with Marie Cascarano
Marie Cascarano
Born:
Belleville; raised in Nutley
Education:
B.A., psychology and art, Rutgers University,
M.A., health education, Columbia University
Currently pursuing an Ed.D. from Columbia
Family:
Will be married Oct. 19, 2002 to Gerald Mauriello
Previous Employment:
Planned Parenthood
Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Hobbies:
League volleyball, exercising, painting.
Favorite artists:
Georgia O'Keeffe, Salvador Dali and Vincent Van Gogh
While attending Rutgers University in Newark, Marie Cascarano took one
class that changed the course of her life. "My career path was a
big accident," she said. "I took a sexual health advocacy course
and it changed my life."
Marie has been the director of Wellness Education, a department of Wellness
Services, since it began last October. Part of her job includes developing
programs on health-related topics including alcoholism, safe sex, body
acceptance, breast cancer and AIDS. "We focus on preventive education,"
she said.
One of Marie's biggest challenges is letting people know about the department
and what it does. "We are getting the word out that we exist and
we're getting students involved in programs," she said. "That's
a big accomplishment. We have students here Monday through Friday from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m." Marie said she also would like to expand the department's
hours to better serve the needs of resident students. "These students
are here all the time and right now we are only here until 5 p.m."
Wellness Education is located in Bohn Hall where the old I.D. Center was
located. The Health and Wellness Center is located in Blanton Hall.
The department has had programs for World Aids Day--including the creation
of the MSU Aids Quilt--Alcohol Awareness Month and breast cancer awareness,
to name a few. For Halloween, the department distributed 900 bags that
contained valuable information about alcohol poisoning, statistics and,
of course, candy.
"It is my job to get students involved," she said. "People
drop by the Center for information about a variety of problems from stress
management to safe sex. We help by providing resources for the students
that have questions about health issues,” said Marie. "We are
available for the students' needs." Health education students can
also get hands-on experience by working in the department through the
Cooperative Education program.
Marie hopes exposure to the department and its programs encourage students
to get involved in health-related fields. "I would like to train
students to be health advocates," she said, "so they can develop
some programs and workshops themselves."
There are many things Marie says she enjoys about her job. "I love
everything about it," she said, "but I especially enjoy working
with the students because of their enthusiasm and ideas."