A recent article in Inside Higher Ed titled "Could Undergrads Save the Public Health Workforce?" focused on the results of a recent study conducted by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) and partners. This study is the first to examine the popularity of undergraduate public health study alongside the demographics and future careers of students with the major. As we look to the future of what liberal arts and sciences education is going to mean at our university, to our community, and in the world, we can use public health as a useful example of how our curriculum is vital to supplying the workforce we need.
The trajectory of public health study in higher education has a lot to teach us about how best to serve students. The article points out that public health degrees started at the graduate level, largely as a method of further training government employees. The field broadened organically over the past 80 years, and as of 2020 undergraduate public health majors outnumber graduate students. Emily Burke, Senior Director of Workforce Development and Applied Practice at ASPPH, and an author of the study, said that focusing on public health at the undergraduate level pairs perfectly with pursuing the liberal arts. “The idea in undergrad public health was that there are going to be students who study public health as a major but will not go on to work in public health,” she said. “But there’s great benefit to society if there are people in all sectors with knowledge and training in public health.”
Here at CU Denver, faculty from across a number of disciplines in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences in collaboration with faculty at the Colorado School of Public Health had the foresight to establish the first undergraduate major in public health in the Mountain West in 2010. At the time, the major was one of fewer than 50 undergraduate programs in public health in the nation and since then, the major has grown to be the third largest in CLAS with an articulated BA/BS to MPH offering.
As industries come to understand that health plays a role in the operations of virtually every business the popularity and applicability of a well-rounded public health liberal arts degree will only become more valuable, and more sought after. These researchers observed that the COVID pandemic greatly increased students awareness of what public health is and what professionals in the field can accomplish. Our task, moving forward, will be to keep our program relevant and keep encouraging our students to innovate as they apply what they learn. Ruby H. N. Nguyen, another of the study’s authors, said there's a newfound awareness among young people perusing public health of the systemic health disparities that impact their communities. “Students are very aware of health disparities and want to ameliorate those disparities.” We can help drive that change.
Making this conversation even more timely, Public Health Advocacy Day at the Denver Capitol is happening next Friday, February 24. Participants will hear about public health policy priorities including climate change advocacy and capacity-building effort, behavioral health, access-to-care, and health equity. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
