A A A
Winter '07-'08 College of Public Health Newsletter

GREETINGS

This has been such a whirlwind few months that perhaps you didn’t miss the Newsletter!   Just to recap:

  • In October, 2007 we received permission from CEPH to become a College of Public Health;
  • In November, 2007 we became an Associate Member of the Association of Schools of Public Health (one of only 46 full and associate members);
  • In January, 2008 we hosted Harrison Spencer, the CEO of ASPH for our official “kick-off” event that was attended by a standing-room-only crowd;
  • In February, 2008 we launched the new College website (thanks to Mike Stoots): College of Public Health  
  • In February, 2008, we joined our sister Colleges in formally celebrating the National Rural Health Association “Outstanding Rural Health Program of the Year”
  • We have developed a Vision, Mission and Core Values statements for the College (see the last page of this newsletter)
We are deeply into our CEPH self-study, on the way to completing the transition from an accredited Program to an accredited College.

COLLABORATION:

Congratulations to a remarkable cross-section of folks from the Colleges of Public Health, Arts and Sciences, Nursing, Education, Business and Technology, and Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences, that worked in very short order to develop a consensus proposal that resulted in the Tennessee Department of Health receiving a major grant for its Early Childhood Comprehensive System.   A great example of building on the strengths of ETSU, and creating a 6 College consortium, to help the State!   Thanks to Cynthia Taylor and Mary Ann Littleton for their work on this.  

Another great example of inter-College Collaboration is an on-going working group dealing with issues related to aging.   Folks from Public Health, Nursing, Medicine, Pharmacy Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences and from several parts of the V.A. have worked together to develop an on-going collaboration.   The first outcome was the most widely subscribed CME program in ETSU history—on Falls in the Elderly.   Currently, plans are underway to develop a Falls Clinic, with further future collaborations in the works.   Thanks to Wanzer Drane and Mary Ann Littleton for their work.

Thanks to Tim Aldrich and Jim Anderson for their collaborative work in teaching the principles of epidemiology and cancer epidemiology to the Medical Oncology Fellowship Program at the Quillen College of Medicine.  

Thanks to Brian Martin for helping the Sullivan County Regional Health Department with their strategic planning process.   According to Gary Mayes, Director, “Our staff has been very complimentary of the excellent job that Dr. Brian Martin did assisting us . . . . he exceeded our expectations.”  

Thanks to Tim Aldrich and Jonathan Savoy for writing a white paper for the CareSpark on “ First Assessment of Public Health Indicators of the CareSpark Region.”

Thanks to Tim Aldrich for co-authoring a paper with J. Savoy and V. Yalamanchali on “Pre-Hospital Heart Attack and Stroke EMS Assessment   [2007]” for the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program of the Division of Community Health, and for the Division of Training for the EMS Division;   Tennessee Department of Health.

PUBLICATIONS:

Congratulations to Joel Hillhouse on a research report on indoor tanning that generated national, state and local news coverage.   Joel’s research was reported on by CBS News, US Politics Today, MedPage Today and others.   The reference is “Patterns of Indoor Tanning Use:   Implications for Clinical Interventions”   Archives of Dermatology   2007 143:1530-1535.   This builds on Joel’s research previously published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine 2007 Oct; 30( 5): 385-93; and 2004 Aug; 27( 4): 393-412; the Archives of Dermatology 2006 Oct; 142( 10): 1348-50 and 2005 Nov; 141( 11): 1465 and 2005 Aug; 141( 8): 1028-31. There is also a nice article about Joel and his work in the Winter 2008 “Explorations” (the publication of ETSU’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs).  

Congratulations to Mike Dunn, and co-authors Bruce Goodrow, Connie Givens, and Susan Austin, for recent publication of research article entitled “Substance Use Behavior and Suicide Indicators among Rural Middle School Students” which was published in the January 2008, Vol. 78, No. 1 issue of Journal of School Health.   This study was funded by the Tennessee Coordinated School Health initiative through the Tennessee Department of Education and received very nice coverage in the local and State media.  

Additionally, Mike Dunn’s paper “The Relationship between Substance Use and Sexual Behavior among Middle School Adolescents” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of School Health.   Co-authors for this paper include Vara Ilapogu, LaShan Taylor, Roger Black, Charlie Naney, and Regina Wilder.

Congratulations to Chul-Young Roh for the acceptance of two papers “Telemedicine:   What It is, Where It Came From and Where It Will Go” by the journal Comparative Technology Transfer and Society; and  “Determinants of Hospital Choice of Rural Hospital Patients:   The Impact of Networks, Service Scopes, and Market Competition” by the Journal of Medical Systems.  

Congratulations to Joanne Flowers and Tim Aldrich on the acceptance of a paper for Tennessee Medicine.   “Stroke Mortality in Tennessee: An Eco-epidemiologic Perspective.”

Congratulations to Kelly Cole and Tim Aldrich on the publication of “Research Report Review: Annual Report to the National on the Status of Cancer: 1975-2003” in Journal of Registry Management. 34(1):16.2007.

Congratulations to Tim Aldrich on co-authoring a paper with T.E., Freitas, S.J., Ling L. and McKinney P. “Brain cancer survival in Kentucky: 1996-2000” accepted by the Kentucky Medical Journal.  

Congratulations to Michelle Crimi for having two papers and a book chapter accepted for publication:

Petri B., R.L. Siegrist, M. Crimi (2008).   Effects of Groundwater Velocity and Permanganate concentration on DNAPL Mass Depletion Rates during In Situ Oxidation.   Journal of Environmental Engineering, 134(1):1-13

Siegrist, R.L., Crimi, M.L.,Munakata-Marr, J.,Illangasekare, T., Dugan, P., Heiderscheidt, J., Petri, B., Sahl, J. (2008).   Chemical Oxidation for Clean up of Contaminated Ground Water.   Methods and Techniques for Cleaning-up Contaminated Sites, 45-58, Springer.

Siegrist R.L., M. Crimi, J. Munakata-Marr, T. Illangasekare, P. Dugan, J. Heiderscheidt, B. Petri, and J. Sahl (2008).  Chemical Oxidation for Clean Up of Contaminated Groundwater.  In: Methods and Techniques for Cleaning-up Contaminated Sites .  M.D. Annable et al. (eds.), 2008 Springer, p. 45-58.

 

Congratulations, to Nate Fethke on the publication of the following:   Fethke, N.B., Anton, D., Cavanaugh, J.E., Gerr, F., Cook,T.M. (2007).   Bootstrap Exploration of the Duration of Surface Electromyography Sampling in Relation to the Precision of Exposure Estimation.   Scand J Work Environ Health 2007, vol 33, no 5. (Oct 2007)

Congratulations to Tricia Metts on the acceptance of two papers for publication:

Metts, T.A. (2008) Addressing environmental health implications of mold exposure after major flooding. AAOHN Journal, In Press.

Metts, T. A. & Batterman, S.A. (2007) Heterogeneous reactions of ozone and d-limonene on activated carbon. Indoor Air, 17, 363-371.

Congratulations to Edward Onyango on the acceptance of paper entitled “Phytates reduce uptake of leucine but not lysine, glutamate and glucose from the intestinal lumen of chicken” which is due for publication in Acta Vet. Hung. 55(4) (2008).

 

ABSTRACTS AND PRESENTATIONS:

Congratulations to a variety of faculty, adjuncts, and students for participating in participating in several conference presentations:

Reinhart N., Hughes T., Muldoon S., Aldrich T., Tollerud DJ. "A model for occupational health studies at sensitive federal facilities: The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant". Round Table Discussion, Abstract #152197, American Public Health Association (APHA) Scientific Session, November 2007. Washington DC.

Damara P., Iriarte, I., Saman, D.M., Freitas S.J., Aldrich T.E., and Brion, G.M. “Health Effects of Occupational Exposures on PGDP Workers: The Home Stretch” - University of Kentucky, College of Public Health, Research Symposium, Lexington, KY, October 2007. ( Award-winning poster)

Saman, D.M., Freitas, S.J., Aldrich, T.E., and Brion, G.M. “Breast, Lung, Leukemia and Colon Cancer survival analysis for USA, Kentucky and Purchase Area Development District: 1996-2000” American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Research Meeting, November 2007.

Reinhart N., Hughes T., Muldoon S., Aldrich T., Tollerud DJ. "A model for occupational health studies at sensitive federal facilities: The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant". Round Table Discussion, Abstract #152197, American Public Health Association (APHA) Scientific Session, November 2007. Washington DC.

Ken Silver recently presented at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Third International Conference on Beryllium on “Ethical Aspects of Beryllium Testing.”   

On March 4 , Dr. Silver also gave an invited presentation on the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act at the annual meeting of the United Steelworks’ Former Energy Work Health Program in Washington, DC.  

On January 25 th he spoke with the staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with reference this Act.   He was accompanied by Greg Winters, MPH student.   This was in follow-up to his October 23 Senate testimony on this subject.  

More recently, Dr. Silver reported that he has received a “Certificate of Confidentiality” from the Centers for Disease Control to provide the highest level of legal protection possible for the identities of participants.

Phil Scheuerman was featured in several local media, talking about the recent national report about the appearance of trace amounts of pharmaceutical products in drinking water.   He was interviewed by local television and had front-page status in the Johnson City Press.  

Amal Khoury, who will finish up her two year term as the Chair of the Gender and Health Interest Group of AcademyHealth (the National Association for Health Services Research and Policy) will be organizing the annual scientific Gender and Health meeting on June 7, 2008.   She will be chairing a session on “Access to Preventive and Primary Care for Vulnerable Women.”   She will also participate as an invited panelist to talk about her current work on breast cancer screening during the Academy’s Annual Research Meeting.  

Brian Martin presented "Financial Performance and Managed Care Trends of [Community] Health Centers" at the most recent APHA meeting.   He also began service as a Section Councilor for the Health Administration Section.

Saebom Ko presented at the 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater 24-27 Sept 2007, Niagara Falls, NY.   The presentation, co-authored by M. Crimi, B. Marvin, V. Holmes, N. Thomson, J. Duran and B. Anderson was entitled “By-product Analysis of Chlorinated Ethane and Chlorinated Ethane Oxidation by Activated Persulfate and Catalyzed Hydrogen Peroxide Propagation (CHP) Reactions”.

Edward Onyango will be presenting a poster entitled “Inositol hexaphosphate alters mucin expression in the intestinal mucosa of mice” at the SEB (Society of Experimental Biology next month in San Diego, CA – the abstract has already been accepted.

Michele Crimi has presented a number of presentations at conferences and meetings since September:

Crimi M., R.L. Siegrist, J. Munakata-Marr, J. Sahl, and P. Dugan (2008).  Synergistic Coupling of ISCO with SEAR and Bioremediation.  GeoCongress 2008:  The Challenge of Sustainability in the Geoenvironment.  March 9-12, 2008.  New Orleans, Louisiana.

 Crimi M., R.L. Siegrist, B. Petri, T. Simpkin, T. Palaia, and F. Krembs (2008). In Situ Chemical Oxidation for Groundwater Remediation – A Technology Practices Manaul.  First Annual Southeastern In Situ Soil and Groundwater Remediation Conference.  February 26-27, 2008.  Raleigh, North Carolina.  

 Crimi M. (2007).  Control of Manganese Dioxide Particles Resulting from In Situ Chemical Oxidation Using Permanganate.  Partners in Environmental Technology Symposium and Workshop.  December 4-7, 2007.  Washington, D.C.

 Crimi, M., R.L. Siegrist, B. Petri, T. Simpkin, T. Palaia, and F. Krembs (2007).  Recent Developments in In Situ Chemical Oxidation – A Workshop.  The 4 th European Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater.  October 16-18, 2007. Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

 Crimi M., R.L. Siegrist, B. Petri, T. Simpkin, T. Palaia, A. Wren, T. Illangasekare, J. Munakata-Marr, F. Krembs, M. Singletary, N. Ruiz, and K. Lowe (2007).  Development of an ISCO Integrated Protocol:  Decision Diagrams and Tools for Implementation.  The 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater.  September 24-27.  Niagara Falls, New York.

Woods L., R.L. Siegrist, and M. Crimi (2007).  Remediation Induced Changes in Subsurface Properties that Control the Behavior of DNAPL Organic Chemicals in Soil and Groundwater.  The 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater.  September 24-27.  Niagara Falls, New York.

Petri B., R.L. Siegrist, and M. Crimi (2007).  The State of ISCO Science:  A Critical Review of the Literature.  The 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater.  September 24-27.  Niagara Falls, New York.

Krembs, F.J., R.L. Siegrist, M. Crimi, and B. Petri (2007).  The Design, Assembly, and Analysis of a Database of ISCO Case Studies.  The 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater.  September 24-27.  Niagara Falls, New York.

Michele Crimi has also been accepted to present several upcoming presentations, including being the lead author of one and the co-author of six presentations at the Sixth International Conference on Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds. She has also been accepted to co-teach a short course in Technical Practices to Enable Successful Application of In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) for Site Remediation at the 2008 AFCEE Technology Transfer Workshop.

Congratulations to Aimee Rowe, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Public Health, who recently passed the National Certifying Exam to become a Health Education Specialist.  It is good to have our faculty expertise recognized both locally and nationally, and to know that the voice of our faculty is a source of trusted information by both our professional colleagues and our neighbors.

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS:

Melissa Neal, graduate student who is currently working on her doctorate in public health, was recently featured in the Johnson City Press article on “Families Free reaches out to children with parents in prison.”   The organization, formed by Ms. Neal and Lisa Tipton, in June 07 has the mission of   “Building better communities through the transformation of families affected by incarceration – not only by preventing the potential for crime, but by developing better citizens who can give back to society”

Several students presented, in conjunction with faculty, at the Tennessee Public Health Association:

Visualizing Socio-economic Determinants of Prostate Cancer; Shannon Shropshire

JW Drane, Eugene Lengerich.   Tennessee Public Health Association. Nashville, TN October, 2007.

Stroke Mortality in Rural and Metropolitan Appalachia; Kelly Cole, Jim Anderson, George Howard. Tennessee Public Health Association. Nashville, TN October, 2007.

Distribution of Cardiovascular Disease Services in Tennessee; Roberta Hern, T Aldrich, Zahid Samad. Tennessee Public Health Association. Nashville, TN October, 2007.

Community Health Status Indicators for Public Health Assessment; Jonathan Savoy, Mark McCalman, Tim Aldrich. Tennessee Public Health Association. Nashville, TN October, 2007.

Lisa Gallagher, graduate student in Environmental Health presented at the 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater 24-27 Sept 2007 in Niagara Falls, NY.   Her presentation, co-authored with M. Crimi was entitled “Coupling Persulfate ISCO with Bioprocess:   A Review of Key Processes”.   Lisa will also be defending her Master’s Thesis entitled “Bacterial Source Tracking in the Sinking Creek Watershed Using Antibiotic Resistance Analysis and Ribotyping” on Thursday, 20 March 2008 @ 4 PM in Room 54 of Lamb Hall

Kim Hall, a doctoral student in Environmental Health, will be presenting research posters at the Appalachian Student Research Forum on 2-3 April 2008, Johnson City, TN and at the 108 th General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology the first week in May 2008, Boston, MA.   The poster is entitled “Application of Multivariate Statistical Analyses to Microbial Water Quality Parameters in Four Geographically Similar Creeks in Northeast Tennessee to Identify Patterns Associating Land Use to Fecal Pollution Sources.”

Kawalpreet Kaur, master student in Environmental Health, will be doing a platform presentation at the Appalachian Student Research Forum on 2-3 April 2008, Johnson City, TN entitled “Effects of Persulfate Oxidation on Microbial Populations”.

Liang Wang, MPH student, recently had his thesis proposal, “An Epidemiological Study of Maternal Depression” reviewed by the ETSU Graduate Council and was awarded funding of $500.  

Kelly Moore, master student in Environmental Health, will be doing a platform presentation at the Appalachian Student Research Forum on 2-3 April 2008, Johnson City, TN entitled “Long-term Geochemical Impacts from Permanganate Oxidation: Field-Scale Assessment”.

Kelly Moore also presented at the 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater 24-27 Sept 2007 in Niagara Falls, NY.   Her presentation, co-authored M. Crimi and S. Huling was entitled “A Guideline of Parameters to Measure When Using ISCO to Remediate Contaminated Groundwater”

Mark Quickel, master student in Environmental Health, will be doing a platform presentation at the Appalachian Student Research Forum on 2-3 April 2008, Johnson City, TN entitled “Control of MnO2 Particles During Permanganate-ISCO Through use of Chemical Stabilization Aids”.

Mark Quickel also presented at the 5 th International Conference on Oxidation and Reduction Technologies for In Situ Treatment of Soil and Groundwater 24-27 Sept 2007 in Niagara Falls, NY.   His presentation, co-authored by M. Crimi and S. Ko was entitled “1-Dimensional Experimental Evaluation of the Impacts of Porous Media Type and Use of Particle Stabilization Aids on MnO2 Transport During Permanganate ISCO”.

Kelly Moore and Leslie Roberson, master’s students in Environmental Health, and three Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory student workers, Amy, David and Erin, will be taking the world of environmental health to the Girl Scouts of America.   They will be presenting a "Girl Scouts Go Green" program for the Johnson City chapter of the Girl Scouts. The program will take place March 29th from 10:30-3:30 at the Girl Scout Resident Camp in Buff City, TN. Seventy-five to 100 girls ranging from ages 5-17 are expected to attend. The program was organized by ENVH graduate student Kelly Moore. The goal of the program is to show girls how they can make a difference with the environment. Activities will include "How we pollute water," "Learning to Recycle," "How to make your own natural cleaning supplies," "How to make a compost pile," "Water usage/water treatment," etc. The girls will attend each of 8 booths to earn an "Earth Girl" patch.  

Congratulations to Kanwarpal Singh, a master student in Environmental Health, on his selection for the Dental Program at Boston University to begin Fall 2008.

Michele Gourley, MD/MPH student in epidemiology is currently doing her field internship with PREDISAN in rural Honduras.   She is writing a series of articles about her experience for the student newspaper, “The East Tennessean.” Study Abroad Participants Share Their Stories from Across the Pond   and Rural Towns Vs. Urban Cities

Congratulations to Dr. Tiejian Wu’s daughter, Haijing, for her award of National Merit Scholarship.   Haijing is a senior at Science Hill High School.

ALUMNI AWARDS & ACCOMPLSHMENTS:

The Tennessee Public Health Association 2007 Public Health Group Award was presented to the Washington County Health Department for their work with School-based BMI Screening.   The work was completed by, and the award accepted by, two ETSU alumna, Paula Masters and Christen Minnick.  Congratulations to Paula and Christen.

The Rural Health Association of Tennessee has named Connie Givens as their Rural Health Worker of the year.   Connie, of course, runs Tennessee’s nationally recognized Coordinated School Health program—the first state-wide CSH program in the State.   She is an alumna of our College, and an Adjunct for our College, and through the CSH project, she is also a close partner of the College.   Congratulations, Connie!

Congratulations to Jennifer Dobson, a 2004 graduate from the Department of Environmental Health with a bachelor of science in environmental health, recently was recently named the Alaska Environmental Health Professional of the Year by the Alaska Environmental Health Association (AEHA).   Jennifer is currently a field environmental health specialist with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel, Alaska.

GRANTS

The following are the grants and contracts that have been received by the College for this academic year.  These figures represent funding for the current year only and total $1,014,084.

  1. Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Implementation Plan - $66,390 – Wykoff PI, Polaha Co PI
  2. Public Health Workforce Development Services 2007-08 - $160,000 – Wykoff PI
  3. Pfizer Visiting Professorships in Health Literacy/Clear Health Communication - $7,500 – Wykoff PI
  4. Tennessee Rural Healthcare Exchange Summer Institute - $98,885 – Wykoff PI
  5. Coordinated School Health Evaluation Program – Year 3 - $341,631 – Dunn PI
  6. Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis Methods for Measurement and Visualization of Disparities in Prostrate Cancer - $8,000 – Aldrich PI
  7. Effects of Personal Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds on Liver Function - $71,000 – Wu PI
  8. Evaluating Optimal Method for UV - Risk Assessment – Year 2 - $134,678 -   Hillhouse PI
  9. Appearance Focused Intervention to Prevent Skin Cancer – 1 yr extension - $85,000 – Hillhouse PI
  10. Heterogeneous Reactions of d-limonene and ozone on activated carbon filters - $1,800 – Metts PI
  11. Tennessee Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program - $39,200 – Aldrich PI

Additionally, the following faculty serve as co-investigators for sponsored research in departments outside the college:

1.                   Mike Stoots - ETSU and Sevier County Government

2.                   Mike Dunn -  Analysis of Disparities in Mental Health Status and Substance Abuse Prevalence and Access to Treatment Services in the Appalachian Region

STATISTIC OF THE MONTH

 

According to a report recently released by the Association of Schools of Public Health, 250,000 more public health workers will be needed by 2020. http://www.asph.org/UserFiles/PHWFShortage0208.pdf

This is a result of a declining Public Health workforce [1] and the impending retirement of many existing workers [2] According to ASPH, this workforce includes:   “public health clinicians, occupational and environmental health specialists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, health program administrators and educators, health economists, planners and policy analysts.” ASPH goes on:   “To replenish the workforce and avert the crisis, schools of public health would have to train three times the current number of graduates over the next 12 years.”

ASPH recommends:

1.     Increase federal funding to support public health professional education, including :

  • degree-oriented public health fellowship programs, as well as for improved hands-on experiences for public health students;
  • recruitment of students for dual training opportunities to couple public health graduate training with other health professional training, i.e., medicine, nursing, dentistry and veterinary medicine;
  • public health loan repayment programs;
  • programs that provide financial support for students enrolled in public health degree programs;
  • post-doctoral training opportunities within government agencies for underrepresented minorities who are involved in health disparities research; and,
  • loan forgiveness programs for students whose work focuses on the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

2.   Build capacity in schools of public health to address the needs of a larger graduate-level

student body, as well as:

  • offer training opportunities for current professionals and undergraduate students; and
  • address racial/ethnic and geographic disparities.

3.       Establish a US Global Health Service to coordinate US efforts to assist in international areas of need;

4.       Establish an institutionalized, periodic enumeration of the public health workforce to more accurately identify current and future public health workforce needs.

These are useful statistics when talking to anyone considering a career in public heatlh.

Thanks to Shirley Morrell, as always, for great help in putting this Newsletter together!

[1] There were 50,000 less Public Health Workers in 2000 than in 1980

[2] 23% of the existing Public Health Workforce is eligible to retire in 2012

Vision

The ETSU College of Public Health is the school of choice for students who want to improve the health of people from the state, the region, the nation, and the world.

 

Mission

1.       Provide public health students and practitioners with the academic, professional, and practical skills necessary to meet the health needs of the region, the state, the nation, and the world.

2.       Advance the science of public health through research focused on identifying practical solutions to leading health challenges.

3.       Collaborate with public and private partners to identify and meet public health priorities.

4.       Improve the health status of all people including those in underserved communities through education, evidence-based advocacy, and partnerships.

5.       Contribute to the quality of life at East Tennessee State University through instruction, research, and service.

Core Values

ALTRUISM:   We believe in nurturing a sense of altruism and benevolence towards the less fortunate on the part of our faculty, staff and students.

COMMUNITY SERVICE:   We seek to strengthen the communities we serve, including our neighborhoods, our academic community, and our professional associations, by building collaborative partnerships, taking leadership positions, and contributing our knowledge, skills, and commitment.

DIGNITY:   We treat all people with unwavering dignity and respect.

DIVERSITY:   We embrace diversity and seek to attract and retain diverse faculty, staff, and student bodies.  

EDUCATION:   We recognize that our greatest obligation is to assure that our students develop the knowledge, practical skills, and life-long learning habits, to allow them to take their place among the leaders of their professions.

EXCELLENCE:   We are dedicated to excellence in teaching, scholarly activity, and community and professional service.

INTEGRITY:    We adhere to the highest ethical standards of honesty and fairness and we recognize that integrity and ethical behavior are essential elements of our professions.

RESEARCH:   We are committed to conducting basic and applied research to advance the science base for public health decision-making and to promote community health and development.  

TEAMWORK:   All parts of the College—students, faculty, and staff—enjoy a close-knit relationship and opportunities for formal and informal interpersonal exchange

[1] There were 50,000 less Public Health Workers in 2000 than in 1980

[2] 23% of the existing Public Health Workforce is eligible to retire in 2012