The Collegian
Saturday, November 30, 2024

Jenn Hoffman


Katie Sieben, '10

Swimming and diving to face ranked teams at Maryland

Head coach Matt Barany has ensured the women's swimming and diving team won't be competing against any Atlantic 10 Conference teams until the championship so the team can compete against teams ranked higher. So, do the Spiders get discouraged swimming against superior teams all season? Barany said the Spiders weren't the disheartened ones. "It's discouraging for the rest of the A-10 because they only see us once a year." And for the past seven years, that one sighting has proved ineffective in conquering the Spiders, who have taken home the A-10 trophy every year since 2002. "We really don't talk about [our record] that much," said Barany, who has been coaching the swim team for four years.

Science course offers integrated curriculum

The University of Richmond is paving the way for a new way to study science, one that breaks down the barriers between biology, chemistry, physics, math and computer science and fuses them into a single science "supercourse" for first-year students. The yearlong class, which will begin in the fall semester of 2009, will tackle pertinent science questions, including modeling HIV proteins and how they bind to drugs -- from an interdisciplinary perspective. "We have thrown out the rule book and are looking at a new, different way to teach science," said Carol Parish, a chemistry professor who will co-teach the course. The integrated class is being developed and taught by ten faculty members from the contributing disciplines, who met weekly last spring and summer and twice a week this year to generate ideas.

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