Miami Hurricane, September 29, 2000

              Career Expo 2000
DEANNA OROIRA/Hurricane Staff
ZEROING IN: Student Hugh Stewart learns of high-tech jobs from Dupont’s Sandy Bielcki at Wednesday's Tech Fair.
GETTING HIRED UP
Expo provides students with opportunities to explore job options
By Serena Moss
Hurricane Staff Writer
The largest Career Expo ever at the University of Miami was held Wednesday and Thursday at the Wellness Center.
Over 200 companies appeared over the two days. Organizers expected 80 companies to participate in Wednesday’s Technical Fair. 100 showed up. 150 companies participated in Thursday’s General Fair.
The Expo began on Wednesday morning with the Technical Fair Kick-Off Breakfast at 9 a.m., which was followed by the fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Expo then proceeded with General Day on Thursday from 1 pun. to 6 p.m.
The Toppel Career Center coordinated this event, with its assistant
director for Career and Alumni Programs, Francesca Escoto, serving as the chief organizer.
Escoto said she was extremely pleased with the amount of companies present at the Expo.
She also said she was especially pleased to see more companies this year representing careers for students from the Schools of Communication and Music Business, such as CBS News and Sony Discos, respectively.
The Career Expo is a good opportunity for both the students and the University, said Escoto. She said she believes it has three major benefits for students.
“For the younger students, it gives them an exposure to the career world,” said Escoto. “It gives them a
taste of what they will be doing later
on in life.”
For those students with an idea of what they would like to do in their professional future, Escoto said, the Expo is “a low-risk environment for them to observe the skills necessary in those areas."
Escoto said the Expo was an ideal way for such students to look for a
job.
“There are interviews right on the spot, or at least preliminary interviews, and possible job offers,” Escoto said.
The Career Expo is a fantastic opportunity for the University to develop relationships with these companies so that there will be more
' See EXPO • Page2
LISA PINELLI / Hurricane Staff BIGGEST EVER: Over 200 companies filled the Wellness Center for the Expo.
‘Diversity is our last name’
University ranks among most diverse schools
By Karen Sloan
Hurricane Staff Writer The sign in front of the School of Business	Administrations’
Undergraduate Academic Services office in the Merrick Building just about sums it up: “University of Miami-Diversity is our last name.”
Throughout the past year, UM has received recognition from various institutions for Its unique, multicultural student population.
US News and World Report ranked UM 13th in the nation in overall campus diversity for 2000. UM showed up 16th on a similar list compiled by da. Princeton Review.
a sseHc-s on diversify
“We are very proud of our diversity,” said Steve Clark, director of Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA). “1 tell people all the time that one of our many attributes at UM is the diversity of our students. I think it makes us a better university^
At a time when “multiculturalism" and “racial harmony” are popular buzzwords, UM is making it known that student diversity is a priority, according to Clark.
Spanish language magazine Super Onda recently ranked UM as the number one university in the nation for Hispanic students. The ranking was based not only upon enrollment numbers but also on overall atmosphere and opportunities for Hispanic students, said the magazine.
“Obviously there are going to be a lot of Hispanic students here because
See DIVERSITY • Page 2
New group enjoys fruits of labor
Dominican culture becomes part of the campus
By Danielle Scott
Hurricane Staff Writer
The University of Miami’s United Dominicans Association (UDA) was founded this year to create awareness and promote a positive image of Dominican culture on campus, to seek community involvement and bring awareness on a variety of issues and to work together with other Dominican organizations for mutual benefit, said UDA organizers.
The atmosphere, or “el ambiente," of the UDA is said to be dynamic and friendly, by the group’s Executive Board members—who converse coloring their sentences with Spanish words, striving to create a synergy that continuously motivates them to do more for their organization.
“We just felt underrepresented,”
said Eric Estevez, the organization’s vice president.
“People, when they look at Dominicans as a whole, sometimes [they] have some negative feelings, so we basically want to bring out our
positivityT said Estevez.
Further, there has been a very positive response to the organization since its inception in March, said Mileyka Burgos, UDA president.
The group has a roster of 80 members, with 20 very actively involved in all programs, all of whom enjoy the fruits of Dominican culture, said Burgos.
“People respond very well to the music and food!” she said.
Meetings—every Thursday at 5 p.m. in the University Center Room 241—are accompanied by Dominican music and sometimes there is food and drink available.
“Everyone is welcome to join! Dominicans knbw how to have a good time,” says Amelia Alonso, UDA
See UDA • Page 3
Group works to reduce recycling problems Ecopledge versus Expo
Earth Alert fights for campus recycling
By Matt Brewer
Hurricane Staff Write
As a full-service university, UM has a comprehensive array of programs and services dedicated to improving campus life, but the absence of recycling from this list is something that the on-campus environmental group Earth Alert has been fighting hard to remedy for at least 10 years, said Earth Alert members.
“We are one of only about three major universities in the United States without an on-campus recycling program,” said Justyn Stahl, president of Earth Alert. “This is kind of ridiculous that our campus, with all of the money they have, can’t spend a few extra dol-
lars to have a recyding program on campus.”
However, last semester the administration granted permission for a pilot program with Earth Alert in the Pentland Tower of Hecht Residential
College.
There were bins for aluminum cans, plastic bottles, newspaper and office paper in a room near the bathnooms on each hall, the items from which were collected each week.
To encourage participation, a pizza party was offered to whichever liai) contributed the most recyclables, with small penalties for trash contamination of the bins.
The program was a success, said Stahl, with “a positive trend in participation and a decrease in contamination.”
Each week, the group collected 30-50
pounds of plastic bottles and over 30 pounds of aluminum cans from Pentland Tower, as well as 4-5 bins of newspaper—the equivalent of at least
ten full grown trees.
One of the drawbacks of the pro-
See RECYCLE • Page 3
MATT BREWER/ Hurricane Staff SIGNS OF CHANGE? Items wait for pick up at one of UM's few recycling drop-off points in the Hecht FtesidentiaJ College.
By Matt Brewer
Hurricane Staff Writer
Wednesday, representatives from many of the nation’s largest companies came together for the annual Career Expo, organized by the Toppel Career Center. Many of these corporations are on file with Earth Alert—an environmental action group at UM—as having deplorable records for environmental destruction, of which Earth Alert is trying to make students aware.
Earth Alert has raised a twofold campaign against the corporations, with the main effort being to get student’s to sign up for the Ecopledge, a Web-based, nationwide boycott of six companies.
The people that sign the pledge
join a boycott that states that they will not work, buy products from, or invest in any of the allegedly environmentally irresponsible corporations, until they meet specific environmental improvements stated by the authors of the pledge.
The current groups on Earth Alert’s boycott list include BP-Amoco, Citigroup, Disney, Coca-Cola, Price Waterhouse and Nestle. Of these six corporations, four— BP-Amoco, Citigroup, Disney, and Coca-Cola—were at the Career Fair.
Their alleged offenses range from attempting to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
See EARTH • Page 3