Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxliv, no. 80 | Wednesday, October 7, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891
U. hauls in $12 million of stimulus grants By Sydney Ember Senior Staff Writer
Rhode Island institutions will receive more than $22 million in federal stimulus funds to promote medical research beginning this month — and Brown is leading the charge. The University has procured 52 of 91 federal grants distributed to the state by the National Institutes of Health, adding $12 million to the total amount of stimulus funds Brown has already received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The awards, announced by the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation on Sept. 30, come on the heels of aggressive efforts by Brown to secure federal research grants since Congress passed the stimulus package in February. In the past two years, the University has sought to increase its appeal to national foundations and the federal government, hiring a Washingtonbased political consulting firm and forging strategic partnerships with other research institutions.
“It’s quite exciting and speaks to the strengths of Brown that there are competitive rewards coming in,” said Professor of Medical Science Christine Biron, who conducts research on immune responses to viral infections. “It’s very difficult to get grant funding right now.” “We think there is both a need and a desire for research in society and an opportunity for exciting federal funding,” Clyde Briant, vice president for research, told The Herald last month, before the recent Congressional announcement. At the time, he said he was optimistic that more funding was on the way, adding the University was “really at a stage where we’re building very strongly.” Among the 42 professors who secured funding through the NIH’s most recent venture is Barry Connors, chair of the neuroscience department and the principal investigator behind several neurological projects. His ability to bring in funding, he said, is a testament to Brown’s immediate response to opportunities continued on page 3
By Lauren Fedor Senior Staf f Writer
Kim Perley / Herald
Associate Professor of Medical Science Kristi Wharton (right) and Maryanna Aldrich GS at work in Wharton’s lab. Wharton received a NIH grant for her work using fruit flies to research the development of cell-to-cell signaling.
Simmons presses case against pending tax bills By Nicole Friedman Senior Staff Writer
President Ruth Simmons, speaking at a faculty meeting Tuesday, reiterated the University’s opposition to proposed state legislation levying fees on private universities for their out-of-state students and valuable real estate. She also emphasized the ways
Brown already contributes to the local economy by creating jobs and paying taxes on properties that are not exempt. The University is “working closely with other colleges and universities to convey our opposition” to the two bills being reviewed in the Rhode Island General Assembly, Simmons said. One bill would allow cities to
tax private colleges up to $150 per semester, per out-of-state student. The other bill would let cities collect up to 25 percent of property taxes from nonprofits — which are usually tax-exempt — whose holdings are valued at more than $20 million. Both bills would cost Brown millions. The four private colleges and universities in Providence agreed
in 2003 to pay the city a combined contribution of $2.4 million per year for 20 years in an effort to somewhat offset the revenue the city forfeits because of the schools’ tax-exempt status. The majority of Brown’s properties — though not all — are tax-exempt. In fiscal year 2009, the University continued on page 2
Green’tings from Rhody for latest enviro-queen mall in Swansea, Mass., where a recruitment booth caught her attention at age 13. She began comIn Amy Diaz’s world, beauty queens peting in “natural pageants,” which aren’t afraid of a little dirt. put less emphasis on contestants’ Diaz, who grew up in Provi- appearance, and where she could dence, is a national advocate for compete with “bushy eyebrows and the environment and green living puffy hair,” she said. — and the new Miss Diaz fell in love with pageantry and Earth United States. FEATURE The goal of the Miss its “positive influence” Earth competition, which began in on her life. She said competitions 2001, is to “reinvent the concept of taught her public speaking skills, the pageant” by having the partici- increased her confidence and inpants focus on the environment, said stilled in her the “desire to achieve Evan Skow, national director of Miss greatness.” In 2001, Diaz earned the title of Earth United States. Though Diaz’s zeal for the envi- Miss Rhode Island Teen USA. She ronment now even extends to her then went on to win the adult version e-mails — she starts every one with of the state competition in 2008 and “‘Green’tings” — her pageant life continued on page 3 began in a less green setting, at a By Marlee Bruning Staff Writer
Courtesy of Amy Diaz
inside
Providence resident Amy Diaz’s passion for the environment recently earned her the title of “Miss Earth USA.”
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Departments to oversee writing requirement Responsibility for monitoring students’ writing competency will be centralized in concentration advising, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said at a monthly faculty meeting Tuesday. Bergeron, who presented the latest statement from the College Curriculum Council on the undergraduate writing requirement, said the committee had determined that the best way to ensure students fulfill the College’s only academic requirement might be to lean on departments. “Concentrations are traditionally responsible for clearing students for graduation,” Bergeron said, so consolidating oversight of writing competency with their existing responsibilities makes sense. Beginning with the Class of 2012, sophomores declaring concentrations will be required to include information on their writing abilities and experiences, Bergeron told The Herald after the meeting. Bergeron said the CCC plans to collaborate with departments and concentrations to “help them work out a plan.” The CCC is currently working to make funds available for faculty who want to create courses in their discipline that would support the writing requirement, she said. Those courses, Bergeron said, would emphasize the writing process, encouraging students to work with professors to receive feedback and make revisions to their writing. In an effort to highlight these courses, they will be marked with a “W” in the Course Announcement Bulletin, she said. “We want to provide opportunities to ensure that students have completed this,” she said. The CCC, which Bergeron chairs, has worked to clarify and strengthen the implementation of the writing requirement since the final report of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education was issued last fall, she said. The Task Force, also chaired by Bergeron, recommended that the University take a “much more coherent approach to its writing requirement.” The writing requirement has been part of Brown’s undergraducontinued on page 2
Higher Ed, 3
Sports, 5
Opinions, 7
going up Tuition is on the rise at the state’s public colleges and universities
De-Clawed Women’s soccer downed the Columbia Lions in New York City this weekend
peer Pressure Jonathan Topaz ’12 questions the wisdom of eliminating peer tutoring
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