Professor Julia Rodriguez doesn’t come up with scientific theories or observe cells through a microscope.  She has, however, spent her life studying science. A contradiction in terms? Not at all.  

Rodriguez is less interested in the validity of scientific claims themselves than in the question of how scientific ideas about race and gender intersect in society, specifically in Latin America.  

Rodriguez’s passion for this nexus is evident in virtually every task she undertakes, from using her prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to create HOSLAC (History of Science in Latin America and the Caribbean), a digital archive of primary sources, web links, and references for students and professors, to writing award-winning papers such as “A Complex Fabric: Intersecting Histories of Race,...

Why founders and CEOs should plan an exit strategy will be discussed at the next meeting of the UNH CEO Forum. 

The event will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 21, 2013. The program begins at 8 a.m. in Huddleston Hall with coffee and networking, with a full breakfast at 8:30 a.m. 

Brad Sterl Jr., founder and CEO of Ever Better Eating, Inc., will discuss how every founder and CEO must plan an exit strategy as part of an overall effective business strategy. 

Sterl has been in the restaurant and food industry since he was 15. At 17 he was a manager of the Weathervane Restaurant in Sanford, Maine, and by 20, he had purchased his first restaurant. In 1991, Sterl joined N.H.-based Foodee’s Franchising, becoming president three years later before he was 30. In 1996, he formed Ever Better Eating, which produces Rustic Crust, and in 2010, he acquired the worldwide licensing rights to American Flatbread. 

Initiated in 1997, the UNH CEO Forum is an...

The Department of Women’s Studies has launched the ‘Who Needs Feminism’ campaign. We asked Molly Branch, project coordinator of the Who Needs Feminism campaign and a senior English teaching and women’s studies major, to tell us a little about it.

Why is UNH launching the Who Needs Feminism campaign?
The Who Needs Feminism campaign was first launched at Duke University and became so popular on social media that other universities also started taking up this campaign. This year felt like a great time for UNH to join the movement. With all of the recent victories happening in politics for women, especially in New Hampshire, we thought it would be a great time to bring some positive awareness to feminism and show how really relevant it is right now. We want to decrease negative associations with the word “feminism” that would keep anyone from identifying with the movement, and we want to create a network of feminists on the UNH campus. Our hope is...

The state of New Hampshire made history last fall when it became the first state with an all-female Congressional delegation. This March, UNH will celebrate this milestone as part of Women’s History Month.

“New Hampshire Women in Politics: First in the Nation,” will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Huddleston Hall. The event is hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and the Women’s Studies Program. It is free and open to the public.

The event will celebrate New Hampshire’s strong tradition of electing women at the local, state, and national levels. It also will include a discussion with women political leaders about the history of women in politics and how women’s roles have evolved over the course of their political careers.

“The Women's Studies Program at UNH is delighted to host this event and reception on behalf of all of us on campus. New Hampshire has kept its position as first in the nation, though this time with a great twist. It is...

Sustainable investing at UNH will be the focus of a campus conversation Monday, March 4, 2013, from 7 to 9 p.m. in Huddleston Ballroom. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the event is free and open to the public.

Coordinated by UNH’s Discovery Program and NH Listens, the conversation on investment and divestment is designed to give the university community an opportunity to become informed and explore issues related to the sustainable investment of the UNH endowment portfolio.

A discussion guide with a variety of background materials on the topic will be available here http://www.unh.edu/discovery/campus-conversation several days before the event. 

The UNH Discovery Program is the core curriculum program for undergraduate students in all majors. For more information, visit www.unh.edu/discovery

NH Listens, the civic engagement initiative of UNH’s Carsey...

Scoop up a handful of dirt from your garden or backyard.  It may look like nothing’s there.  In fact, you’re holding some 200 billion organisms, including tens of thousands of different species.  And most of them are in the midst of a vital job: recycling dead plant and animal debris. 

“If it weren’t for the activities of soil organisms, we’d be buried in organic (once living) matter,” says Serita Frey, UNH professor of soil microbial biology.  “Anything organic that lands on the soil gets decomposed very quickly by these organisms: leaves, trees, dead animals.” 

Invisible to the human eye, this work is nonetheless critical to the health of our planet.  “I don’t think ecosystems could survive without decomposition,” Frey says.  “If organic materials weren’t broken down, the nutrients held...