The Center for Health and Successful Living at The University of Toledo will host award-winning inspirational author Caren Goldman for a book signing and talk Tuesday, Oct. 29.

The book signing will be from noon to 1 p.m. in the new center located in Health and Human Services Building Room 1711B on Main Campus.

Goldman’s talk, “New Beginnings: The Journey of Breast Cancer Survivorship,” will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Faculty Club of The Hotel at UTMC on Health Science Campus.

A social hour will begin at 6 p.m. in the nearby Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center, where the Lilly Oncology On Canvas: Expressions of a Cancer Journey will be on exhibit featuring artwork and narratives from cancer patients, their families, caregivers and friends depicting how the disease has affected their lives. The free, public exhibit will be on display through Friday, Nov. 1.

Goldman, a breast cancer survivor who received treatment at UT Medical Center, writes inspirational books and articles about the intersections of healing, spirituality, psychology and religion. One of her first and most well-known books is Healing Words for the Body, Mind and Spirit: 101 Words to Inspire and Affirm.

Her newest project was working with Prevention magazine on The Ultimate Guide to Breast Cancer: Your Essential Resource From Diagnosis to Treatment and Beyond.

While the Detroit Tigers fell just short this year, The University of Toledo will be making its second consecutive World Series appearance Saturday, Oct. 26, during Game 3 in St. Louis at 8 p.m. on Fox. 

Each year, Fox Sports baseball analyst Ken Rosenthal holds a Bow Tie Cause competition on Facebook where dozens of organizations submit their bow tie to support a cause or an organization. Supporters vote by “liking” a picture of the bow tie design and Rosenthal commits to wearing the most popular ones on the air.

And for the second year in a row, Rosenthal will be wearing a UT bow tie during his World Series broadcasts.

The UT bow tie is from the University’s annual Tie One On event to support prostate cancer care, awareness and outreach.

To register for Tie One On, which will take place at the UT vs. BGSU men’s basketball game on Wednesday, Feb. 5, visit http://utoledo.edu/tieoneon.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 25, 2013)
The Blade (Oct. 26, 2013)

Education experts will convene at The University of Toledo College of Law on Oct. 25 to address the legal and practical challenges facing the nation’s schools today.

The free, public event, titled “From Kindergarten to College: Brainstorming Solutions to Modern Issues in Education Law”, is sponsored by The University of Toledo Law Review and will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:20 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25, in the McQuade Law Auditorium.

Four panels will discuss salient legal issues in education, including the development of modern disability law and the legal requirements of IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA; affirmative action and desegregation; legal issues surrounding school safety; and the successes and failures of the conventional education model and its alternatives. Justice Judith French of the Supreme Court of Ohio, who argued Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the landmark school voucher case, in the United States Supreme Court while in practice, will deliver the keynote address.

“The annual Law Review Symposium always strives to address a current legal and social topic,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the College of Law, “and this year’s symposium, with its sterling lineup of speakers, promises to contribute to progress in a vital field of public concern.”

The symposium is expected to draw attorneys who practice education, disability, and administrative law, state and federal education agency employees, as well as educators and school administrators.

For more information and to register, visit utole.do/lawsymposium or call 419.530.2962.

The University of Toledo is celebrating the various religious perspectives of the campus community with Interfaith Week.

“There is a lot of diversity when you look at religious beliefs,” said Dr. Jeanine Diller, assistant professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Religious Understanding. “There are three layers there — your perspective, how you hold your perspective, and how you view other perspectives.”

Interfaith Week creates awareness about religion and religious organizations at the University. Events continue through Saturday, Oct. 26, and include a Religious Diversity Workshop led by Diller that will cover different religious stances people have, the basics of some religions, and the diverse ways people interpret their own religious beliefs.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding about religion and a lot of pain that accompanies that misunderstanding,” Diller said. “I hope that a seminar like this can help reduce that kind of pain and give people perspective.”

Interfaith Week events include:

Monday, Oct. 21

•  Interfaith Week Kick-Off Trivia, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Student Union tables.
•  Meditation and Dharma Talk with UT Zen Buddhist Fellowship, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Interfaith Chapel.

Tuesday, Oct. 22

•  Movie Screening: “Doing Time Doing Vipassana,” 7 p.m., Memorial Field House Room 2910.

Wednesday, Oct. 23

•  Multifaith Experience Service Learning Experience, 2:30 p.m., meet at Student Union fountain. Read more here.
•  Bowling with Hillel, 7 p.m., Bowlero Lanes, 4398 Monroe St.
•  Soul Food Dinner and Faces of Faith, 7 to 9 p.m., Toledo Campus Ministry.

Thursday, Oct. 24

•  Painting the Spirit Rock, 7 to 10 p.m., the Flatlands.

Friday, Oct. 25

•  Multifaith Café, relaxed interfaith discussion over free coffee and food, 10 to 11 a.m., Phoenicia in the Student Union.
•  Cooking for Tent City, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Corpus Christi University Parish.
•  Religious Diversity Workshop, 1 to 4:30 p.m., Student Union 2592.
•  Jumah (Friday) Prayer, 1:30 p.m., International House Muslim Prayer Room.
•  Tent City, 5 to 9 p.m., Corpus Christi University Parish.

Saturday, Oct. 26

•  Diya, a celebration of the Hindu holiday Diwali sponsored by the Indian Student Cultural Organization, 9 p.m., Student Union Auditorium.

Interfaith Week is organized by the Office of Student Involvement, the Center for Religious Understanding and the Office of Multicultural Student Success.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 26, 2013)

The Princeton Review has recognized The University of Toledo’s business and law colleges as among the best in the nation.

The UT College of Business and Innovation is featured in the 2014 edition of The Best 295 Business Schools and the UT College of Law is on the 2014 list of The Best 169 Law Schools.

“All of us in the College of Business and Innovation are very excited at this continuing recognition by The Princeton Review of the quality and relevance of our programs,” said Dr. Thomas Sharkey, interim dean of the college. “We like to point out that the college is increasingly ranked and recognized by national and international organizations, and this recognition by The Princeton Review further validates the quality of our faculty, the significance of our curriculum, and the excellence of our students.”

“We are pleased but not surprised,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the College of Law. “We have been on this list for as long as it has existed. Students are consistently happy with the education they receive at our law school.”

In the UT profile in The Best 295 Business Schools, The Princeton Review editors describe the school as “offering a good education at a very competitive price with convenient scheduling.” Among the topics about which students surveyed had the highest consensus were smart classrooms, solid preparation in general management, and doing business in a global economy.

In The Best 169 Law Schools, the UT profile has Princeton Review editors noting “Students speak overwhelmingly of the school’s obvious care and concern for their future.” The profile also quotes current UT law students who were surveyed by The Princeton Review. Among the student comments, “Every aspect of the school strikes the perfect balance between professionalism and personal attention.” Another student noted the faculty’s “willingness to sit and chat with students about class at any time, while connecting what we learn to real-life use.”

In a panel discussion at The University of Toledo College of Law on Oct. 22, three exonerated death row inmates, who were the subject of the documentary film “One For Ten,” will share their stories.

D’Ambrosio

The free, public event will be held at noon, Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the College’s McQuade Law Auditorium.

“Wrongful conviction is the criminal justice system’s worst nightmare,” said Daniel J. Steinbock, dean of the College of Law. “This panel will address the human cost and, hopefully, how to reduce the likelihood of conviction of the innocent.”

On Sept. 24, 1988 a jogger discovered the body of a young man floating in Doan Creek near Cleveland, Ohio. The victim’s throat had been slit and there were three large stab wounds in his chest. Three local landscapers who knew the victim were arrested for the crime. During the interrogation one of the suspects accepted a plea bargain and then testified that the other two men, including Joe D’Ambrosio, had kidnapped the victim and driven to the creek before cutting his throat and stabbing him in the water.

D’Ambrosio was sentenced to death for the crime even though the testimony against him was riddled with inconsistencies – the date and location of the murder were disputed, and no physical evidence could be found at the supposed crime scene. D’Ambrosio spent the next 20 years on death row before his conviction was overturned by a federal court.

D’Ambrosio joins fellow exonerees Delbert Tibbs, who spent 2 years on death row in Florida, and Damon Thibodeaux, who spent 15 years on Louisiana’s death row, on a panel to address wrongful convictions in the U.S.

More information is available at oneforten.com.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 19, 2013)

Today, The University of Toledo received the 2013 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

As a recipient of the annual HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion – UT will be featured along with 55 other recipients in INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s November 2013 issue.

“Diversity is one of The University of Toledo’s core values and it is demonstrated through our actions,” UT President Lloyd Jacobs said. “This year has brought us new opportunities to make a difference and effectively enhance the academic and professional development of our students, faculty and staff. We are part of the communities we serve and those communities make us great.”

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine selected UT based on the institution’s exemplary diversity and inclusion initiatives, as well as UT’s ability to embrace a broad definition of diversity on campus, including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBT community.

Most notably, UT is recognized for its unique Culture Building Institute Diversity Certificate, the UT Minority Business Development Center and being named a 2012 Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality by the Human Rights Campaign.

“The University of Toledo has experienced tremendous growth in the area of diversity within a relatively short amount of time. We are proud to have received the 2013 HEED award and we look forward to continuing our efforts,” said Dr. Shanda Gore, UT’s chief diversity officer.

“We hope the HEED award serves as a way to honor those institutions of higher education that recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion as part of their everyday campus culture,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

Best-selling author George Saunders known for his dark and funny short stories will speak Monday, Oct. 21, at The University of Toledo.

Saunders

Saunders, whose most recent collection of short stories Tenth of December was published earlier this year, will give the 24th annual Richard M. Summers Memorial Lecture at 5 p.m. in Memorial Field House Room 2100.

Saunders is the author of the best-selling CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and Pastoralia, as well as numerous short stories in The New Yorker and travel pieces in GQ.

His book of essays, The Braindead Megaphone, landed him spots on “The Charlie Rose Show,” “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Colbert Report.” This year, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. He also has been recognized as a MacArther Genius Grant Fellow, which supports “extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits.”

“He’s a very compassionate writer,” said Dr. Tim Geiger, professor of English. “A lot of the themes and topics he addresses are about the human condition and what we’re doing here on this planet. The way he approaches that and the way he addresses it are very engaging to people.”

The Richard M. Summers Memorial Lecture honors the late Summers, a respected member of the Department of English who served as director of freshman English and as both a graduate and undergraduate adviser from 1966 until his death in 1988.

The lecture will be followed by a reception and a book signing in Libbey Hall, with some of Saunders’ books for sale courtesy of the Barnes & Noble University Bookstore.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 19, 2013)
The Blade (Oct. 21, 2013)

A public open house will take place Thursday, Oct. 17 in the Center for Health and Successful Living on The University of Toledo’s Main Campus.

The event will be 7-9 p.m. in room 1100 of the Health and Human Services Building and will include tours and opportunities to meet the staff. Dr. Iman Mohamed, medical director of the Breast Center at the Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center at the UT Medical Center, and Dr. Helen Mabry, surgical oncologist at UTMC, also will speak.

The Center for Health and Successful Living, which opened earlier this year, is a community hub of resources, education and support for people living with chronic disease and those who seek to improve their health.

Services include:

•  walking/physical activity programs
•  support groups
•  nutrition counseling
•  book club for survivors
•  recreation therapy
•  mammography and clinical services support

In the future, the center plans to offer counseling, social work, physical and occupational therapy, legal, tobacco cessation, health and wellness counseling and educational services, as well.

Rocket Wellness, a health and wellness enhancement program for the UT community, and the Center for Successful Aging, a program for older adults and their families, also are housed in the center and will share several services.

Community partners include Susan G. Komen of Northwest Ohio, the American Cancer Society, the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, the Toledo-Lucas County Commission on Minority Health and the Zepf Center.

Click here for more information about the Center for Health and Successful Living.

Media Coverage
WNWO (Oct. 18, 2013)

A compound developed at The University of Toledo that can be used to prevent blood vessels from leaking fluid into surrounding tissue following a traumatic injury to the human body has been licensed to Prolong Pharmaceuticals for continued development and commercialization.

The invention uses polyethylene-glycol (PEG) to modify albumin, a protein found in blood, to expand the blood’s volume and prevent it from escaping through holes in blood vessels.

“The University of Toledo is proud of our role in developing this technology that has the potential to save lives and limit the internal fluid leakage that can lead to multi-organ dysfunction and failure, and even death,” UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs said. “This technology is an example of the great contribution the science developed and patented at The University of Toledo can have on people around the globe.”

The technology – developed by Dr. Ragheb Assaly, professor and director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Dr. David Dignam, professor of biochemistry and Dr. Joseph Shapiro a former professor of nephrology and now dean of the Marshall University medical school – promises to become the optimal blood volume expander to prevent decreased blood volume caused by severe burns, hemorrhagic shock, sepsis, anaphylaxis, traumatic brain injury, adult respiratory distress syndrome and other traumatic injuries.

PEG-albumin has been tested in animal models and in all cases has demonstrated superiority to regular albumin as a plasma expander.

“The university is excited to enter into this license with Prolong Pharmaceuticals for the development and commercialization of this technology,” said Stephen Snider, vice president of technology transfer and associate general counsel. “This collaboration with Prolong will serve to bring this life-saving treatment to patients and further UT’s mission to improve the human condition.”

About Prolong Pharmaceuticals

Headquartered in South Plainfield, New Jersey, Prolong Pharmaceuticals, LLC is developing products to treat several diseases and their debilitating comorbidities associated which cause reduced quality of life, increased medical cost and significant mortality. The company’s lead product, SANGUINATE™, is in clinical testing, focused on treating the comorbidities of sickle cell disease and other disorders where oxygen deprivation due to hemolysis and/or ischemia occurs. The company’s senior management team includes inventors of the most successful drug delivery technology in pharmaceutical history, PEGylation, now responsible for more than $30 billion in drug sales worldwide. For more information visit: www.prolongpharma.com.

About The University of Toledo

Established in 1872, The University of Toledo has 16 colleges and six Ohio campuses and offers more than 230 doctoral, professional, graduate and undergraduate programs. Nearly 350 student athletes comprise 15 Division 1 Rocket athletic teams. UT has earned national and international acclaim for its expertise in technology transfer and commercialization, solar and advanced renewable energy, environmental sciences, astronomical research, translational research and biomarkers. For more information about The University of Toledo visit: www.utoledo.edu