News Briefs

Digestive Center wins $6M grant
As many as 70 million people in the U.S. suffer from a range of digestive diseases, including Crohn’s disease, acid reflux, ulcers, diverticulitis and colitis, not to mention infectious diarrhea and colorectal cancers.

The Digestive Health Research Center is working to improve those lives, thanks to a $6 million, five-year National Institutes of Health grant.

The center, one of only 16 facilities of its kind in the nation and the only one in the state, will be revamped, bringing together basic science and clinical investigators in 12 academic departments. Directed by Dr. Fabio Cominelli, chief of gastroenterology & hepatology, the center aims to bring vital research from the laboratory to the bedside, potentially serving thousands of patients in Virginia and the eastern seaboard.

The center will support three scientific core groups led by Dr.
Theresa Pizarro, assistant professor of internal medicine; Dr. Steven Cohn, associate professor of internal medicine; and Dr. Peter Ernst, professor of internal medicine. The grant will also help U.Va. attract new digestive experts.

Show you care on Day of Caring
U.Va. employees can serve the community on the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring Sept. 22. That day, faculty and staff work with local volunteers on projects helping people and local organizations. Past projects have included working with children and seniors, landscaping, painting, and building and repair.

Employees should e-mail the types of projects they are interested in to Dana Rivera at danarivera@virginia.edu. Include name, phone number, department, address and T-shirt size. Indicate if you want to work as a team.

Projects are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Assignments will be made in late August.

Notable
Faculty & staff awards and achievements
• Maurice Cox, associate professor of architecture, was honored at his alma mater, Cooper Union, with the President’s Citation for distinguished civic leadership and for making an outstanding contribution to the architecture profession. He was also invited by the graduating class of 2004 at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design to give the annual commencement lecture June 9, the day before graduation.

• Marcia Invernizzi, Curry School professor of education and founder of the Book Buddies program in Charlottesville schools, received the Samuel Miller Memorial Award June 5. The award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the betterment of children in the Charlottesville-Albemarle region. Recent recipients include Julia
and Richard Nunley, John Grisham, Ben Hurt and Hovey Dabney. The award is named for Samuel Miller, a 19th century philanthropist who left the bulk of his estate to found Miller School to benefit post-Civil War children from impoverished families.

• Mark Fletcher, associate director of athletics and director of intramural recreational sports, was appointed to serve as chairman of the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association. He has been a member for
28 years.

• The School of Continuing and Professional Studies received an award from the national University Continuing Education Association for its Career Switcher Alternative Route to Licensure Program, established in 1999 to address the teacher shortage. In addition, SCPS assistant professor Pam Roland received the group’s Excellence in Teaching award.

• The Health System’s Continuum Home Health Care program has received a Quality Associate Award from the Virginia Health Quality Center, the Medicare quality improvement organization for Virginia, for its commitment to improve the quality of care offered to its patients.

Making Headlines
Faculty and staff media quotes recently cited in Headlines@U.Va.:

Taylor Antrim, Henry Hoyns fellow in fiction writing
• “‘Visits from the Drowned Girl’: Accidental Voyeur” (book review), New York Times, June 13

Timothy Beatley, professor of sustainable communities, Architecture School
• “The Rebirth of Green America,” San Diego Union-Tribune, June 6

David Breneman, dean, Curry School
• “Ronald Reagan Remembered: His Administration Proposed Numerous Cutbacks in Federal Aid, and Stood Watch over the Beginning of the Culture Wars,” Chronicle of Higher Education, June 18

Helena Cobban, senior research fellow, Institute For Practical Ethics
• “China Hums With Change” (essay), Christian Science Monitor, June 10

E.D. Hirsch Jr., professor emeritus of education
• “Straight Talk About Reading: How Parents Can Make a Difference During the Early Years,” Washington Post, June 10

William A. Knaus, chairman, Department of Health Evaluation Services
• “Some Final Thoughts on the Gipper,” Montana Standard, June 9
• op ed on treating President Reagan, Valley Morning Star [Harlington, Tex.], June 10
• “Reagan Exhibited Grace After Assassination Try,” [Tucson] Arizona Daily Star, June 10
Jonathan Moreno, director, Center for Biomedical Ethics
• “Science's Changing Face Led to Bioethics Program,” Kansas City Star, June 13

Howard H. Newlon Jr., architecture professor
• “How Did Virginia's Roads Get Like This?” Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 8

David M. O’Brien, politics professor
• “Reagan’s Legal Revolution Lives Through Federal Bench Appointments,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 8

R.K. Ramazani, professor emeritus of government and foreign affairs
• “Iran May Not Be Revealing Everything About Its Nuclear Program,” NPR: Morning Edition, June 14

Alan D. Rogol, professor of pediatrics
• “Taking a Swing with Steroids,” New York Times, June 14

Larry J. Sabato, politics professor and director, Center for Politics
• “Bush May Find Reagan’s Coattails Can’t Be Ridden: President Hopes to Benefit from the Gipper’s Legacy” (commentary), National Post, June 11
• “Party Slates Now Set for November House Elections,” Associated Press, June 10
• “Hearings Haunted by the Governors of Scandals Past,” New York Times, June 9
• “Anatomy of an Election: Pretend Presidential Campaign Kicks Off in Utah,” Associated Press, June 8
• MSNBC, “Capital Report,” June 8
• “Schaffer Looking for Respect After GOP Convention Win,” Associated Press, June 8
• Voice of America, two reports on former President Reagan’s legacy, June 8
• “Political Tug of War over Reagan's Legacy,” Newsday, June 7
• MSNBC, “Countdown,” June 7
• “Beasley Looks to Hold on to GOP Lead in U.S. Senate Race,” Associated Press, June 7
• “Bush's Political Problems Give Democrats Hope of Recapturing Senate,” Associated Press, June 6
• “Kerry Holiday Visit to Virginia Begins Parade of Speculation” (commentary), Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 6
• “Victory over Communism, at What Cost?: Deficits Be Damned, He Inspired Affection,” Scripps Howard News Service, June 6
• “Locals Remember 40th President,” Charlottesville Daily Progress, June 6
• “The Democrats ‘Dream Team’” (editorial), Hampton Roads Daily Press, June 6
• “For Voters, War May Outweigh Surge in Jobs: Bush Facing Hurdle Opposite of Father’s,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 5
• “CIA Chief's Departure Lifts Some Heat Off Bush,” Newhouse News Service, June 4
• “Parties Differ on Move’s Implications,” Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch, June 4

J.C.A. Stagg, editor, James Madison Papers
• “Presidential Campaigns Have Hinged on Battlefields: In Wartime, President Needs Reservoir of Trust to Keep His Job,” Harrisburg [Pa.] Patriot-News, June 4

Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg, Darden professor
• “A Prescription for Healthcare: Professor: Get Industry to Compete over Quality Instead of Shifting Costs,” Boston Globe, June 8

Mark Whittle, astronomy professor
• “Universe Bang Out of Order,” The Mirror [London], June 10
• “Big Bang Started Out as Barely a Whisper,” Irish Independent, June 10

W. Bradford Wilcox, sociology professor
• “Offering Ministry, and Early Release, to Prisoners,” New York Times, June 10

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