Contact: Dennis Martell, Olin Health Center, (517) 432-1031, Dennis.Martell@ht.msu.edu; or Tom Oswald, University Relations, (517) 355-2281, oswald@msu.edu
06/03/2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. � Dennis Martell said he will consider his tenure as health education coordinator at Michigan State University�s Olin Health Center a success if students continue to find that the center is what he calls an �askable� place.
Martell, who recently took over as head of health education for MSU�s student health center, said it�s imperative that student health centers remain as accessible as possible to the student population.
�If you�re not engaging the students, if you�re not �askable,� you�re failing them,� he said. �If students don�t believe they can come here and ask us any health question, then I don�t think we�ve succeeded.�
Martell said he and his staff are facing a number of new health challenges that, until recently, were not even on the student-health radar screen.
�We�ve seen a trend of students reporting academic harm from excessive Internet use,� he said. �From 2000 to 2004, it�s gone from 10 percent to 15 percent of students reporting this. Among men, 19 percent say they are suffering academically from their Internet overuse.�
Other health issues � in addition to alcohol use, sexuality and infectious diseases � include lack of sleep, stress and back pain.
Among Martell�s priorities as health education coordinator: collaborate more with other on-campus health services in order to address the needs of the whole community, reach out to students more, and develop more data-driven strategies for maintaining health.
�Our long-range objectives remain the same � to increase academic and social success, and reduce morbidity and mortality, so that students are free to succeed,� he said.
After earning a bachelor�s degree from Northern Michigan University and a master�s degree from Central Michigan University, Martell came to MSU in 1985 as a graduate assistant in the Office of Programs for Handicapper Students and an instructor/graduate assistant in the Department of Family and Child Ecology.
In 1993 he was appointed a health education specialist at Olin Health Center, a post he held until September of 2003 when he was named interim coordinator of health education.
Martell also has a master�s degree and a Ph.D. from MSU. He serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Family and Child Ecology, and is part-time faculty at Lansing Community College.
Martell succeeds Nancy Allen, who was recently named director of Healthy U, MSU�s Health Promotion Program.
To learn more about Olin�s Health Education Department, visit the Web at www.olin.msu.edu/navigation.php?id=99