Congratulations to the following faculty who received awards from the Research and Creative Activity Committee:

*Jie Song (Chemistry & Biochemistry) – $12,634 Theoretical Investigations of the Adsorption during the Gasification of the Biomass

*Jessica Kelts (Chemistry & Biochemistry) – $3,000 Effect of Vitamin D on Breast Cancer Cells

*Frank Miskevick (Biology) – $19,699 Molecular Analysis of Hydrocephalus using Zebrafish as a Model System

*Kevin Tang (Biology) – $19,709 Phylogeny of the Surfperch’s (family Embiotocidae)

*Stephanie Carpenter (English) – $2,345 Many and Wide Separations: Research toward a Novella about One of Margaret Fuller’s former students at the Green Street School, 1837

*Erica Britt (English) – $4,706 Vehicle City Voices: An Oral History and Linguistic Survey of Flint, MI

*Suleyman Luda (CSEP) – $7,800 Target Tracking in 3D Wireless Sensor Networks

*Dana Dyson (Political Science) – $19,733 Transformation of School Governance: the influence of School Leadership Characteristics on Organizational Change in Michigan School Districts

Congratulations to Jessica Kelts (Chemistry & Biochemistry) for receiving an additional $7000 from the Bryer Award.

Congratulations to the following UM-Flint faculty and staff for receiving awards:

Jonathan Jarosz, Interim Director of University Outreach, who recently received a $ 65,000 grant from the C. S. Mott Foundation for the following project: College Entrepreneurship Program Year Three; and  

Huey-Ming Tzeng, Associate Director of Nursing, who recently received a $ 89,862 grant from the National Institute of Health for the following project: Advancing Patient Call Light Systems to Achieve Better Outcomes

The Office of Development and Alumni Relations, the Office of Research and the Research & Creative Activities Committee congratulates Dr. Huey-Ming Tzeng, Associate Director of Nursing, SHPS for being this year’s Bryer Award recpient for the following project: “Exploring meaningful individual patient and hospital structural characteristics in predicting injurious fall occurrences among cancer patients and the differences between cancer and non-cancer patients”

The Bryer Fund was established by the family of Ben F. Bryer to encourage and support the medical research endeavors of University of Michigan-Flint faculty.  This research fund honors the accomplishments of Ben Bryer, surgeon, scientist, educator, author, and humanist, in his pursuit of medical knowledge.  Funding is available, on an application basis, to full-time faculty of the University of Michigan-Flint to provide support for medical and biomedical research, with a priority given to research related to cancer.

Congratulations to the following UM-Flint faculty:

– Vahid Lotfi, Associate Provost, who recently received a  $32,327 grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Flint for the project “Peace Garden”

– John Sonnega, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences & Administration, SHPS, who recently received a $ 11,589 sub-award in a grant from the Department of Health & Human Services, CDC, for the project “Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center”

– Mary Jo Finney, Dean of the School of Education and Human Services, who recently received a $100,000
 grant from Michigan Future, Inc. for the project “Small High School Network Teacher Preparation Partner”  

– Marge Andrews, Director of Nursing, SHPS, who recently received a $3,500 grant from State of Michigan, Department of Community Health, for the project “State of Michigan Bureau of Health Professions Nursing Scholarships – Additional Funding”

– Connie Creech, Assistant Professor of Nursing and Director Academic Programs, SHPS, who recently received a major $ 1,425,600 grant from the Department of Health & Human Services, for the project: “Increasing the Supply of Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioners: An accelerated two year inline Masters of Science in Nursing program at the University of Michigan- Flint”

From the desk of Mel Serow, University Relations

The University of Michigan-Flint will receive $1,425,600 to help with expanding Advanced Nursing Education. U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, both D-Mich., announced $13,322,537 in grants for nine projects across the state to train primary health care workers in Michigan. The funding was made available through the Prevention and Public Health Fund under the Affordable Care Act.

UM-Flint is one of just 26 schools of nursing to be selected for the grant to increase full-time enrollment in primary care nurse practitioner (NP) and nurse midwife (NMW) programs. It is projected that over 1,300 primary care nursing stipends will be supported through this five-year program.

“This award will directly support 30-60 graduate students who wish to become Primary Care Nurse Practitioners (NPs). NP’s are cost-effective, and part of the solution to the shortage of primary care providers,” said Director of the Graduate Nursing Program Constance Creech.

“This funding will support students who want to study full time, but could not afford it previously.”
According to Creech, the average Nurse Practitioner student leaves the UM-Flint graduate program with nearly $42,000 in student loans.

“By providing a stipend of $22,000 per student per year for up to two years, this funding will reduce the financial burden of attending school full-time, and help to accelerate graduation rates to increase the number of advanced practice nurses,” said Barbara Kornblau, dean of the School of Health Professions and Studies.

“The Affordable Care Act will give more families access to quality, affordable health care. These funds will help make sure there are enough doctors and nurses available to treat those new patients,” Stabenow said. “These investments in our health care workforce will create new, good-paying jobs and will ensure that Michigan families continue to have access to the medical care they need.”

“Six months after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, Michiganians are starting to see the very real improvements that health care reform will bring to their lives,” Levin said. “These funds are just a beginning in the investments we will be making in Michigan’s health care, training new primary care doctors and nurses to help Michigan families.”

Congratulations to the staff and faculty in both the School of Nursing and the entire School of Public Health and Health Sciences!