Other News

  • Italian-American Cuisine on Menu for UNH Gourmet Dinner Nov. 30 and Dec. 1

    Authentic Italian-American cuisine is on the menu for the next gourmet dinner hosted by the Department of Hospitality Management, and for the first time, the dinner will feature the pop-up restaurant concept.

    A new trend in the hospitality industry, pop-up restaurants appear in surprise locations and offer guests access to delicious new foods and restaurant experiences.

    The pop-up restaurant VentiQuattro – Italian for 24 and representing the number of students participating in the gourmet dinner class -- will open its doors at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1, at Stillings Hall. Guests will enjoy a cocktail hour of passed hors d’oeuvres, beer from Smuttynose Brewing Co., and wine from E & J Gallo Winery.

    Highlights of the gourmet dinner include pear and ricotta ravioli, roasted beef tenderloin, and truffle-infused mashed potatoes. “The food is going to be bold, flavorful, and diverse in its origin. The menu’s inspiration stems from a variety of...

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  • UNH Awarded $1.25M for Early Childhood Special Education

    The University of New Hampshire has been awarded a five-year federal grant of $1.25 million from the U.S. Department of Education for the Early Childhood Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT) Project, which will allow UNH to meet the regional workforce needs of highly qualified teachers for children with disabilities through third grade. 

    The Early Childhood SEAT Project will prepare 40 early childhood special education teachers with a specialty in assistive technology. The strength of the project is that it combines expertise in special education with assistive technology.  

    “Assistive technology focuses on giving individuals with disabilities greater independence in daily life. It could be something as simple as preferred seating in the front to an electronic device that helps a child communicate,” said Leslie Couse, associate professor of education and lead researcher for the project.  

    “Research has found that assistive...

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  • Excess Nutrients Collapsing East Coast Salt Marshes, Scientists Show

    In a paper published in the journal Nature, scientists explain why salt marshes have been disintegrating during the past two decades along the U.S. Eastern seaboard and other highly developed coastlines. Unexpectedly, they discovered that nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from septic and sewer systems and lawn fertilizers can cause salt marsh loss.  

    The researchers, including aquatic ecosystem ecologist Wilfred Wollheim of UNH, based their findings on a long-term, large-scale study of salt marsh landscapes in an undeveloped coastline section of the Plum Island Estuary in Massachusetts. A nitrogen flux model Wollheim developed was used to demonstrate potential areas of global vulnerability.

     "With nutrient enrichment increasing globally due to human activities, these results suggest salt marsh vulnerability to nitrogen pollution could be a widespread concern," says Wollheim, an assistant professor in the UNH department of natural...

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  • Research Profile: Brad Kinsey, Testing the Mettle of Metals

    By Sonia Scherr

    Brad KinseyDo you drive a car? Drink out of soda cans? Use a washing machine? Travel by plane?

    If so, Brad Kinsey’s research could have an impact on your daily activities. He studies how to better predict failure in sheet metal, the thin metal skin used in products ranging from retro Coca-Cola Zero bottles to the ultra-modern Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Kinsey’s research has the potential to improve manufacturing processes, because sheet metal undergoes stretching when it’s formed into a part.  

    “Most people don’t think of sheet metal as stretching, but work hardening (stretching) the material strengthens it through changes at the atomic level,” says Kinsey, UNH professor of mechanical engineering. “However, if stretched too much...

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  • 2012-13 Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes Summary Sept. 24, 2012

    I.  Roll – The following senators were absent:  Scherr and Simos.  Guests were John Aber, Lisa MacFarlane and Sonic Woytonik.

    II.  Remarks by and questions to the provost – The provost handed out copies of the 9/3/2012 revision of the Policy on Interdisciplinary Schools at UNH.  He recapped the history of interest in a new schools policy, starting in 2003 with certain parts of the Academic Plan, work on a definition of colleges and schools, a study group on a proposal for a marine school, parts of the Strategic Plan, the summer retreat which discussed combining studies in different colleges, last year’s proposed policy on interdisciplinary schools which went to UCAPC and then to the senate for recommendations, and the 5/7/2012 Faculty Senate motions XVI-M23 and XVI-M24 on the proposed general schools policy and marine school policy.  This summer,...

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  • UNH Scientists Provide Window on Space Radiation Hazards

    Astrophysicists from UNH’s Space Science Center (SSC) have created the first online system for predicting and forecasting the radiation environment in near-Earth, lunar, and Martian space environments. The near real-time tool will provide critical information as preparations are made for potential future manned missions to the moon and Mars.

    “If we send human beings back to the moon, and especially if we’re able to go to Mars, it will be critical to have a system like this in place to protect astronauts from radiation hazards,” says associate professor of physics Nathan Schwadron of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS), which houses the SSC.

    Schwadron is the lead developer of the new web-based tool known as PREDICCS, which for the first time integrates numerical models of space radiation, a host of real-time measurements being made by satellites currently in space, and “propagation codes” that can accurately project radiation levels out as...

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  • National China Town Hall on Sino-American Relations Oct. 29

    UNH is the state’s host site for the sixth annual China Town Hall, an international event that will focus on China’s rapid development and feature Gary Locke, U.S ambassador to the People's Republic of China.

    “China Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections” is a national day of programming designed to provide Americans across the United States and beyond the opportunity to discuss these issues with leading experts. The sixth annual CHINA Town Hall will be held at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Richards Auditorium, Murkland Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

    UNH is one of only 59 sites in the nation selected to co-host the event with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire. The event is sponsored by the UNH Department of Political Science and the Asian Studies program.  

    The event features a webcast by Locke, who assumed duty as the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary...

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  • Patrons Have It Their Way In UNH Dining Halls

    You know how there are some restaurants that have a note on their menus letting patrons know they can meet special dietary needs? UNH’s dining halls can do that. No—not just can, do. On a daily basis. For more than six years now, UNH Dining—which serves more than 100,000 meals a week-- has been providing gluten-free food in all three of the dining halls. Each has separate refrigerator areas for gluten-free items as well as separate gluten-free cooking stations, cutting boards, and utensils.

    That’s an important distinction for someone with celiac disease. The separate-everything avoids the risk of the cross-contact contamination of gluten, which causes inflammation and other complications in people suffering from the disease.

    “There are many foods that are naturally gluten-free but you still have to have separate areas to avoid cross-contact. For instance, peanut butter is gluten-free but it can’t be spread using the same knife that was used on regular wheat bread,”...

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  • UNH Announces New Economic Index for Lodging Industry

    UNH has announced a new quarterly economic index that will help the lodging industry conduct short- and long-range economic planning.

     Managed by the UNH Department of Hospitality Management at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, the Lodging Executive Sentiment Index (LESI) is based on a monthly survey of 20 lodging executives representing companies with more than 2.5 million hotel rooms across lodging segments and geographic regions of the United States -- more than 55 percent of all U.S. rooms.  

    Executives are asked about the present and future conditions of the market. Executives also are asked to report their outlook during the next 12 months about room reservations and employment practices, such as an increase or decrease of their nonmanagerial work force.  

    In a forthcoming issue of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, UNH researchers E. Hachemi Aliouche, associate professor of hospitality management and...

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  • Stonyfield’s CE-Yo Will Share Insight with Emerging Leaders in Corporate Social Responsibility

    New Hampshire business professionals with an interest in corporate social responsibility and sustainability are in for a treat: Walt Freese, Stonyfield’s president and chief executive officer (CE-Yo), will be an instructor in the certificate in corporate sustainability program at UNH in November.

    The program will be held Nov. 7-9, 2012. The certificate in corporate sustainability is a collaboration of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility (NHBSR), and UNH’s Sustainability Institute.

    Freese and Tom Kelly, chief sustainability officer at UNH, will team-teach a course on trends in sustainability and will explore sustainability’s pertinence to businesses of all sizes. Through a mix of lecture and discussion, participants will review the context, history, and key drivers of sustainability.

    Freese took the helm of Stonyfield from founder Gary Hirschberg in January 2012. Freese is former CEO of Ben &...

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  • Geographer Jeffrey Alford Presents UNH Holden Lecture Oct. 25

    Jeffrey AlfordUNH welcomes Jeffrey Alford, author of several books about geography and food, who will present the annual Holden Lecture Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. The Holden Lecture “Eating Leaves: Seeing the World through Food on the Thai-Cambodian Border” takes place at 7 p.m. in Richards Auditorium in Murkland Hall. The lecture is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Department of Geography, and is free and open to the public.

    “Jeffrey Alford is a fascinating man who has led a fascinating life. Though he writes about food, he shows in the process that geography is essential to understanding how people live around the world and, more specifically, what they eat. He demonstrates how the fundamental aspects of geography — environment, culture, politics, history, economics — interact and come together on a plate,” said...

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  • UNH Partnering on National Technical Assistance Center for Inclusive Education

    The National Center on Inclusive Education (NCIE) at UNH’s Institute on Disability has received a $825,000 subcontract as part of a five-year, $24.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs to the University of Kansas.  

    The NCIE will work with the University of Kansas and other national partners to establish the Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT) Center, a national technical assistance center for inclusive education. SWIFT is dedicated to promoting the inclusion of students with disabilities in their neighborhood schools while also increasing the academic achievement of all students. The center will assist educators, administrators, schools, and state education agencies in implementing evidence-based inclusive education practices. 

    The NCIE’s Mary Schuh, along with colleagues from the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education (MCIE), will lead the effort to create a national...

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  • President Joins Steering Committee of the Higher Education Climate Network

    The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) announced recently that President Mark Huddleston joined its steering committee. In this role, Huddleston will help guide policy and direction of this national network of colleges and universities that have made institutional commitments to lower greenhouse gas emissions and promote the research and educational efforts needed to help society address climate change.

    Huddleston is among 18 college and university presidents named today to the steering committee, which includes presidents from seven New England schools. The steering committee is the chief governing body of the ACUPCC and is responsible for guidance, policy, and direction of the ACUPCC. Its members reflect the diversity of higher education in the United States.  

    “I am honored to be part of the next phase of ACUPCC work’s to help society address climate change in positive and proactive ways,” Huddleston...

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  • One of Greatest Living Historians Presents UNH Dunfey Lecture Oct. 18

    Natalie Zemon DavisNatalie Zemon Davis, who is considered who is considered one of the greatest living historians, will present the 2012 Dunfey lecture Thursday, Oct. 18, discussing how slaves and masters in 18th century Suriname communicated with each other.

    "Dealing with Strangeness: Language and Information Flow in an Early Modern Slave Society" will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. in MUB, Theatre I. The lecture is free and open to the public.

    According to Jeffry Diefendorf, professor of history and the Pamela Shulman Professor of European and Holocaust Studies, Davis was the second woman elected as president of the American Historical Association. 

    “The election of Davis marked both the greater influence of women historians in our profession and the rising interest in micro-history....

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  • Political Views Trump Facts for Some on Climate Change, New UNH Research Finds

    For some people, scientific facts help determine what they believe about an issue. But for others, political views trump scientific facts and determine what information they will accept as true. It’s a phenomenon that is particularly prevalent on the issue of climate change.  

    These are among the research findings presented by Lawrence Hamilton, professor of sociology, in the article, “Did the Arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts.” The article is available online now in the journal Weather, Climate, and Society.

    “Science education and outreach efforts commonly aim to communicate basic information that underlies scientific conclusions. An information-to-conclusions ordering follows the natural logic of science, but it fares less well with public opinion on politicized topics...

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