Entering Class is Most Talented, Diverse Ever (up^)
The entering Class of 2012 is the most talented and diverse group of first-year students in University of Vermont history. The approximately 2,450 first-year students, from 38 states and 10 countries, have an average combined SAT score, in reading, math, and writing, of 1,775 — 18 points higher than last year and a UVM record. The combined reading and math score, corresponding to the earlier SAT format, is also a record. The approximated size of the class is identical to last year's entering class, the largest in UVM history. ALANA (Asian-American, Latino, African-American, Native American, and multi-racial) students account for eight percent of the incoming class, the highest percentage ever at UVM. The incoming class includes about 630 Vermonters, approximately the same number as 2007. Read more at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12629.
UVM’s Fogel Prominent in National Discussion of College Costs (up^)
UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel was one of two dozen college presidents and policy experts to participate in a round-table discussion on college costs convened by Vermont Representative Peter Welch and Iowa Senator Charles E. Grassley on Monday, September 8. Fogel pointed out that despite rising costs, UVM has reduced expenses by $886 per student since 2002 to cope with shrinking public financial support. But he said he worried about the fiscal future. “In Vermont, we worry that our business model will break before long,” the New York Times quoted him saying. Fogel was also invited to participate in the newly formed Higher Education Cabinet created by The New York Times and the Chronicle of Higher Education to discuss pressing issues facing higher education on September 15 at the headquarters of the Times. The issues identified in the one-day meeting will set the agenda for future meetings. Fogel was named to The Chronicle/New York Times Higher Education Cabinet in May. Read the New York Times article on the Welch/Grassley discussion at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/education/09college.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.
BusinessWeek: UVM a Top School for High-Salary Grads (up^)
The University of Vermont is ranked 40th on a list published August 7 on BusinessWeek.com of the 50 U.S. colleges whose bachelors degree graduates earn the highest salaries. UVM is the seventh ranked public university on the list. Yale, Dartmouth, and Harvard head the list. UVM finished ahead of such schools as UCLA, Emory, Boston University and the University of Texas at Austin. There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States. UVM's high ranking was based on the salaries of the upper tier, those at the 90th percentile, of "mid-career" alumni with 10 or more years of experience in their career or field. UVM alumni in that category earn $194,000. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12555.
Kaplan: UVM One of Nation's 25 Greenest Schools (up^)
The University of Vermont has been named one of the nation's "Top 25 Environmentally Responsible Schools" by the Kaplan College Guide 2009 for its wide range of environmentally significant initiatives and commitment to long-term sustainability. Editors selected schools based on a number of factors including environmentally responsible campus projects; initiatives and courses offered; organizations and student groups on campus; and achievements noted in the Sustainable Endowments Institute's "College Sustainability Report Card 2008." Other New England institutions listed by Kaplan included Middlebury, Yale, Bates, Bowdoin, College of the Atlantic, Dartmouth, Tufts and the University of New Hampshire. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12552.
Sierra: UVM One of "Coolest” Schools in Country (up^)
Sierra has ranked the University of Vermont third in the country in its annual Green College Guide, published as the cover story in the magazine's September/October issue, for the number and quality of the university's environmental initiatives. In a feature titled "10 Coolest Schools," the magazine highlights UVM's Eco-Reps program, which trains students to offer "green guidance" to their peers, and its local food policy. The magazine's website notes other UVM green practices: 60 percent of the campus's power needs are supplied with renewable energy; 20 tons of the university's food waste are composted each month; and the campus transportation system features alternative fuel buses. More at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12606.
Leahy Secures Additional $1.7 Million for High Performance Computer (up^)
The University of Vermont formally unveiled a new high performance computer on Monday, September 15, that provides computational speed and data storage capacity equal to or exceeding computers at other premier research universities. The Vermont Advanced Computing Center (VACC) was built in partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and funding secured by Senator Patrick Leahy. Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced an additional $1.7 million to make further improvements to the system that is now helping Vermont researchers reach new milestones in their fields. Developed with IBM "e1350" high performance computing cluster technology, the VACC's high performance computer is among the fastest in New England, with a speed of 7.1 teraflops, or effectively seven trillion calculations per second. Its 1,400 processors can do in one day the work a normal desktop computer would need a four years to accomplish. Its high speed network can communicate information equivalent to every book in the Library of Congress in under eight seconds. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12713.
Professor Wins Prestigious Psychology Award (up^)
On August 15 Rex Forehand, Heinz and Rowena Ansbacher Professor of Psychology and director of the University's clinical training program, was honored by the American Psychology Association's 2008 Award for Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training. Forehand has spent his career researching the role of parenting in promoting children's psychosocial adjustment and is the author of the popular self-help book Parenting the Strong-Willed Child. Read more at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12572.
Top International Study Fellowship for UVM Senior (up^)
UVM senior Nathan Harrison has spent the last three years studying and exploring the origins of traditional folk music. He will have the opportunity to take his musical endeavors one step further having been named a 2008-2009 Killam Fellow by the Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America. The Killam Fellowship Program, designed to provide exceptional undergraduate students in Canada and the U.S. with the opportunity to spend a semester or full academic year as an exchange student, will allow Harrison to pursue his interest in ethnomusicology, the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts, at Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia. Harrison is the latest in a growing number of UVM students who have won prestigious and highly competitive awards, including Fulbright, Truman, Goldwater, Madison and Udall Scholarships. Full story at http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=News&storyID=12536.
Homecoming and Family Weekend October 2-5 (up^)
Thousands of UVM alumni, parents, and family members will converge on campus October 2-5 for the university’s annual Homecoming and Family Weekend. A wide variety of events will be happening on campus and around the greater Burlington area over the course of the weekend. Highlights include exhibitions at the Fleming Museum, performances of Eurydice at the Royall Tyler Theatre, the annual Homecoming and Family Weekend Parade and Picnic, and lectures by current and former winners of the George V. Kidder Faculty Award. For a full schedule of events, visit the website at http://www.alumni.uvm.edu/homecoming/ or call alumni office toll-free at 1-888-458-8691.
Fleming Museum 2008 Fall Opening Reception (up^)
The Fleming Museum will hold its Fall Opening Reception hosted by President Daniel Mark Fogel and Rachel Kahn-Fogel on Thursday, September 25, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event features the opening of the Museum's newest exhibition, Architectural Improvement: A History of Vermont's Design/Build Movement 1964-1977. Also on view are the two special exhibitions already open, Stooks, Stacks and Sheaves: Agricultural Landscapes in America, 1850 – present and Buddha in Paradise: Tibetan Art from the Rubin Museum. The evening festivities include live music, free hors d'oeuvres and cash bar. Visit the museum’s website at http://www.uvm.edu/~fleming/.
Seven to be Inducted into UVM Athletic Hall of Fame (up^)
A four-time NCAA Nordic ski champion, two record-setting track and field standouts, a pair of record-breaking swimmers, a two-time all-conference and all-region baseball player and a trailblazing former basketball coach make up the former Catamount greats who will be inducted into the University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame at the 40th annual UVM Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center on Saturday, October 4, 2008. This year’s inductees are Matt Audibert '96 (track and field), Thorodd Bakken '98 (skiing, and cross country), Danielle Lewis '98 (track and field), Mike Mora '94 (baseball), Ben Nye '97 (swimming and diving), Laurie Woelful '97 (swimming and diving) and Cathy Inglese (Special Inductee: women's basketball coach, 1986-93). Tickets to the dinner are on sale now and may be purchased through the UVM Athletic Ticket Office in Patrick Gym (1-866-4CAT-TIX). Details at http://www.uvm.edu/~sportspr/crosscountry/?Page=News&storyID=12547.
Campus Kudos (up^)
Students in the Department of Animal Science won awards at the national meetings of the American Dairy Science Association and the American Society for Animal Science in Indianapolis. Emma Wall, a doctoral student also in the Vermont Genetics Network Bioinformatics Core was the sole recipient of the H. Allen Tucker National Appreciation Award for travel to the American Society of Animal Science's annual meeting in Indianapolis. She presented two papers of significance to the Vermont dairy industry with her advisor, Thomas McFadden, as coauthor. They were, "The acute response to milk removal and the long-term response to frequent milking treatment involve distinct mechanisms" and "The persistent milk yield response to frequent milking during early lactation is associated with persistent changes in mammary gene expression." Lindsay Lord, a master of science candidate, won second place in the Northeast Graduate Student Competition for her presentation, "Photoperiod regulates diurnal expression patterns of genes related to immune function in PBMC of heifers." Jennifer Scudder, also a master of science candidate, placed third in the Northeast Graduate Student Competition with her presentation, "Colicin E1 and EDTA have additive antimicrobial effects against E. coli isolates in bovine milk.”
Dr. Richard Colletti, professor of pediatrics, received the 2008 Distinguished Service Award from the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) in recognition of his excellence and service to the field.
Betsy Greene, associate professor of animal science, received the 2008 Communication Award in recognition of Excellence in Use of Communications Media from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. Greene was the national winner for her work with eXtension's HorseQuest website. Greene is also co-chair of the "HorseQuest Community of Practice," which includes over fifty national equine experts throughout the country.
Dr. Ted James, assistant professor of surgery, received the Cancer Liaison Physician Outstanding Performance Award from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) for his leadership and guidance as a physician champion. This national award recognizes physicians who go above and beyond expectations to improve and provide direction to their cancer program.
Adam Lock, assistant professor of animal Science, received the 2008 Young Scientist Award for Research for the Northeast by the American Dairy Science Association and the American Society for Animal Science. Lock is noted for his research on the role of fats and lipids in animal and human nutrition as well as studies with ruminant nutrition.
Kevin McKenna, professor of Russian, published Didactics and the Proverb: The Case of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Literary Memoir, The Oak and the Calf. McKenna examines how Solzhenitsyn uses proverbs to illustrate and underscore the message of his five-hundred page memoir about his experiences as a writer in the Soviet Union during the tumultuous period from 1962 to 1974.
Wolfgang Mieder, professor of German and Russian, who stepped down as chairperson after 31 years, is the editor of the English translation of Lutz Röhrich’s seminal work on fairytales, And They Are Still Living Happily Ever After: Anthropology, Cultural History, and Interpretation of Fairy Tales. Mieder also edited the 25th volume of Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship. The volume contains Mieder’s article “Let Us Have Faith that ‘Right Makes Might’: Proverbial Rhetoric in Decisive Moments of American Politics,” an examination of proverbs in American political discourse. Mieder is also the author of Don’t Swap Horses in the Middle of the Stream: An Intercultural and Historical Study of Abraham Lincoln’s Apocryphal Proverb, which traces the origin of the proverb and documents its subsequent use throughout different centuries and cultures.
Lee Nelson, clinical professor of rehabilitation and movement science, received Massachusetts General Hospital's Institute of Health Professions Distinguished Alumni Award at their commencement on May 3, 2008.
Jane Okech, assistant professor, Department of Integrated Professional Studies is the author of a September 2008 article in the Journal for Specialists in Group Work titled “Reflective practice in group co-leadership.” She is also the lead author of a September 2008 article in the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling titled “Informing culturally competent practice through cross-racial friendships.” Her co-author on the paper is Julia Champe, assistant professor, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Monica Patton is one of fifteen fourth-year medical students to receive an American Medical Association Foundation Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship. Recipients were nominated by their medical school dean. Currently participating in a clinical rotation at Maine Medical Center, Patton recently completed "The CDC Experience: Applied Epidemiology Fellowship at CDC," a competitive fellowship program that selects eight medical students from around the country each year to spend 10 to 12 months at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Karen Richardson-Nassif, associate dean for faculty and staff development and diversity in the College of Medicine, and colleagues will receive the Best Paper Award for 2007 from the Research In Medical Education Committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges at the organization's annual meeting in San Antonio on November 4. The group is being recognized for their joint paper titled "Crafting Successful Relationships with the IRB, presented at the AAMC annual meeting in 2007.
Helga Schreckenberger, professor of German and Russian, published Joseph Hahn: Kunst als Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben, illustrating the influence of the exile experience on Joseph Hahn’s poetry. Hahn, a refugee from Nazi Germany, lived in Middlebury for the past eighteen years. He died on October 31, 2007.
Dr. Roger Young, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, was elected to the national Board of Trustees of the March of Dimes Foundation. Young is a recognized leader in the field of uterine physiology of pregnancy, and has a long-range goal of decreasing the rising rate of prematurity in the United States, which is consistent with a component of the mission of the March of Dimes.
Denise Youngblood's book Russian War Films: On the Cinema Front, 1914-2005 was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title. Youngblood, professor of history, has also received a grant from the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies to support her current project, "Double Vision: Soviet and American Films during the Cold War" (with Tony Shaw).Dateline UVM Would Like to Hear from You
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