Amy Ozier
Laura Vazquez
Two faculty and student research presentations will be featured during the 2008 Academic Convocation.
Amy Ozier of the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences will lead a team of students as they present “Creating Positive Nutrition Materials that Address Healthy Eating and Overweight Issues for the WIC Population.”
One of the main goals of the project was to assist students in applying research, behavioral theory and practice to complete a project in the community addressing a nutrition education need. Students worked with Women, Infants and Children (WIC) staff to develop nutrition education materials that incorporated positive and relevant messages about healthy eating and risks associated with being overweight. This project exemplifies how effective community nutrition can happen through appropriate needs assessment, nutrition education development, implementation and evaluation.
Laura Vazquez of the Department of Communication will lead the second presentation. She and her students will discuss the many exciting film projects they worked on throughout the year.
The first project regards the L.A. Field School Program which was made possible by NIU alumnus Robert Katz, the executive in charge of production of the Academy Award winning film “Crash.”
Students worked with Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins on his film “Slipstream.” Hopkins wrote, directed and starred in the film and welcomed the NIU students warmly. The students were able to rotate through several crew positions during the filming. Because of this amazing opportunity, four of the six participants are now working in the movie industry in Los Angeles.
Another project Vazquez and the student team will discuss regards the four students who produced a video advertisement for Chipotle restaurants titled “Just the Fax,” which won first place in a national competition.
The students – Brittany Samson, Sara Honchar, Chris Darkes and Joe Giorgi – were awarded $7,500. NIU also received $7,500 for the winning entry. Two of the students are using their share of the winnings to pursue their dream of working in the film industry in Los Angeles.
Finally, a group of students was given the task of representing NIU to potential students by creating their own videos. Their media soon will be made public on an NIU Web site, “HuskieTube.” This site has numerous videos from five seconds to five minutes long depicting the positive energy and enthusiasm of NIU Huskies.
Contact Mary Spring at (815) 753-1573 or mspring@niu.edu for more information.