JOHNSON CITY – The 1960s was a significant decade for environmental health awareness – from new laws such as the Water Quality Act to groundbreaking reports that would lead to future legislation impacting the health of the planet.
In 1969, another important milestone occurred when faculty of East Tennessee State University’s College of Health (now the College of Public Health) received a Western Union telegram informing them that their undergraduate curriculum in environmental health was granted full accreditation by the National Environmental Health Science & Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC).
ETSU’s Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health was the first undergraduate program in environmental health to receive EHAC accreditation. Since 1969, EHAC has accredited 44 undergraduate and graduate environmental health degree programs at universities nationwide.
But ETSU’s program was the pioneer that paved the way for the others, becoming a flagship program and leader in environmental health education.
Celebrating a milestone
EHAC presented ETSU with a plaque to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its accreditation during the organization’s annual awards ceremony that took place in Nashville in July.
In addition, the ETSU College of Public Health celebrated on Friday, Nov. 1 with the Department of Environmental Health’s fall 2019 Seminar Series featuring guest speaker Hershell E. Wolfe, a Department of Environmental Health alumnus who retired in 2016 as deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health.
After the seminar, festivities continued with a picnic for alumni, students, faculty, staff and special guests.
“ETSU became a leader in public health through the insight of founding professors who responded to the need for trained public health professionals,” said Dr. Monroe T. Morgan, the now-retired chair of the program who led it through the accreditation process five decades ago. “ETSU’s Department of Environmental Health grew to become a leader in training environmentalists throughout the nation and the world.”
Today, alumni of ETSU’s Department of Environmental Health are running programs in the military, education and the private sector, and at federal, state, county and city levels, said Dr. Kurt Maier, the current chair of the program.
“What we do as a profession is very, very important in terms of protecting human health on a day-to-day basis,” Maier said. “We’re about protecting things that are vital for life, such as food quality, air quality and clean water.”
Program graduates have gone on to work for agencies such as Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Creg Bishop is an alumnus of ETSU’s Department of Environmental Health who also returned to the college as professor and associate dean. His career included work for the U.S. Public Health Service, the FDA, the CDC and the National Park Service.
“Every place I went – from a federal to a state level – they knew about our program at ETSU,” Bishop said.
Looking back and forward
The strong reputation of ETSU’s Department of Environmental Health took root and started growing years before its accreditation.
In the late 1950s, ETSU’s College of Health developed the Sanitation School because of the need for trained sanitarians in local, regional and state health departments. Morgan was hired in 1963 to direct the Certificate Sanitation Training Program. He left ETSU in the late 1960s to found the doctorate of public health at Tulane University, but returned to ETSU to develop the Department of Environmental Health.
“I am proud of the fact that students from 56 countries and 44 states selected ETSU as their future alma mater because of their belief that ETSU had the best environmental health program in the United States,” Morgan said.
Many of the national and international students who came to ETSU were funded by the United States Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization and others. In addition, the Department of Environmental Health was instrumental in receiving several million dollars in grant funds, which included contracts to recruit and train U.S. Army students to receive their Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health.
Over the years, alumni like Douglas Dulaney came to the program because they wanted to make a difference. Dulaney, a 2003 graduate of the program, now serves as director of the Veterans Health Administration Office of Occupational Safety and Health.
“I owe a debt of gratitude to my professors in the Department of Environmental Health, for without their guidance and insistence on excellence, I would not have had the chance to make my part of the federal government a safer, more environmentally sustainable place to work,” Dulaney said.
Other alumni, like Dr. Kimberlee Hall, have gone on to teach at other institutions across the country. She earned her Ph.D. in environmental health from ETSU in 2012.
“The environmental health program at ETSU set the tone for EHAC accreditation standards and has continuously raised the academic bar for every program accredited since 1969,” Hall said. “Additionally, the program at ETSU established the model for how an academic program/university can and should engage its region to positively impact the health of its people.
“The program at ETSU has not only helped meet the demands of the job market over the past 50 years, but it produces graduates who are engaged citizens who have a strong passion and desire to serve their communities,” Hall added.
The work of the Department of Environmental Health will continue to evolve to address complex changes in legislation, workforce needs and other factors that affect the environment, said Dr. Phillip Scheuerman.
Scheuerman has taught in the department for 33 years, and served as chair for 13 years.
“Environmental health is as important as, and certainly more complex than, it was 50 years ago when we started this department,” he said. “The need is greater now more than ever for practitioners and people who are trained in environmental health – and we will continue to meet those needs.”
To honor the anniversary milestone and the faculty and staff who have faithfully served the department, ETSU is raising funds to enhance the laboratory facilities for the department. Those interested in learning more about the “Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory Fund: A Legacy for the Future” can contact Aaron Scott, director of development at scottap@etsu.edu or 423-439-4107.
To learn more about ETSU’s Department of Environmental Health, visit www.etsu.edu/cph/eh.