The College of Public Health at East Tennessee State University:

• Is the only fully-accredited School of Public Health in Tennessee and the only one in central Appalachia;
• Has 530 students in 6 undergraduate, 6 masters, and three doctoral degree programs;
• Has a highly diverse student body;
• Is growing its majors at a rate of about 15% annually (since 2009);
• Has Memorandum of Understanding with approximately 150 field placement sites;
• Has graduation rates that exceed 70% for masters programs and 80% for the BSPH program, and job placement rates that exceed 80% – all higher than the accreditation benchmarks;
• Has alumni and employer satisfaction rates that exceed 90% among recent survey respondents;
• Has 40 faculty (including vacancies) and 19 staff;
• Has increased extramural research funding by 42% in the past three years, and changed the source of that funding from largely state contracts to federal research grants;
• Has the State’s only federally funded Public Health Training Center and the only statewide Institute for Public Health;
• Is focused on applied practical skills for the regional, state and national public health workforce;
• Has a comprehensive strategic plan, including goals and measurable objectives, which allows for tracking progress over time.

BACKGROUND

• According to the Institute of Medicine, “Public Health is what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the conditions for people to be healthy.”
• According to the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)1, the accrediting body for public health education, the five core areas of Public Health are:
  • Biostatistics
  • Environmental Health Sciences
  • Epidemiology
  • Health Policy and Management
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences
• There are currently 49 CEPH-accredited Colleges (or Schools) of Public Health in the United States and Mexico3. These entities are all members of the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). The number of member-schools has increased significantly over the past decade.
• The College of Public Health at East Tennessee State University is the only fully-accredited4 School of Public Health in Tennessee and the only one in central Appalachia;
• Though fully accredited as a School of Public Health in 2009, ETSU has one of the oldest undergraduate public health programs in the country, and the oldest EHAC5 accredited Environmental Health Program in the country.
• For accreditation, the College developed a five year strategic plan, which is updated annually6.
• A new strategic plan and new self-study will be developed in preparation for the next accreditation review, due in 2014.

Key Faculty

Please direct questions to Dr. Rob Pack, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. His email address ispackr@etsu.edu

Other key faculty for academic programs for which SOPHAS is used:

• Dr. Rob Pack
  Interim Chair – Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology
• Dr. Deborah Slawson
  Chair – Department of Community and Behavioral Health; DrPH Coordinator
• Dr. Kurt Maier
  Interim Chair – Department of Environmental Health
• Dr. Ranjan Chakraborty
  Chair – Department of Health Sciences
• Dr. Amal Khoury
  Chair – Department of Health Services Management and Policy
• Dr. Jodi Southerland
  MPH Coordinator
• Dr. Randy Wykoff
  Dean

Research & Labs

A few of our research interests include:

• Health services utilization
• Women’s health
• Skin cancer prevention
• Adolescent obesity prevention
• Health services research
• Global tobacco control and policy
• Prescription drug abuse
• Indoor air quality
• Water quality

2012-2013 Graduate Tuition Rate

Instate
Per 3 credit hour course (including program service and maintenance fees): $1,326.00

Out of state
Per 3 credit hour course (including program service and maintenance fees): $3,342.00

Recognition & Awards

• 2007: Outstanding Rural Health Program of the Year: National Rural Health Association
• 2005: National Award for Innovative Curriculum in Public Health: Delta Omega
• 2011: University Distinguished Teacher: Dr. Allan Forsman
• 2010: University Distinguished Researcher: Dr. Joel HIllhouse

School History

East Tennessee State University (ETSU) College of Public Health was officially created in December 2007 with the division of the previously existing College of Public and Allied Health to form two new Colleges in ETSU’s Health Sciences Division. The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) had previously approved ETSU’s request to create the first College of Public Health in the state of Tennessee. Following this approval, in August 2007, ETSU submitted its request to the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) to initiate the accreditation process to transition from the accredited MPH program to a school of public health. CEPH approved the request in October 2007, and the College began the self-study and site visit process. In October 2009, the College was accredited by the Council on Education in Public Health and accepted as an Member in the Association of Schools of Public Health.

As with the previously existing College of Public and Allied Health, the two new Colleges, the College of Public Health, and the College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences, are both independent Colleges within ETSU’s Health Sciences Division. The division also houses the James H. Quillen College of Medicine, the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, and the College of Nursing, making ETSU one of only 25 Universities in the United States with Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Public Health.

The Departments in the College now offer 6 Undergraduate degrees, 6 Masters degrees and 3 Doctoral degrees, as well as several Minors and several Graduate Certificates.

While the College of Public Health is a relatively newly created entity, ETSU’s commitment to public health education is long standing. The College dates its creation as the Department of Physical Education and Health in 1949, under the direction of John P. Lamb, Jr. By 1955, a full complement of courses was developed and approved to offer a BS in Community Health, making ETSU perhaps one of the earlier programs to offer an undergraduate degree in Public Health in the country. Health and Physical Education were separated and the School of Health in East Tennessee State College (the fore-runner of ETSU) was officially created in 1959. At the time, the School included a BSN in Nursing (established 1954), a Speech and Hearing Program (established in 1956), a National Environmental Sanitation School (established in 1957) along with the Department of Environmental Sanitation (the first Chair was hired in 1963). ETSC became ETSU in 1963 and John P. Lamb, Jr. was named as the first Dean of the College of Health. Subsequently, the Health Science Department was established in 1965, and Dental Hygiene in 1968. The Department of Health Education had its first Chair hired in 1966 and, in 1995, this Department became the Department of Public Health.

The current College of Public Health houses the oldest existing undergraduate and master’s degree programs in Environmental Health, accredited by The National Environmental Health Science & Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC).

The first MPH students graduated in 1986. In the past ten years, the Departments currently in the College of Public Health have awarded over 1,000 degrees, including more than 400 MPH degrees.

ETSU’s commitment to interdisciplinary, community-based health education has been broadly recognized. The Trilogy Program of the College of Public Health received the Delta Omega award for Innovative Curriculum for Public Health in 2005—the first time the award recipient was outside a school of public health. In 2007, ETSU was awarded the Outstanding Rural Health Program of the Year by the National Rural Health Association. The Quillen College of Medicine has consistently been ranked as one of the top programs in the country for Rural Health and Family Medicine.