The appointment will begin July 1. For the past 15 months, Heipp has served as interim director of the program. The professor of painting was selected to lead the school’s faculty and programs in art education, art history, ceramics, creative photography, digital media, drawing, graphic design, museum studies, painting, printmaking, sculpture and visual arts studies.

The College of Fine Arts’ School of Art + Art History is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and contributor to the College of Fine Arts’ mission of serving as an educational, professional and cultural resource in the visual arts for the campus, community, state and region. The school has more than 30 full-time faculty, approximately 400 undergraduate students and more than 200 graduate students.

“Richard has been instrumental in leading the school’s faculty in forward-looking curriculum development and facilities usage,” College of Fine Arts Dean Lucinda Lavelli said. “He has helped the school establish important interdisciplinary programs and relationships, bridging UF’s research mission with the learning objectives of fine arts programs in the Gator Nation. He has been, and continues to be, a mentor to many emerging and professional artists. Our alumni, faculty, and current students join the college in celebrating this announcement and anticipate continued achievements for the school under his leadership.”

Heipp received his MFA from the University of Washington, and his BFA degree from Cleveland Institute of Art. He is a painter who has also created large-scale installations and site-specific public art projects that synthesize digital and analogue processes. Heipp has had more than 25 solo exhibitions and his work has been featured in more than 100 group exhibitions. His paintings and installations are included in numerous public and private collections nationally including the Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art, the Harn Museum of Art, the Progressive Companies, Miami University and the City of Seattle.

Heipp has been awarded commissions for eighteen major site-specific art in public places projects through national competition or direct invitation. Heipp has received four State of Florida, Individual Artist Fellowships, a Southern Arts Federation/National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in painting, and was honored by the Southeastern College Arts Association, receiving the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award for 2006.

In addition, Heipp was awarded a Research Foundation Professorship by the University of Florida in 1999, and was honored as the 2008-2009 Teacher of the Year at the University of Florida College of Fine Arts.

As part of her role, she will oversee the Sebastian Ferrero Office of Clinical Quality and Patient Safety at UF&Shands. The quality and safety programs implemented through this new office, named in honor of 3-year-old Sebastian, will benefit all patients, not just children.

“Ms. Harmatz is a results-oriented health care leader with a proven track record for facilitating change and sustaining improvement,” said Dr. David S. Guzick, senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System.

“The addition of Ms. Harmatz to our team is an extremely important step,” Guzick added. “Job 1 for UF&Shands is to ensure safe, high-quality care for our patients. She will galvanize our efforts to establish a culture of quality and safety that extends to every member of our academic health center community.”

Since 2004, Harmatz has been responsible for all aspects of the quality program, including clinical performance improvement, for the 947-bed UH CMC Academic Medical Center. In addition, she provided quality oversight and leadership at seven facilities in the University Hospitals system.

During her tenure, the institution’s ranking rose from 74th to ninth in the University HealthSystem Consortium, an alliance of 114 academic medical centers and 255 of their affiliated hospitals. She also has a rich history of collaboration with physicians.

“What attracted me to the field of quality improvement is it enables me to work directly with the caregiver and bring change to the bedside,” Harmatz said. “I can’t personally deliver medical care, but I can help build a culture dedicated to improvement and support our caregivers in efforts to provide a safe, high-quality patient experience.”

At UF&Shands, Harmatz will develop and implement the vision and strategy for academic and clinical programs in quality and patient safety, working collaboratively with Shands HealthCare Chief Executive Officer Timothy Goldfarb, College of Medicine Dean Dr. Michael Good, Shands at UF Chief Medical Officer Dr. Timothy Flynn, and UF Physicians Chief Executive Officer/Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marvin Dewar.

“It was extraordinary,” Harmatz said. “From the moment I met Dr. Guzick, and as I kept meeting people throughout UF&Shands, whether I was talking with a nurse manager or a dean, the commitment to safety was equally clear and focused. Patient safety is at the top of everyone’s agenda, and that is what drew me here.”

From 2001 to 2004, prior to becoming vice president for quality at UH CMC Academic Medical Center, Harmatz was director of special projects and business ventures, managing numerous endeavors focused on improving the operations of six community hospitals and their affiliates, including the development of systemwide infrastructure to establish, implement and monitor clinical guidelines. Before that she was with Continuum Health Partners, the parent corporation for the hospital system that includes Beth Israel Medical Center.

She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Boston University and her M.B.A. in health care administration from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine/Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York.

“We are extremely proud of the commitment and great strides UF&Shands has made, under Dr. Guzick’s leadership, to ensure safe, high-quality care for all patients,” said Horst Ferrero, founder of the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation.

Melanie Fridl Ross, M.S.J., E.L.S., formerly the director of the UF Health Science Center News & Communications office, will oversee integrated strategic marketing, communications, public relations and public affairs efforts for UF&Shands across the two academic health center campuses in Gainesville and Jacksonville, six health-related colleges, various UF research centers and institutes, Shands at UF, Shands Jacksonville and UF faculty practices.

“Ms. Ross is extremely well-qualified to serve as chief communications officer,” said Dr. David S. Guzick, UF senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System. “For the past two years, she has increased integration and cooperation in communications across the academic health center, and she has helped with the strategy and promotion of a number of efforts, beginning with ‘Forward Together,’ the strategic plan we announced in May 2010 to more closely align the university and the health system.”

Since becoming news and communications director for the Health Science Center in 2009, Ross has increased integration and cooperation among professional communicators at Shands at UF, Shands Jacksonville and UF University Relations, and has succeeded in raising the profile of the colleges, centers and institutes that comprise the Health Science Center, Guzick said.

The determination that a single chief communications officer would best serve UF&Shands was made with input and concurrence from the senior leadership team and the approval of UF President Bernie Machen, Guzick said.

Ross’ duties include oversight of internal and external communications programs, media relations, news and publications, public information, donor and alumni communications, issues management and crisis communications, public affairs, communications-related web strategy efforts, and a variety of other outreach activities.

Executive producer of Health in a Heartbeat, an award-winning consumer health series that airs on public radio affiliates in more than 18 states and Washington, D.C., Ross teaches news reporting as an adjunct faculty member of UF’s College of Journalism and Communications.

She joined UF in 1992 after working as a reporter for The Tampa Tribune. She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and is a board-certified editor in the life sciences. She is president of the American Medical Writers Association.

She serves as a WUFT-FM/WJUF-FM Ambassador, and is a member of the Group on Institutional Advancement arm of the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Council of Science Editors, the National Association of Science Writers, the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences.

Dr. Scott A. Rivkees, currently at the Yale University School of Medicine, has been named chair of pediatrics at UF after a nationwide search, College of Medicine Dean Dr. Michael L. Good announced today. Rivkees’ appointment begins Jan. 3.

“Dr. Rivkees is a nationally and internationally regarded scientist, physician and leader in the field of pediatrics and the perfect person to lead the department as we strive to translate research discoveries into the promising treatments of the future, train the health practitioners of tomorrow and also provide the best possible care to the young patients we see every day,” said Good, the Folke H. Peterson dean’s distinguished professor.

Rivkees currently serves as a professor of pediatrics and associate chair of pediatrics for research at Yale. He also leads the department’s section on developmental endocrinology and biology and directs the Yale Pediatric Thyroid Center and the Yale Child Health Research Center.

“It is an honor to join the University of Florida, and I hope to build on the tremendous strengths of the department of pediatrics and the university,” Rivkees said. “Working together, we will continue the department of pediatrics’ evolution into a destination site of fantastic patient care, a center of discovery for the benefit of children, and a hub for training the next generation of pediatricians and physician-scholars.”

A renowned scientist and clinician, he holds several National Institutes of Health grants and has maintained continuous funding from the NIH for 25 years. His research focuses on the prevention of brain injury in premature infants, the effects of adenosine on the developing embryo, circadian biology and thyroid diseases.

In 2009, Rivkees discovered a hidden safety problem with a commonly used medication for children with Graves’ disease. He found that about one in 2,000 children who took the medication were dying or going into liver failure each year. This finding led to global changes in medical practice and resulted in a major drug safety warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

A fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Rivkees has been named one of “America’s Best Doctors” as well as one of “America’s Top Pediatricians” and one of “New York’s Best Doctors.” His work with pediatric thyroid disease has led to new treatment guidelines for children with thyroid cancer and Graves’ disease. He established the Yale Pediatric Thyroid Center, the first and largest center of its kind in the country, and takes part in several parent-support groups. In coming to UF&Shands, Rivkees will focus on expanding the number and breadth of centers of excellence that improve health care for all of Florida’s children.

Rivkees earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1982. He completed his residency training and fellowships in pediatrics, pediatric endocrinology and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to joining the Yale faculty in 1996, he held appointments at Harvard Medical School and Indiana University.

Rivkees succeeds Dr. Richard Bucciarelli, who has served as chairman of the department of pediatrics since 2008. During Bucciarelli’s tenure as chairman, seven pediatrics specialties were listed among the top 50 programs nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Children’s Hospitals rankings.

Latimer comes to UF from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he served as director of the Drug Dependence Epidemiology Training Program, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the U.S. State Department Humphrey Fellowship Program.

“Dr. Latimer is in a position to expand core strengths of the department of clinical and health psychology in its subspecialties of neuropsychology, health psychology and pediatric psychology while also developing new and innovative connections between the disciplines of psychology and public health,” said Michael G. Perri, dean of the College of Public Health and Health Professions.

Latimer studies neuropsychological factors that may put people at risk for drug dependence and infectious disease transmission and has received more than $25 million in federal funding to support his research. He developed Integrated Family and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, which has been used as a drug-use prevention program for middle school students and a drug treatment for adolescents and adults. The therapy will be evaluated as an HIV prevention tool in a new study in South Africa.

“With his background in psychology and epidemiology, Dr. Latimer is an ideal person to lead the UF department of clinical and health psychology. In his work he has combined individual patient care with a broader population perspective, an approach that is inherent to the College of Public Health and Health Professions’ unique mission,” said Dr. David S. Guzick, UF senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System.

Latimer received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Rhode Island, a master’s degree in public health epidemiology from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in developmental psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

ButterflyFest is dedicated to increasing awareness of Florida’s butterflies as fun, fascinating ambassadors to the natural world. Event activities and presentations promote inquiry and provide a call to action for the conservation and preservation of backyard wildlife and habitats.

“We are extremely excited to have Dr. Pierce as our keynote speaker this year,” said Jaret Daniels, Florida Museum assistant director of exhibits and public programs. “Not only is her research groundbreaking, but she speaks of her work with tremendous passion; a joyous intensity that can’t help but spark your interest.”

Pierce’s research focuses on the biodiversity and evolution of insects, especially butterflies and their symbionts, or the organisms they have a relationship with, as well as behavioral ecology.

Through her research, Pierce recently proved Vladimir Nabokov’s theory that butterflies originated in Asia and traveled to North America via the Bering Strait. She also proved that the butterflies arrived in North America in five separate waves.

Before she began teaching at Harvard in 1990, Pierce was a research lecturer at Christ Church College at Oxford University, a researcher in the university’s department of zoology and an assistant and associate professor at Princeton University. She earned her bachelor’s in biology at Yale University and her doctorate in biology at Harvard.

Pierce has received numerous awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship and MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Senior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows.

Moore came to UF July 1 from The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, where he was head of the division of surgical critical care and acute care surgery and a professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. Moore previously served as vice chairman of surgery and chief of general surgery at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, as chief of surgical critical at Denver General Hospital and as associate professor of surgery at the University of Colorado Health Science Center.

Moore said his goals for the acute care surgery program at Shands at UF medical center include establishing a two-year acute care surgery fellowship, expanding a team of surgeons experienced in a wide variety of trauma, burn and surgical critical care, and strengthening partnerships with smaller community hospitals in the region.

Seven institutions in the U.S. currently offer training programs in acute care surgery that are approved by The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, including a partnership program between the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and The Methodist Hospital.

Such programs include a stronger emphasis on emergency general surgery than traditional programs focused on trauma surgery. This shift in focus reflects the need for trauma surgeons to operate on and care for patients with nontraumatic conditions and those with critical illnesses, Moore said.

Caring for such patients requires knowledge of biological processes that can occur after trauma or surgery, that may impair a patient’s ability to survive and return to normal life.

Moore and his wife, Paula Jo, have two children, both of whom are in college.

The competitive fellowship is funded by the U.S. Department of State and awarded through the Climate Change Fellows program of Partners of the Americas, an international network of individuals, businesses and institutions that promotes economic and professional growth in the Western Hemisphere.

As a climate change fellow, Ruppert will visit Colombia’s Caribbean coast to learn about sea-level rise vulnerabilities and actions, work to understand local needs and identify potential partners for cooperative projects related to climate change and sea-level rise.

The work builds on his statewide Extension role with Florida Sea Grant and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, where he assists coastal communities that face storm-surge, adaptation to sea-level rise, and other long-term planning challenges and opportunities.

Karl Havens, director of Florida Sea Grant, said Ruppert’s experience in Latin America, his Spanish language skills, and his work on climate change and sea-level rise make him uniquely qualified for the fellowship.

“Both Florida Sea Grant and UF actively seek to develop international partnerships and exchanges as important parts of our inter-related missions of research, education and outreach,” said Havens. “Thomas’ fellowship participation not only compliments our mission, it could potentially result in developing a lasting multi-country community of practice of people working on climate change adaptation.”

Ruppert is a licensed Florida attorney. His areas of expertise include beach and coastal policy in Florida, Florida’s coastal construction control line permitting, sea turtle habitat protection, coastal and marine permitting programs, and Fifth Amendment takings law.

,,

“John understands research and has been a proven administrator,” Payne said. “I look forward to the vision and dedication that he will bring to the position.”

Hayes takes the post July 1 and replaces Mark McLellan, IFAS research dean since July 2005.

McLellan will leave UF to be vice president for research and dean of the school of graduate studies at Utah State University in Logan.

McLellan said he is proud of his accomplishments at UF, which include working to establish the Florida Climate Institute and the Carbon Resources Science Center, as well as creating an internal competitive grant program for cutting-edge research and a new approach to optimize the licensing of UF/IFAS cultivar releases.

As interim dean, Hayes will also be director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, which encompasses nearly 1,000 faculty, 17 disciplines and 13 research and education centers throughout the state.

Hayes, a UF faculty member and WEC chairman since 2006, will promote continued advancements in IFAS research. He will also remain as director of the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station, a 9,100-acre conservation research center in Putnam County.

As WEC chairman, Hayes has steered the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station toward becoming a globally significant research facility and helped partner the station with the National Ecological Observatory Network, a National Science Foundation-funded program to evaluate the nation’s environmental pulse over the next three decades.

Hayes is president-elect of the National Association of University Fish and Wildlife Programs, has published 90 technical publications and popular articles and has generated $6.5 million in grants and contracts to support his research.

Hayes said he plans to advance the strategic direction of IFAS research programs, strengthen partnerships between IFAS stakeholders, increase the quality of research facilities and integrate the research, teaching and extension missions of IFAS.

“I see this as a wonderful opportunity to help advance food, agriculture and natural resources research on a larger scale,” he said. “The University of Florida is on the leading edge of so many of these issues, and it’s really exciting for me to play a role in that.”

Your computer must have current antivirus software and all Windows updates installed before access to the UF wireless network is allowed.

This new process is intended to reduce the number of vulnerable computers on the UF wireless network, thereby reducing the number of infected computers and the threat to other UF computers. A benefit of this new process is that users will less likely become victims of identity theft.

If your Windows-based laptop currently runs antivirus software and allows Windows to perform Microsoft updates, you will experience only a slight access delay of about 30 seconds prior to connecting. If your laptop is found to be compliant then security checks will not run again for seven days. However, if your computer fails a security check, it will take longer to connect because antivirus software or missing Windows updates must be installed prior to accessing the UF wireless network. To run the security checks, your Windows-based computer must have Java or ActiveX plug-ins.

The security check process begins May 1. During Summer A your laptop will be allowed to connect even if it fails the security checks. However, if your laptop computer does not have either Java or ActiveX plug-ins installed, the security checks cannot run and you won’t be able to connect to the UF wireless network.

Starting July 10, your computer will not be allowed to connect to the UF wireless network if it fails the security checks.

The security checks affect only Windows-based computers, and only when they attempt to connect to the UF wireless network. Mobile phones and computers not running Windows such as Macs are not affected.

This security check process is similar to checks performed on the Housing and Residence Education network and the Health Science Center network. To facilitate the campus community experience, UF is providing a software application called CloudPath Xpress Connect that will configure your computer properly to run the security checks. Contact the UF Computing Help Desk for assistance with the new wireless security check process, 352-392-HELP (4357) or helpdesk@ufl.edu.

For more information on this or any of the university’s information security policies and initiatives, visit the Information Security Web site.

The philanthropy was able to raise $1,500 for the department, and featured participation from all 16 Panhellenic Council at UF sororities.

Kappa Delta won first place in the obstacle course and the philanthropy, while the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority came in second, and Sigma Kappa came in third.

The competition was the chief component of the philanthropy, but Pi Kappa Alpha also provided other opportunities for sororities to gain points. There was penny voting, T-shirt sales, attendance at a “Feed the Fireman” night out at a local restaurant, attendance, and a banner competition that could also earn the competing sororities points.

From April 17 to April 28, the hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. Regular hours will resume on April 28 from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. Intersession hours will begin April 29.

The service is part of a pilot project to provide study space for UF students during the intensive study period around final exams. Gate counts will be monitored to determine what extended hours will be needed during the fall 2011 finals.

Starbucks in Library West will remain open during Library West’s extended hours. Other campus libraries will operate on their normal schedules.

“Jackie Burns is a tremendous leader and a pre-eminent researcher in her own right. I believe very strongly in her leadership abilities and her vision for the Citrus REC,” Payne said. “She knows what the state’s citrus growers need and want and works tirelessly to ensure that our scientists get the most pertinent, valuable information to them.”

Burns has served as the CREC’s interim director since early 2009, following the departure of Harold Browning, who had held the director position since 1997.

Burns said she welcomes the challenge of leading the center’s faculty and staff as they work to support virtually every aspect of the state’s citrus industry. She will also oversee UF’s citrus research and extension efforts statewide as IFAS citrus programs coordinator.

“I intend to work hard to be sure our scientists have no obstacles as they work to solve citrus issues and help keep Florida’s citrus industry the strongest in the world,” she said.

Burns received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in horticulture from the University of Arkansas in 1978 and 1981 and a doctorate in horticulture from The Pennsylvania State University in 1985. She has been with the center since 1987.

Her research focuses on the physiological processes related to abscission and harvesting, and maintaining fresh citrus fruit quality during handling, shipping and storage.

The Citrus REC, part of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has more than 30 faculty members and more than 200 technical and support staff positions. It’s among the world’s largest public research facilities devoted to a single commodity.

Scientists and engineers at the center have made key scientific discoveries and technological advancements pivotal to the industry’s success, and played a role in developing the technology for making frozen concentrate orange juice, which was patented in 1948.

Citrus REC scientists have worked to thwart citrus diseases from yellow spot at the beginning of the 20th century, to greening today. Its scientists have led the way toward high-tech agriculture, such as the use of satellite and computer technology to help growers manage groves.

Last year, the Citrus REC introduced Sugar Belle, the first University of Florida-created citrus variety intended for commercial production.
And earlier this year, a UF-led team of international scientists announced the genome sequences for two citrus varieties — sweet orange and Clementine mandarin — a first for citrus. Both are expected to help scientists unravel the secrets behind citrus diseases, as well as aiding those working to improve fruit flavor and quality.

In the first three months of this year, 33 bicycles have been reported stolen to the UFPD. This is compared to 19 bikes reported stolen during the same period last year.

There is no pattern to the location, time of day, or value of bicycles stolen. One thing that most thefts have in common is the type of locking device used to secure the bicycle. In most cases, bicycles were secured using a cable-type lock. The UFPD recommends using a U-Lock style bike lock which is more difficult to remove.

The proper way to secure the bicycle is with a U-Lock fastened through the front tire, frame and bike rack. Bicycle owners are also encouraged to register their bicycle with the UFPD. This can be done by any UFPD officer on campus or at the University of Florida Police Department.

UFPD asks anyone who sees suspicious activity around bike racks to notify law enforcement immediately.

The patient names, Social Security numbers and limited medical information were provided by UF Cardiothoracic surgeons to a national database sponsored by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). The information was provided to the STS for quality assurance purposes so that UF Cardiothoracic surgeons submitting data could receive benchmarking data from the STS intended to improve the quality of care for heart surgery patients.

Florida law requires that patients be notified when their Social Security number is released to third parties without their consent. Neither the STS nor its data warehouse business partner has reported any breach or other unauthorized access or disclosure of any patient information from the database.

While it is unlikely that the patient information disclosed to the STS database was subsequently disclosed to unauthorized persons or used for unlawful purposes, the University of Florida has sent a letter notifying all of the patients whose Social Security numbers had been disclosed to the STS national database that their information had been submitted to the database.

In 2008, the STS began collecting Social Security numbers to enhance its analysis of clinical data of heart surgery patients and link with information contained in other databases, such as ones maintained by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with the aim of improving patient care. A large percentage of the heart surgery centers across the country participate in the STS database.

STS contracted with the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) to provide data warehouse and analysis services. According to the attorney for the STS, the database warehouse contractor DCRI has exhaustive policies and procedures in place for protecting the privacy and security of patient data.

STS also allows DCRI to release the patient information to medical researchers after approval by the Duke Institutional Review Board. According to the STS, any disclosure of patient information from the database for research purposes is in compliance with federal privacy and research regulations.

UF had a comprehensive written agreement with STS to allow STS to act on its behalf to store and analyze the patient information and provide to UF benchmarking data allowing comparison with other heart surgery centers across the nation.

According to UF policy, the release of patient Social Security numbers to third parties for non-routine business purposes requires approval from the university. Despite the protections in place to protect the privacy and security of patient information in the database, the release of patient Social Security numbers to a national database for quality assurance purposes and possible medical research without UF prior approval was in violation of University of Florida policy.

The UF privacy office mailed the patient letters Thursday, April 7. The mailings included a brochure that outlines ways individuals can safeguard their financial information and provides a privacy office hotline number 1-866-876-HIPA if they have questions.