As most everyone is aware, parking on campus is sparse right now, but the daily struggle to find a place to park is all for the greater good. Construction on the new West Parking Garage on Oakland Street across from Margo Jones and between the Baptist Student Center and the Marketing/HR building continues to steadily progress. Students are a little frustrated with the lack of parking spots because TWU is…
Denton police improve rape investigations
Sexual assault is climbing in numbers. According to RAINN, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, “23.1% of undergraduate females and 5.4% of undergraduate males will experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation.” Denton police are looking to improve the investigation process of sexual assault cases. According to the Denton Record-Chronicle, “rape is the only category in Denton that remains well above state and national average.” According…

Barbara Lerner, Catalyst of TWU
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Academic Partnerships at TWU, Dr. Barbara Lerner, received the Catalyst Award from the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students this past February. A TWU alumna herself, Lerner has spent over 25 years of her career with TWU, and over 15 of those years she has worked within the community to help TWU welcome more transfer students. Starting in the early 2000s, she began making articulation agreements with local community colleges. Articulation agreements are formal agreements between colleges that document…

The Sidewalk Cafe: homestyle cookin’
As you walk in, you’re instantly hit with the sweet smell of homemade pies and coffee. The staff gives you a warm “hello” and sits you down at a table. The blue walls give a very calming feel. The Sidewalk Cafe offers you the most welcoming feel right from the start. As soon as I sat down, this little cafe immediately stood out from most chain cafes. Chalkboards with handwritten…

Vote for the Denton ISD Bond
One of the main points of pride Dentonites own is their dedication to education. As a college town that boasts two universities and residents who exceed the state average for obtaining bachelor’s degrees, it’s obvious we take our schools seriously. Now it’s time for Denton residents to make the right choice for the children and head to the polls. Yes, that means you. As of this past February, the Denton…
TWU’s Mary Joyce Newsom Award
Mary Joyce Newsom is a well known individual in TWU’s occupational therapy community; the official TWU Houston website describes Newsom as an individual who made a difference through “her professional contributions and personal qualities” in the field of Occupational Therapy. Newsome had such an impact on TWU and the field of occupational therapy that since 1982, TWU has been giving out the Mary Joyce Newsom award in hopes of honoring…

SOTA gives back to community
The Student Occupational Therapy Association is an organization fueled by the desire to serve the community, fundraise, promote professional development and leadership and network. This academic year, SOTA has taken their dedication to community service to a new level. According to Taylor Newberry, Social Activity Chairperson (Denton) the organization has logged hundreds of hours at the following locations: “New Hope Equine Center, Stepping Stones, Denton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Special…

College Coffee Culture Hurts Students’ Sleep
It’s that time of the year. Projects due dates are nearing, and finals season is just around the corner. It’s time to take a serious look at what fuels us for the last grueling stretch of academia and what hurts us. As most college students know, caffeine is a must to get through those late nights of finishing up semester projects, papers and studying for finals, but the coffee actually might be hurting more than helping. According to numerous sleep studies like this one, drinking caffeine…

Run for endorphins
Endorphins are the feel-good neurotransmitters in the brain, meaning they literally make us feel good. Stress and pain are the negative factors that lead to the release of endorphins. Exercise, however, combats stress by the release of endorphins. Not only does it help you physically, but also mentally and emotionally. Mayo Clinic explains that after exercise, people tend to forget about the stressors from the day. Regular exercise can shed daily tensions, improve…

Old hearts get new lives
Donate Life April is Donate Life Month across the nation. Healthy organs, eyes and tissues can be donated to others in need. These donated organs can help save or greatly improve someone else’s life. Donate Life is a non-profit organization that aims to help educate the public about the positive effects of donating. There are three types of donations- living donations include transplants of livers and kidneys, deceased donations can…

Country Bar-Star
20-year old Mason Lively is making tremendous strides as a young musician in country music. After his single “Lonely Comes Back Around” came out on March 2, the anticipation of his album, “Stronger Ties,” was met on the day of its release, Friday, April 6. At the age of 14, he started writing his own music and playing in bars around his hometown in Victoria, Texas. Family, friends and listeners…

Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: What You Need to Know
On April 10 Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, appeared before congress to testify in regard to Facebook’s role in a massive improper data release in conjunction with British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica, per their website, is a consulting firm that focuses on data mining, brokerage and analysis to create strategic communications in hopes to influencing electoral races for their customers. The allegations surrounding Facebook reached its peak…

Peruse Local Producers at the Denton Community Market
This April marks the eighth year of Denton’s beloved Denton Community Market. Two years after they opened, the Market had a showing of less than 20 vendors, but has grown tremendously since then. This season is in full swing for over 100 local farmers and vendors from the Denton area. The Market’s season opened on Saturday, Apr. 7 and continues every Saturday until November. To encourage and support the diversity…
Telling Your Story: Global Connections Workshop
Everyone knows the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree. Most of the things we remember easiest come in the form of stories. On April 2, Global Connections held a workshop featuring Jenifer Sarver, a recent candidate for U.S. Congressional District 21 and Principal at Sarver Strategies. The workshop focused on the idea of telling narratives to create a personal brand. For students interested in speaking about their…
Beating the “Spring Slump”
The end of the semester is nearing, and so is the end of students’ and professors’ academic motivation. Spring tends to be the hardest part of the year to get past when it comes to academia because everyone can see summer just peeking around the corner. With the end so close, yet so far, students and professors alike must fight the “spring slump” that affects so many of us. It’s…

Baaamaste your stress away
“Yoga is an ever-evolving practice,” according to Clever Yoga. Yoga is constantly changing, evolving and adding new moves or props to the exercise. One of the new trends in the yoga community is goat yoga, where you take to the mat with goats roaming around you or even jumping on you. Goat yoga has come to the DFW area with Goat Yoga Richardson, which is the first in the area….

Professor’s passion for poetry inspires publishing company
What started as a way for a young German girl to learn English later transformed into a passion for poetry and a publishing company for Sylvia Vardell, Texas Woman’s University school of library and information studies professor. In addition to her success as a professor and publisher, Vardell is a recipient of the ALA Scholastic Library and Publishing Award and the TWU Distinction and Scholarship Award, according to the TWU…

Pioneering spirit award banquet honors exemplary individuals
What began in 2015 as an organization to give graduate students a voice quickly turned into much more than that. The Graduate Student Council was created by the dean of the graduate school in 2015, Larry Leflore, to provide graduate students with the same unity undergraduate students have. Afterwards, Leflore had a vision to “create the total graduate student” and realized the need for recognition of accomplishments amongst graduate students,…
Human library seeks living books
For the first time ever, a Human Library is coming to the Blagg-Huey Library on April 23 from 12 to 5 pm. According to the Human Library website, the organization is “a worldwide movement for social change” that loans out Living Books – real people who share their stories with the people who come to hear them. In charge of the fun, Flora Ligeti, a Health Sciences Librarian at TWU,…
TWU crime and campus safety
One of TWU’s most favorable qualities, according to TWU junior Chace McGuinnis, is the sense of belonging and safety that this campus encompasses. McGuinnis’ opinion might be backed up by statistics- according to a 2015 report by bestcolleges.com, TWU was ranked one of the 50 safest campuses in the United States. The naming of TWU as one of the nation’s safest campuses was primarily due to the low number of…

TWU adds lactation room to support breastfeeding mothers
TWU has turned one of the study rooms in the Blagg-Huey Library into a lactation room. On March 20, TWU earned the “Mother-Friendly Worksite” title for supporting breastfeeding mothers. This program was created in 1995 by the Department of State Health Services. According to the Texas Mother-Friendly website, “the Texas Mother-Friendly Worksite Initiative is nationally recognized by the Center for Training and Research Translation as a practice-tested intervention for Worksite…