Bank of America Sponsors Training Class at UAMS for
K-12 Educators

06-17-02 (Little Rock) He was poised at the door as if welcoming students to the first day of school, but he's not a teacher. He's a banker. Bank of America City President Donald J. Cook greeted schoolteachers, counselors, and nurses from schools across Arkansas to a full-day class on educational technology on Monday, June 17. The teacher training summer course was held in Pauly Auditorium on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) campus in near-west Little Rock.

Cook brought with him a very welcome check to underwrite the course entitled "Making Educational Technology Work for Teachers."

Twelve teachers, counselors, and school nurses from all over the state were invited to participate in this class. E. Robert Burns, Ph.D., professor of anatomy in the UAMS College of Medicine, is director of K-12 educational programs in the college and the leader of its Partners in Health Sciences (PIHS) program. "The class filled quickly, and the size of the waiting list indicates a need to offer this course again," Dr. Burns said

Faculty and staff of the UAMS Library taught three sessions about how to use digital still cameras, digital video cameras, and Internet publishing for educational projects at their schools. The participants rotated through all three sessions. In the wrap-up session, the participants shared excellent science and health-science websites with each other.

One of the UAMS Library teachers of the course, said, "Even though some teachers may consider themselves techno-media klutzes, these presentations will help build their confidence with the 'tools of the multi-media trade' and introduce fundamental skills they can use in the classroom."

Handouts and CD-ROMs with imaging tools were distributed. All presentations were interactive and involved some hands-on-activities in the UAMS Library Learning Resource Center.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds the PIHS program through Science Education Partnership Awards. The UAMS College of Medicine is the only college of its kind in the nation to have two Science Education Partnership Awards from NIH and the only college with a grant for behavioral health science programming.

Bank of America is the first corporate supporter to sponsor a PIHS class. According to Christi Hughes in the Foundation Development Office at UAMS, other sponsorship opportunities are available.

The UAMS teaching faculty for this course included: Fred E. Bassett, J. Eric Dousay, Susan C. Steelman, Jan Hart [M.L.S., M.Ed.], and Margaret L. "Peggy" Morrison.

 # # # 

Content Contact:
Christi Hughes, M.A., Director of
Foundation Development
UAMS Division of Development
Phone: 501-686-7894

PR Contact: 
Mike H. Mottler 
Office of Communications 
Phone: 501-686-6270 
Fax: 501-686-5067 
E-mail: MottlerMikeH@uams.edu
Web: http://www.uams.edu/info

03/30/07