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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 7
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
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HEALTH
Sharmin Kader is currently developing a post-occupancy evaluation tool for use in hospice facilities. She recently won the International Fellowship.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
University doctoral candidate uses research to help hospice patients
Sharmin Kader, a doctoral candidate in the KU Department of Architecture from Bangladesh, was recently awarded an International Fellowship by the American Association of University Women. The $20,000 grant will support her research activities at the University for one year. The association has awarded 3,300 fellowships since 1917 — all to women who aren't U.S citizens or permanent residents.
After taking two years to decide what she wanted to research, Kader decided to focus on health care facilities. Noticing a lack of research on hospice environments (a home-providing care for the terminally ill), Kader directed her efforts toward this particular aspect of health care.
"I wanted to research a topic that will serve a broad amount of people," she said. "Death is a very intensive experience. A particular environment needs to be designed in such a way that will support this spiritual journey, there is a need to die with dignity."
Kader is currently developing a
post-occupancy evaluation tool for use in hospice facilities. The tool, called Hospice Environment Assessment Protocol, will create a standardized rating method for evaluating the environmental quality for dying patients and their families.
Kader explained that with this tool, architects would be able to improve on certain qualities and assess what needs to be done to improve the environments of future hospice facilities.
Along with her grant from the American Association of University Women, Kader was one of eight KU researchers to present her work to Governor Brownback and other legislators during the Capital Research Summit in Topeka.
"I intend to do future work in South Asia or the Middle East and extend my research to underdeveloped countries as well," she said. Other than studying health care architecture and environmental gerontology at the University, Kader has worked professionally in Bangladesh and the United States practicing architecture.
Maddie Farber
ALUMNI
Summer events include networking
CASSIDY RITTER news@kansan.com
hawk Days of Summer keeps the students, faculty and alummi connected to the University by doing things like golfing,拿起 baseball games or visiting museums. The alumni have kept this tradition for four years.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Students, faculty and alumni can get a dose of the University over the summer by participating in the KU Alumni Association's 'Hawk Days of Summer from May 17 to Aug.27. 'Hawk Days of Summer consists of 100 events in 90 days throughout cities in Kansas, the U.S. and overseas, including Tokyo, Paris and Seoul.
'Hawk Days of Summer includes a variety of events, such as academic events with faculty, receptions, networking breakfasts family activities at museums and zoos, and golf outings. International events are directed at prospective and current students, alumni and faculty who are already overseas. Some even travel to participate.
"It is our way of reaching out to as many alumni chapters as we can in as many Jayhawk communities throughout the state and the nation," said Jennifer Sanner, senior vice president of communications. "This is the fourth year of 'Hawk Days of Summer,' and we just decided that we should try to make the most of these three months and connect with Jayhawks in a variety of settings."
The KU Alumni Association started this initiative after looking at revitalizing their chapter programs to create new committees and consistency across the chapters, Sanner said. The KU Alumni Association thought bringing people from Lawrence to these chapter programs and events would be an effective way to enhance connections and encourage Jayhawks to get together throughout the year.
"Rather than concentrating on the next academic year, why not make the most of this summer and reach out to people where they live?" Sanner said.
Ryan Colaiani graduated from the University in 2007 with degrees in journalism and political science. Colaiani is now the chapter
leader of the Washington D.C. alumni chapter and has helped plan events for 'Hawk Days of Summer.
"We love hosting 'Hawk Days events in D.C. because it gives our alumni an opportunity to get together during the summer and outside of KU football and basketball watch parties," Colaiani said in an email. "We have a really active chapter in D.C. with a lot of young alums, so these events are a great way to keep them engaged during the summer months."
Having these events in the summer also means that faculty members will be able to travel to the events. The events help people put faces to names and hear firsthand what's going on at the University and on campus.
Students are encouraged to attend these events to see how life as a Jayhawk continues after graduation, to see ways of staying involved with the University and to find opportunities through networking.
"It's really a great way to share experiences," Sanner said. "We all have KU in common and even though the experiences are different through the generations, there's a lot of tradition and there's some values that we all share."
This year's D.C. event will be a boat cruise and crab fest on the Potomac River, Colaiani said. To see what events will be in your city this summer, visit www.kualumni.org/hawkdays.
— Edited by Katie Gilbaugh
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