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<img src="http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/images/features/knodellgrasso_300x212.jpg" height="212" width="300" />Focusing resources to achieve distinction in a few key academic areas is path often contemplated by colleges and universities and seldom taken. But last week, after several years of collective deliberation, ¶¶Òõ̽̽ took the first bold steps to achieve just that outcome.

<img src="http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/images/features/murrayclose_300x212.jpg" height="212" width="300" />When Dianna Murray-Close, assistant professor in psychology, shows the movie <em>Mean Girls</em> in her developmental psychology course her students tend to identify with the main character who learns the hard way that manipulation, rumor spreading and backstabbing are common tools for moving up the teenage social ladder. "In girl world," declares actress Lindsay Lohan, "all the fighting has to be sneaky."