News
Diabetes self-management, support improve health outcomes in underserved communities
LAWRENCE — Even in communities with barriers to health care, exercise opportunities and healthy food, residents with diabetes saw improved health outcomes when they participated in programs that took a coordinated care approach to diabetes self-management. ...
World Bank, Peace Corps, United Nations: Work Group strengthens international connections
Three prominent international groups recently partnered with the KU Work Group for Community Health and Development. ...
New report focuses on improving online learning among students with disabilities
Researchers with the Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities have issued an in-depth analysis of the online education policies in all 50 states and five U.S. territories with recommendations for improving online and blended learning for students. ...
Community Toolbox: TEDx event “reimagines” a toolbox
The Community Tool Box, a project of the Work Group on Community Health and Development, was featured in a TEDxKC event held in Kansas City on Aug. 29. Christina Holt, associate director for Tool Box Services, participated in a two-minute “speed interview” at the KU Edwards Campus and played a...
What works and what doesn’t: Francisco leads analysis of health systems improvement
The KU Work Group for Community Health and Development has received a one-year $276,00 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to identify and understand benchmarks of success among improvement initiatives aimed at community health systems. Researchers will pull together a team of practitioners and researchers to study community health...
New director named for Fragile X project
Shelley Bredin-Oja has been named the full-time project coordinator for Fragile X longitudinal research directed by Steve Warren, effective April 1. Bredin-Oja earned her Ph.D. at KU in 2012 in speech-language-hearing and worked in Marc Fey’s Language Intervention Lab at KUMC until February 2015 when she became a part-time associate...
Women of Distinction Calendar honors 25 with ties to KU
LAWRENCE — Twenty-five women with ties to the University of Kansas are featured in the 2015-2016 Women of Distinction calendar. The Emily Taylor Resource Center for Women & Gender Equity, which produces the poster-sized calendar, will host a reception to honor the women and their achievements Monday, Aug. 31. ...
KU researchers join project aimed to examine ACA coverage for individuals with disabilities
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW)- University of Kansas researchers will be a part of a $2.5 million grant projected to examine the Affordable Health Care Act and its effects on individuals with disabilities. ...
Community health researcher returns to lead Work Group
Following the August 14 retirement of long-time director Steve Fawcett, Vincent Francisco will head up the Work Group for Community Health and Development and hold the Kansas Health Foundation Professorship in Applied Behavioral Science. ...
ADA commemoration turns spotlight on LSI researchers
The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) marked its 25th anniversary on July 25 with commemorations held across the country including at the University of Kansas. ...
Greening a food desert in Wyandotte County
KU community health and development research staff are on the ground in Wyandotte County helping build healthier communities one tienda—or neighborhood store—at a time. ...
Think-and play-like a scientist
If you want to sharpen your decision-making ability, argumentation skills and learn about science—all while playing a video game—then Reason Racer is for you. Reason Racer (reasonracer.com) is an online, multiplayer competitive game that engages middle school students in understanding scientific argumentation, the kind of higher- level thinking that is...
New leader announced for community health research group
Vincent Francisco has been selected to oversee the leadership team at the KU Work Group for Community Health and Development, one of 14 affiliated research centers of the University of Kansas Life Span Institute. ...
Researchers win grants on employment of people with disabilities
LAWRENCE — Researchers from three programs affiliated with the University of Kansas Life Span Institute were awarded Empower Kansas grants earlier this month in Parsons by UnitedHealthcare, one of the three managed-care organizations that provide services to Medicaid consumers in Kansas. ...
Children with autism can learn to be social, trial shows
When Debra Kamps, senior scientist at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute, first began researching how to improve the social and communication skills of children with autism in natural settings like schools in the 1970s, it was hard to find children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who were in...
There's a map for that: Campus activity routes expand accessible health options
The University of Kansas campus offers its students, faculty and staff many ways to stay healthy. Now a new set of campus activity routes add another option for those with disabilities. ...
David Ekerdt named director of Gerontology Center
David J. Ekerdt became the new director of the Gerontology Center in January. Ekerdt, the interim director of the Gerontology Center and professor of sociology, was appointed after a national search. ...
In the news: Brain imaging research on smoking and decision-making
The science website PsyPost recently highlighted findings authored by Michael Amlung published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. ...
State of the States Olstead Anniversary
SOS DRAFT: 6.21.24 with track changes accepted...
Shogren to deliver inaugural lecture as Beach distinguished professor
Karrie Shogren, director of the KU Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD) will deliver her inaugural presentation as the Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor of Special Education at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14 in the Kansas Room of the KU Memorial Union. ...
Fred Merrill, long-time benefactor and friend of LSI dies
Fred Merrill, who with his wife, Virginia, established the Merrill Advanced Studies Center at LSI in 1990, died Oct. 20 in Mission Hills, Kan. A leading businessman in the flour milling industry and a longtime philanthropist, Fred was a graduate of Kansas State University and chaired the K-State Foundation board. ...
Collaboration lab evaluating professional development for Kansas teachers
The Research Collaboration Lab at the Center for Research on Learning is working with the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) to evaluate and recommend improvements for professional development aimed at public school teachers and administrators. ...
Community Tool Box receives $250K grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
LAWRENCE — Talk about timely. In 1995, when the Internet’s popularity was soaring, the University of Kansas Work Group for Community Health and Development launched the Community Tool Box website — a free resource to help communities at home and abroad improve health and development. ...
Permanent director named for CRL
Mike Hock, interim director of the Center for Research on Learning since July 2014, has been named permanent director of the LSI-affiliated center. ...
Social media helps students learn scientific argumentation better than peers, study shows
Adults often bemoan the amount of time young people spend staring at a screen and browsing social media. But social media can not only be a way to teach students elements of the scientific process, those who took part in a program to learn scientific argumentation through social media learned...