State of the U

Public Service

Wellness “Camp Adventure” for elementary school-age children was a 10-day multidisciplinary and Children’s Center learning and activity program held at UND’s Student Wellness Center in July. Children were taught concepts of wellness and ways to promote the seven dimensions of wellness through a variety of hands-on experiential activities.

The UND College of Nursing and the Dakota Medical Foundation were selected for a nationwide program to address the nursing shortage. The partnership was one of 11 recipients funded for the second year of Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, a national initiative to develop and test solutions for America’s nursing shortage.

Over the past four years, our Center for Rural Health has worked directly with half of North Dakota communities. The Center for Rural Health’s grant programs, projects and services have impacted 187 of North Dakota’s 373 communities. This year alone, the Center for Rural Health facilitated the distribution of more than $1.36 million to rural North Dakota communities to fund innovative programs, purchase equipment, and train health care staff and volunteers.

The Center for Rural Health, within UND’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, worked with 10 North Dakota hospitals in a project designed to reduce hospital errors. In this effort the Center teamed with the University of Nebraska Medical Center to be one of 17 similar projects throughout the country.

The College of Business and Public Administration’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research provides services to help businesses maximize their effectiveness. The bureau provides data and analyses for evaluating the future success and growth of enterprises in North Dakota and the Upper Midwest.

The Carnegie Foundation designated UND as an “engaged campus,” one of 76 colleges and universities selected for the classification to recognize collaborations between institutions of higher education and their larger communities.

“More Than Beads and Feathers” is the theme of a poster campaign designed to promote awareness of educational opportunities for the region’s American Indian population. A new series of posters will be prepared and distributed in 2008.

Hundreds of student, faculty, and staff volunteers turn out each spring for “The Big Event,” taking on projects to benefit agencies and citizens across Greater Grand Forks.

A “telemedicine” project initiated by the School of Medicine and Health Sciences provides special digital cameras to take pictures of retinas at remote sites and then transmit them to physicians. These images are a quick, painless way for patients and doctors to get information on various health conditions, including diabetes, a disease with a particularly strong impact on the American Indian population.

The College of Education and Human Development has conducted a Summer Reading Program for second through seventh grade children for more than 20 years.