October 2, 2003

1. State of the U address
2. New scientist joins the U
3. Collaborating to stop the riots
4. Fall Arts Festival at the new U quarter
5. Racial bias on Minnesota roads?
6. Alumni Association provides gift for stadium, scholarships
7. Safeguard your home from fire
8. U of M Happenings
9. Links

U NEWS

State of the U address
University President Bob Bruininks will give the State of the University address at 3 p.m. today (Oct. 2) in the theater at Coffman Memorial Union on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis.

Bruininks will discuss the current condition, challenges, achievements, and future of the U as well as his priorities--including a number of new interdisciplinary academic areas of focus--and the challenges that lie ahead. The address is presented annually to a joint meeting of the University Senate, the Faculty Senate, and the Twin Cities Campus Assembly and is primarily attended by faculty, staff, and friends of the University.

University President Bob Bruininks will give the State of the University address at 3 p.m. today (Oct. 2) in the theater at Coffman Memorial Union on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. To see the  live streaming video, go to www.umn.edu/pres/livesou2003.html

The event, which includes a question-and-answer session, will be broadcast live on the other University campuses--in Crookston, 101 Dowell; Duluth, 410 Library; Morris, 2950 Science Auditorium; Rochester, ST108; and St. Paul, student center.

To view the address via streaming video on your computer, see www.umn.edu/pres/livesou2003.html.

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New scientist joins the U
Finding a way for ailing human hearts to heal themselves. That’s essentially what Doris Taylor will do in her new position at the University of Minnesota. The prominent cell and gene therapy expert was recently appointed the U’s Medtronic Bakken Chair in Cardiovascular Repair.

Taylor, who made headlines in 1998 for repairing rabbit hearts with cells from their thigh muscles, comes to the U from Duke University Medical School where she is an associate professor of medicine in the cardiology division. At the U, Taylor will blend research from the University’s Biomedical Engineering and Stem Cell institutes to develop novel cardiovascular technologies--ones that would treat and cure various heart ailments using molecules and cells instead of mechanical devices.

“This appointment is a chance to work with leading stem cell researchers as well as top-notch cardiologists and surgeons who intimately understand cardiovascular disease and its devastating consequences,” says Taylor. “The time is right to pursue the tremendous promise of new approaches to treat the number-one killer in America.”

The endowed position, named for Medtronic founder and pacemaker inventor Earl Bakken, is supported by more than $8 million in funds from Medtronic and the U’s bioengineering department and Medical School.

To learn more about stem cell research at the U, see the Stem Cell Institute Web site at www.umn.edu/stemcell. For information on the U’s Biomedical Engineering Institute, see www.bmei.umn.edu.

Editor’s note: The winter issue of M will feature a profile on Doris Taylor. The publication should arrive in your mailboxes early December. If you do not receive M but would like to, e-mail the editor at urelate@umn.edu.

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Collaborating to stop the riots
Riots following the 2002 and 2003 Gopher men’s NCAA hockey championships outraged administrators, students, and the public and left the University’s reputation bruised. But the U is hardly alone in dealing with the issue of out-of-control, seemingly inexplicable violence tied to sporting events.

Sociologists have been studying the phenomenon of sports-related riots for years, but so far there is little in the way of concrete conclusions and definitive answers about either causes or solutions. Jerry Lewis, a sociology professor at Kent State University, says that some of the factors involved include a championship game, the presence of a natural urban gathering place, large groups of young males, and alcohol.

Rioters may actually view their destructive acts as “feats of skill,” which they see as extensions of or tributes to their college athlete models, Lewis suggests. “They also look to other fans who are observing for approval.”

The University is taking a multi-pronged approach to the problem this year, as well as collaborating with schools around the country. University officials and a student delegation recently participated in a student summit at the University of New Hampshire to promote responsible, alternative ways to celebrate. The U is co-hosting a conference at Ohio State in November on student conduct and riots, and is among 14 schools that are compiling and analyzing data related to riots for a Michigan State research project.

University of Minnesota Police have already held planning sessions with Minneapolis police to try to keep any future disturbances “under control before they develop,” says U police chief George Aylward. He says the rioting trend is growing and must be broken. “It’s a nationwide problem. It’s scary in that if it becomes entrenched in the college undergraduate culture, we’re going to have a heck of a time finding a remedy for it,” says Aylward.

Editor’s note: A longer version of this story by Burl Gilyard appears in the September-October 2003 issue of Minnesota, the UMAA magazine. To read the full story, see www.alumni.umn.edu/minnesota.

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Fall Arts Festival at the new U quarter
Imagine bee-shaped sculptures the size of your head, glowing molten red and moving inches from your reach. Sculptor Allen Peterson will create dozens of these iron models, and dancers will carry them on 5-foot poles during the Oct. 10-12 grand opening of the University of Minnesota West Bank Arts Quarter.

Ferguson Hall

“Cross-pollination” blends the skills of sculptors, dancers, and musicians, and is part of the Arts Quarter Collective Fall Arts Festival on Friday, Oct. 10, 4:30-7:30 p.m. The festival is just one of several events going on that weekend to celebrate the opening of the University’s Regis Center for Art and the completion of the quarter that brings all the U’s arts disciplines together in one place.

“When you put dancers, actors, musicians, and visual artists in a room together, you can literally watch the creative and intellectual sparks fly,” says Steven Rosenstone, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “Add a few historians, political theorists, and social critics to the mix, and look out--the place will ignite! That’s what the Arts Quarter is all about.”

The grand opening gala for the new art center will be held on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 8 to 11 p.m. Events that evening will include the "Art Moves: Department of Art Faculty Exhibition" in the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. On Sunday, Oct. 12, from noon to 3 p.m., the West Bank Arts Quarter open house will include performances, child-friendly activities, and tours of the four buildings that make up the district--the Regis Center for Art, Rarig Center (built in 1971 for theater), Ferguson Hall (music, 1985), and the Barbara Barker Center for Dance (1999).

For event location and parking information, see www.cla.umn.edu/wbaq/location.html.

To learn more about the West Bank Arts Quarter, see page 6 of the fall 2003 issue of M or read the story online at www.umn.edu/urelate/m.

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Racial bias on Minnesota roads?
In 2002, black, Latino, and American Indian drivers were stopped and searched by Minnesota law enforcement officers more often than white drivers, according to a recent University of Minnesota study on racial profiling. But during discretionary searches, illegal substances were more likely to be found on white drivers.

Researchers at the U’s Institute on Race and Poverty discovered that black drivers were stopped more often than expected based on the proportion of black drivers in 64 out of the 65 jurisdiction that participated in the study. White drivers were stopped at a greater than expected rate in only eight out of 60 jurisdictions. (Five jurisdiction did not provide enough information to be included into the comparison.)

If officers in the 65 jurisdictions had stopped drivers of every race and ethnicity according to their proportion in the driving population, the outcome of the study would have been different, says Myron Orfield, executive director of the institute. About 18,800 fewer blacks, 5,800 fewer Latinos, and approximately 22,500 more whites would have been stopped, he says.

According to the study, the greatest differences between actual and expected stops and search rates for black drivers are found in suburban and central cities other than Minneapolis. These drivers were stopped 310 percent more often than expected, and once they had been stopped, officers subjected these drivers to searches at a rate of 108 percent greater than expected. Of those black drivers, only 11 percent were found to have contraband, compared to 18 percent of the white drivers who were searched.

“ The significant disparities in search rates are of particular concern, given that contraband is found on black and Latino drivers at a much lower rate,” says Tom Johnson, president of the Council on Crime and Justice, an independent nonprofit organization that collaborated with the U on the study. And although there is more variation in the results for American Indian drivers across jurisdictions, “data for this group also raise concerns of bias,” he says.

In 2002, law enforcement officers in the participating jurisdictions were asked to collect traffic stop data such as the driver’s age and gender and reason for the stop. The officers were also asked to report if they knew the race or ethnicity of the drivers before stopping them.

To read a report about the study or to learn more about the Institute on Race and Poverty, based at the University of Minnesota Law School, see www.umn.edu/irp.

--University of Minnesota News Service

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Alumni Association provides gift for stadium, scholarships
The University of Minnesota Alumni Association (UMAA) recently announced it will give $1.5 million to the University of Minnesota for scholarships and a new stadium complex.

“For the last two years, the UMAA National Board has been exploring opportunities for leaving a lasting alumni legacy in 2004, our 100th anniversary year,” says Jerry Noyce, UMAA national president. “With the stadium initiative gaining momentum and the great need for scholarships during these difficult economic times, we saw this contribution as a meaningful way to build pride and community on our campus for years to come.”

The UMAA will contribute $1 million to a new stadium complex, contingent upon Board of Regents approval for the stadium project. The UMAA’s $500,000 gift toward scholarships will be matched by the University for a total contribution of $1 million to the U’s scholarship fund.

Throughout its 100-year history, the UMAA has made significant contributions to scholarships and building projects at the U, including Memorial Stadium, Northrop Memorial Auditorium, Coffman Memorial Union, and the McNamara Alumni Center.

“To say we are excited about supporting students and a new on-campus gathering place is an understatement,” says Margaret Carlson, UMAA executive director. “The UMAA is here to support academic excellence and keep the University’s spirit strong.”

To learn more about the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, which has 57,000 members, see www.alumni.umn.edu.

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Safeguard your home from fire
In light of the recent deaths of three University of Minnesota students in an off-campus house fire and in preparation for National Fire Prevention Week Oct. 5-11, the U’s Parent Program has compiled some safety tips.

Editor’s note: For more fire safety tips, especially what to do if you see fire or smoke while on a University of Minnesota campus, see the Department of Environmental Health and Safety Web site at www.dehs.umn.edu/safety/fire.

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U OF M HAPPENINGS

Domestic violence front-and-center
The U’s Aurora Center for Advocacy and Education will observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October) with a “Silent Witness National Initiative” Oct. 7-9, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. Life-sized figures with stories of domestic abuse victims will be displayed in front of Coffman Memorial Union. To learn more about the initiative, call Melissa Schmidt at 612-626-3433.

Moore on current affairs
Michael Moore, director of the Academy Award-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine, is coming to the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. He will deliver a lecture, answer audience questions, and sign his newest book, Dude, Where’s My Country?, on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m., in the Sports Pavilion. U Bookstores and the Minnesota Planning and Activities Council are cosponsoring Moore’s visit. Tickets are $10 and available at the Coffman Memorial Union information desk (612-624-INFO) or at the pavilion on the night of the event.

Eagles, clothing, fossils, and more…
If you missed the U’s first “Culture Crash” this summer, here’s another chance! During “Culture Crash Tour 2,” Friday, Oct. 10, or Saturday, Oct. 11, participants will visit the U’s Raptor Center, Goldstein Museum of Design, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Bell Museum of Natural History, and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The guided tour (from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.) costs $27, which includes admission fees, transportation, and lunch. Space is limited. To reserve a spot or to learn more, call Nichole Neuman at 612-626-5302 or e-mail neuma035@umn.edu.

Science in a nutshell
" Super Saturday Science," a University of Minnesota, Morris, science education program for girls in fifth through eighth grades will take place on Saturday, Nov. 1, 9 a.m.-noon, in the Science Building on the Morris campus. Participants will work with female scientists on a variety of experiments and meet other girls who like science. There is a $6 registration fee (or 2 for $10), and the deadline to register is Wednesday, Oct. 15. To learn more or sign up, see www.mrs.umn.edu/satsci or call Margot Rudstrom at 320-589-1711.

Oct "SOBER" Fest
Alcohol and drug issues take center stage during Drug and Alcohol Awareness Week Oct. 6-9 at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Public events include a forum by Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth on DUI laws and underage consumption on Monday, Oct. 6, at noon in Sahlstrom Conference Center and at 7:30 p.m. in Kiehle Auditorium; a discussion on alcohol recovery by Tom Fuchs, director of Glenmore Recovery Center, on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in the conference center; and a comedy act on alcohol abuse by Bernie McGrenahan McGrenahan on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 8 p.m. in the auditorium. For a full list of events, see www.crk.umn.edu/newsevents/notices03 04/octSOBERfest2003.htm.

Husky dogs and Arctic explorers
Visit the McNamara Alumni Center on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis on Monday, Oct. 13, 3-6 p.m., and you’re likely to walk into an Arctic base camp--complete with dogs, tents, and other camping material. The campsite is part of the “Arctic Transect 2004 Kick Off Event” to introduce an Arctic education program between the U’s College of Education and Human Development and NOMADS Adventure and Education. The free event will also include a presentation by renowned polar explorer Will Steger.

Apples galore
Sample and buy Minnesota-bred apples from an inventory of 150 varieties, including Haralson and Honeycrisp, at the U’s Apple House located one mile west of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. While you’re there, visit the gift shop for items such as Arboretum-made apple butter and maple syrup, cookbooks, and apple-peeling machines. The Apple House is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. For a daily update of the apple varieties available, call the Apple House Hotline at 952-443-1409.

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LINKS

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