NEWS

Stone Center changes name to better reflect its mission

The Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at UNC-Chapel Hill is now using its new name.

Center leaders selected the name after consulting members of the campus community and others and securing approval from the UNC Board of Trustees. The name better reflects the center's expanded mission, said Dr. Joseph Jordan, center director. They wished to reinforce the center's role in the university's educational mission, as a site for serious, sustained scholarship around the African diaspora experience, as well as its role as a cultural institution. The African diaspora concerns the history and experiences of people of African descent in all parts of the world.

Jordan said the Stone Center also wished to join the growing number of American colleges and universities that are recognizing the value of engaging culture as a critical exercise.

"Black and diaspora centers are embracing a much broader range of interests, and, in our case, our name reflects the range of concerns that we intend to address," he said. "We continue to focus on culture and its role in the lives of people, but now, by placing cultures in historical context, we affirm that we are equally as interested in understanding and documenting the effects of those cultures."

For more information, visit the center Web site, http://ibiblio.org/shsbcc/.

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School graduates first distance-learning students in occupational health nursing

The Occupational Health Nursing distance-learning program of the UNC School of Public Health recently graduated its first two students.

Thais (Sissy) Spence, of Jasper, Ind., and Nadine Jones, of Mount Holly, completed the program, an offering of the school’s Public Health Leadership Program.

Coursework is divided between Internet-based learning, independent study and on-campus study, and is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission. The curriculum includes core courses in public health, as well as study in topics of occupational health nursing and health science, such as industrial hygiene, toxicology and occupational safety-ergonomics.

For more information about the school’s distance-learning program in occupational health nursing, visit http://www.sph.unc.edu/phlp/distance/OHN.htm.

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Parks to direct advancement efforts for School of Public Health

Parks comes to UNC from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., where she has served as associate dean of advancement since July 2000. An accomplished fund-raiser with more than 17 years of experience, Parks previously held other key positions at Rhodes, including overseeing special gifts, special campaigns and alumni relations.

In her new role, Parks has primary responsibility for developing and managing the programs and personnel for the School of Public Health’s alumni affairs, development, marketing, public relations and special events functions. She will report to the school’s dean, Dr. Bill Roper.

She succeeds Keith Todd, now vice president of university advancement at the Medical College of Georgia.

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Bentley joins school’s leadership team as associate dean for global health

Dr. Margaret (Peggy) Bentley has been named associate dean for global health in the UNC School of Public Health.

Bentley is a professor in the department of nutrition, housed jointly in the schools of public health and medicine.

Bentley will oversee activities of the school’s Office of Global Health, including creating opportunities for student training and curricula, facilitating international research collaborations for faculty and graduate students, and representing the school on all issues related to global health. She will partner with other divisions and individuals within the university on initiatives to establish UNC as a leader in global and international health.

Bentley came to UNC in 1998 from Johns Hopkins University, where she was associate professor in the division of human nutrition, and departments of international health and health policy and management.

She has been involved in training and research activities in a number of international settings, including India, China, Peru, Guatemala and Malawi. In addition, Bentley is a member of the advisory board of the Indo-U.S. Joint Working Group on Maternal and Child Health.

Bentley succeeds Dr. Pierre Buekens, now dean of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans.

Note: To download a photo of Bentley, go to http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/bentley_margaret.jpg

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School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 966-7467 or lisa_katz@unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415