Members of Texas Tech’s Red to Black Program were present at the conference to receive the award.

Dorothy Durband, director of the Red to Black program, said it is an honor for the program to be recognized.

“It is exciting to be recognized for the work that we’ve done,” Durband said. “I’m even more excited to accept this award on behalf of the current and former students whose work has made the nationally recognized model program what it is today.”

Durband said that because Red to Black is a model program, other universities often contact Texas Tech when they are attempting to start their own financial literacy programs.

Durband said she feels the program deserves this award because of the passion of student volunteers who deliver Red to Black’s services.

“The program has demonstrated commitment to serving our clients by advocating responsible financial behavior through financial counseling, financial education and transfer of skills,” Durband said.

Red to Black provides free financial counseling and planning in the form of client-based and outreach-based services.

AFCPE is a nonprofit, professional organization dedicated to educating, training and certifying financial counselors and educations.

CONTACT: Dorothy Durband, director, Red to Black, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-5050, or dottie.durband@ttu.edu.

The team won the contest by a four-point margin, posting a total team score of 4,653 points. Texas A&M University, the University of Nebraska, Western Illinois University and Oklahoma State University rounded out the top five teams.

For the first time in school history, Texas Tech has won the contest three consecutive years.

“Consistency in winning national championships is rare,” said Kevin Pond, department of animal and food sciences chairman.  “Having three consecutive national championship teams is the result of great coaching, a strong work ethic and attracting the best students to Texas Tech.”

The competition tested the contestants’ knowledge of cattle, sheep and swine as well as their oral reasons. 

“It was a thrilling victory because we thought we were too far behind in placings to win,” said Ryan Rathmann, assistant professor and coach of the team. “But, the team won reasons by such a large margin that they narrowly pulled it off.”

The Red Raiders won the overall reasons, beef cattle, beef reasons and performance beef cattle divisions, and placed second in the sheep division.

Individually, Josh Flohr, a senior from Emmitsburg, Md., was awarded fourth high individual and won the swine reasons and overall reasons divisions. Ben Cammack, a senior from Seguin, won the cattle reasons divisions.

In addition to Flohr and Cammack, team members included:

• Micah Dorsey, a senior from Strasburg, Colo.
• Paige Futrell, a senior from Midland
• Cade Halfmann, a senior from Garden City
• CA Jones, a senior from Sunray
• Drew Perez, a senior from Nara Vista, N.M.
• Drew Schmidt, a senior from Taneytown, Md.
• Trae Simmons, a senior from Tipton, Ind.
• Olivia Tilly, a senior from Hawley
• Austin Voyles, a senior from Hale Center
• Curtis Williams, a senior from Clovis, N.M.

The team is coached by Rathmann, Josh Campbell and Bryan Bernhard.

Under Rathmann’s leadership the livestock judging teams have garnered six national championships in each of the six years he has coached, three at Texas A&M University and three at Texas Tech. This accomplishment makes him the winningest coach in livestock judging history. 

“I’ve been blessed with outstanding students on our judging teams, and I’ve been extremely proud of their accomplishments,” he said. “This win proved to these students that there is nothing in life that they will not be able to take head-on and accomplish with hard work and determination.”

CONTACT: Moriah Beyers, coordinator of meat science programs, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-2805, or moriah.beyers@ttu.edu.

The team won the contest by an 18-point margin, and was undefeated at six of the seven national contests during the 2009 judging season, making it one of the most successful teams since meat judging began at Texas Tech in 1938.

The team won the beef judging, specifications and reasons divisions, finished second in total beef, and had an overall team score of 4,052 points.

“This team has worked extremely hard to accomplish their goal,” said Mark Miller, professor and San Antonio Livestock Show Distinguished Chair in Meat Science. “They were blessed with the national championship, and I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts.”

The top-five teams in the contest included South Dakota State University, Oklahoma State University, the University of Illinois and Kansas State University, which finished second through fifth respectively.

Individually, Collin Corbin, a junior from League City, placed third overall in the competition.

Texas Tech’s Josh McCann, a junior from Newport, Va. also boasted high individual in the alternate division. Four other Red Raiders joined him in the top 10 of the alternate division. Adam Copeland, a junior from Katy; Henry Ruiz, a senior from Eagle Pass; Josh Hasty, a senior from Cleburne; and Brandon O’Quinn, a junior from League City, finished second, third, fourth and sixth, respectively.

Other team members include:

• Matt Bruton, a junior from Throckmorton
• Sarah Calhoun, a junior from Weatherford
• Tate Corliss, a senior from Estancia, N.M.
• Kelsey Fletcher, a junior from Universal City
• Kelly Hutton, a junior from Castle Rock, Colo.
• Meagan Igo, a junior from Plainview
• Amber Krause, a junior from Florence
• Abby Long, a junior from Boerne

Team members Corbin and Igo were named to the 2009 First Team All-American Team. Long and Bruton were named to the 2009 Second Team All-American Team. The members of the All American Teams are selected based upon scholastic achievement and competition performance.

The team is coached by Miller and graduate student Travis O’Quinn.

CONTACT: Moriah Beyers, coordinator of meat science programs, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-2805, or moriah.beyers@ttu.edu.

One reason why the series has flourished is Edward Cullen, the protagonist of the series. While his attractive looks and mysterious appeal may attract the attention of many readers and viewers, his character deviates from classic vampire mythology in several key ways.

Erin Collopy, associate professor of classical and modern languages and literatures, can discuss the transition from vampires of mythology to the modern, sensitive and more seductive vampire.

Collopy teaches The Vampire in East European and Western Culture. She has a doctorate in Slavic linguistics from the University of Washington and received her master’s degree in Russian language and literature from the University of Arizona.
She said Cullen fits the mold of the sympathetic vampire that popped up periodically in literature prior to the publishing of “Dracula.”

“Dracula set the tone of vampire literature for a long time,” she said.

The new hit series “True Blood” revived the erotic vampire in popular literature, while Stephanie Meyers took the more repressed-sexuality approach in “Twilight.”

When comparing “Twilight” to previous vampire stories, Collopy notes one substantial difference between Cullen and that of his undead peers: Meyers’ protagonist is too beautiful, rather than too cursed, to be seen in sunlight.

“‘Twilight’ is really more of a romance than a true horror story,” she said. “Of course, you often get that crossover between gothic romance and gothic horror novels.”

CONTACT: Erin Collopy, associate professor, Classical and Modern Language and literature, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3286, or erin.collopy@ttu.edu

According to organizers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, the actual test of the particle beam will begin sometime this month.

Texas Tech has supplied many of the calorimeters for this project, said Nural Akchurin, a professor of physics and a calorimeter projector manager at CERN. Texas Tech’s High Energy Physics Group has worked on the project for 18 years, he said.

These calorimeters will serve as the catchers’ mitts that they hope will capture proof of a theoretical particle called a Higgs boson. It’s responsible for giving mass to subatomic particles, which make up atoms and so-on until you have a pencil, a rock or a table.

“In the most vanilla version of the Higgs theory, you need some mechanism through which you give mass to electrons and protons,” he said. “Finding that mechanism could close the loop in assigning known masses. If you have Higgs, you can explain everything – or nearly most things.”

Simply put – but perhaps too simply – these scientists hope the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider and Compact Muon Solenoid will prove the existence of matter’s smallest building blocks.

“This is much bigger than the atom bomb,” Akchurin said. “If this project finds nothing but Higgs, that’s huge. If this experiment finds nothing at all, I think that’s equally as big a deal because we’ll have to rethink all these other theories. Whatever comes out of this will be interesting.”

Akchurin said the actual experiment, where particle beams are shot at each other and the collisions are monitored, will begin at reduced speed, then go up to full speed collisions. The time from the first circulating beams to first world-record-breaking collisions is expected to happen this year or early 2010.

For more on Texas Tech University’s research, visit the following Web address: www.depts.ttu.edu/communications/news/stories/07-11-god-particle.php

To download broadcast-quality interviews with Akchurin:

Windows:

1. Go to My Computer
2. At the address bar at the top, copy and paste the ftp address ftp://129.118.56.46
3. Type in username: media, password: matador23
4. The files should show up now and you can drag and drop to your desktop as needed.

Mac:

1. When you are at your desktop, click on Go at the top and then Connect to Server…
2. Copy and paste ftp://129.118.56.46
3. Type in username: media, password: matador23
4. The files should show up now and you can drag and drop to your desktop as needed.

Find Texas Tech news, experts and story ideas at www.media.ttu.edu.

CONTACT: Nural Akchurin, professor of physics, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3427 or nural.akchurin@ttu.edu; Sung-Won Lee, assistant professor of physics, (806) 742-3730 or sungwon.lee@ttu.edu; Alan Sill, adjunct professor of physics and senior scientist at HPCC, (806) 790-7462 or alan.sill@ttu.edu; Igor Volobouev, assistant professor of physics, (806) 742-4752 or I.Volobouev@ttu.edu; Richard Wigmans, Bucy Professor of Physics, (806) 742-3779 or richard.wigmans@ttu.edu

The award acknowledges an individual who has provided outstanding leadership in the HOM field. Texas Tech’s program is housed in the Rawls College of Business. Lake, a 1967 Texas Tech graduate in marketing, was honored at the Buesseler Distinguished Lecture and Luncheon.

A long-time supporter of the Health Organization Management program, Lake was presented a $1,000 honorarium, which he returned to the HOM program to be put toward the Susan Stanton Scholarship Fund.

Lake is a former employee of Abbott Labs, which has promised to match Lake’s donation.

The HOM program at Texas Tech is currently one of only 13 MBA-based programs in the nation focused on preparing professionals to meet the ever-increasing demand for individuals with sophisticated management and leadership skills in the health care industry.

CONTACT: Elisabeth Clark, HOM unit coordinator, Rawls College of Business, (806) 742-1236, or hom@ttu.edu.

Meet Edward Cullen, model undead citizen and epitome of so-called “vampire lite.”

Rob Weiner, a pop-culture author and expert at Texas Tech University, can discuss the implications of Stephanie Meyers’ fanged teen romance saga as moviegoers snap up tickets for the Nov. 20 release of “New Moon.”

Weiner is an associate humanities librarian for the Texas Tech Libraries who lectures on the history of horror cinema.

He said Meyers’ protagonists are an example of recent vampire literature and filmmaking – dubbed vampire lite – that waters a traditionally bloody genre down to something more palatable for younger audiences.

These are not the eating machines of movies like “30 Days of Night” – or even “Dracula.” No, the ghouls of yore have been scrubbed down, cleaned up and housebroken. 

“Everyone in the movie is pretty,” Weiner said. “These are vampire stories for young girls.”

In other words, dark movies that parents are comfortable letting their teenagers watch.

Which could explain why the vampire franchise is still sucking in new fans while other horror genres have stumbled in recent years, he said.

Authors like Anne Rice fueled an image of the sex-icon vampire, and Weiner pointed out that Meyers, a Mormon, managed to replicate Rice’s formula while subtracting most of the actual sex from her equation.

“The sensuality is still there, but the eroticism isn’t,” he said. “Anne Rice is all about sex, but the Twilight books actually have a conservative bent to them.”

And while “New Moon” will have its critics, Weiner said he is fascinated by the way Meyers’ characters have captured the public’s imagination – after all, he admitted he’ll be in line to see them.

CONTACT: Rob Weiner, associate humanities librarian, Texas Tech University Libraries, (806) 742-2238 ext. 282, or rob.weiner@ttu.edu.

Dustin Perry, a Texas Tech alumnus who graduated in May, and Ryan Dupriest, a senior marketing major at Texas Tech, finished sixth earlier this year in the National Guard FLW College Fishing bass tournament on Lake Amistad, qualifying them for the regional championship.

The competition will be televised nationwide on Versus, and should Perry and Dupriest win, Texas Tech and the bass fishing club each will receive a $25,000 unrestricted donation. The top five teams in the regional championship also will advance to the national championship in Knoxville, Tenn., which will take place April 10 – 12, 2010.

If Perry and Dupriest finish in the top five at the regional championship, Texas Tech supporters will be on hand for a live video feed at 4 p.m. Monday (Nov. 16).

“It’s an honor to represent Texas Tech at this event,” Dupriest said. “Financially, the payout could be great for helping the bass fishing club in the future.”

National Guard FLW College Fishing is a nationwide competitive bass-fishing program open to all full-time students at four-year colleges and universities. It consists of 20 qualifying events, five regional championships and the national championship. For more information visit www.collegefishing.com.

CONTACT: Dave Washburn, director of administrative operations, FLW Outdoors, (270) 252-1607, or dwashburn@flwoutdoors.com

This fall, a Texas Tech University professor of anthropology will begin the difficult task of collecting the remnants of the near-extinct Comanche language, then creating a way it can be taught in a university setting.

Jeff Williams, chairman of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, will serve as an external evaluator for Numu Tekwapu, a project to document and revitalize the Comanche language. He will work with tribe members and researchers at Comanche Nation College in Lawton, Okla., to record what’s left of the language and create a method for teaching it to students at the college.

The project is funded through a $215,000 competitive grant awarded to Comanche Nation College from the Administration for Native Americans, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“The Comanche language is nearly dead,” Williams said. “Of the 13,000 people on the tribe’s enrollment, we had, at last estimate, 20 to 25 speakers. Kids aren’t learning it anymore. Speakers are much, much older. It’s in a really bad way. Part of my task is to create a digital archive of what we know of Comanche, the other is to use technology and devise a way to teach college students the language.”

He attributed the language’s demise to the fact that Comanche, Kiowa and Apache tribes lost their reservations in the Oklahoma Indian Territory at the turn of the 20^th century. Instead, they received allotments that interspersed Anglos and other non-Indians within what had been Indian Country. Also, generations of Comanche children were sent to boarding schools where they were reprogrammed, often violently, to assimilate to white culture. This created a “lost generation” that disrupted the flow of the tribe’s culture and language.

Comanche is a complex, relatively recent offshoot of the Shoshoni language that came about as the tribe splintered and moved south from their homelands in the Great Basin region of the United States, Williams said.

The language, a branch of the vast Uto-Aztecan languages, was passed on orally and didn’t have its own writing system until 1994. Of the world’s 6,000-7,000 languages, it’s one of a handful possessing “voiceless vowels.” In written Comanche, these voiceless vowels are represented with underlining. While they are written, they are almost inaudible when spoken.

Williams couldn’t say exactly how much of Comanche has already disappeared because no records exist of it while it was still in use. However, he compared it to New Mexico’s Zuni language, which, while still used and undergoing a preservation process, lost much of its more formal speaking patterns.

“If we look at the Zuni language, it’s estimated that it had about seven different speech levels,” he said. “The first level was the most informal and the seventh was the highest, most formal and sacred way to speak. The top four or five levels of speech are completely lost. Most people only speak in the lowest registers, which would have been the most vernacular style of speaking. It would not signal honor or respect for elders or those who possessed specialized knowledge or skills.

“There’s no telling how much of the Comanche language is lost. And as speakers get older, they begin to forget and use less of it.”

Todd McDaniels, assistant professor of linguistics at Comanche Nation College, serves as project director. He said the project was spurred by a need for Comanche language learning materials that are educationally sound, organized according to a curriculum based on outcomes, and capable of serving accreditation interests.

The resulting product will be a series of interactive, computer-assisted Comanche language learning modules that require that students match audio of spoken Comanche with selections of pictures without reliance on translation, he said.

“We’re basically starting at square one,” McDaniels said. “The purpose of the current project is to help develop Comanche speaking skills in students. Everything is ‘sit down and crack your knuckles’ type of work. We will need to work hard to develop interest, enthusiasm and goodwill within the Comanche community, most especially with native Comanche speakers.”

CONTACT: Jeff Williams, chairman of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-2401 ext. 223, or jeff.williams@ttu.edu; Todd McDaniels, assistant professor of linguistics at Comanche Nation College, toddam@roadrunner.com.

As of the most recent calculations, Texas Tech holds the top spot in the country with 86.16 total points. Grove City College in Grove City, Penn., is in second place with 83.84 total points and Carroll College in Helena, Mont., comes in third with 75.50 points.

Texas Tech’s full squad has appeared in the final round of nine parliamentary debate tournaments this fall, winning five of those debates.

Brian Horton, a senior political science, French and geography major from San Angelo, and Adam Testerman, a junior mass communications major from Springfield, Mo., are Texas Tech’s top debating pair. They have won 47 debates and lost five.

At their most recent tournament Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the University of California, Berkeley, Horton and Testerman won 10 straight debates against schools such as UC Berkeley, the University of Nevada and the University of Oregon before finally having their winning streak of 29 straight wins ended in the final round against Southern Illinois University.

Advancing to the semifinal round at the Berkeley tournament were the team of senior political science major Nicole Brown of San Angelo and senior mass communications major Paul Williamson of Crosby, placing them third in the field of 63 teams.

“This is a great accomplishment for this team,” said debate coach Joe Gantt. “These rankings reflect top-to-bottom excellence in our program. You cannot be number one without dominant teams at both the varsity level and the junior varsity level. It’s midseason, so we have many more goals to accomplish, but this ranking is a nice reward along the way.”

For the national debate statistics, visit http://www.parlidebate.org/execsec/results10.php

CONTACT: Joseph J. Gantt, director of forensics, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-1328, joe.gantt@ttu.edu