Building Spires of
Excellence: Transdisciplinary Research (up^)
Focusing resources to achieve distinction in a few key
academic areas is a path often contemplated by
colleges and universities and seldom taken. But this
fall, after several years of collective deliberation, UVM
took the first bold steps to do just that. Provost Jane
Knodell and Vice President for Research and
Graduate Study Domenico Grasso issued a campus-
wide announcement asking faculty to nominate
themselves to serve on one of eight working groups
organized around broad "transdisciplinary topic
areas" ranging from biological sciences and
engineering to policy studies. The topic areas grew
out of a deans’ retreat held in August. Each
working group is tasked with exploring the potential
for developing a world class program, or "Spire
of Excellence," within the transdisciplinary topic
area and submitting a proposal making the case that
the university should invest in it. Full story here.
UVM Again
Ranks Among Nation's Top Schools for Green
Practices (up^)
For the third year in a row, the Sustainable
Endowments Institute has ranked UVM among the top
schools nationally for green practices and policies,
giving the university an overall grade of A- in its
recently released College Sustainability Report Card.
Also receiving an A-, the highest grade given by the
institute, were twenty-six other schools including
Harvard University, Middlebury College, Brown
University, and the University of New Hampshire. The
institute graded the 300 U.S. and Canadian colleges
and universities with the largest endowments (plus
32 others that applied) in nine categories and then
awarded an overall grade. Its aim is to show a
correlation between an institution's green practices
and its investment decisions. Full story here.
Business
School Ranked Among Nation's Best on Social,
Environmental, Ethical Issues (up^)
The School of Business Administration's MBA
program was ranked among the nation's best for
integrating social, environmental and ethical issues
in the Aspen Institute's 2009-2010 edition of
Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey
and alternative ranking of business schools. Aspen,
an international nonprofit organization dedicated to
fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded
dialogue, ranked UVM 69th among its top 100
business schools — an improvement of nine
places over its 2007 ranking. The university received
its highest ranking in the faculty research category
where it finished 47th for placing nine articles in peer
reviewed business journals that address social,
environmental and ethical issues, including three by
Assistant Professor David Jones in the Journal
of Organizational Behavior. Full story here.
Jeffords Center
Names Director (up^)
The University of Vermont has named Professor
H.W. "Bud" Meyers director of the James
M. Jeffords Center, a newly established center at UVM
for public policy research. The mission of the center is
to conduct rigorous, scientifically-based research and
evaluation, education, training, and outreach that will
support the public's efforts to address complex and
challenging issues. "This is a very exciting time
for the University of Vermont," said Domenico
Grasso, vice president for research. "As one of
the nation's premier small public research
universities, the Jeffords Center is a critical
component to our future and success, and Bud
Meyers, with his experience in public policy research,
is an excellent fit." Read more.
Nature Paper: Earth at the Precipice?
(up^)
"We're heading off a cliff," says Robert
Costanza, director of UVM's Gund Institute for
Ecological Economics and one of the authors on a
paper published September 24 in the journal
Nature, entitled “A Safe Operating Space For
Humanity”. The paper argues that there
are at least nine cliffs, or "planetary
boundaries," that we shouldn't cross at risk of
"disastrous consequences for humanity." It
has received broad attention in the media, from
Time magazine to Wired.com, for its new,
quantified approach to defining the conditions that
have allowed for human development —
and its warning that some of these planetary
boundaries have been overstepped. Full story here.
Kunin
Receives Prestigious Roosevelt Val-Kill
Medal (up^)
Former governor Madeleine Kunin, currently a
James Marsh Professor-at-Large at the University of
Vermont, was selected as one of three recipients of
the 2009 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal award
given annually to individuals and organizations who
live the values espoused by the former first lady in her
public life including human rights, social justice, and
racial and gender equality. Past winners of the
Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal award include
Hillary Clinton, Bill Moyers, Norman Vincent Peale,
James Earl Jones, Christopher Reeve, Susan
Sarandon, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, Arthur
M. Schlesinger, Jr., Marian Wright Edelman, Fred
Rogers, Kate Roosevelt Whitney, Harry Belafonte,
Richard Holbrooke, Cherie Blair, Dorothy L. Height,
Franklin A. Thomas, Barbara Jordan and others.
Governor Kunin, former ambassador to Switzerland
and the first woman in U.S. history to be re-elected
governor three times, was recognized for her
"inspiring and energetic leadership and
commitment to the principles that Mrs. Roosevelt
championed for women, children and
community," according to Dana vanderHeyden,
co-chair of the Medals Ceremony and ERVK board
member. Full story here.
Brown Burkins
Vice Chair of National Academies
Committee (up^)
Melody Brown Burkins, senior director for research
and strategic initiatives in the Office of the Vice
President for Research and Dean of the Graduate
College has been appointed vice chair of the National
Academy's U.S. National Committee for the
International Union of Geological Sciences
(USNC/IUGS). Founded in 1961, the IUGS is one of
the
largest and most active non-governmental scientific
organizations in the world and a member of the
International Council of Science. The mission of IUGS
is to promote and encourage the study of earth
systems, especially those of world-wide significance,
and supports and facilitates international and
interdisciplinary cooperation in the earth sciences.
More here.
“Mean
Girls” Probes Middle School
Manipulation (up^)
When Dianna Murray-Close, assistant professor in
psychology, shows the movie Mean Girls
in her developmental psychology course her students
tend to identify with the main character, who learns the
hard way that manipulation, rumor spreading and
backstabbing are common tools for moving up the
teenage social ladder. The professor’s
research explores the social manipulation portrayed
in the film that's common among middle-school girls
and what might be done to stop it. Read more.
When Rivers
Run Dry (up^)
Jon Erickson, an associate professor in the
Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural
Resources, and his Rwandan graduate student,
Michel Masozera, have been studying a puzzling
question in Tanzania since 2006. They're leading one
part of the HALI
Project — a Swahili word for "state of
health" and an acronym that stands for Health
for Animals and Livelihood Improvement. "The
main hypothesis of the HALI project is that water
scarcity in the ecosystem of the Great Ruaha River in
south-central Tanzania leads to the spread of
diseases between humans, wildlife and
livestock," says Masozera. To understand these
dynamics is to understand how the next disease like
SARS or bird flu could arise. "The fundamental
drivers of these new diseases are land use change,
ecological degradation, population growth, and
poverty," Erickson says, "We see this so
clearly in East Africa, and other places in the world
like Latin America." Full story here.
Researcher
Studies the Science of Pain (up^)
UVM clinician and researcher Magdalena Naylor
explores the central nervous system to help patients
with chronic pain. Her work has shed new light on
how the brain deals with pain and points to ways to
use the mind to treat the body. For 13 years, Naylor
has been using cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to
help patients manage — and reduce —
chronic sensory and emotional pain that stems from
sources including back problems, arthritis, migraine
headaches, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia. Her
groundbreaking work on the use of CBT in pain
management was published in the journal
Pain in 2008. Naylor’s
humanitarian approach to science has helped to land
her on the list of America's Top Psychiatrists since
2004 and the Best Doctors in America since 2001.
Full story here.
Research
Sheds Light on Juvenile Sexual
Offenders (up^)
Current research by social work professor George
Leibowitz is leading to new findings about juvenile
sexual offenders. Leibowitz, assistant professor of
social work, is convinced that producing research
revealing the differences between adolescent and
adult sexual offenders will change the way juvenile
offenders are treated by society, law enforcement and
therapists. With this goal in mind, the expert on
trauma and dissociation among sexually abusive
youth is taking an in-depth look at specific aspects of
juvenile offenders rather than the traditional approach
of looking retrospectively at the lives of adult sexual
abusers. Full story here.
Women's
Basketball Named America East Preseason Favorite,
Men Second (up^)
For the second straight year, the University of
Vermont women's basketball team has been
selected as the preseason choice of the league's
coaches to win the America East Women's Basketball
title in 2009-10. The men’s team was picked
to finish second. The women were 21-12 overall in
2008-09 and 12-4 in America East play. Among those
returning to the mix are seniors Courtnay
Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario) and May
Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario). Both guards
were named to the America East Preseason All-
Conference Team. The women open the 2009-10
regular season versus Western Michigan on
November 13 at 6 p.m. in the first round of the
Sheraton Wolfpack Classic hosted by North Carolina
State. On the men’s side, the Catamounts
were 24-9 overall last year and 13-3 in America East,
capturing a share of the America East regular-season
crown and earning a postseason bid for the fifth time
in seven years. They reached the second round of the
College Basketball Invitational. The Catamounts
welcome back the premier player in the league in
senior Marqus
Blakely (Metuchen, N.J.), who was named to the
preseason all-conference team. Blakely is a two-time
America East Player and Defensive Player of the Year.
The Cats open the regular season November 13 at
Loyola (Md.). UVM defeated Loyola at home last
season, 64-62. All Vermont men’s and
women’s basketball tickets are now on sale for
the 2009-10 season. Individual game tickets can be
purchased via the Internet by going to www.UVMathletic
s.com. Click Here
for more information on tickets.
Campus Kudos (up^)
Saleem Ali, associate professor of environmental planning at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, has a new book coming out titled "Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed, and a Sustainable Future" (Yale University Press). The book deals with equity and ethical dimensions of production and consumption across the planet and how treasures of the earth utilized equitably would help in framing appropriate policies for the future.
Declan Connolly, professor in the department of education, received a service award from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) research consortium for service as section editor for Research Quarterly in Exercise & Sport from September 2005 to August 2009.
Mary Cushman, professor of medicine, is lead author of a paper titled "Implications of increased C-reactive protein for cardiovascular risk stratification in black and white men and women in the US" in the September Clinical Chemistry. Nancy Jenny, research assistant professor of pathology, was a co-author on the paper.
The Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering (VASE) held its annual meeting on September 22nd. William Geiger, professor of chemistry, and Gary Ward, professor in the department of microbiology and molecular genetics, were inducted into the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering at the VASE annual meeting. Emeritus Professor of chemistry Christopher Allen started a two year term as VASE president.
Robert Hondal, associate professor of biochemistry, received a 2009 Journal of Peptide Science Best Publication Award for his paper titled "Studies on deprotection of cysteine and selenocysteine side-chain protecting groups." This award honors the best paper published in the Journal of Peptide Science. The winner is chosen every year from all research articles published in Journal of Peptide Science in the two previous years. Stevenson Flemer, Jr., research associate in biochemistry, was a co-author on the paper.
Walter F. Kuentzel, associate professor in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, had a book published through the Public Policy Institute, Trinity College Dublin, titled Comparing Rural Development Strategies in Four Irish Communities, 1930-2005. In the book, Kuentzel, whose research focuses on rural change, rural tourism development, and natural resource management, explores rural change as a process of adaptation.
The Cystic Fibrosis Center at the The Children's Specialty Center at Fletcher Allen Health Care and the University of Vermont has been selected as one of the 2009 recipients of the annual Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Quality Care Award, titled "Recognizing Outstanding QI Processes and Accomplishments." Instituted in 2008, this award recognizes Center's that demonstrate sustained quality improvement work that improved outcomes. Thomas Lahiri, associate professor of pediatrics and director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center, received the award at the annual U.S. Center and Program Directors' meeting held in conjunction with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 17.
David A. Shiman, professor of education and director of the Center for World Education, had an article titled "Human Rights Education in Costa Rica: More Expectation than Implementation" in the June, 2009 issue of the Inter-American Journal of Education for Democracy.
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