Minnesota-Crookston to Host Health Education Center
By Joseph Marks, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.
Jan. 21–Officials at the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center have chosen Crookston as the host community for the Northwest Minnesota Area Health Education Center network.
AHEC is a federal and state cooperative agreement to educate health care students in medically under served areas of the state. Crookston will take the lead in collaborating with other communities in the region to promote existing health programs and address health care workforce concerns in the region.
Crookston is located in northwest Minnesota’s area of most significant health profession shortages, officials said.
The Academic Health Center is home to the University of Minnesota’s six health professional schools and colleges and several health-related centers and institutes.
Olympian, activist to speak at UMC
Civil rights activist and former Olympic gold medallist Tommie Smith will speak at 4 p.m. Thursday in Kiehle Auditorium at the University of Minnesota-Crookston.
Smith set seven individual world records during his career and was a member of several world record track relay teams as a student athlete at San Jose (Calif.) State. During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Smith broke the world record to become the 200-meter Olympic champion.
While standing on the podium, Smith and teammate and bronze medallist John Carlos each raised a clenched fist in a black leather glove, promoting improved race relations and racial consciousness. Since the Olympics, Smith has worked a coach, educator, athletic director and human rights activist.
UMC plans
Ag Arama
Plans are set for the annual Ag Arama at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, an event which has taken place on the campus for 32 years.
This year’s event will take place Thursday and Friday. Most games and activities take place Friday in the University Teaching and Outreach Center north of the campus. The public is invited to attend.
Ag Arama features contests in agronomy, animal science, horticulture and natural resources. This year’s theme is Country Boys and Girls Getting Down on the Farm. The entire Ag Arama event is dedicated to Dave Hoff, whose career as a UMC professor spanned 38 years.
For more information on Ag Arama events, contact Melinda McVey McCluskey at (218) 281-8119 or mccluske@umn.edu.
Project details
online support
Professor Kevin Thompson at the University of Minnesota-Crookston will present a poster detailing the progress of online student support Thursday at UMC in the McNamara Alumni Center on the Twin Cities campus.
The poster displays the progress on a grant Thompson was awarded by the Office of Service and Continuous Improvement at the university. The grant allows for greater scrutiny of the support services provided to online students at UMC.
UMC is the only campus in the University of Minnesota system that delivers undergraduate degrees online.
Johnson honored
for peat thesis
Rhett Johnson, adjunct professor and restoration ecologist at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, was recognized for outstanding research by the University of Minnesota’s graduate school. His master’s degree thesis was nominated as the runner-up in a competition for the 2006 Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award.
Johnson’s thesis, “Peatland Trees and Hydrology: A Dendrochronological Examination of Black Spruce and Tamarack Growth and Associated Hydrology in a Peatland in Marshall County, Minn.,” was announced as the University of Minnesota’s runner-up nomination by Gail Dubrow, vice provost and dean at the U of M graduate school.
Johnson conducted his study in the wilderness area at the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge north of Thief River Falls.
Humanities
organization honors
UND project
Eric Burin at UND received a $40,000 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities this week for his project, Emigration to Liberia, 1820 to 1904.
The NEH announced this week that 288 successful applicants will receive a total of $10.7 million in grants or offers of matching funds for humanities related projects.
UND prof to give
prairie lecture
UND’s 2006-07 Faculty Lecture Series continues Tuesday with an exploration of North Dakota’s prairies.
UND biology Professor Richard Crawford will discuss “The Metaphor of the Prairie: 35 Years of Watching the Mystery Unfold,” at 4:30 p.m. in the North Dakota Museum of Art. A 4 p.m. reception will precede the talk, which is free and open to the public.
Crawford is an expert in wildlife management and restoration ecology. His research has taken him to Canada, New Zealand and Antarctica where he has studied birds in their natural, wetland habitats.
“Because of its strategic location in the Northern Great Plains, North Dakota offers an exciting opportunity to study a variety of wildlife species and their associated habitats,” Crawford said. “Vast reaches of native prairie, numerous wetlands, boreal forests, badlands and disturbed habitats are easily accessible.”
NCTC receives
donation
The Northland Community and Technical College Foundation announced this week NCTC’s Construction Electricity Program received an equipment donation from St. Hilaire Supply Co. of St. Hilaire, Minn., valued at more than $8,000.
The in-kind equipment donation included two oil furnaces, three air conditioning systems, a heat pump, and a power venter and boiler system.
NCTC pins 50
nursing students
Just less than 50 nursing students received licensed practicing nurse degrees at the Northland Community and Technical College’s pinning ceremony Dec. 22 in East Grand Forks.
As the standard white nurse’s uniform and cap have fallen out of favor, the nurse’s pin has become the profession’s defining accessory, according to NCTC nursing school officials.
Tuition tax creditsBusinesses that provide tuition reimbursement for workers attending college in Minnesota could receive tax credits under a House bill.
The legislation would grant employers $2,000 in tax credits for each worker it pays to attend college every year.
On Thursday, a House higher education committee approved the bill, which will next be taken up by another education committee.
The bill would be aimed at older, nontraditional students, said its author, Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis. Eligible students would have to work at least 30 hours a week and make less than $20 an hour, according to the latest draft of the bill. Vocational, technical and undergraduate college students would be eligible for employers to take the credit.
The tuition tax credit item was from Forum Communications, which owns the Herald.
Marks reports on higher education. Reach him at (701) 780-1105, (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or jmarks@gfherald.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.
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