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FROM THE ACTING DEAN
The holiday season is over, student energy is transforming campus, the nation has a new president and there is 15 inches of snow outside the Dana Building. Ah, the joys of January in Michigan. There's a lot of news and events to share (see headlines at right). But there are many exciting initiatives behind the scenes as well.
SNRE is in the process of making two faculty hires in the areas of Landscape Architecture and the Water-Energy nexus. Other positions are being planned as part of our commitment to further enhance SNRE's leadership role nationally.
Enrollment growth is partly driving our need for faculty. Applications are up 8 percent from 2008, when we had a record 500-plus students seeking admission. The addition of faculty and growth in applications demonstrate SNRE's strong position in shaping the sustainability agenda at the University of Michigan.
One final note: SNRE is halfway through its 2008 Annual Campaign. If you haven't given already, please do so. If you have, I thank you again.
David Allan, acting dean and professor
SNRE NEWS
Professor Scavia named new Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute director
Dean Bierbaum named to an Obama Transition Agency Review Team
Professor Bryant receives award from international environmental group
Read the latest issue of Stewards, SNRE's alumni and friends magazine
SNRE thanks supporters for making a"Difference"
President Coleman announces new donor challenge: Enriching The Student Global Experience
CALENDAR
MARCH 10
• Dean's Speaker Series/Whittemore Lecture: A presentation by Rosa Kliass, an internationally known landscape architect from Brazil. 5 p.m., 1040 Dana Building
• Landscape Architecture Scholarship Luncheon. 11:30 a.m., Michigan Union's Pendleton Room
MARCH 26
Doris Duke Conservation Fellows Lecture. 5 p.m., Room 1040, Dana Building
APRIL 1
"Green Ties" Reception and Dana Building Tour
APRIL 7
Dean's Speaker Series: A lecture by Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, where she serves as director of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. 5 p.m., Dana Building
APRIL 16-17
M.S./M.L.A. Project Symposium
APRIL 22
• SNRE Honors and Awards program. 3 p.m., Dana Building
• Spring Picnic. 5 p.m., Nichols Arboretum
OCTOBER 9-11, 2009
Landscape Architecture's Centennial Celebration Weekend. Save the date and look more more information at www.snre.umich.edu/la
FEATURED RESEARCH
A RECENT REPORT outlines a plan to care for vacant property in Michigan's economically hard-hit Genesee County — and how other communities across the state can implement similar approaches. The research behind the report has been summarized in a new booklet titled "Vacant Property Now and Tomorrow, Building Enduring Values with Natural Assets." 
Joan Iverson Nassauer, a professor of Landscape Architecture at SNRE, headed the research with assistance from graduate students Rebekah VanWieren, Zhifang Wang and Danielle Kahn. The report details how Genesee county leaders can use sound environmental planning to make that section of the state a more attractive place to live and do business. The Genesee County Land Bank Authority already owns nearly 4,000 vacant lots or unoccupied buildings just in the City of Flint, the county seat. That number is expected to grow as more home foreclosures occur. As it does, the Land Bank faces rising costs to maintain the properties. Read more ...
ENVIRONMENT @ U-M
CSS, GESI contribute to annual U-M Environmental Report
The amount of energy used to heat, cool and power University of Michigan buildings remained unchanged last year, even though new construction added nearly 500,000 square feet of space to the Ann Arbor campus. Those findings and others are contained in the second annual Environmental Report, produced with input from SNRE's Center for Sustainable Systems and the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute. The 45-page report tracks the University's efforts to minimize environmental impacts at the Ann Arbor campus, which covers 3,070 acres, contains 380 buildings and serves 78,000 students, faculty and staff. View the report
ALUMNI UPDATES
KENNETH H. ROGERS, JR. (B.S.F. '78) has relocated to St. Petersburg, Fla., and is a broker associate with Prudential Tropical Realty in the Tampa Bay area after a 21-year career in Ann Arbor, most recently with Edward Surovell REALTORS specializing in land development and sales, residential and commercial real estate. Contact him at krogers@prutropical.com.
WENDY (SILVERMAN) GORDON (M.S. '90) is program leader for Nongame and Rare Species for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Her program is responsible for conducting scientific research on terrestrial nongame species and implementing management objectives to promote their conservation. She spearheads the agency's climate change initiatives. In her spare time, she serves as an associate editor of Eos, the weekly journal of the American Geophysical Union.
DAVID S. JONES (M.S. '91) is an ecologist at Colorado State University, where he has worked for the past 15 years. His campus unit supports Department of Defense land managers; his specialty is monitoring disturbance, vegetation and soil stability. Contact him at david.jones@colostate.edu.
AMBER SIMCO (B.S. '03) is an environmental consultant at PRIZIM in Gaithersburg, Md. She previously worked in a research role at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She recently was married in a little slice of paradise on the South Island of New Zealand to Avi Mandell. The couple resides in Bethesda, Md., with daughter, Hannah.
IN MEMORIAM
WILLIAM C. LATTA (Ph.D. '57), a former state biologist and SNRE professor, died in November. He was 83. Mr. Latta was appointed an adjunct research scientist and professor in 1966, teaching occasional courses and advising many fisheries students. Among numerous professional publications, he wrote (with R. M. Bailey and G. R. Smith) "An Atlas of Michigan Fishes with Keys and Illustrations for Their Identification" (2004). In 1956, Mr. Latta began work as a fishery biologist at the Institute for Fisheries Research of the Michigan Department of Conservation.
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