Task force answers questions on football
The past week has been one of debate and discussion on the proposed football upgrade.

A University task force has been formed to study the proposed football upgrade and respond to a number of questions that have been raised.

The task force includes Lorraine Aronson, special assistant to the Chancellor; Scott Brohinsky, director of university relations and governmental relations; and Jeffrey Hathaway, senior associate director of athletics.

The responses of this task force are available on the Advance website. Answers to additional issues raised will be posted on the Web as analysis of the proposed move to Division I-A football continues.

Symposium planned in memory of Claire Berg
The late Claire Berg, professor, molecular and cell biology, will be honored with a memorial symposium, Microbial Genetics, Infectious Disease and Human Cancer, on Tuesday, November 4, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center's Konover Auditorium.

The symposium, sponsored by the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and the Biotechnology Center, will feature three presentations: Comparative Genetics - Development of New Paradigms in Antimicrobial Research, by Karen J. Shaw, of Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, N.J.; From Bacteriophage T4 to Translational Regulation to Drugs in a Hurry, Larry Gold, of NeXstar Pharmaceuticals Inc., Boulder, Colo.; and Genome Instability, Mutator Genes and Cancer Susceptibility, by Richard Kolodner, of the University of California, San Diego Medical School and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

The presentation is free and open to the public. There is also a post-lecture dinner reception. For more information, contact Jennifer Troyer at (860) 486-1896 or Kim Renaud at (860) 486-2841.

Respite care provider program receives award
The University's highly successful program to train recipients of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) to become respite care providers has won the University Continuing Education Association's Region I creative programming award.

The Respite Care Provider Certificate Program, provided by the Division of Extended and Continuing Education and the Cooperative Extension System for the past three years, is part of a larger program funded by the state Department of Social Services. More than 90 percent of the 200 participants, who are mostly minorities, have found jobs in the respite care field.

"When I wrote the grant, my focus was to provide employment and improve the lives of the program's participants," says Roland Holstead, assistant dean of continuing education, who created the program. "Receiving this award is an acknowledgment that the grant is not only providing employment, but also making a difference in the lives of the TANF recipients."

The award recipients from Extended and Continuing Education were: Judith Cosby, program manager; Jeet Joshee, director of the Center for Professional Development; and Holstead.

Students in the eight-week respite care program are trained to provide services on a short-term basis to relieve families or other primary caregivers. The students receive 90 hours of classroom training, including first aid and CPR certification, and participate in an 80-hour internship.

"The home health care field is expanding and experts predict that home care patients and services will increase in the next decade," says Cosby, who trains the staff with Holstead. "The respite provider is an entry-level job in the health care field. With additional training, they can become an L.P.N., an R.N., a physical or occupational therapist, or even a physician if they choose."