DAILY LOBO new mexico
Spinning a yarn see page 6
November 10, 2011
thursday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Faculty backs benefits for part-timers by Luke Holmen holmen@unm.edu
Since July 2010, much of UNM’s part-time faculty retirement contributions were significantly scaled down, and in some cases slashed altogether. But on Monday faculty passed a proposal that could provide more benefits to more part-time faculty members. The proposal passed 312 to 23 in a faculty-wide vote and would amend the faculty handbook to create a new faculty position called “term-teaching faculty.” The proposal will be submitted to the Board of Regents for review. Term-teaching faculty would be guaranteed to work 520 hours per year, the requirement for faculty members to be eligible for retirement contributions. This change is the first proposed amendment to the faculty handbook this semester. Former math department chair Deborah Sulsky helped write the proposal and said amendments to the handbook are rare because they require a two-thirds majority of all UNM faculty to pass. In July 2010, the President’s Strategic Advisory Team and the Office of the President cut retirement benefits for instructors who work fewer than 520 hours per year. Before the cut, UNM supplemented each part-time faculty member’s Educational Retirement Board fund, providing 11 percent of the total contribution.
Sue Niemczyk, a part-time instructor who said she’s nearing retirement, said she feels UNM doesn’t care about its part-time instructors, and that many of them fear losing their jobs if they speak out. Niemczyk said parttime instructors previously accrued retirement the moment they started working, but now they miss out on the 520 hours of benefits. She said they aren’t paid retroactively for obtaining the 520 hours to be eligible for retirement pay. “Most PTIs are afraid of their own shadows,” she said. “In the math department, PTI contracts are written for one semester at a time and no one is given a contract until the Friday before the semester starts. There is no PTI job security. And even if PTIs are hired back, they can be given miserable teaching assignments if they upset someone of significance.” Helen Gonzales, vice president of human resources, developed the plan to cut parttime faculty’s ERB benefits, which has saved UNM over $1 million, said Michael Dougher, vice provost for academic affairs. Sulsky said the money saved isn’t worth the cost to part-time faculty. “The flagship institution of higher learning in New Mexico has adopted a policy which hurts some of its worst paid yet most dedicated, hardest working and, some would say, most important employees,” she said. “For example, the overwhelming number of students taking math classes at UNM are taught
by PTIs. These retirement cuts save UNM only a very small amount, but some PTIs will be hurt substantially for the rest of their lives.” Sulsky said faculty suggested a number of solutions, such as UNM paying retroactively into the ERB once employees reach 520 hours of work, but each suggestion hit “a wall of red tape.” Also, legal difficulties in the ERB kept part-time faculty without a solution for more than a year. “For every proposal or suggestion, there is a reason why they can’t do it that way, and
there has not really been a suggestion from Helen Gonzales on exactly what needs to be done,” she said. Sulsky said Interim Provost Chaouki Abdallah and Dougher helped develop the new proposal, which is the first submitted to the faculty as a viable solution since funding was cut in July. “The unintended negative consequences needed to be redressed,” Dougher said. Gonzales and ERB representatives did not respond to multiple calls and emails as of Tuesday afternoon.
312, or 93.13 percent - Yes, I approve 23, or 6.87 percent - No, I do not approve
Faculty-wide vote to create a position called “term-teaching faculty,” part-time faculty who are guaranteed at least 520 hours of work per year, and therefore are eligible for retirement contributions from UNM Proposal subject to approval by the UNM Board of Regents
UNM research may prevent cancer recurrence UNM Cancer Center discoveries of the past 5 years
Anatomy of a breast tumor
by Stephanie Hoover
stephchoover@gmail.com
UNM researchers have contributed significant discoveries in the field of breast cancer research. Here are some of UNM’s most recent discoveries:
July 2011
UNM Cancer Center researchers Larry Sklar and Bruce Edwards unveiled a power ful new screening approach used to discover molecules that target the regulation of a cancer cell’s life and death. The screening tool will allow researchers to identify and characterize molecules that show promise as the basis for anti-cancer drugs.
A B C D
May 2011
Edward Flynn and fellow researchers at the UNM Cancer Center developed nanotechnology that detects breast cancer cells earlier and more effectively than mammograms. The new technology may allow doctors to detect breast cancer up to two and a half years earlier than conventional screening methods, as well as detect smaller tumors at earlier stages of the disease.
May 2009
Researchers at the UNM Cancer Center discovered a new compound that regulates cell responses to estrogen, which could have implications in the fight against cancers in women including breast, uterine, endometrial and ovarian varieties.
2005
UNM Cancer Center and New Mexico State University researchers published findings of a newly identified estrogen receptor, GPR30. The discovery has a dramatic impact on the understanding of how women develop estrogen-related cancers, as this receptor was unrelated to already-known receptors.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
issue 57
Researchers: More tissue around tumors should be removed
A. Tumor tissue:
• Looks like cancer under a microscope. • Typically removed during a lumpectomy.
B. 2-5 millimeters around the tumor:
• Infected with abnormal cells containing cancercausing telomerase. • Typically removed during a lumpectomy.
C. 1 centimeter (10 millimeters) around the tumor:
• Appears normal under a microscope, but a UNM Cancer Center study found this tissue could still contain cancer-causing telomerase. • Not typically removed during a lumpectomy, but the UNM study found removing this tissue might drastically reduce the chance of a recurrence of the cancer.
D. 3-5 centimeters around the tumor • Normal tissue. • Doesn’t need to be removed.
Trash to treasure
Failure to break orbit
See page 2
See page 3
UNM researchers recently made a discovery in breast cancer surgical procedures that could drastically reduce the number of women who experience recurrences of the cancer. Surgeons typically remove 2-5 millimeters of tissue around a tumor during a breast cancer lumpectomy, which can leave abnormal cells behind causing a recurrence. Research Assistant Professor Kristina Trujillo said scientists at UNM found removing one centimeter (10 millimeters) around the tumor eliminates the chance of leaving behind harmful tissue containing telomerase, which is predisposed to cause cancer cells. “Telomerase is a protein that makes cells immortal,” Trujillo said. “Usually cells can only divide a certain number of times, so they start getting old and they know that they’re getting old and so they die. Cancer cells, though, can divide forever and ever and ever, they bypass this and can become immortal. We found that a lot of cells in these one-centimeter tissues express this telomerase, too.” The discovery will help improve surgery techniques so women suffering from breast cancer are less likely to experience a relapse, Trujillo said. “An adequate surgical margin is 2 millimeters, which kind of
blows my mind; that’s really tiny,” she said. “A lot of times this tissue with all this weird stuff going on is getting left behind in the woman, and the average rate of recurrence is 20 percent.” A study outlining the discovery was published in the September issue of UNM’s Molecular Cancer Research. Marco Bisoffi, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and a senior investigator in the study, said this discovery must undergo several more years of clinical trials before doctors will consider using the research in practice. “We are very excited about this because we think that it could actually in the future change clinical practice,” he said. Seven UNM doctors began research for the study nearly three years ago, and the cost of research so far is nearly $35,000 for materials and human tissues, Bisoffi said. The study is being funded by the American Cancer Society, the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institutes, New Mexico Cancer Center and the UNM Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Trujillo is currently working on a “proof of principle” study among 136 breast cancer patients that she predicts will show a correlation between her discovery and local recurrence rates.
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