Bear Briefs

Award Helps Disadvantaged Students—UM has received nearly $500,000 to help economically disadvantaged students get the education they need for careers in health care fields. The funds were awarded to UM’s College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funds will provide scholarships for graduate and professional degree students in the college’s three schools: the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, School of Social Work and Skaggs School of Pharmacy, which includes the Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacy Practice departments. For more information about the college, visit http://www.health.umt.edu.

Academy Established in China—Two UM law school adjunct professors traveled to China this month to help inaugurate the Xiamen University Law School Zheng He-Marco Polo Academy. The UM educators, David Aronofsky and Kristen Juras, were among the first to present courses created to bring students to Xiamen from different parts of the world to study pertinent policy issues in an international summer-school setting. Aronofsky, who is legal counsel for UM and lectured at Xiamen University in 2005, helped design the academy’s programs. He also taught “The U.S. Legal System,” a course involving the study of key Supreme Court cases that collectively illustrate how the system is supposed to function. Juras, co-author of “Law of the Sea in a Nutshell,” is in China teaching “International Law of the Sea and Oceanic Legal Policy” with Xiamen University Professor Kuen-chen Fu, a world-renowned scholar in international oceanic law. Xiamen University Law School is designated by China’s Ministry of Education as a national excellence center in international law.

Fulbright Whisks Student to Denmark—UM graduate Devon Wootten has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Scholarship to study Scandinavian languages and literature in Denmark. Fulbright Scholars are selected on the basis of their academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. Wootten received a master of fine arts in creative writing degree with a focus in poetry from UM this year. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Fence, The Colorado Review, Aufgabe and Backwards City Review. While in Denmark, he will translate the poems of Danish poet Sophus Claussen into English. After studying in Denmark, Wootten, who is from Farmers Branch, Texas, plans to pursue a doctorate in comparative literature at the University of Iowa.

Health Center Renews Accreditation—UM’s Curry Health Center has again received a three-year accreditation from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care. The health center, which serves more than 13,000 students at UM, was first accredited by AAAHC in 2000. To earn the accreditation, CHC passed a series of rigorous and nationally recognized standards for the provision of quality health care that are set by AAAHC. Each health care organization seeking AAAHC accreditation undergoes an extensive on-site, peer-based survey of facilities and services.

Solar Power for Hurricane Victims—The UM Environmental Studies Program has provided a portable solar power system to help in rebuilding areas of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Len Broberg, director of the UM program, traveled to New Orleans in May to deliver the solar power system, which he constructed. It will be used in a project with Kansas State University, the Tulane City Center and Project Locus. The portable system will provide solar power for tools used to rebuild the House of Dance and Feathers, a community museum of Mardi Gras Indian history, and the home of museum owner Ronald Lewis, which is located on the same site. “Our goals are to provide electrical power to a community in need and to model the practical use of solar power,” Broberg said. “We want to encourage people to think about solar power as they rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. More solar power means less greenhouse gas emissions.” After the Lower Ninth Ward construction project is completed, the portable solar system will be used by community-based organizations in the area for various reconstruction and educational purposes.