TheTuftsDaily4-7-15

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THE TUFTS DAILY

Rain 44/36

TUFTSDAILY.COM

TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2015

VOLUME LXVIV, NUMBER 46

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Two ChildObesity180 initiatives move forward, expand by Kathleen Schmidt News Editor

Courtesy Nicholas Pfosi Photography

51 Winthrop St. was dedicated as a function space to honor Alison “Sunny” M. Breed and her prolific achievements as a Tufts alumna.

51 Winthrop Street dedicated to alumna by Marianna Athanassiou Assistant News Editor

At the 60th anniversary of the Tufts University Alumni Association’s (TUAA) Senior Awards Ceremony on March 28, 51 Winthrop Street was dedicated as a function space in honor of Alison “Sunny” M. Breed (J ’66, G ’72), according to Timothy Brooks, executive director of Alumni Relations. “The Board of Trustees and the Tufts Administration unanimously agreed that naming the function space in honor of Sunny M. Breed would be an appropriate and welldeserved tribute to her legacy of service and commitment to Tufts,” Brooks said. Breed, a Board of Trustees member, passed away unexpectedly in December 2013 in Long Beach, Calif.

According to Brooks, the new space has been named the Sunny M. Breed Memorial Hall after Breed’s nickname, “Sunny,” which represented both her personality and the impact she had on others. During her senior year in 1996, Breed was selected by the TUAA Awards Committee as an honoree exemplifying service, loyalty, commitment and leadership to her community, according to Brooks. The Tufts Alumni Senior Awards program was established in 1955, and it awards graduating seniors who have demonstrated outstanding student leadership, academic achievement and service to Tufts and the community with a framed certificate and a written cita-

ChildObesity180, an organization at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy that works to reduce rates of childhood obesity on a national level, is reaching new stages in the implementation of two of its initiatives. Healthy Kids Out of School, an initiative that works with short duration, out-of-school programs to make them healthy environments for kids, is starting to scale its three-year regional pilot program up to the national level, according to Project Manager Megan Halmo. The new Restaurant Initiative’s mission is to reduce excess calorie consumption among children when they eat in restaurants, according to Program Administrator Vanessa Lynskey. The initiative works with members of the restaurant industry to build a business case for restaurants

to show that healthier kids’ meals are a good business decision, Lynskey said. Healthy Kids Out of School focuses on three areas to make out-of-school programs such as youth sports, scouting programs and 4-H healthier for kids, Halmo said. “There’s ‘Drink Right,’ which is to drink water instead of sugary drinks; ‘Move More,’ which is to increase physical activity in all programs and ‘Snack Smart,’ which is, when snacks are served, make them fruits and vegetables as much as possible,” she said. When Healthy Kids Out of School was started, it brought together CEOs of a number of the initiative’s national partner organizations including Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, YMCA, US Youth Soccer, Pop Warner and 4-H, among others, according to Halmo. “We brought all those CEOs and executive directors together, and they agreed on [our] three principles … and

see DEDICATION, page 2

they said their organizations would adopt them and they agreed to be healthier out-ofschool-time organizations,” she said. The initiative then focused on how to implement the principles on the ground, Halmo said. They received $1.5 million in funding from Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Foundation over three years to test program implementation in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, she said. “We did trainings both inperson and online, we created the Scout Strong healthy unit award, we created supporting materials and resources, we created messaging and communication and really tried to get it integrated with all those programs at the local level,” Halmo said. That three-year funding will be ending this summer, when Halmo and her colleagues will focus on scaling the initiative up to the see OBESITY, page 2

shirley wang / the tufts daily

Distinguished professor to discuss nuances of GMOs by Alexander Spring Daily Staff Writer

The Environmental Studies Program is hosting a university-wide event on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) entitled “Future Food: Ecofriendly GMOs” in collaboration with the Community Health Program and the International Relations Program with support from the Office of the Provost this Thursday from 6:30-8:00 p.m. in Eaton 201. The event will be led by Professor and Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences John A. Pickett from Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom. Pickett will speak on the topic of genetically modified crops as a tool to increase productivity and sustainability in food production systems, according to the event’s Facebook page. Because there are several different tracks in the Environmental Studies

Program, Program Director Colin Orians believes the program should bring in speakers to expose students to a wide range of topics in environmental studies, both for students exploring different careers and for those on campus who are curious about topics such as food production. “Everyone is very interested in the food they put in their mouths, where it comes from and how it is produced,” Orians said. According to Director of the Community Health Program Jennifer Allen, an associate professor of public health and community medicine, the topic of GMOs is a very controversial issue, which is why these programs wanted to bring the topic to campus for discussion. “We wanted to think about how we might think about this as a onehealth issue and bring that to campus,” she said. “How do the ways that we produce and distribute food influ-

Inside this issue

ence the environment, and how does that influence human and animal health?” The Environmental Studies Program has brought in different guest lecturers to talk about GMOs, but Orians said he believes that Pickett will present a unique viewpoint on the subject. “John Pickett has a fairly nuanced view of GMOs. He sees a role for them and he also sees a role for really good science and ecology,” Orians said. “We thought it would just be a phenomenal perspective.” Pickett will discuss moving away from the traditional use of wide-spectrum pesticides to more precise control through compounds targeted against specific pests, according to the event’s Facebook page. “[Pickett is] someone who thinks about ecological systems not as a sterile system, but as one where you want to promote ecology and one where you

may want to bring in technology to protect crops,” Orians said. In addition to the community health aspects of the event, international relations also plays a key role in our food system, Allen said. Orians emphasized the importance of finding effective pest control systems in developing countries around the world. “It isn’t just a United States problem, it’s global. It’s farmers in developing nations trying to grow cassava, papayas and bananas, but are having problems controlling pests,” Orians said. According to Sara Gomez, a postdoctoral researcher in the Orians Lab, the topic of GMOs and transgenic crops is very difficult in the context of international cooperation. “This is a very complex issue, but perhaps the most obvious aspect is the fact that countries have very different perceptions and legislation regarding see GMO, page 2

Today’s sections

Sherman Teichman talks with the Daily about EPIIC’s past and future themes.

Under a new coach, the men’s crew team came out victorious in Malden.

see FEATURES, page 3

see SPORTS, back

News 1 Features 3 Arts & Living 5 Editorial | Op-Ed 8

Op-Ed 9 Comics 10 Sports Back


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