newswire

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Two Fletcher School professors—William Moomaw and Adil Najam—serve on the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. full story

HUMANITIES CENTER
A new Center for the Humanities and the Arts will open its doors in January. The center will feature “all kinds of programming and events that will bring together scholars in the humanities, along with writers and intellectuals,” said Jonathan Wilson, professor of English, who will lead the enterprise. full story

DIVERSE CLASS
The undergraduate Class of 2011 is the most socioeconomically diverse class in recent years. Increased financial aid and new recruitment strategies yielded “more room to maneuver to create the type of socioeconomic diversity we want,” said Lee Coffin, dean of undergraduate admissions. full story

CARBON TAX
Environmental legislation based on the work of the Tufts economist Gilbert Metcalf is among the bills Congress is scheduled to take up this fall aimed at lowering carbon emissions. full story

EXECUTIVE VP
Patricia Campbell, the former executive associate dean at the School of Dental Medicine, is Tufts’ new executive vice president. full story

SCHWEITZER FELLOWS
Nine health sciences students are working in communities that lack adequate health care as 2007–08 Tufts Schweitzer Fellows. “I will gain fellowship, mentorship, cultural awareness, and the opportunity to set up a project that directly aids an underserved community,” said Parita Patel, D08, who is developing an oral health education program for homeless, high-risk, and runaway youth in Boston. full story

UNIVERSITY SEMINAR
The Provost’s Office is launching a new cross-school initiative, the University Seminar, in which faculty from at least two Tufts schools will team-teach a course on a pressing societal problem, such as AIDS or climate change, from the perspective of multiple disciplines. full story

INTERFAITH CENTER
The former home of the Tufts Catholic Center on the Medford/Somerville campus has been transformed into a center “to enhance the spiritual and religious life on campus for everyone,” said the Reverend David O’Leary, university chaplain. full story

ENDOWED CHAIRS
Three faculty members in the School of Arts & Sciences have been appointed to endowed professorships. They are Howard Malchow (history), Sergei Mirkin (biology), and Mark Richard (philosophy). full story

HUNGRY BUGS
Even bacteria get really hungry. That’s the conclusion of microbiologist Abraham Sonenshein, who is studying the genetics behind why the bacterium Clostridium difficile causes tens of thousands of cases of diarrhea, and at least 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. Simply put, the bugs create problems when they are ravenous. That finding might result in new treatments. full story

DIABETES RESEARCH
A hormone that looks like a bouquet of flowers could help physicians identify patients who are likely to develop type 2 diabetes, a disease that has reached epidemic status in the United States. full story

DROUGHT RELIEF
Selling off their livestock allows African pastoralists to survive hardship, while continuing to feed their families, support their commu-nities, and sustain their livelihoods, according to researchers at Tufts’ Feinstein International Center. full story