Abused children who are removed from their homes are likely to be placed voluntarily in the homes of other family members instead of other placement arrangements, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at UNH.  

The new research is presented in the Carsey Institute brief “Informal Kinship Care Most Common Out-of- Home Placement After an Investigation of Child Maltreatment” conducted by Wendy Walsh, research associate professor of sociology at the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center and research associate at the Carsey Institute. 

Walsh looked at placement patterns nationally in both rural and urban areas. She evaluated whether abused children were placed in foster care, formal kinship care (state has legal custody and places the child with a family member), informal kinship care (a parent voluntarily places a child with a family member), or group homes or other out-of-home settings, such as emergency...

The Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics is offering tax preparation help to low-income residents.

The students, all accounting majors, are certified tax preparers with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, a collaboration among the university, Internal Revenue Service, Northeast Credit Union and the Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope (CASH) Coalition of Southeastern New Hampshire.

UNH volunteers will be available:

• Friday, Feb. 8, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the MUB, Room 207. 
• Friday, Feb. 15, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the MUB, Room 207.

The VITA program offers free tax help to low-income residents who need help preparing their own tax returns. The UNH students providing the help are graduates and undergraduates who are IRS VITA-certified to help prepare basic tax returns. This is the ninth year UNH students have volunteered for the program and over the years have helped hundreds of Granite Staters....

Public health in New Hampshire is the subject of the next Seacoast Science Café at the Portsmouth Brewery Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, at 6 p.m. At the first in the spring series of cafes, UNH professors Michael Palace and Rosemary Caron will discuss two health threats familiar to New Englanders: Lyme disease and lead poisoning. 

Seacoast Science Cafés provide a unique chance for members of the public to learn about issues in contemporary science from scientists who lead the research in the relaxed atmosphere of a pub.   

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the world and infections can lead to severe health problems. Because of the complicated aspects of this disease, it requires knowledge of ecology of multiple host species, which is directly tied to vegetation structure and landscape characteristics.  

Lead poisoning is a public health issue that predominantly persists in children residing in urban communities in...

I.  Roll – The following senators were absent:  Baldwin, Connelly, Dubnick, Ferber, Kaen, Minocha, Shetty, Shore, and Simos.  Guests were John Aber, Sonic Woytonik and Faye Richardson.

II.  Remarks by and questions to the provost – The provost said that three administrative searches are active.  One is to fill a position on inclusive excellence and faculty development, via an internal search as is done for interim dean searches.  Chris Shea of WSBE has been selected for that position and will start in January.  Another search is for an interim dean of the library and will use the same internal process.  The third search began during the summer for a dean of CHHS and is an external national search.  The on-campus interviews for three finalists will start this week.  The new method for “airport interviews” is to do them...

UNH Manchester is featuring two photography exhibits this spring. The exhibits include “Gypsies without Borders” by photographer Ellie Ivanova of Dallas, Texas, and “Celebrating Cultural Diversity,” a photo project by Becky Field of Concord.  

The exhibits are free and open to the public. Visit www.manchester.unh.edu for directions and parking information. Call 603-641-4101 for building hours.  

“Gypsies without Borders” by Ivanova is on display in the second floor gallery through April 19, 2013. Ivanova began this project in the summer of 2010, with the mass deportations of Bulgarian and Romanian Roma living in France to their countries of origin. The project explores how Roma people in several Bulgarian cities have carved protective spaces and how they negotiate the constrictions of modern society while living on its margins and creatively adopting its paraphernalia. 

Ivanova is a fine art and...

For Faculty and Staff:

What to Do When You See a Disruptive or Threatening Situation on Campus

Feb. 1, 2013

As we settle into spring semester, I wanted to remind all faculty and staff about the Behavioral Intervention Team which provides prevention, early intervention, and crisis response services for students thought to be threatening to themselves or others.  Members include Paul Dean, executive director of Public Safety and Chief, UNH Police Department; Scott Chesney, director of Residential Life and assistant vice president for Student and Academic Services; David Cross, director of the Counseling Center; Judy Spiller, associate provost for Academic Achievement and Support; Kathleen Grace-Bishop, director of education and promotion, Health Services; and Anne Lawing, Dean of Students.

The team meets on a regular basis to coordinate various types of responses whenever a member of the community shares information about a student who may be a...