campus NEWS

academic NEWS

GLOBAL STUDENT TEACHING TALLY
Since 1992, UMD has placed 397 global student teachers spanning five continents and 31 countries. UMD student teachers have taught in Australia, Belize, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Vietnam. Student teachers are only placed at schools that speak English and the schools include British International Schools as well as government, private, and church related schools. The International School of Panama, King's College-Madrid, the British International School of Shanghai, and Prague British School are just a few schools where UMD students have taught. Because UMD sends such a large number of students to student teach globally every year, UMD is one of the leaders in providing global student teachers. All global student teachers are assessed by a cooperating teacher and in many cases, a headmaster or principal. For more information contact Jim Sersha at jsersha@d.umn.edu.

WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
A UMD team in the Swenson College of Science and Engineering has received a $200,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (Institutional Transformation Planning (IT START) grant) over the next two years to conduct a program to help women advance in science and engineering careers. UMD will improve the representation and advancement of female faculty in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). UMD will also provide leadership for other institutions around the country looking to meet the same goal. The grant was authored by McKnight Presidential Professor Vicki Hansen, Department of Geological Sciences; together with Tim Holst, associate dean, Swenson College of Science and Engineering; Deborah Petersen-Perlman, director, Office of Equal Opportunity; and Bilin Tsai, professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

HELLER HALL DISPLAYS
The Geological Sciences Department has two new displays on the first floor of Heller Hall. One is a new mineral collection donated by Wendell Wilson. The other is a global seismic monitoring station. There are three computer displays in the cabinet and the lowest of these show earthquakes recorded by a seismometer located in the basement of Heller Hall. Recently, UMD recorded an earthquake that occurred near Vanuatu in the Pacific basin. The earthquake was a magnitude 7 and occurred at a depth of over 100 km. For more info contact Howard Mooers at hmooers@d.umn.edu.

administrative NEWS

GOOGLE PRIZE
Jeffrey Sharkey, 2006 UMD SCSE grad, was awarded a $275,000 prize from Google in the Google Android Developer Challenge for his software application “AndroidScan,” a bar-code scanning program.

HEALTH SERVICES DRILL
In August, UMD Health Services performed a drill to practice managing a large volume of students accessing health services as a result of a possible campus disaster. The process involved a table top discussion, registering patients, using appropriate safety gear, and processing improvements to streamline the process.

STUDENT VIDEO CONTEST
The UMD Library will hold its Student Video Contest for the second year. The contest highlights student creativity and promotes the library. More information, including a link to a page where you can see last year's winning videos, is available at: http://www.d.umn.edu/lib/videocontest/
For info contact Rory Litwin at rlitwin@d.umn.edu.

COMMISSION ON WOMEN GRANTS
To further the Commission on Women’s mission to improve and enrich the working and learning environments for UMD women, several grants of up to $1000 are awarded each year. Grants may be awarded to individuals or organizations seeking assistance in providing programs or activities which directly benefit a broad group of women in the UMD community. A wide range of activities have been funded.
Grant applications are available online at: http://www.d.umn.edu/comwomen/grant/grantrequestform.php
Small Grant applications (up to $300) will be evaluated as they are received by the Commission on Women. Large Grant applications ($301-$1000) have two deadlines: Nov. 14, 2008 and April 17, 2009. Applicants will be notified within four weeks after the deadline.
For additional questions about Commission on Women grants, contact the Grant Committee chair Joanne Itami at 218-726-6319 or jitami@d.umn.edu or visit the Commission on Women website at www.d.umn.edu/comwomen.

UMD STORES
UMD Market Day in the Plaza is every Wed. thru Sept. 24 from 2 - 4:30 pm and features the farmer’s market, live music, artist’s booths, UMD Stores sidewalk sales, penny-an-ounce fountain pop, and 1/2-price coffee. (Beverage specials in UMD Stores only.) Dangers of a Jazz Diet will be performing September 17, and Jamie Ness and Brad Nelson will be performing September 24. Visit http://www.umdstores.com or listen to KUMD 103.3 fm on Tues. mornings at 8:15 am to find out what’s happening at Market Day in the Plaza each week. http://www.kumd.org. 
A Brighter UMD Energy Event is in progress thru Sept. 26 in UMD Stores Express. CFL light bulbs, desk lamps, table lamps, floor lamps, and more are offerd by Minnesota Power. Minnesota Power will make a donation to the U-Pass Program for every product purchased through Oct. 31.
Bring in the UMD reusable tote bag for 5% off an entire purchase from Sept. 29 - Oct. 5. Offer excludes textbooks, electronics, and computer products. UMD Stores will have totes available for purchase in all campus locations.
Bring a UMD game ticket to UMD Stores during the UMD football, volleyball, and soccer seasons, and get 20% off UMD Wear and Gifts. Restrictions apply.
Purchase a breast cancer awareness “pink ribbon” cap and UMD Stores will donate a percentage from the sale of each cap to St. Luke’s Regional Breast Center in Duluth, MN. For store hours, events, and merchandise visit http://www.umdstores.com.

Campus Events --- This issue

Faculty/Staff News --- This issue

Currents Schedule

Subscribe for an E-mail notice of each Currents issue: instructions

UMD EVENT PUBLICITY
There are many ways to get publicity for your UMD events: Currents faculty-staff newsletter, the WEB Calendar of Events, Business Announce E-mail, Department Web pages, News Releases, the UMD Home Page, advertisements, producing brochures, and advertising in the Statesman student newspaper. Information and policies can be found at http://www.d.umn.edu/publications/publicizingevents.html.

UMD CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Scheduling events? Make sure you post them on the web calendar: See the web pages http://www.d.umn.edu/umdevents and http://www.d.umn.edu/currents/calendar-how-to.html.
Don't forget, public events must be posted on the web calendar and sent to Currents before you can send out a UMD business announce message. For more information, contact Cheryl Reitan at 726-8996 or e-mail creitan@d.umn.edu.

SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENTS - EMAIL
Have a notice of each Currents issue delivered to your email address. First go to the website http://lists.d.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/currentslist. 2. See: “Subscribing to Currentslist.” 3. Add your email address. 4. Your name is optional. 5. Click the “Subscribe” button.
If at any time you decide you no longer wish to receive the Currents listserv messages, you can unsubscribe. 1. Go to the website http://lists.d.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/currentslist. 2. Go to the second option under Currentslist Subscribers. 3. Fill in your email address next to the “Unsubscribe or edit options” box and click the box. 4. You will be taken to a second page. Ignore the request for a password. 5. Click on the “Unsubscribe” button. A notice will be sent to your email address notifying you that you have been unsubscribed.
If you have problems subscribing or unsubscribing, please contact the ITSS Help Desk at x8847.

SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENTS - PAPER
Individuals can choose to subscribe for a paper copy of Currents. To subscribe: Send your name, department and department address to the currents e-mail account (currents@d.umn.edu) and ask to be put on the paper subscription list. Use SUBSCRIBE PAPER as the message line.

To submit material to CURRENTS, email currents@d.umn.edu

The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

Comments to: creitan@d.umn.edu
Copyright: 2008-2009 University of Minnesota Duluth
Page URL: http://www.d.umn.edu/currents
Page Coordinator: University Relations