Veritas, Vol. 48, No. 08, May 2006

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Plot twist: One of the world’s largest KJ private film collections is moving to the School of Communication.
4 A clinical trial under way at the
University could change the way stroke patients are treated.

5 Susan Kaufman Purcell has made the
Center for Hemispheric Policy a major think tank on Latin America.
Volume 48 ■ Number 8 ■ May 2006
For the Faculty and Staff of the University of Miami
www.miami.edu/veritas
STUDENTS PASS REFERENDUM FOR NEW UNIVERSITY CENTER
When the Whitten University Center was built in 1965, the facility was hailed as a multipurpose building that would serve the needs of UM’s diverse student body. But the swell of campus organizations and the growing needs of an expanding student body over the years have outpaced the ability of the old center to accommodate students.
Soon that will change. Students recently approved a referendum that will help fund a new University Center. Beginning in the fall of 2009, students will pay an additional $150 fee per semester toward the center. Up to $40 million of the funding for the center will come from the student fee, with the remaining funding
IFrh

For a good cause: Student leaders present a check representing the $40 million in student fees that will help build a new University Center.
to be secured through philanthropy and other funding sources.
UM’s new student life complex will be a highly accessible hub of activity. Housed under one roof, student organizations of all kinds will be able to share resources, offer joint programs, and benefit from the synergy that comes from close proximity. Among its features:
•	a 10,000-square-foot student organization suite of offices for student groups;
•	a large multipurpose room adaptable for banquets, lectures, or dance practices;
•	indoor and outdoor dining facilities;
•	a fully equipped media center that will support WVUM Radio, Ibis yearbook, and The Miami Hurricane;
•	a 400-seat auditorium/theatre;
•	an expanded Rathskeller;
•	computer and production facilities, and more.
The new Student Activities Center will be located along Lake Osceola, extending from the Miller Drive campus entrance to the Whitten University Center and its Stanford Drive access.
$

Commencement honors: The University’s spring commencement exercises will honor distinguished individuals such as Madeleine Albright, Raúl Rivero Castañeda, and former Miller School Dean John G. Clarkson.
The University’s graduating students will be recognized at commencement exercises
Commencement to honor distinguished individuals
T——
tary of state, an internationally
known artist who is viewed by many as the father of Americas studio glass movement, and a physician who transformed a medical school into one of the nation’s most prestigious are among the distinguished individuals who will be honored at the University’s spring commencement ceremonies.
The president and chief executive officer of Discovery Communications,
Inc., Judith McHale is regarded as one the nation’s most successful female executives. During her tenure at Discovery, McHale has overseen the launch of three networks—Animal Planet, the Travel Channel, and Discovery Health Channel—and the acquisition of The Learning Channel.
She will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the May 12,
8:30 a.m. ceremony for the School of Business Administration and the College of Engineering.
Raúl Rivero Castañeda is a poet and journalist who spent decades of his life fighting for a free press in Cuba.
He is perhaps best known outside of the Cuban community as one of 73 intellectuals and journalists accused of “spreading enemy propaganda” and jailed in Cuba’s 2003 dissident crackdown. Since his release in 2004, Rivero has spoken out about Cuba’s repressive regime and is currently a columnist for El Nuevo Herald and for the Spanish newspaper, El Mundo. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the May 12, 12:30 p.m. ceremony for the Schools of Architecture,
Communication, Education, Nursing and Health Studies, and the Frost School of Music.
Madeleine Albright was sworn in as the 64th U.S. secretary of state on January 23, 1997, becoming the first woman to hold the post. She began her career in politics and foreign policy in 1976, when she became a legislative assistant to Senator Edmund Muskie and, two years later, was named legislative liaison on President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Council. In the early 1980s, she was awarded a highly competitive Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and served as a senior fellow in Soviet and East European Affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
She now runs a global strategy firm and teaches at Georgetown University. She will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws at the May 12, 3 p.m. ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Dale Chihuly is an internationally
known artist credited with transforming the ancient art of glassblowing into a modern, dynamic craft. His installations of room-sized, brightly colored sculptural forms grace museums and galleries, businesses and hotels, and opera houses and airports throughout the world. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the College of Arts and Sciences ceremony.
John G. Clarkson presided over the
most dynamic period of growth in the history of the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine during his ten years as senior vice president for medical affairs and dean. A graduate of the UM medical school and former director of its nationally acclaimed Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Clarkson has recruited significant research and academic talent to the University and
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The Miami Project enters a new era
G
ignaling a new era of hope for
people in wheelchairs, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis plans to establish a human clinical trials program that will most likely involve a combination of cell therapy and drug treatments to improve the outcomes of patients with acute and chronic spinal cord injuries.
“It won’t be just a magic bul let,” says W.
Dalton Dietrich,
The Miami Project’s scientific director. “It will be a combination of drugs, cell therapy, and rehabilitation to induce improvement in both motor and sensory function.”
The clinical trials initiative, which could begin in the next several years at
Closer to a cure: Gloria and Emilio Estefan with Marc Buoniconti at the ceremony announcing the couple’s $1 million gift.
the University of Miami, is being initiated by a generous gift of $ 1 million from Gloria and Emilio Estefan, longtime supporters of The Miami Project. Gloria Estefan is a UM alumna and trustee.
One possible clinical trial might involve an innovative combination therapy that was developed by two Miami Project researchers and helped spinal cord-injured rats
regain up to 70 percent of their normal walking function.
In their three-step therapy, Mary Bartlett Bunge and Damien Pearse used a messenger molecule called cyclic adenosine monophosphate, or cyclic
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