An Evaluation of a Pipeline Program to Support Diversity in the Public Health Workforce: CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars (CUPS) Program

Established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the goal of the CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars (CUPS) program is to expose students underrepresented in public health and medicine to careers in public health; ultimately, increasing the membership of these groups in these fields including biomedical sciences. CDC implemented a retrospective outcome evaluation of 1,047 students who participated in the program from 2012 to 2017. Seventy-four percent (775) of students responded to the survey that captures their academic attainment and employment status, as well as their perception of the program’s and mentors’ influence on their career path. As of 2020, 639 (83.4%) of 775 participants have enrolled in an advanced degree program, with over 80% of 639 participants pursuing degrees in biomedical sciences, public health, or health care (BSPHHC)–related fields. Two thirds (374/566) of participants who reported they had ever been employed in a career position are working/have worked in BSPHHC-related fields. Overall, 77.4% (600) of 775 participants reported either the program or the mentors, or both were extremely or very influential to their career path. Students claimed the CUPS program had “opened their eyes,” inspired their interest, cultivated their passion for the field of public health, and fueled their drive to find solutions to and in social determinants of health and contribute to health equity. The opportunity to gain work and research experience through internship placements in CUPS has “opened doors” to first jobs and advanced education and training opportunities for many students.

Cultivating Health Policy Analysis and Communication Skills in Undergraduate Public Health Education: An Active Learning Approach

Public health programs are increasingly offering health policy content to meet workforce demand for public health professionals with health policy analysis and communication skills. Undergraduate public health education in health policy and related curriculum is lacking. Existing work describes service- and experiential learning approaches, which may not be feasible in large courses or public health programs with limited administrative or financial resources. This article describes health policy curriculum, learning objectives, and course activities (i.e., individual writing assignment, mock policy debate, and policy analysis exercise) that integrate an active learning approach and use simulation to develop policy analysis and communication skills in an undergraduate classroom setting. An active learning approach can increase teaching effectiveness, critical thinking, peer interaction, and student engagement to cultivate these applied skills. The described curriculum has been used in various modalities (in-person, hybrid, and remote) with positive reception in a public research university with a high percentage of first-generation college students. Student course evaluations and an independent assessment of the policy analysis exercise reflect high student interest, engagement, problem solving, satisfaction, perceived benefits, and application of policy analysis and communication skills, providing support for teaching health policy curriculum to undergraduate students using an active learning approach. The discussion includes strategies to address resistance by public health instructors and students to using active learning techniques.

Swipe Up for More: How Our Students Taught Us to Use Social Media in an Academic Health Promotion Department

Social media is an important tool for academic departments. Yet, with limited resources, many health promotion departments may not have the ability to conduct extensive planning or development of social media plans. This commentary reports the efforts of one undergraduate public health program to improve its social media presence. Faculty and students worked together to develop a social media plan, identify activities to implement the plan, and track social media follower counts on Instagram and Twitter in spring 2020. A logic model planning framework drove the process, and key learnings from efforts are presented. Departmental leaders may want to link students and faculty to generate student-driven content on social media. Leaders should recognize that advance planning is needed to maintain consistency, control account access, and be prepared to deal with problematic comments on social media. Suggested activities are presented in the hope they may inform other departments’ efforts. Department leaders and faculty may find they have much to learn from their students in this area.

Theory-Informed Course Design: Applications of Bloom’s Taxonomy in Undergraduate Public Health Courses

The public health workforce needs an array of knowledge and skills to effectively address current and future public health challenges. While existing competency models establish educational objectives for public health degree programs, there is insufficient guidance on how academic programs should develop these competencies, and workforce assessments continue to identify skills gaps in areas such as critical thinking and problem analysis. In this article, we describe an approach for designing undergraduate public health courses based on the hierarchy of cognitive processes in Bloom’s taxonomy. Course activities are sequenced to provide students with opportunities to attain increasing mastery of course concepts and analytical skills, from remembering new concepts to applying them in case studies and creating original analyses and proposals. This simple approach has been applied to three separate courses taught by multiple instructors over 3 years and has received positive feedback from students. By explicitly communicating the theoretical basis for course activities, this approach also promotes metacognitive knowledge in students that can foster their continued learning success.