BURLINGTON, Vt.–Champlain College announced it has hired two new deans as part of a restructuring of the Colleges academic divisions. Dr. Jeffrey Rutenbeck of the University of Denver was named dean of the Communication and Creative Media Division and Dr. Wayne H. J. Cunningham of Iona College was appointed dean of the Business Division. The new deans join the College in July, bringing with them a wealth of experience in their fields.Rutenbeck takes the helm of Champlains newly formed Communication and Creative Media Division, having most recently served as the director of Digital Media Studies at the University of Denver. Rutenbeck founded that innovative program, which integrates design, technical and critical approaches to digital media; it is one of the Universitys fastest growing programs.Rutenbecks professional background includes working for and consulting for Microsoft, as well as consulting for Time Warner, US Air Force Space Command and the Guangzhou Daily Press Group in China. He was the founding president of the International Digital Media and Arts Association and is now the chairman of the board.Jeff is a national leader in digital media and he has a long history of innovative program development, said Dr. Russell Willis, Champlains provost and chief academic officer. Hes an award-winning teacher who was highly respected at the University of Denver.Rutenbeck received his doctorate in communication from the University of Washington. He earned a bachelors degree at Colorado College and a masters in journalism at University of Missouri-Columbia.Cunningham becomes the dean of the restructured Business Division. He most recently served as dean of the Hagan School of Business at Iona College in New York. Before Iona, he was director of the MBA Program and the interim dean of Dexter Hanley College for adult and non-traditional students at the University of Scranton.At the Hagan School, Cunningham developed a new vision for the school and moved forward the accreditation process. Throughout his career, he has been a leader in establishing business programs, speaker series, internships and advising programs. He has taught business, management, and operations management and statistics at Iona College, University of Scranton, Bucknell University, University of North Florida and The Pennsylvania State University. He also taught a special MBA course at Tongji University in Shanghai, China.Wayne brings both administrative experience at the dean level and an entrepreneurial spirit to the new business division, Willis said. His expertise in accreditation and assessment will serve the College and the division very well.Cunningham received his doctorate in business administration at The Pennsylvania State University, as well as his MBA and bachelors degree.In May, Champlain College restructured and renamed its four academic divisions to increase their academic and administrative effectiveness. Our restructuring allows us to link programs more easily for faculty collaboration, marketing and alliances with the business community, Willis said.The new divisions were three years in the making. They are:· the Communication & Creative Media Division· the Business Division· the Information Technology & Sciences Division· the Education & Human Studies DivisionThe new division deans will serve as strategic academic leaders with a special focus on faculty and program quality, tuition revenue and fundraising for their programs. They will oversee new program development, including additional graduate programs in their fields. The deans will establish strategic plans for their divisions that express the Colleges strategic plan, Willis said. They will be advocates for academic excellence.The new deans will also be faculty members who interact with students on a regular basis. Theyll be leaders with respect to our students, too, Willis said.The College will turn its attention to hiring two deans for the Information Technology & Sciences Division and the Education & Human Studies Division. They would start work in July 2007.Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a private, baccalaureate institution that offers professionally focused programs balanced by a liberal arts foundation.# # #
By Randy Pospishilsports@norfolkdailynews.comNORFOLK, Neb. (Aug. 18) – In front of the largest crowd ever at Off Road Speedway, national Mach-1 Sport Compact point leader Ramsey Meyer returned to his winning ways with a narrow victory over Parker Vollbrecht on Saturday night.After starting at the back of the field, the two held a race-long battle for the lead before Meyer secured his 10th win in 11 nights at Norfolk.Jeremy Hoskinson, won his second straight IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature. The victory was his third locally of the season and concluded a 15-lap race affected by several cautions, including one that forced the repeat of a green-white-checkered finish in which Hoskinson held off Cameron Wilkinson at the finish line.Eric Haase battled Karl Brewer for the lead during the first dozen laps of the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod main before Brewer broke. On the ensuing restart, Robbie Thome took the lead coming out of turns three and four, then held it for the final eight laps to notch his second win of the season at Off Road Speedway.TeJay Mielke won his third consecutive IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature, and fifth of the season at Off Road, by leading 15 of the 18 laps and pulling away from the field during a caution-free race.
France have branded Ireland hot favourites for the Pool D decider, openly placed a target on fly-half Johnny Sexton’s back and admitted aiming to “unnerve” their opponents’ kicking game. Kearney must counter France fielding two regular full-backs in their back-three, with Brice Dulin on the wing and Scott Spedding at 15. “They’ve picked two full-backs to deal with that as well, so we’ve got to be strong in that regard. “But we’ve got three full-backs in our back-three, all of us have played there at some point in their career.” Sunday’s victors at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium will top Pool D and face Argentina in the last eight, avoiding New Zealand in the process. Ireland sporting greats AP McCoy, Barry McGuigan, Sonia O’Sullivan, Niall Quinn and Henry Shefflin met Schmidt’s squad on Wednesday night. The five-strong group dropped into Ireland’s Celtic Manor team base just outside Cardiff, with Kearney admitting it handed the squad a timely reminder of home. Kearney admitted Ireland’s football team’s 1-0 victory over Germany to secure a European Championships qualification lifeline had also further boosted the rugby stars. “It was brilliant to meet those five: there were great stories and good chats, but there’s something special about Irish people with the massive level of colloquialism that we have,” said Kearney. “Bringing all those Irish icons over to us in Wales brought all that right back. “It was a great touch: a big thing this week is about being Irish, and that helped build it. “And the soccer boys did brilliantly too, and it was great to see the Aviva full and everyone cheering. “Shane Long produced an unbelievable finish to bring us back to Jack Charlton days of ‘kick it long and have a go’. “But to beat the world champions at home was an incredible achievement for them, and hopefully now it’s set up a great weekend for Irish sport.” Rob Kearney has brushed off French attempts to destabilise Ireland’s build-up to Sunday’s vital World Cup clash as “unnecessary noise”. The Leinster full-back remained unmoved amid what he considers hot air emanating from the France camp however, backing Ireland to stick to boss Joe Schmidt’s rock-solid approach. “We won’t be fazed,” said Kearney. “There’s a huge amount of experience in this team and we’ve played in some massive occasions before. “We’ve been exposed to hype and chat from the opposition plenty of times. “I’d like to think we’re all mature enough now and long enough in the game now to cope. “It’s 15 on 15 for 80 minutes, and everything else around that is just unnecessary noise that will have no effect on the outcome. “Our high-ball game is part of our approach most weekends, it’s won us a lot of games. “Opposition teams know it’s coming when they play Ireland, so we have to be better at that now they know it’s coming on a weekly basis. Press Association