Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost

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Provost’s Academic Update

March 20, 2007
 
E. Thomas Sullivan
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Julius E. Davis Chair in Law

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

As you return to campus from a restful and I hope invigorating spring break, I want to share recent accomplishments in the strategic positioning process and highlight impressive academic achievements here at the University of Minnesota.

Transforming the U: Update on Academic Initiatives

  • Baccalaureate Writing Initiative: The University has been awarded a nearly $1,000,000 grant (over three years) from the Bush Foundation to establish a pioneering writing-enriched curriculum program. The purpose of this signature program, consistent with our strategic positioning initiative, is to ensure that all undergraduate students on the Twin Cities campus will follow programs of study into which writing instruction has been intentionally sequenced and effectively integrated. This comprehensive, campus-wide effort will impact programs serving a significant percentage of Twin Cities' campus undergraduates over the three-year award period. Read the UNews press release: http://www.umn.edu/umnnews/news_details.php?
    release=070319_3212&page=NS

  • Faculty recruitment brochure: To assist in meeting faculty recruiting objectives, our office has produced a new recruiting brochure and accompanying Web site titled, “Wish You Were Here,” with voice-over graciously provided by University alumnus Garrison Keillor. This recruiting recommendation stems from the Faculty Culture Task Force, and features interviews with three outstanding University faculty. Visit the Web site: http://www.umn.edu/wishyouwerehere/

  • Institute on the Environment: The University of Minnesota's Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE) has been brought within the University's new system-wide Institute on the Environment. As part of the Institute on the Environment, IREE will continue to build on its accomplishments and history in the areas of renewable energy and the environment. This new arrangement consolidates and focuses environmental research and outreach resources and is designed to maximize the University's impact in creating innovative solutions to critical environmental issues, such as renewable energy solutions.

  • Conversations with the Provost: As mentioned in my November email, I began hosting a series of private, monthly conversations with University faculty in various disciplines and stages of their careers. The first two “Conversations with the Provost” were held in December and January. The February “Conversation” featured fourteen P&A staff from across campus. I have found these dialogs to be extremely interesting and insightful.

  • Student-athlete task force report: In January, the final strategic positioning task force report was received. The task force was co-chaired by Professor Mary Jo Kane (CEHD) and Professor Perry Leo (IT), and made many excellent recommendations. Each recommendation will be implemented, including the creation of an intensive Summer Bridge Program for use by student-athletes and non-athletes, beginning June 2007. Read the full report, as well as the UNews press release: http://www.academic.umn.edu/provost/reports/
    athletics.html

  • Campus-wide director of undergraduate research: On February 9, 2007 Professor Marvin Marshak (IT) was appointed the first faculty director of undergraduate research for the University. Professor Marshak begins work immediately, overseeing the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and connecting undergraduate research programs currently housed in colleges and elsewhere. Currently, 30% of undergraduates participate in a research program. Our goal is to increase that participation rate to 50%. Read the UNews press release: http://www.umn.edu/umnnews/news_details.php?
    release=070228_3181&page=NS

Congratulations to award-winning centers and departments that have garnered grants and awards during the recent months. Noteworthy examples include:

Congratulations to award-winning faculty, staff, and students who have received recognition in the recent months. Noteworthy examples include (warning: even though this is a sampling, there are lots!):

  • Regents Professor Ronald Phillips (CFANS) was awarded the 2007 Wolf Prize in Agriculture. The prize is being jointly awarded to Phillips and Michel A. J Georges of the University of Liége, Belgium, “for groundbreaking discoveries in genetics and genomics, laying the foundations for improvements in crop and livestock breeding, and sparking important advances in plant and animal sciences.” The $100,000 prize will be presented at a special ceremony by the President of the State of Israel at the Knesset (parliament) in Jerusalem on May 13th. Read more: http://www.wolffund.org.il/cat.asp?id=14&cat_title=
    AGRICULTURE

  • Professor Phil Pardey (CFANS) is the co-investigator on a $3.7 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to provide research support and guidance on how to improve investment and policy decisions for agricultural research. This initiative, known as HarvestChoice, will be led collaboratively by the University of Minnesota and the International Food Policy Research Institute: http://www.ifpri.org

  • Six senior faculty were named McKnight Distinguished University Professors: Gary Balas (IT), Bernardo Cockburn (IT), Uwe R. Kortshagen (IT), Claudia Neuhauser (CBS), Nikos P. Papanikolopoulos (IT), and Eric Weitz (CLA). For additional information about these faculty, view: http://www.grad.umn.edu/
    faculty-staff/ mcknight/distinguished_recipients.html

  • 11 junior faculty were named McKnight Land Grant Professors, and were honored by the Board of Regents at the March Board Meeting. Congratulations to Daniel Bond (Medical School), Kathleen Collins (CLA), Christy Haynes (IT), Karen Ho (CLA), Nihar Jindal (IT), Marta Lewicka (IT), Helene Muller-Landau (CBS), William Schuler (IT), Kathleen Vohs (CSOM), Christophe Wall-Romana (CLA), and Chun Wang (IT). For additional information about these faculty, go to: http://www.grad.umn.edu/facultystaff/mcknight/land_grant_recipients.html

  • 2007 Morse-Alumni Award recipients for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education on the Twin Cities campus are: Professor Jay Bell (CFANS), Professor Thomas Hoye (IT), Associate Professor Patricia James (CEHD), Professor Ned Mohan (IT), and Professor Joel Samaha (CLA).

  • Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education Award recipients are Associate Professor Maria Damon (CLA), Professor John Day (Medical School), Professor Ruth Lindquist (Nursing), Professor Thomas Molitor (Veterinary School), and Professor Bruce Wollenberg (IT). For more information: http://www.alumni.umn.edu/
    distinguishedteaching.html    .

  • Professor Graham Candler (IT) will receive the 2007 Thermophysics Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The award recognizes leaders in the field of thermophysics. See the news release.

  • Professor Jane Gilgun (CEHD) has been named to a global task force formed to identify factors in existing international programs that appear to promote child resilience. The task force is sponsored by the Oak Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland, which has funded a range of programs to tackle child abuse, with special emphasis on child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. See their Web site for details: http://www.oakfnd.org

  • Professor Andy Van de Venas’ (CSOM) forthcoming book Engaged Scholarship (Oxford University Press, 2007) has been selected for presentation as one of the most promising forthcoming management books at the European Academy of Management Conference in Paris on May 18, 2007.

  • A team of three students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (IT) advanced to the International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals in Tokyo, March 12-16. Alex Dean, Zi Lin, and Erik Shimshock are Team Dijkstra, to be accompanied by faculty coach Dr. Carl Sturtivant (IT). They will compete with 87 other regional teams from around the world to solve 10 difficult computer programming challenges in five hours. 6000 teams worldwide competed for one of the 87 team slots.

  • Chair of Geography and Professor Robert McMaster (CLA) has been named president-elect of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS). The UCGIS is a consortium of 60 research universities serves as a unified voice for the geographic science community, advancing the informed and responsible use of geographic information.

  • Professor David Chapman (CEHD) received a Fulbright New Century Scholars (NCS) grant for the 2007-2008 academic year, and is one of 36 international scholars chosen for this honor. The scholars will focus on the topic, “Higher Education in the 21st Century: Access and Equity.”

  • Professor Philip Pardey (CFANS) was one of two individuals to be named AARES Distinguished Fellow at the Annual Conference of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) in Queenstown, New Zealand. In addition, Pardey, along with co-authors Julian Alston and Roley Piggott, received the AARES Quality of Communication Award for their 2006 book Agricultural R&D in the Developing World: Too Little, Too Late?

  • Associate Professor Ramaiah Muthyala (Pharmacy) received the Professor SC Ameta Award by the Indian Chemical Society in December 2006.

  • Professor Stan Deno (CEHD) is the recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s Distinguished Researcher Award in Special Education. Deno was recognized for his research in curriculum-based measurement (CBM) with learning-disabled children.

  • College of Design interior design students won five of the eight national awards in Target’s “Design Me” competition, which focused on designing a dorm room. Seniors Rachel Bickel and Chiharu Miller were grand prize winners; and seniors Laura Hennings, Sarah Theisen, and Stephanie Volberding, won first place prizes.

  • Professor Robert K. Herman (CBS) received the Genetics Society of America’s George W. Beadle award for his outstanding contributions to the community of genetic researchers.

  • Professor and Head Claudia Neuhauser (CBS) joined the American Association for the Advancement of Science as a member-at-large of the Section Committee on Mathematics.

  • Professor Paul Magee (CBS) was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his work on molecular medical mycology—including the discovery of the sexual cycle of the yeast Candida albicans—and for his support for the genome project.

  • Professor Emeritus Norman Borlaug (CFANS) will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007 for his work on combating famine around the world.

  • Professor Stephen Hecht (Pharmacy and Cancer Center) received the American Association for Cancer Research and the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation Award for Ground-breaking Research on Tobacco and Cancer.

  • Professor Ronald Sawchuk will receive the 2007 American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Sciences (APhA-APRS) Research Achievement Award in the area of Basic Sciences for his career-long work in development and application of pharmacokinetics.

  • Professor Linda Bearinger (Nursing) was named to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Committee on Adolescent Health.

  • Professor Susan Henly (Nursing) has been named an associate editor of Nursing Research, the world’s premier nursing research journal.

  • Associate Professor Renee Sieving (Nursing) received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research for “Prime Time: Health Promotion for Multiple Risk Behaviors,” a project to promote healthy youth development.

  • Professor Jean F. Wyman (Nursing) received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Gerontological Nursing Association's Board of Directors.

  • Anna Lloyd (CSOM), former executive director of the Committee of 200, an organization of top women entrepreneurs and corporate executives, has been named executive director of the Center for Integrative Leadership, a new initiative at the University to examine and develop leadership models for complex global challenges like world poverty and global warming. Lloyd began work on March 12th.

  • CLA senior Rebecca Mitchell is one of 20 students nationwide named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic Team. Mitchell was a Truman Scholar and one of Glamour magazine's Top Ten College Women in 2006.

  • Assistant Professor Eva von Dassow (CLA) was awarded a Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. This fellowship supports advanced assistant professors and untenured associate professors in the humanities and related social sciences whose scholarly contributions have advanced their fields of study.

  • Assistant Professor Songying Fang (CLA) was awarded a fellowship at the Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University for 2007-08.

  • Assistant Professor Andrew Scheil (CLA) received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship for “The Matter of Babylon: Figures of the City in the Early Middle Ages and Beyond.”

  • Assistant Professor Joyce Bono (CLA) was awarded the 2007 American Psychological Association Industrial Organization Early Career Award.

  • Master’s student Wendy Clagett Kochevar (Nursing) obtained the highest score in the nation on the national Pediatric Nursing Certification exam – the second University nursing student in a row to be the top scorer.

  • Professor Jody Lulich (Veterinary School) has been named the 2007 recipient of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) Excellence in Veterinary Health Care Award. The award was specifically developed by the world organization to recognize “outstanding work of veterinarians in promoting companion animal health care.”

  • Professors Emeriti John Arnold (Veterinary School), Bee Hanlon (Veterinary School), and Walter Mackey (Veterinary School) received the Veterinarian of the Year Award at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association for their involvement in forming the Minnesota Veterinary Historical Museum.

  • Associate Professor Julia Wilson (Veterinary School) received the Distinguished Service Award from the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA).

  • Professor Larry Wallace (Veterinary School) was honored with the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA).

Congratulations to the award winners noted here, and to all of the other faculty, staff, and students whose work is helping to propel the University ever closer to its goal. Here’s to a productive second half of the spring semester.

E. Thomas Sullivan
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Julius E. Davis Chair in Law

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