Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost

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Provost’s Academic Update

April 24, 2007

E. Thomas Sullivan
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Julius E. Davis Chair in Law

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

As the spring semester draws to a close, we have much to celebrate at the University of Minnesota, some of which I’ve highlighted below. At the same time, our hearts continue to go out to the faculty, staff, and students at Virginia Tech, and to the family and friends of the victims. As we head into finals, graduations, and the summer break, continue to take care of yourselves and those around you.

Transforming the U: Update on Academic Initiatives

  • Academic Awards and Recognition: As part of our effort to increase the University’s visibility and enhance its reputation, we’ve made efforts to increase recognition of our faculty.  I recently updated the Provost’s Web site to reflect the great number of national and international scholarly awards that faculty have received. Did you know that the University can claim:
    • 19 Nobel Prize Laureates
    • 79 Guggenheim Fellows
    • 28 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    • 28 members of the National Academy of Sciences
    • 23 members of the National Academy of Engineering
    • 7 members of the Institute of Medicine
    • 5 Lasker Awards
    • 3 Pulitzer Prizes
    • 2 National Medals of Science
    • 1 Wolf Prize

See the Provost’s Web site for more information about award recipients: http://www.academic.umn.edu/provost/awards/faculty_natl.html

  • New Academic Rankings: The University ranks highly in the 2007 Academic Ranking of World Universities by Broad Subject Fields (Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s ranking of the top 100 universities worldwide). Social sciences at the University ranks 3rd among public research universities (behind the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Michigan), and 12th among public and private universities in the social sciences. In clinical medicine and pharmacy, the University ranks 7th among public research universities, and 14th among public and private universities. For additional information: http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm
  • University of Minnesota Postdoctoral Fellowship: This new fellowship program was created based on a recommendation by the Faculty Recruitment and Diversity Task Force to enhance the recruitment of outstanding and diverse faculty. The Postdoctoral Fellowship is a University-wide initiative designed to attract promising scholars with potential to pursue future faculty positions at the University of Minnesota and other top research universities. Three recipients for this new fellowship have been announced: Zenzele Isoke, Patina Mendez and Ludwin Molina. Find out more information about the fellows from the University News Service.
  • Online Catalog of University’s Online and Hybrid Courses: The University has a wealth of online and hybrid (partially online) courses, both credit and non-credit. Now, information about these courses is available in one place, in a new searchable systemwide online catalog: http://onestop2.umn.edu/courses/idpid/designators.jsp
  • Tenure Code: Following recommendations from the Faculty Culture Committee and hundreds of hours of work by the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, the Faculty Senate voted unanimously to strengthen the Tenure Code by articulating a clear commitment to excellence and the criteria for determining when it is achieved.  The revised Code will be presented to the Board of Regents next month.  It represents a significant step forward in the strategic positioning effort to transform the University and enhance its international reputation.  Also clarified were the standards for promotion from associate to full professor, and a “stop the clock” provision was added for tenure-track faculty with substantial family responsibilities.
  • Bridge to Academic Excellence: This summer, the University will welcome the first cohort of 80 students in an exciting new transitional Summer Bridge program designed to prepare recent high school graduates for academic success. 

Congratulations to award-winning faculty, staff, and students who have received recognition in the recent months. Noteworthy examples include:

  • Professor Daphne Berdahl (CLA), Assistant Professor Hisham Bizri (CLA), Associate Professor David Treuer (CLA), and Professor Peter McMurray (IT) received 2007 Guggenheim Fellowships, the most recipients in one year at the University since 1982. Click for more information.
  • The Reserves Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) was recognized by the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America as the top-ranked ROTC program in the country. Click for more information.
  • The School of Journalism and Mass Communication hosted 13 journalists from East Asia as part of the U.S. State Department's Edward R. Murrow Program. Click for more information.
  • Dean Brian Atwood (Humphrey Institute) was invited to serve as a member of the Advisory Committee on Democracy Promotion by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Fifteen to twenty individuals comprise this bipartisan Committee, whose goal is to advance the United States’ efforts to foster democratic principles worldwide.
  • Professor and Chair Srilata Zaheer (CSOM) has been elected to the Fellows of the Academy of International Business. Click for more information.
  • Professor Roger Schroeder (CSOM) was elected a 2007 Productions and Operations Management Society Fellow. This is the most prestigious honor awarded by the society. Click for more information.
  • Assistant Professor Irene Duranczyk (CEHD) was the recipient of the National Association for Developmental Education Award for Outstanding Research Conducted by a Developmental Education Practitioner. This award has been presented three times in its six years of existence, and has not been awarded since 2003.
  • Associate Professor Murray Jensen (CEHD) was honored as the 2007 Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher, sponsored by the Society of College Science Teaching, the collegiate division of the National Science Teachers Association.
  • Professor Richard Kiehl (IT) and his team of 9 scholars from UCLA, NYU, University of Texas-Austin, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University received a $6 million, 5-year Department of Defense grant to study quantum physics (nanoparticles) using biological assembly techniques. Click for more information.
  • Professors Fionnuala Ni Aolain and Oren Gross (Law School) have been awarded the 2007 Certificate of Merit by the American Society of International Law for their book Law in Times of Crisis, published by Cambridge University Press.
  • Professor Dante Cicchetti (CEHD) has been awarded the highly prestigious American Psychological Association Mentor Award.
  • Senior Meghan Stafford (CLA) was named PRWeek’s Public Relations Student of the Year. Click for more information.
  • Professor Ronald J. Faber (CLA) was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Advertising. This award is the highest honor given in recognition of a leader who has contributed notably to the improvement of advertising education through ongoing significant scholarship, the development of instructional procedures, and the development of advertising practice with broad general significance in advertising.
  • Professor and Director David Ingbar (Medical School) was installed as President for the American Thoracic Society at the 2007 ATS International Conference.
  • Professor Peter Bitterman (Medical School) was a recipient of the American
    Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishment.
  • Professor Kakambi Nagaraja (Veterinary Medicine) was presented with the Meritorious Service Award at the North Central Avian Disease Conference in St. Paul in March.
  • Professor Alan Sroufe, Professor Byron Egeland, Research Associate Elizabeth Carlson, and Professor Andrew Collins (CEHD) are the authors of The Development of the Person, winner of the 2007 Eleanor Maccoby Book Award, given by the American Psychological Association.
  • Professor and Chair R. Michael Paige (CEHD) has received the Peter A. Wollitzer Advocacy Award from the Forum on Education Abroad. The award honors a member who has been instrumental in influencing educational institutions to understand and support education abroad through the dissemination of forum goals.
  • Assistant Professor Hee Lee (CEHD) has been selected as a Hartford Geriatric Scholar by the John A Hartford Foundation. The program, beginning in 2007-08, will support her development as a beginning researcher and scholar.
  • Assistant Professor Misty Sato (CEHD) received the Kappa Delta Pi/American Educational Research Association Early Career Research Award. This award, for researchers in the first stages of their careers, recognizes research on important issues in the areas of teaching or teacher education.
  • Assistant Professor Sheila Torres (Veterinary Medicine) received a $710,000 grant from the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, along with Doug Plager, Ph.D., a research associate in dermatology in the Allergic Diseases Research Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. The subject of their research: therapeutic targets for atopic dermatitis, a form of eczema that affects animals and people.
  • The team of Chinese language students Alaya Lee, Molly Tolzmann, Ryan Loomis, Casey Kerian, Andrew Kruse, and Andrew Ramdular won six gold and one silver medal at the College Student Chinese Speech Contest at Northwestern University in March. Twenty-one universities participated in the event. Click for more information.
  • Associate Professor William Conway (Design) participated in an award-winning project while a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas. The collaborative teaching project, “Visioning Rail Transit in Northwest Arkansas: Lifestyles and Ecologies,” was one of three projects that received the 2007 Education Honor Award for Excellence from the American Institute of Architects.
  • Graduate student Chelsey Rodd and Associate Director Nicole LaVoi (CEHD) Human Development, have received a research grant from the Melpomene Institute for Women's Health for a project entitled "Unequal Opportunities, Unequal Outcomes: Reducing Physical Inactivity in Populations of Ethnic Minority Girls.” This project aims to forge new connections and create synergy among University researchers, the Tucker Center, the Melpomene Institute, and community members and organizations in the Twin Cities Metro Area.
  • Professor Charles Baxter (CLA) has received the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Award of Merit for the Short Story, which grants $10,000 and a medal to an outstanding short story writer.
  • Assistant Professor Christopher Federico (CLA) received the Sigel Award for best paper by a junior scholar and the Erik Erikson Early Career Award, both from the International Society of Political Psychology.
  • Professor Paul Sackett (CLA) received the Herbert Heneman Jr. Career Achievement Award for 2007. This award is given by the Human Resources Division of the Academy of Management to an individual who has distinguished himself/herself in the field of human resource management. 
  • Assistant Professor Tony Brown (CLA) received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship for the academic year 2007-08. The title of his project is “The Animal and Savage in 18th-Century Literature and Thought.”
  • Ph.D. student Kelly Cannon (IT) received Google’s prestigious Anita Borg Scholarship, which supports women in computing, technology, and leadership. Cannon has been active in the robotics research area and has been the driving force behind the University’s Kids Tech Camp held each summer.
  • Associate Professor Bernard Levinson (CLA) has been offered a year-long fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin for 2007-08.
  • Veterinary Medicine students Aric Frantz and Aubrey Tauer received Veterinary Student Scholar proposals from the Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) their projects “Characterization of Dog and Swine Multi-Potent Adult Progenitor Cells” and “Antibiotic Resistance in Water Sources Common to Humans, Domestic Animals, and Mountain Gorillas.”
  • Graduate student Anna Toth and undergraduate student Elizabeth Rodgers (Nursing School) won first prize in the Undergraduate and Graduate Student Poster Competition at the 2007 Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS) conference, held March 23-26, in Omaha, Nebraska. MNRS advances the scientific basis of nursing practice and promotes development of nurse scientists.
  • Veterinary Medicine Students Jenny Cho-MacSwain, Carissa Schloesser, Matt Allerson, Laura Bruner, and Nathan Schaefer were among 15 veterinary students nation-wide to receive scholarships from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Foundation and the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation during the AASV annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, in March. Additional scholarships totaling $20,000 were provided by Eli Lilly and Company Foundation on behalf of Elanco Animal Health.

In the coming weeks, I will receive the blueprint for a new Institute for the Advancement of Science and Engineering. I look forward to sharing more information about this with you in the fall, as well as news on the start of the Baccalaureate Writing Initiative and our continuing plans for the campus-wide Undergraduate Honors Program, which begins in Fall 2008. Have a productive, restful, and enjoyable summer.

E. Thomas Sullivan
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Julius E. Davis Chair in Law

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