Sunday, December 16, 2012

A film festival marked the end the first visual anthropology course at East Carolina University.

Students in Luci M. Fernandes’ visual anthropology class presented their final projects in an end of semester film festival on campus on Thursday. The course is the first of its kind at ECU and was made possible through the BB&T Leadership office, which awarded Fernandes an $8,000 grant to teach the course.

According to Fernandes, visual anthropology combines the study of human societies and their development with visual art and film, which “helps to better understand different cultures.”

Each of the eight students in the class picked a specific cultural group, or community, to research. Communities chosen ranged from farming to political to tattoo communities.

The students then documented the different communities throughout Greenville and eastern North Carolina with podcasts, photography and film. Throughout the fall semester, they interviewed people, photographed the different cultural aspects of the community and created a 20-minute documentary film.

“Each project they did stemmed from the previous one,” Fernandes said. “And the final projects are the documentaries that will be presented in the film festival.”

Fernandes said that the course enables students to become leaders through better understanding the diverse people in their area.

“Part of this course is on leadership and the ability to lead,” Fernandes said. “To be able to lead, you have to know the people you’re surrounded by and be able to see different points of view.”

Siera Plato, a graduate student studying sustainable tourism, did her project on the Mexican women immigrant community.

“I focused on all the different roles that come with being a Mexican, an immigrant, and a woman,” Plato said.

Many of the students had no experience in filmmaking, which was both the biggest obstacle and reward for many of them.

“I’ve gained so many technical skills that I didn’t have prior to this course,” Plato said.

Despite the obstacles, Fernandes says the final projects illustrate how rewarding the experience has been.

“All of these students are so proud of their work,” Fernandes said. “They immersed themselves in a community and became an advocate for it.”

Fernandes said she hopes that the work her students have done will not only help them become leaders, but also “make anthropology known to people who see the exhibit or the films.”

Photographs taken by the students are on exhibit at ECU’s Joyner Library and the Tipsy Teapot.

At the end of December, the photo exhibit will move to The Scullery and the BB&T on Evans St. in downtown Greenville.

Continuing Medical Education program, dean recognized

An ECU physician has been recognized for his work in the field of continuing medical education.

In addition, the CME program at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU has received accreditation with commendation.

Dr. Stephen Willis, executive director of the Eastern Area Health Education Center and associate dean for CME at ECU, has received the Robert Raszkowski, MD, PhD ACCME Hero Award for his volunteer service to the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education.

Willis has served as a recognition surveyor, a member and co-chair of the ACCME Committee for Recognition and Review, and on the ACCME board of directors. He said he is honored to receive the award, and it reflects the medical school’s commitment to education.

“It just says (ECU) is a very supportive place to work with an appreciation of … working on the national scene to improve health education,” he said.

Willis has also been instrumental in local and national efforts to disengage CME activities from commercial sponsorship.

“This new approach has left speakers and attendees more able to freely learn the relevant facts of clinical care without any shadow of vendors or other commercial sponsors,” said Dr. Nicholas Benson, vice dean of the Brody School of Medicine. “It has been a difficult, and not completely popular, process. This award seems to indicate that the national CME accrediting body recognizes the great accomplishments of Steve just as much as our local team does.”

ECU’s CME reaccreditation term is for six years. Only 22 percent of the providers reviewed from 2008 to 2012 achieved accreditation with commendation. Normally, accreditation is for four years; accreditation with commendation adds another two.

“Dr. Willis and his team at Brody’s Office of CME have been working in partnership with (Community Care of North Carolina) to provide performance improvement CME throughout the eastern North Carolina region,” said Dr. Elizabeth Baxley, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the medical school. “Performance improvement CME is the leading edge of continuing education, and has its roots in the clinical quality improvement movement.”

Teacher of the Year recipients honored

Eighteen Teacher of the Year recipients from eastern North Carolina were honored at a Dec. 6 event sponsored by ECU’s College of Education. The event, titled “Each One-Reach One,” served as a celebration of outstanding educators and their positive impact within the region.

Joining the Teachers of the Year were first- and second-year educators. The novice and veteran educators represented the following counties: Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Clinton City, Craven, Cumberland, Edgecombe, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Northampton, Onslow, Pitt, Vance and Wilson.

Invitations were issued to each member of the Latham Clinical Schools Network, which comprises 36 counties within eastern North Carolina.

Several of the educators honored are alumni of the College of Education’s teacher education programs. During the event, the educators brainstormed how to better promote the profession of teaching.

When asked what kind of individuals they wanted to see join the profession in the future, the educators noted they wanted to see new teachers who were “passionate about the profession, compassionate about others, and tech savvy to meet the needs of 21st century learning.” Within the discussion on how to promote teaching as a career choice, the Teachers of the Year shared that there is a need to “get the media and legislators more involved in understanding the positive experiences that are happening in classrooms.”

In addition to sharing recruitment strategies, the outstanding educators were asked to videotape themselves talking about why they teach.

The individual clips will be combined to create a promotional video to show potential teacher education students at spring recruitment events. The positive messages shared will provide prospective students with excellent examples of quality teachers who are proud of their profession.

via The Daily Reflector.