The University of Toledo Medical Center was named one of the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics.

The only northwest Ohio hospital honored, UTMC joins institutions such as the Mayo Clinic and the University of California San Diego Medical Center for the 14th annual survey, which was first published by Modern Healthcare.

“This wonderful honor is a tribute to the physicians, nurses and clinicians who work every day to ensure UTMC remains on the leading edge of heart and cardiovascular treatment,” said Dr. Jeffrey P. Gold, chancellor and executive vice president for biosciences and health affairs, and dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences.

“If you review the list of the Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals, you quickly see there are entire states and regions of the country where patients don’t have access to one of the top 50 cardiovascular care hospitals,” Gold said. “Those living in northwest Ohio can be proud that at UTMC, our region’s patients get the most advanced heart and cardiovascular careavailable.”

In its study, Truven Health Analytics used data from 2010, 2011 and 2012 from a variety of Medicare and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid data sets and identified the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals as having:

• Better risk-adjusted survival rates;
• Fewer complications;
• Fewer patients readmitted to the hospital within 30 days;
• Shorter hospital stays; and
• Lower costs.

“Patients have for a number of years increasingly looked to the UT Medical Center when it comes to heart and cardiovascular care,” said Norma Tomlinson, acting executive director of UTMC. “As an academic medical center, it is our obligation and our responsibility to ensure we are setting the bar for health care in this community, and we are proud to carry out that effort every day.”

Tomlinson pointed out that UTMC is the only hospital in northwest Ohio implanting left ventricular assist devices for those with congestive heart failure and has one of the fastest door-to-balloon times for patients arriving at UTMC during a heart attack. The latter metric measures how fast hospitals are able to reopen a blocked artery to restore blood flow.

In 2009, UTMC opened its Heart and Vascular Center, serving as the community’s first integrated location for patient care, education and translational research in cardiac and vascular diseases.

Since that time, UTMC researchers, physicians and patients have led and participated in numerous studies and clinical trials to advance cardiovascular care.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Nov. 18, 2012)

As absentee and early voting ballots are cast and Nov. 6 approaches, election law experts will gather at The University of Toledo College of Law on Oct. 19 to consider how the country’s elections are conducted, financed and monitored.

The free, public symposium, titled “Votes and Voices in 2012 – Issues Surrounding the November Election and Beyond,” will be held from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 19, in the newly renovated McQuade Law Auditorium.

Symposium panels are slated to address topics such as political gerrymandering – the subject of an Ohio ballot measure – and the controversial voter identification laws being rolled out across the country.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and campaign finance reform also will bediscussed. Citizens United and the later ruling in SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission paved the way for “super-PACs” and the record $3.98 billion spent by political parties and outside interest groups during the 2010 elections – a sum that is sure to be eclipsed by 2012 election spending.

“The issues addressed in this symposium could not be more important,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the UT College of Law. “They go to the heart of what it means to live in a democracy.”

Panelists include Michael Boos, vice president and general counsel for Citizens United, and Cynthia Bauerly, commissioner of the Federal Election Commission. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted will deliver the keynote address.

Votes and Voices in 2012 is sponsored by The University of Toledo Law Review. Click here for a brochure with a full schedule of events.

For more information and to register, visit law.utoledo.edu/electionlaw or call 419.530.2962.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 20, 2012)

Stephen J. Markman, Michigan Supreme Court Justice and former U.S. Attorney, will address the Reagan Administration’s understanding of the judicial power and its impact on federal judicial selection in the Stranahan Lecture at The University of Toledo College of Law.

Stephen J. Markman, Michigan Supreme Court Justice and former U.S. Attorney

Justice Markman’s lecture, “Myths and Realities of the Judicial Power: Judicial Selection in the Reagan Administration,” will take place at noon, Tuesday, Oct. 16, in the recently renovated Richard & Jane McQuade Law Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

“Justice Markman’s lecture will draw on his broad experience in federal and state, public and private service,” said Lee J. Strang, UT professor of law. “His ‘insider’s perspective’ of how the Reagan Administration selected nominees for the federal bench will provide insight for ongoing debates about the properrole of federal judges and how we select them. Justice Markman’s lecture is sure to spark thought and conversation.”

Before joining the Michigan Supreme Court in 1999, Justice Markman served as U.S. Attorney, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, and as a U.S. Assistant Attorney General, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. In the latter position, he headed theDepartment of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, which served as the principal policy development office within the Department, and which coordinated the federal judicial selection process. Additionally, his legal career has included stints in private practice, as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, as Deputy Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Justice Markman has written an extensive body of scholarship, in some of the best journals in the nation, including the Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, American Criminal Justice Law Review, and Washington & Lee Law Review. He has also served as a contributing editor of National Review magazine.

Click here to download a photo of Markman.

Stranahan National Issues Forum
The Stranahan National Issues Forum is a joint program of The University of Toledo College of Law and itschapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. It is made possible by an endowment from the Stranahan Foundation. The Forum’s purpose is to address issues of national importance through the lens of the American legal system, and Justice Markman joins a long list of high-profile speakers who have delivered the Stranahan Lecture at Toledo Law.

Parking
Reserved parking for lecture attendees is available in Lot 25, which is adjacent to Rocket Hall. Visitors may access Lot 25 from Secor Road using College Drive.

For more information contact Rachel Phipps, assistant to the dean for communications in the UT College of Law, at 419.530.2628 or rachel.phipps@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo Medical Center physicians, nurses and other caregivers put on their pink gloves and danced in honor of patients and in support of a cure for breast cancer.

A special pre-launch screening of the video UTMC created as part of the 2012 Pink Glove Dance II Video Competition will take place 12:30 p.m. today (Friday, Oct. 12) in the hospital’s Four Seasons Bistro to kick off the campaign and encourage voting.

The top three videos submitted to the competition will win a donation to a breast cancer charity of their choice. Voting begins at 1 p.m. today at PinkGloveDance.com.

The UTMC Pink Gloves Dance Team was inspired to create the video in recognition of the hospital’s patients and physicians and to raise awareness about breast cancer in the northwest Ohio community.

To support the UTMC Pink Glove Dance Video, go to PinkGloveDance.com to vote between 1 p.m. Oct. 12 and midnight Oct. 26. The donation would benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Northwest Ohio.

httpv://youtu.be/39co2NG0i_4

For more information contact Tobin Klinger at 419.530.4279 or tobin.klinger@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo’s Ritter Planetarium will host special open house sessions for K-12 teachers Saturday, Oct. 13 at 2, 3, 4 and 5 p.m.

Teachers will be able to learn about UT’s new digital state-of-the-art projection system, learn about the new standards-based programs available to educate and inspire their students, said Alex Mak, associate director.

“Science education is an integral part of the Ritter Planetarium, and we’re branching out into other disciplines as well,” Mak said. “It’s an impressive experience.”

For more information, call Mak at 419.530.4641.

The newest Ritter Planetarium Program starts in October and runs through the end of the world.

Each Friday night at 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 21, The University of Toledo’s Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory will air “Tales of the Maya Skies” on its digital 6.5 million pixel SciDomeXD. The presentation will immerse the audience in a full-dome show studying Mayan astronomy, art and culture.

As many know, Dec. 21, 2012, marks the day some believe the Maya predicted the world would end and the film will touch on this phenomenon.

Given the importance of the Maya in Latin American culture, it is fitting that each Saturday through Oct. 27 a Spanish-narrated version of the same program will be offered.

Each evening program will be followed by observing, weather permitting, at the Brooks Observatory

Produced by Chabot Space & Science Center, “Tales of the Maya Skies” inspires and educates through its description of the Maya’s accurate astronomical achievements and how astronomy connected them to the universe. Both versions are narrated by Latin Grammy Award winner Lila Downs and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City.

In an effort to reach the next generation of astronomers, Ritter Planetarium will screen “One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure” each Saturday at 1 p.m. through Nov. 9.

The full-dome planetarium show follows Sesame Street’s Big Bird and Elmo as they explore the night sky with Hu Hu Zhu, a Muppet from China. Together, they take an imaginary trip from Sesame Street to the moon, where they discover how different it is from Earth.

This program is a spectacle of light and color as the furry-friends watch the stars twinkle over Sesame Street. Children watching the show can participate by drawing constellations and counting the time it takes the sun to set. The show aims to nurture a child’s natural sense of wonder about the night sky while forging cross-cultural connections, bringing together kids across nations through a common bond in learning about the sky together.

Afternoon programs will feature solar observing, weather permitting.

Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children 4 through 12, seniors, and UT students and employees. Children 3 and younger are free.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Dec. 13, 2012)

University of Toledo student, native Toledoan and Marine veteran DeMarqus Townsend will be featured on the Tuesday, Oct. 9 episode of the PBS show “History Detectives.”

Townsend and his mother, Toledo resident Tara Johnson, were asked to meet “History Detectives” host Tukufu Zuberi at Arlington National Cemetery in a twist to the show’s usual format.

Traditionally, Zuberi researches information about guests’ artifacts. During the Oct. 9 broadcast, Zuberi brings his poster of an African-American combat hero to the gravesite of Henry Johnson, great-grandfather of DeMarqus Townsend.

Tukufu Zuberi, left, met with UT student DeMarqus Townsend and Tara Johnson, descendants of one of the men honored in his World War I poster titled “Our Colored Heroes.”

“The host was surprised to see members of Henry Johnson’s family,” said Townsend, a veteran of the First Battle of Fallujah, Afghanistan, in 2004 and a freshman studying psychology at UT. “He thought he was meeting a military official. Usually, guests give him an object and he finds out the story behind it. This time, we had the answers to his poster.”

The poster, highly unusual for its time, depicts the savagery of combat that occurred on a French battlefield in 1918. Henry Johnson, then a private in the U.S. Army, fought a German battalion with just a bolo knife and a defective rifle to rescue a fellow American soldier.

Johnson returned to his native New York a war hero with little standing as an African-American in the 1920s. He died in 1929, penniless and estranged from his family.

With the assistance of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, Henry Johnson was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 2003, as well as and the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest national award.

His family has long fought for Johnson to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military award given in the U.S. An application was approved in 2001, but did not have the support of then-Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Henry Shelton. It continues to be open for consideration.

“My grandfather was an extraordinary man who did extraordinary things,” said Tara Johnson, Townsend’s mother. “He didn’t get recognition when he was alive. I want to make sure he does now.”

DeMarqus Townsend followed a tradition of service. In addition to his great-grandfather, his grandfather, Herman Johnson, was a Tuskegee airman, noted businessman and civil rights activist.

Townsend’s career goal upon graduation from UT is to open a private practice to assist veterans returning from combat.

Click here to download a photo of Tukufu Zuberi meeting with DeMarqus Townsend and Tara Johnson.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 12, 2012)

The University of Toledo College of Nursing, in cooperation with Bowling Green State University Firelands College, will host an Open Forum for Registered Nurses Tuesday, Oct. 16, from 2-5 p.m. in Cedar Point Center conference room 1004 at BGSU Firelands in Huron.

Prospective students are welcome to stop by from 2-5 p.m. to meet with nursing representatives from the UT College of Nursing and BGSU Firelands.

The open forum is for registered nurses (RNs) interested in pursuing the RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and RNs with bachelor’s degrees interested in achieving Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degrees with majors in advanced practice, education or clinical nurse leader. UT is pleased to offer a new Post-Baccalaureate to DNP program (BSN to DNP) with majors in Family Nurse Practitioner and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Graduate certificates are offered for RNs with MSN degrees. A person with a bachelor’s degree who is not a nurse and wants to become an RN is invited to explore the MSN Graduate Entry Clinical Nurse Leader program. A Post-Master’s to Doctor of Nursing Practice (MSN-DNP) program also is offered jointly with Wright State University.

Undergraduate courses in the nursing major are offered online with a variety of learning experiences. Nursing advisors are available at the UT Health Science Campus in Toledo and BGSU Firelands in Huron. The baccalaureate program is offered as a consortium with UT and BGSU. All of the Master of Science in Nursing courses are offered at the UT Health Science Campus, with an online option for some core courses. The BSN to DNP program is offered as a combination of classroom and web-assisted/online courses. The MSN to DNP program utilizes distance learning technology.

For more information about the Open Forum for Registered Nurses or nursing programs in general, contact UT’s College of Nursing at 419.383.5810 or admitnurse@utoledo.edu, or the BGSU Firelands nursing office at 800.322.4787 or 419.433.5560, ext. 20668.

Clubine

Brenda Clubine, a domestic violence survivor and speaker, and the subject of the documentary “Sin by Silence,” will share her story and describe her work to bring legislative attention to the plight of battered women.

Clubine’s free, public lecture, “The Power of Incarcerated Survivors,” will be held at noon, Tuesday, Oct. 9 in The University of Toledo College of Law’s newly renovated Richard and Jane McQuade Law Auditorium.

Brenda Clubine endured bruises, broken bones and skull fractures at the hands of her husband. By the time she was convicted of second-degree murder, for killing him in 1983, she felt worthless and alone. But, behind bars, Clubine soon discovered that she shared the experience of love turned violent with many of her fellow inmates.

After years of meeting in the yard of the California Institution for Women to share whispered stories, Clubine and other inmates formed Convicted Women Against Abuse (CWAA) in 1989. The inmate-led support group, the first of its kind in the U.S. prison system, helped women inside prison break the silence about abuse and advocate for legislation to protect battered women. The work of Clubine and CWAA was the subject of the 2008 documentary, “Sin by Silence.”

In 2008, Clubine was released from prison after serving 26 years for killing her husband in response to his abuse. Today, she continues the advocacy she began while behind bars.

“Clubine’s life is a powerful example of survival and activism,” said Diane Docis, the coordinator of UT’s Sexual Assault Education and Prevention Program. “Her groundbreaking work on the legislative front has brought new hope for justice to incarcerated battered women.”

Clubine’s lecture is co-sponsored by the University’s College of Law, Sexual Assault Education and Prevention Program, Social Work Program, Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women, and Department of Women’s and Gender Studies.

More information on Clubine and the film “Sin by Silence” is available at brendaclubine.com and legislation.sinbysilence.com. Click here to download a photo of Clubine.

For more information contact Rachel Phipps, assistant to the dean for communications in the UT College of Law, at 419.530.2628 or rachel.phipps@utoledo.edu.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 8, 2012)

Toledo and other small to mid-sized cities can be a critical part of a sustainable future and a productive green economy, according to journalist and historian Catherine Tumber.

Tumber, the author of Small, Gritty and Green: The Promise of America’s Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-Carbon World, will visit Toledo Oct. 5 to discuss her book and engage local leaders in a discussion about the community’s efforts to create a sustainable future for northwest Ohio.

“While small- to mid-sized cities have been hit hard by deindustrialization, outsourcing, urban sprawl and other factors, Tumber argues in her book that they also have been virtually invisible to big cities and small towns in the Wall Street versus Main Street matchup,” said Sue Wuest, assistant director of the UT Urban Affairs Center. “We are excited to have her discuss her book and engage local leaders in what we can do here to make the most of the opportunities available to small and medium industrial cities like Toledo.”

Tumber, who has spent much of her life in Rust Belt cities, traveled to 25 cities in the Northeast and Midwest interviewing planners, city officials and activists in an exploration of small-scale urbanism. In Small, Gritty and Green, she suggests that smaller to mid-sized cities offer what big cities and small towns cannot: population density, fertile farmland nearby available for agriculture, windmills and solar farms, and a manufacturing infrastructure and skilled work force that can be repurposed for renewable energy technologies.

Tumber’s presentation will begin at 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 5, in Seagate Convention Center Room 209 and will be followed by a discussion with government officials, academics, sustainability advocates, community leaders and others.

Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP via email to uac@utoledo.edu.

Visit uac.utoledo.edu for more information or contact Meghan Cunningham at 419.530.2410 or meghan.cunningham@utoledo.edu.