8/7/01

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Kelly Musser, project manager, UNI Global Health Corps, (319) 273-6411

Gwenne Culpepper, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The University of Northern Iowa Global Health Corps (GHC) has been awarded a one-year $67,000 grant from the Caring Foundation of Des Moines. The grant will fund the New Iowan Healthy Youth Initiative, a collaborative project between GHC, the Black Hawk County Health Department, Waterloo Schools and Communities in Schools.

Kelly Musser, GHC's project manager said the goal of the project is to provide culturally appropriate health education to improve the health knowledge and behaviors of immigrant and refugee youths in Black Hawk County.

"West High students, particularly those of Bosnian and Hispanic communities, will be trained as peer health educators," explained Musser. "They will deliver a series of health education programs to immigrant and refugee children attending elementary and middle schools in Waterloo, covering topics such as dental hygiene, injury prevention, nutrition and drug use."

UNI’s Global Health Corps was founded in 1996. Its mission is to educate university students about how to improve the well being of at-risk populations through disease prevention and health promotion. Those students then teach at-risk populations how to improve their own health. The corps is a student-operated, locally headquartered, nonprofit organization, under the supervision of Michele Yehieli, a UNI faculty member who specializes in international health. The program is housed within the School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services at UNI.

To date, GHC has educated more than 300 UNI students and provided services to more than 15,000 clients around the world, including sites in Black Hawk County, Appalachia, Bangladesh, Cuba, Ghana, Haiti, Israel and Mexico.

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8/7/01

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Jayne Morgan, assistant professor, of communication studies, (319) 273-2680

Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761

Note to editors/news directors: A 200 dpi JPEG photo of Morgan is available on the Web at

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Jayne Morgan, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Northern Iowa, will be presented the Outstanding Young Teacher award from Iowa Communication Association (ICA) in September.

The ICA Outstanding Young Teacher award is presented to any young educator in the first five to six years of teaching. All communication teachers in the state are eligible, those teaching from grade school through graduate college levels.

Morgan holds a Ph.D. in communication studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an M.A. in communication arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. in speech communication from North Dakota State University. She has been an assistant professor at UNI since 1998.

Paul Siddens, UNI associate professor of communication studies, was the first recipient of the ICA's Outstanding Teacher award and Leah White, UNI assistant professor of communication studies, was last year's recipient of the award.

"UNI is blessed to have great teachers and we are especially pleased that three of the faculty members who have won this award in the past 13 years have been members of our teaching faculty," said John Burtis, professor and head, Department of Communication Studies.

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8/7/01

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Clark Elmer, interim director, The Career Center, (319) 273-6041

Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761

Note: to editors/news directors, a 200 dpi image of Collin is available on the Web at

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Connie Collin joined the University of Northern Iowa's Co-op/Internship Program as cooperative education coordinator on Aug. 6.

Collin holds a B.S. in education from Peru State College, and an M.B.A. from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She was most recently program director for the Nebraska Department of Education.

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