KINGSTON, R.I.-September 8, 1999 — Farm*A*Syst/Home*A*Syst, a national pollution prevention effort which the University of Rhode Island’s Cooperative Extension is a Rhode Island coordinator for, recently received the Vice-President Al Gore Hammer Award. The award recognizes programs that make “a government that works better and costs less.” The program is coordinated by URI’s Alyson McCann of West Greenwich. Volunteers for the program must complete a seven-session, 20-hour course offered at URI, where they learn how to conduct home site assessments focusing on such topics as the quality of drinking water wells, lawn and garden care, and indoor air quality. Volunteers then go into the community to help identify and develop ways to alleviate any problems. Through the program, URI also sponsors community workshops and a hotline. The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues has selected University of Rhode Island Assistant Professor Lisa Bowleg, of Providence, the fourth recipient of the Louise Kidder Early Career Award based on her research and her extensive efforts to share her results with a broader audience. Bowleg’s dissertation research explored the role of self-esteem, sexual-esteem, and sexual self-efficacy on African-American college women’s potential HIV/AIDS risk-taking behaviors. Bowleg spent this summer and will return the next two summers to the University of California’s Collaborative HIV Prevention Research in Minority Communities Program where she’s exploring how cultural norms unique to African American men and women, gender roles, power in relationships, and attitudes about sexuality influence HIV/AIDS prevention practices. She has served as a consultant to the American Psychological Association, Public Interest Directorate, Office on AIDS; the Center for Women Policy Studies, National Resource Center on Women and AIDS; and the AIDS Council of Greater Kansas City. -xxx- For More Information: Jan Sawyer, 401-874-2116