Torr Accepts Vice Presidency at Va. Commonwealth

By Kelly Bartling, Public Relations

Vice Chancellor for Research Marsha Torr has accepted the position of vice president of research for Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. The VCU board of visitors approved her appointment Aug. 10. Her last day at UNL is Aug. 31 and she will start her new duties at VCU Sept. 1.

Torr, who arrived at UNL April 15, 1999, characterized her decision to leave as personal, to be closer to her family in North Carolina. She said it was a difficult decision.

"The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is very difficult to leave," she said. "It is a wonderful place to work and it is difficult when you enjoy the people you are working with and where you live, but the other part of your life is 1,200 miles away."

"We are very disappointed that Marsha is leaving the university," said Harvey Perlman, interim chancellor. "She has energized and focused our research agenda and our research faculty. We will immediately institute a fast-track search for her replacement. Fortunately, we have a number of people, including research faculty, who are committed to the current agenda and are capable of exercising the leadership necessary to sustain our momentum."

Torr previously was the vice provost for research and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of South Carolina, where she was credited with significantly increasing that university's research productivity. That was her primary task at UNL, where she has focused on enhancing outside research funding, increasing the visibility of campus research and creative activity, and boosting the university's national profile in its goal to become a major player among the nation's research universities.

Torr said Nebraska has made significant gains in its research positioning, and that the successes will continue to build. She attributed the gains to continued support of research by the chancellor, vice chancellors and deans and aggressive response by faculty.

VCU is Virginia's largest public, urban university and a Carnegie Research I institution. UNL, also a Carnegie Research I institution, last year received more than $92 million in external funding.

VCU's previous vice president for research resigned in January following a brief suspension of its human subject testing by the federal Office for Protection from Research Risks. In this vice president position, Torr will oversee all research activities across its medical and main academic campus, including the reorganization and expansion of the Office of Research, and the hiring of an associate vice president for research conduct.

Natalie Hahn Receives Honorary Degree

University of Nebraska alumna Natalie D. Hahn, deputy director of the Programme Funding Office of UNICEF, received the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters at commencement Aug. 12. Hahn delivered the commencement address to the 775 students who received degrees that day.

Hahn has spent her 30-year career improving the lives of children and empowering women in developing countries. Working with three agencies of the United Nations she has spent her adult life residing in Italy, Nigeria and Malawi and has completed assignments in 31 countries. This Polk, Neb., native now lives in New York City where she is deputy director of the UNICEF Programme Funding Office.

She was the first woman scientist at Nigeria's International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, where she introduced eleven new food crops to women farmers. In Malawi, she was instrumental in developing a national orphans policy in a country hard-hit by HIV-AIDS. In that nation, she is known as Chifundo, "One who brings mercy."

She was graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1967 with a baccalaureate degree in Home Economics and Journalism. A veteran of 4-H, she credits her interest in international affairs to a 4-H International Farm Youth Exchange Program to New Zealand and a 4-H Teen Caravan to Japan. A friend of the University, she has given a large collection of African textiles and art to the NU State Museum and the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences and has established the Malaika Foundation to help internationalize Nebraska's primary schools and libraries.

Hahn earned a bachelor's degree in home economics and journalism at NU (1967), a master's degree in journalism at Ohio State (1970), and a master's in public administration (1974) and an Ed.D. in administration, planning and social policy (1982) at Harvard.

Finken New NPRN Program Director

Nancy Finken, who has guided the Nebraska Public Radio Network news department to dozens of awards over the past eight years, has been promoted to program director/assistant radio network manager.

Finken was selected after a nationwide search and she assumes immediate responsibility for scheduling the nine-station public radio network, developing new programs and series, and helping to plan on-air fund drives.

Finken has served double duty for the past year and a half, sharing program director duties with William Stibor while continuing to serve as NPRN's news director.

Since joining NPRN in 1992, Finken has earned the Nebraska "Journalist of the Year" honor from the Society for Professional Journalists, received numerous personal awards for reporting and guided her staff to dozens of awards from the Associated Press, the Radio and Television News Directors Association and other professional journalism organizations.

NPRN will begin a national search to fill the News Department vacancy created by Finken's promotion.

EHS Awarded Grants from NDEQ

Environmental Health and Safety recently received $72,000 in grant funds from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. The grant program provides funds to promote waste reduction and recycling activities in the state.

Part of the funds, $10,000, will facilitate using recycled glass as cement aggregate to restore deteriorated sidewalks at UNL. The remainder, $62,132, will be used to expand and enhance the source-reduction portion of EHS's waste minimization program.

The NDEQ, in a news release announcing the grants, commended EHS for its continued efforts to improve Nebraska's environment through responsible solid waste management activities.

Strain Places in Tilden Competition

Andy Strain placed third in the 2000 Tilden Trombone Solo Competition in New York City. The Tilden is one of the most prestigious brass solo competitions in the United States.

Strain is a senior in the UNL School of Music working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in Performance with minors in Spanish and Communications. He was one of three trombonists to be accepted into the 2000 Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he study with international trombone soloist Alain Trudel. He won the 2000 Arapahoe, Colo., Philharmonic Orchestra Solo Competition and performed the Symphony for Trombone by Ernest Bloch with the Arapahoe Philharmonic Orchestra.

Strain is a student of NU Professor Scott Anderson.

NETC Approves Grants to Schools, Colleges Across Nebraska

Students at Nebraska grade schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges will benefit from 14 Distance Learning Training Grants totaling $123,221 approved by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission.

Funds for the Distance Learning Training Grants are appropriated annually by the Nebraska Legislature. Combined with $113,330 in matching funds from schools, educational service units and colleges across the state, the new investment in Nebraska's distance learning system totals $236,552, according to NETC secretary Rod Bates.

The grants will train teachers at all levels to make better use of the statewide distance learning system operated by Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. NET, the same organization that operates the Nebraska ETV Network and Nebraska Public Radio Network, operates a system of satellite links, fiber optic cables, closed circuit television cables and telephone lines used by distance learning classrooms across Nebraska. The system enables an instructor to teach students across the state or around the world.

Dietetics Grads Place Well in Internship Races

Some 87 percent of students completing undergraduate degrees in dietetics in the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences department of nutrition science and dietetics landed post-graduate internships this summer, the college reported.

This compares favorably to the national average of 66 percent. In total 26 of 30 graduates won internships at hospitals, universities and other institutions across the United States.

Acceptance into a dietetic internship program is highly competitive and is determined through a process matching students to internship programs across the country. The dietetic internship program gives students an opportunity to perform the duties of a dietitian in different practice settings while being supervised by registered dietitians. Upon successful completion of the dietetic internship program and passing a national exam, students will have met all the requirements to become a registered dietitian.

Smith Served on AAU Panel

L. Dennis Smith, NU president, co-chaired a national taskforce commissioned by the Association of American Universities that in June recommended increased vigilance by universities when using human subjects in research.

The 16-member taskforce recommended increased training for all researchers who use human subject, stronger institutional review boards, additional resources to ensure protection of human subjects and improved accountability to the public.

Smith's co-chair was Steven Sample, president of the University of Southern California (and formerly NU vice president of academic affairs).