Patent for Zika, West Nile Treatment One of Five UNC Innovation Awards
Recipients of UNC’s inaugural Innovation Awards, presented by the Office of Innovation Development and Enterprise Advancement, which helps faculty and students get their ideas into the marketplace, were:
- Innovator of the Year: Elysia Clemens for Apprentice, a software application for managing field-based experiences such as internships for students and supervisors.
- Patent Award: Susan Keenan for her and her Colorado State University colleague’s granted patent, “Thioxothiazolindine Inhibitors,” a potential treatment for flavivirus, a genus of viruses that includes West Nile, dengue, tick-borne encephalitis, yellow fever and Zika.
- Invention of the Year: Michael Mosher for development of an in-line sensor on brewing vats that measures unwanted compounds that spoil flavor as beer is brewing, allowing for adjustments to be made without pulling samples and conducting hands-on analysis.
- Innovation of the Year: Reid Hayward for his work with UNC’s Cancer Rehabilitation Institute and the creation of the Clinical Cancer Exercise Specialist training program, which will be licensed soon to a United Kingdom company.
- Student Innovators of the Year: Braeden Ayres and
Trevor Lovell for “Project Osorhythm,” a music education app designed to effectively teach rhythm concepts and skills. The project won a $1,500 grant through UNC’s first-ever Spark Competition to encourage music innovations.
Pulitzer Winners Speak on Campus
Jim Sheeler, Linda McConnell and Barry Gutierrez (a contributor over the years to UNC Magazine) spoke about their Pulitzer Prize award-winning work during a campus presentation Sept. 7. The program was part of the Pulitzer’s 2016 Centennial. Sheeler earned the award for feature writing in 2006. McConnell and Gutierrez were staff photographers for the Rocky Mountain News and contributed to the paper’s 1999 coverage of the Columbine High School shooting and 2003 coverage of Colorado’s wildfires (award-winning photo by Gutierrez pictured above), both of which took the Pulitzer in Breaking News Photography.
UNC Joins National Effort to Increase Students’ Already-High Voting Rate
A Student Senate-led initiative hopes to boost above-average voter participation rates
among students by joining the All In Campus Democracy Challenge.
According to the 2015 National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), 62.1
percent of UNC students voted in the 2012 presidential election. The average participation
rate for all NSLVE-surveyed schools was 46.9 percent.
The challenge also recognizes campuses committed to improving democratic engagement
and graduating informed and active citizens. About 800 two- and four-year colleges
and universities across the United States are participating in the program. As part
of the challenge, the Student Senate sponsored a voter registration drive and debate
watch parties.
UNC Selected by State to Offer Access to Students with Intellectual Disabilities
UNC was one of three schools in Colorado selected to start providing a higher education
program for students with intellectual disabilities beginning fall semester. The inclusive
program is being offered for the first time in Colorado as part of Senate Bill 196,
which authorized funding for the program.
UNC GOAL (Go On and Learn) enrolled four students with intellectual disabilities into
college courses modified by UNC GOAL staff, students and volunteers.
GOAL students live in residence halls and work on campus while taking up to two classes
each semester. In addition, they’ll complete seminars on transitioning to college,
budgeting and developing work skills. The four-year program will lead to a certificate,
preparing students for competitive employment.
Emeritus Professor Earns Fulbright Specialist Award
University of Northern Colorado Emeritus Professor Bob Brunswig received a second
Fulbright Specialist award to return to Poland. There, he’ll finalize a joint Polish-American
archaeology project with a fall teaching assignment at Jagiellonian University in
Krakow, Poland. Followed by the Fulbright Specialist position at the university’s
Institute of Archaeology. He and UNC Associate Professor Mike Kimball will be part
of the team finishing the plans for the collaborative archaeology project in Poland’s
Tatra National Park.
Brunswig previously received a Fulbright Specialist award in 2014 to start an international
collaborative research program with faculty from universities in Poland and Slovakia
focused on archaeology and climate history in the Rocky Mountains and Western Carpathian
Mountains.
Director of Nursing School Named One of Top Nursing Educators in U.S.
UNC School of Nursing Director Faye Hummel was one of 17 distinguished nursing educators
in the United States selected for induction into the 2016 class of fellows of the
National League of Nursing’s prestigious Academy of Nursing Education.
Potential fellowship candidates were evaluated on their contributions to innovative
teaching and learning strategies; academic leadership; promotion of public policy
that advances nursing education; and collaborative educational partnerships.
Hummel, recipient of UNC’s 2015 M. Lucile Harrison Award recognizing professional
excellence in teaching, scholarship and service, has been honored by the University
of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for her contribution to Vietnamese
medical education and tutoring Vietnamese students in nursing over the past two decades.
In addition to her teaching and administrative duties at UNC, Hummel volunteers her
time to co-direct the Friendship Bridge Nurses Group, a non-governmental organization
that partners with Vietnamese educators and policymakers to advance the profession
of nursing and improve health care in Vietnam.
Presidential Campaign Makes Stop
For only the second time in UNC’s history, a presidential campaign stopped on campus. Near the end of the election, the Donald J. Trump campaign contacted the university at the last minute to request renting UNC’s Bank of Colorado Arena at Butler-Hancock Athletic Center for a rally Oct. 30. The event attracted over 3,000 supporters and protesters. UNC last rented the space in 2008 when then vice presidential candidate Joe Biden requested the same location for a campaign stop. As a public university, UNC makes its facilities available for such events when they’re not scheduled for university use.
