Sergio Espinoza and his research team work with composite materials in a cramped room with in the Roy F. Mitte building. The resin the team works with produces such strong odors when heated that people come to check on them even when their vents are on full blast.

Espinoza, manufacturing engineering senior, said the team is working with the resin to find a replacement for heavy metals to improve future technology.

Although city council seats aren’t up for grabs until November, San Marcos’ only female councilmember has already announced she will not run for another term.

Councilwoman Kim Porterfield, Place 1, announced March 31 she will not campaign for re-election. Porterfield has served two terms on city council, during which she served as mayor pro tempore and deputy mayor pro tempore. Porterfield said she has chosen to focus on her career as director for community relations for Texas State and her family.

“My younger daughter was 10 when I started and now she’s 16, so I’m really sensitive to that,” Porterfield said. “I have a new boss, and we have been discussing some really exciting plans for my department (at Texas State). I’m really excited to implement some greater programming that will benefit the San Marcos community and students.”

Students stood together in front of Harris Dining Hall Friday, took off their clothes and proceeded to run through campus.

A student-service fee is funding several environmentally conscious projects around campus that aim to make the university more green and sustainable.

The mandatory Environmental Service Fee funds many new green initiatives across campus that are executed by the Environmental Service Committee. Nancy Nusbaum, assistant vice president of Finance and Support Services, said each student pays $1 per semester for the fee, which amounts to $73,000 annually. This year 13 projects were approved for funding from the Environmental Service Committee, including Bobcat Blend and the Spring River Clean Up. Nusbaum said there is a reserve of money because the funding does not get fully expended each year. She said $45,000 is left over this year.

Bill Nance, vice president for Finance and Support Services, said organizations propose projects to the committee. The committee then votes on proposals and allocates the funding if they are approved, Nance said.

Five faculty members have been ranked as some of the top ones in the state of Texas.

Jesús Francisco de la Teja, professor of Southwestern studies, and Yasmine Beale-Rosano-Rivaya, assistant professor of Spanish, were ranked as two of the Top 14 Hispanic Professors in Texas.
Jiyun “Yuni” Kang, assistant professor in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, and English professors Debra Monroe and Susan Beebe, were chosen as three of the Top 25 Women Professors in Texas.

The lists were compiled by StateStats.org and onlineschooltexas.com.

Beale has a Ph.D. in Hispanic languages and literatures, a master’s degree in Spanish and a bachelor’s in Spanish and linguistics. Beale attended the University of California-Los Angeles and later taught at her alma mater as well as Loyola Marymount University-Los Angeles.

Margarita Arrellano, Dean of Students, congratulates Vanessa Cortez, ASG President-elect, and Edward Perez, ASG Vice President-elect, during election announcements April 3 in the LBJ Student Center.

While the outcome of the Associated Student Government election was unsurprising to the crowd awaiting the results Wednesday evening, the news was still exciting to the newly elected student body president and vice president.

The student made star that was intended to sit on top of Jackson Hall is being stored in a warehouse temporarily due to safety concerns.

An array of miscellaneous items lay in a warehouse on Ranch Road 12 waiting to be used. Outdated computers sit clustered together on a shelf. Chairs stacked one on top of the other tower over supplies for Bobcat Build, and brooms, wheelbarrows and shovels await tasks to complete. In the middle of the inventory of unused objects, a star rests unassumingly.

Sitting disassembled in the warehouse, the star is stored with other university items that are currently unneeded or without homes. The star is propped against a metal shelf, broken down into two pieces. When put together, the pieces will form a star that spans almost 18 feet tip-to-tip.

Criminal justice students are teaming up with the University Police Department to create a threat assessment manual that will be used to determine the risk of buildings around campus and how to handle them.

An intelligence analysis graduate class taught by Wayman Mullins, criminal justice professor, is currently working on gathering data about threats, vulnerability and risks in campus buildings and recording them for the manual. The manual will be distributed to first responders in the surrounding area so they may benefit from the information about the campus’ risks when responding to an emergency. The bomb threat in fall 2012 prompted discussion of creating a threat assessment manual.

Alex Villalobos, University Police Department sergeant, came up with the idea for the project, which began this semester. He brought it to Mullins because it corresponded with the curriculum of his intelligence analysis course.

The city is preparing for upcoming construction of the Loop 82 overpass. The project will help relieve traffic caused by trains on Aquarena Springs Drive.

Officials hope the Loop 82 overpass will alleviate traffic caused by trains, but in the meantime the city is gearing up for its construction by holding public meetings.

Rey Garcia, senior engineer for capital improvements, said the window for construction is “a moving target” from September 2013 until May 2014. Actual bridge construction will not begin until early to mid 2014. Proposals for the construction of the overpass were presented to residents and drivers during a public hearing March 21.

City councilmembers voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the first of two readings of the new Comprehensive Master Plan, which is being updated for the first time since 1996.

The council, city staff and residents recently completed a 13-month process of updating the city’s master plan, which will guide the growth and development of San Marcos for the next 10 years. The council will make its final vote on the plan April 16.

“It’s been a plan a long time coming,” said Mayor Daniel Guerrero.

They created a citizen advisory council and a steering committee made up of volunteer members from a cross-section of the community to develop the master plan. It entails rewriting land development code, looking at the 37 existing neighborhoods and adopting the parks master plan and environmental restrictions across town.