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• Ann Huffman, assistant professor of psychology and business, has been selected to participate in the Sloan Centers for Work and Family 2007-08 Early Career Work and Family Scholars program. Recipients of this selective award work collectively to define goals for the forthcoming year to advance the scholars' research scholarship, teaching, service and career.
• Janneli F. Miller, visiting assistant professor of anthropology and a licensed midwife, presented a paper, "Solitary and Kin Assisted Birth," at the 25th annual meeting of the Midwives Alliance of North America in Clearwater, Fla., Oct. 21.
• William Culbertson, Dennis Tanner and Stephanie Christensen, professors in the Department of Health Sciences, presented a paper, titled "A 21st Century Approach to Undergraduate Education in Communication Sciences and Disorders," at the annual convention of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions in San Diego this month. The authors propose making undergraduate education relevant for students in speech-language pathology by merging leveling courses into liberal studies degree requirements and offering the option of speech-language pathology assistance training. Currently, a bachelor's degree in communication sciences and disorders is professionally irrelevant, with most states requiring practitioners to hold advanced degrees. By incorporating required leveling courses and speech assistant training into interdisciplinary degree programs, students receive a valuable liberal studies degree, most leveling courses necessary for entering graduate programs, and the possibility of gainful employment as a speech-language pathology assistant upon graduation. The undergraduate program at NAU is used as a model for this innovative approach to undergraduate education.
• One of the first health-related grants funded from Arizona state lottery money was recently awarded to Caroline Ellermann, interim executive director of the School of Nursing and co-principal investigator, in partnership with a team of health professionals from the University of Arizona. The $190,000 grant will fund a pilot interprofessional training program that involves NAU's School of Nursing and the departments of dental hygiene and health sciences.

  The program will focus on interprofessional work, understanding cultural and rural influences on health, and stimulating future health providers to work in rural Arizona communities. The grant is funded through the Arizona Area Health Education Center. The center's northern Arizona office will partner with NAU to implement the training in a 2008 summer course.