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February 9, 2005 |
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In recent years, the University has been earnestly engaged in efforts to help control and reduce utility costs. Most of the activity thus far has been directed toward physical measures, such as lighting retrofits, upgrading major equipment, and constructing a new heating and cooling plant that serves buildings on the east side of campus. We recently entered into an agreement with a consulting firm, Integrated Energy Solutions, Inc., to help us develop a campus-wide resource conservation program. The intent of the program is to reduce our utility expenses by making every University employee an active participant in the sensible control of our electric, gas, and water utility consumption. While the primary savings focus of the program will be upon ensuring that our facilities are properly controlled outside of classroom and office hours, each of us will be expected to do our part during the working day as well. Simply put, if you need it, use it; otherwise, make certain it is off. A campus resource conservation specialist will work with University employees at every level to establish a system-wide culture of conservation intended to protect research needs and maintain comfort during the instructional and working day, while also capitalizing on every utility-related savings opportunity. An accounting database will be developed to accurately and fairly track and report progress for each building. Finally, visits to buildings before, during, and after work hours will reveal opportunities for further savings and will allow support for the program to be documented. The overall objective of the program is to defray existing deficits in our utility funds without in any way compromising the services we provide to faculty, students, and staff. We believe that annual savings of over a million dollars is achievable. I strongly encourage each of you to do your part to support this most worthwhile program.
Honors Program alumna Gretchen Domek describes her first year as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University as “nearly perfect.” She has lived on four different continents, she met Queen Elizabeth, and endured 12 hours of rigorous final exams. However, she also had a blood clot in her leg that caused both a pulmonary embolism and a mini-stroke. In 2003, Domek was one of 32 American students to receive the Rhodes Scholarship. The biological chemistry graduate is pursuing a Master of Philosophy degree focusing on medical anthropology. “It’s been fascinating to take a critical look at western medical systems,” she says. She has learned that disease control isn’t always a medical problem, but a societal one. This summer she lived in South Africa for two months working in a hospice where adults and children infected with HIV are cared for. She is using that experience for her dissertation on how the HIV/AIDS epidemic is transforming the South African children’s home. Domek says her education in England is very different from anything she experienced at the U. “Maybe it’s because it’s a different country, or because I am doing graduate work, or maybe it’s because I studied hard sciences in Utah and then moved into the humanities,” surmises Domek. “Many of my fellow scholars envy the great experiences I had at the University of Utah,” she says. “Even those from Harvard or Yale are amazed to hear about the closeness of the students and faculty at Utah.” She says the highlight of her year was a visit to Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Rhodes Scholarship. After curtsying to the Queen and meeting Prince Phillip, she entered a room to find Nelson Mandela sitting comfortably in a chair dressed in his presidential uniform. “I greeted him and he responded, but I couldn’t understand what he said,” she says with a chuckle. “I told my friend to pinch me as hard as she could so I know this is real.” Domek spent 11 days in December climbing Aconcagua, a peak in the Andes Mountains and the highest summit in the Western Hemisphere, to raise money for a community health organization in Chile. Her team battled high altitude, severe weather, and violent winds during the excursion. She began to feel ill, but at an elevation of over 20,000 feet she assumed that she had common altitude sickness. On the last day, her leg gave out on her and she couldn’t move the left side of her body. She spent five days in the hospital where tests revealed that she had an infarction in the right side of her brain. She has since made a full recovery. With her typical enthusiasm, Domek called the experience “an exciting adventure. My neurologist likes to say that for an unlucky person, I am pretty lucky,” she says. This year Domek has also visited Wales, Dublin, Canterbury, Paris, and Scotland. “I climbed the highest peak in the U.K.,” she says. “It was only 4,400 feet, but we were proud.”
President Young has announced a new Office of Technology Venture Development (Tech Ventures) and named Jack Brittain, dean of the David Eccles School of Business, as vice president of Tech Ventures, pending the approval of the Board of Trustees on Feb. 14. The U is one of the first research institutions in the country to create a senior-level position dedicated to identifying emerging technologies and overseeing their commercialization, implementation, and long-term economic impacts. In addition to the U’s Business School, Brittain will be responsible for a suite of new and existing programs—the Technology Commercialization Office, the Faculty Innovation and Commercialization Office, the Utah Entrepreneur Center, and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research. The Office of Tech Ventures will be charged with creating an environment that will attract additional resources, outstanding faculty, and technology experts to the U and will collaborate with community and government organizations to define a comprehensive program of enterprise support for new ventures. As vice president, Brittain, who will remain dean of the Business School, will report directly to Young, Dave Pershing, and Lorris Betz. Martha Eining has been named executive associate dean of the School of Business. Eining will manage the day-to-day operations, academic programs and faculty associated with the Business School.
Note: As part of the Fine Arts Lecture Series, Williams will give a talk on the UMFA’s Jazz Legends exhibit on Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. in the museum’s Dumke Auditorium. If you’ve ever listened to KUER in the evening, you know the voice. The smooth, soft jazz voice of Steve Williams. He’s been doing KUER’s jazz programming for the past 20 years. On Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m., Williams will give a presentation on the musicians represented in the current Jazz Legends photo exhibit now on display at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. FYI: How did you get started in radio? WILLIAMS: I started at KUER in 1979 when it was located in the basement of Kingsbury Hall. I learned the ropes as a volunteer board operator. I just walked in there one day and said, “I know a lot about jazz music, can you teach me about radio?” It turned out they had a training program starting two weeks later so they taught me how to work the board. Once a week for five months, I ran Gene Pack’s request show on Monday afternoons. I did it as a volunteer. No pay. Then I left KUER to host Jazz City, the jazz show on the newly-formed KRCL community station. That didn’t pay either. I called myself the Mayor of Jazz City and we did the show the first Saturday night that KRCL went on the air. That was 25 years ago. It was my first program as a jazz announcer. Two years later, KUER asked me to come back – with pay. So for two years, I did the weekends, and, in 1984, I started the nightly show. This year I’ll get my 20 year pin. FYI: Was your family musical? WILLIAMS: When I was born, my dad was a big band sax player in New York and my Mom was a tap dancer. With my younger brother, Rick, we really were the Ozzie and Harriet family. Dad played with Woody Herman, Charlie Parker, Red Nichols–all the big bands. Back in the old days, I used to play the sax a little myself at parties and restaurants and bars. Our group was called The Daddy-Os. FYI: Who are some of your favorite jazz musicians? WILLIAMS: I dig guys like Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Duke, Basie; and singers Shirley Horn, Ella, Sarah Vaughn, Johnny Hartman, and Joe Williams. I worked with Ray Brown (bass player with The Oscar Peterson Trio) and had him on the air with me when he was in town for festivals and Jazz at the Sheraton shows. That was a real thrill. When I helped get the Snowbird Jazz Festival going 17 years ago, we brought in jazz greats Herbie Mann, Marion McPartland, and the Alvino Rey Quartet to kick off that first year. I also love Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Wayne Shorter. Stan Getz is another favorite. My mom went out with him before she met my Dad. And Pat Metheny is a great player. I’ve worked with all the great guitar players – Herb Ellis, Jim Hall. Emceeing these shows, I’ve gotten to know Mike Brecker and both of the Marsalis boys, Wynton and Branford. And Dave Brubeck. He’s one of my true heroes; one of the most gracious, nicest guys I’ve ever met and I love his music. He’s responsible for introducing jazz to lots of people with his albums in the 1960s. FYI: How’s the local jazz scene in Salt Lake City? WILLIAMS: We have some incredible musicians in this town that are as good as anybody. Herschel Bullen, Craig Larsen, Larry Jackstein, Lars Jorgenson, Matt Larsen, Jay Lawrence, Jerry Floor. These guys are as good as they get. FYI: Describe the Jazz Legends exhibit currently running at UMFA. WILLIAMS: It’s an exhibit of around 30 or 40 jazz masters in black and white photographs by Herman Leonard, who was born in 1923 in Allentown, Ohio. They already had some picked out but we went into the basement storage area and I picked seven or eight more. They’re photographs of jazz masters in different settings. There’s one with Billie Holladay looking in a mirror in her backstage dressing room; and another of Dexter Gordon, who plays tenor sax, with smoke swirling around his face. Some of these were used by the record producers for album covers. The photographs catch the essence of these guys. Leonard had a way of taking a picture that really tells a story. Like the one that shows Duke Ellington and Richard Rogers, the composer, listening to Ella. FYI: What do you like most about your job? WILLIAMS: I love to hear from the people who listen. I get calls from people telling me their children are going to sleep at night with my music. I hear from young kids and people in their nineties. I think jazz music crosses all dimension, politics, languages, ethnicities, genders, you name it…there are no boundaries for it. I want to keep it that way. I want everyone to enjoy it.
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Linda K. Amos Award Honoring Distinguished Service to U Women Nominations are now open for this year’s Amos Award, which recognizes a female staff or faculty member who has selflessly given time and energy to improve the educational and/or working environment for women at the U. The nominee should represent the ideals and actions of Linda Amos, for whom the scholarship is named. Amos was the founding chair of the University’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, is professor of nursing, served as dean of the College of Nursing, and currently serves as associate vice president for health sciences. Throughout her career, she has been the champion for improving the status and experience of women on campus. The award will be presented March 2 at the keynote address for
Women’s Week (Feb. 28 though March 4). Nominations must be
made by a U of U faculty, staff or student. For more information,
visit www.tacc.utah.edu/aboutus/staff/nomination.html
or contact Alison Regan at 581-3883 or aregan@tacc.utah.edu. The College of Social Work and the Suazo family invite the community
to submit nominations for the fourth annual Pete Suazo Social Justice
Awards. The awards honor the life of the late state senator by recognizing
the work of those who dedicate themselves to the goal of social
and economic justice.
Put a little dunking in your love life. That’s right, take your honey to Faculty/Staff Night with the Runnin’ Utes on Monday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Huntsman Center. Although everyone knows he can fly, it isn’t common knowledge that Cupid is a round ball junkie. But how else can you explain ticket prices at a mere $5 each for all U of U faculty and staff members, along with their immediate family members? And, while you may know romance, if you haven’t seen this year’s edition of Utah Basketball yet, You Don’t Know Giac! That’s right, you don’t know the new uptempo style of Runnin’ Ute basketball under first-year head coach Ray Giacoletti. As of this writing, the Utes were 17-3, ranked 25th in the country, and were making lots of noise for a bid into the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Get your tickets for Faculty/Staff Night by calling 1-UTIX or visit
www.utahtickets.com.
Because nothing says love quite like a crossover dribble.
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and the Honors Program will sponsor the second annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 7 in the Olpin Union. Undergraduate students from all disciplines are invited to present their research and creative projects through oral sessions, posters, artistic exhibits, or performances. Faculty members are asked to encourage their students to participate.
The submission deadline is Monday, Feb. 28. For more information,
visit www.ugs.utah.edu/urop/symposium/
or contact Jill Baeder at 581-8070 or
• NEW TRAFFIC SIGNAL TO BE INSTALLED •
WARNOCK ENGINEERING BUILDING When the Warnock Engineering Building project is completed (fall 2006), it will have a footprint of 23,000 square feet. During construction, the old tennis courts west of Austin Hall will serve as a temporary lot to provide parking for the construction workers. A temporary road will be built from the golf course maintenance yard to the northwest corner of the courts to provide access. For more information on these two projects, contact Joseph Harman at 581-7580 or jharman@campplan.utah.edu.
The walk to the construction site and the inside of the building can be muddy and dusty so wear appropriate shoes. For more information, contact Jeanne Le Ber at 585-6744 or jeannele@lib.med.utah.edu.
PEAK Academy will offer cholesterol testing on Feb. 15 and 16 from 7–9 a.m. Cholesterol results will include Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL and Triglycerides. The cost is $15 for U faculty, staff, and students and $25 for community members. You can now have both your C-Reactive Protein levels measured with your cholesterol for $50 for U faculty, staff, and students and $60 for community members. Call 585-7325 for an appointment or visit www.uuhsc.utah.edu/peak for more information.
Couples using Viagra are being sought for participation in an IRB-approved research study being conducted by Don Strassberg in the Department of Psychology. Participants will be compensated for their time, but will receive no medications. For more information, call 581-8840 or visit www.psych.utah.edu/couples.
• The cap and gown order deadline for faculty members who are participating in President Young’s inauguration ceremony is Friday, Feb. 25. The order deadline for all Commencement ceremonies for faculty and students is Friday, March 25. Orders will not be accepted after these dates. Order forms and details have been distributed to campus departments. • Nicaraguan pottery will be arriving at the bookstore this month. Visit www.ubs.utah.edu for more information. • 2004 tax forms are still available outside the post office door inside the south entrance of the bookstore.
Pioneer Theatre Company is offering $10 tickets to all U of U faculty and staff for its production of James Joyce’s The Dead, a Tony Award-winning musical, running Feb. 16 through March 5. These special-rate tickets are limited to four per person and must be purchased in person at the PTC box office by showing a current faculty/staff U-Card. PTC box office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
James Joyce’s The Dead is a 95 minute musical filled with Irish song and dance. It is adapted from the short story by James Joyce in which two elderly women and their niece, who are music teachers, throw a Christmas party in Dublin in 1904. They and their guests perform songs they’ve prepared for the evening, ranging from Irish ballads and rousing dance numbers to old vaudeville and drinking songs. The musical ran on Broadway in 2000, where it received rave reviews and was nominated for a number of Tony Awards, winning for best book of a musical. The New York Daily News called it “a hauntingly beautiful musical,” and The New York Times said the show leaves audience members “leaning forward like a fascinated eavesdropper.” For more information, contact the PTC Box Office at 581-6961.
Come cheer on the Utah Women’s Gymnastics Team, ranked #1, when they take on rival BYU, ranked #13, on Friday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Huntsman Center. U of U faculty and staff can show their UCard and bring up to five guests – all for free! Come see the Utes, featuring the 2002 world balance beam champion Ashley Postell, take on in-state rival BYU. Parking is free.
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