Prizewinning Professor

Christopher R. Johnson MS’84 PhD’90, Distinguished Professor of computer science, was honored at last May’s Commencement with the Rosenblatt Prize for Excellence, the U’s most prestigious award. The $40,000 gift is presented annually to a faculty member who displays excellence in teaching, research, and administrative efforts. As director of the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute, Johnson oversees cutting-edge research in the areas of scientific computing, visualization, and image analysis. He sat down recently with Continuum to share his thoughts on winning the Rosenblatt Prize.

What is the current focus of your research at the SCI Institute?

We focus on solving problems in biomedicine, science, and engineering using computation. Currently, I am working on a project to create more accurate computational techniques for inverse problems, which allows us, for example, to determine the focus for an epileptic seizure from a computer model of the patient’s head and brain, or to determine the characteristics of electrical activity on the surface of the heart from a computer model of the patient’s body and heart. We also integrate computer modeling, simulation, and visualization techniques for important real-time applications, such as wildfire management.

What does receiving the Rosenblatt Prize mean for your research?

It’s very gratifying because the award demonstrates that the University truly supports excellence in interdisciplinary teaching, research, and administrative efforts, which have been my life’s professional passions.

How were you informed about winning the prize?

I received a message from my assistant that President Young wanted to see me. When I walked into his office, he said, “You know, there are some things about this job that I really don’t like.” That’s when my heart picked up a few beats. “But this isn’t one of them.” He went on to tell me I had won the Rosenblatt Prize.

How did you respond?

My first reaction was “Wow!”—and then stunned silence. Fortunately, I am married to Katharine Coles [PhD’90], Utah’s Poet Laureate. She helped me with a more proper response, which was, “I am overwhelmed and deeply honored!” It has been a humbling and gratifying experience. Since I was young, I’ve been interested in understanding how individuals accomplish great things. I’ve learned that the secret is not so much individual talent as persistent hard work and, especially, interdisciplinary teamwork. Over the years, scores of colleagues, staff, students, and visionary administrators from different departments and colleges have contributed to the work of the SCI Institute. This award is a tribute to them all.

Connecting You to the U

Want to know the latest Utah athletics scores? Looking for detailed information on upcoming campus events? Or, just want to see the latest photos and videos from the U, all while on the go? Well, there’s an app for that! The University of Utah has developed an iPhone and iPod Touch application that is now available at the Apple “app store.” Campus news, maps, directories, weather, multimedia, events, helpful links, and sports info can now be found with the flick of a finger. The app even includes an audio track of “Utah Man”—just search the app store for “University of Utah” and share your crimson pride straight from your phone.

Don’t have an iPhone? That’s okay. Visit http://mobile.utah.edu on any mobile device and you’ll find U of U information in a layout that’s compatible with your mobile Web browser, so you can access the U anytime, anywhere.

Milestones

Several campus entities are celebrating anniversaries in 2010.

During any given year, some department, program, college, or unit at the U will be celebrating an important anniversary. As the U grows and evolves, so do its various components. But 2010 is particularly noteworthy for a handful of campus entities. Here is a sampling:

The Middle East Center (MEC) celebrates its 50th anniversary this fall. Commemorative events include a focus on the images, roles, and accomplishments of women; the West, as seen through the eyes of the Middle East; and artistic expression in the region. Established in 1960, the MEC is one of 17 national resource centers in the United States devoted to the academic study of the Middle East. Distinguished scholars from throughout the world participate in the center’s events, and opportunities for language study, fieldwork, and research in Middle East countries are offered to University students.

Also celebrating half a century is KUER 90.1 FM radio, which signed on the air in June 1960. Originally heard only on campus, its schedule was limited to five hours a day and included a mix of academic programs and music. Today, KUER offers news and information from the British Broadcasting Corporation and National Public Radio, and from its own award-winning news team—with jazz in the evening. It also maintains two high-definition channels offering classical, as well as indie rock. With a weekly audience of approximately 150,000—the largest of any public radio station in the Intermountain West—KUER reaches more than 90 percent of Utah’s population.

The Daily Utah Chronicle, the U’s student-run newspaper, marks its 120th anniversary this year and has kicked off the celebration by publishing a pair of commemorative editions reprinting a selection of old stories and ads, one on April 12 and another on June 7. Two other commemorative issues will be published—on September 12 and November 8, which coincides with a party at the Chronicle offices in the Union Building.

The Ballet Department—celebrating 60 years next spring—has a rich history of excellence dating from 1951, when Willam F. Christensen—noted dancer, teacher, and founder of the San Francisco Ballet Company—returned to his native Utah and founded one of the first ballet programs at an American university. Faculty and graduates of the program eventually formed Ballet West, one of three major professional dance companies in Salt Lake City. The department has produced students who have gone on to international careers as dancers, choreographers, and teachers, and it continues to attract students from all 50 states and abroad.

Campus Notebook

Tom Maloney

Maloney to Lead Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy
Tom Maloney, associate professor of economics, is the new director of the Barbara L. and Norman Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy. Maloney replaces George Cheney, who has accepted a position as an endowed chair in communication studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Maloney is an economic historian whose areas of research include labor and migration in the United States with a particular focus on racial inequality and migration. After receiving his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Center for the Study of Urban Inequality at the University of Chicago. The Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy seeks to promote the understanding of human rights on all levels of our society and, wherever possible, to encourage nonviolent conflict resolution and peacemaking.

U of U Awards First-Ever Mormon Studies Fellowship
The Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah has awarded the first of its new fellowship in Mormon Studies to Kate Holbrook, a doctoral candidate at Boston University. The first of its kind in the nation, the fellowship provides funds for a doctoral student to spend a year researching the history, beliefs, and culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and its members. It was established with a grant from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation. Holbrook’s research project, “Radical Food: Mormon Foodways and the American Mainstream,” will examine LDS (aka Mormon) food culture throughout the mid-20th century and how it affected the relationship between Mormons and broader society.

Christopher Peters

U Physician Named to New George S. Eccles Endowed Chair in Orthopaedics
Christopher Peters, a leading clinician and researcher in joint preservation and regeneration, has been named to the Eccles Endowed Chair in Orthopaedics. A $1 million grant from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation recently created the endowed chair to provide perpetual support for innovation among the U’s top orthopaedics faculty. The chair was established in honor of Arthur J. Swindle BS’67 JD’70, executive director of development and patient relations at the U’s Orthopaedics Center. Peters joined the Department of Orthopaedics in 1994 and is widely respected for his role in the development of bio-regenerative, hip-preserving operations. His research is focused on developing treatment options for patients suffering from severe joint pain.

Research Roundup

Mental Illness Tied to Immune Defect
Nobel Prize-winning U of U geneticist Mario Capecchi has discovered that bone marrow transplants cure mutant mice that pull out their fur compulsively. The study provides the first cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness, and points toward eventual new psychiatric treatments. “We’re showing there is a direct relationship between a psychiatric disorder and the immune system, specifically cells named microglia that are derived from bone marrow” and immigrate from blood to the brain, says Capecchi, a Distinguished Professor of human genetics at the School of Medicine. Capecchi and colleagues showed that pathological grooming and hair-pulling in mice—a disorder similar to trichotillomania in humans—is caused by a mutant Hoxb8 gene that results in defective microglia, which defend the brain and spinal cord, attacking and engulfing infectious agents. Mice with pathological grooming appear to groom normally, but do so too often and for too long, leading to fur removal and self-inflicted skin wounds. In the key experiment, Capecchi and colleagues transplanted bone marrow from normal mice into 10 mice that had a mutant Hoxb8 gene and compulsively pulled out their own chest, stomach, and flank fur. As the transplant took hold during ensuing months, grooming behavior became normal, four mice recovered completely, and the other six showed extensive hair growth and healing of wounds. Although utilizing bone marrow transplants to treat mental illness in humans is impractical, mice with the mutant gene that causes pathological grooming now can be used to study the surprising connections between the immune system’s microglia cells and mental illness—and ultimately to produce new treatments.

Cars and Sprawl: Chicken or the Egg?
A recent study co-authored by Reid Ewing, professor of city and metropolitan planning at the University of Utah, aims to make decisions easier for those charged with designing and building cities that use less carbon in the future. The researchers performed a meta-analysis of some 200 built environment and travel studies conducted since 1996 in order to measure the magnitude of relationships that influence a person’s travel choices. Meta-analysis is a systematic way of combining data from many studies on a given topic to allow common threads to emerge, and also to calculate meaningful averages. The conclusions can then be applied with confidence by planners, policy makers and other professionals working to enhance the physical, social, and mental health of America’s communities. “There has been more research on the effect of community design on the amount people drive, walk, and use transit than any other subject in urban planning,” says Ewing. “We have attempted to make sense out of the varied findings, and arm planners and policy makers with numbers they can use to justify compact development, mixed use, interconnected streets, accessible transit, and other smart-growth measures.” Research consistently shows that location within the metropolitan area is the most important determinant of how much driving people do. Central, highly accessible locations minimize vehicle miles traveled. Street connectivity and block size are important as well, along with land-use diversity—a balance of jobs and housing within a neighborhood.

Ironing Out Inflammation

Kaplan Lab members Jerry Kaplan, Ivana De Domenico, and Diane Ward.

In a surprising discovery that someday may lead to new treatments for many inflammatory diseases, University of Utah scientists have found that a hormone involved in iron metabolism can save mice from deadly acute inflammation. “It’s well recognized that the hormone hepcidin helps regulate iron balance. This study shows it has an additional, unexpected role in reducing inflammation,” says the study’s principal author, Jerry Kaplan, a pathology professor and assistant vice president for basic sciences at the U’s Health Sciences Center. The study reveals that “hepcidin has an anti-inflammatory effect, reducing the consequences of inflammation,” says the study’s first author, Ivana De Domenico, an assistant professor of internal medicine. Coauthor Diane Ward, an associate professor of pathology, adds: “This could mean that hepcidin might be considered as a therapy for a wide range of acute inflammatory conditions such as bacterial infections; inflammation from surgery, injury, or burns; organ transplantation; and rare cases of inflammation from blood transfusions.” Toxic shock and fever also might be suited to hepcidin treatment, Kaplan says. It has been known for at least a decade that hepcidin is released into the bloodstream in response to inflammation. It also has been known that hepcidin attacks bacteria and kills them. And increased hepcidin reduces iron in the blood, which also has an antibacterial effect, since infectious agents require iron.

Accolades

Congratulations to the young performers and dedicated staff of the University of Utah’s Youth Theatre, which was selected to represent the United States and will perform at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August 2011 as part of the American High School Theatre Festival. The Fringe Festival is the largest and most prestigious arts festival in the world. More than a thousand performing companies attend, and the whole city becomes a stage. The U’s Youth Theatre was selected from among top programs based on their most recent bodies of work, awards, community involvement, philosophies, and recommendations. Less than five percent of schools/programs nominated are invited to attend.

Kudos to Short Solutions, a University of Utah startup company composed of four current and former engineering students, which won the Palo Alto Software Challenge Award at the 2010 Global Moot Corp Competition—the “Super Bowl of business plan competitions”—at The University of Texas

in Austin. Only 40 teams from 12 countries qualified to participate. Short Solution’s win earned the team $1,500, which brings its total earnings from grants and competitions to $86,500. Short Solutions seeks to resolve the issue of intermittent faults in automobiles and has successfully identified a method that the company is currently trying to bring to the marketplace. The team’s success comes after a string of other related accomplishments. In addition to winning the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge earlier this year, the team participated in the Opportunity Quest business plan competition and secured a $45,000 Technology Commercialization Grant from the Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR).

The American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) has awarded Department of Modern Dance student Emily Terndrup the ADCFA/Dance Magazine Outstanding Student Performer Award for her performance in Where Your Body Lies, a duet she co-choreographed with fellow student Patrick Barnes. The dance was chosen to represent the U’s Department of Modern Dance at the 2010 ADCFA National Festival.

In Memoriam

J. Gerald Byrne, 79, professor emeritus and former chair of the Dept. of Metallurgical Engineering

For more on this and other memoria, click here.

News of the University

Tightening Our Belts

The 2010 legislative session proved difficult for higher education—but it could’ve been worse.

Like most legislative sessions, the 2010 assembly offered a few surprises. Fortunately, there were no bombshells for higher education in general or the University of Utah in particular. But like the rest of the nation, the State of Utah is tightening its financial belt, and that will have some measurable effect on the U.

The session began with the likelihood that higher education would be cut an additional 5 percent on top of the massive 17 percent cuts suffered in 2009-10. There was some hope of a one-time backfill to lesson the impact of the ongoing and additional cut. Near the end of the session, the additional 5 percent cut was abandoned and the hoped-for one-time backfill was put back into the budget to reduce the base-budget cut.

As a result, the 17 percent cut imposed by the Legislature in 2009-10 was reduced to approximately 13 percent for 2010-11. At the U, the 17 percent cut had been administered as a 19 percent cut for those units and functions that could suffer the blow. Those departments and programs will benefit from the new add-back. The combined effect of the legislative add-back and increased tuition revenue means that the U will be able to replace much of the one-time federal stimulus funding that helped the institution weather the 2009-10 budget cut. Put another way, for most of campus, 2010-11 budgets will differ only slightly from the previous year’s.

The Legislature cut the Utah Science, Technology, and Research Initiative (USTAR) funding, both one-time and base. For the University, the one-time cut will be about $1.2 million, and the base reduction about $300,000.
The University had requested support for repairs to its aging infrastructure, but the Legislature declined to provide the funds. The U did get approval to combine capital improvements funds beyond the $2.5 million cap to address high temperature water breaks and replacement requirements. No funding was provided for increases in compensation for U of U employees.

The State Board of Regents approved a 1.5 percent increase in tier one (statewide) tuition for all Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) institutions. Combined with a requested 8 percent tier-two increase (made by individual institutions) and fee increases averaging 7.3 percent, the cost of attending the University of Utah will rise by about 9.2 percent overall in 2010-11. Revenue from the tier-one increase will be used primarily to cover increases in the State retirement plan. Revenue from the tier-two increase will be used to address a variety of needs created by the budget reductions in academic, service, and administrative areas.

An Artist of Two Cultures

The UMFA’s summer exhibit of Pablo O’Higgins’ work highlights the career of an inspirational artist.

By Susan Vogel

Pablo E. O’Higgins (1904-1983), La Carreta (The Wagon), 1966, lithograph, from the permanent collection of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, purchased with funds from the Phyllis C. Wattis Endowment for Modern and Contemporary Art.

The exhibit Pablo O’Higgins: Works on Paper, on display at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts through September 19, is one of four exhibitions designed to celebrate Mexican art and culture at the museum during the summer of 2010.

Pablo O’Higgins, born Paul Higgins in Salt Lake City in 1904, came from a Presbyterian family of Mayflower English and Scots-Irish ancestry. During his childhood, his family spent several years in San Diego County, where he developed a love of Mexican culture. At Salt Lake City’s East High School, Higgins studied under LeConte Stewart and James T. Harwood, both of whom eventually headed the U’s Department of Art. After graduation, he briefly attended the San Diego Academy of Arts, where he learned about Diego Rivera’s murals in Mexico City and wrote him a letter. To his surprise, Rivera invited him to visit. Between 1924 and 1929, Higgins worked as an assistant on three of Rivera’s most important murals.

Under his mentor’s political tutelage, Higgins joined the Mexican Communist Party during a harsh period when it was attempting to eliminate its “middle class element.” It was in this context that Paul Higgins transformed himself into “Pablo O’Higgins,” claiming that he identified more with the working class and distancing himself from his “bourgeois” upbringing. (His father, an assistant attorney general, had once argued before the Utah Supreme Court in favor of the execution of miner Joe Hill, now an internationally known martyr of the labor movement.)

In Mexico, where O’Higgins lived until his death in 1983 (though he maintained his U.S. citizenship until 1961), he is as famous for his graphic art as for the dozen murals he painted in his adopted country. In the U.S., where he completed two murals and taught printmaking, O’Higgins served as an inspiration for Chicano artists who identified with his depictions of social struggles for equality. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts acquired two lithographs by O’Higgins in 2000.

Associate Professor of Art Kim V. Martinez says, “Pablo O’Higgins made a distinct imprint on the Chicano movement by creating militant labor and progressive civil rights public murals during the labor strife of the 1930s, a tradition of social justice that artists continue to draw from today.”

Visit UMFA’s website for more information on the O’Higgins exhibit.

Accolades

Congratulations to the University of Utah’s Cody Scott Rogers, one of 54 students selected as a 2010 Truman Scholar from more than 3,500 applicants representing 283 U.S. colleges and universities. The prestigious scholarship provides each recipient $30,000 for graduate study as well as priority admission and supplemental financial aid at some premier graduate institutions, leadership training, career and graduate school counseling, and special fellowship opportunities within the federal government. Rogers is working toward a degree in political science, with minors in ethnic studies and campaign management, and expects to graduate in May 2011.

Kudos to Vice President of Student Affairs Barbara H. Snyder for receiving the Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Service as a Dean from NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. The award is presented to a lead student affairs officer who has demonstrated sustained professional service in student affairs work, high-level competency in administrative skills, innovative response in meeting students’ varied and emerging needs, effectiveness in developing junior staff members, and leadership in community and university affairs. Snyder has served as VP for student affairs and adjunct associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the U since 1999.

KUED’s Wallace Stegner documentary has been honored for excellence in biography with a NETA Award from the National Educational Television Association. The annual NETA Awards recognize member-produced excellence in public broadcasting. KUED, the University of Utah’s public television network, produced the documentary about the acclaimed writer, conservationist, and teacher, a U of U grad (BA’30) who became one of America’s greatest writers.

In Memoriam

John J. Flynn, J.D., 74, a U of U professor of law for more than four decades

Kevin J. Gully BS’75, Ph.D., ABPP, 58, a former U of U professor of forensic psychology

Walter J. Hawkins BS’73, 62, former Ute basketball player and coach

Paul Hodson BA’36, Ph.D., 100, former U of U business vice president and vice president of special projects and international relations

William R. Slager PhD’51, 85, former chair of the U’s Department of English, and founder and director of its Linguistics Program

For more on these and other memoria, click here.

What To Do at the U during the Summer

Summer’s a long time to sit idle! No need to, because the U offers summer camps and classes for youth in just about every arena imaginable, from art to architecture, and from music to math, for children of nearly all ages. Check out some of the many options here.

Research Roundup

Glue, Fly, Glue

Caddisfly larva. Photo by Fred Hayes

Like silkworm moths, butterflies, and spiders, caddisfly larvae spin silk, but they do so underwater instead of on dry land. Now, University of Utah researchers have discovered why the fly’s silk is sticky when wet and how that may make it valuable as an adhesive tape during surgery. “Silk from caddisfly larvae—known to western fly fishermen as ‘rock rollers’—may be useful someday as a medical bioadhesive for sticking to wet tissues,” says Russell Stewart, an associate professor of bioengineering and principal author of a new study of the fly silk’s chemical and structural properties. “I picture it as sort of a wet Band-Aid, maybe used internally in surgery—like using a piece of tape to close an incision as opposed to sutures,” he adds. There are thousands of caddisfly species worldwide in an order of insects named Trichoptera that are related to Lepidoptera, the order that includes moths and butterflies that spin dry silk.

We Aren’t as Ethical as We Think

Ever since Enron, it seems that more academics have been trying to understand and rectify unethical behavior. Research from the University of Utah might help organizations better understand thinking patterns in the workplace. “Companies typically don’t do bad things because they have bad people,” says Kristina A. Diekmann, professor of management and one of the four authors of a new study on ethics that examines the psychological processes of individuals and how they deceive themselves into thinking they are ethical people. “When people imagine or predict what they would do in certain situations,” she explains, “they think about what they should do. However, when it comes to actually making decisions, people tend to focus on what they want to do.” For example, individuals know they should behave ethically when negotiating with a client, but during the actual negotiation with that client, their desire to close a deal may cause them to make misleading statements and later justify doing so to others. “They are not conditioned to think of the ethical consequences at the time of the decision,” Diekmann says. “What is particularly problematic is that when people deceive themselves into thinking they are ethical but don’t act accordingly, it encourages the continuation of negative behavior.”

The Cost of Being on Your Toes

A still of a study participant walking. Photo by David Carrier

Humans, other great apes, and bears are among the few animals that step first on the heel when walking, then roll onto the ball of the foot and toes. Now, a University of Utah study shows the advantage: Compared with heel-first walking, it takes 53 percent more energy to walk on the balls of your feet, and 83 percent more energy to walk on your toes. “Our heel touches the ground at the start of each step. In most mammals, the heel remains elevated during walking and running,” says Professor of Biology David Carrier, senior author of the new study. “Our study shows that the heel-down posture increases the economy of walking but not the economy of running,” says Carrier. “You consume more energy when you walk on the balls of your feet or your toes than when you walk heels first.” Economical walking would have helped early human hunter-gatherers find food, he says. Yet because other great apes also are heel-first walkers, it means the trait evolved before our common ancestors descended from the trees, he adds. Carrier speculates that a heel-first foot posture “may be advantageous during fighting by increasing stability and applying more torque to the ground to twist, push, and shove. And it increases agility in rapid turning maneuvers during aggressive encounters.”

Campus Notebook

Honorary Degrees Awarded During May Commencement

Sue D. Christensen

E. Gordon Gee

Jon Huntsman, Jr.

Shane Robison

Dean Singleton

Honorary doctoral degrees were awarded to five recipients during the 2010 Commencement ceremonies in the Jon M. Huntsman Center on May 7. Conferred on individuals who merit special recognition for their service to the community or outstanding achievement, the honorary degrees were presented to Sue D. Christensen BS’56 (a Salt Lake City entrepreneur and philanthropist) for Doctor of Humane Letters, E. Gordon Gee BA’68 (president of The Ohio State University and formerly at the helm of several other institutions) for Doctor of Laws, Shane Robison BS’80 MS’83 (executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer for Hewlett Packard) for Doctor of Engineering, W. Dean Singleton (chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group) for Doctor of Business, and to this year’s commencement speaker, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. ex’85 (former Utah governor and currently U.S. Ambassador to China) for Doctor of Humane Letters.

$10 Million Gift Will Establish New Home for the College of Science

Gary and Ann Crocker

Gary L. (ex’69) and Ann S. Crocker (BS’74) have donated $10 million to help renovate the historic George Thomas Building after the current occupant, the Utah Museum of Natural History, moves to its new location near Red Butte Canyon in 2011. The remodel of the facility on Presidents Circle will transform the building into a state-of-the-art center for scientific research and teaching. It will house the Center for Cell and Genome Science, modern classrooms and laboratories for innovative and interdisciplinary science and math education, and the College of Science headquarters. The Crocker donation is the lead gift for a $75 million project that is expected to begin construction in 2012. The new facility, to be named The Gary L. and Ann S. Crocker Science Center at the George Thomas Building, is scheduled for completion in 2014. The Thomas Building was dedicated in 1935 as the University’s library and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Eccles Foundation Contribution to Help Top Freshmen Enter Grad School

A new program at the University of Utah guarantees that well-qualified students entering as freshmen will be admitted to one of the University’s elite graduate programs upon completion of their undergraduate degree. The new program will begin Fall Semester 2010 and will be administered by the University’s Honors College. The innovative program was announced in conjunction with a $1.2 million contribution from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, which will fund the Eccles Distinguished Scholar Awards as part of the new program. Top students from throughout Utah will be eligible to apply for the Eccles Distinguished Scholar Awards, which will provide the most generous undergraduate scholarship support available at the U, including full tuition, housing, and fees. Eccles Distinguished Scholars will also receive mentoring, advising, and academic opportunities through the Honors College. While early assurance programs at other universities require students to declare their graduate selection upon admission, the U’s program is unique for its “open-track system,” which allows students to take courses for two years before declaring their graduate program intentions.

The Digit

18%

The quantity by which external research
funding at the U has increased since 2004,
to $377 million in 2009.

News of the University

Together We Reach: An Update on the U’s Capital Campaign

Fred Esplin

Since July 2005, the University has been engaged in a comprehensive capital campaign—“Together We Reach”—to raise funds for scholarships, research, facilities, and many other areas. The goal is to reach $1.2 billion by October 2013, when the campaign will come to an end. Continuum asked Vice President for Institutional Advancement Fred Esplin MA’74 for an update on the campaign’s progress.

How much has been raised to date? As of December 31, 2009, nearly $742 million.

Which areas are receiving the highest gift amounts? Research, public programs, and facilities.

Which areas are donors giving to the most? Public programs, academic support, and scholarships/fellowships.

What has surprised you most about the campaign? There have been two very pleasant surprises so far: First is the number of new donors to the University (more than 41,000 [as of Dec. 31]), which was one of our objectives but which has been far more successful than we had hoped. The second is how generous our alumni and friends have been over the past year during the recession. We actually received more support during the past year than the prior year, which we did not expect.

How does a university decide how much it needs in its endowment? The University’s total endowment is the sum of over 1,400 individual endowments for everything from scholarships to named chairs. They provide a very important source of financial stability over time, so the University of Utah, like all our peers, constantly seeks to increase this stable source of funding. There is no magic number or goal, but a growing endowment is a sign of a healthy university.

How much does the University currently have in its endowment? As of September 2009, we had $454 million in our endowment fund, plus another $71 million in funds held in trust by others on behalf of the University, for a total of $525 million.

How does the University’s endowment compare with other universities of similar size? Ours is the 125th largest among 800 private and public universities nationwide.

Since this campaign has been so successful, how will legislators read or respond to our need for additional funding? Funding for the University is a private-public partnership, and neither source can replace the other. State support is essential to our teaching mission and to fund our growing enrollment, while private support gives us a margin of excellence in teaching, research, and service that State funds cannot provide.

Learn more about the Capital Campaign here.

The Work Lives On

Craig Arnold

Craig Arnold’s poetry continues to win praise, a year after his disappearance.

Poet Craig Arnold PhD’01 has been missing for more than a year and is presumed dead, but his work continues winning awards in his absence. Most recently, Arnold’s 2008 collection Made Flesh received the High Plains Book Award for Poetry in late fall 2009. Arnold’s fiancée, poet Rebecca Lindenberg (a doctoral student in poetry at the University of Utah), accepted the award on his behalf. Made Flesh also won in the poetry category of the 10th annual Utah Humanities Council Book Festival awards in October 2009.

On April 27 of last year, Arnold went missing while on a short solo hike on the small volcanic island of Kuchinoerabujima, Japan. When he failed to return to his inn, a search was launched. After the Japanese government exhausted its efforts, family and friends took over and funded an independent search by the international 1st Special Response Group. Those searchers followed Arnold’s trail to the edge of a steep cliff. After attempting descent into the dense, treacherous crevasse, searchers finally concluded that Arnold had died in a fall and his body would likely never be recovered. At the time of his disappearance, Arnold was at work on a book about active volcanoes. The recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, and many other honors, Arnold had taught poetry at the University of Wyoming in Laramie since 2004, with absences to work in Rome, Colombia, and elsewhere.

The Digit

[ 2.8 million ]

Number of square feet of space built, remodeled, currently under construction, or being planned at the U of U during the last five years.

Campus Notebook

Jon Huntsman, Jr. to Deliver 2010 Commencement Address

Photo courtesy of Ambassador Huntsman’s Office

United States Ambassador to China and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. will deliver the commencement address at the 2010 University of Utah commencement ceremony, to be held on Friday, May 7, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Huntsman was tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as U.S. ambassador to China in May 2009, and his nomination was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Twice elected as governor of Utah, Huntsman won a record percent of the vote in 2008, including the majority in all 29 counties. As governor, Huntsman aimed his efforts toward increasing the state’s economic competitiveness and maximizing funding to Utah’s public education system.

Global Pathways Program Launched

The University of Utah and the global education company Kaplan have established a Global Pathways Program that was launched in January 2010. The purpose of the partnership is to prepare students from around the world for admission to the University. The innovative 12-month program combines intensive English language training, university study skills preparation, and the first year of a bachelor’s degree program. Students who successfully complete the program can progress directly into the second year of study at the U and choose a major. Kaplan provides marketing, recruitment, and admissions support, as well as a wide range of other support services for students, while the University provides the academic and English language instruction.

U of U Among Top Institutions in National Competition for Research Funding

University of Utah medical scientists have won more than $7.9 million in federal economic stimulus Challenge Grants for 10 research projects—from the immensely complex task of diagramming genetic connections in the brain to developing a skin seal that prevents infection caused by artificial limb attachments. The Challenge Grants, funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, are aimed at jump-starting particular areas of biomedical and behavioral exploration through high-risk and innovative research. Thousands of scientists from 241 U.S. institutions applied for the funding through the National Institutes of Health. The U of U is in the top 10 percent of the 241 universities receiving the grants in terms of number and dollar amount.

Architecture + Planning Building to Undergo Renovation

The University’s College of Architecture + Planning intends to renovate its 40-year-old Brutalist-style facility (characterized by concrete with no formal finish) in such a way that the building consumes the least possible amount of energy and, at the same time, begins to generate its own energy, thus accomplishing a net-zero energy state of operations. Expected to be the first institutional building renovated to a net zero standard anywhere in the United States, the building will be autonomous from the University’s grid, and energy will be produced on site.

UMNH Assumes Management of Range Creek

The Utah Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah assumed full management responsibilities for the historic Wilcox Ranch in Range Creek Canyon on December 17, 2009. Known for its remote and rugged landscape, Range Creek, located about 30 miles southeast of Price, Utah, has become valued by researchers from across the country for its unique prehistoric Fremont archeological sites. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR), the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), and the UMNH participated in a three-way land transfer in order for the museum to lease the Wilcox Ranch for use as a field research station. DWR had been appointed the responsible agency in 2004. For the past 10 years, museum and U of U archeologists and staff have helped to direct the scientific research of Range Creek, focusing on archeology, botany, and geography.

Accolades

The University of Utah was named the 24th best academic institution in the United States to work for in the latest rankings of The Scientist, the magazine for life science professionals. In “Best Places to Work 2009: Academia–Top 40 US Academic Institutions,” the U is ranked alongside such vaunted institutions of higher education as Princeton, Emory, and Stanford, and ranks above others including UC-Davis, Vanderbilt, and Duke.

Kudos to KUED for being the first recipient of the Overall Station Excellence Award from the Rocky Mountain Regional Emmy Awards. This award considers a station’s quality, service, diversity, and commitment over the course of an entire year. More than 50 stations were eligible in the Rocky Mountain region. In addition, several KUED programs received Emmy Awards
for being judged best in their class in the region.

The David Eccles School of Business Professional MBA program has been named one of the nation’s best by BusinessWeek magazine. The DESB Professional MBA ranks 50th in the nation overall and is the only BusinessWeek-ranked part-time MBA program in Utah. The program also placed sixth for highest program graduation rate and 11th in the percentage of tenured faculty teaching in the program, and was rated a “best” for job changers. Some 99 programs were evaluated in the rankings survey.

Now if we may take a moment to toot our own horn… Continuum recently added another accolade to its collection: a bronze award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), District VII, in the “General Interest Magazine, Over 75,000 Circulation” division of the CASE 2009 Awards of Excellence. It’s a very competitive category, with entries from many of the major universities in the district—which besides Utah includes Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, the vast state of California, and even Guam. The Continuum editorial staff is proud to have been recognized in the top three from among these worthy competitors.

Research Roundup

Losing While Cruising to the Store

Contrary to what some might believe, living near a variety of restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets, and even fast food outlets actually lowers one’s risk for obesity, according to a new study from the U. Surprisingly, people who live more than a half-mile away from any food outlets are the ones who tend to be fatter. “Having access to a range of food options in your neighborhood affects both your energy input and output,” says Cathleen Zick, coauthor of the study and professor of family and consumer studies. “A healthy grocery option may influence the food you choose to buy, while having multiple food destinations within walking distance might encourage you to walk, rather than drive, to your next meal.” The study suggests that placing restrictions on fast food outlets may not be effective, but that initiatives to increase healthy neighborhood food options may reduce individuals’ obesity risks, especially if focused on low-income neighborhoods.

The study compared the body mass index of nearly 500,000 Salt Lake County residents with food-related business addresses within their neighborhoods. Researchers found that residents were 10 percent less likely to be obese if they lived in a neighborhood with a diversity of food options—healthful grocery stores and mini-marts, and full-service and fast food restaurants—compared with residents with no food options in their neighborhoods.

Is Global Warming Unstoppable?

In a provocative new study, U of U Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Tim Garrett argues that carbon dioxide emissions—the major cause of global warming—cannot be stabilized unless the world’s economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day. The study—which is based on the concept that physics can be used to characterize the evolution of civilization—indicates that energy conservation or efficiency doesn’t really save energy, but instead spurs economic growth and accelerated energy consumption. “Making civilization more energy efficient simply allows it to grow faster and consume more energy,” Garrett says.
The study also states that throughout history, a simple physical “constant”—an unchanging mathematical value—links global energy use to the world’s accumulated economic productivity, adjusted for inflation. So it isn’t necessary to consider population growth and standard of living in predicting society’s future energy consumption and resulting carbon dioxide emissions. “Stabilization of carbon dioxide emissions at current rates will require approximately 300 gigawatts of new non-carbon-dioxide-emitting power production capacity annually—approximately one new nuclear power plant (or equivalent) per day,” Garrett says. “Physically, there are no other options without killing the economy.”

Fruit Flies with a Cholesterol Problem

How do fruit flies get high cholesterol and become obese? The same way people do: by eating a diet that’s too rich in fats. But more important, according to two new studies led by Carl S. Thummel, professor of human genetics at the U of U School of Medicine, fruit flies use the same molecular mechanisms as humans to help maintain the proper balance of cholesterol and a key form of stored fat that contributes to obesity. The findings mean that as researchers try to learn more about the genetic and biological processes through which people regulate cholesterol and fat metabolism, the humble fruit fly, genus Drosophila, can teach humans much about themselves. “Not a lot is known about these regulatory mechanisms in people,” says Thummel. “But we can learn a lot by studying metabolic control in fruit flies and apply what we learn to humans.” High cholesterol and obesity, which affects an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the U.S. population, are linked to heart disease, diabetes, and other maladies that take huge tolls on human health and add billions of dollars to the nation’s medical bills. Understanding the processes that regulate cholesterol and fat in humans could be critical for addressing those health risks in people, Thummel believes.

In Memoriam

Royden G. Derrick ex’38, a former Utah industrialist and an emeritus general authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died at home on December 7. He was 94.

Julian Maack BFA’51, former director of the Department of Medical Illustrations at the University of Utah School of Medicine, died December 25. He was 83.

Don H. Nelson BA’45 MD’47, a former chair of the University of Utah Department of Endocrinology, died at home January 11 after a short illness. He was 84.

S. Grover “Sam” Rich, Jr. BA’42, founder and director of the Institute of International Relations and former professor of political science at the University of Utah, died on Christmas morning 2009. He was 91.

For more on these and other memoria, click here.