The message coming from top name brands is clear: climate change poses a threat to business in the form of increased costs and risks associated with extreme weather. As a result, companies are prioritizing the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and lower their carbon footprint. These findings are gleaned from an annual rating of consumer brands performed by Climate Counts, an affiliated program of the Sustainability Institute at UNH. 

The latest scoring results show that 66 percent of companies rated have publicly available climate and energy strategies, compared to just 25 percent in 2007, the year the organization began rating companies.  

“When the financial crisis hit, it was as if the climate discussion fell into a coma,” said Mike Bellamente, director of Climate Counts. “Now we’re seeing major consumer brands calling climate change by name and meeting aggressive targets to slash emissions—all while turning a profit and growing their...

UNH has expanded its Arabic language program after becoming a host institution with the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Program, a competitive program that pairs international educators with U.S. colleges and universities.  

This fall, UNH welcomed Samah El-Said from Egypt, who is teaching UNH’s first advanced Arabic language courses. 

“Our students have been asking for access to higher-level Arabic courses. At the same time, the college, and indeed the university, has been keenly interested in internationalizing the campus for our students. We’ve addressed both of these interests creatively with the success of this Fulbright application. We are very pleased to welcome Ms. El-Said to our faculty,” said Kenneth Fuld, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

The Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Program enables young educators to refine their teaching skills, increase their English language proficiency, and extend...

Wil Wollheim and Richard Carey secure an aquatic sensor suite in the Lamprey River near Packer's Falls in Durham. Photo by Dick Lord.

In a memorable scene from the movie "Amadeus," Emperor Joseph II tells an incredulous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that although the young composer's symphony he'd just premiered was indeed ingenious, it simply had "too many notes" to digest in one sitting.

On the contrary, scientist Wil Wollheim is hoping a current NOAA/New Hampshire Sea Grant-funded project he's heading up will provide a rare cascade of "notes" to allow composition of what he calls an "aquatic symphony." Such a score would be rich in scientific detail and provide unprecedented insight into the chemical and physical processes of stream and river...

The 4^th annual gingerbread house contest to benefit On Belay will take place Dec. 8 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the MUB Food Court. On Belay provides unique adventure-based programs that build community among young people who have or have had a family member with cancer.   

All gingerbread house supplies are provided; prizes go to many winning teams. The cost is $15.00 for teams that register beforehand and $20 a team at the door. The judge is local resident and renowned gingerbread house builder Trudy Brown.  

To register, visit http://www.on-belay.org/community-events/.  

On Belay programs are for ages 9-19, and are available to anyone who is able to come. Staff and volunteers are trained in the art of fun...

I.  Roll – The following senators were absent:  Harrist, Kaen, Kazura, Murphy, Scherr, Simos and Whistler.  Guests were John Aber, Deborah Dutton, Jeanne Sokolowski, and Sonic Woytonik.

II.  Remarks by and questions to the provost – The provost said that, at the last senate meeting, he and the senators discussed in detail the draft of the general schools policy and that interaction on this policy has been an excellent example of shared governance.  He said that the process started four years ago when former Provost Mallory initiated changing the names of certain UNH schools to colleges.  Also, the Strategic Plan identified the creation of schools as a priority.  Then during the 2011-12 academic year and this summer, the provost, the senate’s University Curriculum and Academic Policies Committee, the Faculty Senate and the Agenda Committee worked...

Joe Emling ,director of specialty agriculture and science, Ingredion Inc. will present "Successful Commercialization of Agricultural Innovation: Opportunities and Challenges in the Global Food Economy" Thursday, Nov. 29, from 4 –5 p.m., at the Elliott Alumni Center, 1925 Room.

Register: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4790361099/seacoastonline#

From the first domestication of crops and livestock to today's use of modern biotechnology, agricultural innovation has impacted human health, environmental quality, and economic prosperity.  In our globalized economy, advances are influenced by consumer attitudes, government regulation, investor expectations, sustainability, and other factors.  The successful innovator balances these influences to create lasting value from breakthrough advances in agricultural technologies...

U.S. lodging executives are less optimistic about present general business conditions, although this was offset by more optimism about the next 12 months, according to the UNHLodging Executives Sentiment Index (LESI) for the current month ending September 2012. The index slipped from 60.7 in September 2012 to 56.3 in October 2012.

Managed by the department of hospitality management at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, 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 non-managerial work force.

The LESI indices follow the...