'U.S. News' ranks both JHU and Engineering at No. 15

Johns Hopkins moved up a notch this year in the U.S. News and World Report annual rankings of the top 25 national universities, sharing the 15th spot with Rice. Last year, Hopkins and Brown tied at No. 16.

The top spot once again went to Princeton, followed by Harvard and Yale. The No. 4 rank was shared by CalTech, Duke, MIT, Stanford and Penn.

In the rankings of best undergraduate engineering programs whose highest degree is a Ph.D., Hopkins landed at No. 15, tied with Penn State, RPI, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. Last year, it was at No. 14, tied with Northwestern and Penn State.

Hopkins inks student-discount deal with Adobe and Microsoft

The university, through the Purchasing Office, has negotiated a deal with the Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. that will allow all JHU full- and part-time students to purchase selected software titles from the two publishers at significantly reduced prices.

Products currently covered by the agreement include Microsoft Office XP Standard, Microsoft Windows XP Professional Upgrade and Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, PageMaker and Acrobat. Some titles are available at less than a quarter of the estimated retail price--Photoshop, which can retail at $609, will cost students $145. For a full list of discounted products and prices, go to www.jhu.edu/HITS/support/software.html.

To take advantage of the discounts, students must bring their ID to 01A Garland Hall at Homewood. Software can be purchased with a check or a J-Card. For more information, contact the Software Licensing and Distribution Center at 410-516-7780.

JHM schedules IRB updates at East Baltimore, Bayview

Due to last year's extensive changes in policies and procedures of the JHM institutional review boards, four sessions have been scheduled to provide faculty and staff with general information on the current human subjects research review requirements for JHM.

Michael J. Klag, vice dean for clinical investigation, said study coordinators, research staff and investigators should plan to attend one of the sessions, which will include question-and-answer periods. Presenters will be Barbara Starklauf, assistant dean for human subjects research; and Suzanne Damare, Barbara Scherer and Ellen Taylor, the three associate IRB managers.

The events will be held in the Tilghman Room of Turner Auditorium in East Baltimore from 1 to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, and from 9 to 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 23; and in the Asthma and Allergy Center Auditorium at the Bayview campus from 10 to 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 15, and 1 to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12.

Noted urban scholar to give seminar on Philadelphia, Balto.

Mark Alan Hughes of the University of Pennsylvania will give a Social Policy Seminar titled "Fighting Vacancy and Blight in Philadelphia and Baltimore: Maximum Feasible Contrast" on Monday, Sept. 30. It will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Eisenhower Room of the Johns Hopkins Club, Homewood campus.

Hughes is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Penn's Fox Leadership Program, teaches in the Fels Institute of Government at Penn and is a weekly opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News.

Prior to joining Penn, Hughes was vice president for policy development at Public/Private Ventures, where he created the $15 million Bridges-to-Work demonstration program for HUD, which led to the $750 million Job Access program of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The seminar is jointly hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies, the Department of Economics and the Department of Health Policy and Management.

Annual conference will examine changing role of nursing

"Nurses: Worth Their Weight in a Multimillion Dollar Industry" is the theme of the annual Johns Hopkins Nurses' Alumni Association education program to be held from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, at the School of Nursing.

The conference will focus on the changing profession of nursing and how the role of the nurse is viewed and valued. Featured speaker is Melodie Chenevert, director of her own company, PRO-NURSE, which provides products and services designed to increase professional pride and productivity.

The lunchtime Doris Armstrong Forum will feature Anne Belcher, senior associate dean for academic affairs at SON, speaking on "Nursing--So What's to Laugh About?" Phoebe Letocha, archivist at the Alan M. Chesney Archives, will discuss highlights from the historical nursing collection.

Cost for the day is $70, $60 for Hopkins SON alumni, $25 for students and $20 for only the forum and luncheon. Four continuing education units are pending. For registration information, contact Melinda Rose at mrose@son.jhmi.edu or 410-955-4285.

JHH consumer choice award winner in Baltimore, D.C.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital once again has received the Consumer Choice Award for both the Washington and Baltimore regions from the National Research Corporation. The survey queried almost 140,000 households representing 400,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia.

CIDR announces plans to expand, funding renewed by NIH

The Center for Inherited Disease Research has announced that its contract with the National Institutes of Health has been funded for another five years, bringing the center's total budget to $64 million. The center provides genotype and statistical genetics services to investigators wanting to identify genes that contribute to human disease.

As part of the new contract period, the center plans to increase its genotyping capacity from 6 million genotypes per year to 11 million, an effort that will require hiring an additional 21 staff members. Among those to be hired are administrative personnel, lab and research technicians, a programmer and a statistical geneticist. For more information, go to www.cidr.jhmi.edu.

Male SON faculty, students on cover of 'Nursing Spectrum'

Approximately 6 percent of the 2.7 million registered nurses in the United States are men, but all five nurses featured on the cover of the Aug. 27 issue of Nursing Spectrum were men, and all are from the Hopkins School of Nursing.

The cover story, "Recruiting Men Into Nursing," was written by Daniel Sheridan, an assistant professor.

To read the article, go to community.nursingspectrum.com/MagazineArticles/ region.cfm?CODE=DCB.

Hopkins physicians to host forum for Baltimore women about use of HRT

Two Johns Hopkins physicians will lead a discussion about hormone replacement therapy, in a forum designed to help Baltimore-area women find answers to their questions about the use of hormones during and after menopause. The event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at Shriver Hall on the Homewood campus.

Howard Zacur, director of reproductive endocrinology and professor of gynecology and obstetrics, and Roger Blumenthal, director of preventive cardiology and associate professor of medicine, will discuss recent results of the national Women's Health Initiative study, which indicated some health risks from some hormone supplements.

To reserve a place for the free program, call 410-614-5487 or register online at http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hrt.html

SPSBE offers crisis communication workshop, free to JHU employees

A three-day workshop teaching principles of effective crisis communication will be held Sept. 18, 19 and 20 at the Johns Hopkins Washington, D.C., Center. The program is free to those affiliated with the university.

"Creating a Crisis Management Plan: How to Protect Your Business in Uncertain Times" will detail successful crisis communication planning strategies for senior managers.

"Most businesses are not adequately prepared at the local level for a crisis. They need a clear plan to protect their employees and data. They need to know how a well-written plan can prepare them for any crisis, regardless of the source," said Bev Sauer, a visiting professor of management at SPSBE, who has planned the workshop.

During the sessions, nine management experts will address the principles of effective crisis management and the process of creating a plan; later, at one- and two-month intervals, they will work online with attendees in fine-tuning their own plans.

For more information, contact Cathy Deyo Wilson at 410-516-035 or by e-mail at cathy.wilson@jhu.edu.

Peabody Wind Ensemble releases its second CD

The Peabody Wind Ensemble, Harlan Parker, conductor, has just released its second CD, titled Orff, Bird and Reed. The recording includes three selections--Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" Suite, Arthur Bird's Serenade for Wind Instruments and Herbert Owen Reed's La Fiesta Mexicana.

This release by the Peabody Wind Ensemble follows the tradition set in its debut recording, From an Antique Land, to program a wide variety of music including contemporary pieces, chamber works and standard repertoire.

"This recording exemplifies the vast range of music available to wind ensembles today," said Parker, who is coordinator of the Music Education division at Peabody.

The CD is available online at the Peabody Wind Ensemble's Web site www.peabody.jhu.edu/cons/ensembles/pwe at the Peabody Book Store and at various local retailers.