We’ve Come So Far, We’re Not Stopping Here
The College will continue to deliver the best education, research, and service to build a more just and equitable world
Convocation ceremony for the Zuckerman College of Public Health, 2019
As we look back over the first 20 years of the Zuckerman College of Public Health, it is truly remarkable what we have accomplished. From the growth in the number of students and degree programs to the dramatic rise in research funding, from the launch of our Phoenix Campus to the international reach of our Global Health Institute, from new programs to new partnerships to our groundbreaking work in diverse communities ¬– our work in public health has benefited millions of people. All of this progress is guided by our dedication to health equity. Collaboratively, we have worked forge a healthier world for all no matter what their background or where they live. We are proud of what we have achieved.
What will we achieve in the next ten years? We have set our sights high, and we have already begun. On the education front, we are working on new degree programs and certificates. The development of a new undergraduate BA in Wellness and Health Promotion Practice is underway. We are creating four new undergraduate minors for both main campus and online: Aging and Population Health, One Health, Global Health and Environmental and Occupational Health. At the same time, we’re mounting new online graduate certificates in One Health and Environmentally Transmitted Diseases.
Public health students, excited to graduate and change the world
Globally, we are working to expand our programs abroad and engage more students from other countries. In addition to our micro-campuses in the United Arab Emirates and Puebla, Mexico, we are planning new partnerships with Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO), at its Mexico City campus or at its UNAM campus, State of Sonora, and we are working to establish a Spanish-language MPH program with El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Mexico.
See Dean Iman Hakim talk about all that has been accomplished by the College over the past twenty years in this video.
Read the congratulations message from Dr. Michael Dake, Senior Vice President, University of Arizona Health Sciences, for the Zuckerman College of Public Health and 20 years of growth and success.
Dr. Jim Dalen, former Dean of the UArizona College of Medicine, and former VP of University of Arizona Health Sciences, congratulates the Zuckerman College of Public Health on 20 outstanding years of achievement in this video.
In Arizona, our Academic Health Department continues to build collaborations with counties around the state to expand the reach of public health programs and give our students real-world experience. We’ve recently established partnerships with Pinal County and Cochise County, and we are working on agreements with the health departments in Graham County and Yuma County. During the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty and students have jumped in to support Pima County Health Department, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, and Yuma County with expertise and contact tracing support. In the future we seek to expand our collaboration with the Maricopa County, the Navajo Nation, the Tohono O’Odham Nation, the Gila River Indian Community, and the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Nation. We also plan to expand our very successful Mobile Health Unit program to reach other parts of Arizona. Further, to engage the next generation of public health professionals, we are creating a Young Global Leader Program (YGLP) for Arizona high school students.
Initiatives on the Phoenix Campus include building a cadre of research scientists based in Phoenix to serve the state and attract increased public health grant funding. In addition, the Center for Tobacco Cessation is working to secure contracts with other states to provide cessation services. The College will also support the Applied Policy Institute in Phoenix to secure an endowment so it can transition into the Center for Applied Policy, and part of that effort will be building a Community Advisory Board comprised of local leaders in Phoenix who can help us to grow the Phoenix Campus programs and their impact.
Among our ambitious research goals, we not only want to increase research funding as we have done substantially in the past decade, we also seek to build our global research projects, conducting studies in other countries and connecting them with research in the United States to deliver new insights. We are also pushing to increase our research portfolio in many areas, and build on our track record of strong public-private partnerships.
Students in the Mamas y Hijas program, 2019
All that we accomplish in the future will be guided by our dedication to health equity and serving diverse communities. In the new year, the College will hire an associate/assistant dean to lead the new Office of Equity, Inclusion, Diversity, and Multicultural Engagement for the College. We are also about to launch our Comprehensive College Climate Survey, which is a secure, anonymous, confidential survey with strict research controls that will evaluate our internal campus cultural climate and guide short term and long term action to grow a more inclusive culture at the College.
To celebrate our 20th Anniversary, we told 20 Days of stories that narrate all that we have achieved together over 20 years at the Zuckerman College of Public Health – All those milestones, all the lives we have touched, all the communities we have supported in our collaborative push to build a healthier, more just, and more equitable world. This is the world we envision, that we have worked towards for twenty years.
As we look ahead, we will continue to build on the foundation we have created, to accomplish our mission using the power of public health: We dedicate ourselves to promoting the health and wellness of individuals and communities in the southwest and globally with an emphasis on achieving health equity through excellence in education, research & service.
