Press Releases in 2012

Feeding tubes may worsen pressure ulcer risk

In the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers report that despite the conventional wisdom that feeding tubes help dementia patients resist pressure ulcers, feeding tubes actually are associated with an increased risk of ulcers developing. The tubes also don’t promote healing. (Distributed May 14, 2012)

Five-limbed brittle stars move bilaterally, like people

Why bother with turns or pivots?:  The brittle star doesn’t turn as most animals do. It simply designates another of its five limbs as its new front and continues moving forward.
Brittle stars and people have something in common: They move in fundamentally similar ways. Though not bilaterally symmetrical like humans and many other animals, brittle stars have come up with a mechanism to choose any of its five limbs to direct its movement on the seabed. It’s as if each arm can be the creature's front, capable of locomotion and charting direction. Results appear in the Journal of Experimental Biology. (Distributed May 10, 2012)
Opening June 9 at the Bell Gallery

Rolemodelplaytime explores identity in play

 Kent Rogowski, Bears 45  (2006)C-print, 16 x 20 inches
Opening June 9, 2012, at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, rolemodelplaytime is an imaginative exhibition featuring works in a variety of media that explore the way we create lasting identity through play. Rolemodelplaytime includes works by Hannah Barrett, Caleb Cole, Jane Maxwell, Randy Regier, Kent Rogowski, and TRIIIBE. (Distributed May 8, 2012)

Brown and Exeter agree to closer faculty ties

Fostering a meaningful and sustainable collaboration:  Ruth J. Simmons and Sir Steve Smith, presidents of Brown University and the University of Exeter, signed memoranda for faculty exchanges and further strengthening of ties between the two universities. At left is Matthew Gutmann, Brown’s vice president for international affairs.
President Ruth J. Simmons and Professor Sir Steve Smith, president of the University of Exeter, signed two memoranda of understanding, partnering for faculty exchanges under the Brown Global Forums initiative and further strengthening ties between the two universities. (Distributed May 3, 2012)

Chris Matthews Ogden Lecture is postponed

POSTPONED
Chris Matthews, host of Hardball who was to have delivered a Stephen A. Ogden Jr. ’60 Memorial Lecture this evening (May 1, 2012), has been called away on assignment. The lecture will be rescheduled. (Distributed May 1, 2012)
Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture

Pico Iyer to deliver Shearer Lecture

Pico Iyer:  The 12th annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture
Pico Iyer, author of The Man Within My Head, The Open Road, and The Global Soul, will deliver the 12th annual Casey Shearer Memorial Lecture at Brown University on Monday, May 7, 2012. His talk, titled “Honorary Citizens of the 21st Century: Our New Planetary Order of Movement and Stillness,” begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Martinos Auditorium. (Distributed May 1, 2012)
A Message from President Simmons

Brown builds on its commitment to Providence and Rhode Island

After months of discussion: Success:  Mayor Angel Taveras and President Ruth J. Simmons celebrate an agreement that will benefit the University, the state and the city.
On Tuesday, May 1, 2012, Brown President Ruth J. Simmons, Gov. Lincoln Chafee, and Mayor Angel Taveras announced an agreement that will benefit the University, the state and the city. Brown will provide an additional $31.5 million in support for the city over the next 11 years, and the city and state will support and facilitate Brown’s continuing efforts to develop itself as an internationally renowned research environment. The text of President Simmons’s message to the Brown community follows here. (Distributed May 1, 2012)