The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

The University of Vermont's Independent Voice Since 1883

The Vermont Cynic

UVM News in Brief

UVM Hits Another All Time High

Research and grant awards at the University of Vermont reached an all time high of $124.7 million in 2003/2004, topping last year’s total of $117.5 million by more than six percent. The total number of awards also hit a high of 712, matching the total given in 2002. This year’s performance continues a strong upward trend in the university’s research program that has seen total awards increase 67 percent over the fiscal 2000 total of $74.5 million. “We’re very pleased about both the size of this year’s total award and the way it is distributed over so many colleges and schools,” said Frances Carr, vice president for research and graduate studies. “Faculty throughout the university are demonstrating that their research projects have the kind of quality that will attract grants from the top sponsors in their fields.”

Projects receiving federal awards include:

o Mass Media Intervention to Prevent Youth Smoking, led by John Worden, research professor of family practice

o Northeast Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education Program, Frederick Magdoff, professor of plant and soil science

o Rural Ecology and Coping with HIV Stigma, Sondra Solomon, assistant professor of psychology

o Teachers Technology, Joyce Morris, research assistant professor of education

o Vermont NASA EPSCoR Program, William Lakin, professor of mathematics & statistics

o Department of Energy Initiative in Structural Biology and Computation Biology/Bioinformatics, Susan Wallace, professor of microbiology & molecular genetics

o Mechanism of Specific Trunk Exercises in Low Back Pain, Sharon Henry, associate professor of physical therapy o Northeastern States Research Cooperative, Donald DeHayes, dean of The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

o Vermont EPSCoR’s Research Infrastructure Improvement Plan, Christopher Allen, professor of chemistry

Major Donation Paves Way For Construction of Turf Field

A major gift from Rey Moulton and Betsy Winder of Manchester, Massachusetts, will help the university better compete in field hockey and lacrosse. Construction has started on an all-weather turf field that will become the permanent home of field hockey when completed in the spring of 2005. “When we embarked on bringing athletics in line with the president’s overall vision, facilities was our number-one challenge,” says Chris McCabe, assistant vice president of marketing and business development, and a former top UVM lacrosse player. “The turf field will give us a chance to compete for athletes that are looking at programs like UMass and top Ivy League schools. Those are the teams we want to compete with.” The new field is part of a comprehensive makeover of the Archie Post Athletic Complex, a cluster of athletic fields and facilities located next to Gutterson. The all-weather turf field allows spring sports to start practice outdoors much sooner instead of practicing indoors on the concrete floor of the indoor tennis facility. A 4,000-seat open-air stadium, an outdoor track and space for concessions, picnicking and restrooms are also planned in the future for the complex. Winder, who played field hockey while a student at Lehigh, agrees that high quality facilities equal high quality athletes. “I was surprised when I realized that UVM didn’t have a turf field for field hockey. Having a proper facility is a big part of attracting and retaining the best athletes,” she says. The gift from Moulton and Winder advances the campaign priority of UVM athletics to fund improvements to the Archie Post complex.

Rescue During the Holocaust

In reading and thinking about those who risked their lives to save others during the Holocaust, in talking with both the rescuers and the rescued, it is hard to escape an insistent personal question. “I’m constantly asking, ‘Would I have done this? What would I have done if I were there?’,” says David Scrase, professor of German and director of the Center for Holocaust Studies. “That is quite clearly, continuously in the background. People have quite carefully profiled the rescuers, tracing the aspects of the rescuer psyche. You read these descriptions, and you wonder, do I fit in any them?” Scrase, who is a University Scholar for this academic year, will give a talk on the topic on Sept. 29 at 4 p.m. in Memorial Lounge, Waterman Building. The title of his presentation is “Courage to Care: Rescue During the Holocaust.” After tracing the contours of Holocaust scholarship, which traditionally focused on the calamity’s perpetrators and victims, with some attention devoted to the passive bystanders, Scrase will focus on two categories that have become much more prominent in Holocaust discourse over the last two decades: resistance and rescue. As Scrase pursued his graduate studies in modern German literature he found that the writers he studied, like himself, were grappling with the two wars and the Holocaust, trying to make some sense of the inexplicable realities of the country in the 20th Century. After coming to UVM, Scrase taught German literature to small classes, literature in translation to larger audiences and, eventually, began teaching the history and literature of the Holocaust. Teaching that course, Scrase says, was draining.

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UVM News in Brief