Singaraja-Bali: The First International Conference “English across Culture” was successfully held at October, 20 and 21, 2011 in Undiksha. All designed agendas were fully well-held. The two-day conference has been appreciated by the participants and also the keynotes speakers.

This first move is considered as a positive move that should be continued subsequently. This was said by Itje Chodidjah, one of the keynote speakers, who was invited by the committee. Itche, who is a teacher counselor and trainer, got good impressions of the organization of the conference. She suggested the committees to continue the organization of this conference because it is very good to help improving Indonesia teachers, especially English teachers.
The same opinion comes from Rowena Nuera. She, who is a lecturer of University of South Eastern Philippines, said that the conference was held very greatly. She had attended many similar conferences and she felt that ICEAC could be considered as successful as other conferences in other countries. It was actually a very good achievement that should stimulate the committees to keep holding the conference in the following years.
The conference, however, did not fully please all the participants. Critics cannot be denied to pop up. One of the local participants from Undiksha S2, Dewi Somidiatri, suggested the committees to have a fix schedule in the guidance book and announced the changes clearly. It was related to the cancelation of some speakers who did not inform that they were not there presenting their paper. She also felt necessary to improve the quality of the speakers since the level of the conference was adorably international.
Ruwena strengthened the opinion of Dewi. She felt that the organization of the room was a bit problematic. Though she liked the parallelism of the room, she felt so tired to move from Kampus Tengah to Kampus Bawah and then went back to Kampus Tengah. It was not like she got in the other conferences she attended.
The weakness of this year conference should not break the enthusiasm of the committees to hold the conference in the following years. It was the first time for the committees to hold it. But now, they can learn from those weaknesses to hold the next better conference. (Arik)

Singaraja: Dekan Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, Prof. Dr. Putu Kerti Nitiasih, M.A, berjanji untuk memenuhi fasilitas belajar menagajar di kampus bawah pada bulan Desember ini. Hal ini disampaikan beliau dalam audiensi, senin (3/10) kemarin, antara pihak dekanat dan pemimpin fungsionaris mahasiswa di lingkungan FBS.

Ibu dekan, dalam kesempatan itu, meminta permakluman seluruh mahasiswa dan dosen di lingkungan FBS atas kekurangan fasilitas belajar mengajar tersebut. Menurut beliau, gedung baru ini sebetulnya masih belum seratus persen rampung. Ditambahkan beliau, sebenarnya antara pihak kontraktor dan universitas belum ada proses serah terima. Fasilitas baru dapat dipenuhi setelah kontraktor menyelesaikan gedung D yang masih dibangun saat ini. Disamping itu pula, pemenuhan fasilitas ini masih harus menunggu anggaran selanjutnya. Oleh karena itu, Ibu dekan meminta seluruh mahasiswa dan dosen untuk lebih bersabar.
Seperti diketahui, gedung kuliah kampus bawah merupakan gedung hasil renovasi dan gedung baru yang dikerjakan sejak satu tahun yang lalu. Fasilitas masih sangat kurang di dalam gedung; Belum tersedianya LCD, AC, dan tempat sampah di setiap ruangan; Kursi yang masih jauh sedikit dibandingkan jumlah mahasiswa; Papan tulis tidak tersedia di semua ruangan. Hal yang paling mengganggu adalah suara keributan para kontraktor yang sedang membangun gedung D.
Dalam audiensi kemarin, Ibu dekan juga menghimbau seluruh civitas akademika FBS untuk bersama-sama merawat gedung yang baru ini. Beliau mengajak mahasiswa untuk menumbuhkan sebuah kebudayaan baru yaitu budaya disiplin seperti membuang sampah pada tempatnya, memarkir sepeda motor dengan benar dan rapi, berpenampilan sesuai dengan etika yang tersedia di buku pedoman, dan sikap disiplin lainnya. Beliau mengecam sekali tindakan tindakan bodoh mahasiswa yang tidak mencerminkan kedewasaan mahasiswa. Hal ini terkait temuan bapak PR I yang mendapati banyak jejak sepatu yang dengan sengaja di ‘ukir’ di dinding tembok. (Arik)