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DRINKING DATA
University of Iowa students reported an 8-percent drop in the binge-drinking rate between spring 2009 and spring 2011, according to findings of the 2011 National College Health Assessment. The new rate represents the lowest level in a decade and a notable about-face following years of steady and rising high-risk drinking rates on and near campus. More
MARITAL LONGEVITY
Women who make their sexual debut as young teens are more likely to divorce, especially if “the first time” was unwanted or if she had mixed feelings about it, according to a UI study. More
SWEET TWEET
There’s the MBA application essay, and now the application tweet. The University of Iowa’s Tippie full-time MBA program will offer a tuition award to the applicant who most creatively answers the question, “What makes you an exceptional Tippie MBA candidate and full-time MBA hire? Creativity encouraged!,” in 140 characters or less. The award, which comes from private funding, will be presented to a student entering the program in fall 2011. More
CONNECTING STUDENTS
Iowa will introduce an immersion program this year for incoming first-year students that will serve as a welcome and orientation. On Iowa! is designed to help students connect with each other, learn about UI traditions, and begin a successful transition to college life—in the classroom and beyond. More
TRAVELING SCHOLARS
Four Iowa students and alumni have been awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships to conduct research or teach English internationally in 2011–12, according to the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. The recipients include Sangeeta Tandon, Luke Juran, Lia Yoon, and Sarah Viren. More
TEACHING TEACHERS
A new UI College of Education Teacher Leader Center, one of the first of its kind in the nation, opened in June, transforming the way future teachers are taught. More
CLEARING THE AIR
A Radon Action Plan released in June by nine agencies across the federal government marks a historic interagency collaboration aimed at addressing exposure to radon, a serious public health risk. Radon causes an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the U.S. every year, according to R. William Field, national radon expert and professor of occupational and environmental health and epidemiology in the UI College of Public Health. More
FRUIT FINDING
For Popeye, spinach was the key to extra muscle. For the mice in a new UI study, it was apples, or more precisely a waxy substance called ursolic acid that's found in apple peel. The research showed that ursolic acid reduced muscle wasting and promoted muscle growth in mice. It also reduced fat, blood sugar levels, cholesterol, and triglycerides in the animals. The findings suggest that the compound may be useful for treating muscle wasting and possibly metabolic disorders such as diabetes. More
HOLD THE CREAM
Humans aren’t the only organisms that turn to caffeine for a pick-me-up. UI scientists have identified four different bacteria that actually can live on caffeine. The research team says the discovery, coupled with a new understanding of how the process works, could in the future allow scientists to convert waste from leftover coffee, tea, and even chocolate into useful substances, like pharmaceuticals, animal feed, or biofuels. More
BAD TO THE BONE
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded investigators in the UI College of Public Health a $1.2 million grant to study Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in raw meat. Tara Smith, interim director of the UI Center for Emerging Infectious Disease and assistant professor of epidemiology, will lead an investigation of whether Staphylococcus aureus is present on meat and may colonize individuals who handle raw meat. More
‘GUILTY!’ SHE SAID
The University of Iowa is known around the world for its writing programs, and now you can add to the list a writing workshop offered by the College of Law that will help law students produce clearer, more easily understood legal writing. More
FANTASY FALLOUT
When football team owners locked out their players in March and shut down the NFL, they may have shut down thousands of fantasy football leagues with them. So what happens to fantasy football this fall if the NFL and its players can’t come to a new labor agreement? Jeff Ohlmann, a UI business professor, thinks many fans will return quickly, if they ever leave. More
LITERARY OFFSPRING
Robin Hemley began his panel presentation at the recent Iowa Writers’ Workshop 75th-anniversary reunion with an apology for the possible effects of jet lag. The director of the UI Nonfiction Writing Program had just returned from representing the University at another anniversary: the 50th anniversary of the National Writers Workshop at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, the oldest writing workshop in Asia, founded by the Iowa Writers’ Workshop’s first international students and inspired by their experience at Iowa. More
PRESIDENTIAL RACE
With little more than six months to go before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, UI political expert Tim Hagle is giving as many as three interviews a day to media hungry for analysis and perspective. Find out how this political junkie keeps up-to-date on various campaigns, why he makes time for reporters, and what he likes to do for fun. More
HOMAGE TO HANCHER
What was the best performance you saw at Hancher Auditorium? Did you get to visit with an artist backstage? Maybe you had a special date at a Hancher event? E-mail your favorite memories of Hancher to hancher-social@uiowa.edu. We’ll publish a selection in our August issue of Spectator.
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“There will always be skeptics.”
Professor and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Marilynne Robinson, discussing criticism of writing programs and predictions of their inevitable demise on the occasion of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop’s 75th anniversary reunion in Jun Christian Science Monitorr, June 25).
“It didn’t go well. There was a lot of kicking and screaming on my part.”
UI College of Dentistry alumnus Jonathan Shenkin, whose pediatric practice in Waterville, Maine, offers arcade games, teddy bears, television, and hobby horses, recalling a bad childhood experience he had with a dentist (Morning Sentinel, June 27).
E.C. MABIE
Taking center stage. More
DIGITAL FOR ALL
The Iowa Alumni Magazine kicked off summer with a fully redesigned, digital June issue open to everyone. More
PAYING IT FORWARD
A faculty member and an alumna give back to the University by supporting engineering students and women’s basketball players. More
