UIC Grad in the Big Leagues
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Wednesday, July 16, 2014 Next print issue August 27! Read UIC News online uicnews.uic.edu VOLUME 33 / NUMBER 34 www.uicnews.uic.edu facebook.com/uicnews twitter.com/uicnews NEWS UIC youtube.com/uicmedia For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago Photo: Marc S. Levine/New York Mets Curtis Granderson, 2003 business graduate, at bat for the New York Mets. Granderson set UIC records before he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers. He was a New York Yankee, then joined the Mets. More on page 6. UIC grad in the big leagues INSIDE: Profile / Quotable 2 | Campus News 4 | Police 10 | People 11 | Sports 12 Timothy Murphy looks at the ethics John Coumbe-Lilley joins USA In UIC Heritage Garden, students Flames’ success Story heads to of fertility treatment Rugby on quest for World Cup grow vegetables and awareness Portugal for pro ball Profile, page 2 News, page 3 News, page 5 Sports, page 12 2 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I JULY 16, 2014 profile Send profile ideas to Gary Wisby, gwisby@uic.edu Timothy Murphy examines the ethics behind fertility medicine By Gary Wisby There’s a way that any man can become a father — or a mother. And any woman can do the same. This is one of the possibilities that fas- cinates Timothy Murphy, professor of phi- losophy in the biomedical sciences. It’s already been done in the lab with rats and mice: a cell is taken from a man or woman and certain interventions turn the cell into a sperm or an egg. “What it boils down to is that any man might be the ge- netic father or mother, and any woman might be the genetic father or mother,” Murphy said. The procedure would be useful if “a woman can’t pro- duce an ovum, or egg, or a man loses his capacity to produce sperm,” he said. And it would allow same-sex couples to have children while keeping reproduction within the family. “It’s a game-changer in fertility medicine,” Murphy said. While still at the experimental stage, “it’s captured every- body’s attention,” he said. “There would be a market for it im- mediately if this were possible.” Murphy is quoted on the subject in The Atlantic magazine, which notes that his work “focuses on the bioethical implica- Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin tions of reproductive technologies for gay, lesbian and trans- Timothy Murphy, professor of philosophy in biomedical science, studies the implications of reproductive science for the LGBTQ community. gender people.” Also undergoing experimental trials are uterine trans- plants, which might allow male-to-female transgender people “You’d be surprised at how much ink people have spilled before coming to UIC in 1989. to have the experience of bearing children. on this subject,” he said. Judging from RateMyProfessors.com, Murphy’s students In Sweden, uteruses of mothers have been implanted in The assumption is that most people, given the choice, think highly of his teaching style. their daughters, Murphy noted. A woman in Turkey became would opt against having gay kids because of the stigma at- One wrote: “Dr. Murphy is very entertaining and the top- pregnant after a womb transplant in August 2011, but miscar- tached. ics discussed in class were really interesting … Highly recom- ried eight weeks later. “The question is more of an intellectual exercise, not a mended!!!” The third of what Murphy calls the Big Three of future medical reality,” Murphy said. “This is by far the most interesting class I’ve taken at UIC,” reproductive techniques is artificial wombs, a way to grow He’s at work on a book that will be called Helping Gay, Les- wrote another. “Dr. Murphy is a funny guy who conducts a babies outside a woman’s body. bian and Transgender People Have Children: Ethics in Fertility thought-provoking class.” “It’s sort of a feminist critique of gestation — some want to Medicine. Murphy loves to travel, having seen 23 countries so far do away with it altogether,” he said. Some doctors turn away such patients because of religious and logging 50,000 miles last year. “Artificial wombs would eliminate the risks and costs of qualms, he said. “It’s not the airport experience,” he joked. “I like the cul- pregnancy [a woman would lose no time from her job, for Murphy has been a member of ethics committees for the tural differences and similarities.” example]. Women would have the same kind of independence American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, American His last trip was to Paris for the International Bioethics as men.” Academy of Pain Medicine and other organizations. He is on Retreat, sponsored by Cambridge University Press. “It was A time line? “I would call it futuristic.” the editorial boards of the journals Bioethics and the American a mix of business and pleasure in generous proportions,” Murphy has written five books; the latest is Ethics, Sexual Journal of Bioethics. he said. Orientation and Choices about Children. Murphy grew up in Hornell, N.Y., in what he calls “the Murphy lives in Lincoln Square with John Harris, who “Since the ’70s there’s been a huge debate over parents northernmost part of Appalachia.” works in corporate communications. choosing the sexual orientation — gay or straight — of their He earned a bachelor’s degree at LeMoyne College in “I’m domestically partnered — I’ve lived with the same children,” he said. Syracuse, New York, then received a master’s and Ph.D. from man for 16 years,” he said. The book is a history of that debate, along with ethical Boston College. “We’re now on dog No. 2.” analysis. He taught philosophy at Boston University for four years gwisby@uic.edu quotable “I think the idea of having that Robocop level display “It’s delivering services that really address the root “Interestingly, the oldest version of the story I could is going to be a reality very soon if not already.” of the problems that drive up health costs and poor find was published in 1903 in Sweden.” outcomes.” Andrew Johnson, associate professor of computer Roy Plotnick, professor of earth and environmental science and Electronic Visualization Laboratory director Ben Van Voorhees, associate professor of pediatrics, on sciences, on the origin and history of the popular of research, on new technology for law enforcement like University of Illinois Check, a new community-centered children’s book The Little Engine that Could, July 8 NPR the EVL’s SpiderSense project, July 9 ABC7 News program to provide health care to children and young All Things Considered adults on the West and South sides, July 10 Crain’s Chicago Business JULY 16, 2014 I UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu 3 UIC selected to help transform public higher education By Sherri McGinnis González of student success initiatives will also be assessed. Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda “Public research universities are being Gates Foundation, UIC will develop and test asked to educate more students and effec- new university models to increase under- tively prepare them for the workforce and graduate success rates and find greater cost society at the same time they continue to efficiencies in supporting student success. face reduced state and local funding,” said UIC was awarded a $225,000 Transforma- Peter McPherson, president of the Associa- tional Planning Grant from the Association tion of Public and Land-grant Universities. of Public and Land-grant Universities, in col- “The University of Illinois at Chicago is laboration with the Coalition of Urban Serv- well positioned to identify effective ways ing Universities. forward that can help transform the deliv- The association will identify the most ery of public higher education as we know promising findings and practices created by it .” UIC and six other institutions, then use them UIC and the six other participating uni- to help more than 200 public universities versities — Florida International University, across the country meet the needs of their Fresno State, Georgia State University, Port- evolving student populations. land State University, Temple University and “Student success is the mantra that the University of Akron — are members of evolved as a logical extension of UIC’s access the Association of Public and Land-grant to excellence mission,” said UIC Chancellor Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin Universities and the Coalition of Urban Paula Allen-Meares. “The grant is recogni- UIC will develop models to increase student success with a grant from the Gates Foundation. Serving Universities. tion of the campus-wide efforts to address the Urban research universities were select- issue of success for our deserving students.” The grant will be used to implement the ence program and the development of a new ed for the project because they already serve UIC has been engaged in evidence-based UIC Student Success Plan, 125 recommen- Transition Coaching initiative, where UIC a significant percentage of non-traditional, research to predict student success for several dations developed by faculty, staff and stu- and community nonprofit organizations disadvantaged students. years, said Bette Bottoms, UIC vice provost dents from all colleges and departments. partner to support and mentor students tran- The seven universities were chosen for for undergraduate affairs and dean of the “This effort is a true partnership between sitioning from high school to college. their “demonstrated evidence of being early Honors College, who is principal investigator academic affairs and student affairs, which “The UIC Experience connects students adopters,” having already begun to “convene of the grant. follows the Student Success planning initia- with a wealth of supportive services and stakeholders and implement system-level “This grant could not be better timed for tive,” said Susan Farruggia, UIC visiting learning opportunities on our campus, change,” the two associations said.