May 14 - May 20, 2003 A World of Retirements Commencement The University of Vermont will celebrate its 199th Commencement on May 16 9 a.m. Sunday, May 18. On that Ceremony: UVM ROTC day, at 9 a.m. on graduates receive Centennial Field, an Army commissions, estimated 2,112 wth remarks by Major students will complete Drew Dix, winner of their academic careers the Congressional at the university. Medal of Honor. Information: 656- INTERview: Robert 5716 Corran UVM's new athletic director isn’t May 16 2:30 p.m. short on ideas on how to Trustees meeting: take Vermont sports to Committee of the Whole. Memorial Liz Metcalfe practices with the Oriana Singers the next level, or, as he Lounge, Waterman. and Chamber Orchestra at St. Paul's likes to put it, to bring Information: Trustees Cathedral. (Photo: Bill DiLillo) them up to par with the university’s already high Schedule . academic standards. When Professor Emeritus George Happ was May 18 9 a.m. planning his retirement in 1995 he knew exactly Super Sed Sederick Commencement. what he wanted to do: Move to Alaska, buy a Rice was walking near Centennial Field. pack of sled dogs and race them in competitions his lab in the Health College and across the frozen tundra of the Land of the Science Research Facility departmental Midnight Sun. when he first heard the ceremonies held at news. “Hey, I saw you in varying locations and Ebony magazine,” a times.1 passing co-worker said. May 20 9 a.m. Seminar: "Defining the Nature of Electrical Communication in Resistance Arteries," Archived Notables: November 2002 to February with Donald Welsh of the University of 2003 Calgary. Room B-333, Given Building. Fleming on "Art Express" Locker Leases End May 9 Surface Deep Wall Street Education Discover Magazine says UVM Chemist's Drug May Bring an "End of Craving" for Addicts Faculty Win Service-Learning Grants Singing Seniors Moran Plan Teaching Outside May 14 - May 20, 2003 Nursing and Health Sciences Receives its Largest Gift Ever A $2 million gift from an anonymous donor to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences is a milestone for the college and provides support for two key initiatives. The gift, which was announced May 8 and is the largest individual contribution in the history of the college, will be equally divided to support an endowed professorship in radiation therapy and an endowed chair in end-of- life/palliative care. “This gift is a powerful endorsement of the work of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and its Junor John Pigott vaulted to an equestrian leadership under Dean Betty Rambur,” said championship in early May — a first for him, President Daniel Mark Fogel. “At such a critical UVM and Northern New England. (Photo time in health care, we will look to the college to courtesy of Madeleine Austin.) play a vital role in achieving the university’s mission in this important area.” UVM Rider Wins Equestrian National The $1 million directed toward end-of- Championship life/palliative care is the first step toward an overall goal of $3 million to support an endowed chair in this area. It’s an important issue for Junior John Pigott was a double winner at the health care professionals and society — while Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National about 70 percent of Americans say they want to Championships May 1-4 in Murfreesboro, Tenn, die at home, about 75 percent die in medical besting 400 other riders from colleges and institutions such as hospitals and nursing homes. universities nationwide. “Our goal is to better understand how to serve Pigott, a Newport, R.I., native, won the individual patients and families at the end of life, and open fences class competition and the prestigious prepare all our students, regardless of Cacchione Cup, which is awarded to the professional discipline, to be a healing force in competitor with the most overall points. This is this process,” Rambur said when the gift was the first time that a rider from Northern New announced. Detailing some of the areas where England has ever won the Cacchione Cup. palliative care could be improved, Rambur noted that pain management is dramatically under- treated. “So often we’re focused on cure and not “It was extremely close; I had to really pull my care. We need to be looking at how we can really stuff together for the Cacchione,” says Pigott, who enhance the end stage with a focus on what the has been riding for 14 years. “It’s the top honor in patient and what the family want.” the nation; it’s what everyone strives for and what I’ve been striving for since I first got to college. It’s a huge, huge, huge honor.” Rambur believes this gift will be an essential step to build an emphasis on both research and curriculum in this area. “We need to build a critical Piggot was also a very close second in the mass of caregivers who are sensitive to these individual open flat class. issues,” Rambur said. “My goal is that every one of our 500 students will have the knowledge and His wins earned him a $1,500 grant to compete in emotional preparation to be advocates for Europe, an $800 scholarship and two saddles, patients and help foster positive end-of-life plus other assorted spoils of equine victory. experiences.” “This championship is comparable in depth and The other half of the gift will address a need for breadth to any NCAA final, pitting the country's radiation therapists in Vermont and throughout best collegiate riders against each other,” says the nation. The $1 million in support of the equestrian team coach Madeleine Austin. Radiation Therapy Program will “help us prepare professionals who provide treatment for those afflicted with cancer, and also advance our Some 7,000 students from more than 340 research agenda in the area of cancer treatment,” colleges and universities work their way toward said Burton Wilcke, associate professor and chair the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association of the Department of Biomedical Technologies. Nationals. About 400 equestrians compete at the national level. Wilcke said that the role of radiation therapists has evolved from what was once seen as a purely To qualify for national competition, Pigott worked technical function. Cancer treatment has his way up through regional and then “zone” increasingly become a team approach with competitions. He competed in eight horse shows patients, families, doctors, nursing specialists, in the 2002-03 season winning almost every one. and many other healthcare professionals deeply He won all of the three classes that he qualified involved. Wilcke said that the endowed for at the regional and New England professorship will enable the college to bring in a championships. new faculty member well-versed in the range of skills — highly technical to interpersonal — that are essential to training excellent future radiation “The caliber of riding is so high that several therapists. previous winners of the Cacchione Cup have gone on to represent the United States in international competition, including at the Olympics,” says Summing the potential in the record private Austin. She has trained UVM’s Equestrian Team support, Rambur said, “Outstanding research and for the last decade at her 88-acre farm in teaching in these areas are essential to quality Williston. health care. The generous gift will enhance our existing strengths and enable a profound and lasting impact on society.” Pigott says he hopes to use his scholarship winnings to compete in Germany in June and at another international competition in the U.S. in UVM Campus Lauded in Burlington July. Pigott is a double major in chemistry and “Distinctive Destination” Award animal science who plans to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. When the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Burlington one of their 12 “Distinctive Fleming Moves Quickly to Secure Work Destinations” for 2003, they praised the usuals: by Two Artists Lake Champlain, Church Street and the active art scene. Beyond that, the award also explicitly singled out the attraction of the UVM Green, Glenn Ligon’s contemporary text appropriations which was designated a national historic district and Charles Heyde’s pastoral Vermont by the group several years ago. landscapes, wildly different on the surface, have at least one thing in common: The Fleming Museum's recent acquisition of paintings by the "Burlington represents a truly distinctive slice of two artists was made possible only by swift America. That makes it an exciting alternative to rallying of the UVM community. the homogenization of many other vacation spots," said Richard Moe, president of the national trust. Tom Pierce, a local Heyde enthusiast who co- curated the 2001 Heyde exhibit at the Fleming, knew that speed mattered when, on the Web, he The trust also praised City Hall Park and the spotted two small Heyde paintings belonging to a Fleming Museum as part of Burlington's distinctive woman in California. They were “calling card” tourist appeal. paintings, small works created as something between a business card and an advertisement to The group’s other award-winning destinations are drum up some commissions. Pierce’s attention Coronado, Calif.; Edenton, N.C.; Galveston, Tex.; was sparked particularly by the fact that Georgetown, Colo.; Jekyll Island, Ga.; Keene, ownership of the two works could be traced N.H.; Mackinac Island, Mich.; Natchez, Miss.; New directly to Heyde and his wife Hannah Whitman Harmony, Ind.; Portland, Maine; and Vancouver, Heyde, sister of American poet Walt Whitman. Wash. Pierce says that he views the Fleming as the The group says the award-winners were drawn home base of Heyde’s work and adds, “these from a list of 50 destinations nominated by paintings were too important not to be in the preservation organizations and community collection.” Within a day, Pierce got to work groups.