Author: Sydney Flowers

Anatomy of a pioneer: Willard R. Zemlin

April 04, 2023 | Bruce Adams

Willard Zemlin, right, uses an early research lab setup to examine the adult oral cavity (Illinois archives)

Willard R. Zemlin was fascinated by how speech and hearing work. He brought an array of skills and interests to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Born in Two Harbors, Minn., he worked in radio and television repair and electronics, was a locomotive engineer with the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railroad and served as a sergeant in the infantry with the U.S. Army in Korea.

Zemlin completed a bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology and a master’s degree in speech pathology at the University of Minnesota. The work done by his wife, Eileen, in speech pathology inspired him to leave his job and pursue a Ph.D. in speech pathology with a focus on vocal science.

Zemlin began making the connection between instruction, clinical practice and research when he joined the Illinois faculty as an assistant professor of Speech and Hearing Science in 1962.

Zemlin directed the Speech and Hearing Research Laboratory from 1962 to 1975. He undertook a systematic and comprehensive investigation of the anatomy and physiology of speech, language and hearing systems. He utilized his considerable photographic skills (with the permission and assistance of the School of Basic Medical Sciences at Illinois) in the laboratory to capture images from stages of the dissection process and used the pictures to supplement his lectures to enhance his students’ understanding of the structures related to human communication. For students, the opportunity to see structures, as opposed to reading about them, clarified the subject matter and made it more interesting.

Zemlin was promoted to associate professor in 1966 and to professor in 1971, with an appointment as professor in the School of Clinical Medicine recognizing his expertise in the anatomical functioning of hearing and speech.

Zemlin was a crucial contributor to the development of innovative laboratory space in the Speech and Hearing Science Building in the 1970s. It was a significant undertaking. His ability to make imaginative use of limited research equipment and simplify learning made him a valued teacher. In turn, Zemlin established lasting relationships with many SHS students as they radiated from campus to work as clinical practitioners, researchers and teachers.

“As a young professor with little money to cover the costs of having conference slides professionally prepared, Willard Zemlin taught me how to shoot and mount my own slides, using his mounted camera in the basement of the SHS Building, said Cynthia Johnson Parsons, an SHS associate professor emerita. “Bill also reminded our communication sciences and disorders field repeatedly that there was a great deal of normal variability in anatomical structures of the speech and hearing mechanism, which was never accounted for in CSD and medical textbooks. He was a strong advocate for observing and studying as many exemplars of an anatomical structure as you could find across people, in order to realize when a structure deviated substantially from normally functioning ones.”

In 1968, Zemlin wrote in the foreword to the first edition of his pioneering book, Speech and Hearing Science: Anatomy and Physiology: “Each of us who is concerned with the rehabilitation of speech, language and hearing should be able to visualize the anatomical structures involved, to understand their usual functions, and to hypothesize how they might function under adverse circumstances.”

The book utilized his laboratory photographs and displayed his skill in drawing diagrams, resulting in more than 400 images and illustrations. With this collection, Zemlin captured every bone, cartilage, muscle and tissue related to the speech and hearing mechanisms. At that time, David Kuehn, SHS professor emeritus, said the book was “clearly the best, [if not] the only, text that dealt specifically with anatomy and physiology of the speech and hearing mechanisms.” Kuehn considered it to be a magnificent text, praising it for its timeless content.

Zemlin’s textbook became the most widely and longest-used one in the field—his legacy, according to Kuehn. Current and former faculty members in SHS remember learning from it as students and later using it in classes they taught. Pamela Hadley, SHS professor and department head, said she “actually traced all those illustrations to make flashcards with the origin, insertion, fiber direction and function listed on the back.” Johnson Parsons said, “After I graduated from the University of Iowa, I continued to use the textbook and its illustrations when I taught phonetics and articulation/phonological disorders courses at the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois.” Kuehn used the textbook to teach the SHS course in the anatomy and physiology of the speech mechanism.

Later editions of Speech and Hearing Science included images of laryngeal behavior that Zemlin captured using an innovative photographic method he developed using a high-speed motion picture camera. Patricia Monoson from the University of Arkansas described it in the introduction to the fourth edition in 1998 as “the book you are about to read, learn, study and use as a reference for the rest of your professional life.”

Read more about Zemlin:

Zemlin bio from Illinois Distributed Museum

Shaping the teachings of speech, hearing anatomy for decades

Return to the SHS 50th main page

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CHAD symposium returns with thanks for pilot grants

March 03, 2023 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Pilot grants reignite Chad Symposium, fostering research collaboration and innovation

KCH Associate Professor Naiman Khan’s presentation was titled “Role of Omega-3 Lipid Metabolites in Obesity and Cognitive Function” (Photo by Lisa Bralts)

The first Center for Health, Aging, and Disability (CHAD) symposium since 2017 was a celebration of the research accomplished with the help of the Pilot Grant Program.

Three researchers from the College of Applied Health Sciences—Naiman Khan, an associate professor in Kinesiology and Community Health; Brian Monson, an assistant professor in Speech and Hearing Science, and Sharon Zou, an assistant professor in Recreation, Sport and Tourism, made a point of thanking CHAD’s grants for helping launch their studies.

Khan, whose presentation was titled “Role of Omega-3 Lipid Metabolites in Obesity and Cognitive Function,” said CHAD’s funding was vital to his work.

“CHAD was really helpful in us starting a new line of engagement of research,” he said. 

CHAD director Jeff Woods, AHS’ associate dean for research, said to date, 38 pilot grants have been awarded since CHAD was launched in 2010, with $860,000 awarded to AHS researchers for pilot research. Woods described CHAD’s role as “work at the bookends of medicine … with the goal of improving people’s lives.”

“CHAD pilot grants are really important for junior faculty,” Zou said.

And the payoff has been well worth it, Woods said, citing the return on investment as approximately $16 in external funding to $1 in CHAD funding. 

Zou’s presentation was titled “Exploring an Efficient and Equitable Entrance Fee for Public Lands: A Community-based investigation in the Indiana Dunes National Park.”

“I study how people have fun,” Zou said, explaining that it was vital for public parks and other tourism industries to build a sustainable revenue model and not to rely on decreasing funding from state and federal sources. 

The primary purpose of Zou’s study was to “understand visitors’ and surrounding community residents’ perceptions of Indiana Dunes National Park user fees to inform a fee structure that balances revenue generation and equitable access.”

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Zou said, “parks saw explosions of people visiting.” While that was great for parks in terms of revenue, it also led to increasing operation costs at a time when government funding for these sites is being reduced.

“The specific goal is to find out how visitors see the park fees, and are they fair?,” Zou said.

The RST researcher said her preliminary findings indicate there was no consensus from study participants on what “fair” means, and that tension between fairness principles partly explains the longstanding controversy and debate on public land user fees.

Khan’s presentation focused on how poor lifestyle choices can predict an early onset of dementia, noting that obesity worldwide has increased threefold since the 1980s. The KCH researcher said his research, in conjunction with Aditi Das of Georgia Tech, suggested that the a deficiencyin the hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)—which has been reported to have beneficial effects on obesity, diabetes mellitus, and serum lipids in animals—was associated with individuals with a body-mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher, which is classified as obese.

“BMI is inversely connected to cognitive function,” Khan said. “Only in obese individuals do we see DHEA increase in circulation.” Khan said his preliminary results found:

  • Circulating Omega-3 metabolites were higher among persons with higher weight status and the levels were associated with degree of fat mass
  • Circulating metabolites inversely associated with cognitive function
  • Only observed among persons with overweight and obesity
  • Selectively associated with hippocampal function
  • Implications for memory function

Khan said his overarching goal was to “develop effective lifestyle approaches to improve cognitive function.”

SHS’ Monson discussed his study called “Capturing Prenatal Auditory Experience.”

“If there was a pregnant woman in this audience, that baby would be hearing my voice, and perhaps making judgments,” he said, drawing laughter from the gathering. “How do we know? Because full-term newborns come to the world with memories of what they’ve heard, including the mother’s voice.”

In utero, Monson explained, was a unique acoustic environment. When preterm infants are delivered, they are placed into incubators, which rapidly changed the sound profile, he said. The consequences of those changes include increased risk for sensorineural hearing loss, auditory neuropathy, language and speech developmental delays, auditory attention deficits and auditory processing disorder.

Monson’s study involved a group of pregnant women wearing a LENA listening device twice a week during the third trimester, while the device was placed into cribs of very preterm infants at Carle Foundation Hospital three times a week through their stay in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

“Fetuses are getting 2.5 hours a day of speech exposure vs. 32 minutes a day for very preterm infants,” he said. “It’s an alarming difference to me.”
NICU infants may incur a deficit of about 150 hours of speech exposure over the course of the preterm period, he explained.

One of the possible mitigation strategies for very preterm infants could be to provide meaningful targets (about three hours a day of speech exposure) to optimize auditory exposures in NICU settings.

“The maternal heartbeat is never turned off in utero,” he said. “The maternal heartbeat is never turned on in NICU.”

Following the CHAD Pilot Grant success stories, Wendy Rogers, the Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Professor of Applied Health Sciences, talked about the work of Collaborations in Health, Aging, Research, & Technology (CHART).

CHART’s mission is to enable successful aging through:

  • Fundamental research
  • Advanced technology development
  • Education of researchers, developers, healthcare professionals, older adults
  • Guidance for policy decision-making
  • Translation of these efforts to positively affect the lives of older adults

CHART was the first research theme of the College of Applied Health Sciences and boasts the development of the McKechnie Family LIFE Home, an interdisciplinary research facility and simulated home environment that helps promote community engagement, industry partnerships, healthcare collaborations and faculty innovation.

Also part of the symposium was the introduction of a new AHS research theme called CARD (Collaborations in the Advancement of Research on Disability), led by KCH Associate Professor Laura Rice and KCH Professor John Kosciulek. CARD is focused on enhancing the health and quality of life of people with disabilities—through research that addresses critical gaps in disability-related knowledge and outreach that engages individuals with disabilities. 

CARD’s short-term goals include:

  • Develop a collaborative working group
  • Develop communication strategies
  • Establish a steering committee of stakeholders
  • Develop and implement outreach and engagement events

Longer-term goals include:

  • Host a bi-annual research symposium
  • Develop a “toolkit” for UIUC faculty to support the performance of disability-related research in the Champaign-Urbana area
  • Respond to disability-related funding opportunities
  • Establish a competitive program to provide supplemental funding to support ongoing disability research among junior faculty
  • Host a seminar series with external experts
  • Establish a research training program for students registered with DRES interested in doing research
  • Support the development of new research registries and/or expansion of current registries

The first CARD meeting is set for March 22.

In kicking off the symposium, AHS Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell said CHAD was “one of the biggest attractions” of her decision to come to Illinois and lead the college.

“When I thought about CHAD, I thought it’d be interesting to lead a college that has this kind of momentum to it, and I’ve been proven correct, year after year,” she said. “CHAD provides students with real-world engagement, and plays an absolutely critical role in their professional development.”

Woods agreed.

“We’re helping put the next generation of scientists into the field.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

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2023 AHS Distinguished Lecturer Series—Dr. Travis T. Threats

Feb. 09, 2023 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Differences versus Disparities:  Use of the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) Framework to Critically Evaluate Health Outcomes

Saint Louis University Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Chairperson Travis Threats. (Photo provided)

About the Presentation

In looking at different populations, it is important to distinguish between differences and disparities. With a differences orientation we look at the population’s own perceived strengths and areas of wanted improvement. With the disparities orientation, we view the “winners” and “losers” of “the system.” Looking at aggregate group differences also obscures the wide within group variation a given population. Thus, even disparities research and thought can have implicit biases. In this presentation, the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) will be used as a framework and classification system to take a more comprehensive and person-centered view of the wide variety of health indicators within any given population.

About Dr. Threats

Travis T. Threats, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences at Saint Louis University. His primary scholarly work has been with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). He has been the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) representative liaison to the WHO since 1999. He has worked on other projects for WHO including the disability sections of the ICD-11. Dr. Threats has also published and presented internationally on his three other scholarly interests: spirituality/religiosity in rehabilitation, evidence-based practice, and rehabilitation ethics. Dr. Threats is an ASHA Fellow and ASHA 2012 recipient of the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contributions in International Achievement. He is a Distinguished Scholar and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice. In 2022, he was awarded Honors of the Association by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the highest honor given by ASHA.

Watch the lecture

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

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Boppart research to boost astronaut fitness on NASA’s mission to Mars

Dec. 15, 2022 | Jenna Kurtzweil

Harnessing the power of cells could be key to preserving astronauts’ fitness in low-gravity conditions.

From left, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Hyun Joon Kong, kinesiology and community health professors Nicholas Burd and Marni Boppart, psychology professor Justin Rhodes, and chemistry professor Jonathan Sweedler are gathered at Freer Hall.

Exercise looks a little different en route to the Red Planet, so Professor Marni Boppart got creative.

Boppart and her colleagues at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology received $1 million from the Translational Research Institute for Space Health, a NASA-funded institute, to explore the regenerative power of cells in space. Their research will help protect human health aboard Orion, the spacecraft destined to ferry astronauts from the Earth to the moon and Mars.

Because of the Earth’s mass, our daily movement is generally sufficient to keep our muscles in fine working order. Astronauts soaring through space are not afforded the luxury of gravitational pull.

“Astronauts can lose up to 20% of muscle mass after just two weeks, and 1-2% of bone mineral density every month. The longer the space travel, the greater the deterioration of tissues and physiological systems in the human body,” said Boppart, a professor of kinesiology and community health studying the science of exercise at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Before joining the university, Boppart specialized in high-altitude health hazards as an officer and aerospace physiologist in the U.S. Air Force. Her current research in the College of Applied Health Sciences focuses on the molecular underpinning of muscle loss and gain. She hopes to develop cell-inspired strategies for recovering strength in circumstances — like spaceflight — when movement and mobility are limited.

When TRISH invited researchers to explore new ways to protect astronaut health and performance by enhancing the human body’s own maintenance and cellular repair abilities, Boppart seized the opportunity. Her project reimagines interstellar fitness with a cellular flair. The institute was scouting for strategies to protect astronaut health during long-duration space exploration missions, including NASA’s ongoing Artemis program, which will set up a sustainable presence on the Moon and prepare for future missions to Mars.

The Artemis program’s chosen vessel is the spacecraft Orion, which launched unmanned from the Kennedy Space Center in November. At the top of the vessel’s formidable to-do list is ferrying the first woman and first person of color from the Earth to the moon, followed closely by establishing humanity’s first long-term lunar presence and eventually trekking to the Red Planet.

Square footage is limited on Orion, which assumes the trifold identities of dormitory, dining hall, and control room all in one. The spacecraft is understandably bereft of the specialized resistance and endurance equipment that astronauts have access to on the International Space Station.

“But even the most intense [exercise] protocols performed in space are not sufficient to overcome the negative impacts of microgravity,” said Boppart. “Alternatives to traditional exercise, ideally based on exercise principles, are required.”

Astronauts are the target population for this funded study, but the result could potentially be used to prevent, maintain, or treat a variety of conditions associated with (muscle) inactivity and disuse, including aging, disability, or even disease, which would be exceptionally fulfilling.

Marni Boppart

Professor of Kinesiology and Community Health

With an approach fit for space travel, Boppart’s proposal turns our traditional understanding of exercise on its head — or rather, inside out. Instead of defining exercise by heavy footfalls or flailing limbs, she’s focusing squarely on the cellular relay underway within our muscles.

Honed by relentless evolution, our cells have yet to catch on to the concept of exercising for fun. When we lift heavy weights or engage in rigorous activities, our cells react with a well-intentioned stress response, deploying a battalion of chemicals into the bloodstream to boost our body’s ability to survive future threats. If a weight that once seemed too heavy becomes manageable with time and training, you have your overprotective, stressed-out cells to thank.

These chemical payloads don’t navigate the bloodstream’s harsh terrain on their own. Some are wrapped in a protective lipid layer called an extracellular vesicle, named for its pickup and delivery routes that transfer restorative chemicals from cell to cell.

Boppart believes that the extracellular vesicles our bodies generate after exercising, and the chemicals they contain, can trigger the restorative effects of exercise — even when no exercise has taken place.

“When we exercise, it’s not only our muscles that benefit, but all tissues, including the brain and skin. Our TRISH-sponsored work will directly test the ability of extracellular vesicles released after exercise to protect human health in space,” Boppart said.

The broad aim of Boppart’s study is to use extracellular vesicles generated naturally by volunteers on Earth, or even artificially, to replicate the restorative effect of exercise in astronauts, essentially enabling their muscles to engage in post-exercise recovery without ever having to lift a space-suited finger.

“Astronauts are the target population for this funded study, but the result could potentially be used to prevent, maintain, or treat a variety of conditions associated with inactivity and disuse, including aging, disability, or even disease, which would be exceptionally fulfilling,” Boppart said.

Her interdisciplinary collaborators at the Beckman Institute include: Justin Rhodes, a professor of psychology; Taher Saif, a professor of mechanical science and engineering; Jonathan Sweedler, a professor of chemistry; and Hyun Joon Kong, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. UIUC professor of kinesiology and community health Nicholas Burd is also a co-investigator.

Research for the project titled “Design of an extracellular vesicle approach to protect human health in space” is expected to begin in October 2023. The $1 million award will be dispersed over two years. This study is funded by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health at Baylor College of Medicine. TRISH is funded by the NASA Human Research Program. The award was administered through the TRISH Biomedical Research Advances for Space Health solicitation.

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Andrew Bender appointed director of operations at Chez Veterans Center

June 02, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Andrew Bender served in the U.S. Army and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel (Photo provided)

Andrew Bender has been hired as Director of Operations at Chez Veterans Center, effective July 1.

Bender, who served in the U.S. Army and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, comes to Chez from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Career Center, where he has been serving as the associate director for operations and strategic initiatives. Prior to coming to Illinois, Bender worked as a workforce development manager for the McLean County Chamber of Commerce, and an operations manager and learning and development manager for Amazon.

“I am humbled and deeply honored that AHS has given me the privilege to join the Chez Veterans Center team,” Bender said. “I embrace the opportunity to continue my service supporting the men and women who have given so much to our nation. I cannot wait to come on board and work with the fantastic AHS and Chez team to create a better place for our veterans and military-affiliated students.”

Bender steps into the role that has been served for the past four years by Dr. Reggie Alston, the associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Applied Health Sciences.

Bender also served as the chair of and professor in the Department of Military Science at Illinois State University’s ROTC program. In his time in the U.S. Army, Bender served in a variety of administrative roles, most recently as the Chief of Staff/Deputy Commander of the Joint Communications Unit at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

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Bruce Willis’ diagnosis brings aphasia to forefront

May 23, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

More than 2 million people live with aphasia in the U.S.

Bruce Willis’ aphasia diagnosis went public in April 2022.

Aphasia is a communication disorder that affects understanding and expression. It can make it difficult to speak, write, listen, and read. But despite its dire impact on people, aphasia is not a well-known condition. In fact, according to a 2016 survey by the National Aphasia Association (NAA), less than 10 percent of respondents knew what aphasia was.

But the announcement in April 2022 that Bruce Willis would be stepping away from acting following an aphasia diagnosis has raised awareness of the affliction, said Abby Franz, a speech pathologist and clinical instructor in the Department of Speech & Hearing Science at University of Illinois.

“I feel awful for the family and his situation and that he has that diagnosis,” Franz said. “But in 2016, the NAA conducted a survey and found only 8.8 percent of the respondents knew what aphasia was and correctly identified it as a language disorder. So certainly Bruce Wilson’s diagnosis can bring awareness to aphasia. But it’s common. More than two million people are living with aphasia in the United States, and for only 8 percent of the general population to know what it is and know that it was a language disorder, that’s pretty significant.”

Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder, Franz said, which means that it’s something that happens during the course of a life. It’s not something that is present from birth. It is an acquired neurogenic communication disorder, usually as a result of a stroke or some type of brain injury, she said.

There are many types of aphasia, and they are usually diagnosed based on which area of the language-dominant side of the brain is affected and the extent of the damage.

“Typically, it is something traumatic like a type of traumatic brain injury, either they’ve fallen, they’ve hit their head, they’ve been in a car accident, which has affected the area of the brain that controls our speech and language, or a sudden stroke that has left them with difficulty with speech and language,” Franz said.

“But there is another type of aphasia called primary progressive aphasia. That is a degenerative disease that is caused by a type of dementia—frontotemporal lobe dementia. It isn’t a sudden onset change in language. It’s a gradual deterioration of brain tissue in the frontal lobe of our brain that causes, over time, kind of your language to really deteriorate and comprehension of language to deteriorate.”

Franz did not want to speculate about whether Willis has primary progressive aphasia (PPA), but said what she read about his diagnosis lead her to believe he is afflicted with PPA.

“When you have a stroke, it just happens, like suddenly onset. So there wouldn’t be this gradual deterioration” of what has been speculated to have happened to Willis, she said.

Primary progressive aphasia symptoms are akin to dementia. Franz said, with primary progressive aphasia, there would be difficulty with word finding, difficulty sometimes with even just the production of speech, or more effortful for them to even just formulate a sound. They may have a loss in just the fluency of speech as well as the comprehension of speech.

“Somebody who has primary progressive aphasia, if I showed him (a pen), he or she may not be able to name it, but then they also may not even be able to tell me what it does. So they lose that ability to even know this is a pen and we write with it,” she said.

As a speech language pathologist, Franz said she makes aphasia determinations based on how patients perform on certain tasks during a language assessment.

“We’re also testing their comprehension of language. We’re looking at their ability to follow simple directions, follow two-step directions. And we’re looking also at their ability to write after a stroke or after a brain injury because sometimes those go hand-in-hand with the loss of language.”

That said, an aphasia diagnosis is not always without hope. With the help of rehabilitation intervention provided by a speech-language pathologist, people with aphasia from a stroke or other brain injury can improve. SLPs partner with people with aphasia and their families to improve communication skills and develop strategies to support their communication strengths, and may assist with using an augmentative and alternative communication speech devices for those individuals if needed.

However, Franz speculates that because Willis’ family said the actor would pull back from public appearances, she believes he has primary progressive aphasia, and that the prognosis for that is not promising. According to the NAA, the average life expectancy from onset of the disease is 8 to 10 years.

“It is that dire when you get that diagnosis,” Franz said. “It’s a very slow progression of the loss of their communication and along with this kind of dementia too that goes along with it.”

Talking about PPA is “very personal” to Franz.

“My parents’ best friend was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia in 2017,” she said. “And he’s still living. I see the professional side of it. But now I’m living it on a personal note. And it’s been very hard.

“When he got the diagnosis, I had to do a lot of education with my family about it, especially my parents. Because this was their best friend, and he’s been a part of my life since I was born. And you know, I had to educate them a lot about what primary progressive aphasia is and what it’s going to look like at the end of life. So that is not a great diagnosis to have. So I understand, for the family, why they are probably wanting to shield Bruce Willis from being in the public eye.”

When a public figure such as Willis is afflicted, it often brings an opportunity to educate people about a disease or medical condition.

“The National Aphasia Association is a great website and a great reference for anybody to learn more about aphasia or just to understand more about what it is, and find support groups, within your local community,” Franz said. “It’s a great reference and website to look for if you have a family member or know somebody who has been given the diagnosis of aphasia.”

For more information about aphasia, go to https://www.aphasia.org/


 

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Chez Center hosts program to ready veterans for higher ed

Aug. 1, 2024 | Ethan Simmons

Apsan Bishwokarma looks over notes in a Warrior-Scholar Project class, hosted at the Chez Veterans Center. (Photo by Ethan Simmons)

While Adam Sherman Jr. sat for the two-hour bus ride from Chicago O’Hare Airport to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, a pit was forming in his stomach. 

He’d spent six years in the Navy, stationed in Japan and California for three years apiece, sometimes working out at sea for six or 12 months at a time. But a few preparatory problem sets for the Warrior-Scholar Project’s academic boot camp had him stumped. 

“I didn’t know if I’d be able to knock off the dust and the rust to get going in this program,” said Sherman, who grew up in New Jersey. 

After spending four days in the camp absorbing astronomy and physics lectures from University of Illinois faculty at the Chez Veterans Center, Sherman’s first taste of higher education was going “really smooth,” he said. 

“They broke it down in a way that’s really digestible, and they’re building it up in a way where it’s really fast-paced, but it’s comprehensible,” he said.  

This July, 15 student Veterans took classes and teamed up on projects in the Chez Veterans Center, the University of Illinois’ one-stop shop for military-connected students. The center has hosted the nonprofit Warrior-Scholar Project for the three consecutive years. 

The Warrior-Scholar Project, or WSP for short, takes place in college campuses across the country as an eight-day higher ed experience for military Veterans of all ages. 

The WSP and Chez Veterans Center’s missions are aligned—both are dedicated to easing the transition of military-connected students back into education and civilian life. 

“The premise of WSP is really about showing them they can do it, giving them the confidence they can leave the military and go to a place like the University of Illinois,” said Chez Veterans Center Director of Operations Andy Bender. 

“I think what’s great for us in particular is (WSP) follows our mission. We’re all about the successful transition from the military into higher education—this is a good steppingstone for it. But it also gets a lot of our campus partners who may not have connections to the military to come and meet these students.” 

WSP Education Programs Coordinator Rebecca Mills called Illinois’ Chez Veterans Center one of the program’s “top campus stakeholders,” for going “above and beyond” for student cohorts. A core component for both organizations: Showing Veterans that the talents they’ve built in the service are transferable to the classroom.

“It’s less the content—we know they’re capable, we know they have the experience. But how do they use the skills they developed in the military to be successful in higher ed?” Mills said. 

Warrior-Scholar Project student-veterans chat during a tour of Hourglass Medical in Illinois Research Park, alongside Chez Veterans Center staff.
A whopping 88 percent of Warrior-Scholar Project alumni have either obtained a college degree or are on track to complete one (Photo by Ethan Simmons)

Some students, such as Sherman, enter the Warrior-Scholar Project with no college credits. Others, such as Sergio Perez Jr., a 26-year-old Marine Corps veteran from Oklahoma, used WSP to re-familiarize himself with the pace of university life.  

When he left the service in October 2023, he “had one goal in mind: and that was to go back and finish my degree,” he said. 

“For me, WSP was a ‘two birds with one stone’ type of deal, because University of Illinois was actually one of the schools I’m thinking about applying to in the future,” Perez added. “When I saw they still had openings for this, I thought, ‘You know what? I can do a quick campus tour while still self improving.’ So this has given me a better understanding of how this campus functions.”

A whopping 88 percent of Warrior-Scholar Project alumni have either obtained a college degree or are on track to complete one, according to their internal statistics. This year, Illinois also hosted WSP’s annual alumni conference, where bootcamp graduates return to network and listen to industry professionals with military connections. 

A Veteran careers panel discussion included Mona Dexter, Comcast’s vice president of Military and Veteran Affairs; Michael Pett, Uber’s head of Military and Veteran Programs at Uber; Erica Jeffries Purdo, vice president of Strategy and Operations at Johnson & Johnson; and Tommy Jones, senior director of Military and Talent Programs at Walmart. 

During the campus visit, the student cohort got to tour Research Park businesses such as Caterpillar’s Innovation Center and Hourglass Medical, a wearable technology company. Before they left campus, Chez staff brought them to a celebratory visit to the Colonnades Club in Memorial Stadium, itself a tribute to U. of I. veterans who fought in World War I. 

“Illinois might be one of the best-kept secrets in higher ed; You walk into a building and learn about a Nobel prize winner who invented something you use every day,” Bender said. “We’ve had a couple people who’ve told us, ‘I wanna come here.’”

Editor’s note:

To reach Ethan Simmons, email ecsimmon@illinois.edu.
 

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AHS well-represented in Undergrad research event

April 29, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

The Undergraduate Research Symposium returned to the Illini Union this year.

Community Health senior Tyler Roberson gave an oral presentation on housing insecure students.

Sixty-five students representing all five undergraduate majors in the College of Applied Health Sciences made presentations about their work at the campus-wide 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium. It was the largest contingent of AHS students to take part in the event, which began in 2008 and ran annually until the COVID pandemic pre-empted it in 2020 and made it a virtual event in 2021. This year’s event took place on April 28 in the Illini Union.

Seven students in the community health, kinesiology, and interdisciplinary health sciences degree programs were invited to give oral presentations of their research, while the remaining students participated in poster sessions. Participating students included 37 Edmund J. James Scholars; seven participants in the AHS Students Pursuing Applications, Research, and Knowledge—or SPARK—program, which introduces outstanding freshmen to research; 12 participants in the Student Aging Researchers in Training—or START—program, which places undergraduate scholars in labs across the college; and eight scholars in the Mannie L. Jackson Illinois Academic Enrichment and Leadership Program, a college-wide support program for underrepresented and first-generation students, student-athletes, and those recognized by the President Awards Program and Educational Opportunities Program.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.
 

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2022 AHS Distinguished Lecturer Series—Dr. Ingrid E. Schneider

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April 13, 2022 | AHS Staff

Watch Ingrid Schneider’s talk on COVID-constrained leisure.

Dr. Ingrid E. Schneider, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Minnesota
“Wrangling the waves: Coping with COVID-Constrained Leisure and its Impacts on Leisure-Time Physical Activity”
Recorded Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Full video
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Distinguished Lecturer: Green Spaces are Essential to Good Health

April 07, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

The use of green spaces such as parks and trails has increased through the ebbs and flows of COVID-19 (Stock image)

Research has shown that leisure time physical activity in outdoor spaces has more positive health benefits than physical activity done indoors. Fully one-third of the U.S. population, however, has no access to green spaces, nor to the associated health benefits.

These were among the findings shared during the 2022 AHS Distinguished Lecturer presentation given by Dr. Ingrid Schneider, professor and eminent scholar of recreation and tourism in the Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota.

Leisure time physical activity increases the immune response to viral respiratory infections. Dr. Schneider cited a study of 60,000 South Africans which found that those who exercised more had fewer hospitalizations with COVID, fewer intensive care admissions, less frequently required ventilators, and less frequently died.

“Nearly a decade ago, the America Public Health Association prioritized access to green spaces, emphasizing the need for safe, walkable communities and green spaces to promote an active lifestyle across the lifespan,” she said.

While the use of green spaces such as parks and trails has increased through the ebbs and flows of COVID-19, the ongoing pandemic also served to accentuate and compound issues of inequality.

“Communities of lower socioeconomic status and minority communities have less access to green spaces and tend to have lower quality parks,” Dr. Schneider said. “People of color are overrepresented in neighborhoods with lack of access to green space and live further from safe green space.”

The COVID pandemic has heightened awareness that racism is a public health threat. Prior to the pandemic, local officials viewed parks and recreation spending as discretionary. Those calling for green space have never been louder, more diverse, or more perfectly positioned, Dr. Schneider said.

“Collective planning and policy can amplify those voices for green spaces as critical infrastructure and contributors to health and well-being,” she said. “We can’t wait another decade, we can’t wait another year, we really can’t wait another day to address the inequities in systemic health.”

The severity of COVID’s impact on black communities was a predictable result of structural and social reality. Cities cannot be fixed, Dr. Schneider said, if we don’t insist on dismantling racial, economic, and environmental inequities.

“Green space is an essential part of healthy, resilient, and vibrant communities,” she said. “Given the evidence of the health benefits of green space, withholding access to them for a third of U.S. residents is simply unacceptable and unjust.”

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu. 

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