November 2010 (Vol. 10, No. 2)

This Month's Top Stories . . .

• A Day in the Life of UVM
• Professor Publishes 7th Volume of Committee Series
• New Jeffords Life Sciences Building A Living Lab
• NSF, NIH Awards for Interstate Fiber Optics, Lake Research
• New Records for Retention, Diversity, Graduation Rates
• Henderson Fellows Fuel Intellectual Diversity
• Viewpoint: Tea Party
• Alumna, VUHS Teacher Named 2011 Teacher of the Year
• UVM Army ROTC Tops 23 Northeast Universities and Colleges
• Athletics Update
• In Memoriam: Sprague Rothwell, Ethan A.H. Sims
• Campus Kudos

A Day in the Life of UVM (top)
Classes, clubs, labs, dorms, study spots and dining halls — just a few of the broad terms that shape our understanding of university life. But what does it really look like when 15,000 people — faculty, students, staff — work and live together, pursuing knowledge, making discoveries, and yes, having fun, too? For one day, University Communications staff spread out around campus, knocking on doors, stopping passers-by, to capture snapshots and glimpses into the people, programs and places that make up this university. Follow one day in the life of UVM here.

Professor Publishes 7th Volume of Committee Series (top)
Staffers in the Congressional Research Office were skeptical, to put it mildly, when University of Vermont political science professor Garrison Nelson approached them in 1975 about producing the first comprehensive history of legislative committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Such a volume would be impossible to produce, they said, with information buried in obscure resolutions deep in the archives. Thirty-five years, tens of thousands of hours, and millions of scanned pages later, Nelson has proved the experts wrong with the publication by Congressional Quarterly Press of the seventh and (perhaps) final volume of a work —Committees of the U.S. Congress — that tracks every single member's committee comings-and-goings from 1789 to 2010, and provides a wealth of additional committee information to boot. Full story here.

New Jeffords Life Sciences Building A Living Lab (top)
James M. Jeffords Hall, a new life sciences building that opened its doors to students in the fall of 2010, is one of the largest and most significant academic structures ever built on the UVM campus. Its faculty research labs and seven undergraduate teaching labs are cutting edge, full of state-of-the-art equipment. But it could be the living laboratory outside the building's walls that truly sets Jeffords Hall apart. See the video here.

NSF, NIH Awards for Interstate Fiber Optics, Lake Research (top)
Increasingly, advances in science rely on gigantic collections of data and the advanced fiber optic networks connecting researchers at far-flung institutions, which is why the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have awarded more than $17 million to the North East Cyberinfrastucture Consortium (NECC), a coalition of universities and research institutions across five states, to build a high-speed fiber optic network. Now, thanks in large part to the efforts of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a new leg in the network will provide the University of Vermont with capacity that has not previously existed for sharing large data sets among the NECC states. The first major project to take advantage of the new network will be a large genomic study of algal blooms in Lake Champlain and other lakes. Full story here.

New Records for Retention, Diversity, Graduation Rates (top)
Students are not just attending the University of Vermont in near record numbers, they're staying and graduating at historically high rates. Diversity enrollment also reached an historic milestone this fall. First-year retention — the percentage of students who return to college after their freshman year — is 91 percent for in-state sophomores this fall at UVM, tying last year's all time high. While Vermonters outperform their out-of-state counterparts in retention and graduation rates, overall rates have risen sharply in the last decade also. Overall, first-year retention for fall 2010 was 86.9 percent, second highest total in university history, up from 79.9 percent a decade ago. The six-year graduation was 76.3 percent, also the highest ever, up from 66.8 percent in 2000. Full story here.

Henderson Fellows Fuel Intellectual Diversity (top)
Nadège Dufort, a second-year post-doctoral fellow in romance languages, relishes the opportunities offered by UVM's Henderson Fellowship program for advancing diversity, not least the chance to teach within her specialized area of expertise, Francophone literature and film. As a new Ph.D., Dufort, a Martinique native with Haitian parentage, knows that without the Henderson she'd more likely be teaching mainstream French literature than exposing undergraduates to the rich, far less-known culture she's so passionate about. Building understanding of people and ideas from the inner city to India, between and beyond us is what drives the George Washington Henderson Fellowships, named in honor of one of the first African American students elected to Phi Beta Kappa, University of Vermont class of 1877. Full story here.

Viewpoint: Tea Party (top)
Since the Tea Party movement burst onto the national scene in 2009 in response to the passing of the economic stimulus package, it has evolved into a significant political force. Three UVM faculty members from political science, economics and sociology, and a Tea Party candidate running for the U.S. House from Vermont offer their perspective on the insurgent conservative movement here.

Alumna, VUHS Teacher Named 2011 Teacher of the Year (top)
Jennifer Lawson '98, a middle school language arts and social studies teacher at Vermont’s Vergennes Union High School, has been named by the State Board of Education as the 2011 Vermont Teacher of the Year. She was honored at a ceremony at the school in September. As the 2011 Teacher of the Year, Lawson will travel statewide visiting schools and working with teachers. In addition, as Vermont's candidate for the National Teacher of the Year award sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers, she will travel to Washington, D.C. this spring for a reception at the White House. Read more here.

UVM Army ROTC Tops 23 Northeast Universities and Colleges (top)
Ten cadets from the University of Vermont's Green Mountain Battalion competed in the annual two day ROTC competition known as the Ranger Challenge in October. The University of Vermont, Green Mountain Battalion earned first place in their division and second place overall out of 23 schools. During their successful bid for the top spot, UVM ROTC produced the top male physical fitness score (out of 230 cadets). Read more here.

Athletics Update (top)
The women's swimming and diving team is off to a great start for the 2010-2011 season. The Catamounts are 7-1 after a 160-100 win on the road over Bryant on November 21, breaking eight Bryant pool records in the process. The Catamounts return to action on December 4 for their home opener, when they host Yale, starting at 12 p.m. The men's basketball team is 2-1 through the first three games of the season and begins a stretch of playing four of the next six games at Patrick Gymnasium, five of them televised. Visit UVMathletics.com for more information.

In Memoriam (top)

Sprague Rothwell, professor emeritus of English, passed away on Monday, November 8, 2010. As a teacher of English, he held full-time appointments at the Universities of Rochester, Cincinnati, and Kansas, came to the University of Vermont as department chair in 1970, and also taught summer sessions at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Trinity College. A Shakespeare scholar, he was particularly noted as an expert on Shakespeare on film, having written, edited, and lectured extensively on the subject both in the U.S. and internationally. He chaired the College Section of the National Council of Teachers of English, published widely in professional journals such as Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare Quarterly, Comparative Drama, and Cineaste, and presented many papers at national and regional meetings, two of which were published by the Modern Language Association in volumes devoted to the teaching of King Lear and Hamlet. As a teacher at UVM, he sought to inculcate in his students the same enthusiasm and fervor for literature that he felt and in his personal politics remained steadfastly committed to the world-wide struggle for peace and social justice. In 1992, he was elected a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Art and Sciences. Contributions in his memory may be made to The Lyn Gregg Rothwell Nursing Scholarship Fund at the University of Vermont, c/o Development and Alumni Relations, 411 Main Street, Burlington, VT 05401.

Ethan A.H. Sims, professor emeritus of medicine, direct descendant of Ethan Allen, and a physician who was known internationally for his research in obesity and diabetes, died Tuesday, November 9, 2010. He was 94. A longtime professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, he will be remembered not only for his teaching and research but also for his community involvement. Sims was a great-great-great grandson of Ethan Allen, the frontier philosopher and swashbuckling Green Mountain Boys leader of early Vermont lore. Born in Newport, Rhode Island, Sims attended Harvard College and received his medical degree from Columbia University. He joined UVM’s College of Medicine in 1950, and over the years his research interests converged with those of his wife, Dorothea, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 1954 and became a nationally known diabetes educator. They both received honorary doctor of science degrees from UVM in 1990. Dorothea died in 2001. Ethan Sims is credited with coining the term “diabesity” to describe obesity-induced diabetes.

Campus Kudos (top)

Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan, written by Saleem Ali, professor of environmental studies in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, has been awarded an honorary mention in the Asia Society’s 2010 Bernard Schwartz Book Award. An independent jury comprised of experts in the fields of policy, media, academia, cultural affairs, and business selected awardees from a pool of more than 85 books this year. As one of four books receiving an honorable mention, Ali received an award of $2,000.

Robert V. Bartlett, Gund Professor of Liberal Arts in the Political Science Department, presented a research paper, "Democratic Deliberation and the Normative Dimensions of Environmental Change: Mapping and Developing Consensus for Governance," at the 2010 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, on October 9. The paper was co-authored by Walter F. Baber, California State University Long Beach.

Sylvie Doublié, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, is lead author of a Proceedings of the National Academy of Science "PNAS Early Edition" article titled "tRNAHis guanylyltransferase (THG1) a unique 3?-5? nucleotidyltransferase, shares unexpected structural homology with canonical 5?-3? DNA polymerases" and published the week of Nov. 8. Co-authors on the paper include Samantha J. Hyde, graduate student in microbiology and molecular genetics, Brian Eckenroth, lab research technician in microbiology and molecular genetics, and Nicholas Heintz, professor of pathology.

Lewis First, professor and chair of pediatrics, received the 2010 Holroyd-Sherry Award at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition on October 2 in San Francisco. Presented annually by the AAP Council on Communications and Media, the Holroyd-Sherry Award recognizes an AAP member whose outstanding contributions have demonstrated the powerful influence mass media have on the health and well-being of children and adolescents. Honorees' work in the areas of advocacy, legislation, research, and professional or public education must address and/or suggest solutions to the health implications raised by child and adolescent use of media. The chief of the Children's Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care, First was recognized for his role in the program "First with Kids" -- a medical advice program for families, which airs on television and radio and is featured in a column in community newspapers.

Gale Holtz Golden, clinical associate professor of psychiatry, received the National Association of Social Workers Vermont's Social Worker of the Year for 2010. Golden, who is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist with expertise in clinical sexology in full-time private practice, holds a master's degree in social work and has completed post-graduate work in psychology and psychiatry. For the past forty-five years, she has lectured extensively at colleges, universities, in the general community, appeared on radio and television, served as a forensic consultant and expert witness for a variety of sexual issues and behaviors, and consulted in areas of reproductive health, mental health, social planning, communications and women's issues.

Robert Manning, professor in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, was presented with the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Award for Excellence in Recreation and Park Research. The award was presented at the National Recreation and Park Association Congress in Minneapolis on October 27. The award is presented to an individual whose contributions to recreation and research have significantly advanced the cause of the recreation movement and whose dedication to the field parallels the same dedication and zeal toward parks, recreation, and conservation that was exhibited by the presidents after whom the award in named.

Mary Val Palumbo, associate professor of nursing, was selected by the Eldercare Workforce Alliance (EWA) to lobby congress on October Hill Day in Washington, DC on October 21, 2010, regarding health care workforce issues affecting the nation's elders. The Eldercare Workforce Alliance is a group of 28 national organizations, representing consumers, family caregivers, the direct-care workforce, and healthcare professionals, that joined together to address our nation's worsening eldercare crisis. The Alliance is supported by member contributions and grants from the Atlantic Philanthropies and the John A. Hartford Foundation.

Director of UVM's Center for Cultural Pluralism, Sherwood Smith and lecturer in the Integrated Professional Studies Department of the College of Education and Social services, along with Amanda Flores and Salomon Rodenzo, master's students in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program, attended and presented at the New England Conference on Multicultural Education (NECME), on October 14, in Farmington, Conn. NECME is New England's oldest and largest annual conference on multicultural education. Their presentation and workshop titled "'I Don't Have Time for the Whole Film. What Should I Do?' Teaching Social Justice Issues with Film Clips," focused on curriculum design and classroom/workshop facilitation for teachers in grades 3-12 and higher education using film. The session provided specific resources and model pedagogical practices for addressing issues of culture and social justice using film and/or video clips.

Curtis Ventriss, professor of public policy, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and adjunct professor of policy studies, Johns Hopkins University, has been invited by President Rubens Oliveria of the Brazilian affliate of the French Ecole Nationale d' Administration to be a keynote speaker at a international policy conference to be held Nov. 16-19 in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. This international policy conference will include public officials and public managers in Brazil as well as scholars throughout Latin America, Europe and the United States. Professor Ventriss' keynote address is titled, "Rethinking Public Policy in A Time of Economic Crises."

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