UO E-clips, Dec. 24

A 'First Citizen' dies at 67 (Register Guard): J. Peter “Pete” Moore, a Eugene businessman and philanthropist who was named 2008 First Citizen earlier this month by the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, died Tuesday after a two-year battle with leukemia. He was 67. Moore was chairman of Willamette Beverage Co., and a second-generation Pepsi distributor. He was a founding board member of Summit Bank in Eugene and the High Desert Museum in Bend, and made headlines four years ago when he and his wife, Mary Ann Moore, pledged $1 million to the Oregon Bach Festival and the University of Oregon.

Health Plan Restraints Might Keep Patients From Choosing Quality Care (Health Behavior News Service): Public reports on the quality of care delivered by health plans might motivate patients to choose better providers -- if they are not constrained by issues of cost and accessibility to doctors, according to a review of recent studies. The findings, published in the January 2009 issue of Medical Care, shed some light on the puzzle of why people repeatedly say they are interested in quality when it comes to health care, but rarely make it a priority when they choose their providers. In real-life situations … fewer than 5 percent said that quality information had influenced their choice of health care provider, said lead author Marjan Faber, Ph.D. … Faber and colleagues analyzed 14 studies, all conducted in the United States. … Judith Hibbard, an expert in public reporting of health data at the University of Oregon, said that many patients have a difficult time wading through the unfamiliar numbers and less user-friendly formats of some quality reports. “Until we make these compelling to consumers, we’re not going to have the improvements in quality,” she said.

Miami's interior design program ranked ninth in nation (Middletown, Ohio, Journal): Miami University's interior design program is ranked ninth in the nation, according to a survey of practitioners by DesignIntelligence -- a publication for leaders in design professions. The bimonthly magazine's annual report, "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools," is the only national college ranking survey that focuses exclusively on design. The report is aimed at design firms and organizations that recruit and hire recent college graduates. For 2009, Miami's undergraduate program ranked ninth in a tie with Iowa State University, Arizona State University, Art Center Design College, University of Missouri, University of Oregon, Art Institute of Chicago, University of Texas, Austin and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Be bold with charitable donations (Register-Guard, guest editorial by the UO's Renee Irvin): Holiday gifts to nonprofit organizations are a wonderful tradition. May the generosity of our community shine again this year. We could do better, however. Few leaders of nonprofit groups would be willing to risk saying how we might change the way we give, for fear that it might offend donors. The conventional ways of supporting nonprofits discourage risk-taking and may actually limit their effectiveness in the long run. Rather than assess nonprofits groups on how needy they are or what their overhead ratio is, consider the following departure from philanthropic convention: Are your donations rewarding timid, overly frugal nonprofit organizations — groups that are destined to stay small and limited in their impact? Reward vision and outcomes. Reward the organizations that take risks and think about long-term solutions. … If you’ve found your gutsy and effective nonprofit organization, be bold in your giving. Find out what is holding it back from further success.

Ducks send violations to Pac-10: The school doesn’t expect any additional penalties in the case of Fenuki Tupou (Register-Guard): The case of University of Oregon offensive tackle Fenuki Tupou, who was suspended for one game this season for accepting a meal and money from a sports agent, is now before the Pac-10 Conference, which will in turn forward the matter to the NCAA. The athletic department’s top compliance officers, senior associate athletic director Gary Gray and executive assistant AD Bill Clever, said Monday that based on precedents they do not believe that the Pac-10 or NCAA will increase the penalties Oregon has already imposed.