Programs, Accreditations, & Initiatives - Brief Article

Morgan State University in Baltimore has begun a doctorate/master's degree program in public health that is designed to produce advanced public-health practitioners with primary prevention competencies that can deal with the health problems faced by urban communities.

According to a university prospectus: "A primary objective of the ... program in public health is to provide students with analytical, communication, program planning, cultural skills and public health competency in health promotion, disease prevention and health behavioral change."

Graduates will have had experience dealing with cases such as alcohol and drug abuse, violence, HIV-AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, cancer and heart disease and related systemic problems. The community-based program also provides practical experience with mental health services, criminal justice services, aging problems, adolescent and family-based programs, and health-maintenance and managed-care agencies. Much of that experience will come from community-based internships.

The program allows candidates to earn doctorates in public health within four years of receiving their undergraduate degree.

For more information, contact Dr. Yvonne Bronner, director of the program, at (443) 885-3185.

The American Health Information Management Association is now offering Web-based continuing education courses for health-information management professionals, health-information systems professionals and health-care informatics professionals.

The association's first program on the Interactive Learning Campus is HIM: Beyond the Basics: Healthcare Informatics and Health Information Systems. It gives participants access to up-to-date information about current and advanced practices as well as the knowledge and skills needed to move into more advanced roles in their fields ranging from the design and implementation of computer-based patient record systems to managing information security.

The program currently includes four courses. Association members receive four continuing education credit hours per course. The cost is $79 per course for members and $99 for nonmembers.

For additional information, contact Theresa Reynolds, the organization's public relations associate, at (312) 233-1599; or visit the Web site at www.universalcampus.com/ahimacampus.

The American Council on Education, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities have joined with 46 other higher education associations to sponsor the National Campus Voter Registration Project. The project's aim is to encourage and support campus-based activities that promote voter awareness, civic involvement and student participation in the electoral process.

"One of the most basic responsibilities of our institutions of higher education is to educate and motivate good citizen ship," says David L. Warren, President of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and co-chairman of the project.

The effort will reach out to all public and private college and university presidents, encouraging them to encourage their faculty, staff and students to discuss the issues and candidates of this election cycle. In January, the consortium mailed handbooks for organizing campus voter registration activities to all college presidents.

For a complete list of coalition members visit the American Association of Community Colleges Web site at www.aacc.nche.edu/leg/yvyv/yvyv3.htm.

For more information, contact either Deno Curtis of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities at (202) 293-7070.

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