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Dear Site Facilitators and Technical Coordinators:
The 8th Annual Summer Public Health Research Institute and Videoconference
on Minority Health is about to begin. As of now we have 111 registered
sites (there were some duplicate registrations) in 39 states.
A little historical background for those of you who have not previously
hosted a site for the Annual Summer Public Health Institute: the Minority
Health Project at the UNC School of Public Health was founded by three
faculty in the School: Trude A. Bennett, Dr.P.H., Dorothy C. Browne, Dr.P.H.,
and Lloyd Edwards, Ph.D. I "inherited" the leadership several years ago,
passed in on to Dorothy Browne during 2000 and 2001, and received it back
from Dr. Browne when she left for a sabbatical at Morgan State University.
The Project has been sponsored by the National Center for Health Statistics
/ CDC, and our NCHS Project Officer, Ms. Audrey Burwell, M.S., has been
a key supporter and active partner throughout the Project's history. The
Dean's Office of the School of Public Health has also been most generous
in providing supplemental funding to enable the Videoconference to take
place each year. NCHS continues to support the Project through our collaboration
with the UNC Center for Health Statistics Research. Major funding for
2001 and 2002, however, has come from the CDC Center for HIV, STD, and
Tuberculosis Prevention. Additional funding for this year and last came
from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and this year we welcome the
Office of Minority and Women's Health at the CDC Center for Infectious
Disease as a new supporter.
Our staff for this year's Institute / Videoconference are:
- Dawn Howard, M.S.P.H., Institute Coordinator
- Raj Medapalli, M.B.B.S., Graduate assistant and webmaster
- Kyna McCullough, M.P.H., Epidemiology doctoral student
- Seronda Jackson, M.S., Epidemiology doctoral student
- Rachel Davis, M.P.H., Health Behavior doctoral student
- Kamilah Thomas, Health Behavior doctoral student
Marty Melvin and Lew Binkowski are our technical coordinators for the
School's Mayes Telecommunications Center, where the Videoconference is
produced.
Besides introductions, the purpose of this message to provide a status
report and additional information about:
- Satellite information
- Instructors' materials (slides)
- Attendance and evaluation forms
- Telephone, fax, and e-mail during the Institute
1. SATELLITE INFORMATION
You should have all received confirmation e-mail messages with the satellite
information. It is also available at the webpage www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2002/satellite/satcoord.htm
The test time for tuning your satellite begins at 1pm EDT each day of
the Videoconference.
2. INSTRUCTORS' MATERIALS AND SLIDES
This year has been no better than usual in our ability to obtain slides
in advance of the presentations. We have several sets that will be posted
on our website shortly - but NOT those for Monday. Our Monday presenters
have declined to have their slides posted on the website, and at least
one of them prefers not to have them distributed at all (sorry about that).
I have not heard from Dr. Barbarin yet about e-mailing his slides, but
it was only 3 weeks ago that he was asked to give the Keynote (when our
original Keynote speaker had to cancel), so I do not expect to receive
his slides before his presentation.
Other materials (abstracts, bibliography, website references) are at:
www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2002/materials/abstracts/index.htm We will
attempt to post additions (e.g., citations or websites the presenters
refer to) during the Institute.
3. ATTENDANCE AND EVALUATION FORMS
As you know, this year we have not sent out packets with posters and forms.
We do hope, though, that you have (or will soon) download the attendance
form (see www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2002/materials/) have each participant
fill it out with their names, positions, e-mail addresses and a participant
code. The purpose of the latter (any 4-digit number that is likely to
be unique for that site) is to help us to report the number of people
who attended 1 day, 2 days, etc., by matching participant codes across
the five days. The numbers will also be part of the Evaluation Sweepstakes
(see below).
Our evaluation forms are all on-line this year, to reduce the expense
and effort in mailing and keying all of the information. People who wish
to receive CEU's are required to submit an evaluation form (identified
with the participant number mentioned above and a CE code for the session
to verify that they were in attendance).
The site facilitator's evaluation (one for the entire 5-day Institute)
is also online. We really appreciate your filling it out, including a
count of the number of people who registered at your site (counting a
person who attended 3 days as 1 person).
Please note that all of the forms ask for your Site identification number
(SiteID). This number can be found in parentheses immediately after the
name of your site on the list of sites at www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2002/satellite/sites.htm
It is also in the confirmation e-mail that was sent following your registration.
For the most part, the site identification code is the 9-digit zip code
for your viewing site. If you wish to simply use the 9-digit zip code,
that is fine.
Evaluation Sweepstakes
As an inducement to filling out the online evaluation forms despite their
being somewhat less convenient for participants than when they were completed
by hand during the sessions, we have inaugurated and Evaluation Sweepstakes.
This activity also gives us the occasion to do something which we have
wanted to do for a long time - provide a scholarship to enable site facilitators
to come to UNC for a future next Institute.
Each site facilitator who returns the attendance forms for the site and
who submits a completed site facilitator's evaluation form will be entered
in the drawing for the scholarship. In addition, for every 20 online evaluation
forms that your participants submit, the site facilitator will have another
entry in the scholarship drawing. For us to link the evaluation forms
to you, it is important that the participant includes the Site ID (or
9-digit zip code of the viewing site) and her/his participant number that
matches the one on the attendance form. The scholarship will cover round-trip
air fare, ground transportation, and accomodations and meals for 5-7 days
depending upon the circumstances, subject to University reimbursement
rules and up to a maximum total cost of $1,600.
Participant evaluation forms will also be entered into a drawing for
gifts of appreciation, such as UNC T-shirts or mugs, or a videotape of
one of the presentations at the Institute. We will give away 20 such gifts.
As you know, we need to document the value of the Institute in order
to continue to offer it. We really appreciate the work you do in hosting
the Videoconference and in helping us obtain this documentation.
4. TELEPHONE, FAX, AND E-MAIL DURING THE INSTITUTE
The toll-free number for questions is 1-877-869-7811.
The fax number is 919-843-2700.
The email address for questions will be QUESTION@unc.edu (this is a change
from past years).
All of these will appear on the screen periodically during the broadcast
and especially during the question-and-discussion period.
While the Institute is being broadcast, we will be monitoring the question
lines continuously. We will also try to check our other fax # and our
telephone answering machine (919-843-6758) at least daily. Our regular
e-mail address: Minority_Health@unc.edu will also be monitored daily or
more often, though not during the actual broadcast.
So, if you need to reach us urgently during the broadcast, please use
one of the modes for participant questions. However, please do not send
NON-urgent e-mails to question@unc.edu, since other e-mail may distract
the staff who are handling participant questions. (For difficulties with
satellite tuning and reception, please CALL MICROSPACE at 919-850-4565,
referring to "the UNC-School of Public Health" program.)
We are excited about the Videoconference and look forward to enjoying
an informative and uplifting event with you.
Best wishes and thank you for joining us,
Vic Schoenbach
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