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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday reciprocally disciplined two Illinois attorneys for their 2006 criminal convictions in Green Lake County.

Attorney Benjamin Butler, of Medina, Ill., received a 30-day suspension and attorney Stephen Addison, of Chicago, received a 60-day suspension. Both penalties were consistent with discipline previously imposed by the Illinois Supreme Court.

The suspensions stemmed from …

In a quiet corner of the campus, a bit of scholarly revolution is taking shape.

The new Institute for Quantitative Theory and Methods (QuanTM) has begun laying the groundwork to strengthen Emory as a community of quantitative scholars, unfolding plans to offer new statistics courses, undergraduate fellowships, workshops, a statistics help desk, a speakers series, and by next summer, a major conference.

Its all part of a larger vision to build stronger quantitative scholars and enhance interdisciplinary studies at the University, boosting its reputation on the national stage as a center for excellence in computational modeling and statistics, says Clifford Carrubba, director of QuanTM (pronounced quantum).

Located on the first floor of the Modern Languages Building, the institute offices are now sparsely appointed a move to larger quarters is expected this summer. But the recently launched QuanTM website reflects decided momentum.

Emory undergraduates can now register for a new Introduction to Statistical Inference course to be offered college-wide this fall by newly hired faculty member Shannon McClintock, a recent Emory PhD graduate in biostatistics.

Students are also being considered for undergraduate research fellowships in quantitative methods, to be paired with Emory professors doing research in an area of shared interest. Calls have gone out for visiting scholars and future plans may even include offering a new major in the field.

Building a community of quantitative researchers

The developments are the result of a major initiative endorsed by Emory College Dean Robin Forman, who is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics. Forman traces the origins of the idea to a common refrain he heard time and again when he arrived on campus some 18 months ago: Help our students develop quantitative skills.

The dean agreed, and began considering ways to transform the educational experience for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty alike, promoting the growth of quantitative studies across both the natural and social sciences.

Over the last decade, many more disciplines have become much more quantitative, far more data intensive than they ever have been, says Forman, who sees the institute as an investment in the future.

Its become an essential competency, he adds. I think that we need to be a home for thoughtful leaders among our students, alumni and faculty who are skilled at accessing and assessing data, and interpreting what theyre seeing.

By strengthening undergraduate skills, Emory students will be better prepared for graduate studies, as well as todays competitive job market, where competency in statistical analysis pays off, notes Carrubba, a political science professor who also directs Emorys Center for the Study of Law, Politics and Economics.

The business world, journalism, economics all sorts of disciplines are increasingly flush with many forms of data, Carrubba says. Students emerging with these skills will be in high demand.

Adds Forman, Although this is not driving the project, it is reassuring to read reports that one of the largest growth areas in employment opportunities is in quantitative data analysis.

A new view of liberal arts

Although quantitative research hasnt traditionally been considered a major facet of a liberal arts education, both educators believe its time to rethink that. In fact, Forman says there is a growing interest in the role of computational, quantitative techniques within the humanities, to explore ideas and understand the dynamics that are shaping the culture.

For example, Carrubba cites advances in the digital humanities movement and computational linguistics, which allow scholars to identify literary characteristics such as sentiment or mood and write computer programs to study that aspect in hundreds of thousands of books.

I can imagine having undergraduate humanities majors, social and natural scientists in the same class using the same skill set for very different purposes an English major may be using the same skills that a biologist uses, Carrubba observes.

Moving forward, I think its integral to what a liberal arts education needs to take seriously, he adds.

The institute will build upon pockets of existing talent, Forman says, such as a strong Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, which specializes in the study of databases, and the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics in the Rollins School of Public Health, which provides quantitative answers to complicated questions arising from complex data.

They are very natural partners, Forman says. This idea of understanding how to make data our ally is something that has been a distinctive strength.

So far, the push for change has been well received. Carrubba has met with representatives from disciplines that include biology, chemistry, physics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, economics and the humanities. I was very happy with the response, a sense of enthusiasm, he recalls.

The need is there, Carrubba adds. There needs to be a bit of a revolution in undergraduate education, a skill set that students need to learn. And it starts here. Hopefully, were creating a model that will be adapted throughout the country.

Thus, IT managers are looking for people who have training in multiple disciplines. And if they cant find them or cant afford them, theyre implementing cross-training programs for the workers they have.

According to several top IT managers at SNW here this week, CIOs are working hard to break down specialization among their staffs.

David Richter, vice president of Infrastructure Solutions at Kimberly-Clark, said he recently revamped the IT titles in his department, cutting the number of job descriptions from more than 350 to about 40.

We definitely have a skills gap. I need a broader bench. I need people who have two or three areas of expertise, he said.

Part of our training and individual development plans … are focused on training people to make them more competent in their current role, and also for their next role, Richter added.

The additional training both adds to the workers skill sets and lets CIOs better deal with constrained IT budgets by not having to hire more people with specific skills, he said.

Kimberly Clark sees problems in hiring experts in security technology. Richter noted that security is difficult because the technology is constantly changing to adapt ever-changing mobile technologies and persistent threats.

Thats a big issue for us, said Richter, who also cited difficult in finding network, database and video expertise. We provide video conferencing for the business across the globe, he noted.

Theresa Meadows, CIO of Cook Childrens Health Care System, Texas, said security is also a looming concern for the Fort Worth firm because of regulatory pressures to keep patient information safe.

Healthcare is typically five or six years behind the IT curve, she said. Our use of cloud is minimal because of perceived security concerns.

Meadows said she is also under pressure to take advantage of big data analytics technology , which can be used to segment medical information so its more useful to physicians, nurses and medical technicians.

The health care firms IT staff has doubled over the last three or so years because of its rapid expansion. Cook Childrens Health Care System has more than 4.000 employees and operates more than 60 pediatric medical and specialty clinic offices throughout Texas..

Meadows said the IT organization has created a pod training program that groups three IT employees with different skills.

Meadows places long-tenured employees, mid-term workers and new hires on a team in order to gain confidence in existing and new skills, she said.

For example, she said, on the Citrix team, there was one Citrix admin who was really our only skilled administrator who is now training the other two. The other two are training him on the newer skills just coming into our organization.

The pod training concept is particularly useful for employees who have received technical training, but not any hands-on experience. Learning from more senior IT workers helps them become more comfortable more quickly, she said.

Some CIOs are embedding IT workers in business departments to help educate them on the relationship between IT and business.

James Clent, CIO at United Orthopedic Group, runs a 21-person IT organization, so its important that most have multiple skill sets.

Clent, whose company manufactures non-invasive orthopedic rehabilitation products, said he can mentor his own team and sees the skills gap as less of a concern than the communications gap between IT and business.

United Orthopedics IT shop goes as far as to offer free six-week, online business training courses for IT personnel.

I see my technicians talking to a customer and the customers eyes glaze over. They dont listen anymore. Thats the most important gap I see, he said. They need to be able to get their message across. Communication is the number one thing to make IT and the business successful.

The business training includes instruction on financial analysis, project management and decision making processes. The online classes let employees learn on their own time or during work breaks. Even if the training makes an employee attractive to other employers, Clent said his shop benefits because its where they use the new skills first.

Its an investment Im willing to make because it delivers so much more value to the company, he said.

Richter said Kimberly-Clark embeds IT employees in business units in 29 countries, where they learn the technology needs of business and make themselves less intimidating to non-technical employees.

The Kimberly-Clark IT staff is also rotated into new job roles for six-month periods to increase cross-training. The key to that programs success is ensuring the workers that they will be returning to their old job.

A lot of jobs have also disappeared over the years. So folks are afraid to be in that one job role, he said.

Cook Childrens Health Care System embeds IT workers in medical departments to increase communications and grease the skids for IT work requests, Meadows said.

For example, hospital departments with embedded IT workers dont need to submit IT requests, they just ask for help.

Since implementing the program, the health care firms IT department has been atop internal customer satisfaction surveys, she said.

Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian , or subscribe to Lucass RSS feed . His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com .

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PROVIDENCE, RI — The state Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Warwick lawyer Bruce E. Vealey to provide 75 hours of community or pro-bono legal services within the next year for failing to diligently represent and communicate with a client in a medical-malpractice case. The case was dismissed before trial because Vealey failed to produce documents requested by those hed sued.

The court adopted the recommendation of its Disciplinary Board in devising the sanction.

The complaint against Vealey was brought by Regina Oliveira, of Pawtucket, whod hired him to represent her in a malpractice lawsuit against a doctor who performed surgery on her at Women Infants Hospital. The doctor and hospital were both sued but denied liability.

By Hugh Lessig, hlessig@dailypress.com | 757-247-7821

5:16 pm EDT, April 5, 2012

By Rachel Wolcott

LONDON/NEW YORK, April 5 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) Regulators rising interest in risk management combined with a long trail of big fines for compliance failures has some consultants and industry leaders wondering whether it is time for the two disciplines to come closer together if not merge completely.

More than ever there are areas of overlap between risk and compliance. Risk management is now hardwired into more rules and regulations since the beginning of the financial crisis. In the UK, for example, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) hasincreased its fines for risk management failures . The USs Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also indicated that it intends to take risk management as well as other governance and compliance issues even more seriously than in the past.Rodney Nelsestuen, senior research director at the CEB TowerGroup, told Thomson Reuters: Whats changed is with Solvency II and Basel III and those types of rule changes since the crisis is weve gone from being a backward-looking regulatory environment to saying we need more capital, better liquidity. The regulators are redefining all these things. So risk has been built into the regulation at a much stronger level than it ever was.

NON-COMPLIANCE IS A RISK

Equally, non-compliance with the host of new regulations covering all aspects of financial services has become a serious risk for firms. The price of getting compliance wrong is getting larger as headline-grabbing fines in both the United States and UK recently have demonstrated. Surely firms want to avoid being hit with fines such as ones handed to the likes of Coutts, Credit Suisse, and Greenlight Capital.

One way to manage that is to treat compliance issues as a risk category just like credit or market risk, for example. Chief risk officers need to understand the risk of non-compliance and assess their firms performance in compliance as part of the bigger risk management picture.

Nelsestuen said: The bottom line for me is it is time to start bringing risk and compliance closer together. What Ive seen is non-compliance is in itself a risk. Risk managers are trying to understand compliance issues not because they want to run compliance, but they want to understand what risks theyre taking. If you look at Credit Suisse which had a $500 million fine for AML infractions and HSBC non-compliance is a huge risk.

Credit Suisse in 2009 agreed to pay $536 million for failing to comply with US laws, including Iran sanctions violations, as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Justice Department. US law enforcement officials have been investigating HSBCs money laundering controls in a widening probe, and there is speculation it could face a large fine, although the probe is not complete.

MOVING GRC BEYOND JUST C

Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) is a concept that has been around for a while. The term GRC suggests a certain amount of joined up thinking and cross pollination between the three disciplines. The reality however is that the term really only covers one of those disciplines: compliance.

Paul Saunders, at Sapient Global Markets, told Thomson Reuters: GRC is a concept in the market, but Im not sure everyones using it yet. It is looking at how those three factors should come together and maximise the impact and the surface area that those types of functions have on a business as a whole. Opposed to having duplication across the functions, theres a greater impact on the business by coordination and collaboration.

How many firms are taking the bold step of bringing together risk management and compliance or going further to implement a formal GRC strategy is difficult to quantify. Whether risk departments and compliance departments are even communicating with each other is equally hard to gauge. But at a recent conference TSAM Europe 2012, a panel of five risk managers offered their views on merging risk and compliance.

Himanshu Patel, head of investment risk at Northern Trust Global Investments, reported that his firm had moved compliance to be part of the risk function. Northern Trust took that step roughly a year ago, because it believed compliance has a lot to do with risk. The decision was to have cross-training between people on the team. Regulatory compliance is more than ticking a box. Its also an advisory function, he said.

Northern Trust was held the minority view on the panel. Other speakers argued that risk management was just too fundamentally different a discipline to merge with compliance.

Romain Berry, head of cross-product margining for EMEA and APAC at Citigroup, told the TSAM conference: We did consider merging the teams and were considering outsourcing the teams to India. We did realize though that compliance and risk are different functions. We thought it would be difficult to merge two different skill sets.

ITS A DEBATE THAT SHOULD BE HAD

When talking about risk management consultants and practitioners often refer to the three lines of defence. Briefly, these lines are:

• on the front-line business taking responsibility for risk management and internal controls;
• the risk management and compliance functions; and
• internal audit.

There is often a blurring of the lines as to how the different functions that make up the three lines of defence operate within a firm. Some firms might prefer to keep the functions separate, because they want risk management to be more strategic. In addition, the compliance function might require different resource and technical knowledge that is better managed separately.

Moreover, different kinds of financial services firms — fund managers, retailing banks, insurance and investment banks — use the risk management approaches that best suit their business-type and function. Where appropriate, however, firms should be at least considering whether a risk and compliance merger could benefit them.

Saunders said: There isnt one purist view. But [whether to merge risk and compliance] is a debate that should be had. In the past, the compliance department was focussed solely on making sure regulation was monitored and tracked and the impact was understood in the organisation and it then adapted and remained compliant. Now more regulation is biting on how an organisation risk manages and is trying to bring more transparency. That transparency piece should drive a need for organisations to look a bit more acutely across what are essentially control domains.

Should risk management and compliance be joined up? The answer is absolutely yes, according to Ian Peters, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors.

Peters told Thomson Reuters: In terms of the relationship between the two, I would see compliance as being an aspect of risk management. Certainly they should be joined up to be able to understand each other. Theres a certain logic to have them managed within the same division, but it depends on the organisation. The critical thing is that they are talking to each other and understanding each other. Often in an organisation it may be appropriate for them to be together. Certainly they are two aspects of the second line of defence I see no problem in them being together and I can see potential benefits. But each organization needs to make its own decisions.

Peters, however, emphasized the need for the internal audit function to remain separate and maintain its independence. What you dont want to do is merge together your three lines of defence which is less effective, then you just have one line of defence, he said.

(This article was produced by the Compliance Complete service of Thomson Reuters Accelus.  Compliance Complete (http://accelus.thomsonreuters.com/solut ions/regulatory-intelligence/compliance- complete/) provides a single source for regulatory news, analysis, rules and developments, with global coverage of more than 230 regulators and exchanges.)

Scientists and artists often don’t talk to each other very much. Both solitary disciplines, with long periods of time spent in a lab or in a studio, don’t necessarily lend themselves to collaboration.

At the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, they they have built an intersection of these two pillars. Its a cross-disciplinary research hub for digital media, bringing corporations, researchers, and non-profits together. An intersection of art, science, design and engineering, where innovators interface with business leaders.

Essentially, it’s the optimum “think outside the box” spot in Los Angeles.

Less than a year old, the Lab opened its doors in August 2011. Last week they held their inaugural Innovation Summit, where researchers demonstrated interactive projects and began conversations with the corporate sector about how to solve large-scale societal problems and imagine new ways of storytelling.

Director Jonathan Taplin said, “America is an information society. We make things that are made out of bits. The very nature of innovation is that we always go further. Like an iPhone app, it must constantly be upgraded. Here, we ask: How do you create an innovation culture, where you get into students’ bones, so they truly begin to think differently?”

Taplin, whose own career path is a study in awesome flexibility, is a perfect polymath to lead the charge. He went to Princeton, but was a road manager for Bob Dylan on the weekends. He produced Martin Scorcese’s first feature film. He went on to work for Disney, Merrill Lynch, and then pioneered the first video-on-demand company.

The Lab focuses on transmedia storytelling, collective intelligence, and participatory culture.

Their latest video called “Flotsam” outlines an interactive “D-Book” a “Dynamic Book” and is one of their efforts in transmedia (media across many different interactive platforms), here allowing children to become participants in the book they are reading.

Taplin wants researchers to fail fast, break things, make mistakes, get up, and try again. With a deep understanding that attempting things is part of the creation process, the Lab allows for childlike play, scientific study, and artistic exploration. In science, there are many failed experiments before a success hits. In art, don’t like the way your oil painting turned out? Paint over it.

The Lab welcomes hackers, hustlers, and designers of all stripes.

We asked Dr. Buszard, who will take up the helm as deputy vice chancellor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in July, her views on the elements of the ideal classroom for fostering creativity.

Universities in the last century fell into disciplinary and technical training. We produced people who were experts in the content and skills of their field but who may not have broad skills and critical thinking. In todays world, where we get access to content pretty much for free on the Internet, content is not nearly as valuable to teach as it was 100 years ago. We need to be teaching students to think creatively and synthesize ideas from multiple perspectives.

Engaged teachers

The most fantastic teachers are people who really master their discipline and can inspire others to find it as exciting and fun as they are finding it. One of the great boons of our university system is that we have active scholars in their disciplines bringing an engaged, very up-to-date understanding of their discipline to their students.

Reflective learners

Students often come to university having been beaten into a narrow mould about how they expect to be taught and evaluated. We need to help students unleash their creative side in addressing their academic work. In addition to being given writing assignments, first-year students are also given creative assignments in which they can choose any medium that they wish to respond to a question or an issue. We get anything from a rap to a video to a piece of art work, to regular written material. We also encourage students to be reflective learners by asking them to reflect on material from lectures in small discussion groups, perhaps multiple times, which is better than just writing material down once then regurgitating it in a test.

Co-learning and peer-learning

Students from across the university work together in groups. It is very much like the world of work, where you work together with people from different disciplinary backgrounds to address a problem.

Problem-based learning

Typically in the third year, students are taking on real-life sustainability issues on campus. For example, we had a group of students work with the food services, looking at operations in our cafeterias. As a result, there have been a number of innovations, including going tray-less, which has reduced water usage and wasted food. The first group of fourth-year students are doing a sustainability situation analysis with Credit Union Atlantic and making recommendations.

Balancing content and understanding

Students combine sustainability alongside their discipline. Because we have freed ourselves from the obligation to deliver the standard disciplinary content, we can deliver intellectual skills and thinking habits to help students address complex, interdisciplinary sustainability issues. One wants both depth and breadth. As the students are developing their capacity as disciplinary scholars, they are learning to be more thoughtful and aware of the epistemological approach of their discipline. They gain the broad wisdom of recognizing other disciplinary approaches.

Large classes are okay

Large classes can be highly engaging. We have two or three professors in each class. I teach with a historian and an architect. We have a lot of different perspectives and we tend to debate them in front of the students. Its less of a lecture and more of a conversation. Our classes are interactive. Then we pair them with tutorials led by teaching assistants, where students do reflective and group work with 20 students.

Teaching for tomorrow

At the [World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, Qatar] I heard many international educators say the same things Id been thinking. They said that education now is what will define what society is like in the future. The primary resource we have for future development is the intellectual capital of our country, and if we dont get that to be the best it can be, we will not be as successful with our innovation agenda.

Special to The Globe and Mail

STORM LAKE, IA (04/05/2012)(readMedia)– Buena Vista Universitys (BVU) eighth annual Scholars Day will be held from 3 – 8:30 pm on Monday, April 30 in the Harold Walter Siebens Forum.

Scholars Day provides BVU students from all disciplines the opportunity to present original research and other academic work to their peers, professors and the public in an interactive and intellectually engaging environment. This year, approximately 150 students (a new record) have submitted proposals to present their best papers, laboratory projects, music and theatrical performances, artworks, literary critiques, creative writing projects and business plans. Last year, 134 students participated in the program with a total of 101 presentations.

Scholars Day is great in so many ways, says Dr. Matt Packer, assistant professor of English and chair of the events committee of the Faculty Senate. It celebrates our students best work from a wide range of topics and the importance of communicating good scholarship. The event is all about sharing new and exciting ideas and discoveries with a larger audience.

This year, Scholars Day will be held on a Monday rather than a Friday, as was done in previous years, in hopes of increasing student involvement. Were hoping to encourage participation by having Scholars Day on a date that is more manageable for everyone, says Packer. By having the event on a Monday, we anticipate students will have fewer conflicting outside obligations.

The keynote speaker is Jason Hillman, Class of 2006, who is a US Army sergeant based in Fort Lewis, Wash. At BVU, Jason majored in history and studied abroad in The Netherlands in the fall of 2004. This international experience influenced Jasons decision to further his education at Tel Aviv University in Israel, where he earned a masters degree in Middle Eastern history in 2009. Upon his return to the United States in 2009, Jason joined the Army.

My international experiences have helped to open my eyes to the inter-connectedness, and also the challenges, of our ever evolving, globalized society, says Jason.

Jason, who participated in Scholars Day as a student at BVU, says he is looking forward to returning to campus. Scholars Day is important for the BVU community because it allows a higher degree of exposure for students to showcase their academic pursuits and enlighten the rest of us across a wide spectrum of disciplines, he says.

For the second consecutive year, the Events Committee has awarded Scholars Day Grants to BVU students. Twelve students were chosen as recipients of the awards this year compared to only a few students in 2011. The $200 grants are intended to help cover the costs of equipment, materials and fieldwork needed for presentation research and preparation. The students chosen demonstrated initiative, presented an engaging proposal/project plan, and calculated their anticipated expenses, says Packer.

The 12 recipients include Katie Van Zante, a senior arts management and art double major from Baxter; LeeReyna Leyva, a senior arts management and art double major from Redfield; Jess Christensen, a senior psychology major from Pine City, Minn.; Laura Page, a sophomore biology major from Hutchinson, Kan.; Eloisa Estrada, a senior psychology and Spanish double major from Le Mars; Michaela Haley, a senior psychology major from Kansas City, Mo.; Oleksandra Boytsenyuk, a sophomore psychology major from Storm Lake; Cassandra Sinclair, a junior psychology major from Waconia, Minn.; Peter Winterton, a sophomore English education major from Storm Lake; Myriah Noble, a junior elementary education major from Storm Lake; Zach King, a senior philosophy/religion and psychology double major from Yankton,
SD; and Grace Sullivan, a junior biology and psychology double major from Yankton, SD

Schedule of Events Location

3- 4 pm Welcome and Keynote address Anderson Auditorium

4- 6 pm Verbal presentations Harold Walter Siebens Forum

6- 7 pm Dinner (by invitation) Dows Grand Ballroom

7- 8:30 pm Poster presentations / dessert Harold Walter Siebens Forum Foyer

A program and complete list of 2012 Scholars Day entries will be available soon at www.bvu.edu/scholarsday.

Russian athletes will battle for medals in 25 of 39 Olympic disciplines in London, sports minister Vitaly Mutko told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

Mutko vowed to return the lost positions of Russian athletes on a global level, but cooled expectations of podium domination at the London Games.

Competition in the world of sports is growing; all countries are vying for the top positions. Huge world players like China have appeared, Africa is progressing, Mutko said.

We will fight for medals in 25 forms of sport. … Well return the lost positions, huge work is being done.

Mutko said restoring Russias sporting dominance after the lean 1990s was a tough task.

We started the regeneration actively in 2006, but to cultivate an Olympic champion you need ten years, Mutko said.