UVM Remains Among Top Schools for Green Practices (up^)
The Sustainable Endowments Institute has again ranked UVM among the top schools nationally for green practices and policies, giving the university an overall grade of A- in its annual College Sustainability Report Card. The university joins Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, Carleton College and the University of Washington as the only U.S. colleges and universities to receive an A- for two consecutive years. The institute, which ranked 200 schools last year and 300 in 2008, including those in Canada, also gave A-minuses to Oberlin College, the University of New Hampshire, Columbia University, Dickinson College, Brown University, the University of Colorado, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and the University of British Columbia. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12828.
Douglas, Fogel Sign Vermont Climate Collaborative Charter (up^)
Vermont Governor Jim Douglas and UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel have formally adopted the Vermont Climate Collaborative framework, which will guide Vermont's effort to address climate change and further develop the green tech economy. At a charter signing at the Statehouse on October 1, Governor Douglas called the Collaborative a signature partnership that brings together the state's higher education institutions, businesses, legislators and nonprofit organizations to allow the state to forge ahead with confidence in protecting and enhancing Vermont's quality of life. For more information on the Vermont Climate Collaborative, see the organization's website: www.uvm.edu/vtclimate. More details at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12794.
VCC and LCCRO Celebrate 30 Years (up^)
Key leaders at the University of Vermont celebrated the 30-year partnership between the Vermont Cancer Center (VCC) and the Lake Champlain Cancer Research Organization (LCCRO) and dedicated the Juckett-Rourke Conference Room in the Health Science Research Facility on October 17. A private philanthropic organization dedicated to funding cancer research of the highest scientific standards, the Hudson Falls, N.Y.-based LCCRO has had a close partnership with VCC since the late 1970s, donating more than $10 million in funding over the past 30 years. The organization has supported state-of-the-art laboratory instrumentation, pilot and academic awards, research symposia and lectures, and other projects that have been critical to VCC's success. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12915.
Professor’s Book Examines Voting Variation (up^)
Voting — as we envision it — is a national, Constitution-based right. But that's not how it's exercised. In his forthcoming book, The Way We Vote: The Local Dimension of American Suffrage, Alec Ewald, assistant professor of political science at UVM and a passionate proponent of participatory democracy, writes, "…in some ways the Constitution means what your county elections board says it does." Ewald's book uses historical, legal, and theoretical analysis to critique the role of local control in voting, ultimately making a cautious case that it serves democracy. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12886.
Athletic Department Receives $1 Million Bequest (up^)
The UVM Athletic Department received a $1 million bequest for scholarships from longtime supporter and alum George H. Schofield III '51, who passed away on September 20 at the age of 78. At the time of his retirement from Goodyear, Schofield created the Schofield Athletic Scholarship Fund through the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Directors' Charitable Award Program. The gift was designated to support athletic scholarships for recipients from states other than Vermont with first preference going to residents from New Jersey. Recipients must be in the top one-third of their high school graduating class and are required to remain in the top 50 percent of their respective UVM class. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12917.
Fall, Winter Sports Updates (up^)
The fall sports season is winding down. The men's soccer team has clinched a berth in the America East Men's Soccer Championship for the fifth straight year. The Catamounts travel to Albany Sunday (Nov. 2) for a 1 p.m. match, the last of the regular season, having bested Hartford 1-0 in the penultimate match of the season. The six-team America East Championship begins with quarterfinal action at campus sites on Saturday (Nov. 8). While the fall teams are wrapping up their seasons, the winter teams are under way. The men's and women's hockey teams are into their seasons, while the men's and women's basketball teams are getting ready to start their regular-season games. Head coach Mike Lonergan's team was picked to finish second in the America East Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll. Two Catamounts, Mike Trimboli and Marqus Blakely, were named to the CollegeHoops.net Preseason Mid-Major All-Americans. On the women's side, head coach Sharon Dawley's team was picked to win the America East in the preseason coaches' poll. Junior Courtnay Pilypaitis was named to the Women's Basketball Preseason Mid-Major All-American Team. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~sportspr/.
Campus Kudos (up^)
Ödul "Laurie" Amburgey, a maternal-fetal medicine fellow in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, was selected as one of four recipients of a 2008 Vision Grant from the Preeclampsia Foundation for her study of brain vessel function in preeclamptic women.
Edwin Bovill, professor and chair of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine; Naomi Fukagawa, professor of medicine; and Judith Van Houten, Perkins Professor of Biology, Director of the VT EPSCoR, Vermont Genetics Network and HELiX Programs, were inducted into the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering (VASE) on September 23, 2008.
Gayle Wright Bress was presented the Sister Elizabeth Candon Distinguished Service Award at the annual meeting of the Vermont Women in Higher Education on Friday October 24. Wright Bress was recognized for her commitment to the advancement of women and underrepresented minorities in sciences and higher education evident in her work as UVM's Hughes Endeavor for Life Science Excellence program coordinator.
The Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Network for Research and Improvement (PIBDNet) Trailblazer Improvement Collaborative, led by Richard Colletti, professor and vice chair of pediatrics, has been selected as an Improve First initiative by the Alliance for Pediatric Quality (Alliance). To date, the Trailblazer Collaborative has enrolled more than 1700 patients, creating the largest pediatric IBD registry in the country.
Paula Duncan, clinical professor of pediatrics, youth health director for the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program and medical director of the Office of Primary Care, received the Oral Health Service Award, the Job Lewis Smith Award, and the Clifford Grulee Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Jeff Layne, a postdoctoral associate in the department of pharmacology, is lead author of a September 2008 article in the American Journal of Physiology - Cell Physiology titled "NFATc3 regulates BK channel function in murine urinary bladder smooth muscle." Co-authors on the article include David Hill-Eubanks, research assistant professor of pharmacology, and Mark Nelson, professor and chair of pharmacology.
Charles MacLean, associate professor of medicine, was named interim associate dean for primary care at the College of Medicine. MacLean will replace Dr. John Fogarty, who left UVM to become dean at Florida State University College of Medicine. MacLean will maintain his faculty appointment and role as research director for the Office of Primary Care, and continue his teaching, research and clinical practice within the Primary Care Internal Medicine division.
Brooke Mossman, professor of pathology and director of the environmental pathology program, received the 2008 Wagner Medal Award at the 9th International Conference of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) in Amsterdam on September 25. The award recognizes an individual who has made a major contribution to mesothelioma research, either clinical or laboratory, over a number of years.
Garrison Nelson, professor of political science, published "Democracy, Diversity, and the 2008 Presidential Election: Mapping State Electoral Votes by Diversity Propensity" in The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities & Nations.
David Novak and Christopher Hodgdon, assistant professors of business administration, and Lisa Aultman-Hall, director of the Transportation Research Center, recently had a paper accepted for publication in Network and Spatial Economics titled, “Nationwide Freight Generation Models: A Spatial Regression Approach.” Feng Guo, professor of statistics, Virginia Tech, was co-author.
Burton Wilcke, professor and chair of medical and laboratory sciences, is serving on the faculty of the George Washington University International Institute for Public Health Laboratory Management, a two-week program targeting laboratory directors from developing countries held in Washington, D.C. October 13 to 26. Participants from 13 different countries in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia are expected to attend. Wilcke was recently invited to serve on the Editorial Board for a special supplement to the journal Public Health Reports titled “The US Public Health Laboratory System.”Dateline UVM Would Like to Hear from You (up^)
Send comments and questions to Dateline UVM Editor, Jay Goyette (jay.goyette@uvm.edu).
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