Posted on
June 25, 2008 by Karen Pojmann
It’s been a big week for women in the military, with President Bush nominating Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to become first female four-star general in the United States. According to Pentagon reports, only 57 of this country’s active-duty generals and admirals are women.
Mizzou soon will welcome one of them.
The wife of our newly appointed vice chancellor for research, Robert Duncan, is Maj. Gen. Annette L. Sobel. Sobel has served as the director of intelligence for the National Guard Bureau and director of the New Mexico Governor’s Office of Homeland Security. She has won multiple service awards from the Army and the Air Force. She has taught at the University of New Mexico, the University of Texas at Galveston and Wright State University. She serves on the national board of directors for Girl Scouts of the USA. And did we mention she’s also a medical doctor and senior flight surgeon? You might say Sobel is the very model of a modern major general.
The couple joins us Sept. 1.
Posted on
June 23, 2008 by Lisa Bruce
More than a million dogs suffer from cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) deficiency each year. The condition is comparable to a common sports injury in humans — anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. A Mizzou veterinarian has helped to develop the Tightrope, a device used with minimally-invasive surgical techniques, to stabilize dogs’ knees.
James “Jimi” Cook, professor of veterinary medicine and surgery and the William C. Allen Endowed Professor for Orthopedic Research, worked with Arthrex, Inc. to develop and test the Tightrope device. More invasive techniques can lead to serious complications.
Learn more about about the innovative surgery.
Posted on
June 18, 2008 by Karen Pojmann
Mizzou alumnus Neal Boyd blew away the judges—as well as the particularly wound-up and finicky audience—last night on the NBC show America’s Got Talent. Backstage, the passionate opera tenor talked candidly (with Jerry Springer) about his childhood in a low-income family in Sikeston, Mo., sweetly singing the praises of his supportive, self-sacrificing mother. Then he took the stage. By the halfway point in his performance, the members of the Los Angeles studio audience were on their feet, cheering. Even persnickety Piers Morgan uttered a stunned “wow,” later telling an emotional Boyd: “You are a very, very special talent.” Sharon Osbourne observed, “You have a fabulous warmth that comes from you,” and David Hasselhoff declared, “This show is about talent. And it’s about $1 million. And right now you are the front-runner.”
Posted on
June 16, 2008 by Karen Pojmann
If your summer TV viewing schedule includes regular doses of “reality” talent shows, you’re likely to catch 2001 Mizzou graduate Neal Boyd’s operatic stylings at 8 p.m. Central Standard Time tomorrow, June 17, on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Perhaps you’ve already caught a snippet of Boyd’s work during the show’s previews, in which the Mizzou-trained tenor apparently tears up over the gushing of judges Sharon Osbourne, David Hasselhoff and Piers Morgan. We don’t know how far he goes on the show, a competition during which a winner is chosen by process of elimination. Boyd can’t talk about any details yet; everything is very hush-hush until the finale airs. But it’s probably OK to give Boyd a shout-out if you see him around campus. The Sikeston, Mo., native says he plans to work with his former MU vocal coach, Associate Professor Ann Harrell, this summer. Read all about it — and hear an audio clip of Boyd performing — at Mizzou magazine online.
