Hispanic Health Interest Increasing

One of the many things that attracted me to Texas Tech was our Institute for Hispanic and International Communication (new Web site pending).

Prior to graduate school and a faculty position in the mid-west/east coast, I spent seven years in the Southwest, and I was anxious to return. In part, the psychological processing of media messages across multiple language and multiple cultures interests me.

At present, I am playing a small role in an internal Texas Tech grant to study a health campaign aimed at preventing/treating diabetes among Hispanics in West Texas. The problem is dire. I do not have the statistics at hand, but I am told that this looks to be the first generation of people in America whose life span is shorter than that of its parents.

Friday morning we had a meeting to plan the second phase of grant applications. Usually I hate meetings, but I walked out of this meeting totally energized. We have assembled an amazing interdisciplinary team of scholars from across the campus and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

The work we're planning is meaningful. It is important. And it has the power to improve / extend / save lives. This is an opportunity that comes across too seldom in communications research.