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> Department of Health and Human Development
News and Events
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Towne's Harvest Readies for Second Year
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Towne’s Harvest Garden, a project organized and operated
by MSU nutrition and agriculture students, is gearing
up for its second year. This month at the Plant Growth
Center on campus, students will begin planting seeds, which will eventually be transplanted to the 2-acre
farm west of the MSU campus. |
According to Dr. Alison Harmon, “Last year the farm grew
10,000 pounds of food. Five thousand pounds went
to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank, and the rest went
to the 40 participating members.”
Memberships cost $425. In return, members receive
bags of produce for 14 weeks for a family of
four. For summer 2008, Towne’s Harvest will increase its
membership to 55 families. They also plan to sell excess produce
at the Farmer’s Market.
Dr. Harmon announced that the garden has just received
a $12,000 grant from the Montana Department of Agriculture’s “Growth through Agriculture” program, which will
allow them to purchase a new well and also pay to film a
documentary about the project.
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Steps to a New You: Food and Eating, Physical Activity, and Body Image
For the last few years, the
push to do something about
our nation’s obesity problem has
been front and center. Many
people are focusing solely on trying
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| lose weight rather than
achieving a healthy lifestyle. Educators
in Wyoming, Idaho, and
Montana have joined together
to offer “Steps to a New You” to over 200 participants. The
7-session program uses a variety
of approaches such as education,
hands-on experiences, pedometers,
and other record-keeping tools to
help participants develop new attitudes
and behaviors related to
food, physical activity and body
image. Dr. Lynn Paul, Food and
Nutrition Extension Specialist, has
seen important results with “Steps to
a New You” in three areas: food and
eating; physical activity; and body
image. Dr. Paul notes that participants
are eating more fruits, vegetables,
and whole grains, drinking less
pop, and ordering fewer super-sized
items. Besides increasing their physical
activity, many noted they were not as
concerned by what others thought about
their body size and shape.
As one participant said, “I’ve learned
how to take my time to enjoy my food instead
of having it just be a hand-and-arm
movement.” |
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| Nutrition Sen$e for Montana School Districts |
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The Montana Team Nutrition
has provided mini-grants to school
districts to support student organizations
in offering healthful foods and beverages at their
student stores through the Nutrition SEN$E Project. It
was funded by a 2001 USDA Team Nutrition grant which
funded eighteen school districts around the state. The grants
ranged from $500 to $3,000 and reached over 10,000 |
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students. The long term impact of these grants helped support the addition
of popular, low cost, healthy items being offered for sale at student-run
stores, student training in safe food handling practices, inventory
and cost control, and the development of a resource guide,
called “Nutrition SEN$E: Students Encouraging Nutritious Snacks
Every Day.” This resource provides technical assistance to student
organizations on how to successfully promote and sell healthful foods
and beverages in student stores and can be downloaded at www.opi.mt.gov/schoolfood/nutritionsense.htm. |
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Montana Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE) program funded for 11th year! |
| On October 1, 2007, Montana State University Extension began its eleventh year of offering the Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE) to low income Montanans eligible for food stamps. |
Through a contract with the Montana Food Stamp Program at Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Montana State University will receive over $678,000 in federal funds which will be matched with over $500,000 of cost share from other inkind sources in Montana. In FY 2008, FSNE nutrition assistants and agents will teach a series of food resource management and nutrition classes to eligible people in communities in 17 counties and 5 reservations. The FSNE also provides a series of nutrition education classes to eligible Title I schools in participating counties and reservations. Phyllis Dennee, Extension Nutrition Education Specialist, is the principal investigator and director of Montana FSNE. Coleen Kaiser is the Montana FSNE State Coordinator. |
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Early Childhood Distance Education Program Funded
Laura Massey, Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education/Child Development has received a grant from the US Department of Education for $1,040,816. |
The Early Childhood Education Distance Partnership Program (ECEDP) is beginning the first year of a four-year, 1.2 million project designed to assist Head Start teachers complete their bachelor's degree. Funded by the Office of Indian Education, this program is designed to help Montana Tribal Head Start programs meet the recently established requirements set by the National Head Start Association and Congress, which demand that at least 50% of all Head Start teachers obtain a bachelor’s degree in the Early Childhood Education field by 2010. This grant will fund tuition and fees, a laptop computer, and 3 years of home internet service for up to 25 Head Start teachers who have completed their AA degrees in Early Childhood Education. The Early Childhood Education Program at MSU will provide two years of upper division ECE courses delivered via Web-CT through the Burns Center and MSU in order for students to complete their 4-year degree.
The ECEDP is a collaborative partnership among Montana State University and six of the seven Tribal Colleges and their respective Head Start Programs. Initiated by Dr. Massey in 2000 following the 1998 Head Start Act, the ECEDP has already successfully graduated 2 separate Head Start teacher cohorts, with a third cohort near completion. An Associate Professor in HHD as well as a Project Director, Dr. Massey has hired MSU Doctoral Candidate Shane Doyle as the ECEDP Program Coordinator. Doyle will work with teachers and administrators from Tribal Head Starts and Tribal Colleges from 6 of the 7 Montana Reservations. The new cohort is expected to begin classes in summer semester 2008. For further information, you can contact Dr. Massey at lmassey@montana.edu or Shane Doyle at shane.doyle@montana.edu |
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| Office of Population Affairs Awards Grant to HHD |
Elizabeth Rink, Assistant Professor in Community Health, received a grant for $299,960 from the federal Office of Population Affairs. The grant will elucidate the individual, social and environmental factors that appear to have the greatest influence on American Indian men’s sexual and reproductive health.
Individual characteristics such as knowledge of contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted infections; perceptions of pregnancy; perceived risk of STIs; perceptions of abstinence, monogamy and contraceptive use will be examined in the study. The project will also look at social dynamics such as relationships with family and peers; culture; religion; and relationships with sexual partners. Characteristics of, access to, and utilization of family planning services will also be examined.
The project will study Native American men aged 18-24 living on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana and will run from October 2007 to September 2009. |
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Faculty In The News
Dr. Christina Campbell, associate professor of nutrition, is chair-elect to the American Dietetic Association’s Dietetic Educators of Practitioners. Her new position begins in June 2008.
Through the use of a one-of-a-kind, custom-built ergometer, Dr. Dan Heil is studying the relationship of upper body power and ski pole design. His research is being used by Bozeman Ski Foundation and the Montana State University Nordic ski racing team.
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