July 02, 2007
Photograph of Dr. David Potenziani

Photograph of Dr. David Potenziani

David Potenziani, PhD, has been named Senior Associate Dean for Carolina’s School of Public Health, Dean Barbara K. Rimer announced today.Potenziani, formerly the School’s Instructional and Information Systems (IIS) director, has been interim Senior Associate Dean since March. In this position, he plays a key role in strategic planning, developing and maintaining partnerships, overseeing the administrative functions within the School and raising funds for the School. In addition, he is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Administration (HPAA).

“Dave is known and respected throughout the school and indeed, across the entire UNC campus,” Dean Rimer said. “He is well acquainted with people and public health issues. He has a non-flamboyant, yet determined way of approaching issues and solving problems. In addition, his visionary understanding of new technologies and his appreciation of public health will continue to be a great asset for the School. I am delighted that he will be taking on this new position, and the accolades from across the School of Public Health and beyond show that Dave is well-poised for success.”

A native of Illinois, Potenziani attended Knox College in Galesburg, Il., and received a bachelor’s degree with high honors from Eastern Illinois University in 1976. He earned a master’s degree and then a PhD in history, with a minor in economics from the University of Georgia — the school he calls “the other first state university.”

After a few years in academic posts, he switched to a career with private computer technology firms, developing information systems to support training, research, and publications. He has risen through the ranks at the School, beginning as a computing consultant in the School’s Health Behavior and Health Education department in1994. He became associate director of IIS in 1997 and director in 2000.

Potenziani has served as chair of the Communications and Networking Subcommittee of the UNC Strategic Planning Committee for Information Technology and currently as co-chair of the Health Informatics Working Group, North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance. He is a member of the master’s of public health advisory committee at East Carolina University, and the School of Public Health representative to the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance.

For the past seven years, he has been the UNC Chapel Hill Academic Distance Learning Coordinator and representative to the Distance Education Council of the Association of Schools of Public Health. He chaired that ASPH council from 2004-06.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve the School of Public Health. We are poised to make leaps forward to help improve the health of the people of North Carolina through our programs of research, education, and service,” he said. “Fasten your seat belts.”

Dave and his wife, Julie (a reading teacher), live in Durham, and have two daughters, Rachel (an MPH student in the School’s Health Behavior and Health Education Department) and Emma (a senior at Emerson College).

Dr. Potenziani’s office is located on the third floor of the Michael Hooker Research Center, room 3003. He can be reached by telephone at 919-966-3215 or by email at david_potenziani@unc.edu. For more information on his academic and professional career, as well as publications, please visit www.unc.edu/~dpotenzi/.

 

School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.

 

 

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