November 2006 (Vol. 6, No. 2)

This Month's Top Stories . . .

• "Inconvenient Truth" Producer Laurie David to Speak at UVM
• UVM and Vermont Law School Host Major Environmental Journalism Conference
• New Residence Hall Complex a Model of Environmental Design
• UVM Among the Country's Fittest Schools
• NSF Award for Global Engineering Challenge
• Osher Foundation Awards UVM Endowment Gift, Scholarship Grant
• Professor Emeritus Raul Hilberg Honored by German Government
• NCAA Certification Team Visits Campus
• Catamounts Advance to America East Tournament
• Campus Kudos
• In Memoriam: Michelle Gardner-Quinn

"Inconvenient Truth" Producer Laurie David to Speak at UVM (up^)
Environmental activist Laurie David, producer of the documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth," based on former vice president Al Gore's thirty years of research on global warming, will speak at the University of Vermont's Ira Allen Chapel on Wednesday, November 29, at 6:30 p.m. The presentation, entitled "Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You," is sponsored by the UVM Alumni Association's Vermont Regional Board and is free and open to the public. Laurie David founded the Stop Global Warming Virtual March (www.stopglobalwarming.org) with Senator John McCain and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that is engaging Americans from all walks of life in urging the U.S. to address the issue. "An Inconvenient Truth" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and at the Cannes Film Festival, and has been awarded a rare Humanitas Prize Special Award as well as numerous other awards and accolades at film festivals around the world. Before working full time on environmental and political issues, Laurie David had a distinguished career in entertainment spanning two coasts. She and her husband, comedian Larry David, live in Los Angeles with their two daughters. More at

UVM and Vermont Law School Host Major Environmental Journalism Conference (up^)
Many of the nation’s leading environmental journalists came to the University of Vermont in October for the annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference. The conference, co-hosted by UVM and Vermont Law School, drew more than 600 environmental experts including scientists, editors and reporters from top publications and broadcast outlets across North America. Based at the Sheraton Hotel and University of Vermont Conference Center, the conference showcased some of innovative environmental practices at the university and around Vermont. Story at http://www.uvm.edu/theview/article.php?id=2160.

New Residence Hall Complex a Model of Environmental Design (up^)
The University of Vermont celebrated the formal opening of the University Heights Residential Learning Complex this fall, an 800-bed, $60.6 million project that is a model of environmental design. In keeping with UVM’s new policy of constructing only environmentally friendly buildings, the new complex is LEED certified, meaning that it is being built to the exacting environmental standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. The complex uses 68 percent less energy than comparable buildings and features such demonstration projects as composting toilets, green roofs, and cork floors. Over 75 percent of construction waste material generated by the building project was recycled or reused. Over 20 percent of all construction materials were purchased locally or regionally manufactured, and approximately 60 percent of the major vendors and subcontractors were from Vermont. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=9027 and http://www.uvm.edu/theview/article.php?id=2108.

UVM Among the Country's Fittest Schools (up^)
Men’s Fitness magazine has ranked the University of Vermont the fifth fittest school in the country in the magazine’s October 2006 issue. UVM earned an A+ in fitness program offerings and an A- for culture for fitness on campus. In ranking the fittest colleges, the magazine looked at over 12,500 responses from students across the country. Questions were asked regarding the amount of physical activity students participated in each week, how much time they spent doing sedentary activities (other than studying), how much fast food they ate, how many cigarettes they smoked, and how much alcohol they consumed. The magazine weighted the responses, crunched the resulting numbers, and the 25 highest overall scores made the list. The survey was conducted by Men’s Fitness in conjunction with The Princeton Review. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=9114.

NSF Award for Global Engineering Challenge (up^)
Over the next year, top high school students across Vermont and the US will be partnering with peers in Korea, China and India to find real-world engineering solutions that can help in the fight against climate change. To develop this Global Challenge program, the University of Vermont’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS), in partnership with Global Challenge, LLC, has been awarded a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $891,000. The project will partner students ages 14-17 from America with students from Asia in teams of four. Each team will plan the development a product that contributes to solving some aspect of global climate change and the energy future. A total of 40 scholarships will be awarded to winning students whose designs and business plans are deemed by a team of experts the most creative and practical. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=8818.

Osher Foundation Awards UVM Endowment Gift, Scholarship Grant (up^)
The Bernard Osher Foundation, based in San Francisco, California, has awarded the University of Vermont a $1 million endowment gift for the statewide Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, based in UVM’s Department of Continuing Education, and a $50,000 Reentry Scholarship Grant for scholarship support for reentry students. The $1 million endowment award is the culmination of four years of successive grant funding from the Osher Foundation, which established the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in eight communities throughout Vermont. Full Story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=9462.

Professor Emeritus Raul Hilberg Honored by German Government (up^)
Raul Hilberg, professor emeritus of political science at UVM, was recognized by the Federal Republic of Germany in October for his life's work as a Holocaust scholar and historian. Hilberg, who taught at UVM from 1956 to 1991 and initiated its Holocaust Studies program, is the author of The Destruction of the European Jews, (1961), regarded as one of the authoritative books on the Holocaust. The University established its Center for Holocaust Studies in 1992 to honor the Hilberg legacy. In a private ceremony, the German Consul General to the New England States, Dr. Wolfgang Vorwerk, on behalf of the German federal President, Dr. Horst Köhler, bestowed on Hilberg the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his accomplishments as a preeminent Holocaust scholar and teacher. The Order of Merit is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the German nation.

NCAA Certification Team Visits Campus (up^)
The University of Vermont is currently engaged in the periodic review and certification of its athletics programs through the NCAA Division I athletics certification program. As a part of that process, an external peer-review team selected and assigned by the NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification (CAC) visited the campus in October to evaluate UVM athletics in the context of the Self-Study submitted to the NCAA last May. Peer-review team members included James M. Simmons (chair), president, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas; Dan McCarthy, associate director of athletics, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York; Gary Nallan, associate professor, psychology department, University of North Carolina, Asheville; and Charnele Kennedy (NCAA staff liaison), National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana. Specific areas covered in the Self-Study, as prescribed by the NCAA, were academic integrity, governance and commitment to rules compliance, and commitment to equity and student-athlete welfare. The CAC will meet in February, 2007, to discuss all aspects of the UVM certification process, and a final decision regarding certification will be issued in the spring of 2007.

Catamounts Advance to America East Tournament (up^)
For the second straight year, all of the fall team sports at UVM advanced to the America East Tournament. The men's soccer team played in the championship game, losing to Binghamton (1-0) in overtime. The women's soccer team advanced to the quarterfinals, and the field hockey team advanced to the semifinals. Field hockey also posted the best record since 1980 (11-8), and head coach Nicki Houghton was named America East Coach of the Year. More on UVM Athletics at http://www.uvm.edu/~sportspr/.

Campus Kudos (up^)

Thomas Achenbach, professor of psychiatry and psychology and director of the Center for Children, Youth and Families, is the co-author of a new book, Multicultural Understanding of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology: Implications for Mental Health Assessment, published by Guilford Press.
Dr. Philip Ades, professor of medicine and director of cardiac rehabilitation and preventive cardiology, received the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation's "Award of Excellence" at their annual meeting in West Virginia. The award is the organization's highest honor, presented annually to an individual who has had a major impact on the delivery of cardiovascular and/or pulmonary rehabilitation through significant and unique professional contributions.
Howard Ball, professor emeritus in political science, Alexander Stewart, associate professor in the music department, and Robert Bartlett, associate professor in political science, were awarded Fulbright Scholarships for 2006-2007. Ball is spending six months at the University of Szeged in Hungary as a distinguished lecturer on American Constitutional Interpretation. Alexander returned in May after spending ten months in Oaxaca, Mexico, conducting research at the Black Mexico Association on “Afro-Mestizo Identity: Music and Culture in Mexico’s Costa Chica.” Bartlett is scheduled to conduct research and serve as a distinguished lecturer on “International Cooperation in Environmental Policy; EU Institutions and Civil Society Governance in Italy” at Polytechnic Institute of Turin, Italy, from February to May of 2007.
Carolyn Bonifield, assistant professor of business administration, and co-author Catherine Cole of the University of Iowa had a manuscript accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Marketing Letters. The manuscript is titled, “Affective Responses to Service Failure: Anger, Regret, and Retaliatory versus Conciliatory Responses.” Bonifield and Cole also had a book chapter accepted for publication in the forthcoming book Handbook of Advertising, to be published by Sage Publications. The peer-reviewed manuscript is titled “Advertising to Vulnerable Segments.” Bonifield, along with co-author Hisashi Kurata of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, also had a manuscript accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, titled “How Customization of Pricing and Item Availability Information Can Improve E-Commerce Performance.”
Natalie Cartwright, research assistant professor in the School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, was one of 21 scientists nationwide who submitted winning research proposals through the Air Force's new Young Investigator Research Program. Cartwright received funding to conduct a three-year project investigating ultrawideband electromagnetic pulse propagation through the ionosphere.
Declan Connolly, director of physical education and UVM’s Human Performance Lab, received "Credentials of Distinction Award" from the National Strength and Conditioning Association at the national meeting in Washington D.C.
Sean Field, assistant professor of history, published Isabelle of France: Capetian Sanctity and Franciscan Identity in the Thirteenth Century (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).
Dr. Barbara Frankowski, professor of pediatrics, published a study in the Journal of School Health titled "Community Collaboration: Concurrent Physician and School Nurse Education and Cooperation Increases the Use of Asthma Action Plans." Co-authors are Kathleen Keating, project director for the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP); Annette Rexroad, adjunct assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and VCHIP program evaluator; Thomas Delaney, VCHIP research analyst; Susan McEwing. VCHIP project coordinator; Sheri Lynn, continuing education student; and VCHIP executive director Judy Shaw.
Dr. John Helzer, professor of psychiatry, chaired "The Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis: Options for Dimensional Component in DSM-V," a conference sponsored by the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Training held in Washington, D.C.
Dr. James Hudziak, professor of psychiatry and medicine, co-authored a paper, "Genetic Analyses of Maternal and Teaching Ratings on Attention Problems in 7-year-old Dutch Twins" in the November issue of Behavioral Genetics.
Dryver Huston, professor of mechanical engineering, and Brian Esser, a research associate in mechanical engineering, have applied for a patent based on work with NASA on a type of cable insulation that heals itself when breached. The work is mentioned in the October issue of New Scientist.
Heather Kendall, post-doctoral fellow in pediatrics, is first author and Dr. Barry Finette, professor of pediatrics and microbiology and molecular genetics, is senior author of a Cancer Research article titled "Analysis of genetic alterations and clonal proliferation in children treated for acute lymphocytic leukemia." Co-authors include Pamela Vacek, biostatistician in medical biostatistics and research assistant professor of pathology; Terri Messier, senior researcher in the Vermont Cancer Center; and UVM doctoral degree graduate Sederick Rice.
Christopher Koliba, assistant professor in Community Development and Applied Economics, had an article, "The Practice of Service Learning in Local School-Community Contexts," published in the November issue of Educational Policy. The paper was co-authored with Erica Campbell and Carolyn Shapiro. Koliba was named a John Glenn Service-Learning Scholar by the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy in the winter of 2005 for the research completed and represented in this article.
The Dollar Enterprise activity of the "Introduction to Community Entrepreneurship," course developed by Kathleen Liang, associate professor of community development and applied economics, won the National 3E Learning Best Practice Award. Dollar Enterprise assembles students into small teams to create on-campus businesses with one dollar each in start up funding.
Mary Malina, assistant professor of business administration, co-authored an article with Hanne Nørreklit (Arhus School of Business, Denmark) and Frank Selto (University of Colorado at Boulder) accepted for publication in Contemporary Accounting Research. The study is titled "Relations Among Measures, Climate of Control and Performance Measurement Models." Malina, along with co-authors Margaret Abernethy (University of Melbourne), Malcolm Horne (Monash University), Anne Lillis (University of Melbourne) and Frank Selto, received the Management Accounting Research 2005 David Solomons Prize, awarded for their paper, "A Multi-Method Approach to Building Causal Performance Maps from Expert Knowledge."
Kathleen Manning, associate professor of integrated professional studies, co-edited the book, One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice, published by Routledge. Co-editors were Jillian Kinzie, associate director of the NSSE Institute for Effective Educational Practice and Project Manager of the Documenting Effective Educational Practices (DEEP) initiative, and John H. Schuh, professor and department chair of educational leadership at Iowa State University.
Wolfgang Mieder, professor and chair of the Department of German and Russian, is the co-author of several new books. Together with his former UVM master's student Andreas Nolte, he published 'Ich habe den Kopf so voll:' Wilhelm Heinse als sprichwortreicher Literat im 18. Jahrhundert in Switzerland. The book investigates the literary use and function of proverbs and proverbial phrases in the novels, essays and letters of the 18th-century German author Wilhelm Heinse. Mieder also teamed up with his Hungarian colleague and friend Anna T. Litovkina for a book titled Old Proverbs Never Die, They Just Diversify: A Collection of Anti-Proverbs, published jointly by the University of Veszprém (Hungary) and the University of Vermont. Another new book by Mieder is "Tilting at Windmills." History and Meaning of a Proverbial Allusion to Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Mieder was awarded the Wayland D. Hand Prize in Folklore and History by the American Folklore Society for Proverbs are the Best Policy: Folk Wisdom and American Politics (Utah State University Press).
The cover article of the August GSA Today, the news journal most read by geologists, was co-authored by Kyle Nichols (Ph.D. 2002, MS 1999) and Paul Bierman, professor of geology. The article is entitled "Dates and Rates of Arid Region Geomorphic Processes." Nichols received his Ph.D. as Bierman's student and is now on the faculty at Skidmore College. All the data came out of the UVM lab, Bierman said.
Dr. Mimi Reardon, clinical professor emerita of medicine, received a 2006 Outstanding Alumni Award from Northeastern University. Reardon, who graduated from Northeastern in 1963 with a degree in biology, was honored for her many accomplishments and community service, including the establishment of the first Area Health Education Centers program in Vermont, her role in promoting rural health education and health care careers in Vermont, and her work to identify funding for loan repayment aid for Vermont health care professionals practicing in underserved areas.
David C. Rettew, assistant professor of psychiatry, published an article, “Avoidant Personality Disorder: Boundaries of a Diagnosis” in Psychiatric Times. Rettew, along with James Hudziak, professor of psychiatry, co-authored an article, “Interactions Between Child and Parent Temperament and Child Behavior Problems," in Comprehensive Psychiatry. They also co-authored “Exploring the Boundary Between Temperament and Generalized Anxiety Disorder: a Receiver Operating Characteristic Analysis” in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.
Caitlin Scholl, 2006 graduate of the environmental studies program, recently published her senior thesis with the Institute of Pacific Studies Publications of the University of the South Pacific. Her novel, Mocemoce, Na Vanua, The Land Abiding, is based on the cultural and environmental research she conducted while studying for four months in 2005 in Fiji with the School of International Training.
Judith Shaw, professor of pediatrics and executive director of the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP), was lead author of a Pediatrics article titled "Statewide Quality Improvement Outreach Improves Preventive Services for Young Children." Co-authors include Dr. Richard Wasserman, professor of pediatrics and VCHIP physician advisor; Sara Barry, VCHIP assistant director; Thomas Delaney, VCHIP research analyst; Dr. Paula Duncan, professor of pediatrics and VCHIP youth health director; and Dr. Wendy Davis, professor of pediatrics.
Michael J. Tomas III, assistant professor of business administration, co-authored an article with Hari Krishnan of Morgan Stanley accepted for publication in the December issue of Review of Futures Markets. Their study is titled "An Extension to Fitting Discrete Time Term Structure Models When Rates Are Outcomes of Bernoulli Trials."
Rick Vanden Bergh, assistant professor of business administration, co-authored an article with JP Bonardi and Guy Holburn from the University of Western Ontario published in the best paper proceedings of the Academy of Management. Their study, "Nonmarket strategy performance: theory and evidence from US electric utilities," was accepted for publication in the Academy of Management Journal. Vanden Bergh and Holburn are publishing another study, "Making Friends in Hostile Environments: Political Strategy in Regulated Industries," in the Academy of Management Review.
Robyn Warhol, professor of English, has been elected to the Supervisory Board of the English Institute located at Harvard University. The English Institute provides an ongoing discussion of new developments in scholarship, literary criticism and literary theory.
Mary Watzin, Director of the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory, received the 6th Annual Teddy Roosevelt Award, which recognizes the work of a person who has helped to preserve and protect Lake Champlain. Previous winners include Senators Patrick Leahy and James Jeffords.
Matthew Wilson, research assistant professor of business administration and research fellow at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, was guest editor of a special issue of the journal Ecological Economics: Environmental Benefits Transfer: Methods, Applications and New Directions. Articles in the special issue can be accessed at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09218009. Wilson also served as the social science representative on the organizing committee of the National Science Foundation's recent conference on ecological change and climate variation.
Emerging Therapeutic Ultrasound, edited by Junru Wu, professor of physics, and Wesley Nyborg, emeritus professor of physics, has been published by Imperial College Press.
Xindong Wu, professor and chair of computer science, received the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (IEEE ICDM) outstanding service award. Wu is internationally known in the field of data mining research, with extensive publications in top-tier journals and conferences.
Denise Youngblood, professor of history, published "The Master of the Movies: A Tribute to Frank Manchel," in the most recent issue of the journal Film & History. The paper recognized Manchel, emeritus professor of English and film at the University of Vermont, as a pioneer in the field of film studies.

In Memoriam (up^)

Dateline UVM Would Like to Hear from You: (up^)
Send comments, questions, and address changes to Dateline UVM Editor, Jay Goyette (jay.goyette@uvm.edu).