September 2011 (Vol. 11, No. 1)

This Month's Top Stories . . .

• Interview: Interim President A. John Bramley
• Academically Talented, Diverse Class of 2015
• University of Vermont Climbs 12 Spots in U.S. News Rankings
• UVM.edu Goes Mobile
• UVM in the News
• Vermont Genetics Network Advances Biomedical Research
• Viewpoint: Irene
• UVM Extension's Key Role in Post-Irene Recovery
• Interview: Business Dean Sanjay Sharma
• Flooding from Namibia to Vermont
• Alumni House Project Receives Funding for "Newton Library"
• Tim Thomas Brings the Stanley Cup to Burlington and UVM
• Gift Will Fund New Lacrosse/Soccer Field at UVM
• Campus Kudos

Interview: Interim President A. John Bramley (top)
Recently retired as president and CEO of Vermont’s Windham Foundation, John Bramley was this close to leisurely mornings with coffee and the New York Times. But when asked to step in following President Daniel Mark Fogel’s departure while the university completes its search for a new president, Bramley, who has a long history with UVM, obliged, again filling his calendar from morning into the night. UVM Today had an in-depth conversation with the man who will lead the university in the coming year.

Academically Talented, Diverse Class of 2015 (top)
The University of Vermont welcomed 13,450 students to campus this fall, including 2,430 first-time, first-year students. Like the class of 2014 before them, the class of 2015 is one of the largest, most talented and diverse classes to enroll at the university to date. Hailing from 44 states and 10 countries, incoming first-year students achieved an average SAT score of 1184, up from 1182 last year. Sixty-three percent of first-time, first-year students graduated in the top third of their high school class, and – holding last year's record-breaking numbers steady – more than 10 percent are ALANA (Asian-American, Latino, African-American, Native American and multi-racial) students. Read more here.

University Of Vermont Climbs 12 Spots in U.S. News Rankings (top)
The University of Vermont rose 12 places in the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings to 82, a larger jump than any other school in the National Universities category but one. UVM was also ranked 36th among 172 public universities, up from 41st last year. "The quality of the UVM experience isn't defined by the rankings, but they do generate attention when they come out each year," said UVM provost Jane Knodell. "This year’s uptick is driven by an increase in our reputation score, and by our improved retention and graduation rates, which can be directly linked to our investments in academics and the student experience in recent years. It reinforces the importance of sustaining our current strategic focus on implementing an innovative undergraduate general education program and continuing to enhance student success and satisfaction through a variety of linked initiatives.”

UVM.edu Goes Mobile (top)
UVM is now more accessible on your mobile device with the launch of m.uvm.edu. While some universities offer a mobile friendly interface that links to regular full-size websites, UVM’s mobile site includes some of the main website's most popular content areas such as news, directory and courses — all optimized for mobile. The site also features information of particular interest to mobile users including building information, emergency updates and events. Student power was key to the site’s completion. Read more here.

UVM in the News (top)
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured a Q & A with UVM classics professor Jacques Bailly, official pronouncer of words at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, a contest he won as an eighth grader in 1980 . . . National Public Radio’s Living on Earth took a compelling tour of the Harvard Museum of Natural History with professor of conservation biology Joe Roman, author of the new book Listed: Dispatches from America's Endangered Species Act . . . and political science professor Gregory Gause was a guest on NPR's On Point, weighing in on their "Progress Report on the Arab Spring." 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.

Vermont Genetics Network Advances Biomedical Research (top)
Laughing babies, strange bacteria from the bottom of asbestos mines, and schizophrenic rats were topics in a few of the posters and talks presented during the annual retreat of the Vermont Genetics Network in August. They highlight the range of research that the network has enabled over the last nine years. And with $16.1 million of new funding awarded from the National Institutes of Health in July of 2010, the group has accelerated its work of advancing biological and medical discoveries in Vermont. “VGN helps faculty and students across the whole state,” says the University of Vermont’s Judith Van Houten, University Distinguished Professor of Biology and director of the Vermont Genetics Network located at UVM. Full story here.

Viewpoint: Irene (top)
In the days following tropical storm Irene's catastrophic flooding in Vermont, Vermonters, shocked by the severity of the damage, wondered, "How did this happen?" and "What's next?" To help answer those questions, UVM Today spoke with researchers around the university to learn more from experts in climatology, watershed science, and sociology, among other fields -- and hear what roles some in our community have played already in documenting the disaster and aiding relief. Full story here.

UVM Extension’s Key Role in Post-Irene Recovery (top)
Heather Darby, an agronomist and UVM Extension professor, has spent her career working with farmers on crop-related issues by listening to their needs and providing the latest agricultural research. Helping those same farmers recover from the destruction caused by Tropical Storm Irene has been personally and professionally challenging for the field crops and nutrition management specialist. Darby is among the 140 UVM Extension faculty and staff serving 11 of 14 Vermont counties who have been helping farmers deal with the aftermath of Irene. The questions have come fast and furious and require answers that could have life-altering consequences. Read more here.

Interview: Business Dean Sanjay Sharma (top)
When Sanjay Sharma, dean of the School of Business Administration, wasn’t busy raising $50 million for the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University and turning it into one of the top business schools in North America, he used to take occasional weekend trips to Vermont to enjoy the outdoors with his family. Although the former business executive was content in Montreal, he couldn’t pass on the chance to move to the Green Mountains and try to help another business school reach its potential. Sharma, who has been on the job for a few months now, sat down with UVM Today to talk about his vision for the future of the business school. Read the interview here.

Flooding from Namibia to Vermont (top)
It’s not just Vermont that’s got flooding. Something's up with the weather in Namibia too, say geologists Paul Bierman of the University of Vermont and his colleague Kyle Nichols of Skidmore College. Nichols and Bierman should know. They're just back from the western mountains and coastal plain of this sparsely populated African country. The two geoscientists have been working for more than a decade in Namibia, collecting samples of rock and river sediment and bringing them back for analysis at the University of Vermont’s Cosmogenic Nuclide Laboratory that Bierman runs. Usually, western Namibia is a dusty place where the streambeds are sand and the "lakes" are nothing more than flats of dried mud. Not now. Read the full story here.

Alumni House Project Receives Funding for "Newton Library" (top)
A number of new entries in the lexicon of UVM people and places will be made when the naming opportunities in the Alumni House renovation project have all been spoken for. Among the first is the “Newton Library,” an elegant oak-paneled enclave in the expansive Queen Anne mansion at 61 Summit Street slated to become the focal point for UVM alumni activities in the coming decades. Named in recognition of a $250,000 gift from School of Business Administration alumnus Jeffrey Newton ’79 of Concord, MA and his wife Sarah, the Newton Library is expected to be a central gathering and relaxation spot for visiting alums when they arrive on campus. Full story here.

Tim Thomas Brings the Stanley Cup to Burlington and UVM (top)
Boston Bruins goalie and former Vermont Catamount Tim Thomas brought the Stanley Cup back to Burlington and his alma mater on Saturday, September 3. Thomas paraded the Cup and his other pieces of hardware, the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Vezina Trophy, up Church Street. An estimated crowd of between 5,000-10,000 lined the pedestrian walkway in downtown Burlington to get a glimpse of the Stanley Cup Playoff MVP. "The two most fun things I've experienced since winning the Cup are the parade in Boston and now this parade in Burlington," said Thomas. Following the parade, Thomas made a stop at the UVM Davis Center, where he was honored by the UVM Alumni Association. He was presented with the 2011 Alumni Achievement Award. Full story here.

Gift Will Fund New Lacrosse/Soccer Field at UVM (top)
A gift from James Edward “Ted” and Danielle “Dani” Virtue of Rye, New York, will fund construction of a new synthetic turf field on the campus of the University of Vermont. Virtue Field, as the new facility will be called, will serve as the home for the UVM men's and women's lacrosse and men's and women's soccer teams and will also be used for campus recreation activities. It is the first phase of a planned stadium project that will include grandstand seating for 3,000 spectators, game-day locker rooms, public restrooms, concessions, and storage space. Read more here.

Campus Kudos (top)

Cathy Beaudoin, assistant professor of business, has had an article accepted for publication in the Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation. The article is titled, "The agency problem and the moderating role of culturally-based management style on Chinese managers' discretionary accruals."

Marta Ceroni, research assistant professor in UVM's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, contributed to a new United Nations report, "An Ecosystems Approach to Water and Food Security," released on August 22 at the Stockholm International Water Institute in conjunction with World Water Week.

Second-year University of Vermont medical student and Randolph, Vermont, native Peter Cooch received the 2011 Ascona Prize for Students at the 17th International Balint Congress in Philadelphia on September 10, 2011, for his essay titled “Doña Paulina”.

Stephen J. Cutler, emeritus professor of sociology, has received a Fulbright award for the 2011-2012 academic year. He will be affiliated with the faculty of sociology and social work at the University of Bucharest, where he will teach and conduct research on the sociology of aging and the life course. Cutler is also an associate editor of the 7th edition of the Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, a coauthor of the Handbook’s chapter on “Aging and Civic Engagement,” a coauthor of the article “Genetics, Family Dynamics, and Well-Being” published in the Romanian journal Social Work Review, and author of the chapter “The Sociology of Aging and the Life Course Comes of Age” in the Handbook of Sociology of Aging – all published in 2011.

At the editorial board meeting for the Journal of Organizational Behavior this August, associate professor David Jones, School of Business Administration, was honored for “Excellence for Outstanding Performance in Reviewing” for his work on the editorial board during 2011.

Jerold F. Lucey, professor emeritus of pediatrics, Brooke T. Mossman, professor emeriti of pathology and director of the Environmental Pathology Program, and Susan S. Wallace, chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, have been named University Distinguished Professors. The University Distinguished Professors program was founded in 2009 with the objective of recognizing and honoring UVM professors who, over an extended period of time, have attained an international reputation in the areas of teaching, research and scholarship, and service, and for that reason bring great distinction to their home institution.

The University of Vermont chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars was awarded Bronze STAR Status at NSCS' 2010 Leadership Summit. The National Society of Collegiate Scholars is an honors organization for high-achieving freshmen and sophomores with more than 300 student-run chapters at colleges across the country.

The UVM Panhellenic Council won a National Panhellenic Council Biennial Award. They were the the winner of an NPC Risk Management Award in the category of campuses with two to five chapters. They will be recognized in October at the biennial National Panhellenic Conference awards banquet in Austin, Texas.

Andre-Denis Wright, chair of the Department of Animal Sciences, and colleagues authored an article, "Differences in the Rumen Methanogen Populations of Lactating Jersey and Holstein Dairy Cows under the Same Diet Regimen," published in the August 2011 issue of the journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

---

Would You Like to Subscribe to Dateline via Email? Click here and make sure the top box is checked.

Can't Get Enough UVM News? You may receive UVM news releases via e-mail by signing on to the UVMNEWS listserv. To do so:

• Send an e-mail message to listserv@list.uvm.edu. No need to include a subject line.
• In the body of the e-mail message, write:
subscribe uvmnews yourfirstname yourlastname (EXAMPLE: subscribe uvmnews jill jones)
• Turn off your signature so it doesn't appear in the message to the listserv.

UVM Sports Fans: Keep track of your favorite UVM sports, including news, seasonal schedules, and outcomes, at http://www.uvm.edu/athletics/

Dateline UVM Would Like to Hear from You: Send comments, questions, and address changes to Dateline UVM Editor Jay Goyette (jay.goyette@uvm.edu)