel." At this point, we saw many of the Bajahz --
small cars produced in India that are putting the taxi's out of business and,
then to my amazement, I saw, yet, another herd of Camels - around 30-40 this
time.
We stopped in Zeway for
lunch and I ate spaghetti -- ate more spaghetti in Ethiopia than I've eaten in
the states ever, To our left, as we
journeyed on, we saw the biggest flower farm in the country - the roses are
sold to the Netherlands. We also saw
Castle, Zeway, and Away Winery vineyards. We finally arrived in Adami Tulu to see the
goat research project and were met by 5 young women workers, my new friends.
I got to hold baby goats
-- kids -- who were only 3  weeks old and they loved sucking on the cuffs of my
white button down, the frays of my jeans, and one especially loved my fingers
-- didn't feel the teeth soon enough though so I now have a small new birthmark
on my middle left finger; a reminder of being loved by baby goats who were in my arms -- of course wanting their mommies but, settling for me.
The cross breed goats
were very, very big with very soft fur -- they looked extremely healthy and
well cared for. Before journeying back
to Addis Ababa, we stopped to meet Dr. Berhanu,
a young, handsome DVM, who runs the Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center - a
partner with Prairie View A & M's goat research project -- he was most kind
to spend time visiting with us and even asked me how I thought they could
improve.
We departed and passed
through all the same towns seeing the Highlands
to our right on the way back. Behind
these large mountains, Kassahun told me, is where most of the long distance
runners from Ethiopia
come from -- Arsi Bekoji. I arrived back to The Panorama Hotel after saying
many "Ameuseuganalo's" - that means "thank you's" in Amharic -- to my new
friends with the Ethiopia Sheep and Goat Productivity Improvement Program [ESGPIP].
I wanted to share this
part of my Ethiopian adventure with you because it speaks highly that one of
our member campuses - Prairie
View A &
M University
-- is so civically engaged in another country.
Sheep and goats are among the major economically important livestock in Ethiopia. There are about 23.62 million sheep and 23.33
million goats, playing an important role in the livelihood of resource-poor
farmers. They provide their owners with
a vast range of products and services such as meat, milk, skin, hair, horns,
bones, manure and urine for cash, security, gifts, religious rituals, and
medicine. The increased domestic and
international demand for Ethiopian sheep and goats has established them as
important sources of Inland Revenue as well as foreign currency. This increased demand also creates an
opportunity to subs tantially improve food security for the population and to
alleviate poverty.
Of the 80 million people
who reside in Ethiopia,
approximately 5 million live in Addis Ababa and I must have seen all of them at some
point on my travels. It was an amazing
and most memorable journey to Ethiopia
and I can honestly say that many people in Ethiopia now know about Texas
Campus Compact.
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TSTC Makes History with Virtual Classroom |
Texas State Technical College has produced its first graduate
trained entirely via Second Life, the three-dimensional,
computer-animated "virtual" world maintained by its 18 million worldwide users.
The student, Julie Shannan, became the "first-ever student in the state, the
nation, and the world to earn an accredited academic certification via Second
Life," according to a recent article in Texas Government
Insider.  Many professors use the site for instructional purposes. According to the
Second Life site, "Harvard, Texas State, and Stanford are just a few of the many
universities that have set up virtual campuses where students can meet, attend
classes, and create content together." But apparently this is the first time a
school has fashioned an entire curriculum around it. TSTC is a two-year,
multi-campus institution.
Ms. Shannan's certificate from TSTC's digital media design program will
prepare her for a career in the competitive field of graphic design, the article
stated. Interestingly, she already holds a bachelor's degree from the University
of Texas. Read more...
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| | Texas Tech earns honor roll distinction again
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Texas
Tech University has landed on the President's Higher Education
Community Service Honor Roll for the second consecutive year. Tech was
selected for the honor among a group of 20 institutions by the
Corporation for National and Community Service, thanks in part to
School of Art faculty member Carla Tedeschi (pictured), associate
professor in communication  design.
Tedeschi and three
other professors - Laura Lowe, Heidi Brady and Joaquin Borrego - each
completed projects to earn the distinction in the ensemble effort
headed by Service Learning Coordinator Irene Arrellano.
Carol
Edwards, dean of the College of Visual & Performing Arts, said
Tech's second consecutive honor roll ranking demonstrates the
university's commitment to seeking an active role in the community. She
said Tech's goal is ultimately to provide students "with the
opportunity to develop their creative and artistic talents in
addressing social issues and supporting community-based programs."
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| | North Texas universities' initiative earns partnership award
| University Crossroads, a collaboration of colleges and universities
in North Texas, has been awarded the School College Partnership Award
for its efforts to encourage student success and offer an enhanced
college-going culture in Dallas Independent School District schools.  
University
Crossroads was co-founded by Michele Bobadilla (left), senior associate
vice president for outreach services at The University of Texas at
Arlington, and Zeb Strong, Jr. (right), director of recruitment
initiatives at UT Arlington.
Presented at the College
Board's Southwestern Regional Conference in Oklahoma City earlier this
month, the award recognizes the efforts of several colleges and
universities, including: Austin College, Dallas County Community
Colleges, Midwestern State University, Paul Quinn College, Southern
Methodist University, Tarrant County Colleges, Texas A & M
University, Texas A & M University-Commerce, Texas Christian
University, Texas Tech University, Texas Wesleyan University, Texas
Woman's University, The University of Texas at Arlington, The
University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas at Dallas,
University of North Texas at Dallas and the University of North Texas.
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| | Serve America page updated on the AmeriCorps site.. | The Serve America page on the AmeriCorps website has been updated and now includes FAQs and
the PowerPoint
presentation we are using to frame the listening sessions. These materials include important information for you to use in your materials and
communications. In particular, the FAQs include the followin g:
1. When
is the effective date for the Act and what will happen on that
day?
The Serve
America Act has an effective date of October 1, 2009, the beginning of fiscal
year 2010. Amendments that are not funding-dependent take effect on that date.
For example, the CEO's authority to conduct outreach or the Board of Directors'
increased oversight role.
However,
provisions that are funding-dependent -- affecting the terms and conditions of
grants or approved national service positions -- will apply to grants made or
positions approved with fiscal year 2010 funds. For example, funding
allocations, grant selection criteria, grantee requirements, education award
amounts and permitted uses, will apply to fiscal year 2010-funded grants and
positions.
We will be
issuing more detailed guidance on the timing of implementation in the coming
months.
2. I'm
currently serving as a full-time AmeriCorps member. Will my education award
amount be increased?
No. The
Act increases the amount of the education award to the maximum Pell grant level
beginning with AmeriCorps positions funded with fiscal year 2010 appropriations,
so there is no change for AmeriCorps members currently
serving.
3. So
delaying our program's start date is not a good strategy in order to increase
the education award for our members?
Correct.
If the position if funded with fiscal year 2009 (or prior year) funds,
regardless of program start date, the education award amount is $4,725.
If you
have questions, please contact your program officer.
Amy
Borgstrom
Associate Director of
Policy
AmeriCorps State and
National
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Sincerely, 
Lynn Prince,
Director of Operations,
Texas Campus Compact
Join our Meet Up Group!
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