Monday, May 16, 2011

LRU, We Have An App For That!

The free app is designed to provide an abundance of information to prospective students, current students, alumni, and the Hickory community. Photo credit: LRU Marketing
Available this week in the Apple App Store is the official Lenoir-Rhyne University app. The free app is designed to provide an abundance of information to prospective students, current students, alumni, and the Hickory community. The app can be downloaded on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

The app is well timed as summer finds new students preparing to come to campus in August and they want to explore their new university.

“Though the official campus visit is an important tool, it was a logical step to create an on-line self guided tour and offer other information geared toward a generation that thrives on technology,” said Mike Langford, director of marketing and communications at L-R. The app was developed by the L-R marketing office in collaboration with Slicker Interactive, a Charleston, SC based company that specializes in innovations for Apple products.

The L-R app puts everything you need to know on the go right into your hands. Whether it’s a prospective student wanting to take the self-guided tour or learn more about academic majors, a current student wanting to check out the discounts available from local businesses or the dining hall menu, or a member of the Hickory community wanting to see when the next concert, theater production or sporting event is, it can be found on the app. Text, photos, and videos give the user the sense of being right in the heart of campus.

“With one swipe or a tap, prospective students can explore each residence hall, learn more about a degree program, read the campus newspaper, and so much more,” explained Langford. “There’s also the added feature of calendars of community, cultural, and sporting events for everyone to stay up to date on programs.”

The app uses GPS navigation to mark buildings on the Google map to help users find specific places on campus, to locate athletic complexes on campus, and to show the location of businesses offering discounts to current students.

LRU will release a similar app for Droid devices in the fall that will include the same interactive features as the Apple version.

LRU Holds Graduation Ceremony

Kelly Medley, Senior Class President addresses fellow students
during the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 13. Photo credit: L. Harris

Houston Named New LRU Head Football Coach

Photo credit: LRU Athletes
Lenoir-Rhyne University has named Mike Houston its new Head Football Coach today. Houston becomes the 18th coach in the school's history. Houston replaces Fred Goldsmith, who announced his retirement last week after four seasons at the helm and 45 years of coaching.

Houston has been Lenoir-Rhyne's Defensive Coordinator and Secondary Coach for the last four years (2007-10). On February 4, 2010, Houston was elevated to Assistant Head Coach.

Under Houston's leadership, the Bears' defense had one of their best seasons in recent memory in 2010. Last fall, Lenoir-Rhyne led the South Atlantic Conference in total defense (276.6 ypg) and finished fourth in Division II in rushing defense (75.7 ypg).

Senior Nursing Students Engage in Mini-Disaster Simulation

Photo Credits: Senior Nursing student, John Wallace
The senior nursing students engaged in a mini-disaster simulation on campus on May 2. Students were assigned to protray either a patient with a given injury or a nurse in selected community or hospital role .

Students assigned to the patient roles, with the help of Dara Swift and Tabitha Toney, nursing instructors used make-up and propos to simulate the real injuries. Those assigned to the nursing roles set up decontamination sites, triaged patients at the site, dispatched patients to the hospital, triaged patients in the emergency room and dealt with worried families and patients.

Following the simulation all students participated in a debriefing. Such simulations help students develop the skills necessary to be valuable employees in the event of a real disaster. The students did a fabulous job portraying real patients with injuries