SPH News March 2, 2009
SPH News is a school-wide electronic newsletter distributed to SPH faculty and staff every other week during the school year. Please send news items to SPHNews@umn.edu.
(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.)
From the Dean
Today’s subject is the restructuring going on within our school’s Centers for Public Health Education and Outreach (CPHEO). This restructuring was brought about by a two-year strategic planning process by CPHEO to identify a structure where the rich capabilities of this group could be made available more widely within the SPH.
CPHEO, as most of you are aware, was created several years ago to strengthen our ties with the public health workforce and other key stakeholders in the practice community. The CPHEO group is indispensable to our workforce development obligations, engagement with the professional community, and the public. The organization has grown into an important and valuable component of our mission, thanks in large part to the leadership of Associate Dean Debra Olson. The restructuring I detail below will not in any way change our commitment to the professional development and advancement of the public health workforce. Furthermore, no layoffs are planned.
The SPH’s Digital Learning Group (DLG) will become part of the Dean’s Office reporting to Jim Hugo, director of administrative, academic and research information technology. You will be hearing more soon about how to access the deep resources of the DLG.
Two key members of CPHEO’s management team, Sharon Vegoe and Mary Hoeppner, who have a combined 37 years at this university, will retire in June. We are immensely grateful for their countless contributions to the SPH, most recently their years spent in making CPHEO such a valuable resource to the community, the SPH, and the university.
Over the next several weeks, we will explore ways to manage the operations of CPHEO, and I’ll share those decisions with you as they are made. Two key CPHEO programs, the Public Health Institute and the Public Health Roundtables, will continue under the direction of Education Operations Director Mary Ellen Nerney and Assistant Dean for External Affairs Diana Harvey, respectively.
All of these changes will result in what I believe will be an even better integration of the SPH’s lifelong learning model.
–John R. Finnegan, Jr., Ph.D.
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Media News
February media coverage featured the following SPH faculty and staff:
Lynn Blewett
Meg Bruening
Roger Feldman
John Finnegan
Bernard Harlow
James Hart
Dorothy Hatsukami
Craig Hedberg
Rosalie Kane
James Neaton
Melissa Nelson
Michael Osterholm
Mandy Stahre
Douglas Yee
Coverage was featured in local media as well as in the Chicago Sun Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Reuters.com, Pittsburg Tribune Review, Infection Control Today magazine, and on CNN. Visit SPH in the News to read more about SPH faculty in the news.
Subscribe to Public Health Scene to get regular e-mail updates on SPH in the news.
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Faculty News
Learn about stimulus bill funding for research. The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is creating a new Web site and several listservs for University researchers interested in new funding opportunities within the fiscal stimulus bill. The infusion of these new, presumably one-time funds, will be tracked closely by the OVPR.
• For more information, see OVPR stimulus
• For more information about other OVPR initiatives see research funding
Lynn Blewett delivered a presentation to the Minnesota House of Representatives state legislative committees on the effect of the economic downturn on the health care delivery system in Minnesota. The hearing was Tuesday, Feb. 10, and was a joint committee meeting of the Health Care and Human Services Finance Committee and the Health Policy Committee.
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, faculty, and staff regarding the restructuring. Contact her at watte004@umn.edu.
Summer 2009 textbook orders are due on March 9. Complete instructions for ordering are available for download by clicking on the links below:
• Text Ording Instructions (PDF)
• Text Request Information Sheet (PDF)
• Textbook Form May/Summer 2009 (PDF)
The 35th Ten-Day Seminar on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease will be held July 26 through Aug. 7 in Tahoe City, Calif. Applications are due at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 23. The seminar is offered by the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors. For more information contact the American Heart Association National Center at 214-570-5935.
The International Society of Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention announces the 42nd Ten-Day International Teaching Seminar on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention to be held Sept. 27-Oct. 9 in India. For questions contact Kay-Tee Khaw at +44-1223-217292 or at kk101@medschl.cam.ac.uk. Applications are due Wednesday, April 1.
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 Minnesota Public Health Association is seeking nominations for its elected offices. For questions about the available positions, requirements, roles, responsibilities, and to nominate someone contact Linda Olson Keller at 6-5144 or olson173@umn.edu or Erica Fishman at 651-201-5899 or Erica.fishman@state.mn.us. Nominations must be received by Sunday, March 1.
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School News
U of M President Robert Bruininks will present his State of the University Address on Thursday, March 5, 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
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
Receive up-to-date public health job postings by subscribing to the SPH Professional Jobs e-mail subscription or to the RSS feed.
• Subsribe to the e-mail feed (delivered by Google’s Feedburner)
• Subscribe to the RSS feed
• Visit the SPH Jobs page for all job categories
The Office for Public Engagement will hold its second spring Public Engagement Symposium "Meeting the Standards of Scientific Inquiry in Community-Engaged Research," on Tuesday, March 10. It will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the A.I. Johnson Great Room McNamara Alumni Center. The symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. Please register to: public@umn.edu.
• Learn more about the Office of Public Engagement and the symposium
Faculty and staff are invited to attend the SPH Admitted Student Reception on Monday, March 23. The reception will be held from noon to 4 p.m. in the Mississippi Room at the Coffman Union. For more information or to register for lunch, contact Melvin Monette at monet008@umn.edu.
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
Mark Miazga, coordinator in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, was appointed to the St. Paul Long Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee by Mayor Christopher Coleman on Feb. 18. The committee recommends a bi-annual budget to fund capital improvements such as public works projects, park improvements, and library and recreation center improvements and renovations.
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
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
City Pages has signed on to sponsor the SPH’s National Public Health Week Film Festival, April 6-11. The alternative weekly’s sponsorship is valued at more than $23,000.
• Learn more about the film festival
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. Go to the SPH awards page for details about each award.
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 inforamation/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. 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. Register 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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CPHEO Announcements
Upcoming Courses
Tools for Managing Volunteers During and After a Disaster
These tools were developed for Medical Reserve Corps coordinators, public health agencies or any organization that may deploy volunteers to assist during or after an emergency or disaster and can be adapted to meet your agency needs.
Access tools online
8-Hour Emergency Response Refresher
March 12
Additonal Information
Designing and Conducting Focus Groups Interviews
March 16-17 and 18-19
More details online
Breathe Easier: Advances in Indoor Air Quality and Mold Recognition, Identification and Remediation
March 17-19
Additional information
Global Health Institute–India
March 16-24
More details online
Incident Management Systems Awareness
Monday, March 23
Training descriptions
Occupational Hearing Conservation Recertification Training (CAOHC Approved)
March 24
Additional information
For Emergencies Only? Successful Respiratory Protection Program Implementation
March 25
Additional information
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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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Events on the AHC Web Site
Events on the SPH Web Site
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Last modified on Sunday Mar 01, 2009