At the national level, Dr. Huzij was invited to speak at the AOA Annual Convention in New Orleans November 2009. He presented a lecture entitled, "Osteopathic Psychiatry" to the American College of Osteopathic Neurologists and Psychiatrists (ACONP) in which he challenged the long held belief and practice of psychiatrists that teaches them to avoid touching their patients, thereby precluding Osteopathic Psychiatrists from practicing OMM/OMT on their patients.

Dr. Huzij co-authored a position paper for the AOA regarding "Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy in Psychiatry: Position Paper, 2007". One of Dr. Huzij's long-term goals within the AOA is to completely change the way Osteopathic Psychiatrists practice medicine. He is leading the way for Osteopathic Principles of Manipulative Medicine to be re-incorporated into the practice of psychiatry.

 

 Winners of the University of New England 2010 Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Symposium have been announced. The symposium was held Friday, May 7, 2010 at the Biddeford Campus.

This annual symposium allows students to present their research, classroom projects, art work, or other work done at UNE in either an oral presentation, poster presentation, or artistic display format.

Presentations

More than 45 oral presentations were presented this year ranging from the "Compromising, Selling Out, or Both? The Fair Trade Movement and Globalization" to "Testing Abuse Liability of Novel Delta Opioid Pain Relievers," from "The Effect of Induced Osteo Arthritis on Muscle and Bone Quality" to "Determining Age and Size At Sexual Maturity of Black Dogfish."

There were also more than 55 poster sessions ranging from "The Spectrophotometric Characterization of Novel Naphthyl-Substituted Silole" to "This Lifeless Medium is so Poetic it’s Living Art."

Honors Presentations

Oral presentations included Honors presentations on "The Effects of Methylphenidate and Atomoxetine on Attention and Levels of Norepinephrine, Dopamine, and Serotonin in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex of Adult Rats," Francine Brym (Pharmacology);"118-Production of Fos in the Trigeminal Nucleus From Chronic Morphine Withdrawal Induced by Naloxone," Konrad Kross (Biology); "107-Primes and Factor Rings in Gaussian Integers," Caryn Howard (Mathematical Sciences); "From Foucault's Delinquent to the Abject: The New Spectacle of Prison Privatization," Dora Clements (Political Science).

The Winners

First Place - Oral Presentation of Original Research:

The Effects of Drug Contaminated Water on Maze Running and Learning in Female CD-1 Mice
Megan McBurnie (Psychology)
With the increased prevalence of drugs in drinking water supplies, this study examines the acute effects of those drugs on learning

Second Place - Oral Presentation of Original Research (three-way tie):

From Foucault's Delinquent to the Abject: The New Spectacle of Prison Privatization
Dora Clements (Political Science)
This research examines the shift from the traditional type of punishment described by Foucault in Discipline and Punish to the modern spectacle that is the American privatized prison system

The Jewel in the Crown: Colonial Discourse and the English Novel
Cathrine O. Frank, Allison Alaimo, Maura Trinder, Emily Clifford (English)
A panel on representations of India in the works of Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle

Treatments for PTSD in Children and Adolescents: A Survey of Practitioners
Rachel Olinger , Rick Rizzo (Psychology)
In this survey study, we investigated the types of treatments used to treat PTSD among practitioners, if  treatments differed between psychologists and social workers, and whether different treatments were used for children when compared to adults

First Place - Poster Presentation:

Phenotyping and Quantifying Infiltrating CD4+ T-Cells Following Transection of the L5 Spinal Nerve
Kyle Draleau (Microbiology COM)
This project investigated the type of T-cells that infiltrate the spinal cord following a neuropathic injury, as well as the level of the cytokine associated with the infiltrating T-cell to learn more about positive causes of neuropathic pain.

Second Place - Poster Presentation:

The Role of Cthrc1 in a Bleomycin Model of Pulmonary Fibrosis
Megyn Beyer (Pharmacology)
Pulmonary fibrosis is induced using bleomycin in an attempt to investigate the role of Collagen Triple Helix Repeat Containing 1 protein (Cthrcl1) on the progression of pulmonary fibrosis.

Third Place - Poster Presentation:

In Silico Conformational Analysis of 6α- and 6β-Naltrexol and Derivatives
Jennifer Bayron (Chemistry and Physics)
In order to better understand conformational preferences in a series of 6α- and 6β-naltrexol diastereomers, several of which possess nanomolar affinity at the μ-opioid receptor, minimum energy conformations of these compounds and their derivatives (tosylate, mesylate, triflate, iodide and methylene) were studied in silico

First Place - Oral Presentation of a Literature Review:

Understanding the Drug Provigil
Josh Havelin, Paul Fitzmorris (Chemistry & Physics)
The history of Provigil's creation, its uses in the present day, and method of treatment

Second Place - Oral Presentation of a Literature Review:

Managing with Alzheimer's Disease: Rivastigmine (Exelon)
Anda Panaitiu, Pratik Shah (Chemistry & Physics)
Rivastigtmine (sold under the name of Exelon) is a drug used in the treatment of Alzheimer's related dementia.  Rivastigtmine's properties, molecular mechanism, and drug development process are described in the current presentation

First Place - Artwork Display (Two-way tie):

This Lifeless Medium is so Poetic it’s Living Art
Nicole Perrault (Creative and Fine Arts)
Different mediums were used to express unique views on life and historical art.

The Dunbar Dragons
Katie Dunbar (Creative and Fine Arts)
A collection of dragon artwork, created through several media, including pen and ink, charcoal and acrylic paint on canvas

Stephanie Podolski, Medical Biology major, ’11, presented her research “Tissue-specific activation of AMP-activated protein kinase by heat stress in the lobster, Homarus americanus” at the FASEB Experimental Biology Meeting in Anaheim, CA. Her poster was co-authored by Jennifer Jost, Ph.D. and Markus Frederich, Ph.D.

With her research project Stephanie qualified for the final round of the national undergraduate research competition “David Bruce Award”. Her research was funded by an undergraduate research fellowship from the American Physiological Society and performed in the laboratory of Markus Frederich, Associate Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences.

This spring the Political Science Department offered an advanced course on Model United Nations, which is the second time this course has been offered. Led by political science assistant professor Julie Mueller, Students from UNE participated along with 5,000+ peers from 340 schools on five continents in the 2010 National Model United Nations-NY (NMUN-NY) conference, hosted by the National Collegiate Conference Association. 

Eleven political science students (Ashley Berquist 11, John Connell 11, Justin Davis 11, Kaitlyn Dyleski 10, Brianni Frazier 11, Elyse Johnson 12, Donovan Marvin 10, Aaron Mitchell 11, Chase Sheaff 12, Whitney Underwood 12, and Briana White 11) took part.  Students were paired with partners from BGSU to represent France on a variety of committees, including the UN General Assembly committees, the Security Council, UNICEF, NATO, the International Court of Justice and the UN Environment Programme. 

Students in UNE's Women's and Gender Studies Program recently presented along with Program Co-Director Jennifer Tuttle at the New England Women's Studies Association Conference, held at U Mass Dartmouth April 30-May 1, 2010. Their roundtable presentation was entitled "Beyond the Classroom:  Practicing Activism in a WGST Minor Program."

Each student discussed the ways she has applied her women's and gender studies education outside the classroom and explained why this work was important to her and to society.  Topics included on-campus programming for body image and LGBTQ awareness, the V-Day Campaign to end violence against women and girls, work with women in Ghana as part of the UNE Health Mission, advocacy for women through the legal system, and the recent Take Back the Night rally in Portland.  Discussion with the the audience during the panel explored the ways students' coursework, such as Introduction to Women's Studies, has helped them to find their "entry point" into feminism and to social awareness more generally.

Participants/attendees were:

Jennifer S. Tuttle, Ph.D., (Faculty, Dept. of English & Language Studies)
Amber Benoit (English major; WGST minor)
Lucia Fiorenza (History major; WGST minor)
Alicia Healey (Psychology major; WGST minor)
Alyssa Martin (English major; WGST minor)
Jennifer Stenberg (Nursing major; WGST minor)
Erika Streim (Political Science major; WGST minor)
Elisabeth Ziemba (English major; WGST, History, Philosophy minor)

Ashley Peterson '12, a medical biology student, was profiled on NESN.com for her participation in the upcoming Run to Home Base 9K, an event to honor heroic veterans and help raise funds to provide much needed services to local  veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The race is organized by the new Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. As a combat medic in the Navy for eight months in Iraq, Peterson mended many wounds. While she has avoided some of the stressors that have hit others who returned from active duty, the images and memories will always be there. To cope and clear her head, Peterson has one course of action. "I go for a run," said Peterson.

Elisabeth Ziemba and Alyssa Martin, two UNE students minoring in women's and gender studies, were interviewed on TV news stories about the "Take Back the Night" rally in Portland on April 23, 2010. The theme of this year's march was take back the media, saying if every form of media stopped portraying women in a negative way the country and Maine would be one step closer to letting people know it's okay to talk about sexual assault. Ziemba, an English major, was interviewed on WGME 13 and Martin, a psychology major, on WMTW 8. The two participated in the rally as part of their work for Lori Power's Introduction to Women's Studies class.

Alexandra Panaitiu has been selected as an alternate for the National Alpha Chi Honor Society's Alfred H. Nolle Scholarship.  Alpha Chi has active chapters at some 300 institutions in almost every state and in Puerto Rico.  Inducting no more than the top 10 percent of juniors, seniors, and graduate students in all academic fields, the society registers approximately 11,000 new members each year.

 

UNE’s chapter of Alpha Chi welcomed 45 new members at a formal ceremony held on Feb. 5, 2010 in the Eleanor deWolfe Ludcke Auditorium on the Portland Campus. The Alpha Chi National College Honor Society membership is for the highest 10 percent of the junior and senior classes.  More than 200 friends and family joined the celebration.  The new members are:

Christina Baker, Holly Beaulac, Ashley Bergquist, Megyn Beyer, Tanya Blowey, Courtney Brown, Christopher Carey, Stephanie Caron, Dayna Collins, Laura Costin, Justin Davis, Christina Faller, Mary Fehlner, Andrew Ferrara, Elizabeth Fisher, Jacqueline Foskitt, Caryn Howard, Benjamin Ingerson, Angelica Jarmusz, Daniel Kelleher, Matthew Levasseur, Lyndie Libby, Katherine Lindquist, Sarah McDonough, Dory Mercer, Chelsey Meszaros, Aaron Mitchell, Ashley Moore, Abigail Morneault, MaryJane  Mulkern, Alexandra Panaitiu, Angelena Pepe, Christina Perazio, Stephanie Podolski, Heather Putnam, Jamee Robinson, Joshua Saucier, Pratik Shah, Abigail Slavin, Mary Taddia, Ali Trafton, Briana White, Elizabeth Williams, Amber Zablowsky.