Announcements

New Commencement 2012 Mobile App

Check out the Columbia University Commencement Week 2012 mobile app for essential on-the-go Commencement Day, Baccalaureate Service and school ceremony details. Make sure you have up-to-date information as you participate in events: check ceremony schedules, understand campus access, view maps and keep track of important details. Please also share with your guests as they prepare for their visit to campus. Go to m.commencement.columbia.edu.

Visit Columbia University Commencement Week 2012 for more information.

Share Your Thoughts about the Columbia Health Website!

Some Columbia University Web sites are currently undergoing an overhaul – updating their design and added new features. This work also includes the Columbia Health website, www.health.columbia.edu. We would like to invite students to participate in the Columbia Health Website Workgroup. The workgroup is charged with providing feedback and recommendations for the redesign of the Health website.

This project is a year-long commitment and may include, but not limited to, workgroup meetings, providing qualitative and quantitative feedback, as well as soliciting and presenting ideas to improve the Columbia Health website.

Students will be compensated for this long-term commitment. Inquire with the workgroup chairs: Phung Tran (pt2245@columbia.edu) and Amanda Daugherty at (acd2150@mail.columbia.edu).

“Everybody Knows Somebody” – National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week is February 26 - March 3. This national observance helps to elevate public attention of the serious dangers with eating disorders and their biological as well as environmental triggers. This year’s national theme is “Everybody Knows Somebody” in which we recognize and try to combat the pressures, attitudes, and behaviors that can contribute to eating disorder.

Resources are available at Columbia Health to address students’ questions about eating concerns or eating disorders:

The Eating Disorders Team is comprised of health care professionals who work with students on eating issues for informational purposes, medical and psychological evaluations, and/or referrals for treatment. The team understands both medical complications of eating disorder symptoms and the emotional component that accompanies its behavior.

The Eating Disorders Team is multi-disciplinary, and includes:

• a psychological component with psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers;
• a medical component with doctors, nurse practitioners, and nurses;
• a nutritional component with a nutritionist; and,
• an outreach component with a health educator.

Students may also consider contacting a member of the Eating Disorders Team, Counseling and Psychological Services or Medical Services for questions, support, and services.

To learn more about eating disorders, please visit the Columbia Health website's Health Topics or Go Ask Alice!

More information about National Eating Disorders Awareness Week can be found at the National Eating Disorders Association’s website at www.nationaleatingdisorders.org

Columbia Health Launches New Go Ask Alice! Website

Go Ask Alice!, a leading Internet resource supported by Columbia University that answers reader-generated questions ranging from acne to x-rays, debuts an updated website today at www.goaskalice.columbia.edu. Site enhancements enable readers to find information easily and quickly, and be a part of the conversation. Launched in 1993, Go Ask Alice! is one of the oldest Web sites to provide systematically researched, reliable, and culturally sensitive health information.

Among new features of the site are a redesigned navigation system and page layout, an expansion of site capabilities to allow more flexibility and engagement with readers, as well as an evolution of the site’s technology to meet current and future Web standards for disability access.

With intensive reader feedback, Go Ask Alice! was redesigned to streamline the way visitors navigate to new or archived health questions and answers and other related content. Information is now categorized in four sections: 1) browsing for questions by health topic; 2) directly receiving new Go Ask Alice! questions; 3) participating in health quizzes, polls, and other features; and 4) accessing health information and resources in one convenient location. The page layout and color palette were also upgraded for a cleaner and more approachable site that highlights Go Ask Alice!’s 18-year digital presence combined with contemporary branding.

Go Ask Alice! maintains its format as an anonymous question and answer site, but further engages users by enabling readers to rate or comment on any of the thousands of questions found in six broad health categories: alcohol & other drugs; emotional health; general health; nutrition and physical activity; relationships; and sexual and reproductive health.

Leveraging current technologies for social networking and sharing, readers can distribute Go Ask Alice! content on any of their preferred social platforms. The redesign incorporates a “Share” button listing social communities, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, among others, and allows the site to expand into newer technologies further down the pipeline. Additionally, the site is redesigned to provide full Web accessibility to visitors with visual impairments.

Go Ask Alice! has more than 1.5 million visitors each month and contains thousands of health-related questions produced by Columbia Health, Alice! Health Promotion. This is the third major enhancement of the site. Go Ask Alice! is supported entirely by Columbia University and does not receive funding to promote specific products, nor does it accept advertising of any sort.

picture: 

Blue.jpg