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Volunteers Help Housekeeping Staff Learn English |
| By Rich McManus |
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VPEP founder Maria G. Hessie (c) is flanked by Giovanna Guerrero (l) of NINDS and Rebecca Marci Brown of NCI. |
They say charity begins at home, but it can also take root in the workplace, as NIAID’s Maria G. Hessie has proven by establishing lunch-hour classes to help NIH’s foreign-born housekeepers learn English.
A native of Mexico and 11-year NIH veteran, Hessie was approached in 2006 by a housekeeper who asked for help learning English. Hessie agreed to tutor the woman, but on the day they were to meet for their initial session, the housekeeper
showed up with five other housekeepers,
all Hispanic, most from El Salvador.
Two years later, Hessie’s tutoring program had a name—Volunteer Program for English Proficiency (VPEP)—and now attracts 45-50 students taught year-round by a growing cadre of volunteer teachers who meet in Bldgs. 10 and 31.
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New Board Holds Inaugural Meeting, Discusses Possible NIDA-NIAAA Merger |
| By Rich McManus |
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The two most recent past NIH directors returned to campus in late April to address the inaugural meeting of the scientific management
review board (SMRB), a body that was created by the NIH Reform Act of 2006 to survey,
at least once every 7 years, management issues that transcend the mandates of other high-level NIH oversight bodies.
The board undertook a number of questions, including whether NIH’s current structure is best suited to its mission and, more specifically,
whether there are grounds to consider merging NIDA and NIAAA. The 2-day meeting
also looked at NIH’s Intramural Research Program (IRP) and the Clinical Center, both of which have struggled with budget difficulties in recent years (see sidebar).
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