CU News
News from the University of Colorado in Boulder.
STATE OFFICIALS ISSUE MENINGITIS VACCINE ADVISORY FOR CU COMMUNITY
Nov 2nd
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has issued recommendations for individuals who should receive the meningitis vaccine in light of recent cases of meningococcal meningitis at Colorado State University and in the Fort Collins community.
Meningococcal meningitis is a bacterial infection of the membranes lining the brain and spinal cord. The same bacteria may invade the blood stream as well. Such infections are rare but potentially fatal. Symptoms of meningococcal meningitis include fever, severe sudden headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, rash and lethargy.
There are currently no cases of meningitis at CU-Boulder. The last reported case was in March 2006.
The CDPHE recommends a meningitis vaccine for faculty, staff and students who are up to 30 years of age AND:
• Have a partner/family member attending or working on the CSU campus and who have never had the vaccine, or who have not had the vaccine within the last three years
• Have been in close contact with CSU students (such as through sharing utensils and beverages, kissing, playing beer pong or other games in which cups are shared) over the past two weeks and who have never had the vaccine, or who have not had the vaccine within the last three years
• Who are currently living in a CU residence hall (excluding family or graduate housing) and who have never had the vaccine, or who have not had the vaccine within the last five years, regardless of their contact with individuals at CSU
Any person who might be included in one of the above recommendations should call 303-492-5432 to schedule an appointment at Wardenburg Health Center for a meningitis vaccine. Limited quantities of the vaccine are available for $14.50 for students, faculty, and staff meeting the above guidelines, and it is free for students who are enrolled in the Student Gold Health Insurance Plan.
Students who are unsure if or when they had the meningitis vaccine should contact their parent/guardian, health care provider, or CU’s Immunization Program Office at 303-492-2005.
Parents of all incoming freshmen receive a letter during the summer with information about the recommendation for the immunization.
Wardenburg Health Center is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
SOURCE: CU MEDIA RELEASE
CU-BOULDER DIVERSITY SUMMIT TO BE HELD NOV. 2-3
Oct 21st
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s annual campus diversity summit, “Expanding Our Minds: Encompassing Diversity and Practicing Inclusion,” will feature a variety of sessions for students, faculty, staff and community members Nov. 2-3.
All events are free and open to the public. Hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement and the chancellor’s advisory committees, the sessions will offer a view of diversity beyond the most common definitions and will highlight the research, talents and insights of CU-Boulder faculty, students and staff members.
“The summit is organized around a combination of skill-building sessions for those who are advancing their abilities to practice inclusion and who need tools for accomplishing the work and thought-provoking discussions on what we have yet to work on,” said Alphonse Keasley, associate vice chancellor for campus climate and community engagement. “The program also includes inspirational presentations to bring the latest information to those who toil every day around diversity and inclusive excellence.”
The keynote speaker, Luoluo Hong, is the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Hawaii and a nationally recognized expert on violence prevention. She will speak on Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 9 a.m. in the University Memorial Center Glenn Miller Ballroom about gender and gender violence and its intersection with race, class and other social identities, and how to prevent gender violence on college campuses.
Also on Nov. 2, Philip Piket, professor emeritus of sociology, will present a plenary session titled “Viewing Religion Using Sociological ‘Lenses’: Beyond Us vs. Them” from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the UMC center ballroom.
On Nov. 3, plenary sessions include “Privilege and Activism” by sociology Professor Joanne Belknap and “Conflict Transformation in the Inclusive Environment” by communication Professor Stan Deetz. Belknap will speak from 9 to 10:30 a.m. and Deetz from 1:30 to 3 p.m., both in the center ballroom.
A performance by the Interactive Theater Project, titled “Rise up!” on Nov. 3 from 12:20-1:20 p.m. in the UMC center ballroom will address how to respond to hate when it occurs in one’s presence or nearby.
At “Expanding into the Multicultural Workplace,” panelists from various workplace environments will share their organizations’ need for employees who can evidence cultural competence or who can bring the skill set for participating in multicultural environments. This session will be held on both Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the UMC east ballroom.
New for this year, the Diversity and Inclusion Summit has established a way for employee participation to be recorded in Peoplesoft. Before attending a session, participants can check in at the summit desk in the Glenn Miller Ballroom to have their attendance recorded. Each session is categorized as plenary, participatory, student sessions, inclusion building, or skill-building/professional development. Many campus departments will accept diversity summit attendance as a diversity training requirement and participants who attend one event of each session type will receive a certificate of achievement.
A complete schedule of diversity summit events is available in the Events Calendar at http://tinyurl.com/DiversitySummit2010.
SOURCE: CU MEDIA AFFAIRS
TWO CU-BOULDER FACULY MEMBERS WIN NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION CAREER AWARDS
Oct 20th
Oct. 20, 2010
Two University of Colorado faculty members have received prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Development, or CAREER awards.
Assistant Professor Nils Halverson, who holds faculty appointments in both the astrophysical and planetary sciences department and the physics department, was awarded $875,415 over five years from NSF to support detector development and data analysis for cosmic microwave background studies with the South Pole Telescope.
Cosmic microwave background is relic heat from the Big Bang that scientists can detect with microwave-wavelength telescopes. The light is slightly polarized, much in the way sunlight is polarized when it is reflected off the surface of a pond. The polarization signal is expected to contain tiny ripples from gravitational waves set in motion a small fraction of a second after the Big Bang, said Halverson.
By measuring the signal, astrophysicists can begin to understand the physics of the universe during its birth. As part of the NSF award, Halverson and astrophysical and planetary sciences instructor Seth Horenstein will provide a graduate class focused on observations, data analysis and statistics with conceptual assessment tools, peer-instruction exercises and course notes.
Assistant Professor Amy Palmer of the chemistry and biochemistry department received $831,720 from the NSF over five years to support her research to provide a powerful new approach to illuminate disease-causing bacteria like salmonella that invade host organisms and can produce harmful and sometimes lethal effects.
Many bacterial pathogens use a set of proteins called “effectors” to invade and infect host cells, cooperatively working to hijack cellular signaling and to reprogram the host cell to enable bacterial survival. Palmer and her team are developing a new method that will directly tag a broad spectrum of effector proteins with fluorescent molecules in order to visualize their movements during infection of a host cell.
Palmer’s project also will contribute to a campuswide effort to reform undergraduate science education by developing and validating interdisciplinary, hands-on tutorials that will promote student engagement and transform student learning. She has worked with the Science Education Initiative on campus, which is part of the university’s STEM efforts, to integrate learning assistants into upper division physical chemistry classes, develop pre/post concept tests to measure learning gains and to promote active engagement in the classroom. Palmer also is a faculty member in CU’s Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, or CIMB.
SOURCE: CU MEDIA RELEASE
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