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Study Finds Hormone Makes Dairy Farming More Efficient

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A study conducted at Cornell by the D.E. Bauman research group revealed that dairy cows that receive Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rbST) have a higher milk efficiency, which in turn lowers their carbon footprints. RbST is an FDA approved artificial growth hormone that allows cows to more efficiently use nutrients so that fewer cows are required to produce the same amount of milk.
“On an individual cow basis we get eight percent less manure, less feed, less land, less water [when supplemented with rbST]. We get less methane, nitrogen and phosphorus coming out of the cow,” said Judith Capper, animal science, the lead author of the study. “The cows give an extra 10 ounces of milk.”

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University Elects Five New Members to Board of Trustees

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Cornell is the only Ivy League University to have students, faculty and staff as full members on the Board of Trustees, in addition to alumni. In its annual process of electing new trustees, the Board recently added five new names to the 64-person list of members, including a faculty member, staff member, graduate student, and two alumni.
“I think it’s important to have a faculty voice at the Board of Trustees to maintain a connection between the deliberations and decisions of the Board and the activities and priorities of the University from a faculty and student perspective,” said new Faculty Trustee Prof. Rosemary Avery, chair of the Department of Policy Analysis and Management

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Puerto Rican Government Grants Funds to Arecibo

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The Cornell-managed Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has been under cost-cutting pressure due to budget cuts by the National Science Foundation. However, the observatory received a break with a new partnership agreement signed last week to bring in $2.3 million annually to Arecibo.
The National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center and the Puerto Rico Department of Education will run the program together, though the Department of Education will contribute the funds.
The money will go to fund a program called “Inspiration to Science,” which aims to educate kindergarten through 12th grade Puerto Rican school children.

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LGBT Advocacy: A 40 Year Tradition Continues

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In 1968, Cornell students created the Student Homophile League, making Cornell the second university in the country to have a gay student organization. In the past 40 years, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender activism at Cornell has continued to evolve and support the LGBT community.
An exhibit in Olin Library titled “Queer Cornell: LGBT student activism, 1968-2008” opened on April 11. It displays quarter cards, flyers and pictures chronicling LGBT activism on campus since the SHL was created in 1968.

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Profs React to National Writing Report Card

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When the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress Writing Assessment came out two weeks ago, the results — which have improved little in the recent past — raised questions about our nation’s education system.
The study found that about a third of eighth graders and one fourth of twelfth graders scored at the proficient level in writing. The report, called “The Nation’s Report Card,” revealed that there was no improvement in the proficiency level of students.

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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Donates $26.8 Million

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The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website declares that two simple values lie at the core of the foundation’s work: all lives, no matter where they are being lived, have equal value; and to whom much is given, much is expected.
To this extent, the Gates Foundation has granted Cornell $26.8 million to fund the Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat program.
“The overall mission of this project is to protect world wheat production from the urgent threat posed by new variants of stem rust disease emerging out of East Africa,” reads the project’s executive summary. “The expected impact is to prevent catastrophic losses of wheat production among resource-poor farmers in Africa and Asia.”

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C.U. Ranked as a Top Company for Exec. Women

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The National Association for Female Executives has named Cornell as one of the nation’s top companies for executive women.
Cornell was the only university amongst NAFE’s top five non-profit organizations that won the award and was ranked third in the category. According to NAFE’s website, the awards were given to companies with a minimum of two women serving as executives that applied. The application focused on the number of women in senior ranks compared to the number of men and included questions about programs that support the advancement of women.

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Senate Inquiries Analyze Endowment Spending of Wealthiest Universities

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In January, the Senate Finance Committee, led by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) sent letters to the presidents of 136 universities with the highest endowments requesting information about tuition, financial aid and endowment usage, among other issues. Of the universities who were sent inquiries, Cornell was the first to respond to the committee.
By the Feb. 21 deadline, only 30 universities had sent in their replies. According to a Baucus aide, responses are still coming in. Many universities reportedly requested an extension in order to give a more thorough response.

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Colleges Discuss Showing Course Evals to Students

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The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences recently changed its policy regarding course evaluations, enabling both the numerical and written parts of the course evaluations in CALS to be made public. However, many of the deans at other colleges are hesitant to create the same level of transparency with regard to course evaluation policies.
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Lepage is worried that the evaluations would serve too many purposes if made public.
“Faculty members are using them to get feedback on the course, details of the course structure, whether the textbook works, and department chairs are using them to keep an eye on the quality of the teaching,” said Lepage, adding that this would hinder their usefulness to students.

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Research Finds Protein That Regulates DNA

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Conducting basic research can often have unexpectedly important implications for human health.
That’s just what happened to a research team at Cornell that discovered how a protein named PARP-1 binds to genes and regulates their expression. Their work could have important impacts in diagnosing a number of diseases.
The researchers found that the location of the protein has a significant impact on human genes.
Prof. W. Lee Kraus, molecular biology, Matthew J. Gamble Ph.D. and Raga Krishnakumar grad co-authored an article about the research, which appeared in the Feb. 8 issue of the journal Science. The National Institutes of Health funded the research.