Monthly Memo - March 31 2008

Meghan Driscoll, recipient of a MSRTP award from the University of Washington School of Medicine

The Wyoming Accessibility Center helps meet the needs of students with reading and print disabilities.

Jane Barghothi, Development Director

"Hats ON!!" addresses the mental health needs of Wyoming children and youth (Back from left: John Tracy, Assistant Professor of Social Work; Peggy Nikkel, Marilyn Patton, and Carol Pasenneaux of WDHMHSA. Front from left: Mona Schatz, Director of the Division of Social Work, and Eydie Trautwein of WDHMHSA.)

A Message from Dean Kelley
The college is proud of Meghan Driscoll, a WWAMI student from Cheyenne, who received a $4,500 Medical Student Research Training Program (MSRTP) award from the University of Washington School of Medicine. For the past three years, Meghan has worked in the lab of Bruce Culver, Professor of Pharmacology, and will spend the 10-week program continuing her project "The Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Saturated Fats on the Accumulation of β-Amyloid in an Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model."

News from the Divisions

Kinesiology and Health
Division faculty play principal roles in national and internal conferences. Tami Benham-Deal, Associate Professor, presented papers during the American School Health Association National Conference held in Honolulu and the Council of Chief State School Officers' meeting held in New Orleans. Mark Byra, Division Head, was invited to travel to Halkidiki, Greece, to speak about "Spectrum Research—Old, New, Where to Now&?rdquo; at a session of the 1st International Forum on Spectrum Training Styles and to Pittsburgh to speak about "Tracking Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) from 1980 to 2000: Research on Programmatic Change, Participants' Perspectives, and Control of PETE Programs" at the Historic Tradition & Future Directions in Research on Teaching and Teacher Education in Physical Education Conference. At the conference, Mark, along with Todd Bartee, Associate Professor, and Derek Smith, Assistant Professor, also presented the posters "Effect of Internet-based Physical Activity Behavior Change Program on Physical Activity and Disease Risk" and "Efficacy of a Theory-driven Internet-based Physical Activity Behavior Change Program." During the American Heart Association Scientific Conference in Keystone, Colorado, D. Paul Thomas, Professor, presented "Regulation of Nitric Oxide Production by L-arginine Induction in the Heart Following Myocardial Infarction," and during the National Curriculum and Instruction Academy Symposium of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Conference in Baltimore, Tristan Wallhead, Assistant Professor, presented the poster "A Gender Comparison of Student Coaching during a Unit of Sport Education" and spoke about "Combating Obesity in K-12 Learners."

Spring Commencement
The college's spring commencement will be held May 10th beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Arena Auditorium. Procession formation will begin at 8:15 a.m. in the Multi-purpose Gym (also called the UniWyo Sports Complex). Please contact the student affairs person in your division if you have questions.


Wyoming INstitute for Disabilities (WIND)
WIND's Wyoming Accessibility Center has recently begun providing accessible materials to disabled students in Wyoming. Funding from the Wyoming Department of Education enabled WIND to establish the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard Clearinghouse for Accessible Media and Technologies. Clearinghouse staff members coordinate the identification, acquisition, and utilization of alternate format textbooks for students with disabilities who meet specific eligibility criteria. Materials have been converted from textbooks to digital audio, enlarged print, and Braille formats. The future expansion of the center will include the provision of materials to state agencies and organizations, including the legal system, to meet the needs of individuals with reading and print disabilities.

2008 Research Day/Grand Rounds
This year's Research Day/Grand Rounds will be held Friday, April 4th in the Family Room on the second floor of the Wyoming Union. Jenny Etnier, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Interim Head of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, will present "This Is Your Brain: This Is Your Brain on Exercise" from 9 until 9:50 a.m., and James Sowers, M.D., Director of the Center for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Health at the University of Missouri-Columbia, will speak about "Effects of Angiotensin II and Aldosterone on Insulin-mediated Cardiovascular Function" from 1 until 1:50 p.m. Speakers from the college will include James Smith, Associate Professor of Social Work; Beverly Sullivan, Professor of Pharmacy Practice; Ann Marie Hart, Assistant Professor of Nursing; and Vicki Murdock, Assistant Professor of Social Work. During the day, students and faculty will showcase poster presentations, and college grants and travel awards will be made. Please plan now to attend this exhibit of the college's research accomplishments.

Development
The college is delighted to welcome Jane Barghothi as our new Development Director. Jane, who was previously the Development Director for the Division of Student Affairs at the University of South Carolina, will work with our alumni and friends to provide and strengthen partnerships and resources for all of our divisions and promote the college's mission to educate and prepare our students through university teaching, research, and service. Jane is looking forward to getting to know the people and places of Wyoming and is thrilled by the prospect of lots and lots of snow. She is also looking forward to meeting all members of the college, so please feel free to contact her (307-766-6751 or jbarghot@uwyo.edu) or stop by HS 236B and say, "Hello."

Pharmacy
Ji Li, Clinical Assistant Professor of Biochemical Physiology and Pharmacology, received a two-year, $143,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Ji's project—"Alteration in Heart Stress Signaling Pathways with Aging"—will investigate the susceptibility of the elderly to the restriction of the blood supply to the heart and seek to discover strategies to reduce the cardiac damage resulting from blood flow inadequacy.

Wyoming Law Symposium
Continuing its commitment to discussing the most important topics affecting the state, the Wyoming Law Symposium will host "Health Care Reform & Patient Safety: Challenges & Opportunities for Medicine and the Law" on April 2nd and 3rd at the UW Conference Center in Laramie. For more information about and registration for the two-day event that will feature noted state and national health care professionals and providers, please visit outreach.uwyo.edu/conferences/healthcarereform/index.asp.

Social Work
A new partnership—Hats ON!!—has been forged between the UWyo-Ed Family Care Training Institute, a training arm of the Wyoming Education and Social Research Institute in the Division of Social Work, and the Wyoming Department of Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (WDHMHSA)that supports the Wyoming SAGE Initiative, a federally-funded program that promotes improved mental health care delivery to families and their children, and UPLIFT, a Wyoming non-profit organization that provides family support resources. Hats ON!!, a new training umbrella designed to better educate the broad range of professionals and lay professionals who serve families with a child who has mental health needs, addresses a growing need in Wyoming. In 2007, for instance, over 4,000 Wyoming children were provided mental health services while they were in professional placement facilities such as group homes and crisis centers, and more than 6,000 children and youths were served by a mental health authority in the state.

Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing (FWWSON)
Susan McCabe, Associate Professor, was featured in "Women's Perspectives—Health Concerns in Rural Frontier Wyoming" in the most recent issue of UWyo Magazine. To read the article, please visit www.uwyo.edu/uwyo/Vol9/03/health.asp.

The Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and the Psychiatric Mental Health Practitioner (PMHP) programs continue to grow. The FNP program, which offers a master of science degree, prepares advanced practice nurses (APNs) to provide primary health care to diverse individuals in a variety of settings, and the PMHP program prepares APNs to provide a full range of psychiatric care, including assessing, diagnosing, and managing the prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders and mental health problems. The rural focus of the programs is proving to be a boon to previously underserved Wyoming communities.

The school has expanded its innovative Clinical Simulation Center with the addition of realistic, hands-on manikins and the growth of the Vital SimFamily. SimMan, who will soon be updated with a new computer and monitor, has been joined by SimBaby, SimKid, and SimAdult Anne. These simulators, which can be programmed to reproduce many human physical functions such as heart tones, breath and bowel sounds, blood pressure, and pulses, offer students the invaluable opportunity to "treat" patients with a variety of illnesses and conditions and learn to respond quickly, correctly, and confidently before they encounter human patients. For demonstrations and tours of the center, please contact Holly Miller (766-6754 or hmiller@uwyo.edu).
 

Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008