By Dr. Peggy Spencer, M.D., UNM Student Health and Counseling Center

It’s true. Swine flu is here. It is all over New Mexico including here at UNM. Has your student had it yet? How about friends and classmates? How many students are out today with flu? I’ll bet there are at least a few, and there will likely be more. 

We have seen lots of H1H1 influenza or “Swine Flu” at Student Health and Counseling. Since Sept. 1 we have had over 100 cases of “influenza‐like illness.” Most of these were H1N1. And those are just the ones who have come to the clinic. There have been many more cases where people just stay home and take care of themselves.

The virus continues to spread. It is very contagious and likes young people. Here are some tips to help students manage before, during and after getting H1N1:

- Before you get sick: Get the regular seasonal flu shot. Make sure you have basic medications at home for fever, cough and congestion. Buy a thermometer, and maybe some soups and juices. Once you have flu you won’t feel like going out to the store for this stuff, and they won’t want you there spreading germs. So stock up. Try to avoid getting the flu by staying away from sick people, keeping your hands away from your face, and washing your hands often. Get plenty of sleep and eat well so your body is strong for the fight against germs.

- Once you are sick: Flu symptoms are fever over 100.5, cough, body aches, sore throat, headache, chills, fatigue, and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting. If you have some or all of these you might have flu. Take to your bed! Drink lots of liquids and treat your symptoms. Expect to be out of commission for five to seven days. Please do NOT go to work or school or out to eat at a restaurant! I know students who have done all of these things. If you go out in public you are putting others at risk. Be considerate and stay away. Contact your professors by email or phone to let them know you are sick.

- Should you get medical care? If you are a basically healthy person who gets the flu, you probably don’t need to see a doctor. Self treatment at home is usually adequate. If, however, you are pregnant, have asthma or other lung problems, are under 2 years old or over 65, or have any chronic medical condition, you should seek care. There is a medication called oseltamivir (Tamiflu) that is recommended for people in these high risk groups, to decrease the risk of flu complications like pneumonia.

- If you are not in these risk groups, there is a small chance that you could still get seriously ill from flu. We have all heard the stories of people who died from H1N1 who had no underlying medical problem. Those stories are scary to be sure, but thankfully also very rare. It is unlikely to be you. That said, if you do get any of the following symptoms, regardless of who you are, please hustle in to the nearest emergency room:

Severe difficulty breathing, severe pain in the chest or belly, sudden dizziness or confusion, severe or persistent vomiting.

After you recover. First of all, this takes a while. As I said before, expect to be out of commission for five to seven days. That means at home resting. Even after the worst of the symptoms have passed, you’ll be weak and easily tired for several days. Take it easy. Don’t return to sports until you feel really good.

Once you are well, step outside and take a deep breath of our crisp Fall air. Stretch your strong body, look up at our New Mexico Blue sky and give yourself the gift of gratitude for your life and good health.

Dear Parents,
Residence Life and Student Housing has provided important information for your students to help them as they transition from the Fall 2009 to the Spring 2010 semester. We have placed this information in your student’s mailbox. We advise that you read and discuss the information below with your student — specific dates and deadlines are important for you to review.

Spring Room Change Option:
• You may request a spring room change by filling out a room change request form, no later than Monday, November 30, 2009.
• You will be assigned a new space prior to the in‐coming spring residents.
• You can choose to wait until January to request a room change; however you will be assigned to available space after all new spring residents are assigned.

Spring Room Change Option Process:
• Fill‐out a room change request form.
• Submit your signed form to your front desk, any time from
Monday, Nov. 9, through Monday, Nov. 30.
• No spring change request forms will be accepted after Monday, Nov. 30. You will have to wait until January to submit your request.
• Residence Life will notify residents, concerning your room change request status, by placing a letter in your SRC mailbox.
• If you are granted a room change, please be aware that you must completely remove all belongings from your current room by noon on Sunday, Dec. 20.
• You will be notified of your new assignment by Monday, Dec. 7.
• You may begin moving into your new spring assignment on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010.

Move Outs for Spring 2010:
• Your contract is for the full academic year.
• Checking out does not release you from your contractual obligation.
• You will find approved reasons and specific instructions on how to petition for spring release on the housing website at housing.unm.edu.
• Click on “Current Residents” tab and select “Petition for Spring Release” in the upper left hand navigation.
• All “spring portion” contract release petitions must be processed in person at the Residence Life and Student Housing Office, 2^nd floor La Posada Hall, no later than Monday, November 30^th.
• All housing contract release verifications will be considered on a case by case basis according to the “Terms and Conditions.”
• “Terms and Conditions” can be located on the housing website at housing.unm.edu.
• Click on the “Current Residents” tab and select “Terms and Conditions” in the top left navigation.

Winter Recess Housing:
• If you are a non‐apartment resident who needs housing during UNM winter break, you are required to fill out an “Intersession Agreement Form” by Wednesday, December 16^th.
• You can fill‐out and submit the form from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Residence Life and Student Housing Office, 2^nd Floor La Posada Hall.
• Your UNM Bursar’s Account will automatically be billed for $375 for winter recess housing.

Meal Plan Changes:
• Spring 2010, meal plan change forms will be accepted at the Residence Life and Student Housing Office in the last week of January.
• Meal changes can be made between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Monday, Jan. 25 through Friday, Jan. 29.
• All meal plan changes become effective Monday, Feb. 1.

Update your Payment Plan on Loboweb:
• Don’t forget to update your payment plan on LoboWeb or you may get dropped from UNM classes due to spring 2010 housing charges.
• You can easily update your payment plan on LoboWeb beginning
Dec. 14, 2009.
• Go to my.unm.edu and log‐in.
• Select “Student Life” tab – click on LoboWeb.
• From the “Student” tab in LoboWeb, click on “Make Payments.”
• Click on “UNM Account Suite” button.

Maintenance:
• If you have maintenance issues go to housing.unm.edu.
• Click on “place a work order for Housekeeping and Maintenance” on our website home page in the bottom left navigation.

Renewal Process for 2010 – 2011:
• Students will be able to sign‐up to live on campus for 2010 – 2011 in February.
• More information will be shared when residents return in January.
• Please be thinking about living on campus next year. 

Contact Information:
• Please contact Residence Life and Student Housing customer service at (505)277‑2606 if you have questions or need additional information.

Parents, our goal has been to share important housing information with you and your student. We highly recommend that you keep this information in a safe place for future reference. If you or your student needs additional help with any of our processes, please contact our Residence Life and Student Housing customer service number listed above.

With success measured by graduation rates and only 44 percent of our students graduating after six years, UNM is filling a family‐friendly toolbox to help students cross the finish line. In addition to enrollment preparation, including parent orientation and freshman convocation, the university’s parent programming includes a Parent Relations Office with a parent liaison and the Parent Association. Students embrace increased family involvement. New research is quantifying positive outcomes such as higher self‐esteem.

Amanda Dussault and Rudy Montoya provide administrative staff support for Student Affairs’ Dean of Students Office, home to LoboOrientation and the Family Connection (parent orientation), National Student Exchange and the Parent Relations Office. Dussault, fondly chided by colleagues as the office’s lone “Aggie,” said her first semester at New Mexico State University was smooth sailing, but the following spring led to a fork in the road. 

“I could not find the balance between friends, homework and everything that comes along with being a college student. I got every grade out there – A, B, C, D and F,” she said. “My dad just got real quiet, and then he said, ‘You are going back in the fall, you will get a job and earn back the lottery [scholarship] or you will find a way to pay for college on your own.” Dussault buckled down and is a proud NMSU alumna. “Part of it was learning not to be afraid to ask for help,” she said. 

Complicating matters is the “tutor stigma,” a high school hangover easily cured by facts. Nearly 85 percent of students are tutored during their college career, said Center for Academic Program Support Director Karen Olson. Good students looking to be great scholars are the first to arrive at the table. Convincing struggling students of the benefits is another matter, she said. 

Montoya, a UNM cinematic arts alumnus, said that from CAPS to department and program‐specific services such as mock testing, study groups and guidance from teaching assistants, professors and peer mentors, help is abundant.
Students typically seek academic support midterm and during finals. “It’s better to do it throughout the entire semester,” Montoya said.

UNM senior Adriana Romero said parents should get involved early on and not worry about being labeled as over‐involved. “I didn’t seek academic support until I was a junior. It can be embarrassing, but it’s about committing yourself more to your studies and not getting so caught up in the fun stuff. We forget that we have papers to do.” 

Romero advises parents to be open and understanding about academic progress. “It’s scary to have to tell someone who is helping you pay for your education that you are not doing so well. And you don’t want to disappoint them.”

The next installment of UNM’s Parent Talk speaker series is Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m. in the main campus Student Services Building, Dean of Students Conference Room, rm. 260.

The University of New Mexico is encouraging students, staff and faculty who smoke to participate in the Great American Smokeout Thursday, Nov. 19 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the SUB Atrium.

Tobacco educational activities, and information about cessation and secondhand smoke part of the event. Quit kits and free nicotine patches and gum will be given to those who pledge to quit for 24 hours. 

The Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention, Student Health & Counseling and the Employee Health Promotion Program sponsor the event. For more information call 277‑2795 or e‐mail, cosap@​unm.​edu.

Need help paying tuition and other college‐related expenses? The next installment of UNM’s free Parent Talk series is focused on finances.

Susan Chavez of UNM Financial Aid and Bill Bloom of the Scholarship Office will discuss how the financial aid process works. Prepare now so that you are ready to apply for the 2010 financial aid package; application period begins Jan.1.

Join us from 6  –  7 p.m. in the Dean of Students Conference Room, Student Services Building main campus. Parent networking begins at 5:30 p.m. Parking is available in the Cornell Parking Structure for $1.75 per hour. Student Services is located just east of the Student Union Building at the rear of Mesa Vista Hall. 

UNM’s 2^nd annual Family Weekend, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23 – 24, is an opportunity for parents to connect with and support their student’s experience at UNM mid semester.

This year’s theme, “A New Mexico Adventure,” was developed by a campus‐wide committee with input from parents and students. Early‐bird registration is ongoing through Thursday, Oct. 1. For more information visit: Family Weekend.

“Many universities celebrate their state or region during Family Weekend,” said Committee Chair Laurie Mellas of the Parent Relations Office. “The philosophy behind hosting a weekend for students and families is two‐fold: it aids recruitment from the standpoint that siblings and other young people attend, but at the heart of it is retention. Students need family support and this is a way to reconnect with their families at a time of the semester when some are homesick or have other issues that might affect their success at UNM.”

On Friday, from noon — 5 p.m., visit the Student Union Building to pick up your Family Weekend packet, with event tickets, free tote bag and other goodies. Also in the SUB, starting at 1 p.m., meet the Parent Association Board of Directors and learn how to become involved in the association’s activities, events and philanthropy. Read the rest of this entry »

The beginning of a new semester is often full of frenzied activity for UNM students, faculty and staff. Between starting new classes, settling into a new schedule and routine, and getting to know fellow students, fellow professors and colleagues, it is easy to get caught up in all the commotion.

Unfortunately, this time also often brings an increase in spam e‐mail and hacker attempts, as spammers send out mass e‐mails asking for personal information or by embedding viruses in attached hyperlinks.  Encourage your student to protect both personal information and the UNM network by following a few simple rules.

•  If your student does receive a message he or she thinks is spam, forward it to spamdrop@​unm.​edu.

 • Don’t click on hyperlinks within e‐mail messages — this is a primary way that hackers spread viruses and spyware.

 • Don’t open e‐mail from people or sources you don’t know, and don’t download files sent by strangers.

 • Students should not respond to any e‐mail that asks for your date of birth, UNM NetID and/or password, or Social Security number. Many hackers send out mass e‐mails pretending to be from UNM’s IT Department, but IT will never send you an e‐mail asking anyone to provide personal information. If in doubt, delete the e‐mail and contact the IT Support Center at 277‑4848.

• Make sure your student has a firewall and antivirus software on their computer. UNM provides Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) antivirus software to all UNM students at no cost. Your student can visit Symantec Endpoint Protection to get a free copy of of the software.

The next installment in UNM’s free Parent Talk series is Wednesday, Sept. 2, from 6 – 7 p.m. in the Student Services Center, Dean of Students Conference Room (rm. 260). Students and extended family are welcome to attend!

Each semester hundreds of student organizations are active with support from the UNM Student Activities Center –  learn what’s out there and how your student can get involved and stay connected. Our speakers will include Ryan Lindquist, SAC assistant director, and a panel of students active in various organizations. Read the rest of this entry »

UNM is planning far in advance for what could be a very significant flu season. Not only is the UNM Health Sciences Center planning for the annual seasonal flu, but also the next anticipated wave of the H1N1 flu, sometimes called “swine flu.”

For the seasonal flu, HSC has ordered 45,000 doses of vaccine to administer through HSC’s clinical facilities on – and off‐campus. When the vaccine is received, HSC will publicize dates, times and locations where people can get a flu shot. Locations will include UNM Hospital, Student Health Center, Lobo Care Clinic and UNM family clinics throughout the city.

While the seasonal flu vaccine is important for people who fall into high‐risk categories, it will not be effective against the H1N1 influenza. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and vaccine manufacturers are hard at work developing a separate vaccine, expected to be available in September or October. Unlike the seasonal flu vaccine which takes only one dose, the CDC anticipates protection against the H1N1 virus will require an initial vaccination followed by a booster at a later date.

One reason UNM is working hard to prepare for a potential H1N1 outbreak is that unlike the seasonal flu, which primarily affects infants and the elderly, the World Health Organization reports that the H1N1 influenza has disproportionally affected people 6 – 24 years old. That age group is a CDC priority for receiving the vaccine, and HSC and UNM will work with the New Mexico Department of Health to administer pandemic vaccine to students within that age group when it is available. Read the rest of this entry »

G. Randy Boeglin, UNM Dean of Students, has announced that the Parent Relations Office and Parent Association will now be units in the Dean of Students Office, which also oversees LOBO Orientation for  incoming freshmen as well as the Family Connection Program, an orientation for parents and family members.

“All of these units are committed to enhancing student success and all share a common core value of embracing and facilitating connections and partnerships with UNM parents and family members,” Boeglin said today in a memorandum to the UNM Parent Association.

Boeglin, a UNM alumnus, has worked at several institutions that includes a 30‐year tenure at UNM.  He has served as Dean of Students for the past 13 years. 

 “I am excited and energized to be a part of this organizational design, " Boeglin added. “I am confident our combined efforts will produce a strengthened UNM effort to connect to and partner with you, your family, and your student.  I look forward to sharing what I know will be a rewarding future for all of us who care about and work with our most precious institutional asset:  Your sons, daughters, and family members.”

Laurie Mellas is senior program manager for the Parent Relations Office and executive director of the Parent Association, both relatively new UNM programs.  For more information, visit the About section of this site.