Campus Currents

News Briefs By Katharine Webster

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Jim Paillot

DOUBLE DUTY: The USNH and UNH School of Law boards voted earlier this year to fully integrate the law school with the university by early 2014. The two have been affiliated since 2010. Among the collaborations that have already taken place are two new joint degree programs: a JD/MBA and a JD/ master's in social work—good news for students, who save time and money with dual degrees.

PRIZE CATCH: Associate professor of history W. Jeffrey Bolster was awarded one of two Bancroft Prizes for his book The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail (Harvard University, 2012). A former sea captain, Bolster chronicles the impact of 500 years of commercial overfishing, from the extinction of the gray whale to the collapse of the cod fishery. In awarding the 2013 prize, Columbia University called The Mortal Sea "a gripping and eloquent history of the human impact on the ocean."

TAXING PROBLEM: Tax expert John Hasseldine is helping the International Monetary Fund develop a model to measure the VAT "tax gap"—the difference between the amount of Value Added Tax collected on goods and services, and what should have been paid. Hasseldine, an associate professor of accounting and finance at the Paul College of Business and Economics, says the model will allow countries to compare rates of compliance, identify weaknesses, and track the effects of policy changes.

LAURELS: Novelist Alice McDermott '78G, '94H is joining the New York State Writers Hall of Fame this year alongside Maurice Sendak, Calvin Trillin, Walter Mosely, and four other noted authors. McDermott, who earned her master's in fiction writing at UNH, is the author of five books, including Charming Billy, winner of the 1998 National Book Award.