Mini-takes on many matters

On TV . . . Tropics . . . White house . . . Innovation . . . Science . . . Diplomat Rush Dies . . . Traditions . . . Food

Principal Role

Dennis Haskins stars in NBC's popular Saturday morning series "Saved By The Bell." But the UT Chattanooga alum is no overnight success. He began his acting career when he was just a child.

"When I was a kid I always wanted to be an actor. My dad and I made little stop action movies. My first big role was in a school pageant when I was in the first grade," says Haskins, who grew up in Chattanooga and plays Richard Belding, principal of Bayside High School, in "Saved By The Bell."

Haskins honed his acting talents at UTC and moved to California to further his career. With several roles to his credit, he auditioned for the part of the principal in a joint Disney-NBC series, "Good Morning, Miss Bliss."

"I did all the things you shouldn't do in an audition and still got the part," Haskins says. The series started in the fall of 1989 on the Disney Channel as an experiment.

"But we were cancelled after 13 shows. Then a rare thing happened. Brandon Tartikoff, NBC's entertainment chairman, and Peter Engle, our executive producer, put their heads together and revamped the show."

The new version was "Saved By The Bell."

"We moved to Saturday mornings on NBC and by 1992 had become the number one show for all of Saturday morning."

"Saved By The Bell" is seen in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Haskins' television credits include drama as well as comedy. He's been in "The Image" with Albert Finney, "Hiroshima Maiden" for Wonderworks on PBS with Richard Masur and Susan Blakely, "The Twilight Zone," "Ohara" with Pat Morita, and "Magnum, P.I."

Haskins played one year of varsity basketball at UTC and still loves the game. He spoke to more than 20,000 kids while hosting the National Basketball Association's "Stay in School Jam" for the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers.

He made a guest appearance at the L.A. Lakers "Jam" and this year's nationally televised "Stay in School Jam" in Phoenix. He's also the 1995 celebrity spokesperson for the Dyslexia Educational Foundation of America.

His wife, Dianne (also a UTC alum), is an educational psychologist with the Los Angeles County Office of Education. With Haskins' "job" as Bayside High School principal, that makes two education professionals in the family. n

What's New With Soybeans

Think again.

Wayne Flinchum, UT plant and soil scientist in Jackson, says that Tennessee farmers allocate 0.5 percent of their annual soybean crop receipts to research and promotion of new soybean products.

In 1994, Tennessee farmers harvested more than 38 million bushels, worth $216 million.

Innovative uses include:

Breast implants. Fifty American women are testing an experimental implant filled with a natural fat from soybean oil.

Diesel fuel. Mass transit systems in 30 cities are trying out a diesel fuel blend of 25 percent soy and 75 percent petroleum.

Ink. Soy-based ink is a nontoxic alternative to petroleum-based ink.

According to Parks Wells, executive director of the Tennessee Soybean Promotion Council, 75 percent of U.S. newspapers use soy inks in combination with other inks.

Soy protein is used to enrich bread as well as burgers, Flinchum reminds consumers.

A Leader In Time

Being named by Time magazine as one of the nation's 50 future leaders put some unanticipated pressure on Nancy-Ann Min (UTK '78).

"It's been a bit of a challenge because you think to yourself, ÔWhen they do the issue in 10 years and look back [on previously recognized people], I want to have accomplished something else by then.'Ê''

Min, 38, associate director for health and personnel at the White House Office of Management and Budget, needn't worry. Her path to the national spotlight has been filled with accomplishments. It's certain many more are to come for the self-described perfectionist.

The Rockwood, Tennessee, native was a hometown star whose academic accomplishments won her scholarships to UTK.

She continued to be a standout college student, keeping a perfect 4.0 grade point average in College Scholars with a major in history. Min was the first woman elected president of the Student Government Association at UTK. She was named a Torchbearer, Omicron Delta Kappa's "Leader of the Year'' and one of Glamour magazine's top ten college women for 1978.

Dr. Jack Reese, a former UTK chancellor Min considers one of her many mentors, awarded her citations for extraordinary academic achievement and for extraordinary campus leadership and service.

Following graduation, Min entered Harvard Law School. While in her first year, she was selected as a Rhodes ScholarÑthe first woman from UTK to receive the honor. She received B.A. and M.A. degrees from Oxford in philosophy, politics, and economics and finished the law degree at Harvard.

She interned for the justice department before law school, worked with Sarah Weddington of Roe v. Wade fame in the Carter White House, and was a judicial intern to the administrative assistant to former Chief Justice Warren Burger.

While working for the Nashville law firm Bass, Berry and Sims, she was appointed by former Governor Ned McWherter as commissioner of human services and served in that position from 1987-89. She returned to Washington in 1991 to work for a law firm and then joined the Clinton White House.

Now she oversees federal personnel policies and Medicare, Medicaid, and other public health programs at the departments of health and human services and veterans affairs.

Min says she hasn't made definite future career plans and is focusing on "trying to do everything I can to make sure that the president's goals are achieved over the next two years.''

Besides Reese, she credits others at UTK with helping her along the way, such as the late Howard Aldmon, former dean of students; Vice Chancellor Phil Scheurer; and professors Jonathan Utley, Milton Klein, Bruce Wheeler, Michael MacDonald, and Otis Stephens.

"I was very lucky to have professors not only gifted intellectually but who had the gift of being a mentor to students and were very important in shaping my career goals and ideas of what was possible."

Min herself was able to play a similar role for someone else recently: she mentored Jennifer Santoro, the second woman from UTK to win a Rhodes Scholarship.

Tropics

The View from Costa Rica

Phil Sharp (Knoxville '67) bought 33 acres on a mountain near Costa Rica's Jaco Beach three years ago. He's developing the property into lots for individual sale.

"It's shaped like Neyland Stadium before it was enclosed," says the lifelong Vol fan. "The top of the property is on a very high cliff. The lower area is fairly flat, like a playing field. There's a natural lagoon, 22 acres of rainforest, three miles of beach, and the ocean."

Sharp's land also contains jungle and, during the September-to-December rainy season, a 600-foot waterfall.

Improving the property is a full-time job, Sharp says. "When I got here, it was completely overgrown. It had been deforested except for the jungle part, but there were weeds 12 feet high. I had to hire workers to cut them."

Now Sharp spends his days "planting and watering. I have some men digging a well, but they're not finished yet." Early each morning Sharp leaves his Atenas home and heads up the mountain "with two 55 gallon drums of water. I've planted more than 800 fruit trees and about 10,000 plants along the trails and roads. It takes a lot of water."

The work goes slowly, but perks include 70-degree-weather, "the most spectacular view this side of Hawaii," and an abundance of exotic animals. "In early mornings and late afternoons the monkeys are out. There are also two large macaws, about the size of eagles. They come out of the jungle and fly all over my property, squawking. Then there are the green parrots, parakeets, lovebirds, and toucans."

Sharp's planting scheme encourages wildlife and discourages erosion. "I discovered a weed with a flower that butterflies just love. I've lined many paths with that weed, and I have lots of butterflies."

From noon to 3 p.m., Sharp fields inquiries from potential buyers. "There's a large French hotel across the road from my property. That's how most people find out about it," he explains. He has created an "office" consisting of "five or six bamboo posts with a small flat roof. I put some palm leaves on top of the roof and strung up a hammock."

Sharp spends two or three nights a week in his "office."

"I just started doing that about three months ago. I don't like being away from my family," he says. Sharp has married since moving to Costa Rica, and he and his wife have a two-year-old daughter. "I plan to name my lot 'Rocky Top Tennessee 2: Population 3,'Ê" he says.

"I grew up in North Knoxville. When I was nine years old, I got a job selling peanuts at football games. I didn't miss a game from 1951 to 1959, when I started UT."

Except for a three-year hitch in the army, Sharp maintained his perfect game attendance during his years as a transportation major. After graduation, he worked in transportation for a while, but eventually ended up as an independent building contractor. His penchant for warm weather vacations led him to buy a package tour to Cancun. He didn't care for Cancun, but each year found him returning southÑfirst south of Cancun, then to Belize, then to GuatemalaÑuntil fellow vacationers recommended Costa Rica. Not only did Sharp like Costa Rica, he decided to buy land and settle there.

After a year of hard looking ("The price of land in Costa Rica is high"), Sharp found and bought his property "within ten minutes of seeing it." Right now he spends his time working his land. But eventually he hopes to have a home in Knoxville and spend Costa Rica's rainy season there. "Costa Rica's rainy season is UT's football season. That would work out just great!" Sharp laughs.

Proud of Three Generations

Patti Nelius Hartog, Andy Nelius, Craig Nelius, Sylvia Nelius Epley, 1993

From time to time we hear from families who're proud of their strong UT heritage. Patti Nelius Hartog (Knoxville '82) of Georgetown, Indiana, wrote recently, calling attention to her family's three generations of graduates.

The tradition began with grandmother Margaret Ruby Campbell Nelius, who graduated from the UT nursing school in Memphis in the 1920s. Her oldest son, Martin Nelius Jr. (Patti's father), started at UT Martin in 1953. The Martin campus offered only a two-year program at that time, and he transferred to Knoxville and earned the B.S. in mechanical engineering in 1957.

"He had interned at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tullahoma during college," Patti wrote. "He returned there to begin his career."

After UTSI opened in Tullahoma in 1964, he attended graduate classes in engineering. Nelius spent his entire 38-year career at AEDC. He and his wife, Joan Waggoner, had four children, each of whom graduated from UTK: Patti in accounting in 1982, Andy in electrical engineering, 1984 and 1990, Sylvia Nelius Epley in nursing in 1988, and Craig, who earned the B.S. in education in 1993 and the master's the following year. Martin Nelius died last year.

Six family members from three generations attended UT campuses for a total of more than 30 years, Patti points out. The Tennessee Alumnus always is glad to spotlight multigenerational UT families such as the Neliuses.

What's Cooking?

Tipper Gore, Pat Summitt, and David Keith contributed recipes. "Smoky's Pre-Game Pasta" by former mascot Michael Kennedy is typical of the dishes with a distinct Vol flavor.

Sponsors of the cookbook are the UTK women's and men's athletic departments and the College of Human Ecology.

Cost is $19.95 plus $5 for shipping. You can order by calling (615) 974-1270 or fax orders to (615) 974-3119. Proceeds will fund scholarships in human ecology and women's athletics.

Catching Good Waves

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) affects as many as 10 percent of children and adults in this country. These people are unable to concentrate for extended periods and are sometimes hyperactive and impulsive. ADD is often treated with the drug Ritalin, but Dr. Joel Lubar, professor of psychology at UT Knoxville, has pioneered a new, drug-free, technique to help people with ADD. Using a form of biofeedback, Lubar and his colleagues teach patients to increase certain types of brain waves.

"We've coined the term 'neuro-feedback,' neurological feedback, because we're changing neurological, or brain, functions," says Lubar.

First described in the 1840s, ADD has been known by several names, but has always been characterized by an inability to concentrate.

"People with ADD have extreme difficulty focusing or completing tasks. ADD has three main components: inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and, in some cases, impulsiveness. It comes in three basic forms, the inattentive form, the hyperactive form, and the combined form," Lubar says.

Lubar says that "virtually all" people affected by the hyperactive form also have the inattentive component of ADD, but about 40 percent of ADD sufferers are not hyperactive.

Lubar got the idea of neuro-feedback from a UCLA study where epileptics used biofeedback to increase the amount of sensorimotor rhythm in their brains. This significantly decreased their seizures. Lubar decided to apply the same method with hyperactive children.

A patient is hooked up to an electroencephalograph, a machine that measures electric activity in the brain, and does various activities, such as puzzles, on a computer. The patient gets a signal when the EEG detects the desired brain waves. The patient can then learn to enhance those patterns.

The results were dramatic, but only in relation to behavior, not in ability to concentrate, says Lubar.

"This type of training reduced the hyperactivity, but the ability to focus and concentrate didn't always improve. Ritalin has the same effect in some children," says Lubar.

He decided also to teach patients to recognize and sustain beta waves, fast brain waves associated with intense concentration, as well as sensorimotor rhythm.

"We did this and found that the average increase in measurable I.Q. scores was about 12-15 points, and school performance was greatly improved," says Lubar.

More than 400 facilities around the world now use Lubar's neurofeed-back to treat ADD, and controlled studiesÑthe acid test in the scientific communityÑhave been submitted for publication.

Despite its science fiction sound, neurofeedback is not simply technology. Therapists work closely with patients to build self-esteem and motivation. With young patients, the family is intimately involved in treatment, says Lubar, receiving information on parenting skills and how to handle their child. "When the child does something well, they have to be recognized for it. And when they do something inappropriate, it's important not to handle it in an abusive way which ruins a child's self-esteem and makes them feel like they're failing," notes Lubar.

Follow-up studies with patients up to 10 years after the neurofeedback training are very positive, says Lubar.

"We have found that the results are long-term. Many of these patients told us that if it hadn't been for the neurofeedback training, they would have never succeeded in life as they have."

After earning a law degree at Yale, Rush began his business career at Union Carbide in 1937. In 1966 he became president of the giant corporation.

Other government appointments he held include deputy secretary of defense, deputy secretary of state, and counselor for economic policy in the Nixon White House.

Though his career took him far from Greeneville, Tennessee, where he grew up, and from UT, Rush maintained ties with the University by serving more than three decades on its Development Council.