February 7, 2008 (Vol. 7, No. 3)
This Month's Top Stories . . .
President Fogel Named Vermonter of the Year (up^)
In an editorial published in the January 1 edition, Vermont's Burlington Free Press named University of Vermont President Daniel Mark Fogel the 2007 Vermonter of the Year. The editorial applauds Fogel's work to make UVM an engine of environmentally themed economic development in the state. By promoting "sustainability research" at the university, which should spawn a variety of entrepreneurial green businesses in the state, the paper says, Fogel is tapping into rising awareness at the state and national levels of the threat global climate change poses -- and is helping Vermont become a leader in finding solutions to global warming. UVM under Fogel's leadership has "helped Vermont make the leap from the idealistic to the practical," the paper says. Read the full editorial at http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080101/OPINION/801010304/1006.
Commencement Speaker, Honorary Degree Recipients Announced (up^)
Author and teacher Julia Alvarez, whose novels, poetry and non-fiction have garnered critical praise and prestigious awards, will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree from the university at UVM's 204th Commencement Ceremony Sunday, May 18, 2008. Julia Alvarez has coupled a long career in teaching with a prolific literary output, including How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, Before We Were Free, The Woman I Kept To Myself, Saving the World, and A Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia. She is writer-in-residence at Middlebury College. Also receiving honorary degrees at Commencement are: Carole Burack, who has devoted innumerable hours of volunteer service in support of the arts and education; Daniel A. Burack, UVM Class of 1955, whose successful career in commercial real estate combines with an extraordinary volunteer and philanthropic spirit; Eric Lipton, UVM Class of 1987, Washington Bureau reporter for The New York Times and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism in 1992; Sister Janice Ryan, president of Trinity College for 17 years, who has worked on projects to ban land mines and eliminate the death penalty, lobbied for mainstreaming special needs children, and served as Vermont's deputy commissioner of corrections; Gladys Severance, UVM Class of 1949, an active volunteer for many causes and co-founder of Burlington's Meals-on-Wheels program in 1972; Malcolm Severance, UVM Class of 1949, who may hold the record for UVM titles: student, alumnus, faculty member, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, creator of the business school, first chair and first dean of business, parent of two alumni, trustee, reunion chair, member of innumerable committees, a founder of the Freshman Summer Orientation program, and the first director of the Office of Institutional Research. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=11636.
Belafonte Talk Highlights Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration (up^)
A January 22 talk by performing artist and humanitarian Harry Belafonte was the keynote event in a week-long UVM celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A close associate of Martin Luther King's through the nation-changing events of the American civil rights movement, Belafonte shared with a capacity crowd in Ira Allen Chapel his own journey through his 81 years to understand the nature and causes of social injustice and today's violent youth gangs. The one question he is invariably asked, he said, is "What would Dr. King say if he were here today?" Dr. King, he said, would undoubtedly conclude that while progress toward social justice had been made since his death, there remains plenty left to do. Urging the students in the audience to get involved in the struggle for a just society as so many young people had done during Dr. King's time, he said, "Never let it be said there was nothing to do. Everybody had a shot at it." Belafonte's talk was one of a full schedule of events celebrating Dr. King's legacy developed by the Office of the Associate Provost for Multicultural Affairs and Academic Initiatives in collaboration with students and other offices dedicated to social justice and equity. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=11586 and http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=11681.
UVM Elevates Environmental Commitment (up^)
University of Vermont president Daniel Mark Fogel announced he is elevating the university's commitment to sustainability with the creation of two high-level structures at the university — a President's Commission on Sustainability and a new Office of Sustainability that will support the Commission's work. The President's Commission on Sustainability will make strategic recommendations about policies and activities requiring significant operational changes or allocation of financial and other resources within the University to advance environmental goals. The Office of Sustainability will support the Commission's development of an overall environmental sustainability strategy, track performance indicators and best practices, oversee the selection and implementation of the best ideas for reducing environmental impacts, and educate and involve the campus and Vermont community through programs, websites, events, and publications. "The planet is in crisis," said Fogel. "The new office and commission will help us make the difficult choices about how we invest university time and money, both to reduce our own negative environmental impacts from operating the campus and to engage faculty and students in finding solutions for society as a whole." Read more at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=11717.
UVM Among Top 25 Peace Corps Producers (up^)
The Peace Corps has announced that the University of Vermont ranks among the top 25 mid-sized colleges and universities with alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps. With 25 volunteers in the field, UVM is 15th among colleges and universities with 5,001-15,000 undergraduates. Since 1961, 714 UVM alumni/ae have joined the Peace Corps, making UVM number 52 on the list of the top Peace Corps volunteer producers of all time. Currently, UVM alumni are serving in Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Niger, Ukraine and other locations on projects ranging from HIV/AIDS education to business advising and teaching English. Joining UVM on the list of mid-sized schools are Cornell, Boston College, Yale, Northwestern and the University of Virginia. For the full list, see "Top Peace Corps Universities and Colleges (PDF)" on the Peace Corp's website. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=11627.
UVM Students Lead National "Teach-in" On Climate Change (up^)
Students at the University of Vermont, with support from many faculty and staff, developed one of the country's most ambitious agendas for "Focus the Nation," a "teach-in" that mobilized students at more than 1300 colleges in 50 states to plan classes and workshops exploring solutions to global warming. UVM students expanded their program beyond the one-day national teach-in on January 31 to include dozens of events over six days. "We're standing up to say to the whole nation, 'Now is the time for action; climate change is the issue of our generation — and we can solve it,'" said Valerie Esposito, a UVM graduate student and one of the organizers, "We can't afford to wait." From January 27 until February 1, classes, a film festival, a city-wide green design workshop, art displays, an interactive webcast, concerts, and trainings brought attention to the latest scientific findings and new ideas for action on how to slow climate change. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/theview/article.php?id=2572.
Physics Professor Advises on PBS NOVA Special (up^)
Dennis Clougherty, UVM professor of physics, knows a lot about what happens when the temperature plunges close to real zero, minus 459.67 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. Down there, things can get strange. Clougherty has been involved in theoretical research of ultracold atoms since 1990, and his contributions to the field led to his working as a scientific advisor to a new two-part NOVA television special, "Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold," based on a book by Tom Shachtman. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=11577.
Math Professor Wins National Award for Teaching (up^)
Kenneth Gross, professor of mathematics, is the recipient of the national Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics. Gross accepted the award and gave a short talk on teaching at the annual Mathematics Association of America (MAA) meeting in San Diego in January. The Haimo award was instituted in 1991 by the MAA to honor three teachers annually who are extraordinary leaders in their field and whose teaching has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions. In 1993, Gross founded a week-long summer enrichment program for Vermont high school students now known as the Governor's Institute in the Mathematical Sciences. He is also the founder of the Vermont Mathematics Initiative (VMI), a master's degree program that trains K-6 teachers to be mathematics leaders in their schools and districts. Since the program's founding in 1999, Gross has helped adapt the VMI model for programs in a number of other states, including Massachusetts, Nebraska and New Mexico. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=11686 .
Winter Sports Roundup (up^)
The men's and women's basketball Catamounts are vying for first place in the America East, with both teams currently sitting in second place in the league. The men snapped a five-game win streak with a 75-73 loss to UMBC on February 2, while the women entered the weekend with a four-game streak but fell to Boston University 83-73 in Boston, despite a career-high 40-point performance by sophomore Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario) that tied the UVM school record for most points in a game. The women's swimming and diving team has won nine straight meets and are 11-5 heading into the America East Championships February 14-17 at Maine. Swimming and diving wrapped up the regular season with an 11-5 overall mark and went 3-1 in America East action. It was the third straight winning season for the Cats. After holding off UMass-Lowell for a 3-2 win on Sunday, the men's hockey team has gone 3-1-2 in its last six games and is in the thick of the Hockey East playoff race. The women's hockey team heads into the final month of the season having won more games (5) than in each of the last two seasons (3 in 2005-06 and 2006-07) and has already scored more goals (43) in 25 games this year than in all 32 games last season (31). In skiing, the Catamounts finished second in their home carnival at Stowe Mountain Resort and Trapp Family Lodge February 2-3. UVM finished with 624.5 points but was edged by first-place Middlebury, who finished with 628 points. Dartmouth was third with 604 points. Next up for the ski team is the Dartmouth Winter Carnival February 8-9.
Campus Kudos (up^)
The Center for Digital Initiatives (CDI) is featured in an article titled "Drinking Milk with Republicans: Lessons Learned While Building a Center for Digital Initiatives" in the Summer 2007 issue of Microform and Imaging Review. The article, authored by Assistant Library Professors Winona Salesky (Digital Initiatives Librarian) and Chris Burns (Manuscripts Curator, Special Collections), provides a detailed behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating the CDI at UVM.
Kevin C. H. Chiang, associate professor of business administration, co-authored an article with Ming-Long Lee and Ming-Te Lee that was published in the February, 2008 issue of the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics. The article is titled "Real Estate Risk Exposure of Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts."
Wolfgang Dostmann, associate professor of pharmacology, is lead author of a December 2007 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science article titled "Differential patterning of cGMP in vascular smooth muscle cells revealed by single GFP-linked biosensor." Co-authors on the article include graduate student Lydia Nausch, Jonathan Ledoux, a postdoctoral fellow in pharmacology, Adrian Bonev, research assistant professor of pharmacology, and Mark Nelson, professor and chair of pharmacology.
Julie Dumas, research assistant professor of psychiatry, was selected as winner of the Barry Lebowitz Early Career Scientist Award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry for 2008. The award is presented for the best, unpublished paper by an early career investigator. As the award recipient, Dumas will be an invited lecturer at the 2008 AAGP meeting and receive a cash award.
Christopher Hodgdon, assistant professor of business administration, published an article titled "Compliance with IFRS Disclosure Requirements and Individual Analysts' Forecast Errors," in the Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation (Volume 17, Number 1, 2008). The paper is co-authored with Rasoul H. Tondkar and David W. Harless, both from Virginia Commonwealth University, and Ajay Adhikari, from The American University.
Dr. Christopher Huston, assistant professor of medicine, is a co-author of a January 18 PLoS Pathogens article titled "Entamoeba histolytica Phagocytosis of Human Erythrocytes Involves PATMK, a Member of the Transmembrane Kinase Family." This new study, on which UVM researchers collaborated with scientists at the University of Virginia, identified a protein that may help control a parasite that attacks human immune cells in the colon.
Dr. Omar A. Khan, a 2003 College of Medicine alumnus and clinical assistant professor of family medicine, and Dr. Rebecca Winokur, clinical instructor of family medicine and a 2000 College of Medicine graduate, are among an exclusive group of physicians honored by the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation for their commitment to education in the field of family medicine.
Birdie MacLennan, associate library professor, has an article titled "The Library and Its Place in Cultural Memory: The Grande Bibliothèque du Québec in the Construction of Social and Cultural Identity" in a recent issue of the journal Libraries and the Cultural Record, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2007.
Trina Magi, associate library professor, had an article titled, "The gap between theory and practice: A study of the prevalence and strength of patron confidentiality policies in public and academic libraries" appear in Library and Information Science Research (Volume 29, Issue 4 December 2007).
Wolfgang Mieder, professor and chair of the Department of German and Russian, is the author of three articles. His paper on "`Whoever Comes too Late Will Be Punished by Life Itself': From Michail Gorbachev's Statement to the Folk Proverb" appeared in German in the Russian journal Nauchnyi Vestnik; an article on "Anti-Proverbs and Mass Communication: The Interplay of Traditional and Innovative Folklore" was published in the Hungarian journal Acta Ethnographica Hungarica; and his essay on "Don't Swap Horses in the Middle of the Stream: An Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Study of an International Proverb" is included in a Portuguese essay volume entitled Estudos sobre Patrimonio Oral.
Anthony Morielli, associate professor of pharmacology, is lead author of a February 8 Journal of Biological Chemistry article titled "Homeostatic Regulation of Kv1.2 Potassium Channel Trafficking by Cyclic AMP." Co-authors on the study include Emilee Connors, pharmacology graduate student, and Bryan Ballif, assistant professor of biology.
Dr. Magdalena Naylor, associate professor of psychiatry, is lead author of an article in the February 8 issue of Pain titled "Therapeutic Interactive Voice Response for Chronic Pain Reduction and Relapse Prevention." Co-authors on the report include Shelly Naud, researcher/analyst in medical biostatistics, and Dr. John Helzer, professor of psychiatry.
Helga Schreckenberger, professor in the Department of German and Russian, has published a paper entitled "Von Ethnozentrismus zu Multikulturalität. Vladimir Vertlibs 'Zwischenstationen'" in Schwarz auf Weiss, Ein transatlantisches Würdigungsbuch für Egon Schwarz (Wien: Czernin, 2007), pp. 60-68. The article investigates Vladimir Vertlib's autobiographical novel Zwischenstationen (1999).
Jamie Shaw, lecturer in the Department of Animal Science, has published a book, Dog to Dog Communication: The Right Way to Socialize Your Dog. She is also being featured in upcoming issues of Business People Vermont magazine and Woman's World Magazine.
Julie Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science, received the 2007 Peggy R. Williams Emerging Professional Award given by the Vermont Women in Higher Education, an affiliation of the Office of Women in Higher Education at the American Council on Education.
Judith Van Houten, George H. Perkins Professor of Biology, State Director of Vermont EPSCoR (funded by NSF) and Vermont Genetics Network (funded by NIH), was appointed to the EPSCoR/IDeA Coalition Board of Directors. As a director, Van Houten will be responsible for participating in strategic discussions about the course of the EPSCoR/IDeA programs and the role of EPSCoR/IDeA Coalition in supporting the goals and objectives of its programs.
In Memoriam (up^)
Herman C. Herrlich, a research associate at the College of Medicine from the late 1950s through the 1970s, died at age 93 on January 5, 2008. Herrlich, a heart researcher, earned his doctorate at Northwestern University. An unusually vigorous and energetic man, he was an active community volunteer after his retirement. He is survived by a large number of devoted friends and family.
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). |
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