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News in Brief
AROUND CAMPUSUI professors receive Collegiate Teaching Awards Ten University of Iowa colleges have announced the winners of the 2006–07 Collegiate Teaching Awards, the top teaching award given by each college. The following 20 faculty members have been recognized for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching:
Award recipients were selected for a wide range of attributes, including enthusiasm and creativity in the classroom; the ability to inspire, engage, and mentor students; dedication to fostering research and professional development opportunities for students; a knack for incorporating service learning; and the ability to present classroom concepts in practical ways. For more information about the recipients, read the University News Services release at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2007/august/080707collegiate-teaching-awards.html. Recipients announced for 2007 President’s Awards Several members of the University of Iowa community have been selected to receive the UI President’s Award for State Outreach and Public Engagement. The annual award honors those who demonstrate exemplary outreach to the state of Iowa and the public in general. The $1,000 awards are given in four categories: faculty, staff, student, and group/organization. The 2007 recipients are:
For more information, read the University News Services release at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2007/july/072707outreach-awards.html. UI external support is a record $382.2 million for 2006-07 University of Iowa faculty, together with staff and students, generated an all-time record $382.2 million in grants and contracts for UI research, education, and service during fiscal 2007, a 4.8 percent increase from 2006. The total for fiscal 2007, the 12-month period ending June 30, 2007, surpassed the one-third-billion dollar mark for the sixth consecutive year and also marked the 21st consecutive year in which the University has attracted more than $100 million in external support. Since 1967, when overall records were first kept, the University has attracted $5.9 billion in total external support. “If there is one clear message that you go home with today, I hope it will be that there is more than just the numbers being celebrated here today,” Meredith Hay, UI vice president for research, told reporters at a July 18 news conference. “We, and I mean all of us both at the University and across the state, celebrate the people—the extraordinarily talented and productive faculty, staff, and students—who make these outstanding achievements possible.” For more information, read the University News Services release at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2007/july/071807grants-contracts.html. Energy Expo gears up with electric car display
You might see the University’s new GEM car running errands around campus. The car, on loan from Global Electric Motors, is being evaluated by Facilities Management to see if electrics can replace some of the gasoline vehicles currently in use on campus. “The electric vehicle is more than twice as efficient as a gas vehicle, and produces less than one third of the green house gas emissions,” says Glen Mowery, director of utilities and energy management. “Further, electric vehicles can reduce our dependence on foreign oil.” Family Issues Charter Committee launches new web site The Family Issues Charter Committee (FICC) has launched its new web site, www.uiowa.edu/ficc. The site serves as a resource to all students, staff, and faculty for information on committee activity, upcoming meeting dates, information on applying to serve on the committee, and a means of contact. FICC is charged with reviewing and making recommendations about the development and implementation of programs, plans, and policies that promote a positive climate for families of faculty, staff, and students; and reviewing and making recommendations about the implementation of University child or dependent care programs and plans. The committee encourages anyone interested in sharing a new idea or concern regarding family issues to submit the information on the Contact Us (www.uiowa.edu/ficc/contact.html) page within the FICC site. Reap the benefits of recent HR changes The Department of Human Resources has introduced changes in several programs in recent months to enhance the support of University of Iowa staff. A new benefits education center is now available at www.uiowa.edu/hr/benefits/educate/index.html to provide information about University benefits to new or prospective employees, as well as to help existing staff better understand the benefits they receive. In addition, the benefits office has increased the frequency of processing payments for reimbursements for child care or medical expenses from the pretax spending accounts. These are now being processed on a daily basis for those who are enrolled in direct deposit for these reimbursement payments. Finally, University staff can access a new set of legal resources through our life insurance carrier, Principal, related to will preparation, living wills, power of attorney, and identity-theft victim resources at www.uiowa.edu/hr/benefits/willprep.html. UI Hospitals and Clinics specialties once again rank among the best For the 18th consecutive year, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics ranks overall as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” with eight of the hospital’s specialties listed in an annual survey published by U.S. News & World Report. Two of the honored specialties—otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat) at second, and ophthalmology and visual sciences (eyes) at sixth—rank among the nation’s top 10 in their respective categories in the July 23 issue of the publication. The UI ranked specialties are otolaryngology (No. 2), ophthalmology and visual sciences (6), orthopaedic surgery (16), neurology and neurosurgery (18), urology (22), kidney disease (26), gynecology (32), and digestive disorders (40). It pays to apply for professional development awards All permanent UI staff members, half-time and greater, are eligible to apply for a professional development award through UI Learning & Development. Winners, selected through a lottery, will receive free admission to a fee-required UI Learning & Development event. To apply for an award, submit the following information:
Send your entry via campus mail to UI Learning & Development, 121-51 USB, or by fax to 335-2644, by 5 p.m., Friday, Aug. 17. Applications will not be accepted via phone or e-mail. Applications must be legible. Only one application per person will be accepted. All eligible staff members who submit a complete award application by the deadline will be notified by campus mail.
DISCOVERIESUI researcher challenges explanations of children’s "word spurts" Researchers have long known that children experience a vocabulary explosion at about 18 months of age, suddenly learning words at a much faster rate. Conventional theory offered complex explanations for the phenomenon, but new research by a University of Iowa professor suggests far simpler mechanisms may be involved: word repetition, variations in the difficulty of words, and the fact that children are learning multiple words at once. “The field of developmental psychology and language development has always assumed that something happens at that point to account for this word spurt: kids discover things have names, they switch to using more efficient mechanisms, and they use their first words to help discover new ones,” says Bob McMurray, assistant professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Many such mechanisms have been proposed.” In an article about his study on the topic published Aug. 3 in the journal Science, McMurray writes that children may still engage those specialized mechanisms. But a series of computational simulations that he conducted suggest that the aforementioned simpler explanations are sufficient to account for the vocabulary explosion. “Children are going to get that word spurt guaranteed, mathematically, as long as a couple of conditions hold,” McMurray says. “They have to be learning more than one word at a time, and they must be learning a greater number of difficult or moderate words than easy words. Using computer simulations and mathematical analysis, I found that if those two conditions are true, you always get a vocabulary explosion.” For more information, read the University News Services release at www.news-releases.uiowa.edu/2007/August/080207researchwordspurt.html.
TRANSITIONSHogan named president of the University of Connecticut The board of trustees of the University of Connecticut has selected University of Iowa Executive Vice President and Provost Michael Hogan as the University of Connecticut’s 14th president. Hogan has been provost and F. Wendell Miller Professor of History at Iowa since May 2004. He came to The University of Iowa from The Ohio State University, where he was executive dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences. For more information about Hogan and his accomplishments during his tenure at Iowa, see http://provost.uiowa.edu/news.htm. His brief biography and links to his speeches and selected essays can be found at http://provost.uiowa.edu/about/mike.htm. Atchison named director of University Hygienic Laboratory Christopher Atchison, associate dean for public health practice and a clinical professor of health management and policy in the UI College of Public Health, has been appointed director of the University Hygienic Laboratory (UHL), effective Aug. 1. Atchison directs the college’s Upper Midwest Center for Public Health Preparedness, one of 36 such centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and established to bolster the public health workforce’s ability to respond to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. Atchison has served as interim director at the UHL since October 2006. His salary as UHL director will be $200,000. The UHL is the state’s environmental and public health laboratory. Earlier this year, construction began on a new UHL building on the Oakdale campus for laboratory functions currently housed in the 89-year-old Oakdale Hall. The $37.75 million, 112,500-square-foot facility is scheduled for completion by late 2009. Engineering announces new departmental executive officers The College of Engineering announced the selection of three new departmental executive officers. Ed Dove, professor of biomedical engineering, has been named interim departmental executive officer for biomedical engineering, replacing K.B. Chandran until a permanent DEO has been selected. Chandran completed his term and returns to the biomedical engineering faculty. David Murhammer, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, has been named departmental executive officer for chemical and biochemical engineering, replacing John Wiencek, who has left the University to become dean of engineering at South Florida University. Keri Hornbuckle, professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been named departmental executive officer for civil and environmental engineering, replacing Rob Ettema, who has left the University to become dean of engineering at the University of Wyoming. Deaths
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