The Educated Citizen and Public Health:
An Undergraduate Curriculum Development Institute
Part of the AAC&U/APTR Initiative, The Educated Citizen and Public Health
July 14-15, 2008
Crystal City, Virginia
**We will begin accepting applications on November 5, 2007**
Application Deadline: February 27, 2008
Notification of Selection: March 19, 2008
Note: All activities pending final funding approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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.
Institutional Eligibility and Selection Criteria
All accredited colleges and universities are eligible to apply. Institutions with affiliated schools or programs in public health will be selected from one pool; institutions without affiliated schools or programs in public health will be selected from a separate pool.
- Institutions must apply as teams of at least 3 individuals.
- Applicants should select team members carefully to coincide with their particular curricular and program design needs.
- Institutions without graduate level public health programs must include at least one person with expertise as a Public Health practitioner. This individual may or may not be a formal faculty member. Colleges and Universities that need assistance in identifying and locating public health practitioners in their local area should contact their American Public Health Association (APHA) Affiliate. Contact information for all State Affiliates is available on the APHA web site at http://www.apha.org/membergroups/states/StateRegPHA/default.htm
The national organization of APHA Affiliates is encouraging participation in this initiative by their local members. State Affiliates have been provided with information on the recommendations for undergraduate public health education and on potential participation by public health practitioners in service-learning and other aspects of undergraduate public health education.
- Institutions with graduate level public health programs must include at least one arts and sciences faculty member.
- Institutions are invited to name a fourth faculty member or administrator to the team. However, financial support for participation will only be available to two team members. All costs of sending additional team members will be the responsibility of the institution. (Please note: Naming of a fourth team member is optional and will not influence the selection process.)
Application Process
Successful applicants will submit a project abstract (no more than 250 words) and an application narrative (no more than 2500 words). The narrative should:
- Place specific campus plans and activities within a broader context of a well-articulated, coherent vision of liberal education.
- Provide a rationale for the selection of participating faculty and describes their capacity to create and implement undergraduate public health programs as well as act as advocates for undergraduate public health and liberal education.
- Applicants must provide a letter of support from the Chief Academic Officer or Dean attesting to the intent to develop a coherent undergraduate program in public health.
Financial Support and Obligations
Thirty-eight teams of three will receive support for two team members. The college or university shall pay the costs of the third and any additional team members. Support will include the cost of registration, one night at the conference hotel and a reimbursable travel stipend of $450 to offset air and ground transportation, meals, and incidentals.
The third and subsequent team members will pay all their own travel and lodging expenses in addition to a $350 registration fee.
Special Notes
Thirteen institutions have been invited to participate in this project as a result of their application to the 2007 Public Health and Liberal Education workshop. Consequently, only twenty-five new applicants will be accepted for funding.
Depending on the size of selected teams, AAC&U/APTR may invite as many as ten additional teams to participate in the project. Financial support is not available for these additional teams who will be invited to participate at their own expense.
Additional Reading
Applicants are encouraged to read the following materials in preparation for composing their project narrative:
The Educated Citizen and Public Health: A Consensus Report on Public Health and Undergraduate Education
The LEAP Report
Timeline of Project Activities
Application Deadline
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Selection Announcements
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Facutly Development Institute
July 14-15, 2008
Note: All activities pending final funding approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Project Personnel and Contacts
For questions regarding this call for participation and general program questions, please contact:
Nicole De Marco
Association of American Colleges and Universities
(202) 387-3760 ext. 810
demarco@aacu.org
For questions regarding registration, logistics, hotel, and travel reimbursements, please contact:
Alison R.Strock
Association for Prevention Teaching and Research
(202) 463-0550 ext.113
ars@aptrweb.org
Additional Personnel
Kevin Hovland
Director of Global Learning and Curricular Change
Association of American Colleges and Universities
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
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