The Weekly SPHere Oct. 1, 2007
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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Student News
AHC Student Immunization Requirement. All students are required to be in compliance with the Academic Health Center (AHC) immunization requirements to be able to register for Spring Semester 2008 classes. Please be sure to be in compliance no later than Wednesday, Oct. 31.
• Learn more online
SPH international students are invited to a "what's up" session with the SPH student services staff. Come out and share your experiences, meet other students, ask questions, and share your concerns with the student services staff. The session will be held from 8 to 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, in the Stauffer conference room, across the hall from Mayo D305. Refreshments will be served. For more information or questions contact Thuy Doan at 4-6915 or doanx034@umn.edu.
Are you attending APHA this year? If so, consider signing up to volunteer at the SPH booth. Each year the booth is buzzing with alumni, friends, faculty, and your future colleagues (prospective students). What a perfect opportunity to network and assist the Student Services Center personnel. If you are presenting, you may want to schedule yourself at the booth immediately following your session to accommodate continued discussion or prior to your session to advertise yourself. A booth staffing schedule that reflects the concurrent sessions of the conference is being managed by Melvin Monette, Director for Student Recruitment. Please stop by Melvin's office in Mayo D384 to claim your spot on the schedule and pick up a complimentary copy of APHA's Program at a Glance. You may also e-mail monet008@umn.edu.
Business card orders will be accepted through Monday, Oct. 15 ensuring that they will be available for you for APHA. The cost is $17 for 100.
• Place your order online
Kudos to Epi PhD student Carrie Heitzler. Recently Heitzler finished the Ironman race in Wisconsin, which involved swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running a marathon (26 miles). Her total time was 11 hours, 7 minutes, 19 seconds. She was 3/111 in her age group, and ranked 19th out of all 502 females—including 12 professionals—and 250/2209 total. Her third place age-group finish qualified her for the World Championships in Hawaii in October.
Melissa Boney has been selected as a 2007 Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Emerging Leader. This prestigious fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for graduate students who want to work in federal government. Boney has begun work at the Indian Health Services headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. She will spend the next two years working in different offices in DHHS.
Online Career PowerPoint Workshops now available. Career Services, in collaboration with other career offices at the University, is pleased to offer new online workshops. They're a great way to conveniently gather basic career information. For questions, make an appointment with career counselor Barb Laporte at blaporte@umn.edu.
• Access the workshops online
Are you looking for a way to participate in SPH recruiting efforts? If so consider getting involved in upcoming events or offering suggestions for recruiting opportunities. Stop in the recruitment services office to volunteer for upcoming opportunities. Two such opportunities to get involved are at the Health Careers Center Graduate School Fair from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, and at the Graduate/Professional School Info Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Contact Melvin Monette for details at 4-0601 or monet008@umn.edu.
Equivalency exams for SPH core courses have been scheduled for January. Please contact the appropriate person by Jan. 5 if you are interested in taking the exam.
Equivalency Exam Date, Time, and Contact
- Administration Jan.9, 2008 9-11 a.m. Doug Wholey
- Behavioral Science Jan.9 2008 1-3 p.m. TBA
- Biostatistics Jan. 10, 2008 9-11 a.m. Sally Olander
- Environmental Hlth Jan. 10, 2008 1-3 p.m. Ian Greaves
- Epidemiology Jan. 11, 2008 9-11 a.m. DeAnn Lazovich
- Ethics Jan. 11, 2008 1-3 p.m. Debra DeBruin
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School News
John Finnegan writes about the tremendous growth of the SPH student body over the past five years in his bi-weekly From the Dean column. To read the column, click on
• Read the column online
Participants wanted for Alzheimer's disease research conducted by the School of Nursing and the Medical School. Researchers are focused on discovering future therapies that will slow or halt the progression of the disease, which affects 13 million adults worldwide. They are looking to identify biological determinants of Alzheimer's. A phone call will determine if a person is qualified and an office visit for a physical exam and blood and urine tests. To participate or for questions, contact Joe Gaugler at 6-2485 or gaug0015@umn.edu.
Fellowship opportunities. Families USA is accepting applications for two fellowships -- The Wellstone Fellowship for Social Justice and the Villers Fellowship for Health Care Justice. The deadline is Jan. 15, 2008. For more information about the fellowships go to:
• Learn more about the Wellstone fellowship
• Learn more about the Villers fellowship
Policy Change for the SPH Information Board. If you have a flyer or magazines/brochures you would like posted on the SPH information board by the Dean's Office, please contact Heidi Menzel (menze029@umn.edu or x4-6708). Information must be SPH-related. The school is in the process of revamping the information board, so be on the lookout for some exciting changes!
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SPH Events
Statistical Methods for Human Genomic Research will be discussed by Yulan Liang, a candidate for faculty position in the Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center Department of Biostatistics University at Buffalo, SUNY. The seminar will be held at 12:15 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 1 in room 2-520 MoosT. All are welcome and lunch will be provided for the first 30 attendees.
Join Dan Nettleton from the Department of Statistics at Iowa State University as he discusses "Exploring the Information in p-Values for the Analysis and Planning of Multiple-Test Experiments." The seminar will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3 in MoosT 1-450G. This talk covers joint work with David Ruppert and Gene Hwang at Cornell University. A social tea will be held at 3 p.m. in A434 Mayo. All are Welcome.
• Learn more online or call 4-4655
Students in the MCH Program will discuss their public health experiences in India during two informal gatherings. Both sessions will be held in A301 Mayo (in the Dean's suite of offices) and both will be from 12:15-1:15 p.m. The first is Monday, Oct. 15 and features Karthik Srinivasan discussing his work with a project to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and with HIV/AIDS in commercial sex workers in South India. In the second session on Monday, Oct. 29, Mandi Proue and Terra Carey will share stories and photos from their recent field work. MCH will provide light refreshments and everyone is welcome to attend.
Xenobiotics and Human Health Seminar Series: The Divisions of Epidemiology and Community Health and Environmental Health Sciences are holding a series of joint seminars. The goal is to exchange information and ideas about persistent organic pollutants and health, seen from several perspectives. Place and Time: Mayo 1155, Mondays, 10:30-noon. This schedule is subject to change. Please call Carol Raichert at 5-1836 to confirm.
- October 8: Jeff Mandel and Bruce Alexander
Persistent fluorochemicals, worker health, and mortality
- October 22: Deborah Swackhamer and Matt Simcik
Fate and transport of emerging chemical pollutants
Governmental Accountability Office information session. Representatives from the GAO will facilitate a session about their agency and the public health and public policy analyst and intern positions for which they hire, including those on their health care team. Students pursuing the M.P.H. in Public Health Administration and Policy, and the M.S. in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration may be particularly interested in considering the GAO, yet recruiters encourage all interested students to attend. Learn more at www.gao.gov. The session is scheduled for noon-1p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11, in Mayo A-301. Lunch will be provided. E-mail Jen Burns Arntzen by Tuesday, Oct. 9, if you plan to attend (with "RSVP to Oct 11" in the subject line). Her e-mail address is arntz007@umn.edu
The School of Public Health Roundtable Series on Environmental Influences on Human Development and Disease Risk will be held from 8:30-noon on Friday, Oct. 12 in Cowles Auditorium at the Humphrey Center. The keynote speaker is Philip J. Landrigan. This event will focus on the historical and unprecedented increases in chronic disease and illness among infants and children. After the event participants will better be able to identify continuing and emerging threats to infant and child health, describe changes in governmental policy that can protect children from environmental hazards and risk and describe issue advocacy efforts at local, regional national and global levels to help reduce those risks. The Roundtable Series is free but registration is requested.
• Learn more/register online
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Other Events
"Saving the Planet ... One Campus at a Time" presented by the Institute on the Environment will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 1, in room 105 at the Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics on the St. Paul campus. This marks the first in several environmental roundtables which features University-wide conversations on pressing environmental issues of our time. Come hear Jacqueline Johnson, Chancellor of University of Minnesota Morris, and Thomas Fisher, Dean of the College of Design, discuss the role academia should play and what challenges exist, and share your ideas for how to 'green' our own campus.
• Learn more online
Do you still wonder which fork to use at a fancy dinner? If so, make plans to attend the Etiquette Dinner scheduled on Tuesday, Oct. 9.
• Learn more online
Bridges Fall Down is the Headliners event for October. Join Professor John Adams at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4 for the monthly forum to discuss the collapse of the I-35W bridge and how the catastrophe helped put the focus on civic infrastructure. He'll also discuss the broader implications of this Minnesota tragedy and explore possible solutions. The discussion will take place at the Continuing Education and Conference Center on the St. Paul campus. Visit the Headliners Web site or call 4-4000 to sign up for the October 4 event, order a series pass, or learn more about the program.
Preconception Conference. A Lifespan Approach to Reproductive Health: Getting it Right. A one-day conference about preconception care will be held on Friday, Oct. 5 at Snelling Office Park in St. Paul. The conference is intended for health care providers, nurses, public health professionals, researchers, allied health students, health administrators, and policy makers. Conference participants may earn continuing education credits. For further information, go to www.epi.umn.edu/mch or www.marchofdimes.com/minnesota.
Canadian Defense Scientist Jim Ho will discuss, "Detection of Biological Threat Aerosols: Why is it so Difficult," on Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in 2-620 Moos Tower. The event is part of the LM Fingerson/TSI Inc., Distinguished Lecture Series. A wine and cheese reception will be held in the Campus Club at the Coffman immediately following the event.
The 2007 Many Faces of Community Health Conference will be held on Thursday Oct. 11 and Friday Oct. 12. The focus of the conference is on working to reduce health disparities in underserved populations. This year's clinical session are on managing multiple chronic diseases. The keynote is "Bridges Out of Poverty." There will be a special session on Friday about working with homeless populations.
• Learn more online
Why We Eat More Than We Think. The Institute for Research in Marketing is pleased to announce that Brian Wansink, author of the best-selling book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, will discuss the influence of advertising and marketing on eating habits on Wednesday, Oct. 24, from 5:30-6:30 p.m., in the Carlson School of Management's 3M Auditorium. A reception will follow the talk. This event is open to the public with a registration fee of $45; current University of Minnesota students may register at no charge.
• Register online
Minnesota Public Health Association's Centennial Celebration Gala - Join the MPHA as it celebrates 100 years as a contributor to the health of Minnesotans. Will Steger, polar explorer, will be the keynote speaker at the event, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 25, 5:30 - 9:00 p.m. at McNamara Alumni Center. The evening includes a buffet dinner and cash bar, buffet dinner and cash bar, music by the MPHA Jazz Band, welcoming remarks by public health leaders, a history of public health in Minnesota and highlights from A Public Health Journal. Registration deadline is October 17.
• Register online. Questions?
Call (612) 673-3948.
Diabetes--a Breakthrough Series event. Registration is now open for the daylong event scheduled for Monday, Oct. 29. Learn about important research that examines insulin delivery systems, continuous glucose monitoring, islet transplantation, stem cells and other emerging modalities. The event is presented by the Office of Clinical Research and partner, LifeScience Alley. University faculty, staff and students will receive a discounted rate of $25 for the full- day conference on the St. Paul Campus.
• Register online
A conference on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) will be held on Thursday, Nov. 8. This conference will cover a multitude of topics related to FASD including current diagnostic criteria, approaches for screening for alcohol use during pregnancy, and prevention and intervention strategies. The keynote address will be presented by Dan Dubovsky, the FASD specialist for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) FASD Center for Excellence. Registration fee is $25. Student scholarships are available. Please call Mary Ellen Walker at 651-351-3135.
The Graduate School is offering workshops on subjects ranging from Work/Life Balance to Writing Fundable Grant Proposals.
• Learn more/register online
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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. www.sph.umn.edu.
Last modified on Monday Oct 01, 2007