April 13, 2011
Health behavior and health education students at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health spend a school year working with community organizations providing a public health service. The organization benefits from UNC expertise, and students acquire practical experience.
 
The school’s health behavior and health education department recently announced the capstone projects for the 2011-2012 academic year. They are:
  • This year's Capstone students take part in a planning meeting.

    This year’s Capstone students take part in a planning meeting.

    Cervical Cancer-Free (NC) Initiative

  • El Pueblo Inc.
  • NC BEAUTY
  • NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence
  • N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch
  • Orange County (N.C.) Department on Aging
  • Tobacco Control Policy Advocacy Using Social Marketing and GIS
  • UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility
  • UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: Carolina Campus Community Garden
  • UNC Counseling and Wellness Services
  • UNC School of Medicine: ImPACT Project
The capstone course and project work is the foundation for the department’s Master of Public Health (MPH) training program. Based on a long tradition of combining coursework and mentored field work, the capstone enables students to apply knowledge acquired through academic studies and to a public health problem faced by a community organization or research team.
 
Capstone teams comprise three to five students, a faculty adviser from the department and a community partner.
 
Dr. Laura Linnan

Dr. Laura Linnan

“We are very excited to provide an opportunity for students and community partners to come together on a yearlong field work experience that meets the public health needs of our partners and provides a wonderful learning experience for students,” said Laura Linnan, ScD, associate professor and MPH program director. “It is about the mission of our university and the commitment of the School and the Department of Health Behavior Health Education to meet the needs of our community partners and the residents of North Carolina.”

 
“We at El Pueblo Inc. are thrilled to work with another capstone team,” said Florence Simán, MPH, El Pueblo’s health program director. “This has been an amazing experience, enriching both the work of our organization and the lives of students.”
 
Over the course of two semesters, capstone teams will work with their community partner or research team to achieve a set of “deliverables” that ultimately will contribute to the priority public health needs of the partner and its intended beneficiaries. The program offers students a mentored learning experience and the opportunity to challenge real world public health issues.
 
Each student will devote an average of six hours per week to developing their deliverables, which may include literature reviews, grant proposals, policy briefs, intervention materials, campaigns, programs, curricula, community assessment reports, community forums, program planning documents and/or evaluation reports. Students are expected to present project results and deliverables in spring 2012 during the Capstone Celebration Day event held in April.
 
 

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

 

 

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