Monthly Memo - May 2, 2007

Win Hickey

Le (Joe) Zhou

Toni Decklever, RN, MA, is presented a plaque by Dean Pamela Clarke recognizing her service to nursing in Wyoming during the 4th Biennial Nightingale Tea.

Krisztina Zajd and her assistant Nicholas Mahoney, a junior engineering student from Cheyenne, are study one of the many impressive poster displays during the Grand Rounds.

School of Pharamcy Dean Vandel at the school's 60th anniversary diner celebration.

from the Desk of Dean Robert O. Kelley
70th Edition
May 2, 2007

A Message from Dean Kelley
The College of Health Sciences pays tribute to Winifred "Win" Hickey, a powerful ally of the college, the university, and the state. Win, a former Wyoming first lady, Laramie County Commissioner, and state senator, was instrumental in garnering legislative support and state funding for the Health Sciences Center. Colleagues and friends described her as "strong willed," "fearless," and "meticulous." State Auditor Rita Meyer said Win was an "icon" who was decades ahead of her time by entering politics at a time when not many women did. She was also admired for her directness: what she had to say, she said face to face. She gave the university and the state many years of invaluable service and will be missed.


News from the Divisions
Kinesiology and Health
Kathleen Roddy, a freshman from Castle Rock, Colorado, majoring in kinesiology and health promotion with the athletic training option, has been chosen to attend the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders to be held in early June in Washington, DC. Kathleen, an outstanding student and campus leader, will attend the two-day conference"Leadership for Today and Tomorrow"sponsored by the American Association of University Women. When she and her fellow delegates return to UW, they will plan the annual UW Women's Leadership Conference to be held in early February.

Thanks to our alumni and friends, the division can offer its students a variety of scholarships. Natasha Maxfield, a senior from Laramie majoring in physical education teacher education, received this year's Emily J. Smith Memorial Scholarship. Campbell-Thouin-Marburger Physical Education Scholarships were awarded to Brooks Fry from Laramie and Nathan Vondra from Casper, juniors majoring in physical education teacher education. This year, three freshman kinesiology and health promotion majors received Floyd Hart Memorial ScholarshipsMiles Cushman from Laramie, Katie Melvin from Cheyenne, and Allison Tieszen from Encampment. The Jackson Therapeutic Riding Internship Scholarship was awarded to Jordan Kraft, a kinesiology and health promotion major from Wilson. Physical education teacher majors Tiffany Thunsell from Laramie and Chase Plumb from Douglas received John Corbett Scholarships, and juniors Ruth Casey and Rochelle Hyde from Laramie received Bruce Dick Scholarships. Kinesiology and Health Awards were presented to kinesiology and health majors Brian Allred and Matthew Anderson from Lovell and Molly Boyer from Laramie, and Lucas Robertson, a physical education teacher major from Laramie, received the Pax Ricketts Memorial Scholarship.

Our students continue their impressive records of being accepted to the professional schools of their choice. Mandy Jairell from Laramie will attend Parker College Chiropractic School in Dallas, Texas. Hayes Bean from Belle Fourche, South Dakota, has been accepted by the Occupational Therapy Program at the University of South Dakota. Joseph Howdeshell from Lander, Ed Waggy and John Hennings from Laramie, and Jill Kittinger from Harrison, Nebraska, will begin their master's studies here at UW. Stacy Roush from Sheridan will enter the master's program in physical therapy at the University of North Dakota, and Amy Barton from Arvada, Wyoming, will attend the University of Colorado's Physician Assistant School. Lindsey Lorello has been accepted into the physical therapy master's program at the University of New England in Portland, Maine; Samantha Michelena will begin medical school at the University of Washington; and Tyler Perkins from Windsor, Colorado, will begin his studies at Logan College Chiropractic School in St. Louis, Missouri. Lindsey Caba from Hastings, Nebraska, has been accepted into the doctoral program in physical therapy at Regis University in Denver, and Haley Dvorak from Gillette will begin her Ph.D. in physical therapy at the Pacific University in Millsboro, Oregon. Kent Loendorf from Laramie will pursue a degree in physical therapy at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington; Colby Harris from Riverton will enter the master's program in physical therapy at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia; and Sara Bender from Bottineau, North Dakota, has been accepted by the University of South Dakota's occupational therapy program.

Center for Rural Health Research and Education (CRHRE)
The CRHRE completed its Wyoming Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration project in March at a statewide security and privacy workshop held in Casper. More than 50 stakeholders came together to review the project's recommendations and discuss implementation plans. The final report on the project was submitted on April 14th thanks to the hard work of Michael Salz, Britnee Brost, and Ryan Sandefer. Please visit www.health.uwyo.edu/wyohispc for a copy of the report.

Tony Wallace, graduate assistant in the CRHRE, recently attended the 2007 International Conference on Computers and Their Applications held in Honolulu. Tony presented a paper, co-written by CRHRE Director Rex Gantenbein, entitled "A Lightweight Approach to Interoperable Health Information Exchange." Tony, who is completing his Ph.D. in computer science at UW, is part of CRHRE's Wyoming Network for Telehealth project team.

Rex just returned from a meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering and Medicine in Biology in Seattle (EMBS), where he was a finalist for the position of editor-in-chief of the IEEE journal Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine. Although he was not selected as the journal's editor, Rex was asked by the search committee to be a founding member of a new technical committee on biomedical and health information for EMBS

Congratulations to Le (Joe) Zhou, Research Scientist, who was recently named a life member of the Noris A. Lusche Fellowship by the Laramie Kiwanis Club. The fellowship was established in honor of the leadership and service of Mr. Lusche, a past international president of the Kiwanis organization. Joe was one of only two Kiwanians from the Rocky Mountain district to receive this prestigious award.

Wyoming INstitute for Disabilities (WIND)
The WIND library celebrated National Library Week, April 16th-20th, with an online contest. The first three individuals to correctly answer one of three questions about using the WIND Library won $10 gift certificates to Turtle Rock Caf. The rules stipulated that only the WIND Library online catalog and the subject bibliographies listed on the library's main Web page could be used in the contest. The result was a good awareness activity about using online library resources and learning about disabilities.

Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing (SON)
The SON hosted the second Advisory Board meeting of the academic year on April 16th. The meeting was well attended by board members and graduate and undergraduate faculty who discussed ways for enhancing the education of nursing students. Members of the board also provided positive feedback regarding the impact of the school's nursing programs on Wyoming communities.

The Nightingale Center for Nursing Scholarship recognized the outstanding contributions to nursing made by Toni Decklever, RN, MA, during the 4th Biennial Nightingale Tea. Nurses from across the state attended the tea and offered hearty congratulations to Toni for her many achievements.

The Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program and the Wyoming Department of Health and Substance Abuse cosponsored the 1st Psychiatric Grand Rounds held on April 10th. Sixty-five representatives of nursing and mental health disciplines and agencies throughout the state attended and heard Susan McCabe, Associate Professor, and other speakers address the conference topic "New Concepts in the Assessment and Treatment of Addictions: Neurobiology & Pharmacology."

Students in the BSN program participated in health promotion poster presentations on April 18th. The students, who chose topics related to Healthy People 2010, will be looking for agencies to which they can donate their projects. For more information, please contact Sherrie Rubio-Wallace, Assistant Lecturer (307-766-2693 or sherrie@uwyo.edu).

Pamala Larsen, Professor, was honored on April 11th as the Distinguished Lecturer for 2007 by the School of Nursing at Radford University in Radford, Virginia. Pamala spoke about "Chronic Illness Research: Creating an Evidence Base for Practice."

Professor Carol Macnee, Associate Professor Susan McCabe, and Assistant Professor Virginia Conley presented "Agent-based Research: Computational Modeling for Advancing Nursing Science" at the 40th Annual Communication Nursing Research Conference in Portland, Oregon. Their symposium showcased the SON through the presentation of papers describing the use of agent-based modeling in developing and testing models of complex behavior relevant to nursing. During the session, Carol and Susan presented "A Model to Predict Relapse to Smoking Based on Self-efficacy" and "A Model to Predict Re-hospitalization in Community-dwelling Seriously Mentally Ill." Mary Beth Stepans, Associate Professor, also attended the conference and discussed "Asthma in Native American Children: Access Out of Need" and "Access to Native American Tribal People Through Internal Contacts."

Several nursing faculty and staff attended the eCollege CiTE conference for Internet Technology in Education held in late March in Denver. This annual conference provides opportunities for nursing faculty participating in online teaching to network with other instructors and program administrators from across the nation. UW's Outreach School facilitates faculty attendance at this event during which sessions are held to update faculty on technological developments and present learning strategies for online teaching.
As part of its effort to expand the use of simulation in clinical training, the SON sent eight faculty members to the Hot Issues American Association of Critical Care Nurses' Simulation Conference in Denver to explore the trend toward simulation in education and to learn about available simulation resources.

Communication Disorders
Mary Hardin-Jones, Division Head, presented a poster"The Influence of Linguistic Level at Time of Primary Palatal Surgery on Speech Outcome for Children with Cleft Palate"at the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association Annual Convention in Denver. Mary was also invited to present "Speech and Language Development during the First Two Years of Life" at the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association American Speech-Language Hearing Association Post-conference Symposium in late April.

Grand Rounds
This year's Grand Rounds/Research Days was a great success. Invited speakers were Sally Davis, Ph.D., Professor in the University of New Mexico's Department of Pediatrics and Director of the Prevention Research Center, and Allen Bowling, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Director of the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center. These two presenters were joined by Gail Leedy, Associate Professor of Social Work; Derek Smith, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Health; Krisztina Zajd, Assistant Professor of Communication Disorders; and Jayne Jenkins, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Health. The event was also a wonderful opportunity for college students and faculty to present their research projects and accomplishments.

The day ended with Mary Burman, Associate Dean, presenting this year's college seed grant and travel awards to further the research of members of health sciences. Matt Bundle, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Health, and Mona Schatz, Director of the Division of Social Work, received $5,000 Faculty Grant-in-Aid awards. Matt will study "Extending the Anaerobic Reserve Model to Small Muscle Volumes," and Mona will explore "Ending Child Abuse: Mirage or Reality&?rdquo; With Graduate/Professional Grant-in-Aid Awards, Sachin Thorat, a kinesiology and health student from Laramie, will investigate "The Effect of Arginine Supplementation on Left Ventricular Function and Collagen Remodeling in the Mouse Heart Post-myocardial Infarction"; Xiaochun Zhang, a biology student from Laramie, will study "The Role of Indomethacin in Chronic Methamphetamine-abuse Induced Behavioral Sensitization"; and Karla Moore, a social work student from Laramie, will examine "Sibling Grief among Children Who Have Lost a Brother or Sister to Adoption." With help from Faculty Travel Awards, Gail Leedy, Professor of Social Work, will be able to attend the American Society of Animal Science Meeting in Moscow, Idaho, and Mona Schatz, Professor of Social Work, will travel to the 15th Annual International Consortium for Social Development in Hong Kong. Four kinesiology and health students received Graduate/Professional Student Travel funding: Lucas Carr from Laramie will research "The Effect of an Internet-based Physical Behavior Change Program on Physical Activity and Disease Risk," Christopher Dorozynski from Laramie will investigate "The Efficacy of a Theory-driven Internet-based Physical Activity Behavioral Change Program," Christy Lohof from Sheridan will examine "The Effect of an Internet-based Physical Activity Behavior Change Program on Self-efficacy and Physical Activity," and Beth Young from Laramie will study "State Anxiety and Blood Pressure Responses to Resistance Exercise of Different Intensities."

Student Affairs
Student Affairs is excited to announce the first College of Health Sciences Student Interprofessional Service Award. Developed by the Undergraduate and Preprofessional Advising Office (UPAO) as a way to honor students who go above and beyond what is required to support the mission and initiatives of the college, recipients are nominated by the UPAO or their school or division. Nominees must demonstrate a constant and clear commitment to college activities through participation in multiple activities over the course of time. Such pursuits may consist of assisting with and participating in social and academic events, taking interprofessional classes, participating in workshops, being involved in community service and the activities of his/her chosen profession, and maintaining excellent overall citizenship and service to the college.

The winner for 2007 is John Kindle from Riverton. John, a kinesiology and health promotion major with the goal of pursuing physical therapy school upon graduation, embodies the spirit of community. His nominator cited a long list of John's volunteerism and leadership and ended by saying, "When it comes to volunteering, John stands out above the rest in both quantity and quality. He truly epitomizes the spirit of community and giving. He is a volunteer, a leader, and an inspiration."

The first runner up is Jennifer Rosacker, a communication disorders major from Rawlins. Not only is Jennifer an outstanding student and active in her professional organizations, but she has also made significant contributions to the college's interprofessional academic efforts by serving on the task force and participating in other initiatives. According to her nominator, "She is a clear example of the kind of student who has crossed boundaries of majors, divisions, and disciplines toward an interprofessional focus." The college extends its congratulations and gratitude to each of these fine students for their outstanding efforts and accomplishments.

WWAMI Medical Education Program
In January 2006, the Wyoming Area Health Education Center (AHEC) became the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) Outreach Partnership contact for Wyoming. In late April, AHEC's coordinator Kelly Hubbell attended the NIMH Outreach Partnership Conference in Portland, Oregon. At the conference, she presented "Stress Reduction for Corrections Officers," a summary of her work with the Wyoming State Penitentiary. Kelly's project was funded by an NIMH Outreach Partnership grant, as well as by the Wyoming AHEC and the College of Health Sciences.

A proposal submitted by the Community Health Advancement Program (CHAP), which is funded by AHEC, has been accepted by the Civic Engagement in the Classroom Institute (CASTL). Kelly Hubbell, a lecturer and coordinator with the WWAMI program; Janelle Krueger, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy; and Jessica Latourelle, a Pharm.D. student from Laramie, will partner with Laramie Senior Housing to provide needed services for residents and then offer a one-credit service learning course in Spring 2008 to help participants solidify their experiences through reflective learning. Acceptance by the CASTL Institute is a notable achievement for the group who will be mentored by Carnegie Scholars.

Social Work
Mary Walsh from Cheyenne was awarded a scholarship by the division to attend the Sustainable Living: Securing Our Future Conference held in Salt Lake City. An international speaker from India, workshops regarding regional issues in sustainable living, a panel discussion, and many informational presentations were among the key activities of the conference. During the conference, Mary learned that the University of Utah has made tremendous strides toward making the campus environmentally friendly by introducing xeriscaping and using indigenous plants to beautify the campus. One of the most interesting aspects of the conference was a presentation by the 3M Company of Salt Lake City that makes a variety of useful and attractive products from recycled goods and trash. Summing up her experience, Mary said, "I personally learned to see things from a different lens. The conference helped me understand the breadth of recycled products and the amazing ways they can improve our environment. During the regional discussion group, I got to exchange e-mails with others in the region who feel committed to the same issues I do. We were able to explore ideas like healthy urban development, keeping the wilderness we have now wild, and policy changes and the implications of trying to get policy changed. I was rewarded richly through the contacts I made, and ideas have sparked a new commitment inside me to my environment, our campus, and the greater global community. I'd like to extend my grateful thanks to the Social Work Department for generously sending me to the conference."

Pharmacy
Feng Dong, Research Scientist, received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from UW's Graduate School in recognition of his excellent graduate work"Role of Leptin in Obesity-associated Cardiac Dysfunction"mentored by Jun Ren, Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology. The award carries a $1,000 prize.

The School of Pharmacy officially observed its 60th anniversary at a dinner celebration on April 21st. Approximately 200 guests, including donors, friends, faculty, students, and staff of the school, attended. Speakers included Dean Kelley who thanked the school and college's many contributors, Dean Vandel who honored the 2007 graduating class and winners of the school's scholarships and awards, and John Stark from the UW Foundation who announced the beginning of the Dean David W. O'Day Endowment Fund in honor of the school's first dean. The school has grown and prospered over the years and can boast that its graduates pass the nation licensure examination with scores well above the national average and are in great demand by employers and that its outstanding faculty are nationally and internationally recognized for their impressive research involving the treatment and prevention of cancer and diabetes and innovative advances in alternative medicines. Here's to another 60 years of great pharmacy teaching, research, and service at UW!

Posted on Thursday, May 03, 2007