About 400 University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation students will participate in the college’s annual autumn job fair on Friday, Oct. 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the UT Student Union. 120 companies — including Medical Mutual of Ohio, the Cleveland Indians, Quicken Loans, Owens-Corning, O-I, Dana, ProMedica and 3M — will participate.

“Once again we are excited and happy for our students that so many well-known companies are coming to the UT College of Business and Innovation to find the talent they need,” said Dr. Terribeth Gordon-Moore, the college’s senior associate dean. “This reflects very positively on the quality of both our programs and our students. It also demonstrates the extremely dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship enjoyed by college and recruiters for major national companies such as Marathon, Goodyear, Enterprise, Coca-Cola and Ernst & Young.”

Employers are looking for undergraduate students to participate in business internships and their leadership development programs, as well as for seniors and graduates seeking full-time employment, Gordon-Moore said, adding that freshmen students also are encouraged to attend the job fair to engage these company representatives and begin a relationship with these employers.

“This semi-annual job fair is part of what we do to prepare our students for their futures,” said Gordon-Moore, adding that the college’s Business Career Programs office works year-round to assist students in acquiring internships and jobs upon graduation. “We strive to provide the necessary resources so our students can conduct their own tailored job searches.”

More than 85 percent of UT College of Business and Innovation students participate in internships, and the job placement rate for Spring, 2015 graduates was a record 88 percent.

A scientist at The University of Toledo has discovered a potential way to stop the spreading of the most lethal brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). 

Dr. Kathryn Eisenmann, an assistant professor in Biochemistry and Cancer Biology at UT, worked with Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) on this research, which was published online Sept. 9 by the American Society of Cell Biology in the journal Molecular Biology of the Cell.

Dr. Kathryn Eisenmann

Eisenmann’s team, led by first author and UT M.D./Ph.D. graduate student Jessica Arden, found that cancer cells that cause GBM can potentially be stopped with a drug developed by VARI Professor Arthur Alberts.

“The most lethal part about GBM is that the cells move so rapidly,” Eisenmann said. “We want to keep the cells in one place so they don’t spread to vital parts of the brain.”

In previous research, Alberts discovered a bioactive peptide called DAD and small molecules called intramimics. Both DAD and intramimics activate a family of proteins called DIAPHs or mDIA, which are known to play vital roles in GBM spread. He had been exploring the use of the drug for colon cancer treatment.

Eisenmann decided to see if his research could be applied to GBM, which is the most common brain tumor in adults. In 2010, there were 22,000 cases in the U.S. People with GBM often live fewer than 15 months following diagnosis because, despite surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, individual cancer cells escape and invade healthy surrounding tissue, making additional treatment attempts increasingly difficult.

Eisenmann was inspired to study treatments for GBM because she has had friends and colleagues diagnosed with or die from the disease.

“It is one of the most lethal cancers and there are very few, if any, effective and durable treatments,” she said. “The prognosis is usually poor.”

The next step, with the help of a $75,000 grant from a UT’s Interdisciplinary Research Initiation Award, is to evaluate the effectiveness of this new strategy in preclinical models, a crucial step in translating this discovery to the clinic and patients.

“GBM is lethal because it so effectively escapes and evades therapy,” Eisenmann said. “Our hope is this discovery will prove to be an anti-tumor strategy and one that will be safe and effective for patients.

“New therapies for GBM are desperately needed,” she said. “We hope our latest finding will lead to a novel and effective treatment for this extremely aggressive cancer.”

For more information on how to support this research, contact Allie Berns, assistant director of Annual Giving, at 419-530-5414 or allison.berns@utoledo.edu. You can also contribute online at: https://give2ut.utoledo.edu/gbm.asp

Media Coverage
WTOL 11 (Nov. 2, 2015)
WTOL 11 (Nov. 2, 2015)
13 ABC (Nov. 5, 2015)

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has garnered a great deal of recognition: a 1961 Pulitzer Prize and the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and status in 2011 as the American Library Association’s 10th most banned book.

The last week of September marks the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. The University of Toledo will join the celebration Thursday, Oct. 1, on the fifth floor of Carlson Library for the 18th annual Banned Books Week Vigil.

The free, public event will begin at 9 a.m. with programs running every half hour until 5 p.m. Speakers will celebrate the right to read, think and speak freely with the campus and Toledo community.

“Our festival is a mirror of how greatly this campus believes in intellectual freedom,” said Dr. Paulette D. Kilmer, UT professor of communication, founder and coordinator of the event, which the UT Banned Books Week Coalition spends months planning.

“This campus’ belief is evident in many ways — our library, our IT and computer support, the free access for Wi-Fi, The Independent Collegian, UT:10, the radio station — these all show that intellectual inquiry is very important here,” she said.

Light snacks and refreshments will be available all day, with free banned books and prizes distributed every half hour.

“We are proud to host this campus-wide celebration of the right to read and think freely,” Kilmer said. “Our event gives UT people an opportunity to support freedom of expression. We set aside all sorts of holidays — for groundhogs, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day — and they’re all good, but we could really afford to add a holiday for reading, too.”

Topics and speakers for the event will be:

• 9 a.m. — “Welcome,” Barbara Floyd, director of UT’s Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections and interim director of UT Libraries, and Dr. Jeffrey Wilkinson, professor and chair of the UT Communication Department;

• 9:30 a.m. — “Reflections” by UT Interim Provost John Barrett;

• 10 a.m. — “Silencing Through Stereotypes: Native Americans in Children’s Literature” by Dr. Sharon Barnes, associate professor and interim chair of the UT Women’s and Gender Studies;

• 10:30 a.m. — “Toledo Free Press Memories” by Sarah Ottney, Toledo freelance journalist;

• 11 a.m. — “The Helicopter Problem” by Dr. David Tucker, UT professor of communication;

• 11:30 a.m. — “Women Who Know Better” by Warren Woodbury, Toledo author;

• Noon — The Dr. Linda Smith Lecture: “Do Criminals Have First Amendment Rights? Civic Death and the U.S. Constitution” by Dr. Renee Heberle, UT professor of political science;

• 1 p.m. — “Innocence Seduced: A Brief History of Comic Book Censorship” by Dr. Matt Yockey, UT associate professor of theatre and film;

• 1:30 p.m. — “The Shifting Lines of Intellectual Property in the Digital Age” by Wilkinson;

• 2 p.m. — “College Confidential: Censorship of College newspapers” by The Independent Collegian Editor-in-Chief Amanda Pitrof and Forum Editor Morgan Rinckey;

• 2:30 p.m. — “Trigger Warning Here! A Reflection on ‘Trigger Warnings’ in Higher Education” by Dr. Glen Sheldon, UT honors professor of humanities;

• 3 p.m. — “Jeopardy!” hosted by The Independent Collegian staff;

• 3:30 p.m. — “Naughty Girls or Nasty Minds? The Evolution of Pin-Up Models” by Torrie Jadlocki, local photojournalist;

• 4 p.m. — “You Can’t Teach That!” by Cindy Ramirez, English teacher at Bedford Senior High School; and

• 4:30 p.m. — “Banned Books, Birds and Expressing Beliefs Through Art,” by Lee Fearnside, associate professor of art at Tiffin University.

Media Coverage
La Prensa (Sept. 29, 2015)
WTOL 11 (Oct. 1, 2015)
13 ABC, NBC 24 and WTOL 11 (Oct. 1, 2015)

Dr. John Warner, a pioneer of green chemistry, will visit The University of Toledo this week to help the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The two-day centennial celebration will feature Warner’s presentation and a banquet at the Toledo Museum of Art.

Warner’s free, public presentation, “Green Chemistry: The Missing Elements,” will take place Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 4 p.m. in Doermann Theater.

As president and chief technology officer of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, Warner is one of the fathers of the green chemistry field — a relatively new area of study focusing on the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous substances. With Paul Anastas, he co-authoredGreen Chemistry: Theory and Practice.

Warner has published more than 200 patents, papers and books, and has numerous awards. His honors include being elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and being named one of 25 Visionaries Changing the World by Utne Reader in 2011.

He and Anastas also will give remarks at the Centennial Banquet on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 5:30 p.m. in the Toledo Museum of Art’s GlasSalon. The cost for attendees is $30 and $15 for students.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Sept. 30, 2015)
The Blade (Oct. 1, 2015)
The Independent Collegian (Oct. 7, 2015)

A new cardio-oncology clinic at The University of Toledo Medical Center is focusing on the heart health of cancer survivors.

The clinic is held every Wednesday afternoon in the Eleanor N. Dana Cancer Center to assist patients to continue their chemotherapy and radiation care while minimizing the potential for a negative impact on their heart.

“We want to minimize cardiotoxicity for those undergoing cancer treatments as well as decrease any long-lasting cardiovascular problems after treatment,” said Jodi Tinkel, medical director of ambulatory care at UTMC.

Dr. Jodi Tinkel

Tinkel, a cardiologist who is running the clinic, said cardiotoxicity could cause the heart muscle to weaken and not circulate blood as efficiently. It is a concern for some patients being treated for breast cancer, for example. Fortunately, not all chemotherapies cause cardiotoxicity.

“Oncologists could consider referring a patient to us if they think someone is at risk or has developed cardiac symptoms suggestive of toxicity,” she said. “We can image the heart using echocardiography with strain imaging, which detects toxicity at an earlier stage than routine echo.”

Tinkel also will consult with patients who are already suffering from cardiac problems because of previous chemotherapy treatments. Medications can be used to reduce the risk or help with existing cardiac problems.

This new clinic benefits UTMC’s cancer patients because all of the services will be conveniently located in the Dana Cancer Center.

“We want to treat those who are already affected and help those who might be at risk, but we don’t want to make patients afraid of their chemotherapy,” Tinkel said. “We want to see patients in our clinic so they can continue their chemotherapy and radiation without sacrificing their heart health.”

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Media Coverage
WTOL 11/Fox Toledo Oct. 7, 2015
NBC 24 Nov. 4, 2015

A super-moon lunar eclipse hasn’t occurred in 32 years, but you have a chance to see one Sunday, Sept. 27.

To celebrate the rare occurrence, The University of Toledo’s Ritter Planetarium will hold a free special viewing party from 9 to 11:30 p.m., weather permitting.

The partial phase of the eclipse will begin at 9:07 p.m., according to Dr. Michael Cushing, UT associate professor of astronomy and director of the planetarium.

“From 10:11 p.m. until 11:23 p.m., the moon will be completely eclipsed,” he said. “At 11:23 p.m., the moon will begin to emerge from the Earth’s shadow, and by 12:27 a.m., the eclipse will be over.”

And if you miss it, you’ll have to wait 18 years for the alignment of the Earth between the full super moon and the sun to occur again.

Because the moon’s orbit isn’t perfectly circular, the moon is sometimes closer and sometimes farther from the Earth. On Sunday, it will be slightly closer to the Earth and it will appear about 14 percent larger, hence the “super” name, Cushing explained.

“The combination of a super moon and a lunar eclipse is uncommon; there have only been five since 1900,” Cushing said.

Earth’s satellite is often referred to as the blood moon during a total lunar eclipse.

“As the moon passes into the shadow of the Earth, red light from the sun is filtered and bent, or refracted, through the Earth’s atmosphere and onto the moon’s surface,” Cushing said.

Starting at 9 p.m., a 10-minute program explaining the total lunar eclipse will run continuously at Ritter Planetarium until 11:30 p.m.

“Even though you can see the eclipse from anywhere in the area without any special equipment, we’d like to invite you to experience the event with us,” Cushing said. “We will have several small telescopes pointed at the moon on the planetarium’s south lawn.”

Media Coverage
The Blade (Sept. 24, 2015)
The Blade (Sept. 26, 2015)
13 ABC (Sept. 28, 2015)

A recent symposium highlighted the ongoing research in hypertension being conducted at The University of Toledo.

The University of Toledo College of Medicine & Life Sciences, in conjunction with The Center for Hypertension & Personalized Medicine, hosted the symposium on Tuesday, Sept. 22, as one of a number of campus events that took place during the week of the inauguration of UT President Sharon Gaber.

During the first session of the event, pre- and post-doctoral trainees gave poster presentations that focused on their research studies.

A series of faculty oral presentations followed on the topic, “Five Decades of Seminal Contributions of UT to Research in Hypertension.”

Dr. Maurice Manning, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cancer Biology, spoke on the topic, “Thought Leaders of UT in Hypertension Research: A Historical Perspective.”

The next two talks, by Dr. Bina Joe, chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Dr. Ashok Kumar, Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, highlighted recent research into the genetics of hypertension.

Other highlights of the symposium looked at renal function, a critical area of hypertension research at UT. This series started with Dr. Christopher Cooper, executive vice president for clinical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, who has a passion for this research. Dr. Steven Haller, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine also gave a report on his related work that shows that low levels of circulating CD40 are associated with loss of kidney function in patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis.

Dr. Sharon L. Gaber will host students, faculty and staff at the President’s Backyard Barbecue Thursday, Sept. 24, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Centennial Mall.

Rocky and Rocksy will be at the event, along with the Blue Crew, to enjoy a shredded beef, shredded chicken or vegan sandwich, along with chips and cookies and lemonade and water to drink.

WXUT-FM 88.3, the student radio station, will crank up the music. And there’ll be pedal cars provided by the ROTC Program and the Ohio Army National Guard, as well as caricature artists and inflatable games.

A pep rally for Rocket football will be held at noon as part of the celebration to build excitement for the upcoming game Saturday against Arkansas State in the Glass Bowl.

The Office of the President and the Division of Student Affairs sponsor this annual event, which promises to be even more special this year.

“We have so much to celebrate — the inauguration of President Gaber and the incredible play of our Toledo Rockets on the football field,” Dr. Kaye Patten Wallace, UT vice president of student affairs, said. “Students and employees are invited to come together and show their pride in their University.”

If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the event will take place in the Student Union Auditorium.

Media Coverage
13 ABC (Sept. 25, 2015)

Recent UT graduate Neil Hetrick is currently in Germany helping local English teachers through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program.

UT faculty member Dr. Ellen Pullins, Schmidt Research Professor of Professional Sales in the UT College of Business and Innovation, is continuing relationships she built as a Fulbright Scholar this past spring in Finland.

And a UT administrator Dr. Sammy Spann, assistant provost for career services, experiential learning and international programs, participated this summer in the Fulbright International Education Administrators seminar in Japan and is now leading an effort to help more people from UT have these experiences.

The new Competitive Awards Initiative — in-line with the president’s stated goal of elevating UT on a national level — aims to assist students, faculty and administrators with applying for these types of prestigious awards that will both enhance the scholar’s education and research, as well as raise the profile of the institution.

“These highly competitive programs promote knowledge sharing and relationship building while giving students unique opportunities to engage in the global community,” UT President Sharon L. Gaber said. “These experiences are an important scholarly advancement for the Fulbright, Marshall or Rhodes Scholar as an individual, but they also elevate the prestige of the University and the positives of the Toledo community.

“Engaging with students, faculty and researchers around the world through these scholarly exchanges will enhance UT when these scholars bring what they learn from their experiences back to campus, but the relationships built during the programs also will promote UT’s reputation internationally and can help recruit faculty and students to come join us in Ohio.”

The Fulbright Program, which is the flagship international educational exchange program of the United States, is one of the primary grants for which the Competitive Awards Initiative will guide UT students through the application process.

“After researching this prestigious program, I was skeptical about my chances of being accepted, but I decided to apply anyways,” said Hetrick, who received his Fulbright U.S. Student Award to Germany during his senior year studying multi-age education at UT. “It was an extremely extended process, with a lot of revisions, preliminary interviews, and then waiting to hear back from the Fulbright Commission. Towards the middle of March, I finally heard that I had been accepted, and I was ecstatic to say the least.”

“I believe that if more people were aware of the exact details and of all the support available to them on campus throughout the application period, more people would apply in the coming years,” he added. “I would love to see several more alumni sent abroad within the next couple years!”

The Fulbright Program, as well as other major scholarship programs such as the Rhodes, Marhall and Truman, requires a university recommendation as part of the application. The Competitive Awards Initiative is now the central resource to provide that recommendation from UT, which also is now part of the National Association of Fellowship Advisers.

In addition to Fulbright, the UT Competitive Awards Initiative is prepared to assist with applications for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, Boren Scholarship, Gilman Scholarship, Harry S. Truman Scholarships, James Madison Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship, Morris Udall Scholarships, Rhodes Scholarship, Gates Millennium Scholars Program and the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM).

For additional information, visit utoledo.edu/cisp/competitiveawards.

From its founding in 1837, the city of Toledo established its connection to the world by taking as its name that of the ancient Spanish city.

“Greater Toledo: The City in the World,” the new exhibition by the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections at The University of Toledo, celebrates those global connections by examining the people and organizations from Toledo who have shaped — and been shaped by — the world.

The exhibit will open Thursday, Sept. 24, at 2:30 p.m. on the fifth floor of Carlson Library on UT’s Main Campus and is one of several events during the week of the inauguration of Dr. Sharon L. Gaber as The University of Toledo’s 17th president. Gaber and Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson will deliver brief remarks at the opening reception.

The exhibit marks the first public showing of the original “Act to Incorporate the City of Toledo, Ohio” from 1837 and the first minute book of the Toledo City Council dating from April 3 of that year. These items are part of a larger collection of early records of Toledo city government that recently were transferred by the city to the Canaday Center for preservation.

Also on display will be the 1872 articles of incorporation for the Toledo University of Arts and Trades, the predecessor to The University of Toledo. Jesup W. Scott, a newspaper publisher and real estate investor, established the University that year because he believed Toledo was destined to become the “future great city of the world.”

“The exhibit is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the long connection between the city and the University, and the connection of both to the world,” said Barbara Floyd, director of the Canaday Center and interim director of UT Libraries. “It also fits in well with the theme of Dr. Gaber’s inauguration: tradition, collaboration and transformation.”

In addition to the rare opportunity to see the founding documents of the city and the University, the exhibit will include other items of note from the Canaday Center’s collection, including records of the Association of Two Toledos, the oldest sister city relationship in the world, and items documenting Toledo’s global reach through companies such as Toledo Scale, Willys-Overland Corp. and the glass industries.

The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Friday, May 6.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Sept. 25, 2015)
NBC 24 (Sept. 25, 2015)