Department of Public Health Sciences

A Culture of Excellence

The Department of Public Health Sciences was originally founded as the Department of Health Behavior and Administration on July 1, 2002 as part of the transformed College of Health and Human Services. The new Department was conceived in response to recommendations derived from UNC Charlotte's Health Commission report (2000) as well as a variety of initiatives placing emphasis on population health and health behavior research.  In May 2007 the Department was renamed to Public Health Sciences to better reflect the unit’s larger-scale set of current and planned research programs, degree offerings, and service activities that are that are relevant to contemporary public health. 

The Department favors the development and implementation of interdisciplinary academic and research programs. The common theme supported by the Department is "public health outcomes from a social ecological perspective." Current faculty research themes include: disease and injury across the life span; public health information systems; community health; health issues of at-risk populations; maternal and child health; health care delivery systems; and health-related measurement, evaluation, and outcomes.

The Department of Public Health Sciences is committed to academic excellence. The Master of Health Administration degree program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). Our public health baccalaureate and masters degree programs are undergoing internal review in preparation for an accreditation visit by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) in November 2008.

MSPH/BSPH CEPH Self-Study Open for Public Comment

The Department of Public Health Sciences has applied for accreditation of its Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) and Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) programs by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH, www.ceph.org).  The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) is an independent agency recognized by the US Department of Education to accredit schools of public health and certain public health programs offered in settings other than schools of public health. These schools and programs prepare students for entry into careers in public health. 

We invite all those with an interest in public health and our efforts to prepare a competent public health workforce to meet the Charlotte region’s growing needs are invited to review and comment on the self-study and to provide other feedback, advice, and guidance as we look forward to expanding and improving our public health offerings.  We want to especially invite comment on the analysis sections at the end of each section where we assess whether a criterion was met and analyze strengths, concerns, and recommendations. 

The PDF file of the self-study draft contains active bookmark links in the table of contents and table of tables (within the document) and the URLs are active to access referenced website (note many of the URLs will change in the final document as the College of Health & Human Services  rolls out its new website in June 2008).  The bookmark tab in Adobe Reader/Acrobat also has active table of contents links). Click Link to open PDF file of the Self-Study.

Please direct comments (preferably via email) to:

 Michael E. Thompson, MS, DrPH

Assistant Professor, Public Health Sciences

CEPH Accreditation Coordinator

methomp1@uncc.edu

704.687.8980

704.687-6122 (fax)