JOHNSON CITY –The proposed College of Public Health at East Tennessee State University would be a major economic thrust in the region and state, producing nearly $41.5 million annually for Tennessee by the end of its first decade, and creating as many as 377 new jobs that would generate $16.1 million in household income.

These are some of the findings from a new economic impact study performed by Dr. Steb Hipple of the ETSU Bureau of Business and Economic Research.  The university is currently in the process of creating a College of Public Health.

“This study is especially good news for Northeast Tennessee,” said Dr. Randy Wykoff, ETSU Dean of Public and Allied Health.  “Of that $41.5 million, approximately $23.6 million will be realized right here in this region.  We would see as many as 253 new jobs and a $10.8 million increase in household income.”

By its 10th year of operation, ETSU anticipates the College of Public Health would have an annual operating budget of $11.7 million and have graduated more than 1,400 students, most of whom would remain in Tennessee.

Wykoff said the financial benefits would be evident much earlier than the 2016-17 year.  The study found that by 2011-12, which would be the fifth year of operation, the economic impact in Northeast Tennessee would be $15.5 million each year, with 213 additional jobs producing $7.5 million in household income.

At the state level, the total yearly impact would be $22.6 million.

Presently, there is no accredited public health school in Tennessee, and there are only two in Central Appalachia.  Those two are located in Pittsburgh and Birmingham.

Plans are for ETSU to split its current College of Public and Allied Health into two schools.   The current departments of public health, environmental health, and health sciences would expand to become a new College of Public Health and would focus on education and research aimed at improving the understanding of various diseases and ways these may be prevented.

Allied health programs, which include audiology, physical therapy, dental hygiene, radiography, cardiopulmonary science, and speech-language pathology, would form a new College of Allied Health Sciences.

This plan was approved by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission in January 2007 and will be presented to the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) this fall for final authorization.

“The results of this economic study are promising, but what you don't see directly in those numbers is how lives will be improved,” Wykoff said.  “The United Health Foundation has given Tennessee an overall health ranking of 47 th place, which means that there are many needs and unhealthy behaviors requiring our immediate attention.  The ETSU College of Public Health will work diligently to address these disparities, and, by changing behaviors, we will save lives.

“There is no way to put a price tag on that.”