Gearing Up For Capital One Bowl

The Hawkeyes are traveling to Orlando and all kinds of activities will be taking place surrounding the game, including the Hawkeye Huddle, the Official UIAA Pre-game Tailgate, and several constituent events. Learn more>>

Skorton Issues Statement On Seashore Hall and Spence Lab Vandalism, Responds to ALF Claim

University of Iowa President David Skorton issues a statement to UI faculty, staff, and students about the extensive vandalism at Seashore Hall and Spence Laboratories that occurred Nov. 14 and responds to anonymous Animal Liberation Front (ALF) members claiming responsibility for the attacks. More>>
http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/2004/november/111904alf-response.html
Seashore Hall Information: http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/seashore/

UI Football Coach Ferentz Signs Contract Extension

Kirk Ferentz, head coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeye football team, which claimed a share of the Big Ten Conference championship for the 2004 season, has signed an extension of his contract that will keep him on as the "Head Hawk" through June 2012. More>>

Engineers Receive $1.5 Million NSF Grant For NEXRAD Study

University of Iowa engineers have received a four-year, $1,485,481 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to incorporate NEXRAD data in hydrometeorology and hydrology studies. The project may lead to better predictions of soil erosion, flooding, and landslides, as well as improve environmental resource management. More>>
College of Engineering: http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/

Campaign Launched To Give Old Capitol Museum New Life

UI President Emeritus Willard "Sandy" Boyd has announced a campaign to raise at least $2 million in private gifts to transform Old Capitol's ground floor into an engaging education center celebrating Iowa's past, present, and future, and to create a programmatic endowment for Old Capitol Museum. Leading the statewide effort with Boyd is 1951 UI graduate Mary Louise Petersen of Harlan, Iowa, and a committee of UI alumni and friends of Old Capitol. More>>
Old Capitol Museum: http://www.uiowa.edu/~oldcap/

Holiday Advice About Teen Substance Use, Mental Health

The holidays can be stressful — even more so for teenagers dealing with substance use problems or mental health issues. But tips and support from the University of Iowa Adolescent Health and Resource Center can help teens and their families through end-of-year festivities and beyond. More>>
Carver College of Medicine: http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/

Studies Reveal Physicians' Attitudes On End-Of-Life Care

Doctors appear willing to use intensive treatment to lessen otherwise untreatable pain or other severe symptoms in dying patients even if the treatment, at least in theory, risks hastening the dying process, according to two University of Iowa and Yale University studies on end-of-life care. Known as "terminal sedation," the practice may risk, but does not intend, hastening or causing death. A majority of physicians in the studies drew a clear line between terminal sedation and assisted suicide. The research also revealed factors related to physicians' attitudes. More>>
UIHC Department of Internal Medicine: http://www.int-med.uiowa.edu/

Increased Asthma Found Among Iowa Children Living On Hog Farms

New research conducted by investigators in the UI College of Public Health has found that the prevalence of asthma is elevated among children living on farms where swine are raised. In addition, children living on swine farms where antibiotics are added to feed have an even higher prevalence of the common respiratory disease, according to the UI study. More>>
College of Public Health: http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/

IWP Director Christopher Merrill Wins Greece's Top Journalism Award

Christopher Merrill, director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, has been selected to receive the 2005 Kostas Kyriazis Award, Greece's most prestigious journalism award. Merrill is only the third American to receive the honor, joining Tom Friedman and Kati Marton. The award from the Kostas Kyriazis Foundation recognizes Merrill's forthcoming book from Random House, Things Of the Hidden God, as well as the body of his journalistic work. More>>
International Writing Program: http://www.uiowa.edu/~iwp/

Hornbuckle: Household Chemicals Linger In Environment (Newsday, Nov. 16)

The chemicals go down the drain, but in the environment they remain. Researchers have found that a complex brew of everyday compounds — from products as ubiquitous as shampoo, bug spray and even that morning cup of coffee — lingers in Minnesota waters even after they're showered off or dumped down the sink. Those persistent chemicals include caffeine, synthetic musk used in personal-care products, a flame retardant, an herbicide, insect repellent, and several medications, according to the most extensive study ever conducted of the state's waters. KERI HORNBUCKLE, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa, said at least a million pounds of these chemicals are used in the United States each year. "You'd be hard-put to find someone who doesn't use these chemicals in some personal care product," Hornbuckle said. "It's amazing that we're releasing such large quantities of them every day, yet we have almost no information about their potential costs to the environment." The same story appeared on the Web sites of the L.A. TIMES, TALLAHASSEE (FL.) DEMOCRAT, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, WILMINGTON (NC) MORNING NEWS, NEW ORLEANS TIMES PICAYUNE, CHARLOTTE (NC) OBSERVER, WORCESTER (MA) TELEGRAM, MONTEREY (CA) COUNTY HERALD, AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER, ST. PAUL (CA) PIONEER PRESS, ONLYPUNJAB.COM, and numerous other news organizations.
Civil and Environmental Engineering: http://www.cee.engineering.uiowa.edu/

Robinson Finally Writes Second Novel (Time, Nov. 15)

This month, MARILYNNE ROBINSON will publish Gilead, her second novel, 23 years after publishing her first. That book, Housekeeping, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won the PEN/Hemingway Award. It is a mainstay of book clubs and lists of the best novels of the 20th century. The anticipation of Robinson's follow-up has been urgent, loud, and public. The interval had nothing to do with indolence and everything to do with rigor, and Robinson, 60, says she feels little need to apologize for it. "I have always been doing things that felt very necessary from the point of view of the integrity of my work," she says, with only the slightest hint of irritation. "So other people will just have to look out for themselves." Those "necessary" things were prompted by the dishonesty and vacuity she sensed in virtually every level of public discourse. "I actually became struck by the fact that people very routinely talk about major writers, historical figures, episodes in history on the basis of what are very, very banal cliches," says Robinson, who lives in Iowa City and has taught at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop since 1991. "My impatience with that became so marked that I felt as if I couldn't say anything true until I had essentially re-educated myself." Which she did by reviewing virtually the entire Western canon.
Iowa's Writers' Workshop: http://www.uiowa.edu/~iww/

Gifted Children Report Noted (New York Times, Nov. 21)

The Incredibles is not just an animated adventure for children, at least not to the parents and teachers who have been passionately deconstructing the story of a family of superheroes trapped in suburbia. The movie has reignited one of the oldest debates about child rearing and society: competition versus coddling, excellence versus egalitarianism. The Incredibles might take comfort from a recent report, "A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students," by the John Templeton Foundation. It summarizes research showing that gifted children thrive with more advanced material and describes their current frustration in prose that sounds like Dash: "When they want to fly, they are told to stay in their seats. Stay in your grade. Know your place. It's a national scandal." But if they do fly, what happens to the children left on the ground? One of the report's authors, NICHOLAS COLANGELO, a professor at the University of Iowa who is an expert in gifted education, pointed to research indicating the left-behind do not suffer academically or emotionally. More>>
Belin-Blank Center: http://www.uiowa.edu/~belinctr/

Wald: Fertility Study Just First Stage (Wired News, Dec. 9)

Men who regularly balance their laptop computers on their laps when working may be jeopardizing their ability to have children, according to a new study from fertility researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The potential risk comes from the heat generated by the laptop computer and the close position of one's thighs when balancing the computer on one's lap, the researchers found. This heat is transferred to the scrotum, where the temperature can rise several degrees, putting users within the danger zone for testicular dysfunction. But because the tests did not measure the volunteers' actual sperm production, laptop users may want to wait for further studies before deciding to change their computing habits, cautioned MOSHE WALD, a male infertility specialist in the University of Iowa's urology department who was not affiliated with the study. "They definitely made their point that temperatures are elevated. And since we know that elevated temperatures might affect sperm production, this is something we might want to look into," he said. "But, I am reluctantly going ahead with recommendations about laptop use at this point. This is a first-stage study." More>>
Department of Urology: http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/urology/index.html

"A Low Blow" — The Diagnosis Any Man Dreads To Hear

Medical breakthroughs and a willingness to face their fears offer new hope to sufferers of testicular cancer. More>>

What Were Voters Thinking?

Students in a couple of David Redlawsk's political science classes went to the polls in November, asking more than 1,000 people who had just voted about a variety of local and national issues. More>>

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