Vol. XXXVIII No. 23; July 16, 2008
Editor: Adam Overland, brief@umn.edu

Read Brief on the Web at www.umn.edu/umnnews/Publications/Brief/Brief_07162008.html.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE
--Budget bill with U impact signed by President Bush.
--People: Claudia Neuhauser appointed vice chancellor for academic affairs at UMR; Ignacio San Martin joins the College of Design as director of the Metropolitan Design Center; and more.

Campus Announcements and Events
University-wide | Crookston | Duluth | Morris | Rochester | Twin Cities

A BUDGET BILL IMPACTING THE U WAS SIGNED BY PRESIDENT BUSH ON JUNE 30. A $400 million increase in science agencies' funding and a major expansion of GI Bill education benefits were part of the $186.5 billion supplemental war-funding budget. The bill also allows work on the NOvA high energy physics project, which has significant U of M participation, to move forward. For more information, see Federal Relations.

PEOPLE: Claudia Neuhauser was appointed vice chancellor for academic affairs at UMR; Jack Geller and Stephen Cawley were appointed to a high-speed broadband taskforce by Governor Tim Pawlenty; Ignacio San Martin joined the College of Design as director of the Metropolitan Design Center; Terrill Bradford received the Graduate Student Teacher Award at the annual conference of the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture. Read about these and more awards and appointments in People.

CAMPUS ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

University-wide:

U EMPLOYEES WHO PARTICIPATE IN THE MINNESOTA STATE RETIREMENT SYSTEM (MSRS) will see a small rate increase in employee and U contributions beginning in July. A bill passed by the 2006 Minnesota State Legislature includes a pension provision to build up the MSRS funding level. The bill calls for increasing the general plan rates for employee and U contributions from 4 to 5 percent in annual increments of .25 percent between 2007 and 2010. Beginning with July 30 paychecks, covered employees and the U will each contribute 4.5 percent of covered salary to pay for monthly retirement, survivor, and disability benefits. Employee and U contribution rates will increase to 4.75 percent in 2009 and will top out at 5 percent in 2010. For more information, see MSRS.

U PROFESSOR JEAN ABRAHAM WAS RECENTLY APPOINTED TO PRESIDENT BUSH'S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS (CEA). As one of 10 senior staff economists on CEA, Abraham will provide the president and other federal government departments and agencies with current academic thinking on a wide range of subjects. She will serve as staff economist to CEA for the upcoming academic year, leaving the U July 21. For more information, see the news release.

THE U'S SOLAR CAR, CENTAURUS, STARTED THE 2,400 MILE RACE from Texas to Canada on July 13. The U Solar Vehicle team was one of the first to meet all the qualifications for racing in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge, which pits teams against each other in designing and building a solar-powered car and then driving it across the country. The race ends July 22. For more information, see Centaurus.

Crookston:

VITAL AGING NETWORK (VAN), A FORUM focusing on skill building and advocating for change for those retired or planning to retire, will be held on July 29, 10 a.m. to noon, in the Student Center Bede Ballroom, UMC. For more information and registration, see VAN Forum.

UMC'S INITIATIVE TO DIGITIZE RARE OR IMPORTANT MATERIALS from campus archives is ongoing. The UMC Library is completing a project to make all yearbooks from the Northwest School of Agriculture (NWSA) and UMC available on the Web. Currently, access is available to yearbooks from 1929 through 2000. For more information, see the news release.

Duluth:

UMD BROKE GROUND JULY 11 for its $15 million civil engineering building, to be constructed on the northeast corner of campus. The state-of-the-art facility will house the new bachelor of science program in civil engineering and is set for completion in September 2010. The structure will be the sixth new building constructed on campus since 2000 and is designed to be a LEED-certified "green building." For more information and a conceptual rendering of the building, see the news release.

UMD GRADUATE ANGIE McDERMOTT WAS CROWNED "Miss Minnesota" on June 14, in Eden Prairie. McDermott's platform was "Higher Education: Journey to Your Dream," which featured a curriculum-based program for fourth- and fifth-graders. McDermott will compete in the Miss America competition in January 2009. For more information, see Miss Minnesota.

SIEUR DU LUTH SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL 2008 features the opera Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi, July 17-19, 7:30 p.m. and July 20, 2 p.m., Marshall Performing Arts Center. Additional events include the Opera Gala, July 22, and the International Gala, July 24, both held in Weber Music Hall. For more information, see Sieur Du Luth.

Morris:

PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF EDUCATION CRAIG KISSOCK'S 48-year history with the University of Minnesota came to a close with his retirement from the UMM campus faculty. For more information, see a short biography.

ANDY AND DIAN LOPEZ, pioneers of computer science at UMM, began their higher education professions before the computer science discipline existed. Together they retired this spring. For more information, see pioneers.

Rochester:

IBM/UMR SUMMER COMPUTER PROGRAMMING WORKSHOPS FOR GRADES 9-12 include Introduction to Visual Basic and Beginning C++ Game Programming. July 21-25, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., UMR. The workshop fee of $350 per student includes text, software, lunches, and snacks. For more information, see summer computer or call 507-280-3104.

CLAUDIA NEUHAUSER WAS APPOINTED VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS at UMR following a nationwide search. Neuhauser joined the Rochester staff July 1. For the past 12 years, Neuhauser has been a faculty member at UMTC, serving first as a professor in the School of Mathematics and most recently as a Distinguished McKnight Professor and head of the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences.

Twin Cities:

THE U OF M'S WELCOME WEEK SCHEDULE WAS RECENTLY FINALIZED. More than 5,000 first-year students will participate in academic and student development programs over the six-day experience. Numerous opportunities are available for volunteers to assist with elements of the Welcome Week program, from helping new students move in, to assisting in traffic flow and greeting parents. Faculty and staff can view details for all volunteer opportunities at Welcome Week.

THE U'S FARMERS MARKET IS BACK FOR A DELECTABLE FOURTH SEASON at its location along Church Street. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Wednesdays through Oct. 8, more than a dozen vendors with 20 booths will sell locally grown flowers, fruits, and vegetables. The season's theme "What's not to like about green?" emphasizes the benefits of eating local. For more information, see Help Yourself.

A RESUME DIVERSITY WORKSHOP addressing how to highlight and incorporate diversity in the workplace will be held July 17, 1-2:30 p.m., 101 Walter Library. The event is sponsored by the University Women of Color Council.

SWAMI VEDA BHARATI WILL SHARE HIS THOUGHTS about the relationship between Hatha yoga and meditation in a talk on July 23, 4:40-6:30 p.m., Mayo Auditorium. The talk is part of the 2-credit University course, Yoga: Ethics, Spirituality, and Healing, with instructor Miriam Cameron. For more information, see the Center for Spirituality and Healing.

COPYRIGHT PERMISSION REQUESTS FOR FALL 2008 course materials should be submitted to the copyright permissions center as soon as possible. Source information may be dropped off at any Printing Services location, faxed to 612-626-9810, mailed to 102 Printing Services Building, or submitted online. For more information, e-mail Dale Mossestad or call 612-626-9416.

DAVID LEBEDOFF, LOCAL AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR and former U regent, will discuss his new book, The Same Man: George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh in Love and War, Aug. 14, 7 p.m., at the U of M Bookstore, Coffman Memorial Union. For more information, see The Same Man.

TCF BANK STADIUM REACHED ITS ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF CONSTRUCTION on July 11. The stadium is on schedule to open for the first game on Sept. 12, 2009, vs. Air Force Academy. For more information, see the news release, or view a time-lapse video of the progress.

MORE EVENTS include Extreme Googling: Productivity Tools for Your Online Life (July 17); Curiosity Camp: Rebuilding a Bridge, Repairing a City: The I-35W Crossing (July 21); Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel: Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: Stories (July 22); Horst Rechelbacher, "Minding Your Business: Profits That Restore the Planet" (July 23); "Re-inspiring Citizenship in the 2008 Election: A Civic Dialogue With Participants of the November 5th Coalition and the Citizen Solution, including Harry Boyte and Don Shelby" (July 24); Drivers and Impediments (July 28). SEE THESE AND MORE TWIN CITIES CAMPUS EVENTS.

Published by University Relations at the University of Minnesota. Please send comments, questions, or submissions to the editor at brief@umn.edu. The deadline for submissions is noon on the Friday before publication. All Twin Cities event submissions are handled through the events calendar at http://events.tc.umn.edu.

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