Educator earns award
for HIV prevention work

Laura Dybdal, an associate professor at UM, was honored with the Governor’s Award for Outstanding HIV Prevention in Helena on World AIDS Day Dec. 2.

Dybdal, who teaches in the Health Promotion Program of UM’s Department of Health and Human Performance, was presented with the award by Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger in the State Capitol Rotunda.

“I am glad we set aside today to recognize those Montanans who have worked so hard in the HIV/AIDS prevention field,” Bohlinger said in a statement. “Gov. Schweitzer and I thank them for their devotion to the cause and pray that one day we can all close the book on this terrible disease.”

Since 2001, Dybdal has been working on a campaign for HIV prevention. She developed motion design movies for the Internet and television targeting various populations across Montana, from American Indians, youth and gay communities to drug users.

Dybdal has been involved with HIV prevention since 1987, when she moved to Albuquerque, N.M.

“Like many people, I became involved because I had family and friends who became HIV positive,” she said. “That was a time when there weren’t the medications we have today and being diagnosed with HIV was basically a death sentence, so prevention was all we had.”

Dybdal is working to bring the campaign’s Web site, http://www.HIVmontana.org, back on-line with the new movies. However, they can be seen on TV in Great Falls and Billings, and this spring they will be shown on the air in Butte and Kalispell, Dybdal said.

The work wouldn’t be possible without the help of Rick Hughes, associate professor of media arts, Dybdal said. Hughes has been involved from the beginning, and helped contribute to the high quality of the final product, she said.

“While it is an honor to receive this award, it is also bittersweet as a reminder that we still don’t have a cure for HIV/AIDS and millions of people are still suffering,” Dybdal said.