A strong curriculum and a sense of humor: Challenges and opportunities in coodinating a new MPH program

Creating new, competency-based master of public health (MPH) programs is an important strategy for meeting the growing need for a trained, diverse public health workforce. It is also an opportunity for passionate public health academics to develop strong, current curricula that can be crafted from the very beginning to develop core competencies and capitalize on new technologies and program delivery models. At the same time, making the program “come to life” and operate day-to-day presents new challenges along with opportunities. This presentation reflects on these challenges and opportunities from the faculty coordinator perspective, offering lessons learned and critical observations. Becoming MPH faculty coordinator in a new program brings a flood of new roles and responsibilities. In our experience, this individual became not only program ambassador for prospective and new students, but essentially ambassador of public health to other disciplines and departments and the larger community. This requires a breadth of focus across the core disciplines that pushes one beyond the traditional focus on one's own specialization. The faculty coordinator also serves as a bridge between constituencies, perhaps most notably between students and community partners. This involves understanding and calibrating the expectations of community partners for what the new program and its students can realistically contribute, on one hand, and students' skills and professional development on the other. As a primary contact point for students, the faculty coordinator also has the opportunity to get detailed program feedback and develop creative academic and practice-oriented solutions to students' needs and challenges.