255587 Undergraduate public health education: Lessons from the trenches

Monday, October 29, 2012

William Faraclas, DrPH , Department of Public Health, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT
Dona Schneider, PhD, MPH , Edward J Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers,The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ
Background: In early 2011, the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) Educated Citizen and Public Health initiative, in partnership with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research and the APTR Healthy People Curriculum Task Force, issued a call for participation to successful public health programs in place at two- and four-year undergraduate institutions. The institutions were invited to describe the development, implementation, and maintenance of their undergraduate public health programs, to illustrate how campus efforts support the Healthy People Curriculum Taskforce's Education for Health framework and Healthy People 2020 educational objectives.

Methods: Submissions were reviewed by the AAC&U and 15 institutions were selected to participate (13 four-year and 2 two-year).

Results: The selected case studies are scheduled to be showcased online, and eventually linked to the Healthy People 2020 website, as a way to share program innovations with those institutions seeking to advance the teaching of disease prevention, population health, and public health on their campuses. Common and unique experiences from the case studies are summarized in this presentation.

Conclusions or Significance: These observations offer guidance to other colleges and universities that may wish to begin public health majors or minors, and highlight opportunities and challenges involved in the development and implementation of new programs. We hope that by sharing what we have learned, additional undergraduate public health programs will continue to successfully blossom across the nation.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Compare the experiences of undergraduate programs in public health housed in 2- and 4-year institutions. Identify programs that can serve as resources to institutions considering implementing new undergraduate public health major/minor/certificate programs. List the common experiences of successful undergraduate public health programs. Explain why successful undergraduate public health programs can be housed in community colleges, 4-year liberal arts institutions, or professional schools.

Keywords: Public Health Education, Teaching

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I developed one of the nation's earliest and longest-running BS programs in public health in 1980, and have been instrumental in its success as Department Chair for the past 33 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.

Back to: 3276.0: Academic Public Health Caucus Poster Session I