E tiquette: keeping e-mails respectful
E-mails between professors and students range from serious, to funny, to completely inappropriate.
By ALLISON SOVEY
Contributing Writer
When Kim Carnahan sits down to check her e-mail, she is prepared for anything.
"I get all kinds of e-mails from professors and TAs. One begged us to e-mail questions about an assignment or he said he would be faced with an inbox filled with spam for Viagra, mail-order brides and breast enhancement'
"Funny e-mails make me more comfortable." said Camahaa a senior majoring in international relations and political science. "They let me know that my professors can have a sense of humor even about serious subjects’
Many professors strive to
maintain a formal tone in their correspondence, though. Stephen Byars, an assistant professor at the Center for Management Communication at USC, stresses the need for respectful language in e-mails.
"The faculty must maintain a tone of dignity. If we expect students to show us dignity, we need to be their role models," he said.
Byars acknowledges the difficulty in striking the proper tone in e-mails because “we live in a very different world today. E-mail has added complexity that we re all still adjusting to. People don’t really know the rules."
Despite the uncertainty of e-mail-ing, it remains prevalent as a means of communication between students and teachers as a convenient versatile tool Many professors use e-mail not
only to send messages to students but also to receive electronic paper submissions.
"Before I switched from my music industry major, all of my professors required us to submit papers via e-mail,” Carnahan said. “Electronic submissions are easier to deal with and they keep people from cheating."
Anti-cheating software is now available on the Internet. The software compares student ppers to those offered for purchase from online vendors and alerts the professor to plagiarism.
"Students are less likely to cheat if they turn in their paper by e-mail because the same companies that sell free essays also run the anti-cheating companies for teachers," Carnahan said The programs work; people have been locked out of class because they were caught by them.”
Though music industry professors alert students that they will run anti-
cheating software on their papers, professors from other departments said that they have no need for such programs.
Richard Dekmejian, a professor of political science, said. “I am choosy about who I accept into my classes so my students are good”
Dekmejian said he only uses e-mails to answer questions or to respond to student concerns.
"Students always use a serious, friendly and respectful tone with me so I invite problems or disagreements. I’m there to help,” he said
Bruce Zuckerman. a professor of religion, also encourages students to e-mail him with concerns.
"I've had a student tell me, I thought you were a great professor, but I guess I was wrong'- he said "But he was angry about a problem I had solved already so I set him straight I get e-mails that are less than respect i see l-awH oage S I
WEATHER
Today: Showers High 62
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February 27, 2006	Vol.	CXLV11I,	No.	31
Viterbi dean
candidates
announced
The first, Prantod P. Khargonekar, will meet administrators on campus today.
INDEX
I
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912
INSIDE
Jewish
Orthodox
rock group
8th Day
celebrates
Hasidic
tradition.
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By LAURA DAVIS
Contributing Writer
After six months of searching, the Office of the Provost announced its four finalists for dean of the Viterbi School of Engineering, and Provost C.L. Max Nikias said a dean should be named by the end of the semester.
The four finalists will go through a two-day interview process in which they will meet with senior administrators and speak before Viterbi faculty, staff and students.
The process is set to begin today with a meeting between administrators and candidate Pramod P. Khargonekar. He will give his speech Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Tutor Hall, Room 105.
Khargonekar is the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Florida, a position he has held since July 2001.
The other finalists are Gregory L. Fenves, Ramesh R. Rao and Yannis C. Yortsos, who has served as Viterbi’s interim dean since June, after former dean Nikias was named provost.
Since 2002, Fenves has served as the chair ot the department of civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley.
Since April 2001, Rao has been the director of the San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. He is also a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego.
Before being appointed as Viterbi’s interim dean. Yortsos was the School of Engineering's senior associate dean of Academic Affairs. Since 1990, he has been a professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at USC.
The candidates full curricula vitae are available online at www.usc.edu/admin/provost/searches.htmI.
The finalists were selected from an original pool of more than 200 candidates by a search committee that was formed in early September 2005 to help identify candidates. Nikias said. The committee is composed of seven Viterbi faculty members and is co-chaired by Nikias and Keck School of Medicine Dean Brian Henderson.
“Usually a search for a dean takes about nine to 12 months for a successful outcome,” Nikias said.
Within the next month, he said, each finalist will have a two-day interview. Part of that interview includes a speech followed by a Q-and-A session to which all
I see Soarch page 3
Hurry up and wait. (Left to right) Dan Shepherd, an employee at the USC Lockshop; Linda Ramos, an administrative assistant at the Leventhal School of Accounting; and Farzeneh Paknia all ride LADOT Commuter Express buses to get to the USC campus.
LADOT might cut bus lines to USC
Commuter Express lines 422 and 423 will stop downtown if LADOT plans go through.
By CARLEY DRYDEN
Staff Writer
As the Los Angeles Department of Transportation contemplates shutting down two bus lines to USC, university employees and students who utilize the lines are banding together to fight the expected closures.
LADOT announced several proposed changes over winter break to
Commuter Express routes 422 and 423, which provide service to and from the Conejo Corridor, the San Fernando Valley and USC.
The proposed changes include shutting down the service between downtown and USC, forcing riders to transfer buses in downtown and take a LADOT DASH bus to USC instead.
LADOT representatives said not enough people use the 11 buses to and from USC to justify their expense. This change immediately sparked dissent among USC employees who use routes 422 and 423; some have been using the bus for more than 10 years.
"In the early morning, it is really nice and safe to not have to stand out in the dark or inclement weather at some corner downtown while waiting to transfer buses,” said Linda Ramos, an administrative assistant at the Levanthal School of Accounting who has taken routes 422 and 423 for 10 years and pays $42 a month for the bus pass.
Currently, Ramos can ride from Encino to USC without any transfers and with only a few stops through downtown.
"LADOT is not cutting its ridership I see Bum*, page 3 I
Quick
Facts
■■■■
11 commuter express buses stop at USC.
If the lines stop downtown, riders can take DASH buses from downtown to USC.