At Brown

Highlights of Corporation meeting

The Corporation met on campus Oct. 10-12 for the first of its three meetings of the academic year. Highlights include:

• The Committee on Student Life held a “town meeting” attended by 165 people, including more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and medical students. The participants discussed the University’s planning process as it relates to student affairs.

• The Committee on Athletics and President Simmons discussed issues of concern regarding Ivy Athletics policies and proposed policy changes.

• The Budget and Finance Committee and members of the Advisory Committee on University Planning met for their first-ever joint session to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Brown as it enters the planning and budget process for this academic year.

• The Committee on Development and Alumni Relations and the Committee on University Relations met in a joint session to hear reports on University communication strategies and on the planning and readiness for a comprehensive campaign.

• The Facilities and Design Committee and the full Corporation heard a presentation by Frances Halsband, a consulting architect hired by the University. Halsband presented the results of her early research and conversations with community members regarding current and potential uses of Brown’s physical resources.

• During its Oct. 12 business meeting, the Corporation engaged two new trustees: Mark Blumenkranz ’72, MD ’75, MMS ’76, and Thomas J. Tisch ’76. It also received a progress report on the implementation of the academic enrichment initiatives.

• The Corporation discussed the issue of campus safety and the Bratton Group’s recommendation to arm campus police officers. The discussion was similar to those held elsewhere on campus this semester. The final decision whether to arm campus police officers will be made by President Simmons, most likely before the end of fall semester. The Corporation expressed its support for the president and the administration’s efforts to enhance and improve security on and around campus.

• In her report to the Corporation, Simmons discussed the planning process undertaken this academic year.

Funding Notes

Several Medical School faculty members recently received three five-year grants totaling $19.2 million from the National Institutes of Health. The grants were awarded to the Lifespan health system. Four Lifespan hospitals are affiliated with the Medical School.

• A grant totaling $8.4 million was awarded under the Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence Program to establish a laboratory-based cancer research program at Rhode Island Hospital. The research will focus on molecular pathology and the emerging field of proteomics, which identifies and quantifies proteins to determine how they interact, how their expression changes by disease and how they are modified by environmental change. Douglas Hixson, professor of medicine, is the principal investigator.

• A $7.5-million grant was awarded by the Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) as continued support for the local CFAR based at The Miriam Hospital. The funds, plus backing from the Medical School and Tufts University, will sustain maintenance and further development of multidisciplinary AIDS research programs, said Charles C.J. Carpenter, M.D., CFAR director and professor of medicine. "The CFAR pulls together the expertise of AIDS and HIV basic researchers and clinical investigators in our efforts to find a cure and vaccine for one of the planet's most deadly diseases,” said Carpenter.

• A $3.3-million grant will fund research by the Rhode Island-Puerto Rico Asthma Center, in conjunction with The University of Puerto Rico, into understanding the cause of disparities in the diagnosis, symptoms and treatment of asthma among Latino children. Gregory K. Fritz, M.D., professor of psychiatry and human behavior and director of child and family psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital, is the principal investigator.

Awards and Honors

Harold Ward, director of the Center for Environmental Studies, received an ECO Mission Award from the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) for making "significant contributions to the environment" over the past 30 years. Ward created the center in 1978. Since then, more than 400 students have received undergraduate or graduate degrees through its programs “and are now pursuing environmental management and advocacy careers," said an ECO news release. Ward is the Sloan Lindemann and George Lindemann Jr. Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies. He was one of five individuals honored during ECO's 30th anniversary celebration in Boston Oct. 17.

Deborah Cohen, an assistant professor of history, is the winner of the Allan Sharlin Prize for her book “The War Come Home: Disabled Veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914-1939,” published in 2001 by the University of California Press.

The award is presented by the Social Science History Association to an outstanding book published in the previous year.

The book explores the fate of the nearly 8 million men in Europe who returned from the First World War permanently disabled by injury and disease.

The staff of the Immunology Center at The Miriam Hospital, affiliated with the Medical School, has received the Community Leadership Award from the International Institute of Rhode Island for providing medical care to refugees with HIV. The center works with the institute’s Refugee Medical Case Management Program, which coordinates the medical care for 14 refugees. Susan Cu-Uvin, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and medicine at the Medical School, is director of the Immunology Center.

Off the Shelf

“Brown: Images of the University” is the first pictorial album of campus in more than two decades. The 130 images in the book were taken throughout academic year 2001-02 by photographer William Mercer, whose other published works include volumes on Connecticut College, Middlesex School, Mount Holyoke College, St. George’s School, Simmons College, Emory University and Wesleyan University, from which he graduated in 1964. A portfolio of his work has been purchased for the permanent collection of the Polaroid Corporation.

Forrest Gander, professor of English literature and director of the Graduate Program in Literary Arts, served as co-translator for “Immanent Visitor: Selected Poems of Jaime Saenz,” published recently by University of California Press. The collection is the first English-language translation of the work of the person considered Bolivia’s greatest and most visionary 20^th-century poet. Gander worked with translator Kent Johnson.

Weight- and obesity-related illnesses are the nation's second leading cause of death annually. A new book co-authored by Bess Marcus is designed to support the medical, health and fitness professionals who try to motivate inactive people to leave their sedentary lives behind. “Motivating People to Be Physically Active” explains the science behind methods proven to help people change their lifestyles. It provides ways to measure and target motivational readiness for change, and to assess progress. Marcus is a professor of psychiatry and human behavior.