University of Arizona in the News

INSIGHT Into Diversity April 18, 2022
Colleges and organizations work to address national veterinarian shortage

A new study estimates 75 million pets in the U.S. will go without health care because of a need for nearly 41,000 additional veterinarians by 2030. This story reports on efforts nationwide to increase the number of veterinary professionals. It mentions Arizona lawmakers may vote to reduce veterinarian student debt to attract and retain new graduates from the University of Arizona College of Veterinary Medicine, the state's first public veterinary medical school.
National Geographic April 18, 2022
How Mexico revolutionized the science of antivenom

Experts say innovative policies and a diverse scorpion population led Mexico develop more than a dozen antivenoms now used in the U.S. and elsewhere, potentially providing a model for other developing countries. Scientists in Mexico "always had a huge incentive to make lower-cost, safer antivenoms, because they had hundreds of thousands of people per year that were going to use them if they were safe enough," said Leslie Boyer, a venomologist at the University of Arizona, the state with America's highest per capita rate of envenomations.
PBS NewsHour April 18, 2022
Citizen poets share details of their pandemic lives in 'Dear Vaccine'

A new poetry anthology has been published as part of a collaboration of the University of Arizona Poetry Center and Wick Poetry Center of Kent State University. "Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic" seeks to illuminate how people around the world have experienced COVID-19.
BizTucson April 18, 2022
University of Arizona College of Science: special section

Discovery and innovation are at the core of the University of Arizona College of Science. Carmala Garzione, a geologist who was named dean of the College of Science in March 2021, said one of the most remarkable characteristics of the college is that “every single program has its strengths in research, and most are highly ranked in terms of their curriculum. There’s not a single asset that isn’t a treasure.”
U.S. News & World Report April 17, 2022
UofA expert is writing comic books to teach kids chemistry

University of Arizona chemistry instructor Colleen Kelley developed a series of 10 comic books with graphic artist Mackenzie Reagan to teach chemistry to children between the ages of 8 to 12 in an engaging way.
Arizona Daily Star April 16, 2022
UA goes all-in on gaming with school-sponsored team, Esports Arena

This story and video feature report on the growth of esports – competitive computer gaming – at the University of Arizona, specifically the August 2021 opening of the UArizona Esports Arena in the Memorial Student Union and the launch of the university's esports program and varsity team in November. Arena operations manager Kevin Buchmiller, a 2019 graduate, helped lead the push to build the facility.
New York Post April 16, 2022
How an ordinary New Mexico couple pulled off $150 million art heist

This story recounts the 1985 theft of Woman-Ochre, by Willem de Kooning, from the University of Arizona Museum of Art and the making of the new documentary about the crime, "The Thief Collector." The film premiered at this year's South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, where the filmmakers took part in a panel at the University of Arizona Wonder House.
The Washington Post April 14, 2022
To find out where the covid pandemic is headed, look here: The sewer

This story reports on local efforts nationwide to track COVID-19 outbreaks by examining wastewater. The feature photo shows coronavirus trackers in August 2020 collecting wastewater samples from a University of Arizona dormitory.
Newsweek April 14, 2022
A four-day work week doesn't guarantee three-day weekend

A bill currently working its way through California's state legislature would move non-union, hourly workers at large companies to a 32-hour week with no cut in pay. "There's this hope that having a four-day workweek will lead to greater job satisfaction, a better work-life balance – especially having longer weekends and some time off that allows for traveling – and less commuting," said Oliver Schilke, an associate professor in the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management. "But on the cost side, even if they reduce the number of (work) hours, there might still be a perceived pressure to get things done in less time."
BuzzFeed News April 14, 2022
We might be looking at COVID 'seasons' for years to come

In the last three weeks, BA.2 has become the dominant COVID variant in the U.S., now accounting for 86% of cases, per the CDC. Meanwhile, U.S. cases have hovered at around 28,000 new reports daily, a plateau not seen since last June. And daily hospitalizations, perhaps the most telling pandemic indicator, dropped to around 1,400 nationwide, less than a tenth of the rate at the height of January's Omicron spike. Still, there are cases rising in the Northeast, enough that Philadelphia on Monday reinstituted its mask mandate "It does seem like what's happening on the East Coast is nearing what has happened in Europe and in the UK, where BA.2 really did kind of pick up," University of Arizona evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey said. "The good thing is that hospitalizations and deaths are not increasing nearly as much as with prior surges."