Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, James Anthony, Robert Black, Bernard Guyer, Edward Miller and Alfred Sommer.

Guests: Drs. Gert Brieger, James Goodyear, Sharon Krag, and Noel Rose; Ms Diane Glover and Mr. Herbert Hansen.

Meeting Convened: Provost Knapp convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 828th meeting on September 14, 1999 were approved.

Remarks by the Provost:

Provost Knapp remarked that the School was featured prominently in the recent University-wide leadership weekend to celebrate the fundraising campaign and highlight ongoing priorities. Four working groups of the Board of Trustees have reviewed the progress and status of the various aspects of the University, documenting its successes and identifying areas for continued improvement.

Much of the University is undergoing capital expansion following master plans developed for the East Baltimore and Homewood campuses, and including the recent opening of the new Cancer Center. Some of the building will depend on dispensation of funds from the tobacco settlement. While the NIH budget is likely to continue its growth, Dr. Knapp acknowledged the hard work of Public Health faculty in continuing to attract funds from NIH and other sources.

The new director of APL will start in January, 2000 and is expected to continue developing a number of collaborations with other divisions of the University.

Remarks by the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs:

Dr. MacKenzie noted that deadlines for nominations for the JHU Society of Scholars are due by October 29, 1999 to Ms. Amanda Cline in the Dean's Office. A compendium of cooperative agreements has been published by the Association of Schools of Public Health.

A searchable version is expected to be on line shortly to assist faculty and students in matching their interests with opportunities available through the cooperative agreement. The Council on Education for Public Health has provided formal notification that the School will be reaccredited for 5 years with the possibility of a 2 year renewal based on progress in providing exposure to the "core areas" of public health to all MHS students. Drs. Sommer and MacKenzie felt that the decision by CEPH should not be appealed by that the School should work with ASPH to review the entire accreditation process. In addition, the subcommittee of the Committee on Academic Programs reviewing MHS programs is expected to finalize its report in the next several weeks. Their recommendations will be included as part of the response to CEPH.

Dr. Mackenzie noted that Ms. Helen Walters is now organizing space requests for summer institutes for the School. Chairs were asked to forward requests for space for summer institutes as soon as possible as there are likely to be more requests than there is space available. Homewood and other local options are also being explored for classroom and housing space. Dr. Knapp noted that the Homewood campus has become very busy during the summer, and Dr. Lawrence suggested pursuing reciprocity arrangements with Loyola and other local colleges.

Remarks by the Faculty Senate:

Dr. Yager remarked that Mr. Hansen presented information on the School's budget and new construction at Faculty Senate meeting in October.

Distance Education Update:

Dr. Lawrence commented that the Distance Education group will apply for funding from HRSA through the ASPH cooperative agreement to fund capacitybuilding public health education in states without schools of public health. The School will partner with several nearby states to propose providing these educational opportunities via distance education.

Applications and acceptances to the iMPH program are going faster than predicted. Dr. Lawrence reminded the chairs who have not already responded that they should list the 4 or 5 courses that should be made available on the internet to increase iMPH electives. Dr. Steinwachs requested information on the interests of current and accepted iMPH students to assist in identifying those courses.

Mr. Hansen noted that the financial aspects of the Distance Education Program were reviewed by the Committee on Finance, and that the Program is doing better than predicted by its business plan.

Other items:

Revisions to Faculty PPM1: Ms. Fox noted that the JHU Graduate Board approved the School's proposal that research and public health professorial faculty can act as primary doctoral advisors. National searches will be conducted for research and public health professors after a brief "grandfather" period where faculty currently holding other fulltime titles can by recommended by their departments for a research or public health professor title. Dr. Rose requested that all such recommendations be forwarded to the Dean and to Committee on Appointments and Promotions by February 1, 2000. After further discussion, the Advisory Board voted to approve the revised PPM with two minor wording changes.

Undergraduate Public Health Major: Dr. Knapp introduced Drs. Gert Brieger and James Goodyear. Dr. MacKenzie remarked that the undergraduate public health major offered by the School of Arts and Sciences had reached an important juncture after several years of careful oversight by Dr. Goodyear. The program has grown to the point that it is the third largest major in Arts and Sciences. With increasing commitment by the School of Arts and Sciences and increased interest and involvement by the School of Public Health, the undergraduate program will be expanded and formalized. Dr. Brieger has been appointed director and Dr. Goodyear associate director of the new program.

Dr. Brieger commented that the program has been in existence for a long time, and that it continues to grow every year. The program will now have a more permanent academic home, and greater visibility and coherence as a result. Two faculty committees have been established. One is examining the educational offerings of the program and assessing any additional markets. The second will be an advisory committee from the faculty of Arts and Sciences and from the SHPH. Members of the advisory committee may also act as student mentors.

Dr. Brieger noted that JHU has the opportunity through this program to be one of a few undergraduate institutions offering a public health major. Several new courses in public health are being designed specifically for undergraduates, and the students will also take some courses in East Baltimore. Access to faculty and resources at the SHPH is a great benefit to the undergraduate students, who have reported much satisfaction with their contact with SHPH faculty.

Dr. Goodyear commented that undergraduate public health majors are either in natural sciences or in social sciences, with about 200 in total this year, and that the public health major is more popular than the biology major. Traditionally, most of the natural science public health majors have planned to attend medical school, but that trend appears to be declining. The public health major is growing and popular and been fueled by the winter intersession courses at Homewood taught by SHPH faculty. As the program continues to evolve, Public Health courses will need to be developed or adapted. Dr. Goodyear mentioned that the program will need to offer biology and health policytype courses developed specifically for the undergraduates. Drs. Brieger and Goodyear anticipate visiting the SHPH academic departments to further describe the undergraduate program in the next several months.

Dr. Goodyear remarked that a number of recent undergraduate public health majors have enrolled in graduate studies in public health, both at Hopkins and elsewhere, and that this might prove to be a good source for students for our MHS programs. In addition, a number of students intending to enroll in medical school wish to obtain an MHS degree prior to the medical training.

After further discussion, Dr. Yager suggested that Drs. Brieger and Goodyear come to a Faculty Senate meeting to inform SHPH faculty about this program. Dr. Knapp then thanked Drs. Brieger, Goodyear and MacKenzie for their work on this important collaborative effort.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 1999 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
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