July 2011 (Vol. 10, No. 9)

This Month's Top Stories . . .

• Fogel Stepping Down July 31, Bramley Appointed Interim
• 2011 Is Best Fundraising Year in UVM History
• UVM in the News
• Viewpoint: Lake Champlain Flooding
• Vermont Wins Seventh Straight America East Academic Cup
• Campus Kudos

Fogel Stepping Down July 31, Bramley Appointed Interim (top)
In a July 20 message to the UVM community, President Daniel Mark Fogel announced he will step down from the presidency effective July 31, 2011, accelerating his original timetable by nearly a year. He said his decision was made “after much soul searching” and “for the good of this wonderful University.” A tenured professor in the English Department, Fogel will return to teaching and resume his scholarly activities in January 2013 following a sabbatical. Board of Trustees chair Robert Cioffi expressed the board’s gratitude for Fogel’s work on behalf of the university. “I am very proud of what we have accomplished collectively under his vision and leadership,” he said. Cioffi announced that Dr. A. John Bramley, a longstanding member of the UVM faculty, will serve as interim president effective August 1. He said the search for Fogel’s long-term replacement will continue on the schedule announced last spring, with an appointment expected in the spring of 2012. Bramley is expected to serve in the interim capacity until July, 2012, and will not be a candidate for the position of president. Read more here.

2011 Is Best Fundraising Year in UVM History (top)
The University of Vermont had its best fundraising year in history for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, raising a grand total of $29,069,046 in support of UVM people, programs, and facilities. The total, a 4.5 percent increase over 2010, marks four consecutive years of growth in private giving to UVM. It exceeds the previous record-of $28,615,707 set in 2007, the final year of UVM’s last comprehensive campaign, which raised more than $278,000,000 in support of UVM priorities. UVM has fared well in the fundraising arena compared with national trends. According to data from the Council for Aid to Education, charitable contributions to the nation’s colleges and universities were roughly flat during fiscal 2010 following a precipitous decline of 11.9 percent in 2009, and overall, giving was 8 percent lower in 2010 than it was in 2006 in inflation-adjusted terms. Read more here.

UVM in the News (top)
Education Week featured the UVM Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education's Learning and Engaging Adolescents Project (I-LEAP). In two articles, the magazine highlighted the program's initiative to improve teaching and learning for at-risk middle school students. An Associated Press story on a CT-scan of the Fleming Museum's 2,700-year-old Egyptian mummy ran in the New York Times, Business Week, National Public Radio and dozens of other media outlets. The technique, which creates a sharply detailed, three-dimensional model, is now being used as a forensics tool by medical examiners for infant death cases. And in an article for the Council on Foreign Relation's Foreign Affairs, political science professor and Middle East expert Gregory Gause explains the complex circumstances setting Saudi Arabia apart from other Arab states that have faced large-scale public protests — and why they are not completely immune in the future. These stories head the list of major media outlets covering UVM news and people in recent months. See the full summaries of recent UVM news coverage here.

Viewpoint: Lake Champlain Flooding (top)
In May, Lake Champlain hit a record-high 103.5 feet above sea level in Whitehall, New York. The previous record, 102.1, was from 1869. Destroyed houses, plumes of sediment and garbage, and swamped roads drew dismay, amazement and worry — and a lot of media attention. The causes of the flood — and future prospects for the lake — remain murky. To get a deeper picture of the 2011 flood, UVM Today spoke with four scientists on the UVM faculty about where the flood came from and what comes next for Lake Champlain. Read more here.

Vermont Wins Seventh Straight America East Academic Cup (top)
The University of Vermont has been awarded the America East Academic Cup for an unprecedented seventh consecutive year. UVM student-athletes achieved a 3.17 cumulative grade-point average during the 2010-11 season. Vermont is the only school in America East history to have won the Academic Cup seven straight years (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) and has a total of eight Academic Cups after winning the inaugural award in 1996. In 2010, Catamounts student-athletes posted a 3.19 GPA, marking the highest grade-point average in the history of the award. "We are very proud of the way in which our student-athletes represent the university and the ideals of intercollegiate athletics. Their accomplishments in the athletic arena and in the classroom are exceptional and reflect the dedication, commitment and effort they put forth along with the tremendous support and encouragement which they receive from their professors and coaches," said Robert Corran, UVM's associate vice president and director of Athletics. Read more here.

Campus Kudos (top)

An article by John P. Burke, professor of political science, titled "A Review of 'Decision Points,'" appears in the current issue of the journal Congress & the Presidency.

Kristen DeStigter, associate professor of radiology, and Christopher Filippi, associate professor of radiology, have been selected to participate in a World Health Organization (WHO) working group to contribute to the development of global referral guidelines for diagnostic imaging. The group is part of a WHO global initiative on radiation safety in health care settings designed to improve the safety and effective use of radiation in medicine.

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation recognized the University of Vermont Technical Services Partnership as the group that best celebrated National Biomedical/Clinical Engineering Appreciation Week 2011.

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