Wednesday, November 27, 2013 VOLUME 32 / NUMBER 14 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: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin Thanksgiving has special meaning for families whose children are fighting cancer — and for the health professionals who take care of them. So the party sponsored by the Children’s Hospital University of Illinois Nov. 23 was an occasion for “great food, great joy, and many, many hugs,” says pediatric oncologist Mary Lou Schmidt. The event included games, face painting and crafts. More on page 6 and youtube.com/uicmedia. Thanksgiving, with glitter INSIDE: Profile / Quotable 2 | Campus News 4 | Calendar 8 | Deaths / Police 10 | Student Voice 11 | Sports 12 Valere Guertin soars in javelin- UIC announces bid for Obama UIC honors employees with 25, 30, Flames defeat Miami Ohio for throwing competition Presidential Library and Museum 35 and 40 years of service third-straight victory More on page 2 More on page 3 More on page 7 More on page 12 2 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I NOVEMBER 27, 2013 profile Send profile ideas to Gary Wisby, [email protected] Valere Guertin soars in javelin-throwing competitions By Gary Wisby Valere Guertin ran the Chicago Mara- thon — her first — last month, taking a respectable 198th place out of 17,394 female entrants. But where she really shines is throwing the javelin. Guertin (pronounced GER-tin) heaved the javelin 28.9 meters (almost 95 feet) at an April 6 meet, best among UIC’s three female javelin throwers and her own personal best. “I’m originally a sprinter and long jumper, but I had inju- ries and couldn’t do that any more,” she said. “I’ve always had a good arm, so I thought, ‘Let’s give this a t r y.’” The javelin is made of aluminum, one end covered with a pointed layer to make it stick in the ground when thrown. “It’s taller than I am,” said Guertin, who is 5 foot 5. “It’s pretty light, though.” Technique is as important as muscle. “It’s definitely a tricky event,” Guertin said. “You have to get the technique down. People think it’s like throwing a ball, but throwing a ball is more sidearm. “Throwing the javelin is overhand, with a stretched-out, straight arm as long as you can.” Her run-up to the release point — when she lets fly — is 15 Photo: Joshua Clark to 20 meters. UIC track and field team member Valere Guertin threw the javelin almost 29 meters during an April meet — her personal best. “It’s definitely a Guertin used the marathon to raise money for a good tricky event,” says Guertin, a junior in kinesiology. “You have to get the technique down. People think it’s like throwing a ball,” but it’s not. cause. She heard a runner for Team World Vision give a talk at her church. The kinds of diseases, some of which could be deadly. to wait a year.” “Throwing the organization “I just could not fathom the idea of having to deny myself Growing up in Palatine, “I’ve always been an athlete,” she builds wells in something as life-sustaining as the water right in front of me said. “I started tae kwon do when I was 5 and did that for 10 javelin is overhand, African villages; because I couldn’t trust it. years. I started at track when I was in junior high — I was every $50 do- “Every post-workout water break is a reminder to me of about 13.” with a stretched-out, nated provides why I’m running all these countless miles. It’s so much bigger Guertin is a fan of the Bears, Blackhawks and Bulls. She the equivalent of than me and the momentary pain of my little struggle. This also enjoys getting out to explore the city where “I like to straight arm as long clean water for has become such a passion for me and I’m on a mission!” people-watch.” one person for Her marathon raised $2,600. “That helps 52 people,” she She lives in Little Italy near Fontano’s Subs. On weekends, as you can.” life. said. she joins friends for potluck dinner parties at someone’s house. “After that, I To train for the event, she ran four days a week — getting A junior majoring in kinesiology, she plans to go to gradu- started to feel a stirring inside me that maybe this was some- up to 57 miles a week — and did strengthening work on two ate school in physical therapy when she graduates in 2015. thing I’d want to do,” Guertin wrote on her personal website. other days. “Throwing the javelin gives me a better understanding “Then, after one of my runs, when I was guzzling down “A 20-mile run was my longest,” she said. of upper-body mechanics — shoulder rehabilitation and water, it hit me that there are people in Africa that can’t Guertin plans to run more marathons. She qualified for strengthening,” Guertin said. quench their own extreme thirst for fear of contracting all the Boston run next April, but it was already filled. “I’ll have [email protected] quotable “Geographically and intellectually, we are a “I had a chance to go to a Bulls, a Bears, a Blackhawks game, “People of that day had the same reaction to great fit for this library.” a UIC basketball game, and at all those different games I got Lincoln’s death, as far as I can tell, as they did a chance to attend, a number of people across the board say, to JFK’s assassination.” Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares on UIC’s bid to ‘Come back home to the Cubs’ or ‘Come back home to the White house President Obama’s presidential library and Sox.’ It’s been split among my friends.” Dick Simpson, professor of political science, on museum, Nov. 22 Chicago Sun-Times the place that the assassination of John F. Kennedy Curtis Granderson, Major League Baseball player, UIC graduate and has in U.S. history, Nov. 20 Peoria Journal-Star donor, on his future plans after turning down a New York Yankees con- tract to become a free agent, Nov. 15 Northwest Indiana Times NOVEMBER 27, 2013 I UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu 3 Graphic warning labels reduce smoking rates By Sherri McGinnis González The U.S. would have several million fewer smokers if graphic warning labels similar to those in Canada were required on cigarette packs, according to researchers at UIC and the University of Waterloo. The Canadian labels, introduced nearly a decade ago, led to a 2.9 to 4.7 percentage point drop in smoking rates — which would mean 5.3 to 8.6 million fewer smokers in the U.S. if the same results occurred. The researchers used statistical methods to compare smoking rates in the U.S. and Canada for a nine-year period before and after the graphic warning labels were introduced in Canada. The price of cigarettes was fac- tored into the analysis. Photo: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin The study, published online in the journal Tobacco President Obama speaks at a campaign rally in January 2012 in the UIC Forum. UIC is a candidate to become the future home of Obama’s Control, found the “regulatory impact analysis” used by library. “UIC is the ideal institution to host the Obama Presidential Library and Museum,” says Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to gauge the ef- fectiveness of Canada’s graphic warning labels was inac- curate. The FDA had estimated only a .088 percentage point UIC announces bid for Obama library reduction in smoking rates after graphic warning labels By Christy Levy were mandated in Canada. • between Student Center East and the Science and Engi- Jidong Huang, research specialist in UIC’s Institute for neering Labs Health Research and Policy and lead author of the new UIC has announced its bid to become the future home of • adjacent to a parking lot on Morgan Street, between Tay- study, said when he and his collaborators corrected the the Obama Presidential Library and Museum. lor Street and Roosevelt Road FDA’s methodological flaws and took into account the “As Chicago’s only public research university and one of the • near a parking lot on Roosevelt Road close to the Dan purchase prices paid by smokers, they found that graphic most diverse campuses in the nation, UIC is the ideal institu- Ryan Expressway. warning labels reduce cigarette-smoking prevalence at tion to host the Obama Presidential Library and Museum,” UIC’s research and public service accomplishments mirror much higher rates. UIC Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares said. Obama’s achievements in office, Allen-Meares said. Graphic warning labels have been implemented in “Our candidacy follows the recommendation of a task “The hallmark of the Affordable Care Act is expanded more than 40 countries, but not in the U.S. force of deans, administrators and outside advisers who access, and UIC is committed to reducing health disparities The UIC and University of Waterloo (Ontario) re- agreed that UIC’s diversity, research, outreach and central through clinical care, research and community outreach,” she searchers hope the new study will provide support for a location make it uniquely appropriate for the library and mu- said. revised FDA proposal to require graphic warnings. seum honoring President Obama’s legacy.” The chancellor outlined other reasons the library and mu- The FDA should “adopt a standard methodology in A steering committee, focused on UIC’s bid to bring the seum should be located at UIC, including its advancements in doing their regulatory impact analysis that is statistically library and museum to campus, will oversee four committees: urban education and technology research; the archives of the sound and validated by social scientists,” said Huang.