Dear colleagues –

In 2015, we adopted an educational philosophy, to lead in educational excellence and innovation in teaching public health, aiming to teach in a way that is authentic, inclusive, flexible, ongoing, and reflective of changes in the health of the population.  While the basic tenets of this philosophy still hold, much has changed in the world, in higher education, and in academic public health necessitating more attention on equitable access to education, a clearer return on investment in higher education, and the need to cover new knowledge and skills as core elements of any educational offering in public health. To remain a top tier educational institution, we must respond to these and other changes to prepare graduates for professional public health practice and research careers.  To ensure that we continue to innovate in education, we are moving to both restructure our educational leadership, and also, building on that structure, launching a strategic educational review.

First on structure.  Effective October 1, 2024 we are realigning our education structure.  Specifically, we will engage four faculty program directors: On-campus MPH Director (Professor Megan Healey), Online MPH Director (Professor Emily Goldmann), DrPH Director (Professor Jessica Leibler), and Research Masters and PhD Director (Professor Birgit Claus Henn, starting in January 2025).  These four faculty directors, along with the Associate Dean for Education, and the Assistant Dean of Strategic Educational Initiatives will form the Educational Leadership Group (ELG).  The ELG will continue to be supported by staff in the Office of Strategic Educational Initiatives and their roles and responsibilities will be updated in the SPH Faculty Handbook.  To support this new structure, staff roles and responsibilities within the Office of Strategic Educational Initiatives will also be realigned.

At a high level, the On-campus MPH Director is responsible for all aspects of the on-campus MPH program and students, works with the MPH core course instructors and certificate leads and coordinates the activities of the Undergraduate (Professor Sophie Godley) and Dual-Degree (Professor Chris Louis) Programs Directors.  They work closely with the Director of On-campus Educational Programs (Caitlin Brand) and staff in the Admissions Office, the Office of Graduate Student Life, the Registrar’s Office, and the Career & Practicum Office.

The Online MPH Director is responsible for all aspects of the online MPH program and students, works with the Online MPH Program Committee, and supports faculty who are directing online modules.  They work closely with the Senior Director of the Online MPH (Madeline Crossley) and Director of Student Success (Mahogany Price, who oversees all learning facilitators and student success specialists), and staff assigned to the online MPH in the Admissions and Registrar’s Offices.

The DrPH Director is responsible for all aspects of the DrPH program and students, manages the DrPH Program Committee, works closely with the Director of On-campus Educational Programs and staff in the Admissions Office, the Office of Graduate Student Life, the Registrar’s Office, and the Career & Practicum Office.

The Research Masters and PhD Director provides strategic leadership for all research-focused degrees and coordinates the activities of the Master of Science Programs Directors (Professors Chunyu Liu, Andrew Stokes and Yorghos Tripodis) and the PhD Program Directors (Professors Jaimie Gradus, Kevin Lane and Steve Pizer) who are responsible for all aspects of their respective programs and students.  They work closely with the Director of On-campus Educational Programs and staff in the Admissions Office, the Office of Graduate Student Life, the Registrar’s Office, and the Career & Practicum Office.

Please note, this new structure does not change the role of the Education Committee, as the governing body of the School’s educational strategy, policies, and programming.  In order to implement any changes, the faculty program directors will work with their respective groups to put forth proposals for Education Committee review.

Second, the ELG, in partnership with the Education Committee will launch a strategic educational review of our program offerings. Teaching in the coming decades must focus on inclusive excellence, respecting and valuing diverse perspectives and experiences, include effective use of existing and emerging technologies, must develop transferrable critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students, and include practical, authentic, and experiential learning opportunities for students.  Over the next five years, our educational offerings must be more interdisciplinary and globally focused, use educational technology with intention to fill gaps and build bridges between teachers and students and among students, and must include training in advocacy, communication, community engagement and partnership, health equity, ethics and cultural humility.

With new department chairs, changes in program directors, new faculty and staff, we have been making changes in our educational offerings regularly.  And with our recent mirror-to-self review and upcoming CEPH re-accreditation, we are well-positioned to engage in a more strategic, comprehensive review of our educational offerings.

The strategic review will be comprehensive and systematic.  For each degree program (MPH, DrPH, MS, PhD) we will examine enrollment trends, learning outcomes, graduation rates, faculty capacity, and faculty, staff, student, and alumni feedback. Some of this work is already underway and will be folded into the review.  We will also benchmark against peer institutions to identify best practices and areas for improvement. The ELG, in partnership with the Education Committee, will then develop actionable recommendations to enhance curricula and align programs with the needs of the field to ensure that the school’s offerings remain competitive and relevant. The review process will be highly inclusive and iterative, and an outline of the process, with specific opportunities for engagement, will be shared for review and feedback in the coming weeks.

Thank you in advance for your engagement in the strategic review process – we look forward to what we can create together!

Sincerely,

Lisa Sullivan

Associate Dean for Education

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