The Weekly SPHere March 2, 2009
The Weekly SPHere is a weekly electronic publication for students in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. To submit items for the Weekly SPHere, please send an e-mail to sphnews@umn.edu.
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SPHere Spotlight
(Editor’s Note: Because of the Feb. 26 snow storm, Pamoja has been rescheduled for Friday, March 6, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., in the Campus Club. The annual event, sponsored by the SPH Student Senate, gives students, faculty, staff, and others a chance to meet, network, and enjoy each others’ company.)
Last chance to submit a PSA! The “It’s Global” PSA Contest deadline is this Friday, March 6 at noon. Enter for a chance to win up to $500.
• More information about the PSA contest
The SPH Student Senate volunteer committee wants everyone to join in the fight against cancer by participating in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life beginning Friday, April 17. Last year the SPH team raised $5,000 and, this year’s goal is $7,000. Register by Friday, March 13 and receive a T-shirt. For more information, contact Erika Vetta at vett0066@umn.edu.
• Join or donate to the SPH Cares about Cures team
This week the Dean writes about restructuring going on within our school’s Centers for Public Health Education and Outreach (CPHEO).
• Read the Dean’s column
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Student News
There’s only one week remaining to submit your SPH Student Research Day abstract. To be eligible for prizes—including up to a $500 conference fee waiver—be sure to consult with a faculty member on your idea and submit your proposal by Monday, March 9 at midnight. This deadline only pertains to your abstract proposal; your poster doesn’t need to be created and printed out until Research Day on April 6.
• More information about Research Day
The Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity is sponsoring a career fair on Wednesday, March 4. The fair will be held from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. at the St. Paul RiverCentre, exhibit hall A and is open to the public. The Career Fair is targeted to professionals or students who hold or are pursuing a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.
• Read more about the career fair
U of M President Robert Bruininks will present his State of the University Address on Thursday, March 5. The address will be at 3 p.m. in the theatre of Coffman Union. A question and answer period will follow the speech. A reception will follow in the lobby. To request disability accommodations call University Relations at 4-6868.
• Access the live video link
Career Services is offering a series of workshops in March to assist students with employment resources. For more information about each workshop, contact career counselor Mary Dwyer at 6-4448 or dwyer012@umn.edu.
- Resumes and Cover Letters
2-3 p.m. Tuesday, March 3 in D-330 Mayo
- Interviewing and Salary Negotiations
11 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 11 in D-330 Mayo
- Job Search Strategies in a Difficult Job Market
11 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 25 in D-330 Mayo
The following are specifically designed for doctoral students:
- Resumes and Cover Letters
11 a.m. to noon Friday, March 13 in D-199 Mayo
- Constructing Curriculum Vitae for Ph.D. candidates seeking jobs primarily in Academia or the Scientific Community
Noon to 1 p.m. Friday, March 13 in D-199 Mayo
Receive up-to-date public health job postings by subscribing to the SPH Professional Jobs e-mail bulletin or to the RSS feed.
• Subsribe to the e-mail bulletin (delivered by Google’s Feedburner)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed
• Visit the SPH Jobs page for all job categories
Looking for an internship or field experience opportunity? Subscribe to the SPH Internships/Field Experiences e-mail bulletin or RSS feed.
• Subscribe to the e-mail bulletin
• Subscribe to the RSS feed
The Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences is pleased to announce funding opportunities for faculty. This initiative aims to encourage work on the broad societal implications of problems in health, environment, or the life sciences and will fund interdisciplinary research, projects, or curricular innovation in summer 2009 or the 2009-10 academic year. The Requests for Proposals (RFPs) may be found at the Consortium’s webpage. The application deadline is Monday, March 9. For questions, contact Audrey Boyle at Boyle032@umn.edu or 6-5624.
The Institute on the Environment is partnering with the Graduate School to offer four new Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowships in 2009-2010. The Ph.D. students must already be enrolled at the U of M and must be nominated by their program’s director of graduate studies. Recipients of the fellowship will receive a stipend of $22,500 for the academic year, plus full tuition. The nomination deadline is Friday, March 27.
• Download the call for nominations, including details on procedures, eligibility and the review process
Elizabeth Wattenberg will serve on the University-wide graduate school task force, which met for the first time on Feb. 27. The team is responsible for recommending the implementation plan for restructuring the oversight and support of graduate education. Wattenberg will help gather information from those who will be affected by this change. She welcomes suggestions from students regarding the restructuring. Contact her at watte004@umn.edu.
Help MDH with vaccine outreach. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is in great need of public health students who speak Spanish, Somali, or Hmong to assist with a vaccination survey for Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib). Rates of Hib are on the rise. In response, MDH is enrolling families in a colonization survey with the aim of tailoring an outreach plan for unvaccinated children. The goal is to enroll 2,000 children at sites in Minneapolis and St. Paul. If you are interested in volunteering for half-day shifts at clinic sites to talk with families about the survey, contact MDH epidemiologist Stephanie Meyer at stephanie.meyer@state.mn.us.
Volunteers are needed to help Children’s Hospitals with its Employee Competency Fair to be held in April. Volunteers will participate in "fit-testing" employees for the mask used while working with infectious tuberculosis patients. An infection prevention specialist will train volunteers in the technique. Volunteers are needed in four-hour increments from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. If interested, please e-mail your resume and letter explaining your interest to Barb Laporte at blaporte@umn.edu by Friday, March 6.
The Minnesota AIDS Project’s HIV Action Network is sponsoring AIDS Action Day on Thursday, March 12 at the State Capitol. Meet with elected officials, share stories, and share concerns with the people who make decisions. Registration begins at 10 a.m. and activities will be held hourly until 3 p.m. A program and lunch will be held at noon.
• Visit Minnesota AIDS Project to read the schedule and register online
The National American Indian and Science Engineering Fair (NAISEF) is seeking volunteers and judges for the annual gathering, which will be held in St. Paul, March 26-28. More than 300 Native American students in grades 5-12 from across the country will attend. Judges are needed for a full day on March 27 and volunteers are needed throughout the event. To volunteer contact Mark Bellcourt at bellc001@umn.edu. To register as a judge, download the judges registration form and fax the completed form to (505) 765-5608. The deadline to register is Friday, March 13. For questions about judging please contact Tina Pino at tina@aises.org or (505) 765-1052 x105.
• More information about the fair
Do you Twitter? If so, check out Epidemiologic Inquiry, a new medium for disseminating epidemiology information via the social networking service Twitter. Follow the "Epidemiology Go" Twitter feed, which offers news and innovations in epidemiology. Additionally, updated features on Epidemiology Job Board and Epidemiology Fellowship Board will allow people to view the latest job listings. Interested readers should subscribe via e-mail for the latest updates (on the right hand side of the job/fellowship board pages).
A cross-cultural leadership retreat will be held in April for international graduate students who want to learn to become more effective in international environments. The deadline to apply is noon on Monday, March 2. This highly interactive, high-energy retreat will be a living laboratory of what it takes to work with people from vastly different cultures. The cutting-edge Personal Leadership model will be used to develop a cross-cultural skill-set. The retreat will be held April 3 and 4. For questions contact Thorunn Bjarnadottir at 6-4799 or thorunnb@umn.edu. Space is limited so apply online at International Student and Scholar Services.
• For details, visit the Facebook event page
Students seeking a unique educational opportunity should consider enrolling in the SPH Global Public Health Institute at St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore, India. The session will be held March 16-24. Global Health India provides an opportunity for students from the United States and India to meet with faculty from the University of Minnesota, experience educational institutions in India, to examine the impact of globalization on health, and identify strategies that support a healthy and productive global workforce. Questions? Contact Meghan Taylor at tayl0427@umn.edu or 6-8434. Travel stipends are available.
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School News
A national symposium on medical and health care education reform will be held April 26-28 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Join with national leaders to build consensus on changes needed in medical education to best facilitate health care reform. Nationally recognized medical education experts will jump-start discussions at this highly participatory event.
• More information/registration
This month’s issue of Research Brief discusses the link between colorectal cancer and mammography. The brief comes from SPH faculty members Marshall McBean and Beth Virnig and SPH research associate Xinhua Yu.
• Read or subscribe to Reseach Brief
Jamie Stang (Winter Weight Gain) and Nicole Larson (Eating on the Run) were featured recently on Public Health Moment, an SPH podcast. The podcast is picked up by eight Minnesota radio stations.
• Visit/subscribe to Public Health Moment
Call for Nominations for SPH Faculty and P&A Awards. The SPH Recognition, Awards, and Honors (RAH) Committee now welcomes nominations for the following awards: the Leonard M. Shuman Award for Excellence in Teaching, The SPH Community Services Award, the Charles N. Hewitt Creative Teaching Award, the SPH Award for Excellence in Advising, and the SPH P&A Excellence Award. Nominations and supporting documentation are due Friday, April 10 and should be sent to Recognition, Awards and Honors Committee, c/o Stefannie Anderson (stef@umn.edu), MMC 197, A302 Mayo.
• Details/forms on the SPH awards page
Public health research grants up to $15,000 are available through the University of Minnesota: Simulations and Exercises for Educational Effectiveness (U-SEEE), through its U-SEEE Pilot Research Program. Research should relate to enhancing the usefulness of education and training that build the capacity of the public health preparedness system. Applications are due Monday, March 9.
• More information/application
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SPH Events
"Epidemiology of congestive Heart Failure and LV remodeling," is the topic of Vasan Ramachandran’s discussion on Friday, March 4. Ramachandran is a professor of medicine at Boston University’s School of Medicine and a senior investigator of the Framingham Heart Study. His lecture is one of the Epidemiology and Community Health division seminars sponsored throughout the year. The seminar will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. in room 364 of WBOB. For more information contact Carol Raichert at 5-1836.
"Childhood Asthma: Potential Causes and Consequences" will be presented on March 26 from noon to 1 p.m. at the Wilder Center in St. Paul. SPH faculty members Charles Oberg and John Adgate will discuss trends, screening, environmental exposure, and other issues concerning childhood asthma. The event is free and open to all but seating is limited. Lunch will be provided. RSVP to Laurie Ukestad at ukest001@umn.edu. The Amherst center is located at 451 Lexington Parkway North, St. Paul, 55104. This event is part of the National Children’s Study Speaker’s Series.
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Other Events
March 6, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
What’s Next in Law, Health and the Life Sciences? Debating Openness, Access and Accountability
March 7, 7 to 9 p.m.
An International Affair: A Look at Healthcare Abroad
For more events, go to the SPH Online Calendar
Subscribe to SPH calendar updates by e-mail
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The Weekly SPHere is sent by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, 420 Delaware Street, S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455.
Last modified on Sunday Mar 01, 2009