During National Yoga Awareness in September, University of Minnesota faculty share their expertise on how yoga unifies the mind and body.

Katie Schuver, head of the yoga focus area, and Tenzin Namdul, assistant professor at the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing, explain the practice and course opportunities at the University. 

The practice of yoga

Schuver teaches three courses allowing students to obtain a Registered Yoga Credential upon completion.

Students get certified for $200 after completion of all three courses, rather than spending thousands of dollars from another organization, according to Schuver. 

“It’s an incredible opportunity and the more people we get out there doing yoga, the better the world is,” Schuver said. 

Yoga is meant to be personal to the individual, a unification of mind and spirit and the body coming together through wisdom, tradition, discipline and science, Schuver said. 

Hatha yoga is a type of yoga focused on “the balancing of two energies: the sun and the moon, through activation, restoration, movement and stillness through physical movement,” according to Schuver. 

Yoga differs from higher-intensity exercise because it allows for movement while still prioritizing the unification of mind and body, she added. Schuver’s first and second course focuses on the basic tools that aid in a “yogic lifestyle.”

As a collective, all courses unpack what Schuver describes as the eight limbs of yoga, which include posture, philosophy, lifestyle, ethics, discipline, breathing practices and meditation. 

The final course takes those tools and applies them into practice, Schuver said. 

Tenzin Namdul: trained Tibetan medicine doctor

Namdul received his medical degree in northern India and now works as an assistant professor at the University. His research focuses on Tibetan meditative practices and brain health, according to Namdul. 

Tantric Yoga, the practice of going deeper into thought, is a Tibetan yoga tradition. Namdul describes Tantric Yoga as being attentive to sensations and absorbing sensory information going on around the body. 

“It’s more about being in touch with your mind and its relationship with our body, but at a very subtle level,” Namdul said. 

Namdul added that the relationship between mind, body and the environment is critical in not only sustaining one’s health but also recognizing reality and being aware of how easily human nature can affect outlooks. 

Research and body image

School of Public Health professor and certified yoga instructor Dianne Neumark-Sztainer shared that yoga also has potential to help those who struggle with their body image.

The gentle movements with breathwork, paired with the grounding and reconnection with the earth, have the potential to be beneficial for those who struggle with body image, according to Neumark-Sztainer. 

“It can be a really hard practice to come into one’s body when one is trying to leave one’s body, having the potential to be misused,” Neumark-Sztainer said.

Currently, she is working on research on children practicing yoga. Neumark-Sztainer is also a co-investigator in a study led by Daheia Barr-Anderson enabling a more inclusive and diversified yoga environment for adult Black women. 

“The more you feel your connection to others, the more you feel a deep sense of compassion and love for your very existence,” Namdul said.

Monday will be the start of National Children’s Book Week, a time when many people recognize the role reading has in children’s educational experiences, social learning and future.

University of Minnesota second-year medical student Hugh Burke and former teacher Kylie Donohue co-published the children’s book “The Way We Play” in October to celebrate neurodiversity. All of the book’s profits will be going to the charity Open Hearts Big Dreams, which helps provide reading education and materials to children in Ethiopia.

The term “neurodivergent” in the book broadly refers to people that interact with the world differently, whether they have a diagnosis, Burke said. He said after graduation he hopes to work with neurodivergent kids in the medical field.

The book’s themes and messages stemmed from Burke’s experience at the University’s Neurodiversity and Medicine Club. Burke said the main message is that everyone brings something unique to the table and has abilities that can elicit change.

How it all started: co-authors aligned

Burke and Donohue met during their undergraduate careers at the University of Notre Dame, but the idea of making a book together did not arise until after college, Donahue said. She said after Burke’s first Neurodiversity Medicine Club meeting, he reached out to her with the possibility.

“I actually worked with fourth graders during my service here, and I was their teacher for social and emotional learning,” Donohue said. “Every day we would do a different lesson on social well-being and mental health to get students ready for the day.”

Donohue said when Burke brought the idea to her, she believed both of their minds, backgrounds and current scholastic projects built off each other would create both an educational and medical perspective.

Using animals to engage young readers

In the book, there is a wide variety of animals represented, ranging from a hippo, monkey, giraffe and bird. The book follows the animals playing games, with each animal succeeding and failing as they participate, Burke said.

At the end of the book, the teacher, who goes by “Miss Owl,” gives a speech that encapsulates their key message, Burke said. One of her lines reads, “No matter how tall or how fast or how slow, when we play with each other, we find ways to grow.”

Regarding illustrations, Burke said he received a grant from the University’s Medical School in May 2022 to fund the artistic process. He said this allowed him to start reaching out to various illustrators, and he was happy with the way Blueberry Illustrations brought their ideas to life.

“I’ve made this recurring joke that stick figures weren’t part of the art plan,” Burke said. “So, therefore, Kylie and I were not going to be illustrating the book.”

Publishing for a cause and a second book

Any profits from the book that would have gone directly to Burke and Donohue will instead go to the charity Open Hearts Big Dreams.

“We have raised a good amount of money for them and that’s what makes it all worth it,” Burke said. “We love their message and the act of meeting with people from that charity.”

The charity aims to help children in Ethiopia reimagine their future by increasing literacy, innovation, leadership and inclusion, according to Open Hearts Big Dreams’ website.

Burke said the book has raised nearly $4,000 since being published and is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Burke said a second book is currently “in the works” and will follow the same premise as “The Way We Play,” but with illustrations of wildlife that live in Ethiopia and a setting that depicts the region.

“We have a whole team of people helping us with this because it’s harder,” Burke said.

University of Minnesota researchers and music theory professors bring forth research from the past and present while delving into book projects.

Music theory encapsulates the symbolic representation of musical objects, instrumentals, sound control and composer-to-audience communication, while also recognizing mass media influences and commercial elements, professor of performance theory Guernio Mazzola said.

When taken into consideration with cultural aspects, music theory research can help explain why certain music can be considered “good” or “bad.”

Artificial intelligence in music can take away creativity

Mazzola is a researcher and publicist working within the School of Music. He has written more than 32 books and said he is most proud of his four-volume series called “The Topos of Music,” which encapsulates mathematical theories, gestures, performance, harmony and more.

“That’s a series I have been working on for six years, and I’m very proud because there are many theories within them,” Mazzola said.

Mazzola said no one really knows of a theory that tells one how to write successful music because it is dependent on the cultural context. For example, in a place like the Alps in Switzerland, the harmonicas are a large aspect of their definition of good music, Mazzola said.

Rather than subjectively naming a piece as “good” or” bad,” Mazzola said measuring and analyzing the sequence of sounds is a common gauge.

“What you have to do is to look at how the sequence is constructed,” Mazzola said. “You take a sequence of three of these kinds of very small motifs, and the melody will be a patchwork of these small parts.”

The use of software and artificial intelligence within the music industry is increasingly becoming a problem that produces copies or near copies of music or rhythms, Mazzola said.

“The human aspect of creativity, to me, is absolutely central,” Mazzola said. “If you forget about the human, meaning and connection is taken away, and that’s also the problem of artificial intelligence.”

Research findings and published works

Gopinath has recently conducted research on country musicians and the politics of race within their music products. He examined the song “Broad Minded” by the Louvin Brothers, a duo that releases the song in 1953.

“My study of their music shows that sinful behavior is typically depicted using music and musical features associated with Black musical practices, and often have the effect of being enticing as much as they are overtly depicted as negative,” Gopinath said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

Recently, Gopinath published a chapter on the concept of sound within digital watches, in a book called “Media Infrastructures and the Politics of Digital Time.” Regarding the element of sound, Gopinath found the beeping on the watch is derived from the frequency of the quartz crystal, with a pitch of a high B or low C.

Gopinath’s book project, “Music Minimalism,” investigates how to think critically about these types of music.

“[Music minimalism] features either long sustained tones called ‘drones,’ or short repeated musical figures/passages or both and is directly influenced by non-Western musics,” Gopinath said.

A long-time passion, seeking out diversity, subjectivity

Matthew Bribitzer-Stull, professor of theory and composition, first began asking theoretical questions about music in high school, when his French horn teacher began to ask students to study theory outside of class. He wanted to know why he gravitated toward certain pieces.

“Music theory is an incredibly wide-ranging and interdisciplinary study, and at its heart, concerned with the materials of music and musical objects,” Bribitzer-Stull said in an email to the Daily.

Bribitzer-Stull served on the Society for Music Theory (SMT) Diversity Committee to work toward more inclusivity from diverse backgrounds within music research topics.

“Music theory in the U.S. has been, until recently, largely grounded in the white, European tradition of concert music,” Bribitzer-Stull said.

What deems music “good” or “bad” is highly dependent on the listener, Bribitzer-Stull said. He said the opinion of enjoyment is separate from compositional technique because you can speak upon expressive force and novelty.

Since the beginning of April, the American Red Cross has been partnering with the Peanuts brand to convince more people to donate blood.

Donors have the chance to receive a free t-shirt featuring Snoopy leaning against the Red Cross logo when they donate blood, platelets or plasma. The Snoopy campaign ends on April 23. According to the Red Cross, the shirts were created as a part of a promotional deal to encourage blood donation.

The campaign has taken off within Gen Z; getting your blood drawn and then showcasing your “Snoopy Merch” has become a viral TikTok trend, and it has worked. According to the University of Minnesota Red Cross Club (UMNRCC), more students than normal have been donating blood during April.

Student group fuels education and donation rates on campus

UMNRCC is a direct affiliate with the nationally recognized American Red Cross and aims to host monthly blood drives on or near campus, UMNRCC said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

The Club said they typically have to extend offers of recruitment through various social media platforms to obtain more donors, however, they said April has been different since the Snoopy shirts rolled out.

“Our blood drives normally consist of 22% first-time donors and our April drive currently has 60% first-time donors scheduled to donate,” UMNRCC co-president Zoe DeZeeuw said.

DeZeeuw said with the increased donors at drives this April, the donor slots filled up two weeks prior to the April 14 drive with minimal outside promotional inquiries.

“As far as future merchandise goes, the Red Cross already offers great incentives such as $10 Amazon gift cards and other t-shirts, but I hope we will see more fun collabs and Snoopy gear in the future,” DeZeeuw said.

Amy Riha, co-president of the UMNRCC, said the club typically utilizes word-of-mouth and social media to advertise upcoming drives, but to increase campus outreach they can also be seen in Moos Tower at tables displaying flyers. The club has also used gift cards for Raising Cane’s lemonade and Insomnia Cookies in the past to draw in more donors, she said.

“We are always looking for new incentives from local businesses to help draw in donors for our drives,” Riha said. “Our club hosts blood drives on campus in hopes of making them more accessible to our student body.”

Maximizing patient blood management and the impact of merchandise

Professor and Director of the University’s Blood Bank Laboratory Claudia Cohn conducts research in the field of transfusion medicine as well as focuses on the concept of patient blood management.

Cohn said she recently had a patient who needed plasma, but her blood bank had to initially decline due to the lack of plasma readily available.

“Within a year, we went from less than 80% of proper infusions to over 95% appropriate transfusions,” Cohn said. “We also decreased red cell use by 15% and platelet use by 25%.”

Cohn said she and the entire blood transfusion industry is particularly worried younger people are not donating enough as older people because the majority of donations have been coming from baby boomers.

Cohn said if higher donation rates are being observed through creating new merchandise, then we need to “run with it.”

“It’s a tremendously important puzzle why more people won’t donate,” Cohn said. “Only 3% of people who are eligible to donate do so, and that is just not tenable.”

The Bell Museum, a unit of the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources, will be saying “goodbye” to Executive Director Denise Young on April 21 and welcoming in Holly Menninger as interim director.

Young has been the museum’s executive director since 2016. Young is leaving the Bell to become the director of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The more than 150-year-old Bell Museum was previously located in Falcon Heights and now operates at its current location on the St. Paul campus off Larpenteur Avenue. The Bell is Minnesota’s official natural history museum, catering to a diverse age range through collections, artwork, Indigenous items and dioramas.

The Bell Museum has “touch and see” labs that involve sensory play and observation, a planetarium, nature dioramas and virtual programs, according to its website.

Welcoming Interim Director Holly Menninger

Holly Menninger will be working as the Bell Museum’s interim executive director for nine to 12 months beginning on April 22.

Holly Menninger said in an email to the Minnesota Daily that she has led the Public Engagement and Science Learning Department at the Bell and has been responsible for on-site museum experiences for the last five years.

Menninger said she will bring the knowledge she’s gained working at various public research universities and collaboration with University administration and leadership into her future work at the Bell.

“Our work involves a great deal of collaboration, coordination and creativity — and I expect to apply those skills and experience in my new role,” Menninger said.

Menninger said she is passionate about science communication, public engagement and inspiring others to become empowered by nature. She said her favorite activity is to wander through the galleries while hearing the sounds and conversations among staff and visitors.

“At its core, we’ve always been about inspiring curiosity, whether that’s through hands-on experiences in the Touch & See Lab or our world class nature wildlife dioramas representing Minnesota’s unique biodiversity,” Menninger said.

Menninger said she is excited and honored for the opportunity to lead, but recognizes it as a bittersweet moment while her “phenomenal mentor and leader” Denise Young is moving on to a new chapter.

Denise Young, signing off

Serving as executive director at the new St. Paul building that was built for the museum, Young said she describes her time at the Bell as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” The new building opened in 2018, and Young had the opportunity to design the museum’s layout and spaces for exhibits and programs and operate through a global pandemic, experiencing shifts after the public museum closed during COVID-19.

“I remember having our astronomy educators conduct regular live programming about what’s in the sky tonight all while being able to interact in real-time with folks on Facebook Live,” Young said in the email.

Young said her biggest accomplishment was navigating the successful closing of the old museum, from moving nature dioramas and conserving artwork to repairing them in ways that allowed them to shine.

“Creating statewide outreach programs is an accomplishment that the new building won tons of different kinds of awards for, including the Best New Museum award and all kinds of sustainability awards,” Young said.

Young said she is proud of herself for identifying and nurturing an incredible staff through enabling an environment where everyone can express their expertise and excel at their work. Young said even with her title, it doesn’t mean she is a “master of all crafts” and is proud of how committed, caring and skillful the staff are.

“My message for the University community is that the Bell is an incredible resource, acting as a portal to the natural world,” Young said. “It’s an exciting place where you can explore your connection to nature and the universe, and I hope people continue to take advantage of this world class museum.”

An inside look: the Bell’s strategic plan

Young said she crafted a strategic plan to help the museum’s transition to new leadership when she officially departs. Its main objective is to plan and organize the Bell’s activities for the next several years.

The community advisory board spent six months collaborating on the plans, with more than 2,000 people participating, Young said.

“We actually interviewed and surveyed students, faculty, staff, general visitors, focus groups with teachers and scientists and community groups to understand how we can best serve Minnesota as the state’s natural history museum,” Young said.

Young said one of the plan’s primary initiatives is working on enhancing community engagement across the state, not just those who live within close proximity. She said the plan introduces the idea of having a portable planetarium that can travel to schools across the state.

The plan will also increase digitalization to promote greater access and education.

The plan and Young’s departure come as the Minnesota House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee approved a bill for the University’s biennium budget, which included about $14 million for University research entities including the Bell Museum.

“We’re developing other sorts of programming to engage people where people live, learn, work and play,” Young said. “So, they don’t have to come to the Bell to have a Bell experience, they can do that within their local communities.”

March is National Disability Awareness Month, and two of the University’s resources are the Disability Resource Center (DRC), which provides accommodations and awareness of disabilities on campus, and the student-run Disabled Student Cultural Center (DSCC), which fosters an environment of inclusivity, according to the DRC and DSCC.

A disability is any state of the body or mind that makes it more challenging for the individual with the condition to do certain tasks and engage with the external world, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One in four adults in the United States has some type of disability, according to the CDC.

At the University of Minnesota, barriers and inequities in transportation, academics and accommodations exist for disabled students, according to University student Isabel Laderman. Though many resources are available and actively working toward progress, some gaps still exist.

A call for action: increased accessibility on campus

Laderman, a second-year student, has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a disability that targets connective tissues and results in loose joints. Her body produces the protein collagen incorrectly, resulting in chronic pain.

Laderman said she currently has an ankle injury that has been intensified by her syndrome, which has led to immobility and the need for either a cane or an electronic scooter for everyday use that the DRC provided.

“The campus infrastructure is not accessible,” Laderman said. “Even with a smaller scooter, it’s impossible to turn around in the elevator without getting off the scooter and physically lifting it around, and oftentimes the elevators are at inconvenient places.”

Laderman said a common misconception is that people with disabilities do not exercise; she has to exercise every day to keep her strength so she can walk. She said it is important to have accessibility in gyms and working elevators that extend to all floors.

In terms of transportation, Laderman said all steps of the process matter, including getting there, arriving and the ride itself. She said the University should have more accommodative structures in place.

“The bus stops have anti-homeless infrastructure, so there are no benches that you can sit down on,” Laderman said. “I would have to stand after I arrived, while additionally walking several blocks to get there.”

Laderman said while using a scooter, she has had experiences of campus bus drivers failing to lower the wheelchair ramp to let her on. She said that made it hard for her to board, especially the 121 bus, which was typically very crowded.

Paratransit rides operate on the Twin Cities campus for anyone unable to use fixed transit and needs special services that are curb-to-curb, according to the Parking and Transportation Services website.

“Paratransit is accessible in its infrastructure and accommodative shape, and the drivers are wonderful people,” Laderman said. “ But, I have to book two weeks in advance if I want to make sure I can get my ride.”

Laderman said the University has also tried to ban her from using paratransit for things that she felt were not her fault, such as having to cancel rides due to external changes in her schedule. She said she believes it would be helpful to add more vans to campus to allow for more flexibility in scheduling and make service more accessible.

The Disability Resource Center: improving access for students and faculty with disabilities

Emily Ehlinger, the DRC’s senior manager in the Student Access Unit, said she works specifically with student accommodations and has been with the center for eight years.

“We are committed to enhancing accessibility and inclusion through individualized accommodations while also partnering with the broader University community as a part of how we build awareness and support around disability,” Ehlinger said.

Ehlinger said the DRC facilitates outreach and training with departments and different groups in units across the University. She said the staff aims to develop liaison relationships with organizations such as the DSCC to collaborate in implementing their shared mission of advancing accessibility.

“Accommodations are a core part of how we create a more equitable environment for disabled students,” Ehlinger said. “We look at impacts and barriers that might pop up in certain environments while also looking at skills building in tandem with these accommodations in order to build strategies and additional support.”

The Disabled Cultural Student Center: a safe space for all backgrounds and abilities

The DSCC works toward building a strong community of students with disabilities, increasing disability awareness and promoting advocacy through events, according to the center’s website. The center is located on Coffman Union’s second floor, is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and provides a sensory room for those who want to calm themselves.

DSCC Vice President and University student, Matthew Croft, said the DSCC’s mission has a “dual mandate,” caring about building a community with students who have disabilities while also furthering more serious conversations surrounding disability, solidarity and awareness on campus.

“Our physical space is a key part of the services that we provide,” Croft said. “It’s a place to decompress, play games, meditate, take naps and even use our sensory room.”

Croft said the DSCC puts an emphasis on an open structure, which allows all members to participate in the way they feel most comfortable and content. He said roles in the organization are not fixed or defined, and events and conversations focus on what is going on within the surrounding community.

“Participation is not tied to their intrinsic worth,” Croft said. “Everyone can be a scholar and a member that is seen as an important member of the University community.”

Self-care has become increasingly prioritized since the COVID-19 pandemic and is defined by the National Institutes of Health as taking the time to improve and nurture one’s physical and mental health.

Though canines may not be able to pamper themselves or tell their owners to get a bath running, owners can gift them an assisted self-care boost with proper treatment. University of Minnesota professors and a first-year student provided insight into how to properly care for a dog while still attending college.

You make me smile, and that’s the tooth

General practitioner in primary care at the Veterinary Medical Center and Assistant Professor Kara Carmody said owners should prioritize dental care for pets the same way they do for themselves.

Carmody said daily brushing is ideal for pets because of food particles’ ability to form plaque, which hardens into calculus, a coating of bacteria on the tooth’s surface. She said this process can happen in 12 to 72 hours, which is why it is important to brush a dog’s teeth at home in addition to taking them to a dentist once or twice a year for deep cleaning.

“When calculus is allowed to sit on the teeth and under the gum line, it induces inflammation that causes redness of the gum surrounding the tooth,” Carmody said. “There is also inflammation of the bone, so over time, the bone is disintegrated, eaten away, receded and eventually prompts the teeth to become mobile and then extracted.”

Carmody said it is also important to be aware of how teeth brushing can affect an owner’s relationship with their canine because some dogs have an extremely negative reaction to the task. She recommends brushing as a primary course of action for pets, but water additives with enzymes and dental sticks can also be helpful.

“They are designed to be bigger and longer lasting, essentially trying to mimic the mechanical action on the teeth,” Carmody said. “I direct owners to a website called Oral Health Council, which has products that are scientifically proven to best remove plaque and tartar on your dog’s teeth.”

Carmody said pet owners should note the calorie density in dental treats and be especially aware of the amount smaller dogs are fed because the treats are not completely balanced in terms of nutrition.

Canines need skincare

Professor of Dermatology in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences Sandra Koch said one can gauge the overall health of a canine’s skin by observing its hair. She said the hair should appear shiny without matting as an indicator of healthy skin and to pay extra attention to long-haired dogs, whose fur can mask underlying scabs or concerns.

In a wooded area like Minnesota, ticks can also be a concern for owners who take their dogs on trail-driven walks. Proper tick removal is important because ticks can transmit diseases.

“Grab a gauze or a piece of paper and hold the tick and gently rotate and gently pull out, focusing on getting out the head portion,” Koch said. “If the owner doesn’t feel comfortable, they can always bring their dog to a vet in a timely manner.”

Genetics also play an important role because some breeds have a predisposition to certain diseases, Koch said. For example, the Shar Pei breed has a lot of skin folds, which can lead to a condition called dermatitis.

“Their folds are prone to getting inflammation and infection or bacteria or yeast overgrowth, which can then make them itch and cause discomfort,” Koch said. “It’s important to wash in between their folds with regular baths.”

A semester in the life of an emotional support pup

Joy Edwards, a first-year student who lives in Super Block on campus, has an emotional support miniature poodle mix named Rudy. To get Rudy’s exercise in during the colder months, Edwards and a friend will throw toys back and forth along the hallway in addition to putting a line of treats down the hallways as a brain exercise, she said.

Edwards said Rudy also loves the local Chuck and Don’s pet store, so whenever Edwards needs to make a stop to get dog food, she gives Rudy full buying power.

“When we go to the treat aisle, I sort of let him sniff everything and whichever one he picks up, I’ll be like, ‘Okay, that’s yours,’” Edwards said.

Edwards said Rudy stays bundled up in the colder months with a snow coat from Canada Pooch and a onesie underneath. When she has a class that is far from home, she said she carries Rudy in a specialized backpack.

Edwards said because of her own food allergies, she avoids dyes and unnatural additives in her dog’s food.

“If my body reacts really poorly to a lot of these unnatural things, I wonder how his little body might react, so I do a lot of research before I get anything new, especially with his treats,” Edwards said.

Edwards had never been to the Midwest before attending the University, and it was a cultural change coming from Seattle to Minnesota. She described herself as being introverted and the process of icebreakers and meeting new folks can be tiring at times, so having a pet was a helpful addition to the social aspect of her college experience.

“He’s been really great in sort of creating a conversation starter with other people,” Edwards said. “Although, my mindset has changed to instead of being like, ‘Oh, I need to do things for myself,’ it sort of helped to be like, ‘Okay, I need to do things for him.’”

Gallery|6 Photos

Destiny Carter-Wleh was one of the University of Minnesota attendees. Photo courtesy of the American Advertising Federation.

Six University of Minnesota students were chosen to attend the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Multicultural Students program in February, where they attended workshops and networked.

The immersion program is a week-long, all-expenses paid trip to New York City, with all chosen University students strategic communication majors from the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The American Advertising Federation is the only organization that includes members across all domains and career standings within the advertising industry. The federation is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and is the “Unifying Voice for Advertising,” including more than 150 local clubs across the country and representing about 35,000 advertising professionals.

Application process engaged creativity

Recipient Sara Omar, a fourth-year student, said she chose strategic communication as her major because she has always been passionate about the art of communication’s presence in music and working in the entertainment industry.

Omar said she didn’t know much about advertising before applying to the program, and that it was an engaging, creative and challenging process that evoked deep thought about how she wants to portray herself within the industry.

According to Omar, there was a prompt in the application for students to create their own tagline and hashtag. She viewed it as a life motto and experience-based prompt where applicants could share information about their diverse upbringings and cultural identities.

Omar said her tagline was, “I believe in not making advertisements, but leaving long-lasting impressions. #makeyourmark.”

Omar said the application also included questions about challenging moments in applicants’ lives growing up.

“The application did have some technical questions, such as telling about times of adversity growing up as a BIPOC individual,” Omar said. “The questions gave you an opportunity to express yourself, put your best self forward and stand out from other applicants.”

Program embraces diverse identities

First-year student Elizabeth Gordon said to be named a recipient means to be a trailblazer. She observed that other students of color with similar experiences and identities as her can make an impact as a leader and make a name for themselves in the advertising industry.

“Growing up, I knew that representing my identity and making an impact in the Black community was going to be important to me,” Gordon said. “It’s something that I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to actively participate in and uphold throughout my educational career.”

Gordon said although she attended predominantly white schools growing up, she made sure to develop opportunities where she could support and uplift her community by taking on leadership roles to enable tangible change.

Welcome to New York

Attendee and recent December graduate Destiny Carter-Wleh said networking with advertising companies was a big part of the trip, including tagline drafting and delivery.

Carter-Wleh said the initial tagline for the application was an ongoing project throughout the trip. Recipients worked on delivery, speech and overall confidence in their pitches in a room full of agencies, with mentors present to help them revise their taglines.

“We also had a guest speaker named Corey Richardson, who conducted a workshop surrounding 10 things he learned upon going into advertising, which was very helpful in reminding us that it’s okay to make mistakes in your occupational journey,” Carter-Wleh said.

Students had the opportunity to talk to “great minds” in the industry and people who have worked on big advertising campaigns, including Popeyes and the McDonald’s Cardi B and Offset meal, Omar said.

“They also provided us opportunities that weren’t strictly advertising focused, as we went to the SiriusXM, Sony Music Group and TikTok offices,” Omar said. “The AAF did a really good job of diversifying the network of professionals that we talked to.”

“A journey of self-discovery”

Gordon said the trip gave her the opportunity to envision herself in different positions within the advertising industry and visualize how she can create work that does not just sell but also acts as a positive force for change.

“I never thought it would be a journey of such self-discovery, now seeing how my career can play out while also staying true to myself and my values of community and impact,” Gordon said.

Omar said the experience compelled her to strive to achieve more academically and occupationally while making her even more proud of where she is now.

“I want to emphasize just how grateful we are for this opportunity and how rewarding it felt the past week just being present, seeing what our futures are capable of,” Omar said.

University of Minnesota researchers continue to study heart assist devices along with proper diet and exercise for heart health during American Heart Month.

Heart disease is a leading cause of death in Americans. February is a time that promotes advocacy for heart disease, while also giving insight into developing findings and devices.

Rebecca Cogswell is a heart failure specialist in the Cardiovascular Division at the University’s medical school and a pioneer in research of heart assisting devices as a form of therapy.

Cogswell said as a child, she remembers her dad often being sick and breathless, which impacted her family’s lifestyle but also elicited her passion for work in the cardiovascular sector.

“We would do things like drop him off out front of the store, never expecting him to walk up a hill, and he just slowly got worse over time,” Cogswell said. “I was pretty interested in medicine and what was going on with him even as a teenager…I knew that I was going to be a physician, even when I was sort of 18 or 19 years old.”

Heart assist devices and other therapies used to treat heart disease

Cogswell has done extensive research on a left ventricular assist pump, which was originally used to bridge the gap to transplants and is now used routinely for patients who are not considered for transplant as a part of destination therapy.

Cogswell said she hopes to see fully developed implanted technology within the next decade without external components, such as batteries, to make them more comfortable and compact devices for a patient to wear.

One device commonly used is called the HeartMate device, made by Abbott lab, Cogswell said.

“It includes a cannula that sews into the left ventricle that blood sucks into the left ventricle and then it goes out a hose into the aorta,” Cogswell said. “So it’s literally sucking blood out of the ventricle and sending it where it’s supposed to go at about five liters per minute.”

Assistant professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division Forum Kamdar said when she was a medical student, heart assist pumps used to weigh close to four pounds. She said they are now smaller, more durable and technologically advanced.

Diet and exercise for heart health

Kamdar said college students can educate themselves on the American Heart Health Life’s Essential 8, which is a guide on how to maintain good heart health. Heart-healthy habits include being more active, getting a healthy amount of sleep and managing blood sugar.

Prabhjot Nijjar, assistant professor of medicine in the University’s Cardiovascular Division, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily that the best diet for heart health is following a vegetarian or a Mediterranean diet. He said he recommends getting proteins from foods such as beans or lentils and minimizing red meat consumption.

Nijjar also said it is important to get at least 150 minutes per week of aerobic exercise, which can include activities such as walking at a brisk pace.

Detection and signs of heart attacks

Kamdar said chest pressure, tightness and pain radiating down the left arm are some symptoms of a heart attack; according to the Centers for Disease Control, someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the United States. She also said different symptoms can present themselves depending on the person.

“Some women don’t present the classical signs, often expressing signs of fatigue, so knowing the signs is extremely valuable,” Kamdar said.

Kamdar also said going to the doctor regularly to take blood pressure measurements and get cholesterol levels checked is important because it increases the likelihood of detecting and treating risk factors for heart disease.

“I hope the annual heart month is a reminder to all of us to take better care of our hearts,” Nijjar said.

With the concept of gut health currently trending on social media platforms and among influencers, the University of Minnesota is conducting an ongoing study about how exercise may influence the bacteria living in the guts of individuals with prediabetes.

The ActiveGut study was started in September of 2021 to determine if the changes in one’s microbiome, which is the community of microorganisms in the gut, as a result of walking are correlated with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

The ActiveGut Study: Can physical activity change the composition of microbes in our gut?

Ryan Demmer, a University researcher and associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, is a co-author of the study, which aims to identify a pattern of gut microbes that could predict which individuals who are or think they are pre-diabetic will respond positively to exercise.

“We want to see if those potential changes in the gut microbiome are related to the benefits of physical activity,” Demmer said.

Walking is the type of exercise used in the study, and each participant will be assigned to one of two groups, according to Demmer. One group will maintain a normal level of activity, while the other group will be prescribed a walking program.

Demmer said he hopes to discover if exercise resulting in lower blood sugar levels and other internal health benefits is linked to changes in the gut.

He said each participant continues on one of the two tracks for eight weeks, during which researchers measure gut microbes from a provided stool sample.

“If you are in the walking intervention group, you would be asked to walk for 30 to 45 minutes, about three times a week,” Demmer said. “We ask everybody in the study to use a Fitbit, which we provide, which allows us to monitor how much actual walking activity they are engaged in on a daily basis.”

Green supplements, prebiotic sodas and apple cider vinegar: Do they “work”?

Demmer said in general, there is very little evidence to support products marketed to improve gut health actually work.

“I can almost guarantee you that the particular product has not gone through rigorous scientific study in large groups of people and demonstrated that the people who take it have healthier guts and live longer lives,” Demmer said.

Abigail Johnson, assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, said the answer to whether these products will be beneficial is complicated and depends on an individual’s gut microbiome or how their gut responds to a specific food. She said it is still too early to conclude whether a certain food or drink is “good” for your gut, and much of the current marketing around gut healthy foods and drinks is a bit “premature.”

“This is because we don’t know exactly what a healthy gut microbiome looks like,” Johnson said. “We have some clues, as we think that a gut microbiome that has lots of diverse species is probably a good thing.”

Johnson said drinking prebiotic sodas that contain fermentable fiber such as OLIPOP may cause discomfort because a byproduct of fermentation is commonly gas production.

“In research surrounding this topic, we see trends in numerous studies that show that what’s beneficial for your gut is not eating foods that have been supplemented with fiber…it’s eating a variety of fruits and vegetables,” Johnson said.

The importance of a fiber-rich diet, tips and tricks for the college student

Amanda Kabage, member of the Microbiota Therapeutics team at the University has been personally affected with a potent bacterial infection in her gut: C. difficile, which is an infection caused by spore-forming bacterium. She was not responding to antibiotic treatments and was sick for 14 months, which prompted her to go back into gastroenterology.

Kabage said she emphasizes meeting the daily recommended amount of fiber because most Americans consume fewer than 10 grams of fiber a day. The daily recommended amount is at least 25 grams.

“We want to feed our microbes, and microbes primarily feed off fiber,” Kabage said. “When it comes to gut health, we want to keep our microbes happy.”

Johnson said she recognizes the potential low budgets of students for grocery shopping. The minimal access to food preparation and limited access to nearby grocery stores.

“I would recommend going to the grocery store and stocking up on cans of black beans and chickpeas,” Johnson said. “A simple recipe would be to take some canned chickpeas, olive oil, cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper and cucumbers to make a nice, low-prep chickpea salad.”

Kabage said fermented foods, such as kimchi, sauerkraut and yogurt are also great for the gut.

“If you stick to looking at fiber, you’re going to find yourself in general eating fewer fats and sugars because high fiber foods are really healthy,” Kabage said.

If you have or think you may have pre-Diabetes and would like to contribute to University research regarding the influence of physical activity on the microbiome, check out the Activegut study.