February 23, 2005

STEGNER SYMPOSIUM 2005
Private Property and Nature Conservation:
Land Ownership in the 21st Century

As the West’s cities have expanded, their growth boundaries have increasingly absorbed adjacent agricultural lands and bumped up against nearby federally owned lands... More than a few ranchers, faced with marginal economic returns and growing regulatory constraints, see few realistic options other than to sell their lands for development.
~Robert B. Keiter
Director, Wallace Stegner Center

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, this year’s Stegner Center Symposium, March 4-5, will examine what it means to own land in the American West and how our understanding of private ownership of farms, ranches, and forestland is changing. Speakers include legal scholars, attorneys, community planners, land trust representatives, scientists, and historians from throughout the country as well as Salt Lake City.

Nancy McLaughlin, an associate professor of law at the U, is organizing this year’s symposium. “There is no longer any question that private lands must be incorporated into local and regional conservation efforts,” she says. “However, this presents a unique challenge in the West, where private property rights are sacrosanct and there already is a great deal of resentment regarding federal ownership and control of large tracts of land.”

Symposium organizers hope to promote an understanding of the important role private lands play in nature conservation, and the various means by which such lands can be incorporated into conservation efforts.

For more information or to register, call 585-3440 or visit www.law.utah.edu/pdf/stegner/stegner_symposia_10.pdf.

Meet the Faculty— Bruce Parsons
Faculty Director for the Westside Leadership Institute

Last year, when University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) staff sent out a general query recruiting U of U faculty to teach classes for its new Westside Leadership Institute (WLI), they had no idea who would respond. One of the eight who did was Bruce Parsons, an associate professor of research in the College of Social Work. Parson’s background in clinical psychology made them curious about why he was interested. But after the first class, it was obvious. “He did a phenomenal job,” says Sarah Munro, assistant director at UNP. “He connected immediately with the students.” The students are residents of Salt Lake City’s Westside neighborhoods and that first cohort ranged in age from 17 to 90. They took the class to learn leadership and community-building skills.

Parsons led the students in an exercise where he had them each imagine waking up one morning and finding everything in their community “ideal,” and then asked them to describe what that looked like. So each student’s vision identified a community challenge to solve—something each one felt personally passionate about. The exercise was a very motivating for the students.

So this year, when Munro approached Parsons about assuming the role of faculty director for the project, he was extremely enthusiastic and wanted to take on as much as he could handle. “He has an absolute spark for it,” she says.

“I’m a clinical psychologist,” says Parsons. “On first blush, it doesn’t look like I’d fit with social work. I was a post doc fellow in social psychology. But I got involved in some research in criminal justice and substance abuse treatment and ended up with a faculty appointment. I was asked to teach while a couple of professors were on sabbatical and, much to my surprise, it turned out I absolutely love teaching!”

This year, Parsons has recruited faculty from all over campus—social work, ethnic studies, the Center for Public Policy, political science, and English—to help teach the classes. “I’ve had a ball doing this project,” he says. “It’s a great collaboration between residents and faculty, and the faculty are thrilled with the experience. It gets them out of the classroom and into the community.”

The classes are held on Monday nights and use a model developed by the Pew Charitable Trust’s Partnership for Civic Change that provides information on things like finding leaders within the organization, identifying community assets, and building strategic partnerships. “They’ll even learn how to do some marketing and hold a press conference,” says Parsons.

Each student comes up with a self-selected project they feel passionate about and then uses what they’re learning in the class to advance their own project. At the end of the training, they can apply for a small grant. “Last year, 15 of the 20 participants took a grantwriting workshop through the WLI and five applied for mini-grants. Four of those were funded,” says Parsons. “One group got $400 and leveraged it for another $3,000 for an after school study program where parents tutor their own kids. It was pretty fascinating,” he adds.

When he’s not teaching or working on community projects, Parsons can be found skiing the mountains at Alta or hiking in Utah’s southeastern deserts in places like Cedar Mesa or Butler Wash. He also enjoys reading and just finished Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, which he found “fascinating.” Finicky about food, he’s a lean bean. Body training and eating the Atkins Diet for two years have given him an enviable seven percent body fat rating.

Parsons grew up in California, came to the U for graduate school, and got his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1972. He returned to clinical practice in Laguna Beach for almost three decades. Then, four years ago, he came back to Utah with his wife Charlyn. He has a love affair going with his two ten-year-old labs, Jasper and Jacob. “They’re a pretty important part of my life” he says.

The Westside Leadership Institute is a project of University Neighborhood Partners, a collaboration between the residents of Salt Lake City’s westside neighborhoods and the University of Utah. Community partners are Salt Lake Neighborhood Housing Services and Salt Lake Weed and Seed. For more information on UNP and its projects, see www.partners.utah.edu.

Will Work for Change –
Being Nickel and Dimed in America
Women’s Week is Feb. 28–March 4

Barbara Ehrenreich was not happy with welfare reformer’s claims that any job equals a better life, so she decided to find out for herself what it was like to live on minimum wage. Moving around from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she took jobs as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. Making from six to seven dollars an hour, Ehrenreich discovered how exhausting it could be, both mentally and physically, and realized a person actually needed two jobs just to make it.

In 2001, she wrote a book about her experience, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, her look at life in low-wage America. Ehrenreich will give the key-note address for Women’s Week 2005 on Wednesday, March 2 at 10 a.m. in the Union Ballroom.

The U’s annual Women’s Week recognizes and celebrates the historical and contemporary contributions of women. For more than two decades, the annual event has created a forum for the campus and community to discuss issues that affect all women.

This year’s activities include an art show by V. Kim Martinez; a campus/community panel discussion on the barriers women face as they work to increase their earning potential; a performance of Nickel & Dimed, a play by Joan Holden based on Ehrenreich’s book; and the keynote address by Ehrenreich. For complete information on all events, visit www.womensweek.utah.edu/2005.

Women’s Week posters are available from the Office of Diversity, Room 204 Park Building; and Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed, on (Not) Getting by in America, is available at the University Bookstore.

Distinguished Speaker to Address Scientific Freedom and the Commercialization of Science

Mark S. Frankel, director of the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility & Law Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will present two timely lectures on Thursday, March 10. The New Entrepreneurs: The Commercialization of Academic Science will be presented at noon in the Aline W. Skaggs Biology Building (ASB) Auditorium and will focus on the impacts of commercial sponsorship on biomedical research and institutional conflicts of interest. Frankel will present a second lecture later that afternoon at 4 p.m. in Marriott Library’s Gould Auditorium titled, Scientists in the Service of Society: Scientific Freedom and National Security in a Post 9/11 World.

Frankel is a nationally recognized expert in the field of ethical and legal issues in academic research. The presentations are sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and all members of the campus community are invited to attend. For more information, visit www.research.utah.edu or contact Jeffrey Botkin at 581-7170.

Back to the Hill – Legislature 2005
This is the last in a series of articles dealing with the 2005 legislative session. Thanks to Paul Brinkman, associate vice president for budget and planning for providing the information.

Watch for the annual Legislative Update as a special edition of FYI coming at the end of March.

Perspectives on Tuition
It is that time again when tuition for the coming year is determined.

Process
Setting tuition at the U is a multi-step process, in the following order:
• The Legislature decides on a compensation package for faculty and staff.
• Based on the current relationship between state support and tuition, a determination is made regarding the portion of the compensation package that is to be paid by an increase in tuition. The required tuition increase is referred to as “first-tier” tuition.
• The University weighs its other needs against the additional support, if any, that will likely come from the Legislature. Based on that analysis, the University estimates the additional revenues it will seek from increased tuition. This latter amount is referred to as “second-tier” tuition.
• The second-tier estimate is reviewed informally with student leadership, other internal groups, and the Board of Trustees.
• Following the legislative session, the second-tier proposal is reviewed formally with students in a “truth in tuition” meeting; this year’s meeting will be held on March 7 at 2 p.m. in the Marriott Library’s Gould Auditorium.
• First-tier and second-tier tuition proposals are taken to the Board of Regents for its approval, typically at its March meeting.

How does tuition at the U compare?
As any student who has been at the U for a few years can affirm, our tuition has been going up rapidly. Yet, our tuition (including mandatory fees), at $4,000 for a resident full-time undergraduate, remains well below the national average, $5,100, for public four-year institutions. Tuition at the U is also below the average for states in the western region of the country, but slightly above average when compared to institutions in the Rocky Mountain states only.

Graduate student tuition is also relatively low at the U compared to national or the western regional benchmark. However, comparing our graduate tuition to tuition elsewhere is complicated, as 14 of our graduate programs charge a so-called “differential” tuition, meaning a non-standard, normally much higher tuition. All revenue from a differential tuition flows directly back to the department to which the student belongs, whereas regular tuition, graduate and undergraduate, flows into a central pool where it is mixed with state funds and then allocated for multiple purposes.

Why does tuition keep going up?
There are two fundamental reasons. One, the cost of goods and services purchased by the University continues to increase. In some cases, such as health care insurance, fuel and power rates, and journal subscriptions, the increases continue to be much greater than average price increases in the broader economy. Two, the State share of support for the University’s instructional mission has been shrinking relative to the student share. Twenty years ago, the State’s share was 82 percent (tax funds) compared to 18 percent from students (tuition and fees). Now that ratio is about 65 – 35. A similar trend can be found across the country.

April is Annual Open Enrollment Month

Is your home address accurately listed on the U of U Campus Information System? If not, it’s your responsibility to update the information before March 15, to ensure that your Annual Open Enrollment packet, coming in April, is sent to the correct address. You can make changes directly online at https://gate.acs.utah.edu/psp/plpr/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/h/?tab=PAPP_GUEST.

Annual Open Enrollment is your opportunity to enroll, change, or discontinue your U health coverage. The packet includes notification of any changes to health plans offered by the U. Review your packet carefully. For more information, call the Benefits Office at 581-7447.

Volunteer Judges Needed

To stimulate budding engineers and scientists, the Utah Science Center and the U of U are co-sponsoring the 4th Annual Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair for sixth through twelfth graders on March 17-18 at Rice-Eccles Stadium Tower. Volunteer judges are needed on Thursday, March 17 from noon to 3 p.m. Between 80-100 volunteer judges are needed for this year’s fair. If you are interested, contact Bill Pagels at billpagels1@yahoo.com or Jack Hamilton at jack.hamilton@utah.edu. To sign up to be a judge, register at www.utahsciencecenter.org/sciencefair/judges12.htm. For more information, visit www.utahsciencecenter.org/sciencefair.

University of Utah Press Books Receive Awards

Prospect: Journeys and Landscapes, by Elizabeth Dodd received the 2004 William Rockhill Nelson award for nonfiction. The award is named for the founder of The Kansas City Star and recognizes literary excellence by authors living in Kansas and Missouri. Prospect is a collection of essays that invites the reader on a personal journey using elements of the natural world as compass points to locate the sense of self. The book also received praise in the New York Times Book Review and Library Journal where it was described as “an extraordinary group of essays on nature, hiking, and the outdoors.”

Cladistics and Archaeology, by Michael J. O’Brien and R. Lee Lyman, has been selected for the 2004 Choice Outstanding Academic Title list (600 books from among 6,800). The titles were recognized for “their excellence in scholarship and presentation, the significance of their contribution to the field, and for their value as important—often the first—treatment of a specific subject.” In Cladistics and Archaeology, the authors explore the application of cladistics, (a system of classification based on a specific type of relationship and history of groups of organisms) to archaeology by considering artifacts as phenotypic characters (those human characteristics based on genetic and environmental influences).

For more information about these books or the Press, call 585-9786 or visit www.uofupress.com.

Research Labs Now Available at Marriott Library

Drop-in research labs allow students and other researchers, including novices, to consult one-on-one with librarians about their research needs, and learn useful research techniques. Users can come and go as they choose and work at their own pace. They can save, e-mail, and print research materials for free. No appointment is necessary. Faculty members are encouraged to promote this service with their students. For more information, visit www.lib.utah.edu/instruction/researchlabs.

Shakespearean Beauty Marks

The 2005 Hinckley Lecture in British Studies will be presented by Stephen Greenblatt on Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ Dumke Auditorium. “Shakespearean Beauty Marks” is an exploration of Shakespeare’s interest in beauty, and those things that violate our dominant conceptions of what is beautiful. Greenblatt is known for his knowledge of both Shakespeare’s literary cannon and the historical context in which it was penned. He is the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and previously taught at the University of California, Berkeley. His latest book, Will in the World, was recently nominated for a National Book Critics Circle prize.

The Hinckley Lecture Series features distinguished scholars in the field of British literature and culture. The endowment celebrates President Gordon B. Hinckley’s love of literature, learning, and of the humanities; his deep appreciation of Great Britain’s literary, cultural, and institutional contributions to civilization; and his admiration for the British people and recognition of their historic importance to the state of Utah. For more information, contact the College of Humanities at 581-6214.

Red Butte Garden’s Founding Director to Speak

In 1977, Dick Hildreth gathered together a group of horticultural professionals and enthusiasts to see if a botanic garden might be established along the banks of Red Butte Creek east of campus. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, with 100 acres of gardens and natural areas, Red Butte Garden is the largest botanical and ecological center that tests, displays, and interprets regional horticultures in the Intermountain West

Join Dick Hildreth on Thursday, March 3 at 7 p.m. for a talk comparing gardening in the West with gardening in other regional deserts (Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Great Basin). There is a fee. For more information, call 581-8454 or visit www.redbuttegarden.org.

Free Seminar Offered to Same-Sex Couples

Careful estate planning can increase the legal protections available to unmarried same-sex couples and help them meet their personal and financial goals. KUED-7 invites same-sex couples to attend this informative seminar offered on Friday, March 4 at noon at KUED in the Eccles Broadcast Center (EBC). Lunch will be served.

Dale Boutiette of Boutiette & von Herrmann, LLP, San Francisco, will discuss why planning is critical; powers of attorney, cohabitation agreements, and revocable living trusts; how to achieve financial goals; and how to minimize taxes. Reservations should be made by Tuesday, March 1. For more information, call Ruth at 585-5950 or visit www.KUED.org.

Continuum is on its Way

The spring 2005 Continuum Magazine should be arriving in early March. Continuum explores the ideas and people behind the U, while celebrating its grand traditions and proud legacies. The upcoming issue includes articles on:
• Ibrahim Karawan, U professor and one of the world’s foremost experts on Middle Eastern affairs
• The U’s Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, one of just two facilities in the U.S. credited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, helping to nab high-profile athletes using illegal substances to gain a competitive edge
• Poet Agha Shahid Ali, who taught at the U before succumbing to a brain tumor in 2001 and now has a poetry prize in his honor

Watch for Continuum in your mailbox or check the racks in the Union and the Alumni House. For more information or to suggest stories, contact Jason Matthew Smith at 581-3862 or jason.smith@ucomm.utah.edu.

Generosity of Organ Donors High at U Hospital

University Hospital continues to have one of the top organ donation consent rates in the country and the highest in the Intermountain West, according to data collected by the United Network for Organ Sharing. The data, which reflects consent rates of medically eligible organ donors during 2004, shows University Hospital has a consent rate of 95 percent compared to the national average of 50 percent.

Save the Date – 2005 Tanner Lecture

The 2005 Tanner Lecture in Human Values will be presented by medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer on Wednesday, March 30 at 8 p.m. in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ Dumke Auditorium. Farmer has dedicated his life to treating some of the world’s poorest populations and is the subject of the New York Times bestseller, Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. Watch for more information in the March 9 FYI, or call the Tanner Humanities Center at 581-7989.

Bookstore News

• You can add money to your UCard at the machine located at the south end of the bookstore and then save five percent on most items for sale (not valid on computers and electronics) at the bookstore.
• Phone cards are available at the bookstore’s customer service counter in $5, $10, and $20 increments.
• 2005 picture calendars are available at discounted prices. Also, several books that inspired Academy Award-nominated movies are available at the bookstore.

Street Sense

While Walking…
• Stick to well-traveled streets and avoid shortcuts,
isolated areas, parks, and parking lots.
• Avoid flashy clothes and jewelry that can attract
unwanted attention.
• Don’t wear headphones; these can reduce your
level of alertness.

~Courtesy of Risk and Insurance Management
www.utah.edu/risk_management/insurance/street_smart.htm

Senator Hatch to Speak on Stem Cell Research

The Utah Museum of Natural History and the Genetic Science Learning Center are hosting a lecture by Senator Orrin Hatch on Friday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. in the Aline Wilmot Skaggs Building auditorium. Hatch will speak on the politics of stem cell research. Following the lecture, the museum and the learning center will open an ancillary exhibit titled Stem Cells and You. For more information, contact Patti Carpenter at 585-6369 or pcarpenter@umnh.utah.edu.

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