Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 68 | Monday, September 21, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Fewest students in years choose to study abroad By Anne Simons Senior Staff Writer
Kim Perley / Herald
The Alpert Medical School will move into its new Jewelry District home once a $45 million renovation is complete.
Med School awaits move in 2011 By Monique Vernon Staff Writer
The Alpert Medical School is set to move into a new home and implement a novel “academy” system for firstand second-year students in August 2011, administrators said last week. This coming March, the University will begin renovating a former factory at 222 Richmond Street in Providence’s Jewelry District into a brand-new medical education building. “This will, for the first time, give the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University a defined space,” said Edward Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences. “We are going to create the new strength of Providence in education, health care and research.”
In concert with the physical move, the Med School will divide students in the first two years into three academies or groups, each with a specific study space and senior doctors as advisors. Those divisions “will be their social groups for the first and second year,” Wing said. Acquired by Brown a few years ago, the building near Rhode Island Hospital and other University-owned research buildings will provide parking and adequate space for students and faculty, Wing said. The building will also have a cafe open to the public, a new first-floor entryway, auditoriums and seminar and case-study rooms. It will house an anatomy suite with natural lighting, showers and areas for clinical diagnosis.
The building will additionally house a new fitness center and Med School administrative offices, currently located in Arnold Laboratory. The complete renovation, including a small addition to the building’s front, will cost about $45 million, said Vice President for Facilities Management Stephen Maiorisi. A portion of the funding will come from the $100 million gift of the Alpert Foundation in 2007, said Dick Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to President Ruth Simmons. The Plan for Academic Enrichment calls for an additional fundraising goal of $20 million. After two years of evaluating sevcontinued on page 3
Whitehouse makes visit to U. labs, meets with admins By Michael Skocpol Deputy Managing Editor
inside
Rhode Island’s junior senator took a break from the health care debate on Capitol Hill Friday to learn a little more about where future medical breakthroughs may come from. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat elected in 2006, visited campus for about two hours Friday afternoon to view research facilities hold closed-door meetings with deans and researchers. His agenda included a tour of research facilities in the $100 million Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences, which opened in 2006, and a talk about climate change with two of the top climate researchers
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The number of students studying abroad this semester or the last hit the lowest levels in at least a decade, according to data provided by University Registrar Michael Pesta. This fall, just 199 undergraduates are abroad, down from 220 last fall — the fewest for a fall semester since at least 1999, the earliest date for which numbers were available. Last spring, the number of students abroad, 268, was down from 366 in spring 2008. That was the smallest number of students abroad in a spring semester since at least 1999. Kendall Brostuen, director of the Office of International Programs, said the decrease in students studying abroad could be attributed to the economic downturn in the last year. “The fact that we were able
to maintain (enrollment) is a very positive thing,” he said. “It would not be surprising to have the number considerably drop.” Brostuen cited a recent survey by the Forum on Education Abroad that reported that 58 percent of private U.S. colleges and universities had experienced a drop in participation in their study abroad programs due to the economy. The data provided by the registrar’s office, which describe the enrollment of undergraduates over the last decade in both Brown-sponsored and “approved alternate” study abroad programs, also show that the proportion of students choosing Brown-sponsored programs has not changed significantly since a new policy took effect for students who matriculated in fall 2006 or later. continued on page 2
Overachievers? Maybe. Busy? You bet they are. ber remains relatively stable from year to year. The absence of requirements For about one in five students at in Brown’s curriculum permits Brown, one concentration isn’t students to triple concentrate in diverse fields — but enough. And for a ver y small minority some wonder if doing FEATURE on campus, even two so is antithetical to the spirit of the open curriculum. concentrations don’t cut it. About 12 triple concentrators Jeremy Goodman ’10 is one graduated last spring, according triple concentrator whose interests to Deputy Dean of the College Stecontinued on page 2 phen Lassonde. He said that numBy Matthew Klebanoff Senior Staff Writer
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on Brown’s faculty, according to an agenda released by the University. He also met for about half an hour with Dean of Medicine Edward Wing, Vice President for Research Clyde Briant and Director of Governmental Relations Tim Leshan. Whitehouse’s visit also included a tour of Associate Professor of Medical Science Tricia Serio’s lab. Serio, who studies the prion proteins that are responsible for diseases like Mad Cow, planned to tell Whitehouse about the “difficulty of obtaining research funding,” according to the agenda released by the University.
Kim Perley / Herald A handmade bass guitar offered by a vendor at Saturday’s Maker Faire downtown, featuring artisans’ work.
Arts, 4
Sports, 5
Opinions, 11
a steely saturday Providence artists build metal sculptures, compete at 2nd annual Iron Chef
Ivy opener Field hockey had a tough game against Columbia this weekend, losing 2-0
the great debate Anthony Badami ’11 calls for a year-long debate league for undergrads
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