C-USA Staffers Get CPR Certified

Conference USA staffers recently participated in a certification class for CPR next to their Las Colinas headquarters in Irving, Texas. The hands-on training was taught by an instructor from the American Heart Association and served as a refresher course for some staff but provided life-saving techniques to the entire group. Participants learned how to recognize and care for breathing and cardiac emergencies. It also familiarized the participants with the use and safe operation of an AED/Automated External Defibrillator for victims of cardiac arrest. Of course, you hope it is something you hope you never need but C-USA staff members are prepared!

C-USA Searching for Musical Talent

Wanted: A high energy original song with inspiring and/or motivating lyrics for a Conference USA commercial. C-USA seeks an original tune for its image spot to air on national television and website networks. Whether you’re a garage band, semi-pro, soloist, guitar hero, wedding singer, weekend gig, up and comer, moonlighter – if your music just needs to be heard – we’re looking for a song that tells our story and we are searching the C-USA community to find it. Instrumental versions also accepted. If your music fits the bill, send us a digital sound clip (.wma or .mp3 preferred) to info@c-usa.org. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Abdul-Qaadir Dines at White House Iftar

University of Memphis freshman basketball player Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir dined with President Barack Obama and invited American Muslim guests for an iftar dinner Tuesday night. An iftar is a meal that occurs following sunset during the month of Ramadan on the Muslim calendar. Muslims fast from sunup to sundown during Ramadan and break their respective fasts with a meal called iftar (literally ‘break fast’). Ramadan began on August 22nd and continues through Sept. 19th.
The iftar meal took place in the State Dining Room and the Tiger freshman guard planned to present a special copy of the Qur’an to the President as part of the evening’s festivities. The evening’s feast was scheduled to “highlight the contributions of American Muslims” according to an announcement by the White House Press Office. Abdul-Qaadir was selected to receive the invitation as a female American Muslim who broke the Massachusetts state scoring record (male or female) last fall while a senior at New Leadership Charter School in her native Springfield. She broke the state scoring record previously held by Rebecca Lobo and finished her prep career with 3,070 points.

The iftar dinner follows a White House tradition that predates Obama’s time in office. President Bill Clinton hosted the first iftar meal at the White House, and President George Bush continued the tradition throughout both of his terms. To view the the President's remarks before hosting the dinner, click here.

First Knight in Space

Mission specialist and UCF graduate Nicole Stott is currently aboard the Space shuttle Discovery that launched Friday, Aug. 28, at 11:59 p.m. Stott and fellow specialist Danny Olivas completed the first spacewalk of the mission yesterday. The shuttle is carrying equipment, experiments and supplies for the International Space Station, including the COLBERT treadmill, named for comedian Stephen Colbert. The mission will last 13 days and is scheduled to return Sept. 10 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This launch has a special meaning to UCF students and alumni as Stott is the first Knight in space. A native of Clearwater, Fla., Stott earned a Master's degree in Engineering Managment from UCF in 1992. She joined NASA in 1988 as an operations engineer at the Kennedy Space Center. Selected as a mission specialist by NASA in July 2000, Stott reported for astronaut candidate training in August 2000 and following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, has performed technical and astronaut support duties, and worked with a crew on an underwater research habitat. She is currently assigned to a long duration space flight as a member of the ISS Expeditions 20 and 21 crews. She is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station with the crew of STS-128 and return with the crew of STS-129. For an in-depth pre-flight interview with Stott, click here. For blog updates from Stott and the crew during the mission, including a photo of Stott's spacewalk, click here.

SMU Garners Presidential Visit

Former President George W. Bush donned an SMU cap while visiting a Mustang football practice yesterday in Dallas. Head coach June Jones had given Mr. Bush a practice schedule and invited him to stop by practice and speak to the team when he could. Bush was joined by SMU President R. Gerald Turner and the former president briefly addressed the players after the practice session. He watched about an hour of drills and said he's an an SMU rookie, it's his first year. Jones later tweeted, "(The President) talked to the guys and told them he will be supporting SMU and Dallas for the years to come."

C-USA at the ESPY's

Last Sunday night ESPN presented its annual ESPY awards show in Los Angeles. One of the major award winners is a current student at a Conference USA school. Gymnast Nastia Luikin, a student at SMU, was named Female Athlete of the Year.

She was the 2008 Olympic individual all-around gold medalist, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller as the American gymnast having won the most World Championship medals. Liukin has also tied Miller's record as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games.

In addition to her ESPY award, she has been named the FIG Athlete of the Year, the Women’s Sports Foundation Individual Sportswoman of the Year and the United States Sports Academies Female Athlete of the Year.

Luikin was born in Moscow, but moved to the United States when she was three years old. She resides in Parker, Texas and did her Olympic training in Plano, a north suburb of Dallas. She is an international business major at SMU.

C-USA Schools Show Strong in Excellence in Management Cup Standings

C-USA was one of two leagues to place five of its member schools in the Top 25 of the Excellence in Management Cup standings. Tulsa was the the league's top finisher at No. 8, followed by SMU (10), Rice (12), Tulane (13) and East Carolina (21). UCF landed in the Other Notables on the list. The Excellence in Management Cup was established by the Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics (LSIA) at Texas A&M University in order to address the question of: Who is the most economically efficient athletic department in Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A)? The standings are based on a unique, yet simple, scoring system that awards more points to athletic departments that win conference and national championships while efficiently allocating money to win these events.