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Scannell to teach in Ukraine
By Jonathan Meyer
UIS Business Professor Nancy
Scannell recently a grant in economics from the Ukrainian
Academy of Banking. She has previously received a similar grant
to help teach students at the University of
Sofia in Bulgaria.
 Scannell grew up in a Detroit
suburb. She said her interest in other lands developed early.
“I would absorb myself in the pages of National Geographic
Magazines and would often gaze at a world map posted by the
attic door. I knew then that there was much cultural diversity
that I needed to experience.”
Her two older sisters financed
their own way toward getting law and medical degrees
respectively. When it became Scannell’s turn, she chose
Business. This business degree, she said, would later prove to
be a “segue from merely reading narrative accounts to actively
engaging in the international arena.”
While a student at the University
of Michigan, Scannell began to notice that most of her associates got a great deal
of financial support from their parents.
Of this issue, she said, “Though
certainly an attractive amenity, I am grateful, rather, to have
learned early on to independently manage my fiscal affairs.”
In order to learn how to survive,
she followed her parents’ example. Her father delivered milk
and later got a job working for a credit union. Her mother
worked at home. Even so, they found a way to enroll their dozen
children in “the best private grade school and high school in
the area.”
In college, she received a BA in
Economics from Michigan State University. Latter on, she earned
a Ph.D. in economics and public policy from U of I Chicago.
Scannell has visited many places
in her life. Most recently, she will be teaching at the
Ukrainian Academy of Banking. Her stay there will begin a few
weeks after the spring semester ends. She taught finance in
Bulgaria for five months in 1999, and has also lectured on
economics at Heilongjiang University in China, and Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
She says that, while many of her
ventures overseas could be categorized as tours, her status as a
professor complimented the situation. Having this status has
added “enriching dimension to the 'international experience.'”
Thanks to the internet, she has
also coauthored books on finance and economics with professors
from Estonia, Bulgaria and Armenia,
as well as other countries.
Her focus is primarily on former
Soviet countries. “These and other former command economies are
keen on learning about market-driven engines as they transition
to more advanced and complex financial systems.”
Scannell has been enjoying her
time at UIS. She feels she is in the right place at the right
time among the other professors. She mentioned Drs. Roy Wehrle,
Jonathan GoldbergBelle, Ronald Spahr, and Steven Schwark, by
name, saying she believes they “lend authenticity to our
university's international profile.”
\She enjoys spending time
abroad. However, with the current fear of terrorism, she says
that interest is tempered more than ever by caution. Despite
this, she encourages every UIS student to enroll in at least one
semester of classes abroad. She said such experiences are “life
enhancing.”
GPSI
Spotlight: Seema Gai, Illinois Department of Public Health
By Adriel Ippoloto,
GPSI Intern Recruiter
Seema Gai, athlete, GPSI intern, graduate
student. As an athlete, Gai participated in both Junior and
Senior Triathlon competitions, on the same day, with only a two
hour break between events. She won the Gold Medal for both
competitions. “It
was very taxing,” Gai recalls. “My parents and coach really
appreciated my efforts.”
 A master’s candidate in UIS’ Public Health
program, Gai is a GPSI intern for the IDPH
Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System (BRFSS). BRFSS is collaboration between the
U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state
health departments. It is the primary source of information on
health behaviors and conditions for adults in the
United States. Gai gathers information on health risk factors
among Illinois residents.
When asked to describe a typical day
as a GPSI intern for the IDPH Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System, Gai responds by saying, “It’s a national
level program. I analyze various kinds of data and evaluate the
risk factors. Factors include data on obesity, binge drinking or
chronic drinking, whether an individual has gone to the doctor
for a breast exam or a prostate examination. I analyze the
results, convert it into html and then this information is
posted on the State of
Illinois Public Health website."
Gai is a team player who is energized by learning from her
coworkers. “If I don’t know something, I like to learn from
others. The triathlons built my team spirit. I really like
working with a group and building a team together. I feel that
is a successful attitude.”
“IDPH is a very friendly environment and everyone is very
encouraging,” Gai notes. “Academically, they’re helping me
present papers at conferences. I’ve presented two papers, one
at the 62nd Illinois Public Health Association Policy
Conference here in Springfield and another at the annual BRFSS/CDC
Conference in St. Louis. I’m hoping to present two more papers
very soon.”
Gai is currently studying for exams which will
allow her to enter a U.S. residency program after graduation.
“I did my
medical training in
India, I’m a doctor there,” states Gai. “I just took a series of
exams for foreign medical students that are similar to the U.S.
Medical Licensing Examinations. When I pass the final exam, I
will get a certification that will allow me to enter a residency
program to become a doctor here, which is my future goal.”
UIS has 18 outstanding graduate programs and
exceptional internship opportunities through the GPSI program.
If you’d like to learn more about graduate school and graduate
internships visit the Graduate Public Service Internship office,
located in PAC 514. The GPSI staff is available Monday through
Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment. Visit the
Graduate Intern Program website at
http://gpsi.uis.edu for an online application or call
217/206-6158 for more information on the Graduate Public Service
Internship program. |
