* Researchers in K-State's College of Human Ecology have been awarded a $599,000 grant to develop educational programs in food safety targeting vulnerable older adults. The U. S. Department of Agriculture will fund the three-year grant through the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. Principal investigators are Valentina Remig, assistant professor of human nutrition; Kevin Roberts, assistant professor of hotel, restaurant, institution management and dietetics; Toni Bryant, extension associate in food and nutrition; and Gerry Snyder, multimedia specialist in extension. The research team will develop and test a multimedia food safety training program that will consider older adults' preferences for learning, based on their familiarity with technology and their needs. Statewide K-State Research and Extension personnel will work with development, testing and disseminating the program in English and in Spanish. December 2007
* K-State is one of three universities nationwide to be chosen to run a pilot program called Students Save, designed to foster good financial habits on campus. It is an offshoot of America Saves, sponsored by the non-profit Consumer Federation of America. December 2007
* Allisha Weeden, a K-State doctoral student in human nutrition, St. Francis, is the recipient of the Jean Hankin Nutritional Epidemiology Research Grant from the American Dietetic Association. The award was presented at the association's recent 2007 Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Philadelphia. It provides financial support to a doctoral student working on a dissertation in nutritional epidemiology. Recipients must be registered dietitians who are in a doctoral program in nutrition or nutritional epidemiology. Weeden, who also is a program assistant in K-State's department of human nutrition, will use the award to support a research project investigating the use of dietary supplements and dietary intake of older adults. The project is being conducted with Valentina Remig, assistant professor of human nutrition at K-State. November 2007
* The Kansas All-Hazards Behavioral Health Program, a joint effort by K-State's School of Family Studies and Human Services, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, has earned the 2007 award for outstanding service from the Kansas Emergency Management Association for its work after the Greensburg tornado. The program consists of more than 400 people across the state who are mental health workers, clergy, businessmen and teachers, all of whom can respond after a disaster is declared by the U.S. president. Program coordinators are K-State's Briana Nelson Goff and Charlie Griffin. November 2007
* Charlie L. Griffin has received the Victor I. Howery Memorial Award given each year by the National Association for Rural Mental Health to an individual who has made contributions to the rural mental health field. Griffin, a research assistant professor of family studies and human services in K-State's College of Human Ecology, has been working with transitions in the agricultural sector and rural mental health outreach since 1985. He is project director for Programs for Workplace Solutions and the Kansas Rural Family Helpline, which provides confidential, emotional support, information and referrals for rural families struggling with unmet emotional, medical, financial or legal need. Additionally, Griffin is a partner in the seven-state "Sowing Seeds of Hope" coalition promoting accessible behavioral health services in agricultural communities. Oct. 2007
* Jamie Bauerle, a K-State student from Hiawatha, is serving a two-year term on the national board of directors of Kappa Omicron Nu. The national honor society recognizes excellence in family and consumer sciences. A junior in family and consumer science education, Bauerle was elected to the board in early August at the 2007 National Kappa Omicron Nu Conference in Dallas. As a member of the board, she will contribute to the national governance of the organization, which has more than 100 campus chapters throughout the U.S. and more than 135,000 members worldwide. Sept. 2007
* A plan to get sixth-graders to use their five senses to develop better food habits and to lower their chances of obesity won a team of five K-State College of Human Ecology students first place in the recent third annual Elaine Skinner Memorial Sensory Design Competition. It's also the third win in the competition for K-State. Students on the team, all in K-State's sensory analysis graduate program and all from Manhattan, are Alisa Doan, Aussama Soontrunnarudrungsri, Kelly Thompson, Gaewalin Oupadissakoon and Jeehyun Lee. The team's winning project was "Sensory Knowledge: A Basis for Healthy Living." The team developed 12 lesson plans to teach the relationship between sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch and eating choices. June 2007
* K-State's Financial Planning Team earned second place at the national collegiate financial planning competition championship, the Ameriprise Planning Invitational, April 18-21, in Minneapolis, Minn. Team members, all seniors and all personal financial planning majors, are Emma Goff, Emporia; Theresa Kasper, Wilson; and Samantha Oliver, Upland, Calif. The team, mentored by John Grable, associate professor of family studies and human services, has a long track record of success. K-State won national titles in 2006, 2005, 2003 and 2000. At this year's competition, K-State finished behind Virginia Tech. April 2007
* K-State's Lizette Vargas Strader, senior in psychology, Dodge City, and Theresa Doyle, senior in family life and community services, Overland Park, will present "Coming Home: The Impact of Deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan on Relationship Satisfaction" at Posters on the Hill, a display sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research. Strader and Doyle are members of Trauma Research, Education and Consultation at K-State, also known as TRECK. Their display is among fewer than 80 chosen out of 400 applicants who participated in original research projects. Undergraduate research assistants work extensively with TRECK team projects. Team members interviewed male soldiers and their female partners about how the soldier's war deployment affected the soldier, his spouse/partner and their relationship. They found that partners who had strong communication were less likely to have their relationship affected by war-related trauma and other problems related to the deployment. Briana Nelson Goff, faculty coordinator for the TRECK program, worked with the students. April 2007
* David Olds, doctoral student in hotel, restaurant, institution management and dietetics at K-State, has been awarded the Hettie Margaret Anthony Doctoral Fellowship from Kappa Omicron Nu, the national honor society for students in the human sciences. The fellowship recognizes quality scholarship and potential for leadership. Olds, Manhattan, is president of the K-State Graduate Student Council. In 2006, he receive the Gold Key Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for his commitment to education. April 2007
* Briana S. Nelson Goff was honored by Texas Tech University's College of Human Sciences with an alumni award as a "New Achiever." Nelson Goff, interim assistant dean for academic affairs in the College of Human Ecology, was among five Texas Tech alums recognized for outstanding success in their careers. Nelson Goff, who also is an associate professor in K-State's School of Family Studies and Human Services, earned her Ph.D. from Texas Tech. Her master of science degree in marriage and family therapy is from K-State. Nelson Goff’s clinical experience and research specialization is with traumatic stress symptoms in trauma survivor couples, families and children. In 2000, as part of team funded by the National Research Council, she traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina to assess physical and mental heath issues and postwar reconstruction five years after the genocide that claimed tens of thousands. March 2007
* K-State's master of landscape architecture program ranks second, its bachelor of landscape architecture program ranks third, its bachelor of interior architecture and interior design programs rank fourth, and its bachelor of architecture program ranks 12th in a 2007 nationwide survey of leading firms across the United States. Each year, DesignIntelligence and the Design Futures Council conduct the study, in conjunction with the Almanac of Architecture and Design, to determine the top 15 colleges and universities for architecture and design in the United States. Firms were asked to indicate which accredited programs in the past five years produced graduates most prepared for real-world practice. The K-State interior architecture and interior design programs have been in the top six each of the eight years in which the study has been conducted. This is the sixth time K-State's architecture program has been ranked in the top 12. Both K-State's bachelor's and master's programs in landscape architecture have been ranked in the top eight in the three years the survey has covered those programs. Five schools in the Big 12 have ranked programs in the eight surveyed areas, but only K-State has four ranked programs January 2007
* For the third year in a row, a student from K-State's department of hotel, restaurant, institution management and dietetics has received a Best Paper Award at the Graduate Education and Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism. Amelia Estepa Asperin, a doctoral candidate in human ecology-institution management, won one of two best paper distinctions at the 12th annual conference, Jan. 4-6, at the University of Houston. Deb Canter, head of K-State's department of hotel, restaurant, institution management and dietetics, said the schools represented at the conference are major players in hospitality and tourism education and research. Canter said the review process is very rigorous. Of the 207 papers under consideration this year, only five were nominated for a Best Paper Award. Asperin's paper, "Exploring the Measurement of Brand Personality Congruence in the Casual Dining Industry," was co-authored by Carol Shanklin, associate dean of the Graduate School, and Ki-Joon Back, a former K-State faculty member. January 2007