School reaccredited by CEPH for maximum period, seven years

July 06, 2010

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health celebrated more than Independence Day this holiday weekend. On July 2, Dean Barbara K. Rimer announced the School’s reaccreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) for seven years, the maximum period of renewal.

“This is great news!” Rimer said in an email to the School community. “We are so appreciative of the many ways in which people internal to and external to the School helped us prepare for the event.”

On behalf of the School, Rimer thanked a number of faculty members for their leadership in the process, including Peggy Leatt, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management; Anita Farel, DrPH, associate chair for graduate studies in the Department of Maternal and Child Health; Laurel Files, PhD, associate chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management; Felicia Mebane, PhD, assistant dean for students; and Dave Potenziani, PhD, senior associate dean.

Rimer thanked work group chairs including Kathy Barboriak, PhD, assistant dean for information technology; Sandy Martin, PhD, associate dean for research; Christin Minter, MA, director of the Office of Research; and Sheila Pfaender, MS, assistant director of program and resource development at the North Carolina Institute for Public Health.

Thanks also went to members of the School’s Public Health Foundation Board for providing critical information and support; Michaela Dinan for research assistance; Bobbi Matchar and Sarah Birken, for project management; Claire Viadro, PhD, for editing; Rob Kark, Brent Wishart and Jerry Salak, for building logistics and event coordination during the site visit; Chris Perry, for managing CEPH requirements and communication on the website; and Charlotte Nuñez-Wolff, EdD, and Robert Pitts, MSIS, for data assessment efforts.

“Preparation for reaccreditation is an important process in continuous quality improvement,” said Leatt, associate dean for academic affairs.

“It provides opportunities to examine what we do and identify ways we can continue to provide the highest quality programs. It has been a team effort. Everyone in our school deserves the credit for our achievement of the full seven years’ reaccreditation.”

The Council on Education for Public Health, established in 1974 by the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), is an independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit schools of public health and public health programs. The Council aims to enhance health in human populations through organized community effort by assuring professional personnel who are able to identify, prevent and solve community health problems.

Currently there are 44 fully accredited public health schools in the U.S.

Read the dean’s announcement online. (PDF)

Information about the CEPH self-study report is available on the School’s website.

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications.