According to the Program Review Report for AY 2001-2002, the following recommendations were made after the previous program review:
Explore options for program accreditation through affiliation with the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago or through other arrangements that would result in an accredited degree but would not require additional UIS faculty resources.
The department met with faculty from the UIC School of Public health regarding an affiliation that would give accreditation to the curriculum delivered at UIS. UIC criteria for such an affiliation included (but not limited to):
UIS faculty becoming UIC faculty and adding UIC faculty to teach at UIS,
Salaries for UIS faculty commensurate with UIC salaries,
UIC personnel rules for promotion and tenure would apply,
Curriculum would be dictated by UIC, and
UIC accreditation would not extend to UIS.
These criteria were not acceptable to faculty of UIS department. In fall 2006, faculty asked for permission to undergo a massive strategic planning effort, which would allow for moving forward toward accreditation of the degree at UIS. Permission was granted and strategic planning was initiated late fall 2006.
Prepare a focused interim report in Spring 2006 for the Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs that includes specific discussion for the department’s academic status.
Evidence for this interim report could not be found in either program, college, or provost files.
Continue to develop and implement measures and procedures for the assessment of learning outcomes, as well as procedures for systematic review and use of the information from this outcomes assessment, to improve the MPH degree program.
In preparation for CEPH accreditation and EHAC reaccreditation the department has developed a mission and goals. In addition, competencies have been developed for core and elective curriculum. All courses have learning outcomes that, along with course pedagogy are currently being mapped. The competencies serve the foundation for the assessment across students and the curriculum. The first faculty meeting of each new semester will serve as the formal review of the assessment data and readjustments.
Collect information on students’ degree progress and on the closure exercises they choose. Report and analyze these data as part of the focused interim report.
The department has proceeded toward scanning of all student files into e-docs. In addition, an Access Database has been developed for query of student education
programs and monitoring degree progress. This will be used in conjunction with the DARS reports developed by the Office of Registration and Records.
The departments closure exercise is a comprehensive exam built around a case study for which the students provide assessment, assurance, and policy development wearing the hat of a public health administrator. The comprehensive exam continues to evolve and currently is mapped with the core competencies to demonstrate its ability to test for student achievement and understanding across the curriculum.
Current Program Strengths:
Faculty are committed to improving curriculum and program growth and diversity through strategic planning and assessment across the curriculum.
Faculty are teacher-scholars who also provide service to the university and to their professions, staying committed to improving the academic preparation of the students necessary for advanced public health careers.
Faculty are leaders in a number of campus curricular initiatives. These include
improving assessment of curriculum, shifting to more innovative delivery of curriculum (teacher scholars of online teaching), participating in undergraduate general education requirements by offering courses at several levels, and working with other graduate programs to develop interdisciplinary degree options (joint MPH/MPA and MPH/HMS) and advanced certificates (EPHS and EPI) of study.
The department has access to locally available adjuncts to provide advanced courses in environmental health, policy and administration and other courses throughout the curriculum.
The MPH-EH concentration is accredited by EHAC and a nationally recognized leader in online education in environmental health.
The general MPH and MPH-EH are in the process of CEPH accreditation and the
department is optimistic that accreditation will be received during the 2012 calendar year.
Areas of Concern:
Minimal resources are allotted for recruiting (especially travel) and web site development and maintenance. If the department is to continue to increase enrollment, support of recruiting should be a priority.
Shared secretary and online coordinator place a workload burden on these individuals.
With the continued growth of the online curriculum and additional students the department will need additional support.
Faculty maintain heavy teaching loads, overloads and heavy advising levels. The department is worried about potential for faculty burnout from these heavy loads. The non-tenured faculty needs additional time for scholarly productivity not afforded in these heavy loads.
Accreditation requires a minimum of three full-time faculty for each area of
specialization. CEPH counts the general MPH and MPH-EH count as two areas of specialization. For accreditation to be successful a minimum of six faculty are required (successful spring 2011 hires for two positions will bring the faculty headcount to six).
Program’s Recommendation for the Current Review:
Implement assessment across curriculum. The program has developed competencies, learning objectives and tools to collect outcomes information. The next step is to implement collection of data and provide feedback for continued evolution of quality public health curriculum.
Maintain EHAC accreditation for the MPH-EH. Evaluate program curriculum Submit self-study for reaccreditation during fall 2011, with site visit spring 2011.
Maintaining accreditation with EHAC for the MPH-EH concentration is one way to ensure the program is providing a quality environmental health graduate education. The benefit to our students is preferential hiring by several federal and state agencies afforded only to those graduating from EHAC accredited programs. This accreditation also helps provide qualified individuals much needed over the next 5-10 years to meet the
workforce brain drain of the last decade as the environmental health workforce reaches retirement age.
Continue working toward accreditation of the general MPH and MPH-EH with CEPH.
In fall 2008, the department began a concentrated effort to create curriculum and infrastructure consistent with CEPH accreditation requirements. Two tenure-track faculty positions were hired. A successful spring 2011 search for one faculty
replacement and one additional faculty line will complete the minimum six positions for CEPH accreditation. Curriculum was realigned with accreditation requirements. In fall 2009, the department applied and was accepted to enter into the accreditation application process. The department has worked on strategic planning, mission, goals, competencies, learning objectives, assessment and other curricular infrastructure necessary to meet the accreditation criteria. The draft self-study is due spring 2011, with the final self-study report due October 2011.
Stabilize the ability of the department to deliver the curriculum stabilizing the number of full-time faculty assigned to the program at 6 and 7-8 FTE with adjuncts.
As enrollment grows and the department moves to deliver both the general MPH and MPH-EH concentration on-line, ads an UG minor, and participates in general education and in interdisciplinary joint masters’ degrees and certificates additional faculty will be needed. This is particularly true as the department moves toward offering an UG major in public health.
Continue to evaluate and increase recruiting efforts.
The department can no longer limit recruiting to the immediate Springfield area for enrollment growth and stabilization. The program needs to create a vigorous recruiting effort. Both funding and innovative approaches to recruiting are needed for this effort.
Funding is needed to advertise in national and regional journals and support travel for recruiting, printing of brochures, and mailing costs. Because the department shares an
online coordinator with ENS and the coordinator provides web-based visibility for both departments on top of coordinating online education, support is needed for keeping the web site remain current and improving this important recruiting tool in this day of Internet technology.
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