newswire

COMMENCEMENT 2007
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg offered Tufts graduates five prescriptions for a happy life, among them “you gotta take risks” and “you can’t do it alone.” “Actually, there’s a sixth,” he added. “Don’t forget to call your mother—which I do every day.” full story

HEADED TO MARS
When the Phoenix Mars Lander alights on the Red Planet in May 2008, it will scoop up soil and test its hospitability to life. Tufts chemist Sam Kounaves and his students designed and built some of the instruments. full story

FEDERAL APPOINTMENT
Miriam E. Nelson, N85, N87, director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Tufts, has been appointed vice chair of a Health and Human Services advisory committee that will develop recommendations for the first federal guidelines on physical activity. full story

SAILING CHAMPS
The Tufts women’s sailing team won its first New England Championship since 2001, slipping past Harvard for the Reed Trophy in races off New London, Connecticut. full story

DIVERSITY POST
Lisa Coleman, director of Tufts’ Africana Center for the past eight years, has been appointed executive director of the university’s new Office of Institutional Diversity. full story

ENDOWED CHAIRS
Tufts University and the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates, have established two endowed professorships at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. full story

HEALTH CARE MISSION
A team from Tufts spent a month in Nicaragua, providing medical and dental care to villagers in the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. full story

MEDICAL STUDIES
A new curriculum at the School of Medicine, set to debut in fall 2009, will create small “learning communities” to promote active learning, student-faculty interaction, and a greater sense of community. full story (pdf)

MASTER OF LAWS
The Fletcher School is adding a new degree program: a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law. It will be the first LLM program at a non-law school in the United States. full story

SHAPING UP
A community-based program that targets childhood obesity is improving the health of residents in one of the university’s host communities. “A lot of people making a few small changes added up to this huge thing,” noted Christina Economos, N96, the pediatric nutritionist who created the Shape Up Somerville program. full story

ROAD TRIP
Three 2007 Tufts graduates, friends since freshman year, are traveling the East Coast this summer to make a documentary for the PBS show Roadtrip Nation. “We’re looking forward to meeting with people who are successful —people who have created their own unique path and are making an impact,” said Mike Stone, who majored in psychology. full story