Educating, encouraging safety on campus
Ambassador program created as part of pandemic response measures
The Office of Facilities and Economic Development has repurposed its student staff to serve as Student Safety Ambassadors while on campus. The OFED has re-trained its pre-existing student workers in proper pandemic protocols, including how to educate others. This provides them the versatility to also serve as student-educators at a...
Spring into new housing changes
More students residing on campus in spring brings housing procedure modifications
University Housing is facing extensive procedural changes to the housing process as more students decide to move back on campus for the spring semester. The housing application for the official move-in process usually opens only once a year: the spring semester prior to the school year applicants are signing up...
Academic dishonesty in a virtual world
Limitations of online classes, testing has led to more cases of academic dishonesty
The number of academic dishonesty cases is higher this semester than previous semesters, raising concerns on whether academic misconduct has increased due to the virtual format. Office of Community Standards and Conduct Director Brooke Everette said that the OCSC has had 131 cases this year so far, in comparison to...
Financing the future: how to pay for grad school
Advisors, alumnus discuss ways of findings funds for education
According to Pew Research Center, a third of adults have student loan debt. While this typically ends after graduating college, some students find an even bigger challenge afterwards: financing graduate school. Beyond paying for application and exam fees, tuition rates for graduate school can cost between $20-60k per year. Student...
ATEC, A&H develop new minors
Minors to focus on African, ethnic studies
One of the outcomes from the Living our Values Task Force is the initial development of multiple new minors. Both ATEC and A&H are creating new minors, with the former being in Ethnic Studies, and the latter being in African and African Diaspora Studies. As of Fall 2019, there were...
Voting on campus – COVID-19 edition
University hosts polling locations for Dallas, Collin County
UTD will serve as a polling station for both Dallas and Collin County in the upcoming general election. In preparation, volunteer deputy registrar and political science junior Ryan Short has been delivering voter registration forms to interested students on campus. An estimated 20 to 25 forms were handed out over...
‘Employees are struggling. Residents are struggling.’
Northside residents, employees cite issues with housing development, Northside spokesperson responds
Residents of the off-campus apartments at Northside have expressed concerns with facility maintenance, both before and after the pandemic. In a survey conducted by The Mercury, Northside residents responded with feedback they had regarding the housing facility. “The noise levels are very high because walls are thin,” one survey respondent...
UTD student takes part in COVID-19 vaccine trial
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer conducting two-year trial on test subjects
Amidst a pressing nationwide need for a vaccine, a UTD student took it upon himself to participate in a two-year COVID-19 vaccine trial. After seeing ads for vaccine trials on social media in September, accounting senior Andres Andujar started researching pharmaceutical companies to find ones currently conducting vaccine trials. He...