UIC News Bureau

Eight UIC Students Named Schweitzer Fellows

samhos@uic.edu (Sam Hostettler) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:31:42 -0500

Eight graduate students from the University of Illinois at Chicago have been named 2009-2010 Schweitzer Fellows.

They are: Michelle Ashley, Michael Bennett and Shana Salik of the UIC College of Nursing; Sonya Kenkare and Sangeeta Patel of the UIC College of Medicine; Uchenna Ossai of the College of Applied Health Sciences; and Denise Maniakouras and Justin Welke of the UIC College of Dentistry.

The U.S. Schweitzer Fellows Programs provide community service fellowships for graduate students in health-related professional fields who are dedicated to addressing the unmet health needs in their local areas. The fellows will devote more than 200 hours of service to their projects over the course of a year.

Ashley will develop an educational program on how to prevent lung, skin, breast, cervical, colon/rectal and prostate cancer to uninsured patients at Community Health Clinic in Chicago. She will also provide information on diagnostic tests for women who have had an abnormal breast or cervical examination.

Bennett will begin a series of weekly health education events for low-income seniors at Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly in Chicago. He will focus on a different health condition each week, and the event will feature a presentation, a meal based on dietary recommendations, and a practical discussion of both traditional and alternative approaches to health promotion and disease prevention.

Salik will initiate prenatal care and breastfeeding educational courses at the Miles Square Health Center in Chicago. She will also conduct an assessment throughout the community to discover the medical needs of women served by the health center.

Kenkare will begin a series of classes for teen mothers at the Maryville Academy Madden Teen Parenting Center in Des Plaines, Ill. Kenkare's presentations will cover nutrition, cooking, basic health principles, stress management and techniques on complementary and alternative medicine.

Patel, in collaboration with Chicago's Snow City Arts, will teach hospitalized children to play instruments, write music and digitally record their own songs. The project will primarily serve public aid patients and is designed to promote the healing process as well as facilitate learning outside the classroom.

Ossai will create healthcare workshops targeting the health issues of homeless youth at Night Ministry, Broadway Youth Center in Chicago. The program will focus on improving health care literacy and outcomes among the African-American and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population.

Maniakouras and Welke are teaming up to increase oral health care awareness and education to the underserved pediatric population at El Valor's Head Start program in Chicago. The programs will teach nutrition, promote brushing and flossing, and stress the importance of visiting the dentist.

The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship was founded in 1940 in the United States to support Dr. Schweitzer's medical work in Africa during World War II. Since Schweitzer's death in 1965, the fellowship has continued to provide direct assistance to the Schweitzer Hospital in Lambar�n� and, and since 1991, to underserved communities within the United States.

For more information about UIC, visit www.uic.edu.

Using the Internet to Help Young Smokers Quit

smcginn@uic.edu (Sherri McGinnis González) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:18:45 -0500

Many young smokers want to quit but don't know what methods work.

The University of Illinois at Chicago is leading a $2.9 million National Cancer Institute project to increase demand for evidence-based, Internet-based smoking cessation treatment among young adults.

"Even though many young adults think about quitting and actually want to stop smoking, they tend not to use what we know works -- evidence-based approaches to quitting," said psychology professor Robin Mermelstein, director of UIC's Institute for Health Research and Policy and principal investigator of the five-year study.

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have the highest rates of smoking compared to any other age group, but they have among the lowest rates of quitting, according to Mermelstein.

A multidisciplinary team of investigators from UIC, the University of Iowa and the American Legacy Foundation will work with GDS&M Idea City advertising agency to develop interactive, Internet-based ads and evaluate what messages motivate young smokers to use the evidence-based stop smoking program www.BecomeAnEx.org.

"Our prior research has shown that if you want to reach and engage young adults, then you need to go where they are, and the Internet is it," said Mermelstein. "Our approach is to develop messages that might have enduring value and deliver these messages across the Internet to drive the demand of young adults to seek evidence-based treatments. Ultimately, we want to help young smokers to quit smoking now before they continue to accrue the health risks associated with smoking."

Research has shown that young adults have misconceptions about treatment and a lack of awareness about treatment availability and accessibility.

"They often express skepticism about treatments, or think they are better off using alternative approaches, and tend to dismiss what we know works," said Mermelstein. "We need to demystify those beliefs about treatment; that treatment is not bad, that it's often the surest way to quit."

The nationwide study will enroll more than 3,000 young smokers via the Internet, recruiting through sites like Craigslist.

The four-part study will develop Internet-based ads, evaluate if the ads are reaching young adults and driving them to Internet-based cessation programs, determine if the approaches are effective, and find out if those who used the Internet-based program were successful in stopping smoking.

An extended interview MP3 audio file is available at https://blackboard.uic.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/web/news/podcasts/PdCst62-June30%2709-Mermelstein.mp3

Photographs of Robin Mermelstein are available at http://newsphoto.lib.uic.edu/main.php/robin_mermelstein/

UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

U of I Sets Guaranteed Tuition for First-time Undergrads

burton@uic.edu (Bill Burton) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:27:44 -0500

U of I Sets Guaranteed Tuition for First-time Undergrads

UIC Graduate Student Wins $60,000 Ford Foundation Fellowship

bflood@uic.edu (Brian Flood) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:25:42 -0500

A University of Illinois at Chicago graduate student has received a $60,000 Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship.

Akilah Watkins-Butler, a doctoral student in sociology, is one of 60 students nationwide to receive the award.

Watkins-Butler will study African-American marriage patterns and family formation and its impact on community functioning. As part of her research in a yet-to-be-determined Chicago neighborhood, she will examine key community indicators such as economic health, homeownership, and time residents spend there. She will also conduct interviews with residents.

"I'm really interested to find out why African-American marriage rates have been declining, especially over the last 70 years, and what that decline has meant for communities," Watkins-Butler said. "I want to find out how [residents] perceive their community changing, if any, and what they perceive as the effect that marriage has on it."

The Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship will provide $20,000 annual funding for three years, in addition to a $2,000 award to UIC.

Watkins-Butler plans to produce a mini-documentary and a book following her dissertation to bring greater attention to the issue.

"I hope to capture people's voices and package it in a way that people that work with communities of color can use it as a tool," she said. "I want to devote scholarship in a way that everyday folks can use it and learn."

Watkins-Butler said there is also a personal aspect to the study.

"I live in a world where many of my friends and family members want to get married but aren't able to get married because of a lot of social barriers," she said.

Watkins-Butler earned a master's degree in sociology from UIC in May. She previously earned two master's degrees -- one in business education and another in community economic development -- from Southern New Hampshire University, and a bachelor's degree in community and human services from Empire State College in New York.

A native of Brooklyn, Watkins-Butler is a longtime community organizer and activist with interests focused on helping at-risk children and communities. She formerly served as a program officer with the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, where she received a Ford Foundation fellowship in 2005. Along with her husband, Kamau, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago, she co-authored "The Love Ethic: The Reason Why You Can't Find And Keep Beautiful Black Love."

Watkins-Butler lives in Hyde Park with her husband and their son, Jabari.

The Ford Foundation's diversity fellowships are granted to a select group of individuals that have demonstrated "superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as a scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students."

UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

Distinguished Panel To Discuss Healthcare at Town Hall Meeting

aranallo@uic.edu (Anne Brooks Ranallo) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:42:47 -0500

WHAT:
"Sound Off On Health Care: Let Your Voices Be Heard" The public will have a chance to discuss health care policy issues with a distinguished panel of professionals, legislators, scholars and health advocates at a town hall meeting hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement.

WHO:
Confirmed speakers include:
--Dr. Damon T. Arnold, director of Illinois Department of Public Health
--Dr. Sam Dudley, chief of cardiology at UIC
--Aida Giachello, director of UIC's Midwest Latino Health Research Training and Policy Center
--State Sen. Mattie Hunter
--former State Sen. Emil Jones, Jr.
--Dr. Hong Liu, executive director of the Asian Health Coalition
--Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Terry Mason
--State Rep. David Miller
--Malik Nevels, executive director of the Illinois African American Coalition for Prevention
--Dr. Javette Orgain, assistant dean of the UIC College of Medicine/Urban Health Program

WHEN:
June 23
5 p.m. - dinner
6 p.m. - presentations and panel discussion

WHERE:
UIC Forum
725 W. Roosevelt Road

The public is invited, registration is required. Contact the UIC Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement, (312) 355-0098 or visit www.ipce.uic.edu.