We have two New Topics New College lectures this month. Both promise to be fascinating:

 

For over two decades, Dr. Michael Mullan has been involved with finding the causes of, and new treatments for, Alzheimer's disease, a disorder which afflicts increasing numbers of individuals as the world's population ages. Dr. Mullan will discuss the focal points in Alzheimer's research from the discovery of the seminal findings of rare genetic errors which trigger the whole gamut of Alzheimer's pathology to the present day search for novel treatments to combat the disease. Sarasota County has one of the highest concentrations of elderly in the world and, as a consequence, has one of the highest prevalences of Alzheimer's disease and is therefore a sentinel to the impact of Alzheimer's Disease on aging populations. The urgent need for novel therapies is therefore, every day apparent and this seminar will reveal the work of the Roskamp Institute and other groups worldwide to combat this growing threat. 

 

Medicine, Atom by Atom:  From the Atomic Force Microscope to the Clinic - Dr. Paul Hansma '64, biophysicist     

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

 

For 25 years, the Paul Hansma Research Group at the University of California at Santa Barbara has been developing Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs) for a startling variety of scientific uses.  This ingenious device -- New College uses one in its own research on carbon nanotubes - has shown there are adhesive molecules in abalone shell, bone and other materials that use the nanoscale mechanism of "sacrificial bonds" and "hidden length" to dissipate energy and protect these materials from fracture. These instruments have the potential to diagnose bone fragility and guide development of new therapies for decreasing bone fragility.

To register for either event, click here.

 

April 18th - 3:00 - 5:30 p.m.

Harry Sudakoff Conference Center, New College Campus

Tickets: $50/person

 

A panel of prominent national experts will share their views and field your questions on the current state and outlook for the housing industry. Panelists will include:

• Ken Prewitt, Bloomberg Radio Anchor and Panel Moderator
• Constance Mitchell-Ford, Real Estate Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, discussing the media and housing policy issues
• John Silvia, Chief Economist for Wells Fargo, discussing latest information on housing demographics
• David Berson, Consulting Economist and former Chief Economist at PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and Fannie Mae, discussing The Outlook for House Prices in 2012 and 2013: When will They Turn Upward?
• David Crowe, Chief Economist for the National Association of Homebuilders, discussing new housing construction, especially single-family vs. multifamily

Co-presented by the Global Interdependence Center and sponsored by Cumberland Advisors, Wells Fargo and Biz 941.

To register, click here, or for more information, please call 487-4800.

New College of Florida has been ranked the No. 3 "Best Value Public College in America" for 2012 by The Princeton Review, one of America's best known education services companies, and USA TODAY, one of the nation's most widely read newspapers. The No. 1 rated public institution was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Your "License" for Knowledge  

 

Our special edition New College license plates are a great way for Florida residents to show support for the state's honors college. The additional cost to you is only $25 annually which goes straight to New College. Please join fellow supporters who have generated over $140,000 to support scholarships and other academic needs at the College. For more information, contact your local Florida Department of Motor Vehicles offices and tell them you want to switch to a New College of Florida specialty plate.   Get your "License" for Knowledge!

  

We are proud to announce the second largest individual gift in New College's history.  The gift, which is part of the Heidi H. Boothe estate, is expected to top $3 million in assets and property when liquidated, according to attorney Bob Johnson, administrator of the Boothe estate.  The gift was made in honor of Boothe's daughter, Sharon Boothe Rider, a New College graduate, who died unexpectedly in 2004.

 

"This magnificent gift testifies to the powerful effects that a New College education can have across the generations," said New College of Florida President Mike Michalson in announcing the gift.  "Certainly the Boothe family name will live through the beneficial impact of this gift in the decades to come."

 

Heidi H. Boothe was one of the early pioneers of Tallevast, Florida.  For more than 50 years, she owned and operated a substantial cattle ranch in the area and was known for her hard work and outgoing personality, as well as for her love of animals and interest in environmental conservation.  She also was renowned for her spirit of adventure.  Breaking the gender barrier, Boothe was one of the first female pilots to join the Sarasota Flying Club.  She loved to race cars as well and counted an antique Porsche among her prized possessions.  She died on October 10, 2011, at the age of 90.

 

Boothe's gift continues a milestone fundraising run for The New College Promise Campaign.  Over the past 18 months, the Campaign has raised more than $21 million in outright and planned gifts.  

 

Interpretations of Twentieth Century Art: Sharing the Scholarship 2012

 

Ringling Museum of Art, Johnson-Blalock Education Building (rm. 1003-1004), 5401 Bay Shore Road

MAR. 5 - APR. 2, 2012

3:30-5:00 p.m., Mondays (except March 26)

 

New College of Florida students will give a series of lectures on Contemporary Artists and Women Artists at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art beginning March 5 through April 2, 2012, with a break on March 26 during the college's spring break. This fifth annual series of lectures will take place in the museum's Johnson-Blalock Education Center (5401 Bay Shore Road) on Mondays from 3:30 pm to 5 pm in room 1003-1004. In sharing their scholarship with a wider audience, students will explore their own ideas and encounter others whose experience with these works may differ from their own. This year's Ringling lecture series papers were chosen from several New College courses including American Painting of the Twentieth Century, International Postmodernism and Women Artists Through the Ages.

Free. No reservations required. For information, call 941-487-4888. 

Donors to Watch

 

Our thanks to the Rita B. LaMere Memorial Foundation Trust which has gifted New College with its second installment of a five-year grant for environmental research.

 

Monies from the first year were used for two research projects. The first focused on upgrading the Toxicology Laboratory's analytical equipment for use by Professor Elzie McCord and his students'  research on the Drosphila suzukii. This invasive Asian fruit fly has the potential to seriously affect backyard fruit growers and the Florida small-fruit industry.   The second project involved funding for dolphin-behavioral research and the purchase of an observation and experiment platform, allowing Professors Heidi Harley and Gordon Bauer and their students to work over the center of the captive-dolphin tank.

 

The monies from the 2nd year of the grant will build on the equipment purchased from the first year and will support continued work on the fruit fly and dolphin research. Monies will also be allotted for the purchase of a new sound acquisition system for study on captive dolphins and manatees, allowing for research on sound processing (hearing, vocalizations, stress responses) in these species. New this year will be the addition of a seminar, taught by Visiting Instructor of Geography Jieun Lee to introduce Environmental Studies students to the study of Sarasota's urban built environment and its link to economic changes and underlying environmental conditions. Students will learn how to use a computer based mapping system and create maps and spatial representations of Sarasota and Florida.

 

The New College interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program has been an integral part of the New College curriculum since 1972.

 

 

New College Library Association in conjunction with the AJC (American Jewish Committee) is proud to present Fighting the Fires of Hate:  America and the Nazi Book Burnings, an exhibition from the collection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The exhibit runs through March 30, 2012 at the Jane Bancroft Cook Library on the New College of Florida campus.

 

This exhibit is an important one for the Sarasota community. 

Click here to see why. 

 

The exhibit focuses on how a series of book burnings, initiated by German university students on May 10, 1933, became a powerful symbol during World War II, prompting counter demonstrations in New York and other American cities. The books of many noted American writers - Ernest Hemingway, Upton Sinclair, Helen Keller, Jack London and others - were included in the burnings. Among the books targeted for destruction were the works of Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who in 1822 penned the remarkably prophetic words, "Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too."

 

For more information, please contact the Jane Bancroft Cook Library at 487-4300 or visit donate.ncf.edu/holocaustexhibit.