The Educated Citizen and Public Health:
2008 Undergraduate Curriculum Development Institute

July 14-15, 2008
Crystal City, Virginia

Program

MONDAY, JULY 14

Framing: Developing Coherent Public Health Curricula – Richard Riegelman (George Washington University), Susan Albertine (AAC&U)

Plenary: "Casuistry or Causation: Teaching Scientific Discernment" – David Fraser (University of Pennsylvania)

Core Curriculum Breakout Sessions:
History of Public Health – Marc Hiller (University of New Hampshire)
Epidemiology 101 – Lydia Zablotska (Columbia University)
Global Health 101 – Victor Barbiero (George Washington University)
Integrative Global Health minor – Ruth Gaare Bernheim, Rebecca Dillingham (University of Virginia)
Public Health and the Humanities – Carol Day Young, Brenda Kirkwood (University of Albany, SUNY)
Public Health Major: Interdisciplinary, Experiential and International – Marion Field Fass (Beloit College)

TUESDAY, JULY 15

Plenary: "Service-Learning in Health" – Suzanne Cashman (University of Massachusetts), Denise Koo (Center for Disease Control)

Electives Breakout Sessions:
Public Health 101 – Richard Riegelman (George Washington University)
Assessment of Learning, Assessment for Learning – Ross Miller (AAC&U)
Health and Human Rights – Morton Winston (The College of New Jersey)
Health Policy and Ethics – Ruth Gaare Bernheim, Nisha Botchwey (University of Virginia)
Using CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service Case Studies – Denise Koo (Center for Disease Control)
Capstone Courses – Marion Field Fass (Beloit College)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Public Health – Michael Kelrick (Truman State University)

Lunch Presentation:
"Crossing Boundaries, Walking through Walls, and Other Feats of Administrative Dexterity" – Susan Albertine (AAC&U)

Institutional Discussion Groups:
Administrative and Policy Issues – Susan Albertine (AAC&U)

Wrap-up Session:
Discussion of Next Steps – Richard Riegelman (George Washington University), Susan Albertine (AAC&U)

Background

In 2006, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) partnered with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) to offer “Public Health and Liberal Education,” a curriculum and faculty development project.  Through a national call for participation, AAC&U/APTR identified sixty-three colleges and universities eager to design and teach undergraduate courses that engage students with the world’s major questions through the lens of public health.

During the summer of 2007, faculty members from thirty-nine selected institutions attended the intensive two-day workshop and focused their time and efforts on one of three core courses:  Public Health 101, Epidemiology 101, and Global Health 101. The goals of “Public Health and Liberal Education” were to:

• Define liberal learning outcomes that are satisfied through courses featuring a public health perspective.  Such outcomes should be appropriate to institutional mission and vision.

• Make public health-centered courses available to undergraduate students within the context of the general education curriculum.

• Equip faculty with the intellectual and pedagogical skills needed to creatively design and teach complex interdisciplinary courses around issues of public health.

• Serve as national models for efforts to bridge liberal education and professional/pre-professional education.

Participants in “Public Health and Liberal Education” are now developing and/or piloting new general education public health courses.  A Curriculum Guide to Undergraduate Public Health Education, version 1.0, was developed, in part, as a result of this workshop.

Phase II

The Educated Citizen and Public Health:
An Undergraduate Curriculum Development Institute

Undergraduate public health education is ideally suited to satisfy a set of educational outcomes that all students need from higher learning:

• Knowledge of human cultures and the natural and physical world
• Intellectual and practical skills
• Individual and social responsibility
• Integrative learning

These outcomes are closely calibrated with the challenges of a complex and volatile world and should be the shared responsibility of both general education curricula and the disciplinary majors, including pre-professional studies.  In the first phase of the Educated Citizen and Public Health initiative, we focused on framing foundational courses for undergraduate public health education: Public Health 101, Epidemiology 101, and Global Health 101.  Successful pursuit of the above outcomes, however, requires that students have multiple opportunities to engage with questions from a variety of perspectives and at increasing levels of sophistication.  Consequently, it is necessary to build upon the strong foundation of high quality core courses to create intentional, coherent, and creative undergraduate public health curricula. 

To take advantage of the momentum and success of “Public Health and Liberal Education,” the APTR/AAC&U partnership is pleased to announce a second phase of the Educated Citizen and Public Health initiative. In phase two, faculty and administrative teams from as many as 48 colleges and universities (both those with public health schools and programs and those without them) will gather for an intensive, two-day institute. 

During the institute, teams will:

• Develop (or plan to develop) coherent undergraduate curricula in public health.  Coherent curricula will include core courses, electives (based on institutional and faculty strengths and interests), and experiential learning opportunities.  Such coherent curricula may take the form of majors, minors, certificate programs, etc.

• Build collaborative capacity between public health educators and practitioners and faculty members teaching in the arts and sciences. 

• Strengthen relationships between campus and community.

• Share experiences and challenges with colleagues working toward similar goals.

• Serve as national models for efforts to bridge liberal education and professional/pre-professional education.

• Create curricular models that link public health, liberal learning, and education for civic/social responsibility.

Sessions at the Institute will:

• Present designs for core undergraduate public health courses (including Public Health 101; Epidemiology 101; and Global Health 101).

• Showcase a variety of public health elective courses.

• Examine interdisciplinary courses that examine complex public health issues.

• Explore ways to link public health courses and program outcomes with the essential learning outcomes of liberal education.

• Explore the connections between public health education, service learning, and civic engagement.

Project Personnel and Contacts

For general questions regarding this project, please contact:

Kevin Hovland
Director of Global Learning and Curricular Change
Association of American Colleges and Universities
(202) 387-3760 ext. 431
hovland@aacu.org

Caleb Ward
Program Assistant
Association of American Colleges and Universities
(202) 884-7436
ward@aacu.org

Additional Personnel

Kent Nordvig, EdD
Director, Program Management and Development
Association for Prevention Teaching and Research

Marian Osterweis, PhD
Project Consultant

Richard Riegelman, MD, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
George Washington University