Afro-Colombian activist and former Colombian Congresswoman Zulia Mena will visit UNC’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History on Oct. 14.

Mena will give an informal talk during lunch from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Box lunches will be provided. Advance registration is required; call 962-9001 to sign up or for more information.

Mena is visiting the United States in an effort to heighten awareness and understanding of current violence in Colombia. She seeks to explain its effects on women, children and Afro-Columbian communities. Her work deals with human rights, land tenure, social movements, the status of black women in Latin America and other social concerns.

One of the few blacks ever elected to national office in Colombia, Mena was in the congress for four years. She currently leads two Afro-Colombian advocacy groups.

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UNC’s School of Information and Library Science will host a fellowship symposium highlighting current and future research in electronic record-keeping on Nov. 19.

Dr. Kenneth Thibodeau, director of the Electronic Records Archives Program at the National Archives and Records Administration, will give the keynote address. Dr. Helen Tibbo, a professor in the school, will present her research.

The UNC Electronic Records Resource Program awarded four $15,000 fellowships in the school to advance knowledge of electronic record-keeping. The recipients will discuss their research ideas at the symposium.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission funds the fellowships for archival and records professionals. The funds support small-scale research projects concerning electronic records.

The symposium, free and open to the public, will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Wilson Library. Lunch will be provided. Registration is required. For more information and to register, visit http://ils.unc.edu/nhprcfellows.

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Melissa Raspa, a doctoral student in the UNC School of Education, has received the first James J. Gallagher Dissertation Award for her research on services for infants and young children with disabilities.
A native of Rhinebeck, N.Y, whose family now lives at Sunset Beach, N.C., Raspa studies in the school’s early childhood, families and literacy department. She received a master's degree from UNC in educational psychology.

Dr. Donna Bryant, associate director of the UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, presented the $1,500 award.
"As a teacher, Raspa has gained practical experience working with young children with disabilities and their families," Bryant said. "She also has worked on projects that helped her understand ways in which national, state and local policies affect those in the field of early intervention." 
The award honors Dr. Jim Gallagher, institute director from 1970 to 1987, who continues his research at the institute. The award is funded by an endowment established in his honor last year. Gallagher's research has focused on children at both ends of the developmental spectrum -- those with disabilities or at-risk conditions and those who are gifted.

        The institute’s mission is to cultivate and share knowledge to enhance child development and family well-being. Most of its research and outreach services concern children from birth to age 8.

The William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education will showcase its programs at an open house Oct. 27 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Topics covered at the event will include how to earn UNC academic credit through part-time study; online and other distance learning programs; admission and financial aid for part-time students; learning for enrichment and professional development; and opportunities for UNC faculty to teach nontraditional students.

Advisers and faculty will be at the Friday Center to answer questions. Light refreshments will be served.

The center is located about three miles east of the UNC campus and provides free parking. For more information, visit www.fridaycenter.unc.edu.

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Dr. Judith E. Tintinalli chair of the UNC School of Medicine’s department of emergency medicine, has been named an honorary member of the Polish Society for Emergency Medicine.

The honor was announced at the Second International Congress of Central-East European Emergency Medicine, held recently in Lublin, Poland. The organization is the academic and professional society for emergency medicine in Poland and has about 800 members nationwide.

Tintinalli’s book "Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide" has been translated into Polish and is widely used by emergency physicians in Poland.

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News Services contacts: L.J. Toler, 919-962-8589; Deb Saine, 919-962-8415