Due to New York’s graduated minimum wage increase, student jobs funded by the Federal work-study program are limited to a maximum of eight hours per week on average. The state minimum wage will increase to $9.40 per hour on December 31, 2016, a forty cent increase since the most recent wage hike in December 2015.
The Federal work-study program funds eligible students a yearly limit on earned wages. Students may earn less than their limit, but not more. “Due to an increase in per hour pay, a student will have to work less hours to earn the same amount,” stated Interim Vice President of Enrollment Management, Marianne Loper. Even though the wage increase will not go into effect until the last day of the calendar year, work study wage limits cover both the fall and spring semesters. Thus, if hours were not cut in the fall semester, they would face a more dramatic cut in the spring semester.
The eight hour limit is not to be regarded as a strict limit on hours worked each week- rather, the limit is an eight hour per week average. Loper said, “if some weeks [a student] needs to work 16 hours and then later [that student] works no hours that is fine.”
While the cut in hours will not affect a student’s potential to reach her work-study quota, many students who are employed by the custodial department, the dining hall, the library, and like jobs are scheduled for less than eight hours per week. Some of these students solve this problem by covering available shifts as they come. “I’m scheduled for about six and a half hours per week between the dining hall and the library,” Sarah Vande Brake ‘19 said. “I can usually make up the remaining hours by covering shifts, but if I don’t, then I don’t.”
Another difficulty faces students who participate in the Phone-a-thon, a yearly fundraiser which garners donations and pledges from Houghton College alumni. According to Dana Kelly ‘18, she and other students who agreed to work at the Phone-a-thon for a six-week period had to choose between that and other jobs they committed to. Kelly decided to continue working her shifts at the Campus Center Welcome Desk, yet she says she would have rather done both jobs.
The new regulations have proven stressful for supervisors as well. Previously, more jobs could be assigned to fewer workers. Now, the shifts must be spread more evenly. Custodian Hillary Scharles, who manages the Campus Center and part of Gillette Hall, expressed worry that she would not be able to find enough student workers to cover all of the available jobs in her buildings.
There is a silver lining, however. Because even the most industrious of student workers can now only work an average of eight hours per week, this leaves more employment opportunities open to students. Students who would not have planned to max out their potential hours may be interested in picking up these stray shifts.
Since her childhood, Wiseman has enjoyed looking into the night sky. She grew up on a farm in Arkansas and often stargazed with her parents. Today, through using radio, optical, and infrared telescopes, Wiseman researches the star-forming regions of our galaxy. She also directs the program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion (DoSER) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is the senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and is a fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA). Her interest in public science policy has led her to serve as a Congressional Science Fellow of the American Physical Society. As a fellow, she has worked with the staff of the Science Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. 
In the third year of their program, the men’s tennis team could ensure an Empire 8 tournament berth if they finish among the top four teams in the conference. “If we can beat Alfred and Nazareth than we have a chance of going to the conference playoffs,” said Head Coach, Charlie Ellis. Currently the team’s overall record is 9-6 and their conference record is 4-2. Last weekend, the team pulled out two stellar wins against the Hartwick Hawks and the St. John Fisher Cardinals. It was their first win over St. John Fisher since joining the Empire 8 conference three years ago. “This supporting cast daily has pushed every top player in practice and supported them in the matches,” said Ellis. “They have been sweating and fighting daily to get the entire team ready to play.” Earlier this month, Chase Rangel ’16 was named the Empire 8 Men’s Tennis Play of the Week for his victories in singles matches and double matches, with the help of his partners, ending the week of April 10. “They all get along very well and they are enjoyable to coach which is part of the reason for their success this season,” added Ellis.
Regarding online education, Connell commented on Houghton’s current online presence, saying that although it is currently a small presence, he thinks Houghton needs to and will make more aggressive moves into the online market. Expanding its online presence would allow Houghton to reach previously unreachable audiences, as well as being a helpful way to generate revenue.
The Palooza offers a variety of activities, but Miller and Cannister expressed particular enthusiasm for this year’s lineup of student and faculty bands. “Last year we had a harder time booking bands,” Miller explained. “This year we started really early communications with bands across campus to get quality bands who wanted to perform.” Cannister notes that the Palooza was originally “created to be a Houghton music festival,” and looks forward to the bands being “a big presence in the whole Palooza.” The featured bands include “The Burdo and the Bee,” “The Sorrow Estate,” “Marc LeGrand and Friends,” “True Cliche,” Mitch Beattie and the Heartbreakers,” as well as talented students and faculty without official band names. “We’ve been joking at meetings about things we can call them,” Kasey Cannister noted.
Like the Adolescence Education major, IADE majors may choose a second content major. For example, a student who desires to teach math in a classroom inclusive of differently-abled students would major in IADE with a math concentration. Bullard’s major will be accompanied with a generalist concentration, enabling him to teach a broad range of subjects. Bullard said his wide range of studies gives him the tools to “help my students in all subjects.” He continued, “I can bridge gaps between subjects that a conventional single subject classroom educator may not be there to see how techniques in other classes could benefit a particular student in another setting.” 
This Consulting Group will be a common component of the data science curriculum. Carmen McKell, President of Basemetrics Inc., said “the CDSA (Center for Data Science Analytics) is receiving about one request per week for future data consulting projects,” demonstrating that there is significant demand from organizations who want to get more value from their data. In the fall of 2016 she hopes to accept three of those requests. Through applications from students interested, there will be three student-run consulting teams.These teams will consist of a diverse team in order to help replicate the real-world work place.This semester’s team consisted of students from psychology, data science, mathematics, biochemistry, and communication majors. This is to provide the consulting team with an atmosphere as close to real world situations as possible. The teams will have real deadlines and deliverables to present to the client. These consulting groups will be slightly different from what Houghton College has done in the past in the sense that students and faculty involved will receive a stipend for their work. These consulting teams have the chance to establish long-term relationships between students and clients that may lead to internships and future jobs. This has been shown in this year’s consulting group in which a couple of the students have been asked to continue research for the client throughout the summer.