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University adds “sexual orientation” to nondiscrimination policy
The Board of Trustees on December 2 endorsed a decision by President ad interim Aram Chobanian to include “sexual orientation” in the University’s policy statement on nondiscrimination. “I wish to emphasize that this is not a change of policy or practice,” wrote Chobanian in an e-mail to all faculty, staff, and students the following day, “but rather a formal affirmation of our long-standing commitment to equality of opportunity at Boston University.”
COM wins award for convention coverage
A College of Communication journalism course that in July sent 67 students to cover this year’s Democratic National Convention in Boston has been named the “most outstanding credit program” of 2004 by the North American Association of Summer Sessions. As part of the program, which was cosponsored by COM and BU Summer Term, students produced print, photo, and video coverage for Hearst-Argyle television stations in California, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas and for clients nationwide via the States News Service. They also maintained a Web site documenting the convention at http://onthednc.bu.edu.
Felson given arthritis research prize from Arthritis Foundation
David Felson, a MED professor of medicine and an SPH professor of public health, recently was awarded the 2004 Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Research by the Arthritis Foundation, a national nonprofit health organization. The award comes with a $20,000 prize. Felson, who also is chief of Boston Medical Center’s clinical epidemiology unit, has conducted extensive research on the causes of three musculoskeletal diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis. He and his colleagues were the first researchers to show that obesity is linked to knee osteoarthritis, for instance. They now are investigating the genetics of rheumatic diseases and are developing methods for evaluating the effectiveness of treatments.
Alum’s book honored by Simmons College
Civil Rights in Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims, a book edited by Elaine C. Hagopian (DGE’52, CAS’54, GRS’56,’62), a professor emeritus of sociology at Simmons College and a prominent social activist, recently received the annual Myers Outstanding Book Award of Simmons College’s Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. The book, published this year by Pluto Press, investigates the loss of Muslims’ and Arabs’ civil liberties in the United States since 9/11. It contains an essay by LAW Clinical Associate Professor Susan Akram, who was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, and is an expert on immigration law, refugee law, and domestic and international refugee advocacy.
WBUR lays off six
Six employees of BU-owned National Public Radio station WBUR (90.9FM) were laid off in early December, the station announced recently. According to station spokeswoman Nancy Sterling, a senior manager, two midlevel managers, and three members of the support staff departed in the first significant personnel moves made by interim general manager Peter Fiedler, an assistant vice president in the Office of the Executive Vice President, who took control of the station in October. Two other employees also resigned recently. Several of the laid-off employees worked for WBUR’s International Journalist Training program and the Citizens of the World tours fundraising program, both of which have been discontinued.
3 10December 2004
Boston University
Office of University Relations