Participating on the panel were, from left, Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, UM assistant professor of nursing; School of Nursing and Health Studies Dean Nilda “Nena” Peragallo; Steven Ullmann, professor and director of Programs in Health Administration at UM’s School of Business Administration; William Donelan, vice president of medical administration and chief operating strategy officer at the Miller School of Medicine; and UM President Donna E. Shalala, who served as secretary of health and human services in the Clinton administration.

Back in November a national committee, chaired by UM President Donna E. Shalala and sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Institute of Medicine, concluded a two-year study on the future of nursing. The resulting 562-page report details a series of “groundbreaking systemic changes necessary for hospitals, health care facilities, and higher education,” according to UM School of Nursing and Health Studies Dean Nilda “Nena” Peragallo. Last Thursday evening, Peragallo moderated a discussion at the M. Christine Schwartz Center for Nursing Education about how to implement some of the report’s recommendations and address how these changes will revolutionize the traditional role of nurses and physicians  across Florida and the nation. The experts on the panel, titled “From Recommendations to Implementation,” included Shalala; Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, assistant professor at the School of Nursing and Health Studies and a member of the national Future of Nursing Committee; William Donelan, vice president of medical administration and chief operating strategy officer at the Miller School of Medicine; and Steven Ullmann, professor and director of Programs in Health Administration at UM’s School of Business Administration. Among the issues covered, Peragallo asked some of the panelists about the scope of a nurses’ job and whether it could be enhanced. Given the grave shortage of doctors the nation will face as well as the many changes expected as a result of the new health care reform law, Ullman said it would be critical for the nation’s nurses, nearly three million in number, to work at the top of their learning and scope. Florida law currently limits that practice.

From left, Sam L Grogg, dean of the School of Communication; Christina Lane, director of the Herrick Center; Norton Herrick; and Dia Kontaxis, director of the School of Communication’s Motion Picture Program, gather for the dedication of the Norton Herrick Center for Motion Picture Studies.

The School of Communication dedicated the Norton Herrick Center for Motion Picture Studies on February 23, officially launching an initiative that promises to boost the school’s standing as one of the top film study programs in academia.

With a collection of famous films and television programs that includes rare video-formatted versions of early silent films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and other Hollywood stars, the Herrick Center will be a resource for motion picture research, aid the study and teaching of film at UM, and enrich the intellectual and cultural life of the University and South Florida region through lectures, conferences, seminars and workshops, and screenings at the Bill Cosford Cinema.

The center is named in honor of Norton Herrick, chairman of Herrick Entertainment, a motion picture and theatrical production and financing company. Last year Herrick, a recipient of the UM President’s Medal, donated to the School of Communication a collection of films and television programs appraised at $32 million.

During its first year, the Herrick Center, led by director Christina Lane, associate professor in the school’s Motion Picture Program, will work with NuRay Media to inventory and digitize the collection of more than 3,500 individual films and video tapes so that it can be screened with contemporary technology. Once the collection has been digitized, students and faculty will be able to use the titles for study and research. The Herrick Center director will focus on teaching, scholarship, and programming utilizing the collection.

“The Herrick Center and its collection will be a rich and varied resource for our motion picture students at both the undergraduate and graduate level,” said Dean Sam L Grogg.  “The new center will galvanize the program’s ongoing commitment to understanding and preserving our cinematic history.”

College of Engineering students compete in the Duct Tape Stick-Up competition.

A group of University of Miami College of Engineering students found themselves in one sticky situation on February 22.

Using duct tape as support straps, they turned their fellow students into human wallpaper, attaching them to a portion of the wall of UM’s McArthur Engineering Annex in a display of engineering ingenuity.

It was all part of the Duct Tape Stick-Up competition, one of several events staged by the college as part of Engineers Week 2011.

In all, five teams competed in the contest.

“I thought we’d need a lot more tape than we actually ended up using,” said Ed Bello, 21, a biomedical engineering major from Miami who was part of a five-member team that used about two pounds of duct tape to successfully affix one team member to the wall for 15 minutes, the required time limit imposed by the rules.

“The key was supporting the feet first, then concentrating on the other body parts,” Bello said.

While his team was successful, they still didn’t win the competition. That honor went to Nour Chaar, Gerald Cowen, Kris Kosick, Sara Manning, and John Santucci—an all-freshman team that not only attached one of its members to the wall for 15 minutes but used the least amount of duct tape to accomplish the feat, which ultimately decided the winner.

Their prize: Starbucks gift certificates.

But even this competition wasn’t without a bit of controversy. Leave it to engineers to find an ingenious—and liberal—interpretation of the rules to emerge victorious. The winning team took advantage of a design feature on a section of wall of the McArthur building, looping their duct tape through holes to achieve better support.

“I guess next year we’ll have to revise the rule book,” said senior Laura Gonzalez, a computer engineering major and the coordinating secretary for Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society that organized the competition.

Controversy aside, the winning team still did its homework, researching the tensile strength of duct tape to come up with a formula of how much tape they would need to accomplish the task at hand.

College of Engineering Dean James M. Tien said competitions like the Duct Tape Stick-Up force students to think. “In this case, it was all about the footing,” he said, referring to the strong base that is created by using most of the duct tape to secure the feet. “Taping the arms is actually the least important thing.”

Engineers Week 2011 concludes this Saturday. For more information on events, click here.

Panelists, from left to right, included William Scott Green (moderator), Amy Sullivan, Randy Brinson, and Eric Sapp.

The Department of Religious Studies launched its new Forum on Religion and Public Life on Monday, February 7 at the Frost School of Music’s Clarke Recital Hall, with “A Conversation about Faith, Politics, and the Media.” Moderated by William Scott Green, professor of religious studies and senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, the conversation featured Amy Sullivan, who covers religion and politics for Time magazine; Randy Brinson, a Republican who founded Redeem the Vote, a highly successful effort to register young evangelical Christians and persuade them to become active politically; and Eric Sapp, a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and a founding partner of the Eleison Group, the main consulting firm that works with Democrats and the progressive faith community.

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From left, sophomore Danielle Landau, Dean of Students Ricardo Hall, freshman Emad Mohammed, and Sebastian the Ibis at the 'Canes Care for ’Canes event.

Danielle Landau and Emad Mohammed had never met each other during their time as University of Miami students. But on Tuesday they came face to face for the first time, standing behind a podium on the University Center Rock with Dean of Students Ricardo Hall, who had summoned the two out of a crowd of students to prove a point.

“Danielle is jogging on the periphery of campus,” Hall said to Mohammed. “She falls, twists her ankle, and is writhing in pain. What do you do, Emad?”

The freshman biology major wasted little time in responding, “I’d help her up.”

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