UO E-Clips is a daily report prepared by the Office of Communications (http://comm.uoregon.edu) summarizing current news coverage of the University of Oregon.
Media mentions for April 5
Partner aggression affects parenting
UPI, story follows in its entirety: The level of aggression between partners around the time their child is born affects how a mother will parent three years later, U.S. researchers said. Philip A. Fisher of the University of Oregon and the Oregon Social Learning Center said the study involves more than 400 mothers in high-risk family environments, based mostly on risk for child-welfare involvement and socioeconomic status in San Diego. Doctoral student Alice M. Graham, in collaboration with Fisher and Hyoun K. Kim, also a scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center, revisited questionnaire data from 461 of the 488 initially recruited mothers who had provided information about their partner relationship during the four-year study period from birth through the child's third birthday from 1996 to 1997. "Even when we accounted for other important risk factors, such as maternal depression or history of abuse, we found that the level of partner aggression at the birth of a child and change over time predicts moms' harsh parenting at 3 years of age," Graham said in a statement. The study, published in the Journal of Family Psychology, found the moms' harsh parenting in turn predicted higher levels of behavior problems for the children at age 3.
Register-Guard: The next time you’re at the University of Oregon’s Knight Library, take a walk upstairs to Special Collections and University Archives and check out the large carved wooden panels mounted on the walls at either end of the cavernous reading room. Chances are, if you’ve ever been there, you’ve seen the panels, which stand 9 feet tall and measure a little more than 8 feet wide. And chances are, even if you have been, you never gave them a second look. Ken O’Connell has. “I am fascinated by these amazing images sitting right on campus that nobody knows about,” says O’Connell, a retired UO art professor who wants to write a book about them and their little-known carver, Arthur Clough.
Register-Guard: The University of Oregon administration formally objected Wednesday to including a wide swath of faculty in a newly forming union, a turn of events that organizers see as a signal that the administration has abandoned its pledge of neutrality toward the union. Tenured professors can’t join the proposed union, the administration contended in Wednesday’s filing with the Oregon Employment Relations Board. Neither can tenure-track professors, faculty teaching in graduate and professional degree programs, emeritus faculty, visiting faculty, adjunct faculty, affiliated faculty, postdoctoral scholars or research associates and fellows, according to the filing ... “From what we can see, the administration is basically objecting to our right to have a union at all,” said organizer and UO composition instructor Tina Boscha. “It certainly seems, with objections this strong, they are not remaining neutral about the issue.”
UV light-activated on-off switch for Morpholinos
News Medical: University of Oregon scientists collaborating with an Oregon company that synthesizes antisense Morpholinos for genetic research have developed a UV light-activated on-off switch for the vital gene-blocking molecule. Based on initial testing in zebra-fish embryos, the enhanced molecule promises to deliver new insights for developmental biologists and brain researchers ... "This successful collaboration between our scientists and this Oregon-based company shows that commercial innovation can come quickly by jointly addressing common needs," said Kimberly Andrews Espy, vice president for research and innovation at the UO. "This is a remarkable example of turning a concept into a working tool that likely will benefit many researchers around the world."
HB 4061, establishing committee looking into local governing boards, signed into law
Daily Emerald: Gov. John Kitzhaber signed HB 4061, a bill that “establishes a committee on local governance,” on March 27. The committee will investigate issues of how the higher education system is structured and will look into “recommending legislation for the creation of local governing boards.” The bill has been controversial since its inception, with students fighting on both sides of the issue. Andrew Rogers, an ASUO and Oregon Student Association member, went to Salem to fight against the passing of the bill. “We started out in favor of HB 4061 when it was supposed to prompt a task force to inquire into what higher education reform would be,” he said. “Through the process it was amended to fast track institutional boards without a lot of thought into the repercussions for students.” ... Interim President Robert Berdahl also supports having an independent governing board for the University. “I think it’s an important step forward for the University,” Berdahl said. “I am pleased that it was passed and we look forward to working with the special committee that was created and ultimately legislation that provides an independent board for the University and any universities in the system that would like to have them.”
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Late mentions for April 4
Oregon Economy Average And Rebounding
KEZI, story follows in its entirety, video available online: Oregon's economy is experiencing average growth, that's the gist of two new reports on economic indicators. The Oregon Measure of Economic Activity fell a little below average for February while the University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators rose by 1.1 percent during the month. Tim Duy with the University of Oregon says initial unemployment claims retreated from a spike in January. The report found, so far, higher gas prices have not resulted in a significant deterioration in confidence. But, it may still be too early to tell the effects if prices continue to rise. Residential building permits are holding steady and core-manufacturing orders rose. Duy says the latest numbers tell him the risk of recession we thought we might be facing has dissipated "Right now they are looking better. I tend to believe that growth in 2012 will be much like we saw last year, maybe a little bit stronger, but nothing to spectacular and nothing too disastrous either," explains Duy. The weight distance tax, which measures trucking activity rebounded to its highest level since last October. There was also a concern that the European financial crisis might spill over to the US financial markets and possibly trigger another recession, but that didn't seem to happen and consumer confidence is rising.