January
8, 2003
1. Gophers win Sun Bowl
2. Pain linked to vitamin D deficiency
3. Minding the business of the U
4. Stadium findings
presented to governor’s
taskforce
5. New links to Minnesota lynx
6. Winning cheer
to debut at UMAA birthday party
7. U to study child
abuse issues
8. Clicks vs. trips
9. Beating
the winter blues with houseplants
10. U of M
Happenings
11. Links
UNEWS
Gophers
win Sun Bowl
With only 23 seconds left in the game and
trailing Oregon by two points, Minnesota’s
very own Englishman, Rhys Llyod, kicked the
winning 42-yard field goal. Golden Gopher
fans roared as their football team snatched
the Sun Bowl title 31-30 from the Ducks in
El Paso, Tex., on December 31.
“I didn’t know if it was going
to go through,” says Minnesota senior
receiver Aaron Hosack, who caught six passes
for 107
yards. “We all just stood there and
went crazy when the ref signaled it was good.
Oregon’s defense is one of the toughest
we faced all year.”
Oregon took a 30-28 lead with about 4 minutes
remaining before the Gophers drove 55 yards
to set up the winning kick. The Gophers were
beaten 24-20 by the Ducks in the 1999 Sun
Bowl.
The 2003 Sun Bowl was scoreless after the
first quarter, but the teams combined for
31 points in the second--the most points
scored in a Sun Bowl quarter. Minnesota entered
the game with the nation’s third-best
running offense, averaging 293.2 yards a
game. The Gophers outrushed the Ducks 241-77.
The Gophers finished 10-3 in the 2003 season,
their best record in the modern era.
To read more game highlights, see http://www.gophersports.com.
Return
to top Pain
linked to vitamin D deficiency
What’s behind your aches
and pain? The culprit could be vitamin
D--a lack
of it. University of Minnesota researchers
have found a link between chronic musculoskeletal
pain and vitamin D deficiency in a recent
study that has received media coverage
across the nation.
Researchers
at the U’s Center for
Spirituality and Healing examined 150 children
and adults who complained of nonspecific
body aches and found that 93 percent were
vitamin D deficient. Furthermore, every
participant of African-American, East African,
Hispanic, and American Indian descent were
vitamin D deficient. All participants under
30 years old, regardless of nationality,
were also found to be lacking the vitamin.
And of that group, more than half were
severely deficient and five participants,
who had been told by their doctors that
their pain was “all in their head,” had
no vitamin D at all.
“These findings are remarkably different
than what is taught is medical school,” says
Greg Plotnikoff, associate professor of
medicine and lead author of the study. “We
would expect vitamin D deficiency in
old persons or housebound persons, [but]
we
found the worst vitamin D deficiency
in young people, especially women of
childbearing
age.”
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with
significant risks for osteoporosis, hypertension,
diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune diseases
such as multiple sclerosis. Plotnikoff
says this new study supports more routine
screening for vitamin D deficiency.
“[Musculoskeletal] pain is the most common
type of complaint seen by primary care
doctors,” he adds. Unsuccessful
treatment of pain costs $61.2 billion
per year, according
to the Journal of the American Medical
Association (November 2003). Plotnikoff
says further studies need to be done to
see if a prescription of vitamin D can
help a patient manage or alleviate persistent,
non-specific pain.
The study is published in the December
9, 2003, Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
--Academic Health Center
Return to top
Minding the
business of the U
The University of Minnesota is placing the highest priority
on fiscal resourcefulness, institutional efficiency, and quality student
services
to retain its academic excellence in these challenging economic times.
The University’s 2003 Annual Report details how the U has reshaped
the way it operates and explains why it continues to be a valuable
investment.
“This has been a challenging year for the U,” says University
president Bob Bruininks. “We took one of the larger cuts in state
appropriations--15 percent for the biennium--of any public university
in the nation, but we are forging ahead, working to ensure excellence
and vitality of the University for our students and for the people
of Minnesota in a time of fiscal austerity.”
The
annual report, which
was presented to the
Board of Regents in December
and sent to key business and community leaders this month, includes
real stories of cost savings and productivity initiatives, as well
as an independent auditor’s report, financial statements, and
a management’s analysis. To read the report, click
here.
Return
to top
Stadium
findings presented to governor’s
taskforce
This week, University of
Minnesota officials presented recommendations
for an on-campus Gopher football
stadium to the Governor’s Stadium
Task Force. The task force, which
is charged with making recommendations
by early February for Twins baseball
and Vikings football facilities,
invited the University to present
its plans.
“This was a great opportunity to explain
why we believe bringing Gopher football
back to campus is the best option
for the University and the state
of Minnesota,” said Joel Maturi,
athletics director. “An on
campus stadium will attract more
students, fans, alumni and donors,
strengthening pride and people’s
relationships to this great University.”
During the presentation, Maturi evoked
the excitement of marching down University
Avenue into the old Memorial stadium
on a crisp fall game day. A generation
of Minnesotans, he said, has not
enjoyed a true Big Ten football experience.
In addition to contributing to the
collegiate experience and strengthening
alumni and fan connections to the
University, which contributes to
the University’s overall strength,
Maturi reminded the task force that
the University has been playing Division
I football in Minnesota for more
than a century. “We’re
not going anywhere, and we shouldn’t
be taken for granted because of that,” he
said.
Kathleen O’Brien, vice president
for University Services, discussed
the University’s recommendations
for an on-campus stadium (see eNews December 18). She called the proposed
facility “modern, enduring,
but modest.”
The University projects the cost
to be $180 million, with another
$42 million needed for site preparations
and infrastructure improvements,
bringing the total project to an
estimated $222 million.
University chief financial officer
Richard Pfutzenreuter said officials
are looking at a variety of funding
streams, including a substantial
amount of private funding. “Our
academic mission remains paramount,” he
said. “However, we expect an
on-campus Gopher stadium will attract
large sums of private funding that
simply wouldn’t come to the
University but for this project.”
Specifically, Pfutzenreuter said
the University is exploring financing
strategies that include private donations,
sponsorships, stadium revenues, student
support, and parking revenues. He
added that with a project of this
size, no single source of funding
would be sufficient.
“If the University raises 60 or 70
percent of the funding, $6 million
annually would cover the debt service
and close that funding gap,” he
said.
The University is not including stadium
funding in its capital request to
the Minnesota legislature this year
but will follow the stadium discussions
at the capitol during the session.
For the latest on a proposed Gopher
stadium, see www.umn.edu/stadium.
--University of Minnesota News Service Return
to top
New
links to Minnesota lynx
Once a very rare sight in Minnesota, the
elusive Canada lynx has returned, and scientists
at the University of Minnesota, Duluth’s
Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI)
are on its trail. They’re using new
technologies to keep track of their old
friends in the northwoods.
The
lynx is a 15- to 25-pound wildcat
added to the Endangered Species Act
in 2000. |
The U’s research team is working
with the U.S. Forest Service to capture
the wildcats in Superior National Forest
and install tracking collars on them to
learn more about their movements, habitat
preferences, and population density. The
lynx was added to the Endangered Species
Act in 2000.
“Concurrent with listing lynx as ‘threatened’ comes
the need to know a whole lot more about
the species,” says NRRI biologist
Chris Burdett. “We want to know:
will they stay [and] will they starve?
We need to know what they’re doing
and how they’re doing.”
Over the past year, the scientists have
tracked the movements of six lynx with
radio collars and, just this month, two
more lynx are being followed with the latest
Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
“These GPS collars give us up to
four locations night and day in all weather
conditions,” said
Ron Moen, NRRI biologist. “They also
give us locations in the summer when it
is impossible to track lynx when there
are no snow tracks to follow. Activity
sensors in the collar tell us when the
animals are active or resting.”
The public also informs the researchers’ database.
Thus far, the team has received about 40
e-mails and calls from people in northern
Minnesota who have sighted a lynx.
The lynx is a 15- to 25-pound wildcat,
most commonly found where its favorite
food-- the snowshoe hare--is most abundant.
The researchers estimate that the lynx
population will likely decline as the number
of snowshoe hares is predicted to fall
over the next few years.
The Superior National Forest is using the
findings from this study for planning projects
and taking into account lynx habitat needs
when analyzing revisions for the Forest
Plans on the Superior and Chippewa National
Forests.
To learn more about the study or how to
report a lynx sighting, see http://www.nrri.umn.edu/lynx.
--June Kallestad, Natural Resources Research
Institute
Return to top
Winning
cheer to debut at UMAA birthday party
The new University of Minnesota musical cheer will be publicly
performed for the first time at the University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s
(UMAA) “Birthday Party of the Century” on Friday, January
30, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the McNamara Alumni Center on the
Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis.
The
winning cheer was chosen from more than
three dozen entries submitted to the
musical cheer contest sponsored by UMAA
in honor of its 100th
birthday. Contestants were asked to compose “a spirited and bold” 15-second
cheer similar to that of the University of Michigan’s “Let’s
Go Blue.” The new cheer won’t replace the “The Minnesota
Rouser” but will introduce another tradition to bring the crowd
to its feet during Gopher games and other University of Minnesota events.
The U’s Pep Band will perform the cheer at the birthday party,
which will also feature a free lunch, birthday cake, prize giveaways,
and games. The event is free and open to the public.
For more information about the UMAA birthday party, musical cheer contest,
and 100th anniversary, see www.alumni.umn.edu/100.
Return
to top
U
to study child abuse issues
In 2001,
903,000 children
were victims of abuse
or neglect in
the United States,
and more than 9,000 of those children
live in Minnesota. The U’s School
of Social Work recently received one
of only 11 federal grants to study
child abuse and neglect.
The grant from the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services will fund
research on such topics as child protection
for individuals with disabilities,
cultural differences in the definition
of child maltreatment, supervision
of child welfare cases, and the role
of social support systems for abused
children.
“Research from these projects will help
maximize effective child welfare practices
while making the most of limited resources
to care for our most vulnerable populations,” says
Susan Wells, social work professor
and grant project director.
The University will conduct five
projects over a two-year period
in collaboration
with the Minnesota Department of
Human Services and the children’s
services units for Anoka, Dakota,
Olmsted, Ramsey,
and Washington counties.
“We are extremely proud of this award
and hope that highlighting the important
work being done by Dr. Wells and others
will enhance the national debate on
child welfare needs and practice,” says
Jean Quam, director of the School
of Social Work.
To learn more about the University
of Minnesota School of Social Work,
see http://ssw.che.umn.edu.
Return
to top Clicks
vs. trips
At the dawn of the Internet age, futurists
predicted that as telecommunications improved,
we would travel less--working, shopping,
and banking from home. Why, then, do traffic
jams persist? A University of Minnesota
professor is studying how our use of the
Internet affects congestion and social
behavior.
Kevin
Krizek, with the U’s Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs, is collecting
and analyzing data on household travel
decisions in three cities--Seattle, Pittsburgh,
and Kansas City--so that transportation
planners can better understand how urban
areas may change as technology becomes
more pervasive.
“At one point, we thought that e-commerce
could replace a lot of physical travel
and therefore we’d eliminate our
congestion woes,” Krizek says. “The
emerging thought is that information
technologies are not replacing household
travel but
are complementing it.”
In some cases, Krizek says, shopping
online directly replace certain trips.
But the
Internet and other technologies may be
prompting more purchases and travel--both
short trips to the local mall and longer
trips for leisure travel. “The good
deals people can get on airline tickets
through the Web may well be instigating
travel,” he explains.
Kevin
Krizek is with the U’s Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs. Photo
credit Jonathon Chapman |
In addition to influencing our travel behavior,
Krizek says the availability of products
through the Internet has affected the way
a community socializes. Many bricks-and-mortar
retailers have changed their approach to
customers. Bookstores, for instance, have
remade themselves as coffeehouses and neighborhood
gathering spots as well as places to buy
books.
“Much of the social interaction we require
is invaluable and cannot be adequately
served electronically,” he says. “For
example, renting a movie is not a substitute
for going to the theater because the
two are not usually considered equivalent
experiences.”
Krizek’s research is part of a larger
project, the Sustainable Technologies Applied
Research Initiative, sponsored by the U’s
Center for Transportation Studies.
To learn more about the initiative,
see http://www.its.umn.edu/research/projects/2003012.html.
For more on Krizek’s findings,
see http://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/newsletter/2003/nov03.pdf.
--edited from an original story by Mary
Lahr Schier in Humphrey Institute
News,
November 2003.
Return
to top
Beating winter blues with houseplants
When the holidays are over and the last
decorations are packed away, even the most
inviting rooms can seem a little drab.
Why not brighten your favorite room with
a new houseplant or two? University of
Minnesota gardening expert Deb Brown offers
some tips on buying plants during this
bone-chilling season.
- Many Minnesota nurseries and garden
centers ship in large, fresh supplies of
foliage
plants this time of year and often run
special sales on them in January or February.
-
Though
it may be tempting, never whisk an unprotected
plant quickly from a building
to a car or vice versa. Even though you
expose it to extreme cold for just a very
short time, the plant may suffer irreparable
damage. Wrap or double-wrap it before heading
outside. Most foliage plants originate
in the tropics or sub-tropics and can’t
tolerate any cold temperatures.
- For
bright and warm locations near south-
or west-facing windows, consider one of
the ficus (fig) trees or plants from the
aralia family. These include the bamboo-lookalike,
Ficus “Alii;” the weeping fig,
Ficus benjamina; the spidery “false
aralia” or Dizygotheca elegantissima;
and the lacy-leafed Ming aralia or Polyscias
fruticosa.
- Some
of the best plants for low-light conditions
belong to the aroid family, which includes
philodendrons, pothos, peace lilies, anthuriums,
dieffenbachias, and Chinese evergreens.
Of these, only the peace lilies and anthuriums
have showy flowers, but the Chinese evergreens
often develop bright red berries after
their inconspicuous flowers fade. You could
also try growing the “Janet Craig” dracaena
and the parlor palm Chamaedorea elegans “Bella” or
grouping several “Dallas” ferns
together.
- If
your light conditions are really poor,
try growing a cast iron plant such as the
Aspidistra elatior or a large potted snake
plant like the Sansevieria trifasciata.
Though they’re not the most beautiful
houseplants, they are green and practically
indestructible.
--edited from the Yard and Garden
Line News, a publication by the University
of Minnesota Extension Service
Return
to top
HAPPENINGS
Owl prowl
Go on the Owl Prowl this
Sunday, January 11, from
2 to 4 p.m. at the Raptor
Center on the Twin Cities
campus in St. Paul and
you’ll leave knowing
all about native and migrant
Minnesota owl species.
You’ll also get to
touch a live owl and spot
a wild one from afar. The
cost is $7 for adults and
$5 for children and seniors.
To register, call 612-624-4745.
The center is also offering
a weekend owl-watching
tour from January 23-25
in Duluth. Tour guides
Sharon Stiteler and Amber
Burnette will take you
in search of owls and other
northern bird species.
The cost is $225 (or $250
single occupancy), which
includes meals, lodging,
transportation, and a donation
to the Raptor Center. Tickets
are sold at All Seasons
Wild Bird Stores. For more
information, call 952-935-5892.
“Bigger is better” at
the Physics Circus
Why implode a pop can when
a 55-gallon drum is available?
Or why shoot down a mythical
monkey when the target
could be a physics teacher
dropping from a 20-foot-high
scaffold? At 7 p.m. on
Thursday, January 15, several
scientists will demonstrate
the entertaining side of
their profession during
a Physics Circus in Northrop
Memorial Auditorium on
the Twin Cities campus
in Minneapolis. The group
is part of Physics Force,
an outreach program in
the U’s Institute
of Technology created to
make science interesting
and fun for students of
all ages. Admission is
free. To learn more, see
http://www.physics.umn.edu/outreach/pforce.
Get the legislative scoop
Join University of Minnesota
president Bob Bruininks
and alumni association
president Jerry Noyce for
an insider’s look
at the U’s 2004 Capital
Request to the Minnesota
State Legislature. The
Legislative Briefing and
Reception will take place
on Thursday, January 22,
at 5:30 p.m. (with the
program starting at 6:30)
at the McNamara Alumni
Center on the Twin Cities
campus in Minneapolis.
The event is also an opportunity
to learn what you, as an
advocate, can do to support
the U. RSVP by Thursday,
January 15, at www.supporttheU.umn.edu
or call the U’s Legislative
Network at 612-625-9174.
Printmaking traditions,
old and new
You’ll find lively
content, unexpected images,
and experimental approaches
in this year’s Minnesota
National Print Biennial
at the Katherine E. Nash
Gallery on the Twin Cities
campus in Minneapolis through
Thursday, February 19.
Organized by the gallery
and the U’s Department
of Art, this juried exhibition
features 122 works by 101
artists. A public reception
and awards ceremony will
be held on Friday, January
16, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Walker Art Center curator
and biennial juror Siri
Engberg will give a public
lecture on Thursday, January
22, at 7 p.m. in the space
adjacent to the gallery.
All events are free. For
general information, see
http://artdept.umn.edu/art_dept/nash.html.
Mix it, pound it,
roll it, and bake it…
Discover how easy it is
to make bread at the Minnesota
Landscape Arboretum in
Chanhassen this winter.
In January, “Cool
Cooking with Hot Breads” will
feature lessons in pizza-making
and basil-planting, and
in February, you can learn
the secret to shaping and
seasoning soft pretzels,
grinding grains into flour,
and combining ingredients
for simple doughs. No registration
required; all you have
to do is visit the Marion
Andrus Learning Center
from noon to 3 p.m. on
Saturdays through February
28. Classes are free with
the gate admission ($5
for adults and free for
arboretum members and children
under 18). For general
information, see www.arboretum.umn.edu or call 952-443-1400.
Return
to top
LINKS
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