Student interns in the James M. Jeffords Center's Vermont Legislative Research Service (VLRS) were so enthusiastic about their experience, that they created a video encouraging donations to VLRS throught the 2013 class gift.  VLRS is an exceptional service-learning program for undergraduate students and is offered within the Political Science Department.  This internship program has helped prepare more than 100 students for real-world jobs, many of which were careers in public policy.

Numerous studies have shown that undergraduates that partake in service learning are more likely to become civically engaged as an adult. This unique service learning internship program not only benefits the students, but also Vermont legislators by providing non-partisan policy reports on topics they request. Vermont’s legislature has the smallest number of staff members during the legislative session than any other state. While that staff does an excellent job handling the legislature’s accounting and bill drafting needs, the staffing agencies do not have the personnel needed to provide the types of information on policy issues that legislators seek during their deliberations and decision making. VLRS fills this void by producing, at low-cost, non-partisan policy research reports for legislators, while providing incredibly valuable educational opportunities for undergraduate students of the University of Vermont.

By donating to VLRS through the class gift, you will help continue this exceptional experience for future political science students, increasing the effectiveness of policy making in Vermont, and strengthening the relationship between UVM and the legislature.  

No matter what size donation you are able to give, please visit www.giveuvm.com, select VT Legislative Research Service from the “Give to Your Club/Org” option and help VLRS continue its educational mission while servicing the Vermont legislature. 

Although the Master of Public Administration degree is considered a terminal professional degree, the UVM-MPA program has distinguished itself for the applied and basic research conducted by its students and faculty.  For example, MPA ’12 graduate Erik Wells undertook a study of Designated Downtown or Village Center Districts for PA 306: Policy Systems.  Details from his research report were quoted in a speech by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and were used to expand the state’s tax credit cap by $500,000.  A current MPA student, Erin Flynn, is interning for the Joint Fiscal Office for the State of Vermont providing invaluable research in support of the comprehensive healthcare reforms being undertaken by the State of Vermont.  Current MPA student, Drake Turner, recently received the award for best social science and business poster during new UVM President Sullivan’s Installation celebrations for her research on Vermont’s Farm to Plate network.  MPA students routinely involve themselves in the activities of the UVM James M. Jeffords Center, the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, the Transportation Research Center, the Vermont Consumer Assistance Office, and the Center for Rural Studies.  Our program alumni go on to distinguished careers in federal, state and local government, nonprofit administration, policy analysis and higher education. 

Two examples of alumni distinguishing themselves include: MPA alumni Russell Mills ’07 who went on to get his Ph.D. from Kent State, spent two years with the FAA, is now an assistant professor at Bowling Green, and has established himself as one of the leading experts in airport governance in the country.  MPA graduate Richard Donahey  ’09 now serves as the comptroller for the State of Vermont Agency of Human Service. 

Our faculty have distinguished themselves as well.  MPA faculty members Asim Zia and Christopher Koliba are combining computer simulation with participatory modeling approaches to address climate change adaptation, water quality, transportation and energy needs of the region, involving a host of MPA students serving as research assistants on these efforts.  MPA faculty member Maura Collins Versluys (MPA ’07) was recognized by the Vermont Business Magazine for their Rising Stars Award for her commitment to business growth, professional excellence and involvement in their communities through her work on fair housing advocacy.  .

MPA faculty are drawn from Community Development & Applied Economics (CDAE), Psychology, and the Rubinstein School of Natural Resources, and an experienced set of scholar-practitioners who are or have recently been leaders in state and local government, leading nonprofits and businesses, health care and higher education institutions.  MPA faculty are active scholars in the areas of organizational and network behavior and change (Lawson, Anderson, Koliba and Zia), environmental policy, management and governance (Farley, Zia, Koliba and Ventriss),  ecological economics (Farley and Zia), climate change governance (Zia, Koliba and Farley), food systems (Kolodinsky, Koliba, Findley-Woodriff, and Zia), transportation (Zia, Koliba and Kolodinsky), public service ethics (Ventriss), energy (Koliba, Zia and Farley) and healthcare (Kappel, O’Donnell, Kolodinsky, Koliba and Zia),   Many MPA faculty have substantial experience as leaders within nonprofit organizations (Van Buren, and Collins), regional businesses (Findley-Woodriff), the healthcare system (O’Donnell and Kappel), state and local government (Cate and Zia), and higher education administration (Cate, Kolodinsky, Lawson and Koliba).  Because of the breadth of expertise of MPA faculty, the MPA degree appeals to students with a diverse array of interests including the environment, food systems, transportation systems, social services, land use planning, energy and healthcare, while preparing them  to lead and provide innovation across the public, nonprofit and private sectors. 

The 36 credit hour degree program provides students with a solid foundation in professional management competencies and public policy analysis methods, while allowing them an opportunity to “hand craft” their own learning pathways.  The core curriculum focuses on such areas as organizational behavior and change, policy systems and public and nonprofit budgeting and finance.   Elective courses are offered in such areas as advanced policy analysis and decision-making modeling, systems analysis and strategic management, healthcare policy, and nonprofit administration.  Striking a balance between theory and practice, MPA students engage in applied projects involving local and state governments, the Vermont State Legislature, social service, food system and environmental nonprofits within their classes and internship experiences. 

The pervasiveness of our society’s public policy challenges continues to call for the cultivation of public service leaders and innovators.  The UVM-MPA Program provides an opportunity for its student to address those challenges.  For more information visit the MPA website: www.uvm.edu/mpa

The James M. Jeffords Center at UVM worked in consultation with the Educational Opportunties Working Group to provide answers to the fundamental questions posed by Act 156.  The report is the result of testimony before the Working Group, and research done by staff of the James M. Jeffords Center and consultants at UVM.  The report was presented to the Working Group, the Governor of Vermont and the Vermont Legislature by the Jeffords Center. 

The full report is available on the James M. Jeffords Center website:  www.uvm.edu/~jeffords

The answers to the questions raised by the Act can be summarized as follows: 

Does Vermont’s current education system allocate financial and other resources in a way that promotes high quality, equitable opportunities for students throughout the state?

Available data from testimony to the Working Group, licensing and enrollment for early childhood learning programs, and a 2004 survey of students show that high quality opportunities to learn for students are not equitably distributed throughout the state.  However, Vermont cannot allocate its resources in a way that effectively promotes educational opportunities because it currently does not have the data systems and procedures needed to measure those opportunities and allocations. 

How can Vermont’s current education system allocate financial and other resources in a way that promotes high quality, equitable opportunities for students throughout the state?

Vermont needs to: (a) ensure that its ongoing educational data system development includes the collection of high quality data on resource allocation and educational opportunities at all levels.  Data collection should begin with students and be aggregated   to schools, districts and the state; (b) allocate sufficient resources to facilitate local data collection and to analyze the relationship between resource allocation and opportunities experienced by students; (c) integrate the findings of this report with results of ongoing data collection to guide and monitor the execution of the Strategic Plan of the Department of Education; (d) identify and implement the structural and procedural changes in school district organization needed for consistent and equitable application of state level policy in all Vermont’s schools; and, (e) make available to all children, regardless of their place of residence,  the opportunities to learn that are needed for success in life and work.

How can impediments to opportunity, such as poverty and substance abuse, be mitigated?

The educational data systems currently in development, such as the Vermont Automated Data Reporting Project (VADR), need to be implemented and integrated with the information and delivery systems of other agencies, such as Human Services and Health through the Department of Information and Innovation.  These linkages need to be used to implement new, coordinated policy and structural supports for integrated services.    

Come hear Hamilton Davis, journalist and author; Kristin Carlson, WCAX-TV; Andy Bromage, Seven Days; Bob Kinzel, Vermont Public Radio; and Sam Hemingway, Burlington Free Press.

Sponsored by the UVM Center for Research on Vermont & the James M. Jeffords Center

For more information please call Center for Research on Vermont 802-656-4389, or email crvt@uvm.edu.

To request ADA accommodations contact Sally Night at 802-656-3166 no later than one week before the event.

Panelists:

• Olav Ljøsne, Senior Manager of International Operations for Shell Oil Company.  Mr. Ljøsne has worked twenty years for Shell Oil in the Middle East, Europe, and most recently as Regional Communications Director Africa. Prior to Shell, he served as a diplomat at Norwegian Embassies in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and with United Nations.  
• Benjamin K. Sovacool, Visiting Associate Professor, Vermont Law School. Professor Sovacool, is the founding manager of the Energy Security and Justice Program at the Institute for Energy and the Environment, which investigates how to provide ethical access to energy services and minimize the injustice of current patterns of energy production and use.
• Gregory Gause, Professor of Political Science, UVM. Professor Gause has written three books and several articles on international relations in the Persian Gulf with particular emphasis on the role of oil in Middle East development.

The public is invited to attend this panel on African Oil will be held on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 from 6:00-7:00 PM in the Williams Family Room, Dudley H. Davis Center. The event is free and open to the public, however, space is limited.  Please call 802-656-3161, or email Jeffords@uvm.edu to leave a message concerning your intention to attend.

Sponsored by the James M. Jeffords Center's Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security, and The Vermont Council on World Affairs.  

For more information go to www.uvm.edu/~jeffords, or call 802-656-3161.

Jeffords, who left the Republican Party in May of 2001 due in large part to the Bush administration’s refusal to allocate tax cut savings to help fulfill the promise of full federal funding for the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), continued to advocate for children with disabilities until his retirement in 2006. The opening of the James M. Jeffords Center in 2008 carried on his legacy by providing analysis and information to promote effective policy decisions in education, the environment, health care and effective government -- hallmarks of Jeffords’ career.

A recent Jeffords Center report commissioned by the secretary of the Vermont Agency of Human Services (AHS) and the commissioner of the Department of Education (DOE) recommends ways to maximize resources to serve the children its namesake spent his life trying to help. “Identifying Opportunities for Integrated Service Delivery to Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Disabilities” calls for the State of Vermont, a national leader for continuum of care thanks to the work of educators and human service professionals to coordinate services, to transform the Department of Education into an agency.

“This report is the result of our recent collaborative study of the delivery of services to children, youth and young adults with disabilities in Vermont,” says Jeffords Center Director H.W. “Bud” Meyers, a professor at UVM since 1971 who also served as Vermont’s deputy commissioner of education (2000-2004). “We anticipate that it will spark reasoned debate and action toward system changes needed to place families at the center of Vermont’s service delivery system.”

The recommendation to transform the Department of Education into an agency supports a current bill (H-440) in the Vermont State Legislature that would eliminate the position of commissioner of education and create a governor-appointed secretary of education who would be a member of the governor’s cabinet. The report also identifies several positive findings related to cooperation between AHS and DOE, but also finds “duplication of services, conflicts of eligibility regulations, gaps in coverage for needed services and frustration felt by service providers and families alike.” The kinds of problems created by barriers to collaboration between human services and education can apply to other services of state government as well, it suggests.

”The move to the cabinet by the secretary of education would be only a first step toward a vertically integrated state administration,” says Meyers, who testified before the House about H-440 and the report’s relationship to integrating education and human services in the governor's cabinet, and to the senate about drop-outs and extending the mandatory age for schooling to age 18.

Keeping the Jeffords dream alive

Before interim President John Bramley left his job as provost in 2006, he wrote a paper calling for the university to increase its role in the area of public policy by producing applicable research on topics of public significance. “My vision (for the Jeffords Center) was that it would help focus and coordinate the university's tremendous resources and expertise to support policy development, particularly in education, health care and environment -- areas central to the senator’s career,” said Bramley prior to his return to UVM as interim president in August of 2011. “I also hope that it will stimulate exciting, meaningful new learning opportunities for students to engage on these important topics.”

The “Identifying Opportunities” report is a prime example of Bramley’s vision and could have major implications if policy makers adopt some of its recommendations. It’s among more than a 100 independent policy-based research papers produced in recent years by the Jeffords Center, which has contracts with the Vermont tri-branch collaborative (Vermont Legislature, Vermont Supreme Court, Vermont Agency for Human Services).

Earlier this year, the Jeffords Center conducted an evaluation on school consolidation related to Act 153 and presented a “Report on Voluntary School District Merger Activity and Process” to the state legislature. Other recent reports include an “Issue Brief on the Parent Information Resource Centers and Title I Compliance” for the Vermont school districts, parents, Vermont School Boards Association, Vermont Superintendents Association, Vermont Principals Association and Vermont NEA; a brief on “Student Mobility and Opportunity to Learn: Money Matters;” and a report on “Addressing the Needs of Children of Incarcerated Parents.”

“Bud Meyers and the Jeffords Center are invaluable assets to the State of Vermont,” says Sen. Kevin Mullin, who utilized the Center’s recent “Identifying Opportunities” report and listened to Meyers’ testimony. “Bud has a passion for educational quality and it shows in his work. Through thorough, non-partisan research the Jeffords Center provides legislators like myself with the tools to make effective decisions.”

Benefitting students and faculty

Faculty and graduate students associated with the Jeffords Center have performed evaluations under the Vermont Research Partnership for the Vermont Department of Education and several divisions of the Agency of Human Services. Most recently, evaluations were completed of the AHS reorganization, Incarcerated Women’s Initiative, the DETER Project, Diversity in the Teaching Workforce and Student Mobility Among Vermont School Districts. Such partnerships provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to join cutting-edge interdisciplinary research teams that serve as a training ground in evaluation methods and non-partisan policy research.

The Jeffords Center’s Vermont Legislative Research Service (VLRS) provides non-partisan policy research support to legislators and research opportunities for undergraduate students who work in research teams to produce reports answering questions posed by legislators or create new reports based on current issues under the supervision of the VLRS director, Professor Jack Gierzynski.

The Center also provides financial support (up to $50,000) to faculty members and community organizations, in support of policy research and education programs that advance the center’s mission through the Jeffords Signature Award Program. Five proposals have been funded thus far, representing each of the four signature areas. Funding for four of these projects is continuing (Complexity and Governance, Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security, Complex Systems, Response to Instruction, and Vermont Legislative Research Service). 

With a majority of the $3 million to start the Jeffords Center from the U.S. Department of Education Fund having been used for start-up costs and research, Meyers is hoping to land grants, but is also working with the UVM Foundation to identify potential donors interested in helping create independent, non-partisan research to enable policy makers to make informed decisions that will positively affect society. 

“The legacy of Jim Jeffords is that he, perhaps more than any other recent national public figure, provided the nation with the example of the power of independent thought,” says Meyers. “Reducing poverty, creating sustainable healthy communities, and maintaining stewardship of the environment defined his contribution to the nation and now form the mission of the Jeffords Center. Anyone who remembers that momentous day on May 24, 2001 when the senator made his Declaration of Independence will have very good reasons to invest in the Jeffords Center.”

Contact: Stephen Mease, Public Information & News Director

802-865-6432 / smease@champlain.edu

 www.champlain.edu           

Champlain, UVM to Offer ‘EcoDiplomacy Academy’  

Program hopes to find common ground in environmental disputes  

            BURLINGTON, Vt., — Champlain College and the University of Vermont have joined forces to offer a new course entitled, “EcoDiplomacy Academy: Strategies for Environmental Diplomacy and Security” to help resolve environmental and resource-based conflicts locally and around the world.

Champlain College Provost Robin Abramson and UVM Provost Jane Knodell met recently to sign a letter of agreement allowing the two higher education institutions to work together through the UVM Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security (IEDS) at UVM’s Jeffords Center for Policy Research and Champlain College’s Master’s in Mediation and Applied Conflict Studies (MACS) Program. The first course will run July 11-12, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with instructors Saleem H. Ali, director of IEDS, and Julian Portilla, director of MACS.

The two-day, one-credit course will cover a broad range of topics, from international environmental law to mediation and conflict resolution skills. The course is designed for corporate, government and community leaders/activists who are seeking processes to address the difficult decisions posed by resource-based conflicts. Policy makers, mediators, educators, community planners, public administrators, lawyers and others interested in the connections among environment, business, health, community development, land use planning and public policy are encouraged to attend.

According to Saleem Ali, one of the distinguishing features of the institute is its ability to study and operate at multiple scales of small-scale community conflicts—for which Vermont is fertile ground--while also engaging in the study of and intervention into larger international conflicts.

Among the possible areas of proposed study - the Akwasasne, St. Regis Mohawk community in New York and environmental conflicts in the border region between the tribal community and the industrial plants on the US/Canadian border. The IEDS also plans to develop a case study related to the prospective conflict over the power line planned across Lake Champlain involving the lands of the Abenaki community near Swanton, Vt.

From a mediation viewpoint, the program will work to familiarize students with emerging international diplomatic processes around environmental concerns, and the means by which agreements can be reached when dealing with a complex set of values and stakeholders, Portilla explained.

For more information or to register for the July training program at UVM, contact IEDS, Bittersweet House, 153 S. Prospect St, Burlington, (800) 639-3210 or online at www.uvm.edu/ieds. On campus housing is available. 

END 

Fifty years ago half of the state’s land was in agriculture; today barely one-fifth is being actively farmed. Forest products mills are closing and production is down. Parcels are smaller, and development is spreading across the countryside.

The new nonpartisan and broad-based Vermont Working Landscape Partnership is leading a bold year-long campaign to keep our farm and forest economy vital. It will bring a focused Action Plan to the Governor and legislature—one that will help everyone trying to make a living from the land. James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research at UVM is already endorsing this effort and welcomes this new voice in the State House.

It’s important to show our elected leaders how much Vermonters care about this issue. Sign up as an individual member of the Partnership to stay updated and help shape the campaign for the future of Vermont’s Working Landscape.

In December, leaders from the state, federal, nonprofit and private sectors packed the Vermont State House for the Summit on the Future of the Working Landscape. Many of them have already joined this Partnership in support of its Plan. Learn more and add your name to the growing list. (Click to see the names of individuals and organizations/businesses that have already signed on).

The Vermont Council on Rural Development is leading this effort. If Vermonters focus and work together, we can build an agricultural and natural resource Renaissance and keep our land working for future generations!

The Vermont Research Partnership, which includes members from the Vermont Department of Education, Vermont Superintendents Association, Vermont Principals Association and Vermont School Boards Association, has endorsed this attempt to collect baseline data that may serve to inform Vermonters about this important issue.

While there are many limitations of such a survey effort concerning data related to the cultural representation of diverse groups of professionals, the summary finding of the study is that there are very few people of diverse cultural background currently teaching and leading Vermont's teaching workforce. Specific findings are enumerated in the full report available to download in PDF fomat, below. Following the discussion of limitations and findings, a discussion of the issues that may arise from these data and the implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Download the Vermont Teacher Diversity Report 2010

Effective Practices for Teaching Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Validation of a Program Assessment Tool

Meagan Roy, Jeffords Fellow Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, College of Education and Social Services

Creating effective education programs for students with autism spectrum disorder is challenging for schools for a variety of reasons, most notably because of the increase in population, a widespread lack of expertise, and the variability in the presentation of the disorder itself.

This study takes a systems approach to understanding how to meet the needs of students with autism. It examines the reliability and validity of an observational tool that was designed to analyze the quality of an educational program for students with autism spectrum disorders. The Best Practice Measures for Educating Students with Autism: Lesson Observation and Document Audit Matrix (Autism LODAM) was created by synthesizing the relevant research on those program elements that are essential to an appropriate education for all students with autism. It is a tool created specifically for school systems and is designed to assist program administrators in analyzing their specific needs and creating steps for change.

The study examined content validity, interrater reliability and predictive validity. Overall, the Autism LODAM was determined to be a reliable and valid measure of program quality for students with autism spectrum disorders. It can be used by schools to help them more systematically understand the present state of their educational program for this population, and more importantly can be used to outline specific areas for improvement. It is hoped that this study and the Autism LODAM can help generate real change in the quality of education for students with autism on a broad scale by providing a comprehensive tool that will measure all elements of program quality for this unique population.

The Contextual Nature of Perceived Popularity Goals: Associations with Math Engagement and Achievement during the Transition to Adolescence.

Erin Shoulberg, Jeffords Fellow - Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences

Abstract:
Discussions about popularity are pervasive during the transition to adolescence (Adler and Adler, 1998). Although students’ preoccupation with being “cool” and “popular” during late childhood and adolescence is evident within the school context (Adler & Adler, 1998; Coleman, 1961), there is notable variability among students’ apparent desire to be popular (Adler & Adler, 1998). A growing body of research demonstrates the important influence of students’ social goals on their academic outcomes (see Wentzel, 1999; 2005); however, there has been a dearth of research examining how students’ popularity goals influence their academic adjustment. As early adolescence is also a developmental period marked by a decrease in academic engagement and achievement (Anderman & Maeher, 1994), it follows that a better understanding of the interplay between social and academic contexts during the transition to adolescence could highlight novel influences on academic adjustment. Thus, the central purpose of the present investigation was to examine the associations between students’ popularity goals and academic engagement and achievement during the transition to adolescence. The current study further examined how variation in perceptions of popular students’ behaviors and peer-reported popularity influences the relations between popularity goals and academic achievement outcomes. Data for this study are currently being collected in 4th – 7th grade classrooms. Approximately 400 elementary and middle school are being recruited for participation. As part of a larger project examining how peer relationships influence social and academic adjustment, participants complete peer nominations and self-reports in two, hour-long sessions. Additionally, math grades and achievement scores will be obtained from participants’ school records. Theoretical foundations, methodology, and preliminary findings will be presented. As popularity is a particularly salient construct during the transition to adolescence, it is expected that a more comprehensive understanding of the contextual nature of perceived popularity goals could inform adjustment across numerous academic and social domains.

Deliberate Dialogue: Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness of a Patient Safety Communication Technique

Susan Reeves, Jeffords Fellow - Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, College of Education and Social Services

Abstract:
In the spring of 2009, in response to mounting pressure from external regulatory and accrediting agencies, new curricular elements aimed at building competence in communication techniques that enhance patient safety were introduced to twenty-two (22) senior baccalaureate nursing students at a small, rural college in New Hampshire. These techniques were didactically taught in the classroom and subsequently performed by the students in the clinical practice environment while under faculty supervision. The purpose of this study was to explore new-graduate nurse experiences with the use of the I-SBAR-R communication technique in their practice in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning experience they had in their undergraduate education.

A specific, best-practice communication technique recommended for use to enhance patient safety is called “I-SBAR-R”. I-SBAR-R is an acronym, which stands for Identification-Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation-Readback, and was originally designed to address the improvement of communication and teamwork in aviation and military settings. It was later adapted for use in health care settings.

At the time of graduation, all of the twenty-two (22) senior nursing students studied demonstrated competency in using the specific I-SBAR-R communication technique with physicians in the clinical setting, and subsequently went on to pass their National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). Eight (8) of these graduates recently entered practice at a nearby academic medical center and were participants in the evaluation.

Using Realist review, a method of systematic review designed for complex interventions, the question of teaching effectiveness was addressed. Realist review methodology focuses specific attention on the effect of the implementation context as a determinant of outcome. A discussion of how the various clinical contexts in which the nursing graduates were working affected the use of the I-SBAR-R technique is presented. In addition, participant reflections and recommendations for improving teaching in the undergraduate program are offered.

Raw Milk: The Nutritional, Economic, and Public Health Impacts

Katherine Coale, Jeffords Scholar - Department of Nutrition and Food Science

Abstract:
Raw milk is defined as fluid milk that has not undergone a mild heat process (pasteurization) to destroy human pathogens. Raw milk advocates believe that this food is complete with carbohydrates, proteins, and fats that have not been degraded by pasteurization. The sale of raw milk is also described as a source of much needed economic activity for independent dairy farms. On the other hand national public health agencies site that raw or unpasteurized milk containing pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli 0157:H7, Listeria, Campylobacter, and Brucella, have caused outbreaks of illness leading to serious and sometimes life‐threatening complications. My research compiled information from across the country on pending raw milk legislation and existing state laws. Further, unbiased sciencebased information on potential dangers associated with raw milk consumption was evaluated.

The debate over whether raw milk produces positive or negative health outcomes has been a topic of many recent legislative sessions. New laws surrounding the control of raw milk carry profound public health, economic, governmental consequences. There is little unbiased scientific information available for this political sphere.

A review of the scientific literature indicates that pasteurization does not substantially degrade the nutritional quality of milk. Pregnant women, children, and the immuno‐compromised, etc. are at an increased risk to contract a food borne illness with the potential for long term consequences and should avoid the consumption of raw milk. Future work will evaluate the merits of testing protocols specified in raw milk legislation and whether required testing adequately addresses the presence/absence of pathogens of public health concern.

Emergency Contraception: High School Nurses and Health Educators’ Perceptions of Adolescent Knowledge and Access of EC

Lila Fuller, Jeffords Scholar - College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Professional Nursing

Abstract:
In 2006, 8 out of every 100 adolescent females in Vermont became pregnant. Adolescent pregnancy is associated with lower high school matriculation rates, increased difficulty in obtaining full-time employment, and higher rates of child abuse and infant mortality. Negative psychological effects may occur over the choice of abortion and adoption. Emergency contraception, hormone therapy to prevent fertilization and implantation of ova was ruled in 2006 by the FDA to be a safe method of pregnancy prevention. Vermont legislatures passed a law in 2006 allowing adolescents to obtain emergency contraception without a physician’s prescription from specially trained pharmacists. The pharmacist must have a state Department of Health and state Board of Pharmacy recognized collaborative practice agreement with a physician for this to occur. Little research exists on the role of this legislation, and on the role of EC in preventing adolescent pregnancies. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to obtain high school health educators and nurses’ perceptions of adolescent knowledge and access of emergency contraception. An open question interview format was used and the interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Four common themes emerged: Sharing Information, Perceived Adolescent Knowledge, Perceived Barriers for Adolescents and Increasing Consumer Awareness. The researcher and participants suggest a need for further research on adolescent perceptions of access and knowledge of emergency contraception, as well as how pharmacists perceive their role in aiding adolescents in accessing emergency contraception.

The Influence of Lunar Phase and Predation on the Vocalization Behavior of Eastern Whip-poor-wills

Michael Lester, Jeffords Scholar - Wildlife and Fisheries Biology Program, Honors College, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources

Abstract:
The negative population trend of Whip-poor-wills (Caprimulgus vociferous) across the North American breeding bird survey area, combined with the difficulty of studying nocturnal birds, leaves critical gaps in our scientific knowledge base for this species. Many species in the Caprimulgidae family (Goatsuckers) are known to increase their singing during brighter moon phases. In Common Poorwills (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii) this is attributed to defensive actions to decrease the risk of predation, but the reason for this behavior in Whip-poor-wills is undocumented.

The overall goal of this study was to examine Whip-poor-will singing behavior in relation to moon phase and predator presence/absence by quantifying vocalization across various lunar phases with and without the implied presence of a predator. 10 Areas of known Whip-poor-will occurrence were monitored for one lunar cycle. A control treatment and one of two randomly assigned playback treatments were applied at each location and the response of Whip-poor-wills was recorded.

A control treatment showed singing to increase on nights with brighter moon phases. The average response of Whip-poor-wills following a predator playback was greater during a full moon than a new moon. During the full moon, there was little difference in singing rate before and after a predator playback, while singing decreased the most following predator playback during a new moon. However, most tests were statistically insignificant. Results will be analyzed to determine if predation is a valid explanation for increased singing with brighter moon phases. Opportunities to improve Whip-poor-will sampling methods and to better population size estimates will also be explored.

Truancy

Jem Hughes, Jeffords Scholar - Secondary Education and English, College of Education and Social Services

Abstract:
The dropout rate across the country for high school students remains at an alarmingly high level. Although there are many reasons for the high dropout rate, one major reason is truancy. Students who are repeatedly absent from school are more likely to read and write below grade level, engage in anti-social activities, and experience some form of mental health issue. In the state of Vermont, efforts are being made to address the truancy problem. Unfortunately, the efforts are insufficient and under-resourced. I studied the truancy project in Vermont and identify ways in which the project might reflect efforts in those states with fairly successful truancy programs.