Public Health Program to Become a Department
The public health program at Cal State San Marcos has been approved to become a department within the College of Education, Health and Human Services, effective July 1.
The change was approved last week by Carl Kemnitz, CSUSM’s provost.
As part of the department designation, public health will be moving from the School of Nursing, where it has resided since 2016, to the School of Health Sciences and Human Services. It will become the fifth department in that school, joining human development, kinesiology, social work and speech-language pathology.
The final step for public health to be designated a department was the news this spring that the program has achieved accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), an independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit schools of public health and public health programs. The accreditation term is for five years, extending to July 1, 2026.
Christina Holub has been serving as interim director of the program and, starting this summer, she will be the chair of the new Department of Public Health. Holub thanked the School of Nursing for initiating the public health program and also saluted the founding faculty: in addition to herself, Emmanuel Iyiegbuniwe, Deborah Morton, Asherlev Santos and Lisa Bandong.
“With our recent accreditation and with a growing interest in public health careers, largely due to the pandemic, our team of faculty and staff are excited to train the next generation of culturally intelligent public health professionals,” Holub said. “There is so much more to come, and I can’t wait to see all the future endeavors and innovation in the public health department and, most importantly, how that translates to the success of our students and alumni.
CSUSM established the public health program in 2016 to meet the needs of graduates in health professions and to fill vacant positions identified in North San Diego County. Within the professional Master of Public Health degree, the department offers two concentrations, in health promotion/health education and global health.