Veritas, Vol. 45, No. 06, March 2003

              Volume 45 ■ Number 6 ■ March 2003
For the
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:
UM RAISES MORE THAN $1 MILLION FOR UNITED WAY
Faculty and staff came through again this year for the United Way, raising more than $1 million. More than $800,000 of the total was raised via employee pledges and fundraising, and another $200,000 from an anonymous gift to be used by the School of Medicine. Additionally, 303 employees pledged one percent of their annual salary, up from 263 last year.
“Despite the challenges of our economy, University faculty and staff once again proved that they support all the efforts of the United Way by their record contributions,” says Vice President for Student Affairs and United Way campaign chairperson Patricia A. Whitely.
EASY RIDERS: SHALALA AND HARLEY-DAVIDSON CEO RIDE ONTO CAMPUS
It was motorcycle madness on the University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus recently when UM President Donna E. Shalala piggybacked on a brand-new Harley-Davidson driven by the motorcycle company’s CEO, Jeffrey I. Bleustein, for a ride to UM’s School of Business Administration.
Gift will help fund spinal cord and orthopaedics research
School of Medicine receives $5 million donation
From left, Sebastian, Bleustein, President Shalala, and School of Business Administration dean Paul K. Sugrue.
Bleustein was in town to speak on “Celebrating Freedom, Adventure, and Individual Expression:
100 Years of Tradition” as part of the Northern Trust Bank lecture series at the business school.
He and Shalala arrived via Harley for Bleustein’s speech at the school’s Storer Auditorium, where they were greeted on bikes by a group of University administrators who are HOGs—members of the Harley Owners Group, with an estimated 650,000 members worldwide.
The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the Department of Orthopaedics at the School of Medicine have received a $5 million cash gift from longtime supporter and South Florida philanthropist Christine Lynn.
The $5 million gift, announced recently at a ceremony at the School of Medicine, will go to enhance regeneration research programs at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and pelvic trauma research in the Department of Orthopaedics.
As a result of Lynn’s generosity, $2.5 million will be allocated for the Christine E. Lynn distinguished chair in honor of Barth A. Green for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and
$2.5 million for the Christine E. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Trauma in honor of Gregory Zych. Both Green and Zych treated Lynn’s late husband, Eugene M. Lynn.
The endowments will support the ongoing critical regeneration research efforts at The Miami Project—promising research into making axons regrow in the injured or damaged area of the spinal cord—and Zych’s pelvic trauma research efforts to make surgery safer and more efficient.
Green is chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery, as well as professor and chair of Clinical Research Laboratories at The Lois Pope LIFE Center. Zych, meanwhile, is associate professor and associate chairman for clinical affairs in the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation.
Since 1995, Christine Lynn and her late husband, E. M. Lynn, have been supporters of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. This gift, which continues their tradition of generosity toward the crusade to cure those suffering from spinal cord injury, brings their total giving to the University to more than $5.6 million.
“I have been very impressed with the dedication offered by Dr. Green and all of the staff of The Miami
Half of South Florida philanthropist Christine Lynn’s $5 million donation will help support regeneration research programs at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
Project to allow those with spinal cord injury to enjoy a much better quality of life as well as providing hope that
a cure for paralysis will soon be found,” Lynn says.
Mirroring the philanthropy of his benefactor, Green named Mary Bunge, senior researcher at The Miami Project, to the chair named in his honor, emphasizing the importance of Bunge’s research on the regeneration of axons damaged due to spinal cord injury.
“We are very thankful for the guidance, vision, and financial support offered by Christine Lynn,” says Green of the $2.5 million gift to The Miami Project. “Her commitment to The Miami Project inspires us all as we continue on our quest for a paralysis cure.” Green is president and cofounder of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis,
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Class acts: UM honors three for top teaching
hree University of Miami profes-representing academic disciplines in medicine, physics, and foreign languages, are winners of the Faculty Senate’s new Outstanding Teaching Award.
The winners are J. Donald Temple, medicine; George C.
Alexandrakis, physics; and Benjiman Daniel Webb, foreign languages and literatures. The award recognizes superior teaching by full-time faculty members across the University.
The Faculty Senate can select up to two recipients annually for the award. Alexandrakis and Temple are winners of the 2002 award, while Webb is the recipient of the 2003 award. A recent ceremony honor ing the three took place on the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Faculty Senate charter. Each award
recipient recently shared their views and philosophies on teaching.
Webb, a professor of German in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Depart-
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J. Donald Temple, second from left, receives the new Outstanding Teaching Award from Faculty Senate chair Jane E. Connolly. Also present are Temple’s School of Medicine colleagues, assistant professors David J. Arnold, left, and Orlando Silva.
ment of Foreign Languages and Literatures, has been a UM faculty member since 1968. He has been a resident master at both Mahoney and Pearson
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