UNIVERSITY NEWS
UMKC’s Independent Student Newspaper Tuesday April 15, 2014
Volume 81, Issue 27
Red ribbon of approval: $7 million grant helps pave the way for HIV prevention Jonathan Goforth Staff Writer
The School of Nursing and Health Studies (SoHNS) recently received the largest grant in the school’s history awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a national HIV-prevention resource center. This $7 million grant will establish the SoHNS as the national coordinating center for a network of organizations that provide high-quality HIV-prevention and education services to healthcare providers across the nation. The grant, which will be dispersed in $1.4 million increments over the next five years, will ally UMKC with 20 other grant recipients to create the National Capacity Building Assistance Provider Network. This network will ensure that health departments, community-based organizations and healthcare organizations across the country receive the best resources to promote HIV education and prevention strategies. “The grant is charged with assisting Capacity Building Assistance Providers in the area of high-impact HIV prevention to better give physical assistance, training and information to actual
service providers serving patients,” and respected brand to ensure “One of the issues we have in said Jacki Witt, co-director of that the CPN is the go-to source healthcare delivery is depending the grant and clinical associate for the latest and most accurate on where you live in the country professor at the School of Nursing HIV information. you may get a different quality and Health Studies. “We’re a The CPN will need new of care, because providers don’t national coordinating center that products to use at HIV-prevention always know or practice what deals with these 20 other grantees. and resource centers. These the standard of care is,” said Dr. Those are the Capacity Building products will be both educational Ann Cary, dean of the School Assistance (CBA) Providers. They and technological. UMKC of Nursing and Health Studies. work with the “So what we agencies that aim to do in actually serve this grant is to patients.” make sure that U M K C we disseminate coordinates the what the CBA Provider standard of care Network to is so that all ensure that providers can m e m b e r s deliver highhave access quality services to the most and educational up-to-date materials to HIV information patients and to and strategies the community.” to better serve The center HIV patients in will evaluate their respective how effectively Photo Courtesy // UMKC the communities. UMKC School of Nursing network UMKC’s role in this network has will not directly develop these is performing as a whole. The four distinct purposes. products, but instead will oversee evaluative function of the center The CPN (CBA Provider and facilitate their development. will collect data from the 20 other Network) needs to effectively UMKC must coordinate the members of the CPN and assess market itself to HIV service CPN’s activities. While this how well they’re performing their providers as a leader in accurate includes providing effective duties. information and new prevention information and strategies Witt wrote the grant along with strategies. UMKC will create a to the CPN, it also includes Laurie Krom, program director new website and promotional standardizing the quality of care of the Addiction Technology materials to establish a recognized HIV patients receive. Transfer Center (ATTC.) Both
women have had experience in directing similar national coordinating centers and were responsible for writing the grant that the school ultimately secured. They acknowledge, however, that UMKC owes this opportunity not only to its own team and expertise in writing the grant, but also to the full support of the university administration. After the school made it through the first round of review last December, the CDC sent ambassadors to UMKC for a site visit. They interacted with Chancellor Leo E. Morton as well as other members of the administrative team, including Dr. Lawrence Dreyfus, vice chancellor for Research and Economic Development. The CDC determined that UMKC possessed the capacity to facilitate a national coordinating center and awarded the grant. This unprecedented grant is poised to establish UMKC and the CPN by extension as a primary resource center for the most complete, accurate and cuttingedge information and strategies for HIV prevention and research. jgoforth@unews.com
Breakfast with Jake: Dr. Susan B. Wilson commits to expanding UMKC’s diversity studied at the University of Jake Newstrom Pittsburgh, earning a bachelor’s A&E Editor degree in psychology, a master’s Dr. Susan B. Wilson spoke last degree in clinical psychology and week at the UMKC Diversity a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She Strategic Plan rollout. Wilson was later obtained her MBA from the recently appointed vice chancellor Bloch School of Management at for Diversity and Inclusion. UMKC. Currently serving as associate With her new position, dean at the School of Medicine, Wilson will be influential in the she is transitioning into her new implementation of the Diversity role, which officially begins April Strategic Plan. The culmination 17. of a two-year effort by the “I’m pretty excited,” Wilson chancellor’s Diversity Council, said. “I do not take the role of the plan outlines how UMKC as vice chancellor for Diversity and a whole can embrace diversity. Inclusion lightly.” The key concept of the plan Wilson’s work at the School is “you can’t have excellence of Medicine included heading without diversity.” It outlines its diversity efforts, where she the five dimensions of diversity worked on such aspects of as: representation, access and policy, recruitment, retention success; climate and campus and cultural competency. She has environment; responsive teaching, worked in diversity consulting research and experiential learning; and training for more than 20 UMKC and the urban community years, having held positions in the in partnership; and institutional field at Spofford, Swope Health infrastructure and resources. Services and Saint Luke’s Health “It took a lot of energy, time and System. effort to put together a plan that Originally from Pittsburgh, we think is a blueprint for our Penn., Wilson grew up in public future in diversity,” Wilson said. housing in the inner city. In a “This is not a one-person job or diverse neighborhood and an era one-department job. This is really of discontent over civil rights, she going to involve all of us bringing developed a passion for different this vision to life as we want to cultures at a young age. Wilson
make UMKC even better than it is already.” Wilson said this includes students, with whom she plans to work closely with in her new role. “In rolling out the strategic diversity plan, the voice of students is really critical,” Wilson said. “We need to know what students’ vision of diversity is as well as how we can improve the climate so that this is a welcoming place no matter what diversity group students belong to.” Wilson has strategized how to engage students in working toward a more diverse campus. “My plan is to work with the student organizations,” Wilson said. “At my first opportunity I want to have a meeting with all the student organizations to really define how we’re going to go about doing that and what will work best for the students to get input and engagement. It has to be continuous engagement, not just I come to talk to you in February then you don’t see me again but really defining ways that the students can continue to be engaged in the diversity process.”
jnewstrom@unews.com
Susan Wilson, new vice chancellor for the Division of Diversity and Inclusion. Photo Courtesy // UMKC