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Proposal:
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This proposal serves to formally request a departmental name change from the Department of Public and Community Health to the Department of Behavioral and Community Health. Since the evolution of the College of Health and Human Performance into a School of Public Health, the current name of our department is redundant given the name of the school, and does not convey the nature of the work conducted within the department, namely that surrounding health behavior. We recognize that we are part of a university with a College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and respectfully request the use of a form of "health behavior" in our department name. The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) requires accredited schools of public health to include "a social and behavioral sciences" component, which the current Department of Public and Community Health is integral to fulfilling. CEPH defines this component as "concepts and methods of social and behavioral sciences relevant to the identification and
solution of public health problems" (pg. 10 of accreditation criteria at http://vv"Vvw.ceph.org/files/public/SPH-Criteria-2005.S05.pdf).
As evidence of our commitment to health behavior, the current Department of Public and Community Health has a Center of Health Behavior Research and a Laboratory for Health Behavior Assessment & Intervention. Adding behavior to the name of our department would be consistent with our departmental mission, which includes that "the Department of Public and Community Health is committed to achieving excellence in both undergraduate and graduate education that is specifically focused on developing expertise in individual and community health behavior and promotion."
The University of Maryland School of Public Health, based on the investment the University has made in it, its culture and infrastructure for research, and its location near the national capitol, is well positioned to compete with the top ranked Schools of Public Health throughout the United States. The vast majority of Schools of Public Health have a department similar to the current Department of Public and Community Health with a like emphasis on health behavior. In order to attract the best and brightest students to our department and compete with top ranked schools of public health, it is critical to have a department name that clearly conveys the breadth of our work and a name that will attract students of the very highest quality. |
