InsideJuly 2008

It didn't take Tully Burnett long — less than a week — after coming to UNF in April 2004 to determine that the University needed a new identification card system to replace the antiquated one that had been used since the early ‘90s. The Osprey 1Card, the new University identification card, makes its debut this fall, and Burnett can't wait to show off all the benefits the new card system offers faculty, staff and students.

The Osprey 1Card is the University's official identification card and is essential for accessing many campus services like the Thomas G. Carpenter Library, the Dottie Dorion Fitness Center, the Aquatic Center and the Arena. Students also use the card to pay for purchases at campus retail outlets and vending machines and for campus printing services. All University faculty, staff and students are required to have an Osprey 1Card.

"I'm excited about finally getting this done," said Burnett, associate director of Auxiliary Services. He was referring to the two-and-a-half-year process to implement what ultimately became the Osprey 1Card program. "I know students are excited by this program. This program will touch faculty, staff, students, the merchants around us and our patrons."

Lance Taylor, assistant vice president and chief information officer for Information Technology Services, visited other colleges and universities to research various identification card systems as part of the process to select a new system for UNF. "I think the new system will be a vast improvement over the one it is replacing," Taylor said. "The new card will provide convenient access to more services, both on and off campus, and greater flexibility in managing funds."

One feature of the new identification card is perhaps the most compelling component for Burnett, and it's what he was talking about when he mentioned "touching the merchants" around UNF. That feature is a pre-paid spending account called Ozzie Bucks.

Burnett describes Ozzie Bucks as an online account for faculty, staff and students where money can be added using a credit or debit card or by mailing a check. Ozzie Bucks users can also call up a complete transaction history. Students' parents can access the account to add money or see the transaction history if access is provided by the student. While it hasn't been finalized yet, Burnett thinks the maximum for the Ozzie Bucks account will be somewhere in the $2,000-$2,500 range. The old card had a $50 limit.

By this fall, Burnett is confident that at least 15 to 20 merchants in the area surrounding UNF will accept Ozzie Bucks. CVS Pharmacy on the corner of Beach Boulevard and Southside Boulevard is the first merchant to join the program. Some of the other merchants currently being recruited for the Ozzie Bucks program are Publix, Regal Cinema, Walgreens, Panera Bread, Supercuts, Beef O'Brady's, Applebee's and Dunkin' Donuts.

Burnett sees the program as a winner for the businesses and for UNF. "All of the off-campus merchants will have to agree to do some sort of promotion during the semester; some kind of economic benefit [to Osprey Buck users]," Burnett said. "It's helping the University's relationship with the community and the businesses around us. The merchants know there is a huge amount of purchasing power through UNF."

Participating merchants will display a sticker and other signage, not unlike credit-card logos seen on most store windows, saying something along the lines of "Osprey Bucks Welcome Here," Burnett said. The sticker, which is still being developed, will also feature the UNF logo or ID card. He added that this brings additional exposure for UNF in the community.

One advantage the new system has over the old one is if the Osprey 1Card is lost the Ozzie Bucks account can be suspended immediately by simply going online. Under the old system, if someone lost a card, whatever money they had not used was lost also. Burnett said last fiscal year more than 2,000 identification cards were lost.

Another advantage of the Osprey 1Card system is that its database will provide more detailed information about the utilization of on-campus recreational and fitness facilities. "It will provide a complete library of reporting on all of those facilities, which allows us to better plan how we deliver critical services to our campus community," Burnett said.

CardSmith, a New Jersey company established in 2003, is handling virtually all facets of the Osprey 1Card, from marketing, customer service and program management to database administration and processing financial transactions. The company is recruiting community merchants to participate in the Ozzie Bucks program.

"By contracting with CardSmith, we were able to acquire the system for about $250,000 less than traditional systems," Burnett said. He also said with CardSmith managing the system the University saves approximately $350,000 a year because it won't have to hire four or five new employees to help implement and manage the new system.

Osprey 1Cards will be mailed to faculty and staff during the first week of August, Burnett said. Current identification card photos will be used unless the faculty or staff member had a new photo taken at Auxiliary Services. 

With the sweet soul sounds of Marvin Gaye's 1971 hit "What's Going On" playing softly in the background, the Boomers and Gen Ys filtered one-by-one into a room at the University Center on a June morning to learn about communicating across the generations to create a more effective work environment.

The occasion was a Center for Professional Development and Training workshop titled Bridging the Generations Gap, taught by Linda Plummer. The terms "Boomers" and "Gen Y" are sophisticated slang words for the Baby Boomer generation and Generation Y.

Baby Boomers refer to people born between 1940 and 1960 and Generation Y refers to people born between 1980 and 2000. Those were the two generations represented at the workshop.

The other two generations Plummer talked about were the Veterans, born from 1920 to 1940, and Generation Xers, born from 1960 to 1980.

According to Plummer, generations are defined by common experiences, defining events, shared heroes, demographics and the first days in the job market. "An Arab proverb says 'people resemble their times more than they resemble their parents,'" she said.

For a group exercise, workshop participants listed the national and international events, trends and people they most remembered from the first 15 to 20 years of their generation. For the Baby Boomers, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Beatles, Ed Sullivan and gas wars with gas selling for 25 cents a gallon made the list. For the Generation Y people, Columbine, Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Nintendo and Game Boy, Nickelodeon and cell phones were among the entries.

Plummer said the Baby Boomers' generational profile includes traits such as feeling like the star of the show, tending to be optimistic and valuing teamwork. They believe in consensus management, are often workaholics and think of work as a career.

"They've been told you are the hope of the future, and you are going to solve the woes of the world," Plummer said. "They are a little technology-challenged."

Parental advocacy was one of the trends that shaped Generation Y's generational profile, Plummer said. The parents of Generation Y children often had only one child and all of their hopes and dreams were wrapped up in that child.

"The parents wanted to be involved in every step of their growing up," Plummer said. "This generation has been told: 'You're terrific, kid.'"

Generation Y values living in the moment, loyalty to individuals as opposed to organizations, patriotism and serving the community. Generation Xers tend to be self-reliant, have a casual approach to authority, want balance in their lives between work and leisure-time activities, enjoy informality and, unlike their Baby Boomer brethren, are technology savvy. Plummer said they think of their work as a job not a career.

The Veterans' generation, of whom 32 million are still in the workforce, are dedicated employees and have a self-sacrificing work ethic. Plummer said they believe in duty before pleasure.

The following are what Plummer called motivators or actions that managers can use on the job for each generation: Baby Boomers - Managers need to get them involved and show them how to make a difference. Generation Y - Managers should connect actions to Generation Y's personal and career goals. Generation X - Managers need to give choices and provide work autonomy. Veterans - Managers should connect their actions to the overall good of the organization.

That's what it's all about," Plummer said. "It's all about having the conversation. Other generations look at things differently."

Participant Emily Stalvey, a training assistant at the Center for Professional Development and Training and Generation Y member, gave perhaps the best description of the three-hour workshop.

"I learned that a key to understanding generations is to consider what the world was like for them growing up; what they experienced and what events took place," Stalvey said. "I also learned that we can't expect people to change to fit a certain mold, but if we try to understand them and learn from them, we can make our workplaces more productive and enjoyable. It was also really good to see how interested the Baby Boomers in the group were in learning how to relate to younger generations."

Plummer is the founder of Plummer & Associates, a human resources consulting firm. She has more than 25 years of experience in human resources, specializing in training design and delivery, employee relations and employment.

The next Bridging the Generations Gap workshop will be from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, Oct. 10, in the University Center. 

It will be the tallest building on campus, and construction workers are already installing the roof on one of its two five-story towers. But unlike the Student Union, the Brooks College of Health addition and the College of Education and Human Services construction projects underway on campus, Osprey Fountains is nearly hidden in the woods and out of sight of gawkers.

Even those who arrive on campus via Kernan Boulevard can barely catch a glimpse of the Osprey Fountains construction as they pass a clearing cut through the woods to make room for a road to the $86 million, 1,000-bed residence hall that will open in fall 2009.

Paul Riel, director of the Department of Housing Operations, accompanied photographer Joao Bicalho and Marketing and Publications Director Dave Roman on a tour of the Osprey Fountains site recently to present this photo update on the construction's progress.  

Brooks College of Health

Athletic Training & Physical Therapy: Dr. Ann C. Noonan recently received the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Credentialed Clinical Trainer status. This credential entitles her to teach APTA's Clinical Instructor Credentialing Program to clinical educators who meet the specified qualifications. She is one of only three individuals in Florida qualified to provide this course.

Dean's Office: Dr. Pamela Chally presented "Healthcare Teams: Collegial, Competent, Caring and Courageous" at the 26th Annual National Faculty Development Course sponsored by the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare at UNF.

Coggin College of Business

Accounting & Finance: Dr. Charles Calhoun recently returned from Katmandu, Nepal, where he represented the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and the International Federation of Accountants at the Consultative Advisory Group of the International Accounting Education Standards Board in May. Also that month, he made a presentation to a roundtable of Nepal government ministers and officers of the Congress of Asian Pacific Accountants (CAPA), hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN). Calhoun also made a presentation to a joint meeting of the Boards of Directors of CAPA and the Southeast Asian Federation of Accountants. And he presented "International Accounting Education Standards in Support of International Accounting and Reporting Standards" at the CAPA-ICAN International Conference, Integrating Nepalese Profession with the Outside World. In addition, Calhoun presented "Licensing Non-U.S. Professionals" at the Southeast Regional meeting of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) in June in Asheville, N.C.

Management: Dr. Reza Vaghefi presented "Keiretsu-effect in Globalization: An Effective Implementation of Strategy, Structure and Execution in Global Markets" at the Intellectbase International Consortium Conference in Nashville, Tenn., in May. The paper was selected to appear in the International Handbook of Academic Research and Teaching.

Marketing & Logistics: Drs. Adel El-Ansary and A. Coskun "Josh" Samli served on the Academy of Marketing Science President's Special Session titled Historical Overview of Topical Marketing Issues at the academy's annual conference in May in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Samli also received the Harold Berkman Distinguished Service Award at the annual conference of the Academy of Marketing Science.

College of Arts and Sciences

Art & Design: Dr. Karen Carter presented "Poster Mania in Turn-of-the-Century Paris'' at theLibrary of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Vanessa Cruz virtually presented a paper in May at the 2008 International Conference on the Arts in Society at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design in England.

Nofa Dixon's exhibition, "Nofa Dixon: Sculpture," was held in May through June at Florida Community College at Jacksonville.

Emily Arthur Douglass was recently curator of "Co-Action UNF: Student Exhibition" at the Grange Cultural Center of Atlantic Beach.

Stephen Heywood had exhibitions at theWestmorland Arts & Heritage Festival's National Juried Exhibition in Latrobe, Penn., and the Westmorland County Community College and National Juried Exhibition in Youngwood, Penn. He also served as curator of "Co-Action UNF: Student Exhibition" at the Grange Cultural Center of Atlantic Beach.

Paul Karabinis' "Digital Art in the Post-Digital Age: Works from Florida Faculty" has been included at the Dorothy Jenkins Gallery in the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland (May through September).

Biology: Dr. Matthew Gilg received two-year funding from the National Science Foundation for his "Genotype Specific Fertilization Success: Testing the Hypothesis of Reinforcement in the Rapid Evolution of a Reproductive Protein."

Chemistry: Dr. Barry Albright received grants from the National Geographic Society and the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management to conduct fieldwork in a remote region of Southern Utah, and the Charleston Scientific and Cultural Education Fund to conduct geological/paleontological research.

Criminology & Criminal Justice: Dr. Alicia Sitren published "The Jail and the Community: Comparing Jails in Rural and Urban Contexts" with Dr. Brandon Applegate in The Prison Journal, Vol. 88.

English: Dr. Chris Gabbard published "‘What He Found Not Monsters, He Made So': The I-word and The Bathos of Exclusion" in the Journal of Literary Disability, Vol. 2, No. 1.

History: Dr. David Courtwright served as moderator for "American Snapshot, 1935-1943," a Much Ado About Books panel sponsored by the Jacksonville Public Library.

Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean participated in the conference "Recovering Forgotten History: The Image of East-Central Europe in American Textbooks" at the Lazarski School of Commerce and Law in Warsaw, Poland, in June.

Mathematics & Statistics: Dr. Elena Buzaianu gave the lecture, "On Selecting Among Binomial Populations" at the International Indian Statistical Association Conference in Hartford, Conn.

Dr. Richard Patterson presented the paper, "Matrix Characterizations of Bounded Variation via Double Subsequences and Stretchings" at Istanbul Commerce University in Istanbul, Turkey.

Dr. Pali Sen presented "Characterization of the Central Limit Theorem by the Burmann Power Series" at the Mathematics Workshop on Sequence Spaces and Applications and at Istanbul Commerce University in Istanbul, Turkey.

Music: Dr. Gordon R. Brock directed the UNF Wind Ensemble in their debut concert at Carnegie Hall in June as featured artists at Carnegie's Excellence in Education Concert Series.

Political Science & Public Administration: Dr. Matthew Corrigan's book, "American Royalty: The Bush and Clinton Families and the Danger to the American Presidency," was published by Palgrave Macmillan in May.

Dr. David Schwam-Baird lectured on "Separation of Church and State in the United States and France" in Nantes, France, for the "Nantes-U.S.A. Festival," sponsored by the Nantes-Seattle-Jacksonville Association in May.

Psychology: Dr. Iver Iverson presented "Teaching Chimpanzees to Draw, Sort Objects, Solve Finger Mazes, Intercept Targets, and Copy Images Using Computerized Touch-monitor Technology" at the Symposium on Comparative Cognitive Science, "Primate Origins of Human Mind," in Kyoto, Japan, in May.

Sociology & Anthropology: Dr. David Jaffee (with Adam C. Carle, Richard Phillips and Lucy Paltoo) published "Intended and Unintended Consequences of First-Year Learning Communities: An Initial Investigation" in the Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 20.

Dr. Ronald Lukens-Bull was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar Grant in Islamic Studies for 2008-2009. He will lecture and conduct research on current trends in Islamic education in Indonesia at the State Islamic Institute of North Sumatra in Medan, Indonesia.

World Languages: Dr. Renée Scott published "Los Trastornos Alimenticios en el Discurso de las Escritoras Latinoamericanas" in Porzecanski, Teresa (ed.) El Cuerpo y sus Espejos: Estudios Antropológico-culturales, 2008.

College of Computing, Engineering and Construction

Building Construction Management: In cooperation with the Canadian Ministry of Transportation in Quebec, Dr. Mag Malek and James Sorce conducted a study-abroad course on Highway Construction for 18 construction management students. In addition, Malek led the effort to establish a UNF-American University of Cairo Educational Partnership Agreement for the purpose of faculty and student exchange activities (any faculty member interested in details should contact Malek).

Dean's Office: Drs. Neal Coulter, Imeh Ebong, Pat Welsh, Arturo Sanchez and Jerry Merckel visited IBM Boca Raton in May to report on the status of the joint UNF-IBM research program on grid computing. Discussions also included the possibility of other collaborative efforts between IBM and UNF.

School of Engineering: Drs. Chiu Choi and Jerry Merckel visitedTaiyuan University of Science and Technology (TYUST) located in Taiyuan, China. A UNF-TYUST Educational Partnership Agreement was completed for the purpose of faculty and student exchange activities. Any faculty member interested in details should contact either Choi or Merckel.

College of Education and Human Services

Leadership, Counseling & Instructional Technology: Dr. Terence Cavanaugh recently had two articles published: "Mapping Literature: Integrating GIS and Reading," by the American Library Association's Knowledge Quest, and "Online Personal Book Cataloging," in the Florida Reading Quarterly. Cavanaugh has also conducted presentations and workshops for CIRT's "Teaching Online Seminar" and an in-service workshop on "Mapping Technology and Literature" for St. Johns County librarians and reading coaches.

Dr. Jennifer Kane appeared on WJXT Channel 4's "Ask the UNF Expert" to discuss how to choose a sport for children. She will also discuss this same issue on "In Context." For more information, go to http://www.unf.edu/publicrelations/media_relations/tv_news_coverage/index.html# SummerHealth . Dr. Sebastian Foti recently spoke at the European Distance and E-Learning conference (EDEN) in Lisbon, Portugal, on "Facing Culture Diversity in e-Learning."

Childhood Education: Dr. Lunetta Williams discussed how to engage boys in reading on WJXT Channel 4's "Ask the UNF Expert." For more information, go to http://www.unf.edu/publicrelations/media_relations/tv_news_coverage/ index.html# SummerHealth .

Foundations & Secondary Education: Drs. Marianne and Lehman Barnes facilitated a meeting of New Mexico higher education faculty at the statewide action research conference in Taos, N.M., in June. The state of New Mexico funds action research projects through the Center for Teaching Excellence at Eastern New Mexico University, and this meeting was the inaugural effort to form a higher education network to work together and support K-12 projects.

Student Affairs

Student Health Services: Doreen Perez presented "ACHA/ ANCC Partners in College Health Nursing: The Recognition Process" at the annual meeting of American College Health Association in June.

Department: Political Science and Public Administration
Job: Associate professor, executive director of the Florida Center for Public and International Policy and president of the United Faculty of Florida
Years at UNF: 18. My good friend (Adam Herbert) became president in 1989. He had been my dean at FIU. I arrived in 1990.

Tell us about your family:
I met my wife, Kay, at a race riot! I was working as a community organizer at the FIGHT Organization in Rochester, N.Y. Kids in our youth group were being bussed to an outer-city school, where she was a teacher. One day FIGHT got a phone call from one of the kids in our youth group that blacks and whites were at war at the school. Kay was one of the few teachers of either race that played a constructive role in defusing the situation.

The principal of the school was quite literally hiding under the desk in his office in hopes that the violence would all go away. Kay and perhaps three other teachers began to pull the students into groups, what we would call today discussion circles, to frankly discuss the tensions in the school. FIGHT also got the school board involved and over time tensions began to recede.

During the course of all this, a series of meeting took place, and Kay and I became better acquainted. In addition to the issues at Kay's school, the school district was going through a number of issues regarding bussing to desegregate schools. Kay joined me in several marches against school board policy.

I was chief of staff at FIGHT so I was in the mist of a number of battles with local governments and firms in the region. Kay likes to remind me that I did not dress to impress - I did not look as though I had stepped from the pages of GQ. My standard attire was a pair of plaid (yellow and brown or black) pants and a very loud velour shirt. In one of my classes several years ago, one of my students found pictures of my FIGHT colleagues at Attica Prison at the time of the state assault on the prison.

I was very lucky to find someone willing to understand all the community control issues that vied for my attention. Kay was also the driving force that persuaded me to return to graduate school and get the doctorate. The day I met her was a very good day.

We have two children – Elizabeth and Brock. Elizabeth is a senior health policy advisor to Steny Hoyer, majority leader in the House of Representatives. Brock is a senior staff accountant at McBride Shopa & Company, P.A., located in Wilmington, Del.

If you could choose any other career, what would it be and why?
Well I am not at all sure. The fact is that only other career I considered was the ministry. While in seminary, I preached a sermon, in which I said that "today Jesus would be a black panther." It was a Jeremiah Wright moment, and the seminary transferred me to a suburban white church where, presumably, I would not corrupt inner-city youth.

What is your favorite thing about working at UNF?
Our greatest asset is smart and interesting people – faculty, students and staff. Getting to know them has been a gift. I have many, many friends here, but perhaps the person that best illustrated this was my friendship with Terry Bowen (a UNF associate professor of political science and public administration who was killed in a traffic accident in August of 2003).

What is the proudest/happiest moment of your life?
I am happiest when my children and my students make me proud. Graduations are a fine time. It is ironic that I never attended any of my own graduations. I always finished in summer term, and the graduation was in fall. By then I was always on the other side of the country, and it was too expensive to attend.

Tell us something about you that even your friends don't know:
When I worked with the FIGHT Organization, we defeated the hand- picked leadership of Saul Alinsky, virtually the father of community organizing in America. Although Alinsky's official policy was to stay out of the local politics, he decided to enter the fray on the side of his friend. The result was that I learned most from Alinsky by fighting and defeating him at the game he invented.

What do you hope to accomplish that you have not done yet?
I have been working with a group of our faculty focused on conflict transformation. So very much of our future is dependent on our ability of solve problems without violence. We like to blame inner-city black communities for failure here, but the reality is that we face global failure. I hope that many more of my colleagues will join this effort.

What's the last book you read?
"Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcends Tragedy" by Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher 

Welcome

Welcome to the following employees, who are either new to UNF or have assumed new positions from early May to mid-June:

• Susan Archer, adjunct professor in Mathematics & Statistics
• Dawn Botkin, adjunct professor in Foundations and Secondary Education
• Jeffrey Bowen, associate university librarian in the Carpenter Library
• Anthony Burch, groundskeeper in Physical Facilities
• Miles Carlton, maintenance mechanic in Physical Facilities
• Judith Cebeck, adjunct professor in the College of Education and Human Services
•  Lauren Chartier, senior secretary in Public Health
•  Gina Christopher, adjunct professor in Nursing
•  Victoria Coyle Ogden, coordinator of research program services in Advancement Services
•  Kaley Crenshaw, custodial worker in Physical Facilities
•  Earnest Crumbley, assistant basketball coach in Athletics
•  Mary Daly, adjunct professor in Public Health
•  Jeremy Desuyo, custodial worker in Physical Facilities
•  Michael Erickson, auto equipment mechanic in Physical Facilities
•  Elizabeth Fullerton, adjunct professor in the College of Education and Human Services
•  Trent Gilford, clerk in Parking Services; David Halusky, coordinator in Recreation
•  Emily Hermann, coordinator of student financial aid in Enrollment Services
•  Edessa Jobli, adjunct professor in Public Health
•  Sherif Labib, adjunct professor in Building Construction Management
• Juan Loja, senior information specialist in Student Affairs
• Danielle Marth, adjunct professor in Nursing
• Edwin Matulin, adjunct professor in Management
• Victor McLeod, computer operator in Enrollment Services
• Lisa Miller, coordinator in Continuing Education
• Carolyn Prevatte, coordinator of academic support services for the Academic Center for Excellence
• James Rowley, control systems technician in Physical Facilities
• Martha Seneca, adjunct professor in Nursing
• Karen Smith, assistant director of Advancement and Alumni Affairs in the Coggin College of Business
• Lauren Tallier, coordinator in Enrollment Services
• Danh Vo, custodial worker in Physical Facilities
• Ouida Warren, coordinator of academic support services in the One-Stop Center.

Milestone Anniversaries

Congratulations to the following UNF employees, who will celebrate a milestone anniversary at UNF this month:

35 Years:

• Elinor Scheirer, professor in Leadership & Counseling
• Robert Schupp, associate professor in Management
• Michael Spivey, print shop manager in Duplicating Offset

20 Years:

• Katherine Kasten, professor in Leadership & Counseling

15 Years:

• Ralph Glover, assistant superintendent in Physical Facilities

10 Years:

• Marc Anderson, Parking Services
• James Edwards, Telephone Services
• Jo Ann Orren, Human Resources

Five Years:

• Shane Borden, Auxiliary Services
• John Delaney, President's Office
• James Greer, Maintenance and Energy Management
• Stephen Lyon, Networking Services
• Barbara Soliah, Enrollment Services
• Mark Swanhart, Public Opinion Research Lab
• Suzanne Vancuran, Physical Facilities
• Susan Wilkinson, Center for Studiesin Education

Congratulations

• Chris Baynard (World Languages) completed his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Florida and graduated in May. He will become an assistant professor of geography in UNF's Department of Economics and Geography in the fall.

• Charlene Davis (TSI/Foundation Accounting) shares news that her son, Bruce Christopher John Davis, graduated from Fernandina Beach High School with honors last month. He is the proud recipient of the $20,000 Delores P. Kessler Scholarship and will be attending UNF in the fall. (photo included)

• Marsha Dukes (Office of the VP for Administration & Finance) announces that her son, Adam Fox, married Erin Bennett in June. Bennett is a 2006 UNF graduate who teaches at Ridgeview Elementary School. Fox works for Clay County Fire Rescue as an engineer. The couple resides in Middleburg.

• Stacy Jarvis-Mejia (Continuing Education) is the first UNF employee to graduate from Volunteer Jacksonville's Blueprint for Leadership. Blueprint for Leadership is a six-month (one-day-per-month) training program culminating in a class service project and a one-year board internship to prepare participants for service on a nonprofit board of directors.

Men have become increasingly concerned about their appearance, which is fueled in part by media images that reflect a narrow view of the masculine ideal. This portrayal of masculinity is characterized by the bulking up of the male body. Here's what Richmond Wynn, a licensed mental health counselor at UNF's Counseling Center, has to say about how body image concerns in men can lead to unhealthy dieting, over-exercising, eating disorders and even mood disorders.

Why have men become more concerned with their body image?
Size prejudice contributes to men's increased concern about their bodies. Being lean and muscular is associated with happiness and being hard-working, successful, beautiful and strong, while being fat is associated with being lazy, ignorant, ugly and weak. Other contributing factors include childhood teasing for being too thin or too fat, peer pressure among boys to be strong, perfectionism and idealized male body images featured in the media.

How has the media influenced men's body image?
The media sets unrealistic standards for what body weight and appearance is considered normal. Boys are given the impression that men naturally have muscles bulging all over their bodies. The media's portrayal of what is normal keeps getting more muscular for men. As a result, boys see a body ideal that for most men is impossible to achieve without illegal anabolic steroids.

Who is at risk for body image problems?
All men are at risk for developing body image problems. However, athletes may feel increased pressure to lose weight or body fat, so they can make a specific weight, qualify for a particular race or look more attractive to judges and audiences. The message being sent is you need to have a certain body in order to perform well and to be considered a good athlete.

What can men do to improve their body image?
Realize that size isn't the best indicator of health or fitness. Your eating habits, exercise patterns and other lifestyle choices are more important; Stop comparing yourself to others. Everyone has a healthy weight based on body type, genetics, what weight you feel your best and what weight your body tends to want to maintain; Know that your body doesn't define who you are or your worth as a person; Change negative thoughts about yourself. Focus on what you love about yourself.

Where can men turn to for help?
There are a number of resources on the First Coast for counseling services. If you have private insurance, check with your provider to see what is covered. Also, your employer may offer an Employee Assistance Program, which provides a certain number of free counseling sessions per year. Sliding-fee scale agencies are also available and determine costs based on your financial situation.

Every month, the column "Ask UNF" runs in Inside and The Florida Times-Union, promoting the expertise of UNF faculty and staff. Next month's topic will feature the prescription for talking to your physician. If you have a question about this topic, e-mail it to askunfcolumn@unf.edu.