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 March 22

Dissertation Dispute, Federal Case

Inside Higher Ed: A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated a former graduate student's lawsuit alleging that the University of Oregon retaliated against her for complaining about gender discrimination in her doctoral program. Experts said the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, if upheld, could reshape the relationship between dissertation chairs and doctoral students. By a 2-to-1 margin, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court's 2010 decision to throw out a case involving Monica Emeldi, a former Ph.D. student at the university's College of Education. ... Emeldi's lawyer did not return telephone calls Wednesday. Randy Geller, general counsel for the University of Oregon, said the university was evaluating the court's opinion to determine whether to seek "further appellate review" in the federal courts.

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Late mentions for March 21

Final exams delayed by snow

KMTR (video available online): The March snowstorm forced Lane Community College to cancel classes Wednesday and the University of Oregon to delay final exams until the afternoon. A thick blanket of snow, downed trees, branches and power lines covered campus. The late start slowed plans for students trying to get a jump on their Spring break vacation. "All of us just wanted to go home but we can't because we have to our finals late. All our trains, planes and car rides home have been postponed," said sophomore Cameron Parker. In some cases – final exams were canceled all together.

More Clean Energy Doesn't Mean Less Dirty Energy

Earth Techling, similar story on Environmental Research Web: We like to assume that producing a new megawatt-hour of electricity from wind means we've eliminated a megawatt-hour of fossil-fuel produced electricity. But it doesn't usually work that way, according to University of Oregon sociologist Richard York, and that's why he believes it will take economic and political changes--not just cool new clean technology--to shift us away from our dependence on fossil fuels. York makes that argument in a paper recently published in the journal Natural Climate Change. He says that while most countries are relying on technological advances, like wind and hydro power, to limit the use of fossil fuels, this approach ignores the "complexity of human behavior." He says that the addition of such renewable energy technology is doing little to actually displace the use of fossil fuels.

Tech startups face challenges

The Portland Tribune: The challenges of turning ideas and discoveries at universities into money-making products that benefit the Oregon economy were discussed by during the Portland Business Alliance's monthly breakfast forum. ... Other speakers included: Chuck Williams, executive director of technology transfers at the University of Oregon; Dan Snyder, president and chief operating officer for MolecularMD; and Lynnor Stevenson, chief executive officer for DesignMedix Inc. ... All of the speakers agreed that universities conduct unobligated research that can be turned into products that support well-paying jobs. Dozens of companies have successfully spun off from the UO and OSU in recent years, generated hundreds of millions in revenue and supporting thousands of jobs, Adams and Williams said. ... The PBA breakfast forums are sponsored by the University of Oregon and the Pamplin Media Group, which owns the Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers, Inc. Wednesday's forum was also sponsored by the Oregon Health and Sciences University.)

Innovative education key to success

San Bernardino Sun: On Saturday, the San Bernardino Community College District, through the Career Technical Education arm of its Economic Development and Corporate Training division, will co-chair what we hope will become an annual event. Hosted at Cal State San Bernardino, the conference is focused on innovative education and subtitled "Creativity, STEM, and 21st Century Learning." ... The keynote speakers at the conference are Indiana University's Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D., and Ronald Beghetto, Ph.D., from the University of Oregon. ... Beghetto's presentation on "Finding Creativity at the Curricular Cliff Edge" reflects his research and teaching focus on creativity at the K-12 level and the influence of past schooling experiences on K-12 teacher development. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses aimed at developing new and transformative possibilities for teaching, learning and assessment in K-12 schools and classrooms.

Senior Center Wins National Award

Glen Cove Patch (NY): A mental health program offered by the Glen Cove Senior Center will be honored for its innovative approach at a conference in Washington, D.C. on March 29, the center has announced. The purpose of the center's Lifelong Learning Program is to actively engage seniors' minds, said activities coordinator Lucy Van Horn. The program was selected as winner of the 2012 MindAlert Award, sponsored by the American Society on Aging in conjunction with MetLife. The award's review committee deemed the program "innovative and unique," said committee member Ruth Heller, who is program director for the University of Oregon's Osher Lifelong Learning Center.

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Media mentions for March 22

Dissertation Dispute, Federal Case

A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated a former graduate student's lawsuit alleging that the University of Oregon retaliated against her for complaining about gender discrimination in her doctoral program. Experts said the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, if upheld, could reshape the relationship between dissertation chairs and doctoral students.

By a 2-to-1 margin, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court's 2010 decision to throw out a case involving Monica Emeldi, a former Ph.D. student at the university's College of Education.

According to court documents, Emeldi's original dissertation chair, Edward Kame'enui, asked another faculty member, Robert Horner, to take over as her chair when he left for a sabbatical in the fall of 2005. By October 2007, fissures surfaced between Horner and Emeldi, who alleged that Horner gave male students preferential treatment. University officials said that she refused to listen to Horner's advice and to make changes that would "produce a dissertation that would be a focused piece of scholarship."

University administrators got involved, and Horner resigned as Emeldi's dissertation chair. "According to Emeldi, Horner then told other department faculty members that Emeldi should not be granted a Ph.D., and should instead be directed into the Ed.D. program, which Emeldi says is a less prestigious degree. The university denies that this occurred," the court documents said.

In Emeldi's version of events, she asked 15 faculty members in her department to become her chair, but all of them declined. As a result, she was not able to complete her Ph.D. and left the university.

The appeals court opinion found that Emeldi's complaints to university administrators qualified as "protected activity" under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bars sex discrimination at educational institutions. "Because a reasonable jury could conclude from the evidence presented at summary judgment that Horner's resignation was gender-based retaliation, the district court erred…" in dismissing the case, the Ninth Circuit majority said.

Judge Raymond C. Fisher, who filed a dissenting opinion in the case, wrote that the relationships between dissertation chairs and their Ph.D. students were unlike the relationships between managers and their employees. "A dissertation chair must have expertise in the student's area of research as well as be someone with whom the student can work closely, in a process that by its very nature requires the professor to be highly critical of the student's work and capabilities, Fisher said in the court filing.

Emeldi's lawyer did not return telephone calls Wednesday. Randy Geller, general counsel for the University of Oregon, said the university was evaluating the court's opinion to determine whether to seek "further appellate review" in the federal courts.

Ann Franke, president of Wise Results, a consulting firm that advises universities on legal issues, said the court's decision applies employment law standards to relationships between faculty members and students. "The courts have well-established  laws on how supervisors in the work force should or should not treat their subordinates. Those principles, as far as retaliation is concerned, now also apply to professors," she said, adding that the ruling was an expansion of the way faculty might view students rights on campus.

Franke said that as a result of the decision, faculty members at universities in the nine states and other geographical areas covered by the Ninth Circuit will require much more legal guidance on decisions they may be making on academic grounds such as resigning as a dissertation chair, while students will have more leeway in bringing forward a federal claim of retaliation.

"I would hope colleges and universities work to educate their faculty," she said.

Ada Meloy, general counsel for the American Council on Education, said the dissenting judge in the opinion seemed to be focused on the realities of a graduate school life. "The dissent's careful parsing of the evidence in the record shows that plaintiff has not presented more than speculation and hearsay, which should not be sufficient to put the parties and the court to the expense and burdens of a trial," she said.

Meloy said the majority opinion raises the specter that any sort of dispute between a student and a dissertation chair could blow up into a federal case and will make relationships between faculty members and students more restrained.

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Late mentions for March 21

More Clean Energy Doesn't Mean Less Dirty Energy

We like to assume that producing a new megawatt-hour of electricity from wind means we've eliminated a megawatt-hour of fossil-fuel produced electricity. But it doesn't usually work that way, according to University of Oregon sociologist Richard York, and that's why he believes it will take economic and political changes--not just cool new clean technology--to shift us away from our dependence on fossil fuels.

York makes that argument in a paper recently published in the journal Natural Climate Change. He says that while most countries are relying on technological advances, like wind and hydro power, to limit the use of fossil fuels, this approach ignores the "complexity of human behavior." He says that the addition of such renewable energy technology is doing little to actually displace the use of fossil fuels.

York's conclusions are based on studying electricity use in 130 countries in the past 50 years. He found it took more than 10 units of electricity produced from non-fossil sources, such as nuclear, hydropower, geothermal, wind, biomass and solar, to displace a single unit of fossil fuel-generated electricity. Take nuclear power: It began growing into a significant source of power beginning in the mid-20th century, but world use of fossil fuels kept right on growing with it. He fears the same thing could happen with wind, solar and other green power sources.

"I'm not saying that, in principle, we can't have displacement with these new technologies, but it is interesting that so far it has not happened," York said in a statement. "One reason the results seem surprising is that we, as societies, tend to see demand as an exogenous thing that generates supply, but supply also generates demand. Generating electricity creates the potential to use that energy, so creating new energy technologies often leads to yet more energy consumption."

York concludes that we need to not just be looking to technology for changes, but to think about the technology in a social context. He said society needs to discover what political and economic factors lead to true displacement of fossil fuels. "We need to be thinking about suppressing fossil fuel use rather than just coming up with alternatives alone," he said.

Posted on March 21st, 2012

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Tech startups face challenges

Risks include crossing 'the valley of death'

The challenges of turning ideas and discoveries at universities into money-making products that benefit the Oregon economy were discussed by during the Portland Business Alliance's monthly breakfast forum.

Experts in the field used dramatic phases to describe the gap that must be overcome, including "the valley of death" and "crossing the chasm." All agreed that private capital must be obtained and good business practices must be followed by those with a more creative or technical background.

The obstacles are especially steep in Oregon, the experts said, because much of the money and expertise is currently based in California and Washington, where successful start up companies are tempted to move.

"A lot of Oregon startups are being funded with out-of-state money. Part of the challenge is retaining these companies. There is a strong force field pulling them to where the money is. The state needs to figure out how to keep them here," said Ron Adams, executive associate vice president for research at Oregon State University.

Other speakers included: Chuck Williams, executive director of technology transfers at the University of Oregon; Dan Snyder, president and chief operating officer for MolecularMD; and Lynnor Stevenson, chief executive officer for DesignMedix Inc.

The Portland City Council is creating an Innovation Quadrant that includes the Oregon Health & Sciences University, Portland State University, Portland Community College and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. New research labs will be included in the Collaborative Life Sciences Center being constructed in South Waterfront by OHSU and the Oregon University System.

All of the speakers agreed that universities conduct unobligated research that can be turned into products that support well-paying jobs. Dozens of companies have successfully spun off from the UO and OSU in recent years, generated hundreds of millions in revenue and supporting thousands of jobs, Adams and Williams said.

But the process is fraught with uncertainty and there is no guarantee of success, in large part because university-based researchers do not necessarily have the needed business connections or experiences. According to Stevenson, a number of so-called angel groups have sprung up in recent years, pooling private money to help finance viable products.

Stevenson said the available money is still far below what is needed, however. She called on the State of Oregon to increase its support for start up companies.

"The angel groups are trying," Stevenson said.

Business management experience is also important, especially when a company is first beginning to grow, Snyder said.

"The most important part of any start up is having good management in place. Management experience early on is essential," Snyder said.

Stevenson, who is working with Portland State University to help start new companies, says she frequently recommends that start ups contract for management help.

"If the manager brings value to the company, he can he hired," Stevenson said.

The PBA breakfast forums are sponsored by the University of Oregon and the Pamplin Media Group, which owns the Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers, Inc. Wednesday's forum was also sponsored by the Oregon Health and Sciences University.

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Innovative education key to success

On Saturday, the San Bernardino Community College District, through the Career Technical Education arm of its Economic Development and Corporate Training division, will co-chair what we hope will become an annual event. Hosted at Cal State San Bernardino, the conference is focused on innovative education and subtitled "Creativity, STEM, and 21st Century Learning."

Why is this conference different from so many other gatherings of educators?

The U.S. is now a dozen years into the 21st century, and given our current economic and educational standings, we must find new ways to teach and guide our students, through our newly acquired understanding of how people learn. If we do not, we cannot regain our global economic position of leadership. For the first time in our nation's history, we will not be able to assure ourselves that our children will do better financially than we did. Innovative education is necessary to stimulate the creativity that leads to new technologies, new manufacturing processes, new information systems - all those aspects of economic development and employment that lead to prosperous, environmentally sustainable, satisfying lives. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills provides a more exhaustive discussion of these issues at http://p21.org.

The keynote speakers at the conference are Indiana University's Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D., and Ronald Beghetto, Ph.D., from the University of Oregon.

Plucker will be speaking on "The Role of Education in 21st Century Competitiveness." Professor of cognitive science and director of the Center for Evaluation and Educational Policy, he will draw on research in both the U.S. and internationally to explore answers to questions about whether we are teaching our children the skills they will need to be internationally competitive and which of the reforms being used in other countries are feasible here.

Beghetto's presentation on "Finding Creativity at the Curricular Cliff Edge" reflects his research and teaching focus on creativity at the K-12 level and the influence of past schooling experiences on K-12 teacher development. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses aimed at developing new and transformative possibilities for teaching, learning and assessment in K-12 schools and classrooms.

We must encourage innovative teaching and learning at the K-12 level so that students graduate ready to learn at the college level. As the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills notes, a solid foundation is mandatory for post-secondary readiness. Then college and university academics can ensure that the college experience will expand and stimulate the creative processes of those students so that they emerge capable of contributing to the new global economic environment.

We are examining and redefining the skills required for student success: critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity, in conjunction with the core subjects, including English and language arts, economics, civics, the arts, history, geography and the sciences and mathematics. All of this mastery must incorporate technological literacy and life skills such as leadership, ethics and accountability.

This conference provides the opportunity for K-12 and college counselors and educators to learn about innovative teaching and learning techniques; career paths, particularly in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) arenas; and career and life skill trainings, so they can better guide their students. Participants can chose from those three "strands" and visit a range of workshops, panel discussions, and interactive sessions.

Conference Co-Chair Wendy Zinn, the SBCCD Career Technical Education Community Collaborative project manager, will participate in the panel discussion on the value of counseling in the 21st century, and present a workshop designed for teachers and counselors to promote success in college education for sixth-12th graders.

Educators and college students can learn more about the program by contacting Wendy Zinn at wzinn@sbccd.cc.ca.us or at 909-382-4083. A limited number of scholarships are available. Every conference participant will return to their classrooms and offices with the tools and resources necessary to help prepare our middle and high school students meet the demands of work and life in the new millennium.

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Senior Center Wins National Award

American Society on Aging will honor center for creative programming aimed at keeping aging minds sharp.

A mental health program offered by the Glen Cove Senior Center will be honored for its innovative approach at a conference in Washington, D.C. on March 29, the center has announced.

The purpose of the center's Lifelong Learning Program is to actively engage seniors' minds, said activities coordinator Lucy Van Horn. The program was selected as winner of the 2012 MindAlert Award, sponsored by the American Society on Aging in conjunction with MetLife.

The award's review committee deemed the program "innovative and unique," said committee member Ruth Heller, who is program director for the University of Oregon's Osher Lifelong Learning Center.

A recent installment of the Glen Cove Senior Center's program involved singing and reminiscing about pop culture topics of the last century – activities meant to help keep people's brains working as they age.

"Research has shown that cognitive decline is not an inevitable part of the aging process," the center said in a press release. "New findings in brain health research offer a striking, newer model of aging as a time of brain health and growth in which elders may lead qualitatively richer lives – lives filled with more knowledge, wisdom, and an increased capacity to contribute to society."

Dale Zurbrick, a former Glen Cove High School music teacher, has led the program at the center six times per year since retiring in 2002.

"The first time I came here, I was surprised when everybody sang along out loud to the songs I was playing, and I've been coming ever since," he said.

Van Horn hopes such activities will convince more local seniors to get out of their homes and down to the center to take part.

"Our motto is that you never have to stop growing as you age," said Van Horn. "We have a dedicated staff and we try to awaken new interests in all of our members. Maybe it's music, gardening or traveling. After living such exciting lives, nobody should feel they have to sit at home and watch television. They can be down here, learning, socializing and having fun."

John Denigris is a participant in the program and has been a member of the center since he moved to Glen Cove two decades ago.

"I love it," he said. "There's always something fun and interesting going on down here."