My weekend

Happy celebration

It was a non-stop weekend. Yesterday, my husband and I drove to Greensboro, N.C., to attend the bat mitzvah for the daughter of one of our faculty members. It was a wonderful event, a celebration of the daughter’s accomplishments in a year during which the family had faced major health challenges. A number of School of Public Health faculty members were there. For me, it was also a reminder of how much goes on in our lives outside the School and the rich social networks that strengthen many of our faculty and staff.

Most of the way to and from Greensboro, I read journal articles and an excellent Institute of Medicine report on Genes, Behavior and the Social Environment. Much of the rest of the weekend, when I wasn’t attending events, I was parked in front of my computer reading and working on slides. Almost 10 months ago, I agreed to give a keynote talk on public health opportunities to improve health and the intersection with genetics for the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Preparing for it is one of the most challenging intellectual experiences I have experienced in awhile. I am not a geneticist, and while some of my research has been in this area, I am not on top of the latest thinking or research. So, it’s been an immersive preparation experience, and the timing isn’t particularly good. Colleagues like Caryn Lerman, PhD, and Jim Evans, MD, have been great about helping me sort through some of the issues, and Colleen McBride, PhD, Chief Social and Behavioral Research Branch at NHGRI, sent me a lot of great articles to read. The challenge is synthesizing it all, and having something valuable to say—and doing all this while doing everything else the dean of a school must accomplish. September is an especially busy month here!

Football game

Some of you know that basketball is much more my game than football, and I’d far prefer activity to sitting. Nevertheless, part of a dean’s job is attending football games, and this year, I am committed to being at nearly all the home games. So, you might wonder, why go to football games? They are a great way to interact with our donors in a relaxed setting, do a lot of academic business in a comfortable setting and meet legislators and others in an informal venue. For example, Janice Periquet, Associate Director of Development, introduced me to U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre from North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District. Turns out he is really interested in and knows a lot about rural health. I talked with Moses Carey, Jr. on the Orange Board of Commissioners, a bit about why we are adding the word “global” to our name. Made me glad we are developing a letter to legislators about this issue. I also interacted with a lot of other people, including several deans and others at the University. Before the end of the second quarter, a major storm hit, with impressive thunder and lightning, delaying the rest of the game for about 40 minutes. Fortunately, UNC beat McNeese State University, but it wasn’t an easy win by any means. Here are a few pictures my husband, Bernard Glassman, took. It was a fantastic crowd, and we all enjoyed the fireworks when UNC scored. Unfortunately, the skydivers who were supposed to surprise the UNC stadium crowd inadvertently went to Duke, whose stadium was quite surprised by their appearance! Apparently, they couldn’t see clearly and ended up at Duke! Hmm…

Visiting with family

Sunday, we had a good visit with my parents who live at Carolina Meadows, along with a number of our retired faculty members and their spouses and the parents of some SPH faculty. I learned that Jason West, PhD, Assistant Professor in Environmental Sciences and Engineering, will be speaking soon on climate change. It’s great when our faculty members reach out to the community to speak on issues of great interest.

Next week’s blog

I will focus on the coming celebration of our name addition. I say that, because we are taking nothing away from our name. We are adding two words, Global and Gillings, adding but taking nothing away. We are planning a terrific celebration for September 26th. President Bowles, Chancellor Thorp, Department of Health Director Leah Devlin and SPH Student Government Co-president Lauren Thie all will speak. There’ll be great music, local foods and a chance to socialize with many friends of the School. Please sign up to attend at http://www.sph.unc.edu/anticipate.

Hope you had a great holiday. Don’t forget to register to vote or get an absentee ballot if you’re out of town. Happy Monday. Barbara!