• Nine members of the Bemidji School of Nursing faculty organized a “mini-scrubs” breakout session for TRiO students during the 10th Annual Minnesota TRiO Day on Feb. 16. The group gave high school students from around the region an opportunity to explore nursing by removing stitches, washing their hands with GloGerm, listening to heart and breath sounds and interacting with the program’s high-fidelity simulator.

• Leslie Darmofal, assistant professor of nursing, has worked for more than a year on the Newborn Screening Position Statement with the International Society of Nurses in Genomics’ Ethics and Public Policy Committee. The statement is the society’s international position on the role of nurses in genomics and newborn screening; it was approved at the society’s Oct. 2012 conference.

• Dr. Mary Fairbanks, assistant professor of nursing, is serving as a quality matters reviewer for the system office.

• Dr. Sheila Paul, Nancy Hall, Leslie Darmofal, Dr. Tiffany Hommes and Fairbanks from the Bemidji School of Nursing attended a Center for Professional Development event, “Active and Collaborative Learning Techniques and Evidence-Based Teaching,” facilitated by Dr. Geoffrey Schneider on Feb. 18.

• Dr. Anton Treuer, executive director of the American Indian Resource Center, has been named a finalist for the 2013 Northeast Minnesota Book Awards for his book, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask.” It is one of 13 nominees in the fiction category. The 25th annual award ceremony will take place May 23 in the Kirby Ballroom on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.