������Ƶ News - Sept. 29, 2023

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Hemp Growing Class Tries to Dispel Stigma Of Cannabis

In the back of ������Ƶ's 1.2-acre Sustainability Farm is  some call “sin corner.”

Just a short distance from a row of 20-foot-tall hops vines and next to a line of tobacco plants is a 62-foot-long plot surrounded by a fence and a locked gate. Inside are about 150 cannabis hemp plants — believed to be the only ones grown outside by a New Jersey university.

“When it comes to universities, I would definitely say we stand out by doing what we are doing right now,” said Rob Mejia, a teaching specialist in ������Ƶ’s Cannabis Studies program.

Hemp is a botanical class of cannabis sativa grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. The plants have little to almost no THC — the major psychoactive component of cannabis.

It’s the second year ������Ƶ has grown the plants as part of its Cannabis and Hemp Research Initiative (CHRIS), which was created in 2021 to conduct agricultural and nonmedical cannabis and hemp research. This fall is also the second time Valentina Fiero, a 2021 ������Ƶ graduate with a degree in Science and Environmental Science, has taught a class in hemp cultivation.

 

Student Research Finds Free Materials Could Replace Books

Replacing expensive textbooks with free educational resources could reduce high college costs, but more professors and administrators need to promote the option to have an impact, according to student research  today by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at ������Ƶ.

The National Center for Education Statistics estimated that college textbooks and materials for the 2021-22 academic year cost an average of $1,326 per student nationally. Over the last 50 years, prices increased at three times the rate of inflation, a research paper by ������Ƶ senior Jessie Nash reported. Textbook costs have increased by 7 percent since 2020, outpacing increases in tuition, fees and housing, the report found.

“Textbook costs are a financial barrier to higher education that disproportionately affects minority, low-income, first-generation and food-insecure students,” said Nash, a Social Work major who produced her research as part of a Hughes Center internship.

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Support in New Jersey for building wind turbines off the coast has plummeted over the past four years, especially in shore towns, according to a ������Ƶ  released on Sept. 28.

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SPOTLIGHT ON: MARY LOU GALANTINO

Mary Lou Galantino, distinguished professor of Physical Therapy,  her ongoing work and research in South Africa this summer through a six-week Fulbright Specialist opportunity.

This trip focused mainly on cancer rehabilitation training for students, clinicians and interprofessional colleagues across the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits, host institution), at local hospitals and throughout three different rural provinces.

“This has been a long-standing relationship since my first Fulbright experience in 2014 and 2017. This next step required hands-on training, and we have established foundational education and research projects in areas that needed resources and implementation of the 2017-2024 National Strategic Plan for Palliative Care and the 2017-2022 National Strategic Plan for Cancer Care,” Galantino said. “While these policies exist, clinical training was lacking and resources sparse in rural areas our team visited.”

PHOTO: Galantino, right, with Dipuo Nasoro, after completing a cancer walk this summer in South Africa. 

FRAME-WORTHY 

Four Years of 'Glowing Up' at ������Ƶ

The Glow Up Opportunity Fair, which represents  for ������Ƶ students to get involved, was originally created in 2018 to expose underrepresented students to different on-campus leadership roles and job opportunities with informational tabling.

Since then, the program has expanded to include Fred Talks (inspired by TED Talks) by fellow students, raffling for prizes with the use of “boarding passes” and more, as evidenced by Thursday, Sept. 21’s event.

Although Yesenia Pacheco, coordinator for Student Transitions, Access and Retention, didn’t create this event, she does consider it one of her passion projects that continues to grow and change.

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