Monthly Memo, Oct. 1

Monthly Memo from the Desk of
Interim Dean Beverly A. Sullivan

84th Edition
October 1, 2008

A Message from Interim Dean Sullivan

Interim Dean Beverly A. Sullivan

October is a delightful time to be in Laramie and to visit the College of Health Sciences. Things are bustling. Homecoming, with its parade, tailgate party, and football game, is on the near horizon, and we're really looking forward to honoring our 2008 alumni of the year. The college's vital programs continue to expand in our effort to provide services to all Wyoming citizens, and many external agencies have generously funded many of our special projects and the dynamic research of our faculty and students. The college is dedicated to providing leadership to help Wyoming solve its most complex health care challenges. Along with the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, we recently hosted the visit of Robert Galli, Ph.D., from the University of Mississippi who led a discussion among state leaders, university faculty, and state health care providers to explore the potential of utilizing video conferencing and telemedicine technologies to deliver improved health care to Wyoming's citizens. With the College of Business, we also sponsored a visit by the world-renowned economist B. Delworth Gardner who challenged state leaders, faculty, and business people to develop public policy and efficient uses of capital investments to improve society, including health care. I hope you will feel free to visit us and to contact us about the many ways our alumni and friends can support and directly contribute to the college's continuing successes in the essential work of providing outstanding health care.

Did You Know
that you can double, triple, or even quadruple your gift to the College of Health Sciences? Many companies will match their employees' charitable giving with a gift of their own to institutions of higher learning. Many also match charitable contributions made by their retirees and directors. Matching gifts are directed to the same college, program, or scholarship fund chosen by the employee. For example, if you make a gift of $100 to the College of Health Sciences and you work for a company that has a two-to-one matching gift program, the company will send an additional $200 to further the college's mission to provide an excellent education to its students. You don't have to work for a Fortune 500 company to take advantage of matching gift programs. While most large companies have matching programs, many smaller companies do as well. Check with your employer today to see if your gift to the college can be matched.

We hope to see you on Saturday, October 11th from 10 a.m. to noon at Tailgate Park for the first of many College of Health Sciences' Homecoming Tailgates. Bring your family, enjoy a day of food and fun, and catch up with other alumni. For more information, please contact Jane Barghothi (307-766-6556).

Around the College

The College of Health Sciences is fortunate to have so many outstanding faculty and students and takes pleasure is welcoming them and acquainting them with the many opportunities it provides. On September 10th, we hosted an open house for approximately 50 prospective students. The students toured the impressive Health Sciences Center, and faculty from all divisions were on hand to explain their outstanding and varied programs and majors.

During the annual college barbeque, approximately 250 students, faculty, and staff enjoyed food prepared by chefs David Jones, Professor of Communication Disorders; D. Paul Thomas, Professor of Kinesiology and Health; John Vandel, Dean of the School of Pharmacy; and Mary Burman, Dean of the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing. Special thanks to Craig Vaske from Student Affairs who coordinated the event.

News from the Divisions

Communication Disorders
The division offers an accredited master's degree in speech-language pathology. The accreditation must be renewed every seven years, and the division is currently undergoing this rigorous process that will include a site visit from the accreditation team October 20th-21st.

Fall Commencement
Fall Commencement, with a reception afterward, will be held December 6th at 10 a.m. in the Yellowstone Ballroom of the Wyoming Union. Students should contact Phyllis (307-766-3010; Brecher@uwyo.edu) or Nancy (307-766-3495; Holman@uwyo.edu) or come to Health Sciences 235. Fay Whitney, Professor Emerita of Nursing, will address the graduates and their family and friends.

The Wyoming Geriatric Education Center (WyGEC)
WyGEC, which is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, has begun its second year of broadening and strengthening geriatric education and resources to the state of Wyoming. The center has the following four objectives: 1) to improve the geriatric training of health professionals, including students; 2) to provide continuing education to practicing health professionals; 3) to improve the geriatric training of faculty; and 4) to provide interdisciplinary geriatric clinical training sites for students and others. The WyGEC staff and committee members focus on mental health issues of older adults, end-of-life issues, healthy aging, and chronic disease and emphasize rural-based, culturally competent training. For more information, please visit http://www.uwyo.edu/geriatrics or contact Deb Fleming (766-2719 or dfleming@uwyo.edu).

Pharmacy

Congratulations are in order for Stevi (Stephanie) Buck-Crolla a third-year PharmD. Student from Casper who was chosen as a 2008-09 Regional Liaison for Phi Lambda Sigma, the national pharmacy student leadership society.

Carol Kobulnicky, Assistant Professor, will present "Cancer Patient ‘Informatics': Self-stylized and Routinized Work to Improve Outcomes" at the American Academy Communication in Healthcare 2008 Research and Teaching Forum to be held later this month in Madison, Wisconsin.

Pharm.D. students Esther Jarvis from Douglas and Greg Sarchet from Ogallala, Nebraska, received national appointments to the highly competitive Senior Commissioned Officer Student Training and Extern Program (COSTEP) from the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The program allows students to be commissioned in the PHS during their final year of school and then continue to serve in the PHS after graduation. Esther will serve her commission at the Maniilaq Health Center in Kotzebue, Alaska, and Greg will work at the Pine Ridge Indian Hospital in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Both students were commended for their dedication to serve rural communities and praised their outstanding education in the School of Pharmacy.

The faculty of the school recently approved a new internal administrative organization of associate deans to better delineate their reporting structure and responsibilities. Linda Martin, Associate Professor, will oversee school and academic affairs. Bruce Culver, Professor, will supervise the pharmaceutical sciences division. Robert Scalley, Professor of Pharmacy Practice, will head the pharmacy practice division, and Glaucia Teixeira, Associate Professor, will supervise all aspects of student affairs.

Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing (FWWSON)
The FWWSON is one of 58 schools of nursing in 31 states to receive scholarship funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). This scholarship program, which is designed to ease the urgent national shortage of nurses and nurse faculty, will allow the FWWSON's Bachelors Reach for Accelerated Nursing Degree (BRAND) Program to award five scholarships of $10,000 each to students enrolled in the fast-track program for students with previous

non-nursing baccalaureate degrees. According to Mary Burman, Dean, BRAND "provides exciting opportunities for people interested in career change, and the graduates of the program are already providing much-needed nursing care in the state of Wyoming. The program is fast paced and intense with only 15 months of study making it difficult for student to work during the program. Consequently, these scholarships will be invaluable in helping students successfully complete the program." By strategically focusing on students in accelerated baccalaureate and master's programs, the RWJF and the AACN are efficiently preparing a new cadre of well-educated nurses and strengthening the pipeline of potential nurse faculty.

The FWWSON is pleased to welcome the following new faculty: Mary Ann Purtzer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, and assistant lecturers Karen Benjamin, MS, RN; Sandy Cole, MS, RN; and Debora Retz, MS, RN, BC, CVN-III.

The school received a two-year grant from the Wyoming Community Foundation to help launch the Nursing Workforce Project of Wyoming to create a state nursing workforce center to act as a clearinghouse and coordinator of statewide efforts to strengthen and improve nursing. According to Carol Macnee, Professor, "This significant grant will kick start Wyoming to address our nursing shortage. It's a formidable road ahead, but community collaboration is key to providing local solutions to this national problem At stake are no less than patient care and safety, healthcare costs, and patient health."

On Friday, September 12th, the FWWSON hosted a tour of the school's facilities for spouses of UW Foundation Board Members. To better comprehend the technology used in distance learning, the group sat in on an online compressed video class with the BRAND students in Jackson and toured the school's state-of-the-art Clinical Simulation Center where a group of nursing students presented a mock scenario showing how a nursing team would assess, manage, and communicate with a patient and family members in a hospital. The students enjoyed showing off the school's outstanding learning opportunities and took pride in sharing their knowledge and skills with their guests.

Assistant Lecturers Connie Diaz Swearingen and Sherrie Rubio Wallace included Beth Mullen, Albany County Public Health Disaster Coordinator, in their September 9th disaster seminar. Beth added information and a unique perspective as nursing students learned about the nurse's role in disaster response. The seminar included a mock disaster during which students practiced triage and improvised field first-aid.

Kinesiology and Health
This fall, Derek Smith, Assistant Professor, will mentor two undergraduate students who received INBRE undergraduate scholarships. Michael Hautala and Noriko Nozumi will each complete a three-week research experience in Derek's Integrative Physiology Research Lab. Both students completed their associate's degrees at Western Wyoming Community College before transferring to UW this fall. Michael is majoring is earth science, while Noriko is majoring in biology.

Fall 2008 CHS Calendar of Events
• October 3rd2-5 p.m. B. Delworth Gardner Symposium on Health Care Economic Policy featuring Del Gardner, Ph.D., at the Holiday Inn
• October 10thnoon CHS Alumni of the year Lunch
• October 11thHomecoming
• October 11th10-noon Tailgate
• October 28thWind Advisory Group meeting at the Hilton Garden Conference Center
• December 6th10 a.m. fall commencement in the Yellowstone Ballroom of the Wyoming Union

 

Posted on Thursday, October 16, 2008