• Future Students
• Current Students
• Alumni
• Faculty and Staff

• Arnold School Home
• Welcome
• Academic Departments
• Administrative Departments
• Office of Research
• Centers & Other Programs
• Communications
• News Archives
• Online Giving
• Contact Us

Students win travel grants to attend professional meetings; recognition given for achievement

September 27, 2010

A study by two USC researchers has revealed that much of the emergency news information on television web sites fails to serve the needs of the public.

The media shortcomings were detailed in a first of its kind study in The Journal of Health Communication. Conducted by Arnold School assistant professor Dr. Daniela Friedman and journalism associate professor Dr. Andrea Tanner, the study is just one of several notable achievements by faculty, alumni and students in the Arnold School’s Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior.

The Friedman/Tanner study reviewed the content of 119 local television news web sites only to find information was not easily accessible and lacked specific instructions on how to act in response to the emergency that was being reported on the sites.

The study was one of the first to emerge from a new science and health communication research group at the University, a multi-disciplinary and cross-campus organization directed by Tanner that is also involved in a new post-graduate certificate program to help health communication practitioners.

Among other HPEB scholars who have been recognized recently are:

• Frances Ashe-Goins is the recipient of the University’s 2010 Outstanding Black Alumni Award. An adjunct professor in HBEB and the USC College of Nursing, she also is acting director of the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Megan Weis is the recipient of the President’s Award, presented annually by the South Carolina Public Health Association to a member who has provided outstanding service to the association and its president. Weis was recognized for her work as the president of the Health Education section and for starting the new SCPHA student forum. The association also awarded the Lucinda Thomas Health Education award to Sarah Gareau in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the field of health education and promotion.
• The MU chapter of Delta Omega, the honorary society for graduate students in public health, has nominated India Rose to present a poster in the 2010 Delta Omega poster session at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Denver, CO. Rose’s presentation is titled: More than Healthcare Reform: Examining the Health Insurance Disparity among College Students at Two-year Institutions.
• Winston Abara and Lauren Workman received graduate school travel grants to attend professional public health meetings. Winston, who received the Public Health Scholarship Award and the Malcolm U. Dantzler Scholarship Award from the South Carolina Public Health Association, attended the meeting of the Society for Prevention Research. Workman’s grant was for the meeting of the International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
• Dr. Lee Pearson, an HPEB alumnus and director of the S.C. Public Health Institute, and Michelle Burcin, director of the Healthy Carolina initiative, were finalists for the 2010 USC University 101 Teaching Award.