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News in Brief
AROUND CAMPUSUniversity Relations launches Iowa Insights podcast The University of Iowa Office of University Relations has launched Iowa Insights, a new, monthly podcast featuring interviews with some of the world's leading thinkers, researchers, and teachers. The inaugural May 2009 edition of Iowa Insights features interviews with UI sociology professor Christine Whelan discussing a new study on how people select mates; Office of International Students and Scholars Director Scott King discussing his recent recruiting visit to Iraq; and Institute of Public Affairs Director Jeff Schott talking about the challenges faced by local governments during a recession. The podcast may be heard online, downloaded to an mp3 player or subscribed to via iTunes and RSS (Real Simple Syndication) readers. To listen, or for more information, visit http://news.uiowa.edu/iowa-insights/.
UI undergraduate students and faculty mentors recognized for excellence Four University of Iowa undergraduate students were honored for their research promise and two faculty mentors were honored for outstanding mentoring at the Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates (ICRU) Spring Undergraduate Research Festival Saturday, April 25: Two professors from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences—biology professor Chun-Fang Wu and John C. Gerber Professor of English Dee Morris—are this year's recipients of the ICRU Distinguished Mentor award. Students honored were Ross Johnson, Math and Engineering Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award; Kristen Meylor, Arts and Humanities Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award; Caitlin Moore, Social Sciences Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award; and Maria Drout, Natural Sciences Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award. Read the full University News Services release at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2009/april/042909mentor_awards.html.
Faculty and staff honored with 2009 Audrey Qualls Diversity Awards Faculty and staff members in the UI College of Education who have committed their work to supporting diversity were awarded a 2009 Audrey Qualls Commitment to Diversity Award Thursday, April 29, during the UI College of Education Diversity Committee Spring Picnic. Cristina Cardenas, project assistant in the Office of the Dean, was the staff recipient, and Saba Rasheed Ali, assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, was the faculty recipient. Read the full University News Services release at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2009/may/050109qualls_awards.html.
Faculty, staff receive Academic Excellence Awards for work with residence hall students Thirty-four faculty, academic advisors, and staff members received the Academic Excellence Award from University Housing–Office of Residence Life for making a significant contribution to students’ academic success. Students living in UI residence halls nominated the award recipients. The Residence Life Academic Excellence Committee coordinated this inaugural Academic Excellence Award reception.
Old Capitol Museum to present live performances of Jane Austen's Emma The Old Capitol Museum will present a live performance of Jane Austen's famous novel Emma from 7 to 9 p.m., Saturday, May 9, and Sunday, May 10. The program, which will be presented by members of Ushers Ferry Historical Society of Cedar Rapids, is free and open to the public. This performance of Emma is being presented in conjunction with the exhibition Fresh Threads of Connection: Mother Nature and British Women Writers, on display in the museum's Hanson Family Humanities Gallery. The exhibition runs through July 26. Guest-curated for Old Capitol Museum by Bridget Draxler, a UI graduate student pursuing her doctorate in 18th-century British literature, Fresh Threads of Connection examines the lives and work of 10 extraordinary British women writers from the 18th and 19th centuries. Featured writers include Austen, Beatrix Potter (author of beloved children's tales about the mischievous Peter Rabbit), Anna Sewell (Black Beauty), Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre), and more. Visit www.uiowa.edu/~oldcap for more information on Old Capitol Museum programs.
UI Department of Theatre Arts to stage New Play Festival The Iowa New Play Festival will present four new scripts from the University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop in full productions and more than a half-dozen plays in staged readings May 4–9, in the UI Theatre Building. Four new plays will be premiered with performances at 5:30 and 9 p.m. in David Thayer Theatre:
Tickets for all the evening productions are $6 ($4 for UI students, senior citizens, and youth) and will be on sale one hour before each of the performances. Tickets will also be on sale from noon to 1:30 p.m., Monday–Friday, May 4–8, at the Theatre Building box office. Festival packages are also available that offer all five plays for the price of four.
See descriptions of the plays at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2009/april/042009play_festival.html.
Writers' Workshop poet Galvin to give free reading on campus Poet James Galvin, a permanent faculty member of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, will anticipate the publication of his new collection, As Is, in a free, public event at 8 p.m., Thursday, May 7, in lecture room 2 of Van Allen Hall on the UI campus. Galvin, winner of a 2003 Lannan Foundation Award, has written several volumes of poems, many of which were collected in Resurrection Update. He is also the author of The Meadow, an acclaimed memoir/history of the terrain and people of a high-mountain meadow in southern Wyoming near his home above Tie Siding, and the novel Fencing the Sky. His honors include a Lila Wallace–Reader's Digest Foundation award and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His second book, God's Mistress, was a National Poetry Series Selection.
Museum of Natural History begins anniversary celebration with sloth talk May 7 World-renowned Ice Age sloth expert Greg McDonald will open the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History's yearlong celebration of its 150th anniversary with a lecture at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, in Macbride Auditorium. A reception at 6 p.m. in the museum's Iowa Hall will precede the talk, which is part of the museum's Explorers Seminar Series. Both events are free and open to the public. The senior curator of natural history for the National Park Service's Park Museum Management Program, McDonald serves as a consultant for the museum's Tarkio Valley Sloth Project—an ongoing excavation of three giant Ice Age sloths in western Iowa. In addition, he was the scientific consultant when the museum built the Ice Age sloth model for its Iowa Hall gallery in 1985. For his talk, titled "The Museum and the Megalonyx: A History of Great Aspirations and Sloths in Iowa," McDonald will discuss the museum's Tarkio Valley excavations and the history of the museum's geologic research and collections. Read about the full slate of anniversary events at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2009/april/042409sloth_talk.html.
See what Learning and Development courses are right for you UI Learning and Development, a unit of Organizational Effectiveness, provides professional development services to faculty and staff. There are many learning opportunities that will support your professional development and growth. Look for classroom instruction on leadership issues for managers, frontline supervisors, human resource professionals, and office professionals. Check out the following links:
DISCOVERIESUI study suggests a new target for treatment of depression A brain protein involved in fear behavior and anxiety may represent a new target for depression therapies, according to a study by researchers at The University of Iowa and the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The results appear in the April 29 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Depression affects at least 14 million American adults and can be severely disabling. However, the causes of depression are not well understood. In addition, up to half of people diagnosed with depression are not helped by current therapies because either the drug is not effective for them or the side effects are intolerable. The UI research team found that disrupting ASIC1a—an ion channel protein found in the brain—produced an antidepressant-like effect in mice. The effect was similar to that produced by currently available antidepressant drugs, but the team also showed that ASIC1a's effect arose through a new and different biological mechanism. Read the full University News Services release at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2009/april/042909depression.html.
UI team helps advance understanding of autism genetics University of Iowa researchers have contributed to two studies advancing the understanding of the genetics of autism. One study pinpoints missing or duplicated stretches of DNA that may account for up to 15 percent of autism cases, while another study identifies genes along two crucial gene pathways that may also be involved in autism. The first study involved 88 families at The University of Iowa, while the second involved 115 families. The studies, which were led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, appeared online April 28 in the journal Nature. The findings could aid genetic counseling and planning and may eventually help with treatment, said study contributor Thomas Wassink, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the UI Carver College of Medicine and UI Children's Hospital. Read more at www.newswise.com/articles/view/551667.
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