LEAP and undergraduate public health

The state of the nation's and the world's health makes a strong case that undergraduates need access to education in public health. The Educated Citizen and Public Health (ECPH) initiative aims to address this need, building on the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) campaign, Liberal Education and America's Promise, or LEAP. LEAP provides an outcomes-directed model for the baccalaureate, based on a set of principles of excellence and a pedagogical emphasis on high-impact learning and assessment. The alignment of LEAP and public health learning outcomes will be presented. Through LEAP, AAC&U is introducing integrative public health to a wide range of undergraduate institutions, including state-wide systems in California, Oregon, and Wisconsin. ECPH has prompted some institutions to infuse public health topics across the curriculum. The initiative offers coherent curricular models for course and minor program development. ECPH has engaged the attention of major programs in interdisciplinary health-related fields in the arts and sciences as well as in allied health schools. Examples of these three approaches will be presented for discussion. The challenges of effective inter-professional and interdisciplinary collaboration with the arts and sciences will also be discussed. How can public health curricula be integrated into the humanities through applied learning as well as into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in context of widespread efforts to strengthen STEM learning? The presentation will highlight strategies to bridge public health and the arts and sciences and to engage public health educators and practitioners in this process.