MPB01 Moving Beyond the Numbers: A Qualitative Look at the Undergraduate Public Health Major

Monday, March 21, 2016: 3:00 PM-4:00 PM
Salon 5 (Crystal Gateway Marriott)
Summary: This session will present the findings of ASPPH Data Center and du Beaumont Foundation research that attempted to enumerate undergraduate public health degrees in U.S. institutions, focusing on institution characteristics, such as size and geographic location, as well as graduate characteristics, such as gender and race/ethnicity. This will be followed by a presentation of the ‘Who, What, How and So What?’ of undergraduate public health programs. Researchers will present the findings of semi-structured interviews with key informants from a representative sample of 39 undergraduate public health programs reported to NCES as “true” public health programs under the CIP code 51.22. This session will present the results, which will include information about program establishment and infrastructure, curriculum, students, faculty, and future plans, including anecdotal findings about graduate employment.
Description: This session will present the findings of ASPPH Data Center and du Beaumont Foundation research that attempted to enumerate undergraduate public health degrees in U.S. institutions, focusing on institution characteristics, such as size and geographic location, as well as graduate characteristics, such as gender and race/ethnicity. This will be followed by a presentation of the ‘Who, What, How and So What?’ of undergraduate public health programs. Researchers will present the findings of semi-structured interviews with key informants from a representative sample of 39 undergraduate public health programs reported to NCES as “true” public health programs under the CIP code 51.22. This session will present the results, which will include information about program establishment and infrastructure, curriculum, students, faculty, and future plans, including anecdotal findings about graduate employment.

As reported at the 2014 Undergraduate Education for Public Health Summit, the number of institutions conferring undergraduate public health degrees and the number of undergraduate public health degrees being conferred has steadily risen since 1992. This growth was captured using department codes that were originally created to collect graduate-level data from ASPPH member institutions. Researchers mapped these codes to National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes, resulting in a broad definition of public health education. In order to select a sample of institutions, this research focuses on general public health and global health majors as confirmed by ASPPH and NCES reporting and through website verification. This session will present the findings of this more targeted analysis, focusing on institution characteristics, such as size and geographic location, as well as graduate characteristics, such as gender and race/ethnicity.

These broad strokes will be followed a presentation of the ‘Who, What, How and So What?’ of undergraduate public health programs. Researchers will present the findings of semi-structured interviews with key informants from a representative sample of 39 undergraduate public health programs reported to NCES as “true” public health programs under the CIP code 51.22. This session will present the results, which will include information about program establishment and infrastructure, curriculum, students, faculty, and future plans, including anecdotal findings about graduate employment.

Presenters/Panelists:
Beth Resnick, MSPH, DrPH Candidate, Director, Office of Public Health Practice and Training, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health , Emily Burke, MPH, CPH, Program Manager, Data Analytics, ASPPH and Theresa Chapple-McGruder, PhD, MPH, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer, De Beaumont Foundation
Moderator:
Jane E. Clark, PhD, Professor and Dean, University of Maryland School of Public Health