Eugene R. Schiff, center, cuts the ribbon to the Schiff Center for Liver Diseases surrounded by, from left, UM trustee Stuart Miller, Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, and UM trustee Arthur Hertz, a member of the center’s advisory board.

For 43 years, hepatologist Eugene R. Schiff, who like his father before him is one of the world’s leading authorities on liver disease, has led the University’s clinical research aimed at developing improved treatments and cures for hepatitis B, C, and D, cirrhosis, and the entire spectrum of liver and biliary tract disorders.

Now, with the field of hepatology on the cusp of a long-awaited and dramatic transition in treatment, particularly for hepatitis C, the informal Center for Liver Diseases that Schiff and his late father founded to advance the University’s hepatology research is undergoing its own transition to a more formal and independent structure with a physical location and a new name: the Schiff Center for Liver Diseases. Read the full story

From left, graduate student Xuchilt Perez; Wendy Morrison-Cavendish, assistant professor at the School of Education and Human Development; Nikolai Vitti, assistant superintendent for Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Maria de Armas, assistant superintendent, Miami-Dade County Public Schools; and graduate student Andrea Adelman.

Standardized tests such as the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) are not designed for better learning or creating better students; instead, the emphasis on these exams can hijack school curriculum and prevent teachers from spending time with important subjects such as arts, music, discussions about current events, and other vital activities crucial to the development of a child. Read the full story

USpeak: Open Verse and Story Performance will feature Mangrove on Thursday, April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Oasis Deli in the Whitten University Center.

Mangrove is the undergraduate literary journal at the University of Miami, publishing fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, and design from undergraduates around the nation. The event will celebrate the magazine’s inaugural national issue, which features the works of students from Chatham University, University of Evansville, UM, Millsaps College, University of Kansas, George Washington University, Purdue University at Calumet, Wor-Wic Community College, and Tusculum College. For more information about Mangrove, click here.

In addition to featured work from the magazine, USpeak spotlights audience members who share a page of their writing during USpeak’s Open Mic segments.

USpeak events are free and open to the public and are sponsored, in part, by the University of Miami’s Creative Writing Program, UM’s Auxiliary Services, and Mangrove.

In addition, please visit http://www.miami.edu/uspeak, where you can also link to podcasts of previous USpeaks, prepared by sound engineer, author, musician, and talk show host Matt Gajewski.

For more information about this event, contact the director of the University of Miami Creative Writing department, M. Evelina Galang, at [email protected] or Jen Mehan at [email protected].

Vice President for Student Affairs Pat Whitely, second from left, with outgoing Student Government Executive Branch members Brandon Mitchell, left, Ashley Taggart, and Jake Krupka.

During the annual University of Miami Student Government banquet held on April 4, the outgoing Executive Branch recognized Patricia A. Whitely for her leadership and dedication as Vice President for Student Affairs with an award named in her honor.

Each year the Patricia A. Whitely Unsung Hero Award will go to a member of Student Government who goes above and beyond his or her responsibilities. Read the full story

UM presents a Master of Fine Arts exhibition by Clark F. DeCapite Jr. On view through April 27 at Wynwood Project Space in Miami, “Incandescent: Smoke and Mirrors” is an exhibition that makes reference to understandings of the self by tracing its origins to our daily experiences. Through the use of utilitarian artifacts such as light bulbs, mirrors, and crates, self-states are metaphorically mapped out. In considering the roles that environment, society, time, and memory play within the creation of personal identities, the artist speaks of the common experiences and fears that help to mold us into the individuals that we once were, are, and will be. Read the full story