News Briefs

Athletics foundation expands
The Virginia Student Aid Foundation, which has long supported student-athletes with scholarships, has been revamped and sports a new name: Virginia Athletics Foundation. The organization has expanded its role to include providing resources to fund the athletic department's operations and future capital projects.
“Our goal is to make the University of Virginia's athletics program one of the most respected and successful programs in the nation without compromising the University's academic tradition,” said Dirk Katstra, the foundation’s executive director of development.

Traylor named compliance officer
Ralph Traylor became the new compliance officer for the U.Va. Medical Center Oct. 25. Previously the assistant director of the Health System’s audit department, Traylor had served as interim compliance director for more than a year. Reporting to Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer, he will work primarily with the top administrators, faculty and staff of the Medical Center — and the Health System more generally — on specific compliance issues.
“The responsibilities of the compliance officer are of critical importance to the University and to the Medical Center," Sandridge said.

North Fork welcomes new business
The University’s Research Park at North Fork welcomed a new resident this week with the opening of Biotage Inc., a leader in small-molecule drug discovery purification systems and products for the pharmaceutical industry. Previously located in two separate Charlottesville facilities, the Biotage facility contains four research and development laboratories, manufacturing operations and management headquarters for its worldwide operations.

As Biotage’s product offerings and revenues have increased over the past seven years, the number of employees has also increased from 25 in 1994 to 143 currently.

Biotage, a subsidiary of Dyax Corp., also has offices in Hertford, England; Düsseldorf, Germany; Milan, Italy; and Tokyo, Japan.

Antibiotics not always best remedy
More than five million cases of ear infections, or otitis media, are diagnosed every year. But now, a scholarly review of more than 100 studies by U.Va. pediatrician Dr. J. Owen Hendley concludes that antibiotics help only one in eight children with ear infections.

In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine last month, Hendley found that ear infections cleared up in one week in 81 percent of placebo recipients, as compared with 94 percent of antibiotic recipients.

"The bacteria which cause ear infections learn quickly to be resistant to antibiotics," he said.

The review also found that giving children a flu shot can reduce the likelihood of ear infection by 30 percent, but the benefit lasts only during flu season, about six weeks of the year.

TWO NEW GIFTS ON DISPLAY AT ART MUSEUM
A sculpture by 21st-century British artist Sean Henry and a painting by 19th-century painter Thomas Moran are on view at the University Art Museum. The works are recent gifts to the museum.

Henry’s sculpture, “Ben (Ideas Resolved),” created in 2001, was a gift from Ruth and Robert Cross. Ruth Cross is a Charlottesville member of the museum’s advisory board.

The second work, a gift from Californian Gil Michaels, is an early painting by Moran titled “On the Catawissa Creek”.

The University Art Museum is free and open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. For details, call 924-3592, or visit http://www.virginia.edu/artmuseum.

Surgeon to speak at Valediction
U.Va. alumnus Dr. L.D. Britt was selected last week by the Class of 2003 to give the valedictory address in May. After receiving his medical training at Harvard, he has gone on to become a much-honored teacher at Eastern Virginia Medical School. As president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, he is leading a campaign to promote surgical interest among minority medical students.

Casteen to lead AAU next year
U.Va. President John T. Casteen III was elected vice chairman of the Association of American Universities at its annual fall meeting last month. That means he will assume the AAU chairmanship July 1, 2003, after Cornell President Hunter Rawlings serves as chairman this year.

The AAU, an organization of research universities, comprises 63 institutions, almost evenly divided between public and private.

Mark your calendar for legislative forum
U.Va.’s Office of State Governmental Relations will host a legislative forum Jan. 3 at noon in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom. The panel will feature local legislators, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, Del. Mitch Van Yahres, Del. Rob B. Bell III and Del. R. Steven Landes, along with U.Va. President John T. Casteen III. They will discuss issues facing the 2003 General Assembly, including those that affect the future of higher education.

U.Va. web sites offer scholarly religious e-journals
U.Va. is becoming the virtual home for three existing and two planned electronic journals that are of interest to Jewish, Christian and Islamic religious scholars.
“There has been an explosion of activity in religious studies in the past few years, especially in studies of the three Abrahamic traditions: Jewish, Christian and Muslim,” said Peter Ochs, professor of modern Judaism, who is leading the effort.
Written for scholars, the e-journals don’t require subscriptions, but are available to anyone as a public service of the U.Va. Library’s Electronic Text Center. The publications are: Journal of Textual Reasoning (http://
etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/tr/), Journal of Scriptural Reasoning (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/
ssr/) and a journal of Jewish thought published in French (http://
etext.lib.virginia.edu/
journals/ssr/French/vol1/). Two others that will be added soon include a German-language journal on Jewish text traditions and an e-journal in English for the Institute for Quranic Reasoning.

Technology for humanities fellowships available
The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities offers several fellowships each year through a competitive application process, deadline for which is Jan. 30. The institute provides fellows with consulting, technical support, applications programming and networked publishing facilities. Full-time U.Va. faculty from any part of the University are eligible to apply for resident or associate fellowships. Applicants are recommended to discuss their proposal with institute director John Unsworth before the application deadline. Contact IATH for information and to receive an application form or see http://www.
iath.virginia.edu. The selection committee will make its decisions by Feb. 28. Fellowships begin July 1.

Meditation put to the test
Mindfulness techniques are part of a three-pronged, controlled clinical study that Dr. Matt Goodman, co-director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program, is leading to learn whether the techniques of mindfulness versus massage versus neither could benefit patients with chronic pain.

Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the study “is the first randomized trial anywhere to examine the value of mindfulness techniques as opposed to the usual care,” Goodman said.

Mindfulness techniques are also being offered in new graduate classes and a fourth-year medical elective for those who want to continue learning about stress-reduction techniques. They are taught as a skill that clinicians may use to help encourage patients to practice healthier behaviors.

Be mindful of stress
Do your reactions to stress make it better or worse? The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at U.Va. is offering a variety of classes such as tai chi and yoga to help employees and others become more relaxed and aware of stress and their choices about how to handle it.

General mindfulness-based stress reduction and relaxation classes will be held Jan. 20-March 10, March 31-May 19 and Sept. 22- Nov. 10, for $325 per class (sliding scale is available). See the Web page www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/stress-reduction.

A meditation session, free and open to the U.Va. community, is held each Tuesday from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. in the University Hospital chapel near the lobby.

Explorer’s 250th birthday to be marked Nov. 24
Maybe he gets mixed up with his brother, William Clark, the Virginia explorer who teamed with Meriwether Lewis to journey across the frontier to the Pacific, but George Rogers Clark was an explorer, too, and a Revolutionary War hero. The statue on University Avenue across from the east end of the Corner is dedicated George Rogers.

A special program will commemorate his 250th birthday Sunday, Nov. 24, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the statue. Leonard Sadosky, a U.Va. doctoral student, will speak about Clark's career. The program, sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution, will also feature re-enactors and military units. The public is invited for refreshments to Clark's birthplace on Route 20-North in Albemarle County afterward.

For information, call Steven Braden at 296-3904.

Proceed with caution
New storm and steam pipes are being installed underground on Jefferson Park Avenue near the Lane Road intersection, from La Maison Francaise to the Health System Library and MR-5 plaza and across to the old hospital. Deep pits have to be blasted in the asphalt to make way for burying the pipes. The contractor has implemented a city approved traffic plan that adjusts the JPA/Lane Road intersection slightly. Separate left and right turns onto JPA from Lane Road will be maintained. Traffic disruptions during the morning and evening commutes will be avoided if at all possible, but some minor delays may occur.

Jean Redpath brings Celtic music to Charlottesville
Scottish folksinger Jean Redpath will join the Ensemble Galilei, a band of five women who play Celtic tunes, early music and original works Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the V. Earl Dickinson Building at Piedmont Virginia Community College. The concert is co-sponsored by the U.Va. Women’s Center and PVCC. Tickets are $17, general; $12, seniors; and $6, students. Call the Dickinson Box Office at 961-5376.

Classical Music marathon wraps up semester
WTJU, the University’s noncommercial educa-
tional radio station, will air its annual Classical Music Marathon Dec. 8-15. Tune in to 91.1 FM the week of final exams for a variety of classical music any time of day or night. The radio station receives only part of its financial support from U.Va. and holds fund-raisers each year dedicated to four areas of music: jazz, folk, rock and classical. See the Web site at http://wtju.radio.virginia.edu.

Spread holiday cheer for CVC
For the past two years, Bonnie Bragg, manager of Student Financial Services, has been a special assistant to Santa Claus and fund-raiser for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. For a $5 donation, Bragg will send a letter from Santa to your child or favorite believer.

Another holiday project that benefits the CVC is Tara Poleski’s Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa cards. Poleski, who works in the Development office, creates the cards in several brightly colored designs. Each card costs $5 and can be personalized. Orders should be placed by Dec. 5 with checks made payable to CVC. All proceeds will go to CVC charities. Contact Poleski at 924-7325 or tsp5h@virginia.edu to order cards.

Send requests for Santa letters to Bragg at P.O. Box 400204 or bb6a@
virginia.edu, or leave a request in the “Santa Letter” box in the U.Va. Bookstore. For details, call Bragg at 924-4242.

Opera Workshop presents “The Medium”
The Opera Workshop will present a fall concert of Gian-Carlo Menotti’s “The Medium” on Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall. "The Medium" tells the tragic story of Madame Flora, a false spiritualist who becomes the victim of the ghosts she has invented. Louisa Panou-Takahashi of the U.Va. music department will direct the opera. Tickets are $10 for general admittance, $5 or 5ART$ for U.Va. students. Call or drop by the Old Cabell Hall Box Office, 924-3984, for tickets. Due to the U.Va. home football game that evening, some parking lots will be restricted. Patrons are asked to park in the Newcomb Hall Parking Garage on Emmet Street.

Film festival overflows with success
The 15th Virginia Film Festival, with this year’s theme of “Wet,” provided popular programs playing to overflow crowds and star-studded premieres complete with gushing fans. Attendance for events Oct. 24-27 exceeded 11,800, a 25 percent increase over the 2001 festival, with many events selling out.

Programmed by Artistic Director Richard Herskowitz, the Virginia Film Festival explored water imagery through an eclectic mix of premieres, classic films, performance artists and experimental work.

On Saturday night, guests who attended the dance party at the Fringe Festival could choose among joining a tour of the building’s “catacombs” with acclaimed artist-provocateur Guillermo Gomez-Peña; participating in a medieval marriage ceremony officiated by legendary underground filmmaker George Kuchar; or joining Nicolas Cage and Rob Zombie on the dance floor (or watching them from the sidelines, alongside Cage’s new bride Lisa Marie Presley) dancing to Zombie’s brand new recording of “Brick House.”

Notable
• Dr. Victoria Norwood, associate professor of clinical nephrology and chief of pediatric nephrology at the Health System, has been selected to participate in the eighth class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program for women.

• Chengsan Sun, postdoctoral fellow at the School of Medicine, has been named the recipient of a national research award from the Epilepsy Foundation.

• John C. Herr, director of the Center for Recombinant Gamete Contraceptive Vaccinogens, has been awarded the 2002 University of Iowa College of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award for Achievement.

• Dr. Mark K. Robbins, associate professor of clinical internal medicine and medical director of the lung transplantation program at the Health System, has been appointed to represent Region 11 on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing Organ Transplantation Committee.

• Jonathan D. Moreno, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics, has been elected president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.

• Bill Kehoe, O'Dell Professor of Commerce, was named to the Virginia Aviation Board by Gov. Mark Warner. He will represent Region 5, which includes the Charlottesville/Albemarle Airport.

• Mary V. Hughes, University landscape architect, was reappointed to the Governor’s Virginia Art and Architectural Review Board, along with four others, by Warner.

• Alice Handy, president of U.Va. Investment Management Co., was re-elected to the Board of Trustees of Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which oversees Monticello.

In Memoriam
• Edith Falwell Ward, 80, of Charlottesville, died Nov. 4. She retired from University Hospital in 1983 after 20 years of services as a nurse.
• Elizabeth Conway Crawford, 53, of Waynesboro, died Nov. 5. She was employed for more than 30 years at U.Va. and retired as an executive secretary in the pulmonary division.
• Shirley May Mundie Harrup, 62, of Charlottesville, died Nov. 8. She retired after 30 years of service from Blue Ridge Sanatorium as an attendant specialist.
• Lois Swink Petcavage, 73, of Charlottesville died Nov. 11. She served the health care industry for many years, most recently in the outpatient oncology unit at the U.Va. Medical Center from 1970 until 1989.
• James Jasper Thompson Sr. of Albemarle died Nov. 11. He worked at the Medical Center for a number of years.