Veritas, Vol. 46, No. 01, September 2003

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■K The sound of music is in the air w again as Festival Miami celebrates its 20th anniversary.
/ I Inspired by a design in Europe, the I University’s new labyrinth provides a little medicine for the mind.
5 From wireless access to fiber optics, Stewart Seruya is helping UM reach the top of the tech world.
Volume 46 ■ Number 1 ■ September 2003
For the Faculty and Staff of the University of Miami
www.miami.edu/veritas
MOVIN’ON UP: UM HIGHLY RATED BY NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Gridirons and baseball diamonds are not the only places the University of Miami achieves stellar rankings. The University moved up six spots in the 2004 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of “America’s Best Colleges.” In the category of Best National Universi-ties-Doctoral, UM jumped from number 66 last year to number 60 this year, placing the institution just ten spots away from a position among the 50 best national universities.
Meanwhile, in the Princeton Review’s annual college guidebook, The Best 351 Colleges, UM was ranked fifth best in both the “Great College Town” and “Most Beautiful Campus” categories, and ninth on the “Diverse Student Population” list.
UM’s Coral Gables campus has been ranked one of the nation’s most beautiful.
MAKING THE GRADE: UM/JACKSON PROGRAMS AMONG BEST IN THE NATION
Nine specialties at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center are recognized as among the best in the nation in the 14th annual survey of “America’s Best Hospitals,” published in the
July 28th issue of U.S. News & World Report.
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, UM’s Department of Ophthalmology, was once again ranked the No. 2 eye hospital in the United States. It has been in first or second place each year the rankings have been published.
UM’s other ranked specialties: kidney disease (ranked No. 21); geriatrics (25); ear, nose, and throat (30); digestive disorders (32); hormonal disorders (34); urology (36); rheumatology (37); and orthopaedics (38). Moving up in the rankings: kidney disease; geriatrics; ear, nose, and throat; and digestive disorders.
Welcome to the family: UM athletic director Paul Dee, left, and Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver, right, accept shirts bearing the ACC logo from conference commissioner John Swofford.
Conference known for its academics and commitment to Olympic sports
ACCepted: UM joins the Atlantic Coast Conference
Perhaps it was a premonition, a look at the future. When the University of Miami men’s basketball team took on the North Carolina Tar Fieels last January in a sold-out Convocation Center, the game represented a lot more than a match-up between BIG EAST and Atlantic Coast Conference teams.
Though no one could have pedicted it then, it was a glimpse into what ACC basketball is all about: sellout arenas, fast-paced action, and storied basketball programs with rich traditions.
Soon that atmosphere will be the norm not only for basketball but for all of UM’s sports now that the University has accepted an invitation to join the Atlantic Coast Conference starting in the 2004-2005 academic year. The announcement, made this summer, ended weeks of speculation that saw a flurry of proposals, counterproposals, conference calls between university presidents, and the filing of a lawsuit.
“The ACC has built a remarkable conference based on high academic and athletic expectations,” President Donna E. Shalala said. “This decision allows us to provide an opportunity for all of our student-athletes to compete at the highest level.”
Said Athletic Director Paul Dee:
“Our decision was based upon many factors including the future of our overall athletics program and our financial and competitive interests over the long term.”
UM will leave the BIG EAST after 12 seasons. Its legacy during that time:
Hurricane athletic teams have won 32 team championships and nearly 200 individual titles. Longtime BIG EAST rival Virginia Tech also is joining the ACC, pushing that conference’s membership to 11 teams.
The move does not come without a price, though: Miami will pay the BIG EAST a $ 1 million exit fee and the ACC a $2 million entrance fee over the next few years.
In a last-minute effort to keep Miami, the BIG EAST offered a lucrative short-term financial package, but the move to the ACC offers better long-term security, according to UM officials, because of the conference’s commitment to Olympic sports, academic vision, proximity, and the way in which it allocates disbursements.
“In the BIG EAST, which has worked for us up until now, the more successful you were, the more money you got,” Shalala said. “If you look at the ACC, it’s an even distribution.
Everyone gets the same thing. In addition to that, the ACC could better accommodate all of our sports.”
In the 2001-2002 academic year, for example, ACC schools received $9.7 million each. UM, on the other hand, made less that year—a reported $9.3 million as a member of the BIG EAST, despite appearing in a Bowl Championship Series game and winning the National Championship. The equal-revenue sharing policy also allows schools to budget accordingly.
Other benefits: The University’s travel budget will experience some
relief as travel costs for sports such as track, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, volleyball, rowing, and swimming and diving will be much lower when the Hurricanes enter a regionalized conference. What’s more, UM’s athletic teams will be able to travel closer to game time, allowing student-athletes more class and study time.
But as much as the University’s bottom line has been pushed as the driving force behind the move, Miami’s decision to join the ACC is as much about academics as it is money. At the Continued on page 3
Pap Corps gives $10 million to UM/Sylvester
rhe 13,000-member Papanicolaou Corps for Cancer Research has

donated a record-setting $10 million for the physicians and scientists of the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
It is the first major philanthropic announcement for the University of Miami and UM/
Sylvester in Palm Beach County and the largest gift in the history of the Pap Corps, a volunteer group with members across four counties that has supported cancer research at UM for 51 years.
Papanicolaou Corps leaders delivered a $2 million “down payment” to UM President Donna E. Shalala recently at a luncheon at the Boca Raton Resort and Club.
“Cancer is something that affects everybody, whether directly or indi-
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UM/Sylvester Director W. Jarrard Goodwin says the gift will help fund vital cancer research.
rectly—it affects you no matter what,” says Gloria Berkowitz, president of the Pap Corps, which is now headquartered at the new UM/Sylvester at Deerfield Beach. “A lot of our members are survivors and truly believe, as I do, that the cure will only come from research.” The organization’s ongoing support funds critical research at UM/Sylvester, including work in tumor immunology, cancer cell biology, and genetics. It also has assisted investigations of melanoma, ovarian cancer, and new diagnostic tools for a variety of cancers at the region’s only university-based cancer center.
“Research cures cancer, and no group works harder than the Pap Corps to support that effort,” says UM/ Sylvester Director W. Jarrard Goodwin. “Their success this year in a very tough economy is nothing short of incredible.”