HHS pushes for accredited School of Public Health

Marie Harvey, department chair of public health, receives 2008 Carl S. Schultz Award

By: Chloe Brunello

Posted: 11/18/08

In the last year, prominent figures in the College of Health and Human Sciences, such as Tom Eversole - the director of strategic development - have been advocating for an accredited College of Public Health.

This new development, headed by Eversole, would enable OSU to collaborate with both OHSU and PSU as partner schools. In addition, Oregon State would also be qualified to compete on a national level for funding that is only offered to accredited institutions.

With staff already in place in the areas needed to acquire accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health, Tammy Bray, dean of HHS said, "We are in a position to provide the leadership needed to achieve accredited school status at all three universities."

Not only is there staff in the required areas for accreditation, but they go above and beyond the typical "run-of-the-mill."

Marie Harvey, the current chair of the OSU Department of Public Health, received the 2008 Carl S. Schultz Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement from the American Public Health Association's Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Section.

The Carl S. Schultz Award is the most prestigious award given by the section, which honors her excellence in the field of sexual and reproductive health.

Harvey, a former University of Puget Sound and UCLA graduate, has also received prior awards, such as the Women of Achievement Award in 2005 from OSU's Women's Center and the Faculty Award for Excellence in Research from the Oregon Master of Public Health Program in 2008.

The new College of Public Health will not only focus its attention on the students within the school, but also public health.

"With increased interest in global health issues today, public health is becoming an important component of everyone's basic undergraduate education," Harvey said.

Since nearly one-quarter of the public health workforce is close to retirement, three times as many public health graduates will be needed to satisfy the gaping hole left from the previous generation of public health retirees.

With OSU's future College of Public Health, which is projected to open and become accredited as early as 2014, "Oregon would be able to produce the trained workforce we need to establish a solid statewide system of public health," Eversole said. "Ultimately, the health status of Oregonians would improve through better public health programs."

Chloe Brunello, staff writer

news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231