Dear Editor,
Ms. Gabriella Bertucci is leaving the Tufts community at the end of this week. As she prepares to leave, I ask others to join me in saluting her as one of our unsung heroes.
Ms. Bertucci has scheduled classrooms on the Medford campus for almost 20 years. Since we never have enough classrooms to meet demand, she has had a fiendishly difficult task. Since faculty can be uncompromising in their classroom requests, she has had a stressful task. Since her work has been done out of sight, she has had a thankless task.
I learned much about Ms. Bertucci's scheduling wizardry during the eight years I planned courses for the Department of Economics. I learned the details of her job during the two years I studied our scheduling process and room utilization for former Vice President Mel Bernstein. The more I learned, the more obvious were her heroic qualities.
Most colleges have at least two staff members assigned to the tasks that Ms. Bertucci has done single-handedly. She was able to keep up by her absolute mastery of all aspects of our scheduling, her skill at solving puzzles, her patience with even the most clueless individuals and her willingness to put in extra hours. She saw her obligation as doing anything needed to insure that the needs of students and faculty were met.
I offer thanks to Ms. Bertucci on behalf of the many students, faculty and staff who benefited from her help and kindness. We all wish her a happy and successful future.
Sincerely,
David Garman
Associate Professor
Department of Economics
Dear Editor,
The Feb. 11 edition of "The Cultural Culinarian" may mislead consumers about high fructose corn syrup.
High fructose corn syrup, sugar and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same. High fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.
Americans should know that no mercury or mercury-based technology is used in the production of high fructose corn syrup in North America.
The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that "high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners." Even former critics of high fructose corn syrup dispel long-held myths and distance themselves from earlier speculation about the sweetener's link to obesity as the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition releases its 2008 Vol. 88 supplement's comprehensive scientific review.
Many confuse pure "fructose" with "high fructose corn syrup," a sweetener that never contains fructose alone, but always in combination with a roughly equivalent amount of a second sugar (glucose). Recent studies that have examined pure fructose — often at abnormally high levels — have been inappropriately applied to high fructose corn syrup and have caused significant consumer confusion. In 1983, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally listed high fructose corn syrup as safe for use in food and reaffirmed that decision in 1996.
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at HFCSfacts.com and SweetSurprise.com.
Sincerely,
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association
