September 5, 2002
1. Memorial service for Hall tonight
2. West Nile virus: Fighting mosquitoes with common sense
3. Adolescents and sex
4. A mane is a pain—but worth the gain—for male lions
5. Alumni association celebrates top volunteers, programs
6. Dental care hits the road
7. Cutting some slack for carbs and fats
8. Dance program kicks off UMM performing arts series
9. U of M Happenings
10. Links
U IN THE NEWS
Memorial service for Hall tonight
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Brandon Hall 1983-2002
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Early Sunday morning, Brandon Hall, a Gopher student-athlete, was fatally shot in downtown Minneapolis. The University has planned a memorial service for Hall today (Sept. 5) at 7 p.m. in Williams Arena. The service is open to the public.
Over the past four days, the University community has come together to support Hall's teammates and each other.
At Tuesday's convocation, an introduction to campus for nearly 5,000 freshmen, Interim President Robert Bruininks said of Hall, “He was a promising football player, a natural leader, and a committed student, full of life and promise.” Students then bowed their heads in a moment of reflective silence.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hall family as we all mourn this tragic loss," Gopher football coach Glen Mason said on Sunday morning, after talking to Hall's mother and minister.
The entire football team was informed of the loss Sunday afternoon in a meeting with coaches and counselors from the University. Players were encouraged to share their reactions and taught that grief can manifest itself in many ways, including anger or depression.
"I'd say that many of the student-athletes were simply shocked," said Harriett Haynes, director of University Counseling and Consulting Services. "This is such an exciting time in their lives and this type of tragedy is very difficult."
University counselors also met with students in the residence hall in which Hall lived. Students were given advice for handling their own emotions and supporting their friends.
"Brandon was very involved in our community; he was always the first to line up with a big bowl and a spoon at ice cream socials," said Dana Zickerman, residence hall director. "Even those students who didn't know him, knew who he was. His smile and outgoing personality will be missed by all of us."
Parents that are subscribed to an e-mail alert list through the University's Parent Program received an e-mail early Tuesday informing them of the incident and what the University is doing to support students and bolster a sense of safety among students.
"It's important for parents to feel that they have a connection to the University, especially in times of crisis or tragedy," says Marjorie Savage, director of the Parent Program. "We try to reach out to them as much as possible with information and resources."
Hall, 19, was a redshirt freshman defensive tackle from Detroit who played his first career game with the Gophers on Saturday night, recording one solo tackle.
While the details surrounding the shooting are being investigated by the Minneapolis Police Department, University officials did say that they believe Hall was an innocent victim. Three suspects were arrested immediately following the shooting, and prosecutors were expected to file charges by today (Sept. 5).
University Police chief George Aylward stressed that the campus and broader Twin Cities community are generally safe but that students must always use common sense, especially when out alone or late at night.
For more on campus safety, see www.umn.edu/umpolice/campsec1.htm and for more on the Parent Program, see www.parent.umn.edu.
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West Nile virus: Fighting mosquitoes with common sense
The presence of the West Nile virus in Minnesota should not cause the state's residents to panic. The risk of human infection is low, says entomologist Jeff Hahn of the University of Minnesota Extension Service. And, he adds, common-sense strategies to minimize exposure to mosquitoes can reduce the risk even more.
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"The only known way to become infected with West Nile virus is to be bitten by a mosquito that's carrying the disease," says Hahn. "Minnesota is home to about 50 different types of mosquitoes; however, the two most common species, the vexans mosquito and the cattail mosquito, have not proven to be effective transmitters of West Nile virus."
Hahn says there are several species of culex mosquitoes in Minnesota that are more efficient transmitters of the disease. Fortunately, these are much less abundant, reducing the chances of an encounter with a West-Nile-virus-infested mosquito.
While the risk for humans is generally low, Hahn recommends common-sense steps to minimize mosquito bites. "Avoid being outside at dawn, dusk, and in the early evening when mosquitoes are most active," he says. "Wear protective clothing, including long-sleeved shirts and long pants, when you are in areas where mosquito numbers are high."
He also recommends using repellents. "The most effective [ingredient] is Deet," he says. "Apply Deet to clothes or skin, but only enough to lightly cover the desired areas. Do not overapply repellents."
In addition, Hahn recommends cutting weeds and tall grass near your home, leaving yard lights off when possible, making sure window and door screens fit properly, and repairing any screens with holes or tears. It’s important to remove any containers that may hold water, including old tires. If this isn't possible, Hahn suggests applying a small amount of vegetable oil to the water's surface. This will suffocate any larvae in the water.
"Be skeptical of traps, electrocutors, sound-repelling devices, and other products that claim to offer mosquito control," says Hahn. "If a product's claims seem too good to be true, they probably are."
Hahn says most people infected with West Nile virus either show no symptoms or experience mild illness before recovering. Those getting the mild illness may have fever, headache, and body aches. "The disease at its most serious can cause permanent neurological damage and be fatal," he says. "Fatal cases are more prevalent in people age 50 or older. Fortunately, there have been few serious West Nile virus cases in the United States to date."
On Aug. 29, the Minnesota Department of Health reported the state's first human cases of the West Nile virus—a 29-year-old Carver County man and a 35-year-old Hennepin County man tested positive and were hospitalized with fever, severe headache, and neck pain. The virus was first reported in Minnesota in July when two infected crows were found. As of Aug. 21, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded infections in 39 states and the District of Columbia. The first case was found in New York in 1999.
For more information about West Nile virus, see www.ncpmc.org/NewsAlerts/westnilevirus.html.
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Adolescents and sex
Teenagers are less likely to start having sex if their mothers are actively involved in their lives, have a close relationship with them, and stress the importance of education, according to new findings by University of Minnesota researchers from the largest survey ever conducted with adolescents in the United States. But simply warning teenagers about the dangers of early sex or telling them they shouldn't have sex does not stop them from becoming sexually active, the researchers found.
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The latest results from the National Longitudinal Survey on Adolescent Health study draw from interviews with more than 3,000 pairs of teens and their mothers. The findings were reported Sept. 3 in a monograph by University of Minnesota researchers and in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
When teens perceive that their mothers oppose their having sex, they are less likely to do so, according to the survey. But while most mothers say that they do not want their sons or daughters to be sexually active, their kids don't always get the message. Even when mothers strongly disapprove of their kids having sex, 30 percent of girls and nearly 45 percent of boys do not believe that they do.
"Parents say that they talk until they're blue in the face and their kids still don't listen," says study author Robert Blum, director of the University’s Center for Adolescent Health and Development program. "Kids will pay attention to their parents' values and beliefs on sex. But talk alone does not get the message through."
In addition to talking to their children, parents can do many things that make a difference in whether teens start having sex, Blum says. Some examples are getting to know their teens' friends and speaking with their friends' parents, establishing a close relationship with their children, and valuing education.
Researchers examined self-reports from mothers and their teenagers over the course of a year to gain a better understanding of mother-teen relationships as they affect sexual behavior among teens who said they had not had sex. During the ensuing year, 11 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls ages 14 to 15 said that they had sex.
Most mothers say they talk to their children about sex, including issues such as birth control and the consequences of having sex. Nevertheless, a mother's awareness of her teen's sex life is frequently inaccurate. When teenagers reported that they had not had sexual intercourse, their mothers were almost always correct in their assessment. But when teens reported that they were having sex, their mothers had only a 50 percent chance of being right.
"We need to be more tuned in to what's happening in our children's lives," Blum says. "Otherwise, how can we give them clear, effective messages about how to deal with the choices they will inevitably face?"
For more findings from this study, see www.allaboutkids.umn.edu. For copies of the publication Mothers Influence on Teen Sex: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, e-mail the University's Center for Adolescent Health and Development at aph@umn.edu.
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A mane is a pain—but worth the gain—for male lions
Male lions with the darkest and longest manes suffer from the African heat more than their blonder or shorter-maned compatriots, but when rival males threaten or females are checking out potential suitors, the dark and--to a lesser extent--shaggy fellows clean up, according to a new study by University of Minnesota researchers. The research is the first to tie mane length and color to body temperature and to show the mane's role in shaping interactions between adult lions.
"On a broad scale, it's been known for at least a century that lions in colder climates have long, dark manes," says Peyton West, a graduate student in the College of Biological Sciences' Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and an author of the study. "But no one knew why lions had manes or why there was variation within specific populations. We wanted to find the costs and benefits to individual lions of having a big or dark mane."
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Female lions check out a male dummy in a test of female preferences in mane color and length.
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Manes may offer protection in a fight, but West and her adviser, Distinguished McKnight University Professor Craig Packer, suspected that a more important function is to intimidate other males. This would be an obvious advantage to male lions in defending their prides against potential rivals. Also, a male that advertises his ability to defend a pride and its cubs should appear attractive to females.
Manes vary from light blond to black and can be up to a foot long. To find out how the two sexes responded to different types of manes, West, working in Serengeti National Park, set up pairs of realistic-looking dummy lions about 200 meters from adult lions. To test reactions to different mane length, she paired dummies with short blond or long blond manes.
In separate experiments to observe reactions to mane color, she paired dummies with long blond or long dark manes. When the dummies were in place, she broadcast recordings of a hyena at a kill—the lion equivalent of a dinner bell—and noted reactions of the lions when they spotted the "intruders."
Male lions were clearly intimidated by long manes and dark manes, says West. Given a choice between short and long manes, males approached the short-maned dummy 9 out of 10 times. In the one instance where the long-maned dummy was approached, the males were relatively old, with long, dark manes. Even then, they approached from the side; males never approached a long-maned dummy directly. When confronted with light and dark manes, males always (five of five times) chose to approach the light-maned dummy.
Females showed a preference for the darker-maned dummy, approaching it rather than the blond one 9 of 10 times. When West and Packer later examined long-term data on females who had a choice of males in their prides, the females chose the darkest-maned male in 13 of 14 cases. But neither the long-term data nor West's dummy experiments showed any clear female preference for long or short manes.
When West and Packer examined the data on several dozen males that had been sedated and had blood samples drawn, they found a strong correlation between blood testosterone levels and mane color.
"Dark color tends to be found in high-testosterone males," says West. "Therefore, it isn't surprising that females would prefer darker manes and males would be intimidated. But there is no correlation between testosterone and mane length. We figure males are sensitive to an opponent's mane length because recently injured lions have shorter manes." Females may not care as much that a male is recovering from injury because accidents can happen to even the fittest males, she says.
Males with dark manes pay a price for their imposing—and apparently sexy—appearance. Using an infrared camera to record the body temperatures of Serengeti lions, West found that males were hotter than females. At first glance, this could have been a consequence of males' larger size and smaller surface-to-volume ratio, which could hamper heat loss. But when she took the temperatures of maneless Tsavo lions, she found no difference between males and females.
"A male with a dark mane may have to work harder to stay cool, behaviorally or physiologically, and is advertising that toughness, along with his toughness in battle," West says. "But we didn't find that longer-maned males were hotter than those with shorter manes. It appears that beyond a certain length, there's no further cost to having a mane."
The study, funded by the National Science Foundation, was published in the Aug. 23 issue of Science.
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Alumni association celebrates top volunteers, programs
Volunteer alumni who go the extra mile and alumni programs that provide value to members will be recognized at the University of Minnesota Alumni Association's 20th Annual Volunteer Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Reception on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. in the McNamara Alumni Center. Alumni and members of the University community are welcome to attend.
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Outstanding programs including the College of Education & Human Development Alumni Society's "Celebrate Reading with Goldy and Clifford–A Book Drive for Kids" will also be honored at the awards ceremony.
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This year, the National Volunteer of the Year Award will go to Marcia Carthaus, president of the Southwest Florida Alumni Chapter, and Pamela Enz of the College of Human Ecology Alumni Society.
Under Carthaus' leadership, her chapter sponsored four events last year that drew more than 500 people. Carthaus worked with Harlan Hansen, the winner of this year's Friend of the Year Award, to establish the University's Mini-College, one of this year's Program Extraordinaire awards winners. The program became a prototype for "Great Conversations on the Road," which is now offered by other alumni association chapters.
Enz was instrumental in establishing "Designed with You in Mind," a professional development series for design professionals, which will also receive a Program Extraordinaire award this year. The highly successful, volunteer-driven program established new relationships between the University and major national and international professional organizations.
This year's Outstanding Alumni Society Award will go to the College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences Alumni Society, with honorable mention going to the College of Pharmacy Alumni Society. The Outstanding Alumni Chapter this year is the Rochester Area Alumni and Friends Chapter, with the Southwest Florida Alumni Chapter as runner-up.
Other awards to be presented at the ceremony include the Rising Star Award, Faculty/Staff Volunteer Award, Student Volunteer of the Year, Spirit Award, Legislator of the Year, the Hat's Off Award, and awards for alumni service.
For a complete list of award winners or to register to attend the ceremony and reception, see www.alumni.umn.edu/volunteerevents.
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Dental care hits the road
“We can provide a lot of care for people in a lot of places,” says Dan Kersten, a fourth-year University of Minnesota dental student who is volunteering for the new UCare Tooth Care mobile dental unit. With three dental chairs and contemporary equipment, the spiffy, new 37-foot Winnebago—owned and operated by UCare Minnesota—started rolling down the road in August. University of Minnesota School of Dentistry students staff the unit and treat patients under faculty supervision. Patients who live in small towns and rural areas will especially benefit, says Kersten, who is originally from Kimball, Minn.
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UCare Tooth Care mobile dental unit.
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In the UCare Tooth Care Winnebago, which can schedule about 15 patients a day, students provide mainly preventive care, along with some restorative services, to patients under the supervision of Paul Schulz, a graduate of the School of Dentistry and a practicing dentist for 15 years.
The mobile dental unit is the latest extension of the dental school’s educational and outreach programs—which also include patient-care services on the Twin Cities campus, portable clinics that visit as many as eight sites around the state, and a permanent clinic on the Iron Range in collaboration with Hibbing Community College. The school is the number-one provider of dental services to public program patients who receive benefits from Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP). As a result, the school has been designated a “critical access dental provider” for the state’s Medical Assistance program.
The school remains committed to the underserved. “Community outreach is central to the school’s educational and service mission,” says Dean Peter Polverini. “Students enhance their clinical skills by treating a greater variety of patients and patient pathologies. And they are responsible for total patient care.” In contrast to medical students, dental students graduate ready to be licensed and to practice unsupervised as general dentists.
“The School of Dentistry is the perfect partner for this effort,” says Nancy Feldman, the president and CEO of UCare Minnesota, an independent, nonprofit health plan that owns and operates the mobile dental unit. “We share a common mission of reaching out to underserved communities and finding creative solutions to meet their health care needs.”
But the UCare mobile unit is just one step to providing necessary dental care. Minnesotans and others face a future, critical shortage of dentists, says Born. “Virtually every state is also experiencing an aging dentist population, so there will be an increasing demand from surrounding states for Minnesota’s dentists.”
With creativity and collaborations, the School of Dentistry and its partners aim to fill those gaps.
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Cutting some slack for carbs and fats
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For a healthy diet, it is important to use a "full-food" approach with ample amounts of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and cereals. However, it's a mistake to micromanage our diets by concentrating too much on carbohydrates or fats, says University of Minnesota food science and nutrition professor Joanne Slavin.
"We beat up on fat for many years, and we shouldn't make the same mistake with carbohydrates," Slavin says in reference to a recent article in the New York Times magazine that questioned whether eating more carbohydrates and less fat contributed to the "rampaging epidemic of obesity in America."
"We have abundant, cheap food in this country and obesity is caused simply by eating too many calories," Slavin says. For people who are overweight, the enemy is calories, not carbohydrates or fats.
The food guide pyramid is just that—a guide, Slavin says. "We need to go a bit beyond the guide," she adds. "For example, it calls for 6 to 11 daily servings of bread, cereal, rice, and pasta. But 11 servings of white bread would be a mistake, since we need to eat more whole grains."
Likewise, the guide calls for two to four daily servings of fruit. But again, four servings of juice are a mistake, since whole fruits are needed for their fiber and other dietary benefits.
The guide, which is available at www.extension.umn.edu/living recommends:
•Six to eleven servings from the bread, cereal, rice, and pasta group
•Three to five servings from the vegetable group
•Two to four servings from the fruit group
•Two to three servings from the milk, yogurt, and cheese group
•Two to three servings from the meat, chicken, turkey, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts group
•Fats, oils, and sweets should be eaten only rarely. Examples include butter or margarine, sour cream or cream cheese, or candy bars and ice cream.
Fiber is important, Slavin says. Eating fiber-rich foods may protect you from some forms of cancer and reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Five or more servings of vegetables and fruits daily plus seven servings of whole grains and beans give you the minimum amount of fiber-rich foods.
Two publications are available for more information on fiber. Fiber in the Diet is at www.extension.umn.edu/living or call 800-876-8636 or 612-624-4900 for a copy (ask for publication number 00423). The Facts About Fiber is available from the American Institute for Cancer Research; call 800-843-8114 or see www.aicr.org.
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Dance program kicks off UMM performing arts series
The first performance in the University of Minnesota, Morris’s 42nd annual Performing Arts Series uses traditional dance to tell the story of the Irish immigrants who came to this country to escape the Great Potato Famine.
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| Dancing on Common Ground performs at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13, in the UMM Student Center Edson Auditorium in Morris. |
Dancing on Common Ground performs at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13, in the UMM Student Center Edson Auditorium in Morris. Free parking is available. For tickets, call the UMM Office of Student Activities, 320-589-6080.
The show combines Irish step dance with American tap dance and clogging for an evening of high-energy entertainment. Created and produced by Lorraine Rennie, the show includes traditional Irish music, plus American bluegrass, country western, and rock ’n’ roll. It's been described as Riverdance meets Stomp and Tap Dogs. Now in its fourth season, Dancing on Common Ground has been performing sell-out shows around the country.
Dancing on Common Ground is the first of five Fridays of world-class entertainment in the 2002-03 Performing Arts Series. The line-up also includes:
•Ricardo Lemvo and "Makina Loca," October 4
•The Rose Ensemble, November 8
•Oh, Figaro by the National Theater of the Deaf, January 31, 2003
•Lily Cai Chinese Dance Co., March 21, 2003
Primary funding for the Performing Arts Series is provided by UMM students. The series is made possible by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature. This program is also sponsored by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information, contact the Office of Student Activities, University of Minnesota, Morris, 600 East 4th Street, Morris, MN 56267, or call 320-589-6080, or visit www.mrs.umn.edu/stuorgs/CAC/Arts.
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U OF M HAPPENINGS
The Great Conversations series, which pairs leading University faculty with eminent world authorities to explore subjects in today's headlines, is back by popular demand. Great Conversations, Season Two will kick off with "The War with Germs" featuring Michael Osterholm, director of the University's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, and Judith Miller, New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Germs, on Tuesday, Sept. 24. The series will continue with "The Future of Music Education" on Oct. 22 and "The Art of Remembering" on Nov. 19. Season tickets are $60 and individual tickets $27. UMAA members will receive a discounted price of $45 and $22 respectively. For more information, see www.cce.umn.edu/conversations.
"Inside Cars—Surrounding Interiors," an exhibit featuring 26 works by 16 contemporary artists on the experience of being inside a car, will run Saturday, Sept. 7, through Dec. 29 at the Weisman Art Museum. An opening celebration with entertainment and a display of vintage American cars will be Saturday, Sept. 21, 7-11 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays. For more information, see www.weisman.umn.edu.
A Moment of Remembrance will be held on the Twin Cities campus on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 4:30-6:30 p.m., on Northrop Mall. The program will include speakers, music, dance, and an art installation. The event to commemorate the events of 9/11 is organized by the University of Minnesota Graduate and Professional Student Association and the Minnesota Student Association. For more information, call 612-625-2982.
"Into the Hidden World of Bears: Slide Lecture by Lynn Rogers" will be Saturday, Sept. 14, 7-10 p.m., Bell Museum auditorium. The presentation will feature discoveries about black bear family life, social life, travels, diet, and hibernation. A dessert reception will follow. Cost is $5 for Bell Museum members and $10 for nonmembers. For reservations, call 612-624-9050.
University of Minnesota graduates and friends living in Oregon are invited to attend the "Minnesota Day at the Oregon Garden" picnic on Sunday, Sept. 15, near Silverton, Ore. The event will be cohosted by the Portland and S. Willamette alumni chapters. For more information or to register, call Sally Smith at 541-344-2138, Julie Florence at 503-293-6907, or see the Oregon chapter Web sites at www.alumni.umn.edu.
The University will host this season's first live broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews college tour Wednesday, Sept. 18, 8-9 p.m., at Northrop Auditorium. Gov. Jesse Ventura will be the guest, and audience members can participate in the live discussion. General admission seating will begin at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and no tickets are needed. Attendees are encouraged to show school spirit by wearing maroon and gold. For more information, call the Northrop box office at 612-624-2345.
Be a part of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association Bay Area Chapter's seventh annual chapter picnic at Shoreline Park in Mountain View, Calif., on Sunday, Sept. 22. For more information or to register, call Grant Erickson at 408-849-0495, e-mail erick205@umn.edu, or visit the Bay Area alumni chapter's Web site at www.alumni.umn.edu.
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LINKS
Hey, Sports Fans! Check out sports news and schedules of the U's teams:
Gophers
Duluth Bulldogs
Morris Cougars
Crookston Golden Eagles
Campaign Minnesota: Learn more about this fund-raising effort to build excellence in every corner of the U.
University of Minnesota Alumni Association: Your membership makes a difference.
U of M Legislative Network: Read about the University's legislative request and how you can help.
University of Minnesota Systemwide Home Page
U of M E-News is a biweekly e-mail newsletter for alumni and friends of the University of Minnesota. The newsletter, a free information source prepared by University Relations, is designed to help alumni and friends stay connected to the University of Minnesota campuses in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Crookston, Morris and Duluth.
PRIVACY POLICY
© 2002 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
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