Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Rock-Oak-Deer: Returning Heroes Home with a very special garden

In honor of the Fourth of July holiday I am providing a view into the gardens of the Warrior and Family Support Center (WFSC) at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.? The WFSC is part of a complex serving those soldiers seriously wounded in combat and provides support for their families.?

Built with funds raised by the local non-profit group Returning Heroes Home, the WFSC provides wounded soldiers and their families with a home away from home during the extended treatment program required for these seriously injured soldiers.? As you will see, these gardens are designed with therapy, not just beauty, in mind.?

A few weeks ago when Pam Penick spoke to the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST)?two garden volunteers I met after the meeting invited me over for a tour. ?I had seen the gardens from the road but had not had an opportunity to tour these beautifully planned and maintained therapeutic gardens.? The gardens, which opened in 2008 along with the WFSC building, were designed by?Brian Bainnson of Quatrefoil Design in Portland, Oregon.

There are two phases to the gardens, each with many interesting elements to cover, so we'll tour them in two separate posts.? In this post we'll tour the gardens nearest the main WFSC building.? My next post will cover the surrounding park containing fitness trails and other amenities.

The gardens nearest the buildings were designed to be smaller in scale and more homelike than a typical public landscape.? The overall feel is very full and lush with plant selections similar to a home garden in San Antonio.

Shade structures with seating are provided for relaxation in the gardens.? While the gardens are designed to be fully accessible there are also built-in challenges like elevation and surface changes along with different edges like this low wall which help develop real-world maneuverability skills.? So the gardens are designed to be accessible but also help train the soldiers to tackle variations in their environment.

To gain a better understanding of the therapeutic design of the gardens I consulted the Therapeutic Landscapes Network for more information and found a blog entry on the WFSC gardens which sums up the ideas for the gardens below:

Though more research is needed on what specific design elements are best for people returning from combat with polytraumas (multiple physical and/or emotional traumas), what we do know has been well incorporated into the landscape design: Plenty of shade; a sense of safety and security; a homelike environment; easily navigable walking surfaces, but also some walkways that provide more of a challenge; colored concrete to reduce glare; lush plantings; positive distractions such as water, plants that attract butterflies, and a wide variety of flora; a plethora of seating, including covered areas with fans and heaters that allow people to be outside in inclement weather and that help regulate people?s body temperatures; children?s play areas; plenty of different spaces that allow for quiet contemplation, one-on-one conversation, or group interaction; and opportunities for light and more strenuous exercise.?

The varying surfaces are incorporated naturally into the garden


Mature shrubs provide a sense of enclosure and also create privacy so several groups or individuals can enjoy different areas of the gardens at the same time.

During my tour I was impressed not only by the beauty and design of the gardens but with the work the volunteers do.? Volunteer work in these gardens involves much more than planting seasonal annuals and dead-heading flowers once a week; the gardening volunteers create real gardens and work in them as if they were their own.? Over time and as the gardens have grown and changed, the volunteers have removed and added plants, often from their own gardens.

A group of volunteers is pulling out most of a perennial bed that was past its prime. ?Soon it will be replanted in memory of a gardening volunteer who passed away recently.



Just like a home garden, there are several different types of garden areas.? This sunny perennial garden attracts butterflies and other small wildlife for the families to enjoy.


??
There are several relaxing water features in the gardens like this natural rock fountain.? The pavilion holds a large outdoor commercial kitchen and multi-purpose dining area.



?A waterfall and pond at the far end of the gardens provides a destination
?
Touches like this old tiller and wire against the oaks help make the gardens comfortable and familiar like a home garden. ?
There's even a veggie garden and the produce is used for salads which are served at lunch inside the center.
The Purple Heart Pavilion is where patients are awarded their Purple Heart medals (for those wounded in combat) in ceremonies held here.
A Purple Heart Mosaic is set in the center of the patio
Gorgeous grapevines, both red and white varieties, grow up the arbor.
The grapes are there to be sampled by families using these gardens.
At the back of the building is a courtyard with large porches and seating.? A volunteer has been sprucing up the planters which hold Texas Mountain Laurel and potato vine.

Functional and beautiful, it's a relaxing place


The courtyard is stained concrete with a star to remind visitors that this is Texas.? Stained concrete helps cut glare, an important feature to those in wheelchairs or with burn injuries during our hot Texas summers.
Large shady porches with seating and fans on both sides of the courtyard provide respite from the Texas heat.? Many of the interior spaces within the building open to this porch.
Near the courtyard is a toddler play area with faux turf which was found to work best in this setting after trying other surfacing materials.? There are several play areas on the grounds suited to various age groups.
Around front a rose covered arbor leads from the parking lot to the building.? The rose on the arbor is 'Peggy Martin'.
The front of the building with its large porches and Texas hill country style.? Everything you see was built by non-profit groups and numerous local businesses which volunteered to help out.


?
Fourth of July Decorations greet visitors
Inside the building natural light from clerestory windows and skylights illuminate the common spaces.? The central fireplace features this wonderful metal butterfly sculpture designed by a wounded warrior.? The butterfly has special meaning for the soldiers and their families.
The front porch with rocking chairs looks so cozy ?
?The porch overlooks a rose garden
Bricks with names of those who support the center with donations pave the courtyard ?
?This paver is dedicated to the volunteer gardeners.
Jon Carter, the full-time staffer in charge of the gardens, and Melody McMahon who leads the team of volunteers discuss what needs to be done next.? Melody has been a volunteer gardener since 2008.
There is always a need for more volunteers.? If you would like to help, the volunteers are there every Tuesday.? Contact Melody McMahon at melodym1222atyahoodotcom for more information.? Note that you would need to be pre-approved for access since the area is secured and gated.? After touring the gardens, meeting the volunteers, and seeing the wonderful work they do, I returned last week and spent the first of hopefully many days helping out.

Click this link to see a short slide show with more information and detail about the WFSC.

In my next post we'll take a tour of the larger grounds and landscaping beyond these gardens.

Source: http://rockoakdeer.blogspot.com/2013/07/returning-heroes-home-with-very-special.html

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Monday, July 1, 2013

Inter-county communications - The RadioReference.com Forums

I remember when I was monitoring in Missouri 25 years ago, that when counties needed to communicate with each other, they would use the point-to-point frequency of 155.370. I think that here in Arkansas they used 37.240, correct?

Anyway, obviously they still communicate with each other, but not via radio. Are they using teletype? Email? How do counties communicate information with each other?

Source: http://forums.radioreference.com/arkansas-radio-discussion-forum/269552-inter-county-communications.html

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mass. voters head to polls to pick new US Senator

This panel of May 2013 file photos shows Republican Gabriel Gomez, left, and Democrat U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, right, candidates for U.S. Senate in the June 25, 2013 special election, being held to fill the seat vacated when John Kerry was appointed as secretary of state. (AP Photos/File)

This panel of May 2013 file photos shows Republican Gabriel Gomez, left, and Democrat U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, right, candidates for U.S. Senate in the June 25, 2013 special election, being held to fill the seat vacated when John Kerry was appointed as secretary of state. (AP Photos/File)

Massachusetts Senate Democratic candidate Ed Markey, left, meets and greets grassroots volunteers and supporters at the Pickle Barrel Restaurant & Deli, in Worcester, Mass., Monday, June 24, 2013. Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez made appeals to voters Monday in the final hours before Massachusetts' special election for the U.S. Senate, where turnout is expected to be light, a contrast to the high-profile special election in the state three years ago. (AP Photo/Worcester Telegram & Gazette, John Ferrarone)

Gabriel Gomez, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in the Massachusetts open seat special election, greets supporters, Monday, June 24, 2013, at the Four Square restaurant in Braintree, Mass. Gomez faces Democrat Rep. Ed Markey in Tuesday's election. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Massachusetts Senate Democratic candidate Ed Markey, right, meets and greets grassroots volunteers and supporters at the Pickle Barrel Restaurant & Deli, in Worcester, Mass., Monday, June 24, 2013. Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez made appeals to voters Monday in the final hours before Massachusetts' special election for the U.S. Senate, where turnout is expected to be light, a contrast to the high-profile special election in the state three years ago. (AP Photo/Worcester Telegram & Gazette, John Ferrarone)

Gabriel Gomez, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in the Massachusetts open seat special election, greets supporters, Monday, June 24, 2013, at the Four Square restaurant in Braintree, Mass. Gomez faces Democrat Rep. Ed Markey in Tuesday's election. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

(AP) ? Massachusetts voters are heading to the polls to pick a new U.S. senator.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez scrambled to energize supporters and mobilize get-out-the-vote efforts in the hours leading up to Tuesday's special election to succeed John Kerry in the U.S. Senate.

Both candidates made a series of campaign stops Monday, culminating with election eve rallies while their campaigns cranked up their all-important ground games designed to get as many of their voters to the polls as possible on a day when statewide turnout was expected to be light.

Gomez was scheduled to vote early Tuesday in his hometown of Cohasset, with Markey casting his ballot later in the morning in Malden.

Markey, 66, has led in the polls, but said he's taking nothing for granted.

"There is no overconfidence in this entire operation," Markey told reporters after an evening rally Monday in Malden.

The longtime Democratic member of the Massachusetts U.S. House delegation explained that his campaign has called or rang the doorbells of 3 million prospective voters in the last four days.

"That's the sign of an organization working hard right up to the finish line," he added.

Gomez, 47, is a political newcomer and former Navy SEAL who worked for a Boston-based private equity firm before jumping into the race.

Gomez was also urging his supporters to get themselves to the polls and to remind their friends and family members to vote, too.

"Tell your friends. Tell your friends to tell their friends they need to vote," Gomez said at a rally in Quincy with former GOP U.S. Sen. Scott Brown on Monday evening.

"They think there's going to be a low turnout. There may be a low turnout on their side. That's fine with me. But I know our side and it's a broad side," he added.

Massachusetts state Secretary William Galvin said Monday that he expected a lackluster turnout on Tuesday, with no more than 1.6 million of the state's 4.3 million registered voters to cast ballots in the special election, well below the 2.2 million who voted in a 2010 special election, won by Brown, to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Based on a number of factors, including absentee ballots and the relatively few inquiries to his office about the election, the current race was not matching the intensity of the 2010 election, Galvin said.

Markey has held a fundraising advantage throughout the campaign, having spent more $8.6 million on the race through the end of the last reporting period on June 5, compared to $2.3 million by Gomez, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Also on the ballot Tuesday is Richard Heos, who is affiliated with the Twelve Visions Party.

Temperatures are predicted to climb into the 90's again Tuesday.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-25-Massachusetts%20Senate/id-c13042e5e5f14c78b3a0c86f51b1138f

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Uses For Dental Floss: 12 Quick Tricks Around The House (PHOTOS)

From Networx's Sayward Rebhal:

Dental floss is something you should always have around ? and hopefully you?re using it every day to clean between your teeth. But beside the dental duty, floss is also awesome as a stand-in for all sorts of common items. From hanging photos (Boston general contractor Tom Silva of This Old House recommends it over wire because dental floss does not mar wall paint) to acting as a micro-spatula, read on to find out all the ways that floss can help you around the house. Like . . .

List and captions courtesy of Networx

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/23/uses-for-dental-floss_n_3480319.html

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Patient factors play key role in emergency department imaging

Patient factors play key role in emergency department imaging [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Linda Brooks
lbrooks@rsna.org
630-590-7762
Radiological Society of North America

OAK BROOK, Ill. Despite concerns to the contrary, very little of the variation in Emergency Department (ED) imaging utilization is attributable to physician experience, training or gender, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

Imaging exams like X-rays and CT scans are common in the ED. In 2010, slightly more than 47 percent of all ED visits in the United States had an imaging exam associated with them.

"Analyzing and understanding drivers of use of imaging in the ED is important for several reasons," said Christopher L. Sistrom, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., from the departments of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. "There's a balance of cost and benefits to the patient, institution and payer, as well as the overarching issue of radiation exposure."

Previous studies have found substantial variation in imaging rates across and within EDs, suggesting different tendencies among physicians when ordering imaging. However, much of the existing research is limited, according to Dr. Sistrom.

"A lot of literature on imaging variability can lead to a false assumption that doctors are primarily responsible," he said. "The problem is that it is difficult to fully describe and quantify variability at the different levels it can occur."

In the new study, Dr. Sistrom and colleagues analyzed 88,851 ED visits during 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. They used an analytical tool known as hierarchical logistic regression to identify multiple predictors of the probability that imaging was ordered during a given visit.

"That's what makes our paper unique," Dr. Sistrom said. "Hierarchal modeling allows us to ask very specific questions about the relative contributions of various factors to imaging use."

The overall rate of imaging utilization in the Massachusetts General ED was 45.4 percent in 2011, similar to the 2010 national average of 47.2 percent. Analysis of the data revealed that physician-related factors like gender, experience and training did not correlate with imaging use.

"The key finding in our study is that doctors don't make much difference in imaging utilization," Dr. Sistrom said. "Our data showed that doctors are responsible for about one percent of the variability in probability of having an imaging exam during an ED visit."

Instead, patient and visit factors were the predominant predictors of the likelihood of imaging for a given ED visit. These factors include prior visit, referral source, arrival mode and clinical reason for the visit.

The workload of the ED was another significant factor in imaging use. When the ED was the least busy, the odds of low-cost imaging were 11 percent higher than the reference standard. A busier ED resulted in a tendency towards more high-cost imaging.

The new study shows that medical management efforts looking to reduce imaging utilization may be misguided in focusing on remediating ED physicians.

"To reduce imaging utilization, a lot of people in quality improvement and medical management might try to identify high outliers and punish them," Dr. Sistrom said. "In settings like the one we studied, that strategy won't get you anything but angry doctors."

###

"Use of Imaging in the Emergency Department: Physicians Have Limited Effect on Variation." Collaborating with Dr. Sistrom were Hannah J. Wong, Ph.D., Theodore I. Benzer, M.D., Ph.D., Elkan F. Halpern, Ph.D., Dante J. Morra, M.D., M.B.A., G. Scott Gazelle, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Timothy G. Ferris, M.P.H., M.D., and Jeffrey B. Weilburg, M.D.

Radiology is edited by Herbert Y. Kressel, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc.

RSNA is an association of more than 51,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)

For patient-friendly information on imaging exams, visit RadiologyInfo.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Patient factors play key role in emergency department imaging [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Linda Brooks
lbrooks@rsna.org
630-590-7762
Radiological Society of North America

OAK BROOK, Ill. Despite concerns to the contrary, very little of the variation in Emergency Department (ED) imaging utilization is attributable to physician experience, training or gender, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

Imaging exams like X-rays and CT scans are common in the ED. In 2010, slightly more than 47 percent of all ED visits in the United States had an imaging exam associated with them.

"Analyzing and understanding drivers of use of imaging in the ED is important for several reasons," said Christopher L. Sistrom, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., from the departments of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. "There's a balance of cost and benefits to the patient, institution and payer, as well as the overarching issue of radiation exposure."

Previous studies have found substantial variation in imaging rates across and within EDs, suggesting different tendencies among physicians when ordering imaging. However, much of the existing research is limited, according to Dr. Sistrom.

"A lot of literature on imaging variability can lead to a false assumption that doctors are primarily responsible," he said. "The problem is that it is difficult to fully describe and quantify variability at the different levels it can occur."

In the new study, Dr. Sistrom and colleagues analyzed 88,851 ED visits during 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. They used an analytical tool known as hierarchical logistic regression to identify multiple predictors of the probability that imaging was ordered during a given visit.

"That's what makes our paper unique," Dr. Sistrom said. "Hierarchal modeling allows us to ask very specific questions about the relative contributions of various factors to imaging use."

The overall rate of imaging utilization in the Massachusetts General ED was 45.4 percent in 2011, similar to the 2010 national average of 47.2 percent. Analysis of the data revealed that physician-related factors like gender, experience and training did not correlate with imaging use.

"The key finding in our study is that doctors don't make much difference in imaging utilization," Dr. Sistrom said. "Our data showed that doctors are responsible for about one percent of the variability in probability of having an imaging exam during an ED visit."

Instead, patient and visit factors were the predominant predictors of the likelihood of imaging for a given ED visit. These factors include prior visit, referral source, arrival mode and clinical reason for the visit.

The workload of the ED was another significant factor in imaging use. When the ED was the least busy, the odds of low-cost imaging were 11 percent higher than the reference standard. A busier ED resulted in a tendency towards more high-cost imaging.

The new study shows that medical management efforts looking to reduce imaging utilization may be misguided in focusing on remediating ED physicians.

"To reduce imaging utilization, a lot of people in quality improvement and medical management might try to identify high outliers and punish them," Dr. Sistrom said. "In settings like the one we studied, that strategy won't get you anything but angry doctors."

###

"Use of Imaging in the Emergency Department: Physicians Have Limited Effect on Variation." Collaborating with Dr. Sistrom were Hannah J. Wong, Ph.D., Theodore I. Benzer, M.D., Ph.D., Elkan F. Halpern, Ph.D., Dante J. Morra, M.D., M.B.A., G. Scott Gazelle, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Timothy G. Ferris, M.P.H., M.D., and Jeffrey B. Weilburg, M.D.

Radiology is edited by Herbert Y. Kressel, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc.

RSNA is an association of more than 51,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)

For patient-friendly information on imaging exams, visit RadiologyInfo.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/rson-pfp061813.php

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Monday, June 24, 2013

CUNY Board Appoints Dr. Rudolph Crew President of Medgar Evers ...

The Board of Trustees of The City University of New York today appointed a nationally prominent educator, Dr. Rudolph F. Crew, Oregon?s chief education officer, former New York City schools chancellor and Miami-Dade school superintendent, as president of Medgar Evers College. Chancellor Matthew Goldstein recommended Dr. Crew after a national search.

YouTube Preview Image

Video of Dr. Crew?s remarks.

Dr. Crew has made it his life work to strengthen America?s public education system during a 30-year career that has spanned classroom teaching and leadership of the nation?s largest school districts. Since 2009 he has been a professor in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. He is also president of the K-12 division of Revolution Prep, which seeks to use technology to improve math instruction and graduation rates in urban school districts. As Oregon?s first chief education officer he was charged by Gov. John Kitzhaber with revamping public education, improving Oregon?s high school graduation rate and refashioning public education from kindergarten through college into an integrated system.

From left to right: CUNY Board of Trustees Vice Chairperson Philip Alfonso Berry, Dr. Rudolph Crew and Medgar Evers College Presidential Search Committee Chairperson and Trustee Valerie Lancaster Beal

From left to right: CUNY Board of Trustees Vice Chairperson Philip Alfonso Berry, Dr. Rudolph Crew and Medgar Evers College Presidential Search Committee Chairperson and Trustee Valerie Lancaster Beal

In a joint statement, Board of Trustees Chairperson Benno Schmidt and Chancellor Goldstein said: ?Dr. Rudy Crew brings to Medgar Evers College an exemplary record of academic, administrative and governmental accomplishment, combined with classroom experience and a strong commitment to students. We are confident that, with his leadership, Medgar Evers College will achieve new levels of excellence for its dedicated students and faculty and strengthen its role with the community. The college was established in 1970 to honor the memory and ideals of the slain civil rights martyr and it is highly appropriate that it will be uplifted by a leader who is deeply committed to academic quality, equal access, and student success.?

Dr. Crew has stated that his mission is to ?improve student achievement, especially for poor and minority students.? To that end he worked closely with all stakeholders, first as New York City schools chancellor and later as superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, to place those cities? lowest-performing schools in virtual districts whose boundaries were defined by student need, not geography, and used research-based practices to accelerate the pace of student learning.

Dr. Crew headed the New York City public schools from 1995-2000 ? the nation?s largest district, with a million students ? where he initiated many reforms, including adoption of curriculum standards for all schools, elimination of tenure for principals, and the introduction of school-based budgeting. As superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools from 2004-2008, with 356,000 students, he strengthened math instruction, created paths for more English-language learners and students of color and poverty to gain college entry with improved ACT and SAT scores, and started The Parent Academy serving more than 100,000 parents with courses and workshops to help them support their students? education.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the NAACP Educational Leadership Award, the Arthur Ashe Leadership Award, and the National Superintendent of the Year from the American Association of School Administrators in 2008.

Medgar Evers College, located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, is a growing school of approximately 7,000 students who overwhelmingly are the first in their family to go to college. It offers both associate and baccalaureate degrees. At its founding it was named for the civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1963, with the hope that ?his ideals will inspire students and faculty ? in their pursuit of truth as the surest path to human freedom and social justice.?

The presidency of Medgar Evers College attracted an outstanding pool of more than 50 candidates, approximately the same number who applied for The City College presidency two years ago. The high quality of the three finalists ? all with exemplary qualifications, strong social justice records and a wealth of administrative experience ? testifies to the extensive outreach conducted by the University search committee, which was chaired by Trustee Valerie Lancaster Beal. The search committee selected 14 candidates for extensive interviews and approved three finalists to visit the campus. The committee included Trustees, the presidents of the Medgar Evers? Community Council and the alumni association, elected student government leaders, faculty representatives and a president of a CUNY senior college,

Soon after being named Oregon?s chief education officer in 2012, Dr. Crew ordered a third of the state?s 197 school districts to rewrite their academic goals because they had failed to seek improvement of at least one percentage point in high school graduation rates and third-grade reading and math scores. He also called for boosting educational achievement for the bottom 40 percent of students through greater use of technology and learning outside of class time, after school and during the summer, along with teacher-developed skill-building classes pegged to individual student needs and delivered online.

He has served in leadership positions for other diverse school districts, including Boston, Sacramento, several smaller California districts, and Tacoma, Wash. Dr. Crew has led school reform initiatives for a private foundation, headed the University of Washington?s Institute for K-12 Leadership and has been a university professor. Early in his career, he was a teacher and principal in middle and high schools in Massachusetts and California.

Dr. Crew was deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Boston Public Schools from 1985 to 1987. He was superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District from 1989 to 1993, and then served as superintendent of the Tacoma, Wash., School District from 1993 to 1995, when he was appointed chancellor of New York City?s public schools.

From 2000 to 2001, Dr. Crew was the executive director of the Institute for K-12 Leadership at the University of Washington, Seattle. He served as director of district reform initiatives at the Stupski Foundation from 2001 to 2004, when he was named superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Dr. Crew was president of Global Partnership Schools from 2008 to 2011. His book, Only Connect: The Way to Save Our Schools, was published in 2007. He has served on many boards, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Public Education Network.

Dr. Crew received a bachelor?s degree from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., and a master?s and doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He taught at a career opportunity program in Massachusetts and at an alternative school in Pasadena, Calif., before moving into school and district administration.

CUNY has invested more than $300 million in new and newly renovated campus facilities at Medgar Evers College in recent years, including a new $235 million, state-of-the-art academic building and a $22 million School of Business and student support services building. Meanwhile, the college has expanded its faculty, particularly in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), nursing, business, social work and library science.

The newest faculty hires bring impressive academic and professional credentials to Medgar Evers College, along with research backgrounds in venues as varied as NASA, South Africa and Vietnam, and in disciplines as cutting-edge as stem cells, remote sensing of greenhouse gases and renewable and sustainable energy.

About The City University of New York:
The City University of New York is the nation?s leading urban public university. Founded in New York City in 1847, the University comprises 24 institutions: 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, the CUNY Graduate School and University Center, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, the CUNY School of Law, the CUNY School of Professional Studies and the CUNY School of Public Health. The University serves more than 269,000 degree-credit students and 218,083 adult, continuing and professional education students. College Now, the University?s academic enrichment program, is offered at CUNY campuses and more than 300 high schools throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The University offers online baccalaureate degrees through the School of Professional Studies and an individualized baccalaureate through the CUNY Baccalaureate Degree. Nearly 3 million unique visitors and 10 million page views are served each month via www.cuny.edu, the University?s website.
# # # # #

Source: http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2013/06/24/cuny-board-appoints-dr-rudolph-crew-president-of-medgar-evers-college/

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