June 16, 2008


CAMPUS NEWS

RIT partners with Dubai for new campus
An RIT delegation, led by President Bill Destler, last week entered into a formal agreement with officials from Dubai to open RIT Dubai, part of Dubai Silicon Oasis.

It pays for companies to be socially responsible, say RIT business professors
Some companies benefit more than others from socially responsible practices, say Clyde Eiríkur Hull and Sandra Rothenberg, business professors in RIT's E. Philip Saunders College of Business.

Outsourcing leaves American white-collar workers behind, says expert
Outsourcing might be good for American corporations, but it's not good for American workers and might be bad for the American economy in the long run, says RIT professor of public policy Ron Hira, co-author of a new edition of Outsourcing America: The True Cost of Shipping Jobs Overseas and What Can Be Done About It.

RIT's Printing Industry Center releases publication analyzing U.S. printing industry
Printing Occupational Employment, High Wage Jobs & Industry Sources of Growth -- 2001 to 2005 by Maryellen Kelley, a new publication from the Printing Industry Center at RIT, analyzes employment within the U.S. printing industry.

College of Liberal Arts names new dean
Robert Ulin, chair of the anthropology department at Western Michigan University and an international expert in the theory and anthropology of work, has been named dean of RIT's College of Liberal Arts.

More News & Events

For additional updates, visit the Dateline: RIT Web site and Dateline: RIT Facebook Group.


LATEST PODCASTS

Conversations with President Destler (Video 5)
In the fifth in a series of videos, RIT President Bill Destler discusses RIT initiatives in sponsored research and scholarship, along with new partnerships with business and industry.
Watch video (open-captioned) (03:14)


RIT IN THE NEWS

Highlights of media coverage of RIT news and RIT people in the news. For more RIT In the News, visit the University News Web site.

Click "Text" or scroll down to read story | Click "View Clip" to go to media outlet's Web site

Selected stories (June 1-15, 2008):

Lost for two centuries on the floor of Lake Ontario, a revolutionary-era vessel is found by two zealous engineers

The last time anyone laid eyes on it, the Ontario was the most-feared ship on the Great Lakes.

It was 1780. Yankee militias were threatening to storm across Lake Ontario and seize Montreal from the British. And if it weren't for the intimidating profile of the 226-tonne Ontario - 22 cannons, two 80-foot masts, a beamy hull with cargo space for 1,000 barrels - they just may have.

But six months after it launched, the pride of the Great Lakes fleetsailed into a Halloween squall with around 120 passengers on board and was never seen again.

It remains the worst-ever disaster recorded on Lake Ontario, according to Kingston historian Arthur Britton Smith.

For 228 years, the Ontario eluded countless shipwreck-hunters, thwarting any explanation of its disappearance and fanning rumours of a priceless booty on board.

On a flat-calm morning two Saturdays ago, the Ontario reappeared.

Yesterday, two Rochester engineers revealed their discovery.

"I can't tell you how excited we are," said Jim Kennard, 64, who has spent more than half his life pursuing the Ontario. "This is the holy grail of lost ships on the Great Lakes."

The find provides a denouement to one of the region's most intriguing historical mysteries and validation for Mr. Kennard and Dan Scoville, 35, who have braved years of early mornings, rough waters and snooping shipwreck thieves in their quest for the Ontario.

At first, the twosome wasn't sure what they'd found. The Ontario appeared as a mere blip on the side-scanning sonar system that Mr. Kennard, a retired Kodak engineer, designed and built himself.

After a few more soundings, "we could see this blip had two masts, each with a crow's nest," said Mr. Kennard, who has discovered seven of Lake Ontario's estimated 500 shipwrecks in the past six years alone.

"There was only one vessel we knew of that was built like that."

Their next step was to video the ship up close using a microwave-sized remote submersible of Mr. Scoville's design.

"Right away we saw the quarter gallery, the windows in the stern, the cannons," said Mr. Kennard.

"There was no mistaking. That's when we started getting excited."

As final confirmation they summoned Mr. Smith, author of the definitive book on the Ontario.

He showed up early Tuesday. The men were soon popping champagne.

"What I saw was far beyond my wildest dreams," said Mr. Smith. "I thought she'd be covered in silt, but she looks like she might have sunk last week."

In the pitch-black water of around 4 degrees Celsius, the Ontario has aged remarkably well. Leaning on a 45-degree angle, its masts still jut straight up from its decks where several guns lie upside-down. Zebra mussels cover much of the woodwork, but a brass bell, brass cleats and the stern lantern are perfectly visible. Seven big windows across the stern still have glass.

"This is the only revolutionary-era vessel in such perfect shape," said Mr. Smith, who speculated from the positioning of the wreck that Captain James Andrews may have been racing the ship west toward calmer waters at Niagara River when hurricane-force winds knocked it over.

There was no evidence of the roughly 113 Canadian men, women, children and American prisoners who went down with the ship.

Six bodies washed ashore the year after the Ontario sunk, but the rest of the passengers - mostly Canadian soldiers from the 34th regiment - were never found.

Nobody knows for sure how many passengers perished; the British kept their prisoner counts secret.

Out of worries over looting, Mr. Kennard and Mr. Scoville are keeping the ship's location hush-hush.

"You get a bit paranoid," said Mr. Kennard. "There are all sorts of games that go on out there and this is a British Admiralty war grave."

As for the rumours of gold treasure, Mr. Smith said it was all a myth.

"Other than a bit of loose change on the captain, there would be no money on board," he said.

"Nobody has seen anything like this. That's her true value."

© Copyright 2008 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.

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Canandaigua, N.Y. - A recent survey of Canandaigua students found that children as young as kindergarten surf the Internet, with some exposed to material they said made them uncomfortable.

Among other findings: Cyber bullying - sending threatening or demeaning messages - starts as early as second grade and peaks in middle school.

Canandaigua was one of 14 districts that took part in and helped pay for the far-reaching survey of children's online experiences. Rochester Institute of Technology researchers surveyed some 40,000 students and hundreds of teachers as part of the Rochester Regional Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative. A full report on all school results will be released in July, said Samuel McQuade, graduate program coordinator at RIT's Center for Multidisciplinary Studies.

"There's never been a study like this," he said. "It's the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind."

McQuade said people often hear of predators using the Internet to lure children into meetings, but he and his colleagues wanted to learn the full scope of children's behavior online.

"We've suspected for a long time, there was much more going on," he said.

The goal is to get a handle on what children are doing online and offer tools so children can be taught to keep their information and themselves safe, McQuade said.
The Canandaigua school board got a sample of its raw numbers late last month and is awaiting the analysis of all district results, as well as information on cyber education resources.

Teachers and students were surveyed last fall. Of the 3,988 students enrolled in the fall of 2007 in the Canandaigua School District, 3,176 students participated, though not all the students answered all of the questions. Researchers grouped their results by age. Here are some of the findings.

Primary
The survey results showed that, even in kindergarten and first grade, kids have access to home computers. More than half of these children use them to surf the Internet.

A total of 129 of the 244 kindergartners and first-graders reported seeing things on the Internet that made them uncomfortable.

In second and third grades, 255 of 263 children joined the online gaming craze. Kids reported being exposed to sexual Internet communications as early as the second grade. Thirty-one out of 262 second- and third-graders were asked online to describe private things about their bodies. Twenty-three children reported being exposed to private things about someone else's body. Cyber bullying was experienced by 47 kids - some were bullied by their own friends. Thirteen kids admitted to bullying.

For the most part, these younger kids were protected by their lack of reading and writing skills, which limited their ability to understand written content or to participate in chat rooms. Although children of any age can fall prey to online abuse, the survey showed that the potential increased as they become more proficient with their language skills and acquired Internet communication skills.

Elementary
The survey showed, crimes such as illegal pirating of music, movies and software, began for many in the fourth grade.

Although risky behavior was low for 587 kids in fourth, fifth and sixth grades, a significant number were and still could be victimized by having posted personal information on the Internet. Personal interests were posted online by 81 out of 585 who answered the question, physical activities were posted by 58 out of 583, real names were used by 93, and 146 kids out of 587 said they lied about their age online.

Fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders were also asked whether they had been victimized in any way online. Of the approximately 580 children who responded:

- 58 said someone used their password without their knowledge.
- 46 said their computers, cell phones, game consoles or other electronic equipment had been stolen.
- 41 had been embarrassed online.
- 29 had been threatened or bullied.
- 14 were exposed to nude pictures or private things about someone else's body.
- 8 were asked private things about their bodies.
- 5 were asked for nude pictures of themselves.

Middle and high school
>From the middle school to the Academy, kids experienced all forms of online abuse either as victims or perpetrators.

Although cyber bullying is known to continue beyond high school, the survey showed that it peaked during middle school. Cyber bullying and abuse were more common with seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders.

About 870 students in seventh through ninth grades were asked if they had done something they shouldn't have online. The results were as follows:

- 61 said they bypassed security controls designed to keep them off certain Web sites.
- 35 embarrassed someone online.
- 43 threatened or harassed someone.
- 35 requested nude photos.
- 96 pretended to be someone else.
- 262 lied about their age.
- 43 admitted to online plagiarism.

As for the victims in this age group:
- 126 had someone impersonate them online.
- 117 reported being bullied.

Many of the victims knew the perpetrator. Some 268 reported that they had been victimized by friends.

In grades 10 through 12, fewer kids engaged in cyber bullying, but 380 kids out of 844 did engage in some form of online abuse. For example 97 admitted bypassing security measures, 451 said they downloaded music illegally and 225 said they downloaded movies illegally.

Being harassed and/or stalked online was reported by 113 kids out of 707 in this age group. Unwanted pornography was reported by 141 kids out of 709 who answered this question.

Of 520 students questioned about chatting online with strangers, 260 said they had done so.

Staff
Four in five staff members agreed that student use of electronic devices for nonacademic purposes posed a significant problem.

According to the survey, many staff members had no idea what protection school administrators had in place to prevent school computers from being abused and to keep kids safe online. One out of every six staff members felt they couldn't supervise student use of school computers properly.

Though the study included any online activity, whether at home, school or elsewhere, spokesman Andy Thomas said material on district computers is filtered.

"The district has a powerful filter system, run through BOCES, that is excellent at preventing inappropriate sites from being accessed, including the Facebook types," he said in a written statement.

"All student computer usage is monitored in classes and labs," Thomas wrote. "Student access is password protected. All students and staff sign appropriate Internet usage protocol document(s). District Web site does not post identifiable student photos with names attached, etc."

More information on the survey is available at the Rochester Regional Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative Web site: www.rrcsei.org.

Copyright © 2008 GateHouse Media Inc.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- A 22-gun British warship that sank during the American Revolution and has long been regarded as one of the 'Holy Grail' shipwrecks in the Great Lakes has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Ontario, astonishingly well-preserved in the cold, deep water, explorers announced Friday.

Shipwreck enthusiasts Jim Kennard and Dan Scoville used side-scanning sonar and an unmanned submersible to locate the HMS Ontario, which was lost with barely a trace and as many as 130 people aboard during a gale in 1780.

The 80-foot sloop of war is the oldest shipwreck and the only fully intact British warship ever found in the Great Lakes, Scoville and Kennard said.

'To have a Revolutionary War vessel that's practically intact is unbelievable. It's an archaeological miracle,' said Canadian author Arthur Britton Smith, who chronicled the history of the HMS Ontario in a 1997 book, 'The Legend of the Lake.'

The finders of the wreck said they regard it as a war grave and have no plans to raise it or remove any of its artifacts. They said the ship is still considered the property of the British Admiralty.

Although the vessel sits in an area where the water is up to 500 feet deep and cannot be reached by anyone but the most experienced divers, Kennard and Scoville declined to give its exact location, saying only that it was found off the southern shore.

The sloop was discovered resting partially on its side, with two masts extending more than 70 feet above the lake bottom.

'Usually when ships go down in big storms, they get beat up quite a bit. They don't sink nice and square. This went down in a huge storm, and it still managed to stay intact,' Scoville said. 'There are even two windows that aren't broken. Just going down, the pressure difference, can break the windows. It's a beautiful ship.'

Smith, who was shown underwater video of the find, said: 'If it wasn't for the zebra mussels, she looks like she only sunk last week.'

The dark, cold freshwater acts as a perfect preservative, Smith said. At that depth, there is no light and no oxygen to hasten decomposition, and little marine life to feed on the wood.

The Ontario went down on Oct. 31, 1780, with a garrison of 60 British soldiers, a crew of about 40, mostly Canadians, and possibly about 30 American war prisoners.

The warship had been launched only five months earlier and was used to ferry troops and supplies along upstate New York's frontier. Although it was the biggest British ship on the Great Lakes at the time, it never saw battle, Smith said.

After the ship disappeared, the British conducted a sweeping search but tried to keep the sinking secret from Gen. George Washington's troops because of the blow to the British defenses.

Hatchway gratings, the binnacle, compasses and several hats and blankets drifted ashore the next day. A few days later the ship's sails were found adrift in the lake. In 1781, six bodies from the Ontario were found near Wilson, N.Y. For the next two centuries, there were no other traces of the ship.

Explorers have been searching for the Ontario for decades, and there have been numerous false finds over the years, said Eric Bloomquist, interpretative programs manager at Old Fort Niagara.

Kennard, an electrical engineer who has been diving for nearly 40 years and has found more than 200 wrecks in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, the Finger Lakes and in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, began searching for the Ontario 35 years ago but quit after several frustrating and fruitless years.

Six years ago, he teamed up with Scoville, a diver who developed the remote-controlled submersible with students from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Since then, the pair have found seven ships in the lake.

Over the years, Kennard obtained documents from British and Canadian archives on the Ontario, including the ship's design plans. Even then, it took the pair three years of searching more than 200 square miles before they found the vessel earlier this month.

After locating the wreck with the sonar, the explorers used the submersible to confirm their find, documenting their discovery with more than 80 minutes of underwater video.

'Certainly it is one of the earliest discovered shipwrecks, if not the earliest,' said Carrie Sowden, archaeological director of the Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Center of the Great Lakes Historical Society in Vermillion, Ohio. 'And if it's in the condition they say, it's quite significant.'

A rare feature that helped identify the ship: the two crow's nests on each mast. Another was the decoratively carved scroll bow stem. The explorers also found two cannons, two anchors and the ship's bell.

The clincher was the quarter galleries on either side of the stern - a kind of balcony with windows typically placed on the sides of the stern-castle, a high, tower-like structure at the back of a ship that housed the officers' quarters.

Kennard said he and his partner have gathered enough video that it will not be necessary to return to the site. He added that they hope to make a documentary about the discovery.

There are an estimated 4,700 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, including about 500 on Lake Ontario. 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

On the Net:
Jim Kennard/Dan Scoville: http://www.shipwreckworld.com
Great Lakes Historical Society: http://www.inlandseas.org

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press

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The flag at Rochester Institute of Technology was lowered to half-staff on May 29 in memory of Alfred L. Davis, who was affectionately known on campus as "Mr. RIT" because of his 70 years of service to the university.

Mr. Davis, of Brighton, passed away May 28 at the age of 92.

"Al Davis had an unequaled impact on this university," said RIT President Bill Destler. "His contributions to RIT have been exceptional and will be felt for generations to come."

Born in 1916 in Boulder, Colo., Mr. Davis earned a bachelor's degree from Salem (N.C.) College, then a master's degree from Syracuse University in 1938.

After college, he joined RIT as an instructor in the general education department, teaching until 1941, when he began working as chief inspector for the instrument division for Bausch & Lomb. During his time there, he spent five years as president of the Rochester Society for Quality Control and was a founding member of the American Society of Quality Control.

Mr. Davis returned to RIT on a full-time basis in 1945, serving as associate director of the evening division. He held that position until 1951, when he was named director of public relations, a position he held until his promotion to vice president for development and public relations in 1960. He held that post until 1970, when he became administrative secretary to RIT's board of trustees. He was again named vice president in 1980.

The contributions Mr. Davis made to RIT can be seen throughout the campus. He also played a key role in helping raise the $65 million needed to relocate from downtown to the Henrietta campus.

His support also made it possible for RIT to build a new childcare facility - Margaret's House - which was named after his late wife, Margaret Welcher Davis. In 2004, as a gesture of thanks, RIT's Student Alumni Union cafeteria was renamed the Alfred L. Davis room.

Mr. Davis was also active in the Rochester community, having served on the board of directors of Rochester General Hospital and as director of the Hillside Children's Center, the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and the Advertising Council of Rochester. He was also extensively involved with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and was a benefactor of the organization.

"I feel his loss very keenly - we all do," said RPO Music Director Christopher Seaman. "He was someone who truly loved the orchestra, loved music, and saw it as his mission to enable us to turn our dreams into reality. Al was not an attention-seeker; he was a real gentleman and a wonderful example of someone whose heart is in the right place. His integrity was matched by his extraordinary generosity."

Through the RPO Steinway Piano Fund, Mr. Davis made it possible for the RPO to replace its 12-year-old Steinway concert grand piano, which was in desperate need of a complete overhaul or replacement.

"On behalf of the entire RPO family, we are all grateful to have known Al Davis and to have received the benefits of his generosity," said Seaman. "We cherish his memory as a true example of humanity."

A memorial service for Mr. Davis is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday, June 21 in the Schmitt Interfaith Center on the RIT campus. Memorial contributions can be made to First Baptist Church, 175 Allens Creek Road, Rochester, NY 14618; Rochester Philharmonic, Development Office, 108 East Ave., Rochester, NY 14604; or Margaret's House at RIT, 112 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623.

Copyright © 2008 GateHouse Media Inc.

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Rochester Institute of Technology signed an agreement Monday to open a campus in the Middle Eastern city of Dubai, the school announced.

The campus, RIT Dubai, is set to open in the fall. Initial offerings will focus on part-time graduate students in fields such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, finance, human resource development, networking and systems administration and service leadership and innovation.

The Rochester Business Journal first reported on the planned Dubai campus in December.

By 2009, graduate offerings will extend to full-time graduate students and include telecommunications, facility management, industrial engineering and manufacturing management and leadership. In 2010, RIT Dubai will begin offering undergraduate programs to full-time students.

RIT Dubai will be part of Dubai Silicon Oasis, a 7.2-square-kilometer complex that will include a high-tech park, housing, retail, banks and conference centers.

"This is an historic day for RIT as we continue to increase the number of global opportunities for our students," RIT president William Destler said. "Dubai is a cosmopolitan city, and it is exciting that RIT will strengthen relationships with multi-national companies located in the United Arab Emirates.

"Part of our global strategy is to provide companies a pipeline with a capable work force already exposed to living, learning and working in a multicultural environment."

Dubai will invest in building a full-fledged campus, including an academic center, recreational facilities and living quarters for students and faculty. RIT will provide academic content, leadership and management of the university.

Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammad Al-Maktoum, has established a $10 billion foundation to support human development in the Arab world with a major focus on providing scholarships to enhance higher education in the region.

"The region is rapidly advancing towards a knowledge-based economy and affiliations with reputed international academic institutions will considerably benefit the UAE," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority. "RIT's presence in the hi-tech park in Dubai will significantly add to the strength and diversity of Dubai's higher educational sector, while facilitating the creation of a competent resource pool of technologically talented professionals."

The school will be led by Mustafa Abushagur, RIT microsystems engineering professor, who initiated talks with Dubai more than two years ago and led the project. It is expected to attract students from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa and create opportunities for study and co-op for RIT students, as well as faculty exchanges.

"RIT is on the ground floor of one of the premier projects in Dubai," said James Watters, RIT senior vice president for finance and administration. "This is exciting because we will eventually be granting RIT degrees and have RIT alumni in this region of the world. This will provide RIT with networking and lifetime contacts on a global scale."

Copyright © 2008 Rochester Business Journal

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At some point, the price of gas would become too much. At some point, motorists would decide they were finally going to make a change.

Some point came this year, when the price of a gallon of gasoline passed $4. And it's only getting worse, as the average price hit $4.18 Monday in metropolitan Buffalo, up by 32 percent from a year ago.

Evidence that drivers are changing their behavior is everywhere.

*Ridership on public transportation is up in dozens of metro areas.

*Bicycle shops are seeing sales increase and say the buyers are there not for exercise, but to save money.

*Companies are trying to help employees start car pools or facilitating telecommuting.

What follows are stories of some local people who have made changes that they felt forced to make.

***

The full-sized conversion van was a good buy 10 years ago when John Carey and his wife had five young children and a dog to cart around. But with only three children still living in their Niagara Falls home -- two of whom are now of driving age -- the van had become a relic.

What's more, it's a gas hog that got 15 miles per gallon. "It had to go," Carey said. He donated the van to City Mission a few months ago and decided to see if he and his family could get by on their remaining car, an old, compact Chevy Prism.

That's when he began taking a good, hard look at the Trek 10-speed bike that had been collecting dust in his garage for the last year. If he biked to work, he figured, he would save on gas, get some exercise and reduce the family's driving burden.

So he got the bad rear wheel fixed and started taking it to work last

month.

Carey, a fire captain at Fire House 9 on Military Road, had a four-mile commute by car. That one-way ride is six miles by bike because Carey, 47, takes the bike path along the Robert Moses Parkway to get to work.

It's a 30-minute leisurely bike ride to work in good weather, he said, 20 minutes if he's in a hurry. When the weather is poor, his wife drops him off. Otherwise, he said, he finds sharing the bike path with other bikers, runners and skaters more pleasant than driving.

He's also saving more than $100 in gas each month.

Carey says he will bike for as long as the good weather lasts.

After summer, however, his family will likely look at getting another car. There's no denying that being a one-car family has meant sacrifices, he said.

The next car just won't be a gas hog like the van.

-- Sandra Tan

***

With a daily commute from Colden to Grand Island, Steve Ockler is really feeling the pinch from gas prices.

He drives a Hyundai Elantra, no gas guzzler, but he calculated that making his 76-mile, round-trip commute five days a week would cost him $200 in gas per month.

That's why he started carpooling in mid-April with co-worker Bob Atwood, who lives in Orchard Park.

"I guess you don't think about it, and all of a sudden you see gas prices climbing. It just kept climbing," said Ockler, 57, who works in sales for GP:50, which manufactures pressure instrumentation.

Ockler and Atwood are among a number of Western New Yorkers driven to carpooling by the cost of commuting.

Some turned to neighbors and co-workers, while others sought partners on Web sites such as www.goodgoingwny.com or wnycarpool.com.

Area companies are pushing ride-sharing, too, with Ecology & Environment leading a large contingent of businesses that encouraged carpooling on Earth Day in April.

"As long as [your company] is big enough, you can always find someone close enough to you to make it work," said Eric Lindstrom, an associate vice president at Cannon Design who started carpooling in January and who leads that firm's "green" initiatives.

Ockler and Atwood, 45, GP:50's director of sales, generally carpool two or three days per week, depending on Atwood's travel schedule.

The two old friends meet at the NFTA Park & Ride in Orchard Park, at Routes 219 and 20A, at 7:30 a.m. and drive in together in Ockler's Elantra or Atwood's Isuzu Rodeo.

Atwood acknowledges that if gas were still $1 a gallon, they wouldn't be carpooling, but he has observed that they are hardly alone in adjusting their driving habits.

"I've noticed," Atwood said, "that [the Park & Ride] lot is getting fuller and fuller."

-- Stephen T. Watson

***

Caroline Garas, a pre-med student at Canisius College, has a great summer job at a biochemistry lab at UB's South Campus.

Just one problem.

"Limited funds," said the 20-year-old, who lives in Clarence with her family.

That's really a dilemma when your car is a mid-1990s Nissan sedan that gets only 18 miles per gallon or so and is in "very bad shape" to boot.

So Garas drives a few miles to the NFTA's Transitown Park & Ride lot and hops a bus for the 13-mile ride to her job.

"It's so easy," Garas said on a recent late afternoon as she exited the bus, one of the NFTA's hybrids. Her bus ride on Main Street -- portions of which are notorious for bumper-to-bumper commuter traffic -- takes about 25 minutes.

And since she's not doing the driving, she's not stressing out. Instead, she relaxes. "I read or whatever," she said.

That route now has 118 daily riders, an 11 percent increase since 2006, said NFTA spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer.

Another newcomer as of this month is Phil Teibel of Williamsville, production and facilities manager for WNED-TV downtown. Teibel said he reads or enjoys the scenery for the 25- to 30-minute trip -- about five minutes longer than when he was driving his 1994 Acura.

The change wasn't "a necessity" for him. But he's giving it a try now that WNED has joined an NFTA program called Metro Advantage. It allows employees to pay for monthly bus passes with pretax dollars.

For Teibel, that equals about $49 a month -- a savings of about 50 percent over driving his car.

He wishes there were more express buses for him to use, but so far the experience has been "generally good."

-- Niki Cervantes

***

Martin Gordon keeps his Toyota Camry hybrid out of the left lane when he commutes from Clarence to Rochester.

Gordon, a professor of mechanical engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, drives from his home in Clarence to RIT four to five times per week during the school year. Buying a hybrid and slowing down are some of Gordon's weapons in the battle against gas costs.

"I've noticed if I cut my speed by 6 to 7 mph, I get five miles more per gallon," he said.

With classes ended, the summer provides temporary relief from the long commute, but his consulting work at Moog in East Aurora requires that he be on the road all year long.

Gordon is trying to save some cash not only by how he drives, but what he drives. The Camry hybrid he purchased a year ago gets nearly 40 miles per gallon.

"It sort of forced me to buy a new car," Gordon said of his job in Rochester. "I knew I wanted a car that was better on gas."

In January 2007, Gordon's old Saturn broke down, and he was forced to drive his family's second car, the fuel-guzzling Ford F150. That was his inspiration for buying a hybrid.

Living so far from where he worked was only supposed to be temporary for Gordon and his family. Originally from Rochester, he attended the University at Buffalo and, after graduation in 1982, stayed in Western New York.

Gordon and his wife and two daughters planned on moving when he was hired at RIT in 1995, but affordable living and an affinity for the area enticed them to stay.

Even with Gordon's long commute, he ranks second to his wife, Jill, in racking up miles. Jill Gordon works in home health and drives all over Western New York to get to her clients.

The couple's 17-year-old daughter, Amanda, has recently inherited the F150. Their younger daughter, Abby, is 15 and will be behind the wheel soon, prompting Gordon to lament, "We're definitely a high-mileage family."

-- Andrew Rafferty

***

Coleen Czechowski of Alden not only changed her driving habits to offset ever-increasing gasoline prices, she changed her lifestyle.

A travel agent for Gorge Travel in Lewiston, Czechowski has a daily commute of 100 miles. Three tanks of gas for her "crossover" vehicle at roughly $60 a pop.

Czechowski said she buys gas only on the Native American reservation, using a credit card that pays her a 5 percent rebate. She combines trips, stopping at the bank, grocery store, post office or library on her way to or from work.

For Thruway driving, she sets cruise control at 55 and notices the miles-per-gallon reading jump a couple of notches. Having an E-ZPass to cruise through toll plazas is a "no-brainer," Czechowski said.

There are other adjustments she has made that aren't necessarily driving-related but enable her to save money for gas, she said. Those changes began several years ago, after travel industry workers felt the ripple effect from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I increased my deductible on my car insurance, my home insurance and even my health insurance," Czechowski said. "That's about a week's worth of gas for the year."

Coupon-clipping. Shopping at discount stores for sale items. Paying most bills online. By doing the last one, "I save about $8 a month," Czechowski said. "That's $96 a year. That's about a tank and a half of gas."

This past winter, Czechowski signed up for a 13-session financial-planning course offered at Alden Mennonite Church, thinking: "If I came out of it learning one thing, it was worth it."

One thing she learned was to ask businesses if they offered discounts for cash payments on big-ticket items. She got the answer on the third call while pricing a dog fence.

"I saved $250 just by asking a question," Czechowski said. And that's six tanks of gas, she notes.

"It all sounds like nickels and dimes," Czechowski said, "but when you add it all up, it's a whole lot of money."

-- Janice L. Habuda

***

Coping with surging gas prices

*Americans took 85 million more trips on public transportation in the first three months of this year than in the same period last year.

*Carpooling has seen a dramatic rise.

*Bicycle shops across the country, and in WNY, are reporting strong sales this year.

*Telecommuting (working from home) has increased as the price of gas has rise

Copyright © 2008 The Buffalo News

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Henrietta, N.Y. - A delegation from Rochester Institute of Technology, led by President Bill Destler, today signed an agreement with several high-ranking officials from Dubai and the royal family to open a new campus in the Middle East city.

RIT Dubai, the name of the new campus, will be a part of Dubai Silicon Oasis, a 7.2-square-kilometer complex that will include a high-tech park, housing, retail, banks, conference centers and more. Dubai Silicon Oasis is being called the "world's premier high-technology park for microelectronics and semiconductor research, development and production" by Dubai officials.

RIT Dubai will be in the heart of the multi-billion dollar complex created by the Dubai government. Dubai will invest in building a full-fledged campus; including academic center, living quarters for students and faculty and recreational facility. RIT will provide academic content, leadership and management of the university.

"This is an historic day for RIT as we continue to increase the number of global opportunities for our students," said Destler. "Dubai is a cosmopolitan city and it is exciting that RIT will strengthen relationships with multi-national companies located in the United Arab Emirates. Part of our global strategy is to provide companies a pipeline with a capable workforce already exposed to living, learning and working in a multi-cultural environment."

In September, initial offerings at RIT Dubai will focus on part-time graduate students in fields such as: electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, finance, human resource development, networking and systems administration and service leadership and innovation. By 2009, graduate offerings will extend to full-time graduate students and include, telecommunications, facility management, industrial engineering and manufacturing management and leadership. In 2010, RIT Dubai will begin offering undergraduate programs to full-time students.

The partnership will create unique study and co-op abroad opportunities for RIT students. RIT expects the establishment of RIT Dubai to create significant opportunities for faculty exchange as well.

"RIT is on the ground floor of one of the premier projects in Dubai," said Jim Watters, senior vice president, Finance and Administration. "This is exciting because we will eventually be granting RIT degrees and have RIT alumni in this region of the world. This will provide RIT with networking and lifetime contacts on a global scale."

Copyright © 2008 GateHouse Media Inc.

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Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT US), one of the worlds leading universities, will establish a campus at the Dubai Silicon Oasis under a deal signed today.

Dr. William W Destler, president of RIT, signed the agreement on behalf of the US-based private university of higher education while Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, represented DSO.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The agreement establishes RIT Dubai as a world-class university with an unwavering commitment to academic excellence. The university will open in August 2008.

Dubai Silicon Oasis has allocated around 3 million sq ft of land for the development of a fully fledged Academic Complex comprising the university campus, an academic centre, dormitory, and recreational facilities for students and the faculty. Furthermore, RIT will provide academic content, oversee the management of the university, and provide its internationally recognized and certified degrees.

The development of RIT Dubai will be undertaken in two phases; the first will offer Masters Degrees at the DSOA Headquarters, while the second will offer Bachelors degrees within the university campus in the Silicon Oasis.

Commenting on this initiative, Sheikh Ahmed said: "The region is rapidly advancing towards a knowledge-based economy and affiliations with reputed international academic institutions will considerably benefit the UAE. As our fast developing economy gears up to face more challenges, the fundamental role of technology in every sector assumes greater significance.

"RIT's presence in the hi-tech park in Dubai will significantly add to the strength and diversity of Dubais higher educational sector, while facilitating the creation of a skilled pool of talented professionals, especially within the field of technology."

Located within the DSO premises, RIT Dubai will initially cater to full-time employees looking to pursue their master degree. Students will be able to concentrate their studies on various disciplines within the fields of: Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Networking Security and Systems Administration, Human Resource Development, Finance, Project Management, Computer Information Assurance, and Service Leadership and Innovation. University officials anticipate that graduate degree programs to increase by 2009 to include computer engineering, telecommunications, facilities management, and manufacturing management and leadership. Furthermore, RIT Dubai is expected to offer undergraduate programs, over the course of the coming years, to full-time students in a variety of fields similar to those being offered at the graduate level.

Dr. Mohammed Al Zarouni, vice chairman and CEO of DSOA, said: "We are delighted to sign this agreement with RIT, especially with education being a core aspect of our value proposition. DSO is confident that RIT Dubai will directly contribute towards creating next generation professionals equipped with the skills to meet stringent industry demands. This will definitely contribute to the emirates objective to grow into a full-fledged knowledge-based economy by 2015, as envisioned in the Dubai Strategic Plan."

Dr. Destler said: "Dubai is the perfect fit for RIT, given the universitys strategic plan to enhance global opportunities for our students. The proximity will also strengthen RITs relationship and reputation among multi-national corporations by providing them with a competent workforce that is already exposed to operating in a multi-cultural environment."

Dr. Mustafa A.G. Abushagur, president/dean of RIT Dubai, said: "This is a great opportunity for RIT and DSOA to partner in creating a world-class university in the UAE. RIT Dubai will become a beacon of higher education that attracts top students from India all the way to Morocco."

Founded in 1829, RIT is an internationally recognized leader in professional and career-oriented education enrolling 16,000 students from more than 95 countries. RIT offers more than 300 BS, MS, MFA, MBA, and Ph D programs in engineering, technology, computing and information sciences, business, and the arts at its main campus in Rochester, New York. Furthermore, there are more than 900 additional students pursuing degrees at RIT's international locations.

Copyright 2008 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group

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Tom Coughlin is coach of the reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants, and he's the first to tell you he honed many of his skills coaching RIT in the early 1970s.

Coughlin spent the 1971-73 seasons with the Tigers, compiling a 16-15-2 record

"You'd be surprised," the Waterloo native said Wednesday before receiving the Major Don Holleder Award at the 59th annual Rochester Press-Radio Club Day of Champions Dinner. "We went from club to varsity, and I was the only full-time coach. I did everything: I booked Motel 6's, booked buses, made schedules ... When I went to Jacksonville (as the first coach of the NFL's Jaguars), I was hired to literally start a franchise.

"I was the seventh employee and I hired everyone in football operations. It was easier, because I had been through it at RIT."

When the Giants played the unbeaten New England Patriots in the Super Bowl last February, more than 70 former RIT players gathered at the Radisson Inn to watch their former mentor guide his team to an upset win.

"That meant a lot," Coughlin said, "because those guys played for the pure love of the game."

Upset? What upset? Coughlin understood his Giants were taking on a team one win away from being ranked among the greatest of all time, but he was undeterred.

"We were consistently told we couldn't win, but we felt good about ourselves," he said. "We refused to be beaten. We won our playoff games by 20 total points."

Other than being married and having children, Coughlin says winning a Super Bowl is the greatest feeling in the world.

"And second is having your family there," he said. "They're the world champions, too."

Copyright © 2008 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

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Robert Ulin has been named the dean of Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Liberal Arts, officials announced Thursday.

Ulin, who begins his duties at RIT Aug. 1, is the chairman of the department of anthropology at Western Michigan University and an international expert in the theory and anthropology of work.

He replaces Glenn Kist, a history professor named interim dean in 2006.

"Dr. Ulin's teaching, administrative and scholarship record, as well as his approach to liberal arts, is a great fit for the College of Liberal Arts," incoming Provost Jeremy Haefner said in a statement. "I am very appreciative of the hard work that the search committee put into this process."

At Western Michigan, Ulin focused on enhancing the national reputation of the department and increasing interdisciplinary ties with other academic units. This included collaborating with the school's department of history to create a joint graduate certificate program in ethnohistory. Ulin previously served as chairman of the department of sociology and anthropology at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., from 1993 to 1998.

Ulin has written three books and lectured and written widely on the topic of the wine industry in various cultures. He is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and a member of the Fulbright Senior Specialists Roster, a collection of leading scholars chosen by the Fulbright Foundation and the U.S. Department of State to lecture abroad and pursue cooperative programs with foreign universities.

"I am very excited about assuming the position of dean of the College of Liberal Arts because the college has an outstanding faculty that already has in place innovative programs and an interest in building new programmatic ties to other colleges at RIT," Ulin said. "I am eager to work with liberal arts faculty to implement their strategic plan and to develop a stronger profile for the college in terms of both interdisciplinary programs and programs that have a focused global direction."

Copyright © 2008 Rochester Business Journal

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Digital print is set to lead the professional print market by 2020 with trends continuing towards short-run volumes and print-on-demand, according to a new study.

The Canon-commissioned 'Insight Report: Digital Printing Directions' report interviewed 600 printers and predicted good news for small print businesses due to advances in workflow and technology.

It claimed copy shops and quick printers will evolve their range of services to adapt to a new digital age.

2020 is also pinned as the year that print runs finally end their decline with threats posed by global competition and electronic media, including the internet, 'finally reach their end'.

The report highlights that as many as one in five print jobs will be for run lengths as low as one copy with more than half of all print jobs today coming in at less than 2,000 copies.

The report was researched and written by Professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Frank Romano, and a team of graduate students.

Romano said: 'In 1951, an article in a British magazine said that offset lithography was 'only good for quick and dirty printing'. There were plenty of articles published in the 1990s that echo this sentiment when digital printing was first introduced.

'Now, a little more than 10 years later, there is an awful lot more respect being shown for the technology,' he said.

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College Students Across America Show Their Creative Side

A woman backlit by a haunting glow. An old man sitting in a bubble bath. A road surrounded by sunflowers. A young girl standing in a room surrounded in pink.

These are just a few of the appealing images that captured the attention of judges as winners of the MyShot08(TM) photo contest. Seventeen college students from across the country took home prizes for their creativity. The winning entries can be viewed at http://www.myshot08.com. The MyShot08 contest, sponsored by Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX), FUJIFILM, USA, Inc., Adobe(R) Systems Inc., and H&H Color Lab, showcased the talents of a new generation of photographers working in emerging digital printing applications.

The students were challenged to create innovative and aesthetically striking photo specialty products using Web-based templates in three categories: photo books, greeting cards and calendars. Contest judges reviewed more than 200 submissions.

'We were very impressed with the quality and creativity of the entries, and were fascinated by how the students used the three template types, fitting their creative visions into each of them,' said lead contest judge and professional photographer George Kamper. 'The first year of the contest was a great success and students really took to the idea of marrying digital photography to the exciting possibilities of these hot specialty photo applications.'

Jenee' Jones, a junior photography major at Virginia Commonwealth University, won 'best of show' honors for her greeting card. Jones' photograph made use of light and shadow to depict a woman in a standing pose. Kamper said Jones' photograph was the best image of the show.

As the MyShot08 best of show winner, Jones will have the opportunity to be mentored and work side-by-side with Kamper at a photo shoot, receive a Fujifilm Infrared camera valued at $3,000 and a $500 printing credit at H&H Color Lab.

Jones, 20, of Charles City, Va., said the contest was a learning experience for her.

'When I entered the contest I looked on the Web site at the entries and thought there was no way I could win,' she said. 'I've never been on a real photo shoot, so it will be interesting to learn from a pro - to see how they use the lighting and to watch how shoots are conducted.'

MyShot08 winners and honorable mentions for each category are:

Calendar category, 80 entries:

First Place - JC Martins; Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria, Va.
Second Place - Joshua Hultquist; Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Third Place - Jean-Philippe Dobrin; Academy of Art University
Honorable Mention - Katrina Eugenia; Pratt Institute, New York
Honorable Mention - Ian Aleksander Adams; Savannah College of Art and Design

Greeting Card category, 106 entries:
First Place - Jill Chu; Academy of Art University
Second Place - Jean-Philippe Dobrin, Academy of Art University
Third Place - Ian Aleksander Adams; Savannah College of Art and Design
Honorable Mention - Jui-Hung Chien; Academy of Art University
Honorable Mention - Anastasia Jantz; Savannah College of Art and Design

Photo Book category, 46 entries:
First Place - Briana Johnson; Rochester Institute of Technology
Second Place - Tonja Gabryshak; Edmonds Community College, Lynwood, Wash.
Third Place - Sara D'Eugenio; Virginia Commonwealth University
Honorable Mention - Katrina Eugenia; Pratt Institute
Honorable Mention - Tara Van Der Linden; Pratt Institute

First, second and third place MyShot08 winners will receive MasterCard gift cards, print credit at H&H Color Lab and Adobe software. Two honorable mentions were added to each category by the judges because they felt the quality of submissions warranted more recognition.

Virginia Commonwealth University will receive an award for having the most students submit entries and will be rewarded for producing the best of show winner. The VCU prize package includes a $3,500 donation to their photography program, a FujiFilm S5 camera, a $250 print credit at H&H Color Lab and up to $3,000 in Adobe software.

America also had its chance to be heard by voting online for its favorite entry. University of Maine at Augusta student Brandi Dyer received the most votes from Web users, more than 24,000, for her multi-color greeting card submission and will receive an Apple(R) iPod(R) Touch valued at $300 and a $250 print credit at H&H Color Lab.

Kamper was joined in the judging by well-known professional photographers Jamey Stillings, Salem Krieger and Jean Miele and industry print expert Jim Hamilton, group director, On Demand Printing & Publishing, InfoTrends, a leading industry research and consulting firm.

Each student who entered the MyShot08 photo contest received one copy of their work professionally printed by H&H Color Lab on a Xerox DocuColor(R) 240 Digital Color Printer/Copier, for their own use.

© 2008 Forbes.com LLC

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PENFIELD - Like other young people in the 1950s, Tony Machi empathized with the adolescent angst of James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. But what truly captured him about the film was the pure magic of movies.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to be a part of that?'" he said, remembering the time his father took him to the theater as a 10-year-old growing up in Pittsburgh.

The young Machi searched the closing credits for a job he could aspire to. "Art director" caught his eye, even at that young age and without knowing details of the job.

After a stint as a studio and performance artist, the 60-year-old Penfield resident has successfully blended his passions for creativity and storytelling, producing and directing over the past three decades two dozen nationally broadcast documentaries, the latest of which, Albert Paley: In Search of the Sentinel, earned him a New York Emmy Award.

"When it comes to the artistic mastery of metal, there is no equal to American sculptor Albert Paley," narrates actor Jane Alexander as she opens the film in which Machi documents the gray-ponytailed Paley's nine-week process in 2003 of erecting the 73-foot, 130-ton Sentinel sculpture at the Rochester Institute of Technology campus.

While Machi centers the documentary on the Sentinel, he goes back and forth from Rochester to other recent Paley projects in Columbia, Mo.; Perry, Iowa; Cleveland; Washington, D.C.; and St. Louis.

Former RIT President Albert Simone called Paley's work "physical poetry."

For it to be shown on PBS affiliates across the country, Machi melted down more than 100 hours of footage into one - all edited on his laptop. Since it first hit the air in April 2007, Albert Paley: In Search of the Sentinel has been shown more than 1,600 times in three-quarters of the PBS markets nationwide.

"I think the reason that it has had such phenomenal success is because it shows process, and people love process," said Machi, who had never entered any of his previous two dozen films in the state Emmy competition run by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

Paley, who has known Machi for more than 20 years and has been the subject of three of his documentaries, said one of Machi's strengths is that his work is usually pure documentation and not contrived.

"A good documentary gives a perceptual window into a given activity, and because it was unobtrusive, there was an intimacy about it, and he captured things that you normally wouldn't see with the development of a work," Paley said of In Search of the Sentinel.

Machi spent time as a potter and performance artist before dipping into the film world.

Since moving to the Rochester area in 1979, he has produced two dozen documentaries, most of which focus on art or social issues. His first, Star Spangled Spenders, probed the mismanagement and deficit spending by the federal government.

He is currently working on documentaries on Buffalo Bill Cody, same-sex marriage and a fourth project with Paley.

With every documentary he makes, Machi's goal is to become a better storyteller, and although he is a filmmaker, he also considers himself an artist.

"There are many things that you can say about what an artist is and what an artist does, but I think one of the most important things that an artist is supposed to do is to investigate the unknown," Machi said.

"The better artists like Albert Paley step up to the edge and look into the abyss, and they say 'I don't know how to create this thing,' and they jump in. If you ever want to create your masterpiece, that's where you have to go, and that's what you have to do."

Copyright ©2008 Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

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Miriam Estela Jurado

Personal: Single.

Occupation: Senior Staff Engineer for the Center of Integrated Manufacturing Studies, a unit of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Community activities: Former youth mentor with the Red Cross; Former President for the Rochester chapter of Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; contributed to Mathematics and Engineering Science summer program for Hispanic students; graduate of United Way's 2007 Latino Leadership Development Program and Circulo Latino member; involved in church ministries and missions.

My favorite thing to do in Rochester: In the cooler months I head to the Little Theater or the Eastman Theater. During the warmer months I prefer the outdoors and rollerblade or bike along the canal. I also like to frequent the public market and the various festivals and concerts.

Biggest challenge I've overcome and how I did it: Working as a young Latina in a male-dominated field, the feeling of isolation has been a big personal challenge. I felt like quitting engineering on more than one occasion, first as a student and then as a professional. Through the support of my family and friends, in addition to good mentors (technical and personal), I've managed to keep the course. I would not be here if it weren't for their constant encouragement, and those experiences have given me insight to mentor and encourage others to do the same.

One thing I've always wanted to do but never have: Run the New York City marathon.

Something people don't know about me: I love travel and learning languages. In October I traveled to Tacuarembo, Uruguay, to help build a church. It was very rewarding to give a congregation a place to meet after 17 years without a place of worship. Recently I vacationed in the Philippines with a group of friends.

The one thing I can't live without: Faith.

The song that best describes my life: "His Eye is on the Sparrow."

Favorite guilty meal: I would skip the guilt meal and eat dessert first -- ice cream!

Favorite artist or musician: It's hard to pick one. I enjoy a wide range of musical styles from jazz to salsa. I'm currently listening to "Flor de Amor" by Omara Portuondo.

Actress I'd like to portray me in a movie about my life: Who else better than myself!

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Name: Becca Nelson

Position: Project assistant

Organization: VanDamme Associates

Location: Pittsford, New York (currently working in Ongata Rongai, Kenya)

Organization size: 23 staff

Role: A jack-of-all-trades around the VanDamme offices, helping with managing resources for web projects, sales writing and coordinating, and product testing and documentation.

History: Nelson has worked as a full-time nanny, a brand ambassador, and a writer. But her passion is hands-on, international philanthropic work. She has studied in Croatia; visited Italy, Bosnia, and Serbia and Montenegro; and volunteered in Ramallah in the Palestinian territories and in Bethlehem.

While in the West Bank, she taught children guitar and English, helped disabled refugees, and worked on two websites. Currently, she is spending three months working for a nongovernmental organization in Kenya, and her hope is to spend at least three months a year volunteering outside of the United States in the future.

Nelson originally became a part of the VanDamme team through a co-op program during her undergraduate years at Rochester Institute of Technology. (She will finish a masters degree in professional studies, also through RIT, this fall.) At VanDamme, she has worked as a technical writer, a bug tester, in sales, and in marketing; currently, due to her annual volunteer trips, the company has created a new position for her that takes advantage of her skills when she is stateside but doesn't create a huge gap during the three months of the year that she is abroad. Nelson greatly appreciates the flexibility and support she has received from her employers.

Voluntary impact: Nelson enjoys traveling, gathering new experiences, and meeting new people. But her time volunteering abroad has shown her the depth of need in many poverty-stricken areas outside the United States. Nelson says, In the States, we often have to search for a volunteer opportunity that will fit, or make sure there is really need before we give. Here, opportunities abound. And any person who tries really changes things.

She also gains inspiration from a quote from a friend she met in Kenya: Just because you cant help everyone doesn't mean you cant help someone.

5:00 a.m.: I normally wake up early, even on Saturdays, to use the internet while its still pretty fast. As soon as others begin to wake up and get online, working on websites and online courses just isn't possible.

6:30 a.m.: I go to prayer with some friends. Afterwards, we often go for a run in the gorgeous countryside before the sun is too hot. Ive actually seen gazelles, baboons, and 28 zebras during my runs or walks in the morning!

8:30 a.m.: I pack up my computer, my curriculum, and a mango, and Im ready to leave for class. My apartment is at Africa Nazarene University in Ongata Rongai, 10 kilometers outside Nairobi. To get to work, I march three kilometers through the village to the terrifying public minivan (matatu) stage. Matatus are, legally speaking, 14-person vans that actually seat up to 25 if you're unlucky, and they are known for having wild drivers and blaring music videos. Think of a rolling club with holes in the floor, passing other cars on a curve while pieces are falling off of the van.

Today, I pay 40 bob (50 cents-ish) and board a large matatu called The Rebel toward the city. I alight at Mbagathi Road, my own six-kilometer, uphill shortcut, which I use to avoid going downtown and getting another bus.

It's hot--very hot by this points--so I drink water and try to go a bit faster.

10:30 a.m.: I arrive at class, where my students are always almost an hour early and ready to learn. Is the internet working? No. Thats okay! Today well work on non-web computer basics. I usually change my curriculum on the fly.

11:00 a.m.: I teach Microsoft Word and internet basics for two hours, speaking as slowly as possible and waiting for feedback. Its difficult to teach computer lessons with no overhead or PowerPointI usually walk about another five kilometers around the room going from computer to computer.

1:30 p.m.: After class, I meet with a pastor, who is also one of my students, to discuss his children's ministries and how we can organize people and funds to begin a school in the surrounding slum of Kware. Todays meeting is about budget; we need to cut the one we have, so we can get started as soon as possible.

I've been fundraising in the States and feel confident that its okay to give to this particular startup. With the money raised since I began working here, we have enough to open a school for 60 children. As soon as the school is begun (facilities are prepared), I will completely back out of the project. What Im looking to provide is a beginning the community can run with.

2:30 p.m.: I take another bus to the other side of the city, to a school just like the one we are starting. It began as a kindergarten in a church because there was no local public school, and more and more children came because of its reputation. I take photos for a website and spend time teaching the kids for a few minutes, being bombarded with How are you? and MZUNGU! (white girl) shrieked in tiny voices. Next theres tea (in Kenya, theres always tea) and a short meeting with the headmaster, who gives me more advice.

I have managed to get contact information for a possible connection with Feed the Children. Networking is as important here as in the States, and most people working in nonprofits here, whether faith based, water and sanitation, or children's programs, all want to help each other help others. No competition, just pure networking.

While the new school will be able to sustain itself on a long-term basis without any outside funds, it will be easier to feed the kids if we can receive aid. None of our school-aged kids in Kware will be able to stay awake or even walk to school without fainting if we do not feed them daily. During my first visit to Kware, kids laid on benches through a church service, too tired to sing, stand, or go play.

4:30 p.m.: I start the hot ride back to the city. A long matatu ride home during rush hour can take upwards of three hours to go 15 miles. I usually spend time texting directors of the other programs I am starting--notably one in the Mwiki slums. Guardians and single parents are working together to plant and harvest a field, make jewelry for me to take home and sell online, and make soaps to sell in the community. Todays text concerns materials for the jewelry. Family Focus (our new name) is asking for a 5,000 shilling ($90 U.S.) loan to get started. I'm confident that the beautiful things they've created will bring many times that in the States.

6:30 p.m.: I walk back up the road to the university where I live. Then I enjoy Kenyan food for dinner in our dining hall. Its my favorite--matoke (stewed bananas). I cant lie, its been difficult here for me as a chicken and fishitarian. Meat is for lunch and dinner almost every day. Sometimes it is accompanied by oil-covered cabbage or fried frozen peas or kales; we alternate. As my friend warned me, In the States, we eat the vegetables. Here, the animals eat the vegetables, and we eat the animals.

After dinner, I go back to my room, where a few friends stop by for Scrabble. We drink tea, I win, and they head home before the dogs come out. Every evening, around 11:50, at least 35 dogs are released on our campus to guard against animals/predators; they're very noisy, and I'm terrified of them.

It's late. I get ready to work on my online courses and websites. That is, if the internet works tonight

© Copyright 2008 ASAE & The Center

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