Articulation as a pathway to success: the NMSU/DACC partnership for associates and bachelors of public health

New Mexico Academic Advising AssociationMarch 6, 2015

Amy Collins, Associate Professor, DACCBecky Corran, Assistant Professor, DACC

Letty Gallegos, Academic Advisor, Public Health Programs, NMSUDr. Sue Forster-Cox, Associate Professor, Online Program Coordinator, NMSU

Dr. Satya Rao, Professor, Undergraduate Program Coordinator, NMSU

Public health articulation

Overview• What is public health? • History of the current articulation between DACC Associates of

Public Health and NMSU Bachelors of Public Health.• Institutional and student benefits, key stakeholders.• Advisory collaboration • Faculty collaboration• Recruitment and retention• Accomplishments• Scaling up and out: opportunities to build 2+2 programs across

campuses

Public Health is the science of protecting and improving the health of communities

through education, promotion of healthy

lifestyles, and research for disease and injury

prevention. (ASPH-2009)

• Encompasses– Behavioral Science/Health

Education – Biostatistics– Emergency Medical Services– Environmental Health– Epidemiology– Health Services

Admin/Management– International/Global Health– Maternal and Child Health– Nutrition– Public Health Laboratory Practice– Public Health Policy

Public health articulation

What is public health?

Public health articulation

What is public health? • Population-based focus on health• Students will learn to gather and interpret health data,

and then translate that to health behavior interventions and community organizing

• Ideal for students who want to work with the public on health issues, but prefer to take a broader view

Public health articulation

History of the NMSU/DACC Articulation• Articulation originally finalized in

2010 (discusisons began in 2005)• Signed off by:

– NMSU• Undergrad Program Coordinator• Department Head• Associate Dean for Academics• Dean

– DACC• Program Director• Division Dean• VP for Academic Affairs• Campus President

• Frequently revisited by faculty, program directors/coordinators and department heads

Public health articulation

Academic Advising Collaboration

• On-site testing• Advisory board

participation• Student tracking

methodologies

Public health articulation

Faculty Collaboration• Course alignments

– PHLS 100/CHSS 101– PHLS 275/375– PHLS 295/395– PHLS 150

• Emphasis areas– APA– Professionalism – Math for Public Health (Epidemiology and Biostats)

Public health articulation

Recruitment and retention• Orientations

– DACC • New major orientations• “Transfer” orientation in CHSS 299 (Service Learning)

• Curricular and practicum based incentives for completing Associates and Bachelor’s degrees– CHSS 299→ Hours count toward PHLS 496 practicum

course – accepting CHSS 101 for PHLS 100

Public health articulation

Accomplishments2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

Associate Degrees*

14 16 2124

(estimated)

Transfers 8 15 13 10+

Bachelors Degrees

3 ** ** **

*Source: 2014 DACC Fact Book. http://dacc.nmsu.edu/fs/iep/docs/DACC%202014%20Factbook.pdf

Public health articulation

Scaling Up: Building 2+2 programs• Identifying & engaging stakeholders• “Making the case”

–To faculty–To administrators–To students

• Aligning curricula to meet program pre-requisites.

Public health articulation

Scaling Up: Building 2+2 programs• Communication

–Listservs–Advisory board

• Transparency and resource sharing–Syllabus –Course Objectives –Program Objectives

Public health articulation

Scaling Up: Building 2+2 programs• Advisory board integration• Next steps:

–Revisiting and strengthening articulation agreement

–Working with other Community Colleges to support articulation

–Connecting with national resources working on public health at two- and four-year institutions

Resources• Public health program contacts:

– Amy Collins: acollins@dacc.nmsu.edu– Becky Corran: rcorran@dacc.nmsu.edu– Letty Gallegos: lettyg@ad.nmsu.edu– Dr. Sue Forster-Cox: sforster@nmsu.edu– Dr. Satya Rao: sakrishn@nmsu.edu

• DACC PH Program: http://dacc.nmsu.edu/hps/ph/• NMSU PH Program:

http://publichealth.nmsu.edu/undergraduates/current-students-2/• Public Health Careers: http://www.whatispublichealth.org/careers/index.html• What is Public Health? http://www.whatispublichealth.org/