[afro-nets] Supercourse Newsletter, December 30, 2005

["Ronald E. LaPorte" <super1+@pitt.edu>]

Supercourse Newsletter, December 30, 2005
-----------------------------------------
 
http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/
 
Please forward to 5 friends (students-faculty) and friends? 
(Deans, Bosses and Mother in laws)
 
We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror.
-- Marshall McLuhan
 
New Years: This is a time to reflect upon 2005 and dream about 
the future. It has been a wonderful year and we thank everyone. 
As seen in the table we are continuing our rapid expansion. We 
are most certainly the one of the leading academic projects in 
Global Health. Next time you present, ask how many have heard of 
the Supercourse. You will be surprised how many use Super-
course!!

Last year with virtually no resources other than you we were 
able to produce a 13,000 increase in membership, and 423 addi-
tional lectures while at the same time evolving a powerful new 
technologies such as JIT lectures. 
 
2005 highlights
 
JITs, JITs and more JITs: Just-in-Time lectures rush scholarly 
information into classrooms of the world within days. Ali Ar-
dalan?s Tsunami lecture spread world wide in hours, and exploded 
into the world?s classrooms 
 
JIT Hurricane Lectures: Ali created hurricane lectures for 
Katrina which were pushed into classrooms in 80% of the states 
of the US before Rita slammed into the US. Ali from Iran is the 
JIT lecture king. 
 
JIT Avian Flu lecture: Rashid Chotani developed a wonderful lec-
ture seen may thousands world wide, and in continuously updated. 
It is used by many. 
 
Cutler Lecture: Eric Noji presented a lecture via web cast and 6 
other information channels. It is destined to teach a million. 
It could be a Guinness book of world record lecture, the lecture 
that taught the most people­ever. 
Power Meeting: A small group of global experts from Internet2, 
Academia, Industry, MOH Mexico, NASA, and UN to discuss our fu-
ture 
 
Course submission: Drs. Bhopal, Paneth, Rockett, Leggar and Ze-
len gave us wonderful, scholarly complete courses to share with 
the world. Amazing 
 
Translations: Large numbers of lectures are being translated. 
Dr. Padilla, for example has been exceptional in developing lec-
tures in Spanish 
 
Faina competed her Ph.D. 
 
Baltic Networking and Food Fest: We established research net-
working for Baltic countries, and drank vodka and ate eel with 
friends at the Food Fest 
 
Khawar Kazmi and Soni Dodani developed extensive collaboration 
in Pakistan, as well as promoting Ali?s Pakistani Earthquake 
lecture to schools 
 
China Supercourse: 150 students are translating the Supercourse 
in China 
 
Lillienfeld Prize: I received a prize from the American Public 
Health Association for education. It is not my prize but the Su-
percourse family. 
 
Kazakhstan: Dr. Kulzhanov has become a warm friend and was a 
kind host to Eugene and Faina. We have developed a strong col-
laboration with his exceptional School of Public Health 
 
Sir Richard Doll Memorial coordinated by Mita was an excellent 
tribute 
 
PowerPoint Lectures: because of Eugene and Steve Puluka, we now 
have the Supercourse lectures downloadable in PowerPoint. 
 
Francois Sauer, Ian Rawson, Nat Mass, Sunil Wadhwani, Top busi-
ness people are helping to build a Business plan so we do not 
sink
 
Whew? Certainly we missed something. We are exceedingly proud of 
our global team. This was possible because so many people 
?pitched in? to help each other. 
 
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past 
or present are certain to miss the future. 
-- John F. Kennedy
 
2006 Resolutions:
 
Establish a Global Health Society whose mission is to be the 
premier Global Health Research, Education and Translation Soci-
ety 
 
Build 2 Global Health Schools, using our curricula and faculty 
coaches 
 
Many other things 
 
As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable 
it. 
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
Final Note: Global health is exciting, tell your students. We 
want to recruit the best students in the world to Global/Public 
Health, these include those in Physics, Math, Psychology, Agri-
culture, Meteorology, Medicine etc. Global health is multidisci-
plinary. Please contact students in the honor societies or out-
standing students and tell them about the buzz of Global Health. 
Have them contact me, Ron (ronaldlaporte@gmail.com). I will help 
to guide the best of the best students to universities around 
the world to build the field with outstanding young people.
 
Happy birthday to Jan Dorman, (jsd@pitt.edu), Associate dean, 
Professor, Co-Director WHO collaborating center, and my wife 
(always presented by me in this order!!) A former New Years 
Baby.
 
If you would like to join the Supercourse, send a note to Mita 
at Super1@pitt.edu.
 
Happy Happy Happy New Year!! from Ron, Faina, Eugene, Mita, 
Soni, Ali, Rashid, Francois, Khawar, Ian, Sunil, Saida, Rania, 
Arlene, Julia, Jan the birthday girl