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University of Massachusetts BostonScholarWorks at UMass Boston1991-1996, Friday Report University Publications and Campus Newsletters4-14-1995Friday Report - Vol. 04, No. 04 - April 14, 1995University of Massachusetts BostonFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/university_fridayreportPart of the Higher Education Administration Commons, and the OrganizationalCommunication CommonsThis University Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the University Publications and Campus Newsletters at ScholarWorks atUMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in 1991-1996, Friday Report by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. Formore information, please contact library.uasc@umb.edu.Recommended CitationUniversity of Massachusetts Boston, "Friday Report - Vol. 04, No. 04 - April 14, 1995" (1995). 1991-1996, Friday Report. Paper 75.http://scholarworks.umb.edu/university_fridayreport/75T H [ U MAS S Volume 4 Number 4 April14,1995 Campus Notes Joseph Chaisson, a Dorchester neighborhood activist, was presented with the 1995 Robert H. Quinn Outstanding Leadership Award by Chancellor Sherry Penney during the annual community breakfast on March 15th. Quinn, former Attornev General of the Commonwealth and Chair of the Board of Trustees of UMass, played a vital role in the legislation that created UMass Boston. On May 10th, in the Chancellor'S Conference Room, the Home Enrichment and Reading Team (HEART) of the Institute for Learning and Teaching will receive the 1994 Nellie Mae Horizon Award. Frances Cooper-Berry, the university's Partnership Coordinator, and Prof. Cathie Slater Spence, both of the College of Education, contributed to HEART's recognition by developing a successful model for early literacy in Boston Public Schools. Prof. Lawrence Blum of the Philosophy Department has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for his project, 'Multicultural Values: A Philosophy of Education for a Multicultural Society. ' Dr. Margaret M. Fitzpatrick, a 1973 graduate of Boston State College has been named the eighth president of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkhill, New York. Fitzpatrick was selected by the college trustees after a five-month search. Mary Sheinfeld, director of the tutorial services for the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences, has had a second edition of her book, Math Can Be Easy, published by McGraw Hill. Sheinfeld teaches a math refresher course which she designed through Continuing Education. The National Institute of Deafness and Communica-tion Disorders has awarded Prof. Helen Tager-Flusberg of the Psychology Depart-ment a three-year grant of $350,000 to continue her research project, 'Language Deficits and Mental State Knowledge in Autism. ' News and information about and for the University Community from the Chancellor's Office A course on the Social Legacy of Vietnam taught by Dr. Paul R. Camacho of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequence~wastapedfor the NBC Weekend Evening News to be televised on April 29th. This broadcast will focus on the 20th anniversary ofthe fall of Saigon. The Frank J. Manning Certificate Program in the Gerontology Institute was featured in the March 19th edition of the Boston Sunday Globe. Encouraging the advocacy of aging at the local, state, and federal levels, the curriculum of the program focuses on elderly needs and concerns. The average age of the students in the program is 67. A Pre-Negotiation Guide to the Conflict in Northern Ireland is the first in a series of reports prepared by the McCormack Institute 's Center for Democ-racy and Development on international issues and conflicts. The monograph was written by Padraig O'Malley, a Senior Fellow in the division of Public Affairs. ' If poltical consensus is to emerge, then mutual trust and respect, tolerance of others, and a willingness to compro-mise must exist at all levels within Northern Ireland,' writes O'Malley. The Center for Study of Social Acceptance has officially changed its name to the Center for Social Develop-ment and Education. Chancellor Sherry H. Penney recently reported the progress of the Compact for College Success, a joint mentoring program of UMass Boston, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Bunker Hill Community College, Northeast-ern University and Suffolk University. The program had been devised to retain freshman students who were at high risk for dropping out. Last fall , 170 students were paired with faculty. The group showed a retention rate ten percent higher than the national average for compa-rable institutions. According to Penney, who is chair of the Compact, 'we know from talking with students and mentors that these relation-ships did aid in helping students succeed in their freshman year.' fP[)AT Fulbright Grants Awarded to Three Faculty Three UMass Boston staff members have recently received Fulbright grants to study, teach, or conduct research abroad. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Charles Desmond will travel this month to the Federal Republic of Germany. He will examine how Germany is cur-rently adjusting levels in their higher institutional systems. "The former West and East sides of Ger-many must come together to decide how their institutions of higher education will be classified," Desmond stated. He hopes that his knowledge of the Massachusetts three-tiered higher education system--community colleges, state colleges and the university system--will contribute to the German effort. Beginning in August, Professor Frances L. Portnoy of the College of Nursing and the College of Commu-nity Service, will visit the University ofTromso in Norway, "the northernmost university in the world," for one year. She will lecture to doctoral students and faculty, focusing on qualitative research on Norway's health care practices. She will also be studying services that provide elderly housing. "I am interested in who provides the services and the nature of the work force, such as their training and rectuitment. They don't tend to put people in nursing homes, but keep them in the community because of their high expectations of the value of older people," Portnoy said. This fall , Professor Linda Dittmar of the English Department will visit the University of Huderbad in India for six months. "I will be a consultant to the faculty for curriculum development in American literature from a multicultural perspective," stated Dittmar, "I will also teach and advise graduate students." The Fulbright Program is operated by the presiden-tially-appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, with support from various private organizations. Scholarships are awarded through open competition, with final selections made by the Foreign Scholarship Board. Forty-one countries share in these exchanges. Marine Operations Supports Dolphin Release On April 14th, a joint effort from UMass Boston's Division of Marine Operations in the Environmental Science Program, the New England Aquarium, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHO!), and the Massachusetts Coast Guard, enabled the release of two rehabilitated white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus). The dolphins, a mother and a calf, were released into Stellwagen Bank, which runs between Gloucester and Provincetown. Lisa Sette, an operator of the UMass Boston research vessel, the Neretic, assisted with research oJ>serva-tions of the two white-sided dolphins. "Basically, this is only the third time in New England when we have been able to monitor this particular dolphin's behavior," stated Sette. The white-sided dolphin is a fast, free moving animal tending to travel at 20 miles per hour, compared to seven mph of the humpback whale. "White-sided dolphins come into an area, they feed, and then they leave; generally, they stay off shore," explained Sette. "Any research is beneficial to the science community because it enables us to learn more about these dolphins." The New England Aquarium has had a continued involvement with the rehabilitation of stranded animals. The two white-sided dolphins were part of a stranding from a few weeks ago. "A total of 35 animals came in, and these two dolphins were the only two that survived ," said Sette. The two dolphins were tended by the New England Aquarium Animal Care Center. Amy Samuels and Trevor Spadlin of WHO I joined the New England Aquarium in designing an ethogram, which is a behavior study of the dolphins, during their rehabilitation. The dolphins were released into Stellwagen Bank during an extended period of animal feedings in the area so that they could join a new dolphin group. Sette praised UMass Boston's involvement in the dolphin rescue stating that , "it is great for the university to support my efforts in this project and to be working with institutions like WHOI and the New England Aquarium." The Human Resources Department has completed a series of information seminars on the Retirement Incentive Program, attended by about 140 faculty and staff members, Under the retirement program} eligible employees may receive one week of earnings for every fitll year of University (including Boston State) service. Some staff are eligible for an enhanced sick leave buy-back. The deadline for applications is April 21 st. Contact Margaret Roche, 287-5150 for further information. UMass Boston Featured as a Model on CD-ROM for Diversity UMass Boston has been chosen as a model among 200 colleges and universities whose diversity efforts will be featured on Network America, a CD-ROM resource to be funded by the Ford Foundation and the Lilly Endowment. The univer-sity was chosen because of the effectiveness of its educational programs in heightening intercul-tural communication on the campus and in the community. According to Professor Esther Kingston-Mann, the director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching, UMass Boston is one of about ten models chosen by the Ford Foundation and the Lilly Endowment out of the 200, "because they think that what we are doing is really creative." The purpose of the CD-ROM production is to enable colleges and universities to make use of each others' experience through a 1,000 word description of the goals and outcomes of their diversity work. There are also institutional profiles that include ethic breakdowns of the faculty and staff. According to Allen Sessoms, the Executive Vice-President and Vice-President of Academic Mfairs of UMass, this initiative would be an "opportunity for the university to market itself nationally." "The reason UMass Boston is involved with this is that it has done leading work on diversity," said Professor of Psychology Robert Steele of Wesleyan University. On March 23, Steele visited UMass Boston and gave a lecture-demonstration, VMB On-Line, explaining the use of Network America. Network America has been specially designed for those who may not be computer literate. "The whole goal of this is to make it seem as if they aren't interacting with a computer, but that they are only dealing with the interaction itself," says Steele. External distribution of the computer program includes putting it on a CD-ROM master for $500, and a $1 fee for each additional disk. Attention Readers Send news information to Donna Roveto or Neal Bruss at the Office of Public Information, Second Floor, Quinn Administration Building. University of Massachusetts Boston 100 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125-3393 U Mass B os ton Asian Conference Brings Youth to University Seven hundred Asian Pacific Americans (AP A) students filled the Lipke Auditorium on March 16th for the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (CAP A y)'s second conference, Strengthening Ourselves to Shape the Future. Discussions and skill building workshops were facilitated by youth from CAPAY and Asian American professionals from the commu-nity. The workshops examined community develop-ment, Asian Pacific Americans in the media, parenti youth relationships, getting involved in government, and interracial dating. Professor Peter Kiang of the Graduate College of Education and American Studies Program at UMass Boston led an adult plenaty session, Encouraging Our Youth to Become Activists and Leaders. "As a policy, we had the students in the workshops on their own and provided separate workshops for the adult chaperons who attended. This way the adults would not interfere with the process of the youth talking among themselves." Mai Du, a CAP A Y intern at UMass Boston, and a senior at Malden High School, facilitated a workshop for the Asian youth, Getting Involved in Government. "When the students were told that a small percentage of Asian Pacific Americans are involved with the state and federal government, they were shocked," remembered Du, "then, when told that there is also a small percentage of APA citizens registered to vote, they became more stunned." Shauna Lo, office manager at the Institute for Asian American Studies, led a workshop on interracial dating during the conference. "It was quite satisfying seeing the Asian American youths together in one room. When I was growing up, we didn't talk much about Asian American issues," said Lo. The workshops mostly focused on leadership organi-zation. "Students would design more effective ways to start and run organizations or multicultural clubs within their schools," said Kiang. "Many students talked about feeling a strong sense of pride and enthusiasm while discussing issues, sharing similari-ties and differences, understanding more about the issues within their communities, and having a voice," stated Kiang. At UMass Boston, Asian Pacific Americans make up about 12% of this year's entering class. "UMass Boston offers moreAsian American Studies courses than any universtiy in the region and our Instirute for Asian American Studies is a national resource for research and policy issues affecting Asian Americans," said Chancellor Sherry H. Penney. "UMass Boston is genuinely interested in the welfare and interests of the APA youth," said Vivian Lee, CAPAY's program coordinator. "The conference represented a partnership between our youth and communities, as well as a shared commitment to nurture a new generation of AP A young leaders." Information and requests to help sponsor the confer-ence were distributed to 2 ,000 people from the community. According to Lo, "an outpouring of donations followed." Besides funding from UMass Boston, donations were provided by the Reebok Foundation, Boston Globe Foundation, Boston Do Something, and the Massachusetts Office for Refu-gees and Immigrants. Although not a goal of the conference, UMass Boston gained exposure to numerous Asian youths. "Seven hundred high school students came to the Harbor Campus. Many of them may not have had a chance to visit before, so this way their first time. They were able to see the magnificent resources that the school has," said Lee. "This will encourage students to apply," stated Lo. Mfordable ruition, a diverse student population, and various student support programs were presented to the Asian youths. There will also be written proceedings and a video documentary surfacing from the conference. Contrary to the last issue of the Friday Report, Advocacy Resources for Modern Survival (ARMS) offers peer advice and daily counseling. This includes researching the laws and regulations of the rights of those students at UMass Boston who receive public assistance. "Students come in with issttes and we help them straighten them out beca1~se many times their public issues get misconstrued, II stated Anita Abrams, the director of ARMS. 

Friday Report - Vol. 04, No. 04 - April 14, 1995

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Friday Report - Vol. 04, No. 04 - April 14, 1995

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