8/30/01
Following is a story lead and the University of Northern Iowa sources who can best address this topic. Feel free to contact the sources directly.
UNI professor completes study on challenges of AIDS
Two decades ago, AIDS was a death sentence. Today, says UNI professor Kent Sandstrom, it's not curable but certainly treatable. And that has made a world of difference in the attitudes of those diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS. In 2000, Sandstrom received a grant to study the identity-related challenges of those living with the disease. He says much has changed in the past 20 years.
"The biggest change is in the experience of the illness," he says. "With the advent of new medications that have effectively reduced replication of the virus, the prognosis is a lot better. You can conceivably live with the disease and have no symptoms for years, depending on your health practices and access to anti-viral drugs. It's no longer an immediately life-threatening illness."
Sandstrom interviewed a series of Midwesterners who have been diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS, and found that many people with the illness have to manage a range of emotions, including those of their loved ones. Many become asexual after diagnosis, for fear of transmitting the disease. Most worry that, once others find out, they'll be ostracized. "It's a very complicated disease in that aspect," he says.
Kent Sandstrom, associate professor, Department of Sociology, (319) 273-2769
Gwenne Culpepper, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
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8/30/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Martha Reineke, Hearst Lecture Committee Chair, (319) 273-6233
Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
Our relationship with the Internet focus of Hearst Lecture
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- "Kierkegaard on the Internet: Anonymity vs. Commitment in the Present Age" will be the topic of a Hearst Lecture at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 6, in the University of Northern Iowa’s Maucker Union Expansion. The lecture is an addition to the 2000-2001 Hearst Lecture Series. It is free and open to the public.
Hubert Dreyfus, professor of philosophy at the University of California-Berkeley, will explore why Kierkegaard would have hated the Internet by examining his view of the 18th Century press and its role in fueling an expansion of a "Public Sphere" characterized by "risk-free anonymity, idle curiosity, and incipient nihilism." A noted philosopher who asserts a strong Internet presence through his own elaborate Web site, Dreyfus will provoke audience members to reconsider their own love/hate relationship with the Internet, according to Martha Reineke, Hearst Lecture Committee Chair and a UNI professor of religion.
The UNI Department of Philosophy and Religion hosted the 2000-2001 Hearst Lecture Series, which is funded by the Meryl Norton Hearst Chair in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Reineke said through strong fiscal management, the committee was able to fund this additional lecture.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact (319) 273-6233.
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8/30/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Barbara Lounsberry, UNI professor of English, (319) 273-2639
Humanities Iowa, (319) 335-4153
Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2763
'Voices from the Prairie' writing celebration at UNI Friday, Sept. 7
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- How Iowa's landscape has influenced four distinguished authors will be the topic of "Voices from the Prairie: The Second Annual Writers Celebration," 2 to 4 p.m., Friday, Sept. 7, in the Slife Ballroom in the University of Northern Iowa's Commons.
Reading from their works will be Richard, Lord Acton, author of "A Brit Among the Hawkeyes;" Coe College writer-in-residence, Ann Struthers; Northwest Iowa native and St. Olaf College English professor, Jim Heynen, and Loess Hills author, Cornelia F. Mutel.
A moderated discussion with the audience, led by Barbara Lounsberry, UNI professor of English and non-fiction editor of the North American Review, will follow the readings. The conference will end with a book signing reception.
For more information, contact Humanities Iowa at (319) 335-4153.
"Voices from the Prairie" is sponsored by Humanities Iowa, the UNI College of Humanities and Fine Arts, KUNI, UNI Department of English Language & Literature and the North American Review. It is free and open to the public.
Humanities Iowa is a private, non-profit state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities whose mission is to enhance the civic life, culture and identity of Iowans. Drawing on history, literature, philosophy, law and other humanities fields, it fosters life-long learning, critical thinking and community connections.
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