The Educated Citizen and Public Health

Project Activities

Phase Two Faculty Development Institute to be held July 14-15, 2008, in Crystal City, Virginia

Phase One Faculty Development Workshop held July 9-10, 2007, in Washington, DC

Phase One Goals

In the first phase of funded work, 39 institutions participated in the Public Health and Liberal Education Faculty Development Workshop. During the two-day workshop participants worked towards the following goals:

• 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.

Phase Two Goals

During the second phase of funded work, 48 institutions will attend an intensive two-day institute where they will work towards the following goals:

• 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.