Living Our Values

Below we describe how our many faculty, staff, and student research and service efforts exemplify our core values, linking to fuller descriptions of those projects where available. To see what specific areas our faculty engage in, please visit the Research and Service tab.

Collaboration

  • As part of the MPH curriculum, students work with community partners on inter-professional teams to find creative solutions to the health issues faced in Charlotte.
  • The Academy for Population Health Innovation (APHI) is a joint venture between UNC Charlotte and the Mecklenburg County Health Department. APHI leads a number of multi-agency projects.

Community Engagement

  • Since 2008, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has recognized UNC Charlotte’s integration of community engagement in its overall day-to-day programming with its community engagement classification.
  • The Graduate Public Health Association volunteered 51 hours of service during the 2018-19 school year.
  • Inspired by an ongoing commitment to community engagement, professors and staff in the PHS Department formed the Community, Action, Service, and Engagement (CASE) committee in Spring 2019. They volunteered approximately 42 hours of service during the 2018-19 school year.

Diversity

  • Dr. Erin Vinoski Thomas, a recent graduate of our PHS Ph.D. program, investigated how body functioning affects body image in women with and without disabilities. She worked as the Health and Disability Fellow for the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) for the 2018-19 academic year.
  • Since 2015, Associate Professor Crystal Piper has organized the Honorable North Carolina State Representative Beverly Earle Minority Health Conference, a companion conference to UNC Chapel Hill’s Minority Health Conference.
  • We purposively design our programs to be accessible for students of all abilities, professional backgrounds, and ages, with a special emphasis on serving first-generation, underrepresented, and minority students.

Social Justice

  • The Brookings Institute named UNC Charlotte a Leader for our commitment to social mobility and research.

Innovation

  • Dr. Pilar Zuber, Lecturer and BSPH Program Director, is a member of the grant-writing team who were awarded the Steelcase Education Active Learning Classroom grant. Funds will be used to equip an active learning classroom in CHHS, which will be ready for use starting in Fall 2019.
  • Facilitated by Dr. Alicia Dahl, several MPH students contribute to a “Paperchase” – a creative and collaborative way to write a scientific manuscript in 24 hours or less.

Professionalism

  • The Public Health Sciences Department sponsors five student professional student organizations and two professional honor societies. Several of these organizations focus on academic success and professional development, while others focus on community outreach and advocacy.

Health Equity

  • Even though we focus on Charlotte/Mecklenburg County for many of our projects, students are also encouraged to seek jobs and innovative solutions for rural health issues.
  • Students and faculty work with Charlotte leaders to ensure all subgroups receive needed care. We recently investigated how the measles epidemic could affect Charlotte, which is one of the highest density cities for undocumented immigrants.