Tag: University of Vermont

Trees are a hallmark of vibrant neighborhoods. So why did nearly one-quarter of eligible residents in Detroit, Michigan, turn down free street trees? That’s the mystery University of Vermont researcher Christine Carmichael solves in one of the first studies to explore opposition to city tree planting programs.

As cities from New York to L.A. embark on major tree planting initiatives, the research helps to explain why more than 1,800 of 7,425 eligible Detroit residents – roughly 25% – submitted “no-tree requests” between 2011 and 2014 alone.

“This research shows how local government actions can cause residents to reject environmental efforts – in this case, street trees – that would otherwise be in people’s interests,” says Carmichael, a postdoctoral researcher at UVM’s Gund Institute for Environment and Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. 

The study was published January 7 by Society and Natural Resources journal.

Carmichael found that the opposition in Detroit resulted primarily from negative past experiences with street trees, particularly in low-income neighborhoods grappling with blight from vacant properties. In 2014 alone, the city had an estimated 20,000 dead or hazardous trees, following the contraction of Detroit’s once-massive tree maintenance program from budget cuts and population decline.

For many long-term residents, wariness of the new trees was driven by past experiences of caring for vacant properties in their neighborhood. They believed responsibility for maintaining the trees would eventually fall to them. “Even though it’s city property, we’re gonna end up having to care for it and raking leaves and God knows whatever else we might have to do,” said one woman interviewed for the study.

Carmichael also found that skepticism of the program was tied to wider distrust of the city government and outside groups in parts of Detroit. As a result, residents wanted greater decision-making power in selecting which trees to plant in particular locations, adds Carmichael who completed the three-year study for her PhD with co-author Maureen McDonough of Michigan State University.

Greening Detroit

Urban greening projects offer health benefits to residents, from improved air quality to decreased crime, and seek to boost the typically lower amount of tree cover in low-income neighborhoods, Carmichael says. 

For these reasons, many cities have launched major tree planting initiatives in recent years, including MillionTreesNYC, Grow Boston Greener, The Chicago Tree Initiative, and The Greening of Detroit.

To avoid past mistakes in the city’s tree planting and maintenance approach, staff at The Greening of Detroit, a non-profit contracted by the city to plant trees, selected tree species that could survive in urban environments and guaranteed maintenance of trees for three years after planting. 

However, the group relied primarily on educating residents about the benefits of trees and their program, which failed to address people’s concerns. “By not giving residents a say in the tree planting program, they were re-creating the same conflicts that had been happening in the city for a long time,” says Carmichael. 

Carmichael says simple steps, such as allowing residents a choice over which kind of tree will be planted in front of their home, can reduce tensions. Investing more effort in follow-up communication with residents who receive trees would also help to ensure that trees are cared for, and residents do not feel overburdened with tree maintenance.

One man interviewed for the study said, “I’ve left several messages. My tree was planted last August. My wife loved it. I was told that they would come back out and either water it or fertilize it. Haven’t seen anyone. So, I’ve been doing the best that I can. Where do I go from here?”

Lessons for non-profits

Monica Tabares of The Greening of Detroit says that increased spending by the City of Detroit’s forestry department, as well as a change in the organization’s leadership, has led the group to focus more on community engagement.

Since Carmichael presented her findings to The Greening of Detroit, the organization has instituted community engagement training for the youth they hire to water street trees and interact with residents. “As a result of our refined focus, [our program] has brought thousands of residents together to not only plant trees, but gain a greater understanding of the benefits of trees in their communities,” says Tabares.

Carmichael’s study is gaining attention from city planners across North America hoping to learn Detroit’s lessons. Local governments and non-profits in Austin, Denver, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Toronto and Vermont have reached out for help implementing her research.

The study also offers lessons for how non-profits and donors measure successful outcomes, Carmichael says.

With limited resources and watchful donors, some non-profits often focus on narrow outcomes — such as the number of trees planted per year – without also prioritizing deeper community engagement, which might slow the immediate work of planting trees, but create more a sustainable outcome.

“We need to broaden the measurable outcomes that we can gauge success by,” says Carmichael. “Healthy urban forests cannot be measured just by the number of trees planted. We also have to capture who is involved, and how that involvement affects the well-being of people and trees in the long-term.”

Source: UVM News

A new program will provide a wide range of counseling and support services to high school students in D.C. public schools with college aspirations who’ve shown academic promise, grit, determination and other high-character qualities.

About 25 students will be chosen for the program, called The InspirED Project, based on nominations by teachers, counselors or other adults in leadership positions. Nominated students fill out an application for the program. Students can also nominate themselves.  

Student applications for the program are due February 1. The nomination form can be found on The InspirED Project website. The program will begin in February.

The InspirED Project was developed by the University of Vermont in response to a call for innovative pilot projects that the Coalition for College made to its member institutions in 2018. The Coalition is a diverse group of 140 distinguished colleges and universities across the U.S. that have joined together to enable all students who want to attend college, particularly those for whom the path may be more difficult than others, to do so.  

The InspirED Project has several key features. 

• From the second semester of their junior year through graduation, students will be mentored by five “fellows” – accomplished college counseling professionals located around the East Coast. The students will engage with the fellows both through individual video chat sessions and as they take a special pre-college curriculum that ensures they optimize their opportunities during the college search and admissions process.
• In addition to the mentoring they receive from the fellows, students will have access to a number of content experts who will work with them throughout the year on important topics like essay writing, financial aid and merit scholarship searches, standardized test prep and interview preparation.
• In the summer of 2019, students will visit the University of Vermont in Burlington with the fellows. The event will include a mock application session, mock interviews and other helpful programming.  Before and after the event, scholars will receive regular check-ins from their fellows to determine progress and help them navigate challenges.  

The InspirED Project was created to help support a key value of the Coalition for College: early engagement in the college application process and equal access to college-planning tools that support exploration and encourage self-reflection and discovery.

“The goal of the project is to provide enrichment programs to students that support our secondary school colleagues in facilitating the best student outcomes,” said Ryan Hargraves, director of admissions at the University of Vermont. “InspirED will build on the great work being done by the D.C. Public School’s College and Career Team by providing talented young people with even greater exposure to experts and experiences to optimize their college search and admissions experiences. Our hope is that the program can have a significant impact on students’ lives and trajectories.”           

The University of Vermont is among the first three schools to receive an innovation grant from the Coalition for College. The other schools are the University of Texas at Austin and Virginia Tech.

The innovation grant program was created with a generous gift from philanthropist and champion of educational innovation Ted Dintersmith, author of “What School Could Be” and executive producer of the acclaimed film “Most Likely to Succeed.”

Source: UVM News

Benjamin Jealous, civil and human rights leader, former NAACP president and CEO, and 2018 Maryland gubernatorial candidate, will give the keynote speech during a week of activities, speeches and events commemorating Martin Luther King during the University of Vermont’s annual MLK Week.

All events except for Bassem Yousef at the Flynn Theatre are free and open to the public. 

Tickets are required for the Benjamin Jealous keynote speech, but they are free. They are available to the to the UVM community beginning January 14 at 8 a.m. and to the general public starting January 17 at 8 a.m. Tickets can be obtained online at tickets.uvm.edu or in person at the Dudley H. Davis Center Miller information desk (3^rd floor) during business hours. 

The events of MLK Week are as follows.

Thursday, January 17, 11-3, Dudley Davis Center, first floor

• MLK birthday party. A civil right walk-and-learn display with light refreshments.

Tuesday, January 22, 4-5:30, Ira Allen Chapel

• MLK Week keynote speech by Benjamin Jealous, civil and human rights leader, former NAACP president and CEO, 2018 Maryland gubernatorial candidate.

Free tickets are available online at tickets.uvm.edu or in person at the Dudley H. Davis Center Miller Information Desk (3^rd floor) during business hours.  Tickets are available to the general public starting January 17 at 8 a.m. and to the UVM community beginning January 14 at 8 a.m.

The event will also feature a special performance by American gospel recording artist and actor Angela “Missy” Billups.  Billups is a three-time award winner of the New York Tri-State McDonald’s Gospelfest and is the lead vocalist in the upcoming broadway musical Committed.

Wednesday, January 23, 5:30-7, Sullivan Classroom, Room 200, Larner Medical Education Center

• MLK Health Equity Lecture. Dr. Herman A. Taylor, Jr., professor of medicine and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine, will give a speech titled “Risk, Race and Resilience: Three Dimensions of Health Disparities”

Thursday, January 24, 7 p.m., UVM Interfaith Center on UVM’s Redstone campus

• Lift Every Voice: Celebrating Our Creativity and Commitment. A celebration of love, resilience, and resistance as a diverse group of artists share their creative responses to oppression and injustice through the spoken word, movement and more. 

Friday, January 25, 8 p.m, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

• Bassem Youssef, Egyptian comedian, writer, producer, surgeon, physician, media critic, and television host, will perform “The Joke Is Mightier than the Sword.” ($10 tickets are available to UVM students, faculty and staff presenting UVM ID at the Flynn Tix Regional Box Office lobby window. One discounted ticket each per student; two per faculty and staff)

The events in MLK Week are organized by UVM’s Office of the Vice President for Human Resources, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs in collaboration with UVM president Tom Sullivan, the Department of Student Life, the Larner College of Medicine and the Interfaith Center. For more information, visit www.uvm.edu/hrdma/mlk.

Source: UVM News

Depending on the day, Emily Zahran could be in court for hours or just briefly for a client’s appearance before a judge. She could visit defendants in jail or she could submit requests to keep them safe and comfortable while they await trial. On her way home from work, she might stop for dinner in bustling Dupont Circle or look up and see the President’s Marine One helicopter overhead. She does all this while earning 15 credits as a sophomore, interning for a criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to the College of Arts and Science’s partnership with the Washington Center: Academic Internship program, Zahran is able to trade Green Mountain views for Capitol Hill sightings for an entire semester. The program is designed to house CAS students and place them in nearly full-time internships throughout D.C. Zahran and her classmates work Mondays through Thursdays, take a class related to their majors on Fridays and explore the city and beyond on the weekends. In between, they participate in networking receptions and other events.

“This program really stuck out to me because I knew that I wanted to intern in law. Where else is better to do that than in D.C?” says Zahran, who has her sights set on becoming an attorney.

Fulltime Insight

Zahran assists an independent court-appointed attorney in a small firm through her internship.  “It’s almost like I’m the right-hand man. Anything that he’s doing or needs help with, I’m right there for it. I get to see everything that he’s doing and even what other attorneys in court are doing,” she says.

Having a front row seat to the criminal justice system in action provides Zahran insight not only into what kind of law she wants to pursue—criminal law, she’s decided—but also into issues that she might one day work to address. Many of the clients she helps defend are charged with drug- or gun-related crimes; however, she points out that there’s a blurry line between the two.

“Here in D.C., the defendants usually have a gun for protection because they’re from areas with high crime. Usually they don’t want to use it and they carry it because they just never know [what could happen],” she explains. “But when they get caught with drugs and then their gun is found in a search, then it’s not only the drugs. Now it’s also the gun, which they have for protection. That’s something I want to study more.”

Prison and jail security is another issue the internship has illuminated for her. Zahran says it’s not uncommon for fights to break out in the jails, which prompts her to file a secure location request for her clients.

“I think it’s important to help people and fight for people who can’t fight for themselves. I think no matter what you’ve done, what people say you’ve done, what you’ve done in the past—no matter what it is—I think everyone deserves a right to be free of that accusation or pay for what they’ve done in an appropriate, non-excessive way,” she says.

Immersive Experience

That deeper understanding, first-hand insight and career clarity is at the core of what the program aims to provide students like Zahran. Campus liaison Sophia Trigg, who oversees the Washington Center program as well as UVM’s similar Boston-based Semester in the City program, says the biggest benefit students receive is getting a truly immersive experience without sacrificing academic standing or credits.

“The students are essentially entering the work force. They’ve got to take public transportation to get there on time, they really get into it and work on projects with their colleagues because they’re there for so many hours,” she says, adding that it’s an opportunity for students to try out their majors in the real world, as well.

For Zahran, who plans to go to law school, testing the waters was paramount in her decision to spend the semester in D.C. “Knowing how much work, money and time law school takes, I wanted to see what being an attorney was really like. I’m not just learning about the job, I’m physically doing it,” she says.

Source: UVM News

It all started with a pair of children’s moccasins. Reuben Escorpizo, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, first saw the pair of early 20th century shoes at a Fleming Museum workshop about incorporating art into classroom curricula.

He noticed how thin the soles were and considered how, where and when a child might have worn them. “I pictured a child who had a shoe that was comfortable, but less functional. I wondered how the child walked and moved around with less support, especially with uneven terrain at the time, and about the developmental effects on other joints of the body,” says Escorpizo, who is also a practicing physical therapist. 

Escorpizo realized he had inferred that information about the child just by observing the shoes and their shape, form and physical profile. That’s when he got the idea to challenge his Doctor of Physical Therapy students to do the same. With the support of fellow DPT faculty member Elizabeth Sargent, Escorpizo collaborated with the Fleming Museum to customize an exhibit comprising art and artifacts featuring the human body for his students to practice their clinical reasoning and observation skills, and test their knowledge of the movement system. A relatively new concept, the movement system encompasses multiple, interrelated systems of the body that interact to influence an individual’s movement.

Fleming Museum manager of collections and exhibitions Margaret Tamulonis pulled objects including a woman’s corset, shoes, and a sculpture of a leaning Buddha for the class to carefully examine and discuss. Students moved through the exhibit with a prompt to simply write their observations about the pieces and any discomfort or symptoms they thought the subjects displayed. Escorpizo’s goal for the experience was to have his class defend their observations through clinical reasoning, an essential skill required of physical therapists.

“Students have to be able to demonstrate clinical reasoning about what the best possible care for a patient might be, which ultimately results in sound clinical decision making. Once they go through and observe the body and consider movement systems—for example how muscle power inefficiency in the hip, reduced cardiovascular endurance and aging may affect a patient’s walking—then they’re not just assessing the patient using random examination techniques or grasping at every single thing without defensible reasoning,” explains Escorpizo. 

While at the museum, the class considered how the statue of Buddha leaning on its side could demonstrate a patient’s discomfort in the neck, the hands and wrists or even the feet. They observed a woman in a portrait with unique posture and discussed what physical trauma or injury, or habitual posture from childhood might have caused it.

“Is there a correct way of looking at it? Maybe not. The next step is talking to the patient or client. It’s all part of their clinical reasoning and how they would do that in real life as opposed to in a classroom with environmental constraints and standardized conditions of a client or patient,” says Escorpizo. As DPT students move through the curriculum, they build on the skills they practice in the museum when they begin to interact with patient simulations and real patients in clinics, rehabilitation centers and the community. 

For Tamulonis, who is no stranger to helping University of Vermont students enhance their studies through art, Escorpizo’s class wasn’t the average discipline she usually works with in the Fleming. She enjoyed listening to their discussions about the art from their discipline’s perspective and looks forward to working with Escorpizo and his students in the future.

“One of the joys of working with students from UVM is that they come in and they make observations about things that maybe I have not observed before. Having these fresh eyes and these bright minds working on objects is really exciting,” says Tamulonis.

“I certainly encourage anyone to come in and look at the artwork that we have here and really go with it in whatever direction they choose. We have over 25,000 objects, which I think of as 25,000 different research projects. There’s so much for students to work on.”

Source: UVM News