School is nearly back in session, and The University of Toledo is ready to welcome new and returning residents to campus.

New students can begin moving into residence halls Monday, Aug. 18, at Carter Hall, Parks Tower, and MacKinnon, Scott and Tucker halls. In addition, honors students who will reside on the fourth floor of the International House can move in.

New residents will continue to move in to other residence halls Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 19-21, with returning students moving in Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 22-24. Move in hours are from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day. Click here for more information.

Welcome Week, which is coordinated by the UT Office of Residence Life, will begin with move-in and continue with events to help incoming residents prepare for the college experience and connect students with the people, places and resources of the University before fall semester classes start Monday, Aug. 25.

Listed by date, some of the Welcome Week events include:

Monday, Aug. 18

•  Movie on the Mall, 9 to 11 p.m., Centennial Mall. Watch “21 Jump Street.” Popcorn, cotton candy and drinks will be provided. Students are encouraged to bring blankets or portable chairs.

Tuesday, Aug. 19

•  Kickback BBQ, 5 to 8 p.m., the grasslands by Ottawa House. Dining and Catering Services will bring the food and WXUT will provide the music. There’ll be special appearances by UT mascots Rocky and Rocksy, along with giveaways, prizes and information from student organizations and University departments.

Wednesday, Aug. 20

•  Taste of Gateway, 6 to 9 p.m., storefront patio entrance of Gateway. Jimmy John’s will provide food and Great Clips will set up hairstyling stations. Corpus Christi will bring corn hole and other games, and student organizations and UT departments will provide giveaways, prizes and information.

•  Karaoke and VIP Student Shopping Night, 7:30 to 9 p.m., UT Bookstore. There’ll be a karaoke contest with grand prizewinners, a Facebook photo contest for the best UT gear, and student discounts on café drinks and desserts.

Thursday, Aug. 21

•  Greek Life BBQ, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Flatlands. New students and parents are welcome to partake of a quick lunch — hot dogs, chips, cookies and water — during move-in. There’ll be music and giveaways, and students can learn about fraternity and sorority life.

•  S’Mores with National Resident Halls Honorary, 7 to 8 p.m., the grasslands by Ottawa House. Sunglasses and T-shirts will be raffled off.

•  Welcome Bonfire with the Resident Student Association, 8 p.m., the Flatlands. Students will learn about the Resident Student Association, meet the Blue Crew, and take part in a UT tradition by painting the spirit rock.

Friday, Aug. 22

•  New Student Convocation, 4 p.m., Savage Arena. UT Interim President Nagi Naganathan, faculty, staff and student leaders will come together to greet the class of 2018 as students mark the beginning of their academic journey. The event will be followed by an outdoor cookout.

Click here for more information about these and additional events planned to help students get the academic year off to a great start.

Media Coverage
The Independent Collegian (Aug. 20, 2014)

Dr. Daniel Rapport, associate professor of psychiatry at The University of Toledo, is available to discuss the signs and treatment of depression, in light of the death of Robin Williams.

Rapport is available today, August 12, around 2 p.m. for interviews.

Please contact Aimee Portala at 419.530.4279 to schedule.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Aug. 18, 2014)

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETINGS

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Driscoll Alumni Center, Board Room
5:30 p.m. Board of Trustees Social Dinner

Monday, August 18, 2014

Radisson Hotel, Mahogany Ballroom, Salon A
2:00 p.m. Finance and Audit Committee Meeting
3:00 p.m. Trusteeship and Governance Committee Meeting

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Radisson Hotel, Mahogany Ballroom, Salon A
8:00 a.m. Clinical Affairs Committee Meeting
9:30 a.m. Academic and Student Affairs Committee Meeting

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling (419) 530-7832 or via email at jonathan.strunk@utoledo.edu.

Joan A. Stasa
Secretary, Board of Trustees

Dr. Earl J. Campbell, Jr., professor emeritus for The University of Toledo Department of Medicine, will give a lecture on microcystin, the toxin that led to Toledo’s water crisis, on Friday, August 8 at noon. The free, public lecture will be held in the Health Education Building room 100, on UT’s Health Science Campus.

Campbell has gathered information about the basic, underlying science of microcystin, including studies from China and Japan. The studies focus on aspects of exposure, particularly related to hepatic carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer.

Campbell recently presented his lecture to the local chapter of the American Chemical Society and to The Symposium, a physician discussion group, which resulted in an appeal to the Ohio State Medical Society to support legislation to decrease the use of phosphorus in Maumee, a major factor in the water crisis.

Campbell is a member of the Lake Erie Waterkeeper Alliance Board. He also authored a locally circulated paper based on citizen-collected information, including 600 data points, relating to phosphorus levels in various areas of the Maumee River.

The community is invited to attend a public forum tonight about the scientific and health issues surrounding toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie.

The forum, “Harmful Algae in Ohio’s Great Lake,” will be 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Driscoll Alumni Center Auditorium on Main Campus.

For those unable to attend the event on campus, the forum also will be live streamed at youtube.com/watch?v=j_FRHGtgMIs.

The panel of faculty experts from The University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University will discuss how we got to this point of a toxin produced by algae entering Toledo’s drinking water and where the region can go from here to address the issue of harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie.

The panel discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the live audience as well as questions submitted via Twitter using the hashtag #toledoalgae.

Forum panelists include:

•  Dr. Carol Stepien, UT Distinguished Professor of Ecology and director of the UT Lake Erie Center;
•  Dr. Isabel Escobar, UT professor of chemical and environmental engineering, and expert in water treatment and desalination membrane technology;
•  Kenneth Kilbert, UT law professor and director of the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes;
•  Dr. Robert McKay, Ryan Endowed Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University;
•  Dr. Thomas C. Sodeman, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences; and
•  Dr. Patrick Lawrence, UT professor and chair of geography and planning, who recently led a restoration project of the Ottawa River that flows through UT’s Main Campus.

The free public event is sponsored by UT’s Lake Erie Center and Urban Affairs Center. Parking is available in Lot 17 outside the building located off University Hills Boulevard.

Media Coverage
19 Action News Cleveland (Aug. 6, 2014)
13 ABC (Aug. 6, 2014)
WTOL 11 (Aug. 6, 2014)
FOX Toledo (Aug. 6, 2014)
NBC 24 (Aug. 6, 2014)
The Blade (Aug. 6, 2014)

The University of Toledo will host a public forum to discuss the scientific and health issues surrounding toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie.

The forum, “Harmful algae in Ohio’s Great Lake,” will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5 in the Driscoll Alumni Center Auditorium on the UT Main Campus. The free public event is sponsored by UT’s Lake Erie Research Center and Urban Affairs Center. Free parking is available in Lot 17 outside the building located off University Hills Boulevard.

A panel of faculty experts from The University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University will discuss how we got to this point of a toxin produced by algae entering Toledo’s drinking water and where the region can go from here to address the issue of harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie. The panel discussion will be followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

Researchers from both UT and BGSU have been monitoring algal blooms for years in Lake Erie as well as other bodies of water in Ohio and throughout the world.

“The University of Toledo and its many research centers are uniquely qualified to provide our community the latest scientific information about the issue of harmful algae in Lake Erie and how it impacts northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan,” UT Interim President Nagi Naganathan said. “The forum will be a dynamic discussion of what technological solutions are available and the policy changes needed to address these concerns and the challenge of prevention.”

Forum panelists will include:

•  Carol Stepien, Ph.D., UT Distinguished Professor of Ecology and director of the UT Lake Erie Research Center;

•  Isabel Escobar, Ph.D., UT professor of chemical and environmental engineering and expert in water treatment and desalination membrane technology;

•  Kenneth Kilbert, JD, UT law professor and director of the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes;

•  Robert McKay, Ph.D., Ryan Endowed Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University;

•  Thomas C. Sodeman, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences; and

•  Patrick Lawrence, Ph.D., UT professor and chair of geography and planning who recently led a restoration project of the Ottawa River that flows through campus.

Media Coverage
19 Action News Cleveland (Aug. 6, 2014)
13 ABC (Aug. 6, 2014)
WTOL 11 (Aug. 6, 2014)
FOX Toledo (Aug. 6, 2014)
NBC 24 (Aug. 6, 2014)
The Blade (Aug. 6, 2014)

Experts at The University of Toledo are available to discuss the harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie that lead to the toxin microcystin entering Toledo drinking water.

The University’s Lake Erie Center, located on Maumee Bay in the western Lake Erie, is a leader in the study of the Great Lake. The interdisciplinary research and education center is dedicated to solving environmental problems at the land-water interface and bay-lake exchanges in the Great Lakes. Experts in ecology, geography, fisheries genetics and more collaborate through the center.

While the City of Toledo has lifted the ban on drinking tap water, concerns about the harmful algae in Lake Erie remain.

Experts available to discuss the issue include:

Kenneth Kilbert, JD, law professor and director of the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes. Kilbert is an expert in environmental and natural resources law who leads the multidisciplinary research center in the college that hosts an annual Great Lakes Water Conference, the topic of which in 2013 was “Algae: A Blooming Problem in the Great Lakes and Beyond.” According to Kilbert, there are not strict enough laws and regulations to reduce phosphorus entering the watershed and causing the algal blooms.

Isabel Escobar, PhD, professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. Escobar is a widely consulted expert in water treatment and desalination membrane technology. According to Escobar, the algal bloom in western Lake Erie is thriving due to all the nutrients flowing in the river, however there are different types of water filtration that could remove them.

Patrick Lawrence, PhD, professor and chairman of Geography and Planning. Lawrence is an expert in water quality and watershed management who recently led an extensive restoration project of the Ottawa River that flows through campus and empties into Lake Erie.

Carol Stepien, PhD, UT Distinguished Professor of Ecology and director of the UT Lake Erie Center. Her research area of expertise is invasive species and she is the director of the Lake Erie Center’s Great Lakes Genetics/Genomics Laboratory.

Contact Meghan Cunningham in the UT Office of University Communications to interview these and other experts at 419.530.2410 (office), 419.350.3879 (cell) or meghan.cunningham@utoledo.edu.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Aug. 4, 2014)
WSJ Live (Aug. 4, 2014)
13 ABC (Aug. 4, 2014)
13 ABC (Aug. 4, 2014)
CBS Evening News (Aug. 5, 2014)
Al Jazeera America (Aug. 6, 2014)
FOX Toledo (Aug. 8, 2014)
Al Jazeera America (Aug. 8, 2014)
Conklin & Company (Aug. 12, 2014)
The Blade (Aug. 18, 2014)
13 ABC (Aug. 19, 2014)
13 ABC (Aug. 25, 2014)

The University of Toledo Lloyd A. Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center (UT-IISC) has received certification as a Comprehensive Accredited Education Institute (AEI) from the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

ACS-AEI program goals include enhancing surgical patient safety, supporting surgeons’ maintenance of certification requirements, addressing the competencies that all surgeons and surgical residents need to achieve and demonstrate, and enhancing access to contemporary surgical education. AEIs provide learners an opportunity to learn and practice new skills, and receive immediate feedback without compromising patient safety or comfort.

“The UT-IISC is proud and privileged to receive accreditation status as an American College of Surgeons Educational Institute,” said Dr. Pamela Boyers, executive director of the UT-IISC.

The AEI accreditation program is a voluntary, two-part review process. Certified institutes are accredited for a period of three years. A team of experienced surgeon site reviewers conducts an onsite survey. The reviewers examine the institution’s ability to demonstrate compliance with 31 Criteria in four Standards, including Learners and Scope of Educational Programs; Curriculum Development, Delivery of Effective Education, and Assessment; Administration, Management and Governance; and Advancement of the Field.

The program offers two levels of accreditation, Comprehensive and Focused, each with specific requirements. Accreditation status differs based on the focus of the educational program, the learners served, the curriculum offered and the technological support and resources available.

As a Comprehensive AEI, the UT-IISC provides a program that educates a minimum of four learner groups, develops original curricula, offers a broad spectrum of education programs and has the resources and physical space necessary to conduct its educational activities. The UT-IISC is also dedicated to the advancement of the field through innovative research and scholarly activities.

“We are grateful to our colleagues in the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Health Science for their incredible support. This prestigious accreditation is based not just on surgical skills, but on demonstrating several years of interprofessional collaboration and team-based simulation activities,” Boyers said.
“Without this fine group of UT colleagues, this simply would not have been achievable.”

Established by the American College of Surgeons’ Division of Education, with approval from the Board of Regents, the AEI Consortium accredited its first institutes in 2006. Today, the Consortium is a network of 70 comprehensive and 12 Focused ACS-AEIs. The AEI program offers unique opportunities for collaborative research.

“This accreditation status positions the IISC to provide surgical workshops for local, regional and national surgeons, physician assistants, surgical nurses and others – in the full knowledge that we have attained the highest standard of recognition in the simulation field,” said Boyers.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Aug. 17, 2014)

The University of Toledo will resume normal operations effective at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 3.

The UT Medical Center remains open. UTMC’s outpatient clinics will operate on their regular schedules. The dental clinic will be closed Monday.

Food operations are up and running on both UT campuses, though the menu selection is limited. For that reason employees are advised to bring packed lunches and drinks.

Employees with questions should contact their direct supervisors.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Aug. 3, 2014)

The University of Toledo is closed and all non-health care functions have been canceled or postponed until further notice as a result of water quality concerns. The University of Toledo Medical Center, as always, remains open and with access to clean water for continued high-quality health care.

Students who are residing at UT this summer are encouraged to return to their homes outside of the affected area, if possible. The University is providing resources for those unable to do so.