University of Florida receives $200,000 Kresge Foundation award

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Center for Arts in Healthcare Research and Education at the University of Florida was awarded $200,000 to expand the Arts in Healthcare for Rural Communities program.

Director Jill Sonke said the center, a program of the College of Fine Arts, will use the two-year grant from the Kresge Foundation to continue and expand Shands Arts in Medicine projects in rural Florida communities.

“This is another example of how our students benefit from the synergies developed between the fine arts and health care, as well as other sciences,” said College of Fine Arts Dean Lucinda Lavelli. “The future of our communities relies on the abilities of our future leaders to think creatively and collaboratively while making strides toward a healthier society. This is a distinctive opportunity to share the goodwill of the Gator Nation.”

Kresge invited 15 U.S. colleges and universities with established community-arts programs to apply. Only seven grants were awarded. These awards are part of Kresge Arts and Culture Team’s two-year national initiative to support such arts programs at colleges and universities across the country.

The funding received by UF’s CAHRE program will support the Arts in Healthcare for Rural Communities, a collaborative initiative developed by the Shands Arts in Medicine program in partnership with CAHRE. This initiative began in 2008 through support from the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts for a pilot program in Franklin County, titled AIM for the Panhandle. The original project was designed to create a model for arts in health care programs for rural communities, which suffer from significant health and economic disparities and lack of access to both health care and the arts.

Through funding from the Kresge Foundation and partnership with the Florida Office of Rural Health and DCA, UF plans to expand the AIM for the Panhandle project to the Arts in Healthcare for Rural Communities, with a statewide dissemination plan.

The success and local impact of Aim for the Panhandle attracted the attention of the Florida Rural Economic Development Board and the Florida Office of Rural Health and led to FORH’s development of a strategic plan for working with Shands AIM and CAHRE to implement arts programs in as many of Florida’s 26 rural hospitals as possible by 2012. With support from the Kresge Foundation, the initiative will be disseminated through the following primary activities: development and implementation of arts in health care programs based at three rural community hospitals, including Shands Live Oak, in the first year and at five others in the second year; implementation of two annual regional Arts in Healthcare for Rural Communities training programs; and outcomes studies in Franklin County, at Shands Live Oak, and at one additional new site.

It is anticipated that this initiative will measurably improve the well-being of rural populations by increasing access to the arts, use of health care services, health literacy and positive health behaviors and community engagement. It is further expected that the new programs will spur economic development through arts-based vocational skills development, new community revenue streams, creation of new jobs for artists, and greater employability among healthier individuals.

Expand your Horizons with a Bachelor Degree Online?

Expand your Horizons with a Bachelor Degree Online?

There are many people that dream of getting a bachelors or masters degree, but the thought of interrupting their career or family life to attend traditional classes seems impossible. The notion of trying to attend numerous classes when you are already busy with your career and family life is just not feasible. On the other hand, you know that a bachelor’s degree would enhance your future job success and earnings. It is in this regard that college and universities are now making it possible to acquire a college degree online.

Once you have made the decision to pursue your degree, take the time to study all the options available. There is a vast amount of information about obtaining your online degree. In addition, numerous colleges and universities now offer degrees and course study online. If you wish to pursue your bachelor degree online, be sure that the school is accredited. An accredited college or university means that the state’s guidelines have been met and the degree is deemed credible. Therefore, learn as much as possible about the school and the perquisites for a bachelor’s degree.

Advantages of pursuing an online degree are endless. There is no commute to school, no need to shuffle classes or reshuffle your life in order to attend a particular class, no requirement to live on campus, etc. However, you will need to stay disciplined at home to get your course work done. In addition to the discipline, you will need a quite place to work at home.

Because of the importance of this matter, I will repeat again that the school and the courses you select to pursue your bachelor’s degree online are accredited. The online degree industry has become a big business over the last 5 years or so and it would be a shame to waste your time and money for a degree that is not accredited. On the other hand, if you wish to expand your education just for the sake of learning, then accreditation will not make a difference.

Now is the time to improve your chances of landing a better job, better earnings or even change your career. Your future and success is in your own hands and there is no excuse for not pursing a college or university degree online. Classes and course material are usually delivered by way of computer, but don’t worry if you are not computer savvy. All you will need is a computer and an internet connection to get you started.

Here my choices for degrees online:

If you are located in Canada, Meritus University offers various degree programs that you can complete on your own time to fit your schedule.  For more information from Meritus fill out the from located here: http://www.meritusinternational.com

For those in the U.S. I recommend using the online school find wizard found here at School Search Wizard. It is perfect in helping match individuals to schools to meet their career goals.

If you would like a package with more information on colleges and online opportunities fill out this request form  here plenty of financial  aid is available for these programs.

How To Detect Bogus Fake University Degrees

How To Detect Bogus Fake University Degrees

More and more people are getting arrested or sued for illegally using bogus fake university degrees to land better paying jobs. Sometimes, this is done with criminal intent and at other times, the victims innocently thought that their college or university degrees were genuine. This is because many of these so called “universities and colleges” offering fake degrees have positioned themselves so well that they are thought to be authentic, especially those bogus degree mills that are offering university degrees online.
Bangladeshi, Abu Syeed Chowdury was jailed for 4 months in Singapore when he was found to have used a fake bogus University of Dahka degree to apply for a job. He was already working in Singapore for 5 years before he was found out and so had committed a serious immigration offence.
Take for instance the case of Laura Callahan, who was the deputy chief information officer in the United States Homeland Security which is a high security department, it was discovered in June 2003 that her university degree was a fake.
It is because of such high profile university degree frauds that employers need to be very vigilant over the qualifications of their potential employees and existing employees.
The following are some signs to look out for in detecting fake university and college degrees:-
1) Dates of the degrees – The dates on the degrees are not in order and therefore are supicious. For instance, the qualification sequence should be obtaining a high school certificate, then a bachelor degree followed by an Mba or Masters and then on to a PhD degree. If someone have a PhD degree without a bachelor or Masters degree or that he have a higher degree before a lower one, then his degrees are certainly suspicious. However, someone may have this inconsistency because he had studied for degrees of different professions.
2) Imitation of branded universities and colleges- Some degree mills actually skimmed off names of famous and accredited universities. For example, Hamilton University is the fake version of the prestigious Hamilton College.
3) Errors on the degree – Check for errors such as spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. The university’s seal should be embossed and not merely printed. Real universities and colleges take pride in their degrees and will not tolerate such mistakes.
4) Speedy degrees – Degrees earned in a very short time or several degrees earned at a short time are tell tale signs of fake university and college degrees.
What can an employer do if he discovers that an employee is a bogus fake degree to secure the job? Well, depending on the job scope and seniority of the fraudster, a police report may be necessary since clients of the company may have been deceived into doing something they otherwise may not have done as a result of the employee’s misrepresentation of his educational qualifications.
Civil suits can also be taken against the employee if there were damages suffered by the company through misrepresentation of doing a job which he is not qualified to do. So, don’t ever be tempted to get a bogus fake degree to mislead because you may be prosecuted in a criminal court and have a civil suit on your head.

Financial Aid – The Reason To Get A University Degree Online

Financial Aid – The Reason To Get A University Degree Online Courtesy Of Obama’s Administration

Ever imagine where your daily life is headed?  Our current economic crisis seems to be moving toward economic meltdown and its becoming harder to find jobs even with a degree let alone without one . If you are looking for the best way to deal with this recession (and your all ready on the right track as you have found this site.)  then I have good news for you.

People are now increasingly aware of our situation today and are learning how to prevent it from happening in the future.  The are doing this by strengthening their educational credentials and going back to school. The decision to return to school is an extremely important one to think about. Receiving a university degree will supply you with the required current skills and information to be successful in your current career or  the career of your preference.  The big problem for most is getting funding to pay for school as we all know colleges are not cheap.

The proper financial funding can be a stepping-stone toward your success or the bain of your pursuit. The point of college aid is to assist all with their expenses so that economic barriers don’t prevent them from achieving their educational goals. There are several kinds of financial support that will assist students to fund their college costs. Normally, monetary help is supplied from multiple sources through FAFSA.

It is recommended that you submit your FAFSA documentation as soon as possible to ensure that school deadlines:state deadlines are met and state funds are made available to you in time. To ensure this outcome is simple, send it in as soon as the year starts!

Those that that get Federal funding often receive it due to a a income based computation that shows that they qualify for federal funding and funding is provided to those that need college money.

But you I’m sure you all ready know about FAFSA,  what about scholarships for courses onsite and online alike?

If you want to go the scholarship route and you are currently in the work force you are probably eligible for the $10,000 scholarship for working adults.  To find out if you are eligible fill out the registration form here:

Also, the military is giving away $10,000 for school for eligible individuals who have served in the military.  To find if you are eligible, Fill out the form on in the following link:  $10,000 Military Scholarship