221672 Infusing the spirit and practice of public health into the undergraduate curriculum: Explicit and stealth strategies for encouraging the public health imagination among 21st century students

Monday, November 8, 2010 : 3:20 PM - 3:32 PM

Kathleen M. Roe, DrPH, MPH , Health Science Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Edward Mamary, DrPH, MS , Health Science Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Frank Strona Jr., MPH , Department of Health Sciences, San Jose State University, San Francisco, CA
Mory Chhom, BS , Health Science Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Amado Burgos III, BS , Health Science Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Mojgan Mohammadi , Health Science Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Getachew Alemayhu , Health Science Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Important initiatives in recent years provide new angles from which to approach both explicit and stealth strategies to infuse public health values, methods, and potential through the curricular and co-curricular dimensions of undergraduate education. Key among those developments are the Institute of Medicine's 2003 call to introduce all undergraduates to the core concepts of public health, the LEAP (Liberal Education and America's Promise) initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), and the public health learning outcomes of the AAC&U/Associated Schools of Public Health Educated Citizen and Public Health project. The products and visibility of these initiatives, and the credibility of their sponsoring organizations, provide unique leverage for stimulating public health interest, engagement, collaboration, and outcomes across diverse elements of the university. These opportunities are particularly well suited to the sensibilities of 21st century students and contemporary challenges facing academic institutions. Incorporating examples of effective strategies and student voices, we describe the efforts of a small Health Science Department, home of a CEPH accredited MPH program for over 40 years, to infuse and align core values and methods of public health and social justice throughout the undergraduate curriculum and co-curricular activities of a large, culturally diverse, meso-urban comprehensive university. Points of collaboration, surprise partners, and contextual factors found in other academic settings will be emphasized, along with lessons learned and great ideas that didn't quite work (yet). The critical, supportive roles of communications technologies, community engagement, concerns for sustainability, and the diversity of “the millennials” will be discussed.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Describe the unique leverage provided by the new public health competencies and learning outcomes for infusing education for social justice throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Identify effective strategies for collaborative work across diverse academic units to create sustainable opportunities for reflective public health and social justice learning at undergraduate and graduate levels. Discuss the relationship of education for public health and social justice to the interests and sensibilities of the diverse and important “millennial” generation.

Keywords: Competency, Education

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have designed and implemented public health-related courses in a comprehensive university for over 25 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.