Competency-based health education for the Public Health Generalist degree

President Obama’s  recent initiative, Building American Skills through Community Colleges, is important for public health education!   SOPHE is collaborating with the Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health’s Community Colleges and Public Health Project to insure that a high quality health education concentration is included in the Prototype Curricular Frameworks for Public Health Generalists initiative.  This initiative is intended to assist four-year institutions with developing articulation agreements with community colleges where students will complete two years of course work before matriculating to a bachelor degree program.  Additionally, on the horizon is the possibility that community college students could complete a two-year associate degree program to become a health navigator. Three competency-based health education courses were developed to constitute the health education concentration of the Public Health Generalist degree program.   In this multi-presenter session, participants will learn about future directions of education in public health generally and in health education specifically, and why it is important to work with community colleges to assure that 1) high quality health education professional courses are provided, 2) sound articulation agreements are negotiated between 2- and 4-year degree programs, and 3) the differences between a health navigator and a health education specialist are clearly delineated and maintained.