Iowa Voyagers Program Offers Mediterranean Cruise To View Solar Total Eclipse

The University of Iowa Alumni Association's (UIAA) Iowa Voyagers program is offering a Mediterranean Eclipse Cruise March 21 to April 1, 2006.  During the cruise, families will be able to see historical sites of the ancient world in Italy, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey, plus a total eclipse of the sun. The tour will include fascinating talks by experts on astronomy and the classical world. More >>
Iowa Voyagers: http://www.iowalum.com/voyagers/index.html

Committee Including UI's Merrill Calls For Urgency In Cultural Diplomacy
 
Throughout history, cultural diplomacy has bridged the gaps left by political disagreements, and now more than ever the U.S. should be devoting resources to sharing its cultural riches with the world, according to a new report drafted by Christopher Merrill, University of Iowa professor of English and director of the International Writing Program. The Report of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy is the result of a year's worth of research and fact-finding by a nine-member committee including Merrill. The committee was charged with advising the Secretary of State on programs and policies to advance the use of cultural diplomacy in United States foreign policy. More >>

International Writing Program: http://www.uiowa.edu/~iwp/
Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: http://www.english.uiowa.edu/

UI Libraries Celebrate 150 Years Of Serving Iowa
 
The University of Iowa Libraries, the largest library in Iowa and one of the largest public research libraries in the country, is marking its 150th year of service to the state with a series of free, public events through the fall. "We think of our public libraries serving Iowans, but the University Libraries serves not only students, but serves everybody in the state in one way or another," said Christie Vilsack, First Lady of Iowa and a champion of libraries and literacy. "There is a whole wealth of information and services for people at the Library." More >>

Libraries: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/
Libraries Celebration: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/pr/sesqui/

Tippie School Breaks Into Wall Street Journal Ranking
 
Recruiters gave the University of Iowa's Tippie School of Management high marks in The Wall Street Journal's latest ranking of MBA programs, placing the Tippie MBA 16th in its regional ranking. The positive reviews from these recruiters pulled the Tippie MBA Program into the Wall Street Journal's ranking for the first time. The regional ranking includes 47 North American schools. More >>

Tippie School of Management: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/mba/
Tippie College of Business: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/

Displaced By Katrina, Visiting Students Find UI Support, Opportunities

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the University of Iowa mobilized efforts to ensure that the education of students from the Gulf Coast would not be interrupted by the storm. As a result, 24 displaced students (13 undergraduate and 11 graduate or professional) are now enrolled at the UI, where they are attending classes, studying, getting to know their peers, and processing the events that brought them here. More >>

Hurricane Aid: http://www.uiowa.edu/~ournews/hurricane/

UI To Dedicate Pomerantz Center
 
Few universities in the nation have a facility dedicated to enhancing students' total educational experiences-from admission to graduation and beyond. On Oct. 21, the University of Iowa will dedicate its new Pomerantz Center, an innovative and comprehensive building that is designed to provide a breadth of academic, career, and recruiting resources for prospective and current students, as well as for alumni. More >>

The Pomerantz Center: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/pomerantz/

UI Research Aims To Prevent Blindness In People With Diabetes
 
More than 18 million people in the United States have diabetes, yet more than half of them do not receive the annual retinal exam that helps prevent diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to blindness. In rural states like Iowa, people with diabetes are particularly at risk for not receiving regular eye exams. However, UI researchers are developing approaches and adapting technology to make a retinal exam a routine, cost-effective part of a person's overall diabetes check-up. More >>

Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences: http://webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu/
Department of Family Medicine: http://www.uihealthcare.com/depts/med/familymedicine/
College of Engineering: http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/

Cancer Treatment Illustrates UI, Private Sector Partnership
 
University of Iowa officials, along with state government leaders and representatives from Coley Pharmaceutical Group of Wellesley, Mass., celebrate a milestone in Coley's development of a cancer treatment, CPG 7909. This promising anti-cancer agent is based on intellectual property discovered at the UI. More >>

Carver College of Medicine: http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/

Center On Aging Web Site Offers Medicare Prescription Drug Help
 
The University of Iowa Center on Aging has added a new link to its Web site (www.centeronaging.uiowa.edu) to provide information to Iowans about the forthcoming Medicare prescription drug program. More >>

Art Historian Joni Kinsey Will Discuss Grant Wood's Years At The UI Oct. 27

Joni Kinsey, a faculty member of the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, will present a free lecture, "Grant Wood at the University of Iowa: Community and Controversy," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27 in the UI Museum of Art. More >>

School of Art and Art History: http://www.art.uiowa.edu/

U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser Reads Oct. 25 On "Live From Prairie Lights"
 
Ted Kooser, poet laureate of the United States, will headline a week of broadcast readings on the "Live from Prairie Lights" series on University of Iowa radio station WSUI, AM 910, with an Oct. 25 live broadcast from Shambaugh Auditorium of the UI Main Library. More >>

Arts Iowa: http://www.uiowa.edu/artsiowa/

UI Professor Comments On Workplace Gossip
(Montgomery Advertiser, Sept. 23)
 
A recent study shows how prevalent rumors and gossip are in the workplace. Sixty-three percent of American employees said rumors are usually how they first hear about important business matters, according to a study by ISR, a global employee research and consulting firm headquartered in Chicago. JAY CHRISTENSEN-SZALANSKI, a professor in the department of management and organization at the University of Iowa, explained that psychologists make a distinction between what qualifies as "rumor" and "gossip." Rumors, he said, are usually started by individuals to help them relieve anxiety in a specific situation. Gossip, on the other hand, always concerns people, and often makes a moral judgment on someone's character. Christensen-Szalanski emphatically believes the problems that gossip creates in the workplace far outweigh any benefits. "I cannot see any beneficial reason to advocate the use of gossip in business," he said. He also takes issue with people who argue that gossip is just "natural." "Tooth decay is natural," he said, "but you don't let it proceed." The newspaper is based in Alabama. More >>

Department of Management & Organizations: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/manorg/

UI Alumnus Played Key Role In Flu Research
(Washington Post, Oct. 9)
 
A story about the effort it took over many years to resurrect the deadly Spanish influenza virus of 1918 so its genetic code could be broken says a key player in the effort was Johan Hultin. Hultin had taken a break from medical studies in his native Sweden to study for a doctorate in microbiology at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. At a departmental lunch in 1950, he heard a professor make a passing reference to the idea that intact samples of the infamous 1918 strain might still exist in bodies frozen in the Arctic. Hultin was looking for a dissertation project. He proposed to his adviser that he try to recover the virus for use in a vaccine. The idea was approved. More >>

Department of Microbiology: http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/microbiology/

Nelson, Polgreen Discuss Flu Market
(Wall Street Journal, Oct. 8)
 
Public-health officials who predict the timing and size of seasonal flu epidemics could learn a trick or two from the Chicago futures market, researchers said. Economics professor FORREST NELSON and medical-school instructor PHILIP POLGREEN of the University of Iowa in Iowa City said they were able to predict the extent of flu outbreaks in Iowa last year by adapting a futures-market model that also has forecast events from presidential elections to the Academy Awards. The study was presented at the Infectious Disease Society of America meeting in San Francisco. More >>

Carver College of Medicine: http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/
Department of Economics: http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/economics/

Grose: Chickenpox Cases Justify Immunization
(ABC News Online, Oct. 12)
 
While chickenpox seems to be in decline among school-aged children, the threat of a serious case -- in which the virus can spread to the bones, lungs, blood and even to the brain, causing a range of serious diseases like pneumonia and encephalitis -- is enough justification for continuing vaccinations. "Even though the risk of encephalitis [from chickenpox] is not high at about one in 10,000," says Dr. CHARLES GROSE, author of a study outlining the impact of the chickenpox vaccine from the University of Iowa. "There is no risk of getting it with the vaccine," and sooner or later someone is going to become one of the statistics, he adds. More >>

University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics: http://www.uihealthcare.com/index.html

Crime Scene

The blood-soaked, profanity-ridden imaginations of two alumni screenwriters have earned "The Sopranos" a place as America's favorite Mob family. More >>

The Beauty of Writing

With sweeps and flourishes, a UI calligraphy instructor illustrates the power of the pen. More >>

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