Florida International University’s (FIU) Robert Stempel College of Public Health has joined the Public Health Foundation’s (PHF) minority outreach initiative. Funded by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this initiative seeks to increase access to advanced study and career opportunities in public health for minorities as minority populations, including African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and certain segments of the nation’s Asian/Pacific Islander population, which are not present in significant numbers within the public health workforce.
In 2008, (PHF) was awarded a grant from the CDC) for the development of an outreach plan aimed at motivating minority undergraduate students to pursue a career in public health. PHF utilized TRAIN, the nation’s premier learning management system for professionals who protect and improve the public’s health, and collaborated with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) – a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) – to pilot a multi-year outreach program specifically designed to increase the number of minority undergraduate students whose awareness of the public health field may lead them into a career in public health. At the request of CDC, PHF is replicating this initiative at other colleges/universities, which currently include the University of Arizona’s Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Morgan State University and now FIU.
FIU is an excellent academic institution to replicate PHF’s minority outreach initiative. Opening its doors in 1972 with an enrollment of only 6,000 students, FIU has grown to its current size of fourteen schools and colleges and over 40,000 students from all 50 states and 120 countries. FIU prides itself on the cultural and ethnic diversity of its students and faculty with over 75% of the student body representing minority populations (2010 enrollment demographics for minority students were: 60.4% Hispanic American, 13.2% African American, 3.5% Asian American, and 0.3% Native American). Furthermore, FIU is ranked first in the nation awarding bachelors and masters degrees to Hispanic students. With such a diverse student body, FIU is a perfect academic institution to replicate PHF’s minority outreach initiative.1
“Effective public health practice goes far beyond classroom knowledge. To be a truly effective public health practitioner, one needs to be both aligned with a career path as well as being sensitive to community needs and issues. With a large minority population living in Miami-Dade County, the TRAIN initiative will greatly assist in reaching out and recruiting minority students. From this initiative, minority students will understand and realize the excitement of a career in public health," said Dr. Gilbert Ramirez, Professor and Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at FIU.
To learn more about PHF’s minority outreach initiative, please review the final report of the original pilot study. If your academic institution would like to participate in this outreach initiative please contact Lois Banks at lbanks@phf.org by no later than December 16, 2011.
1. Florida International University Rankings and Facts. http://www.fiu.edu/about-us/rankings-facts/index.html. Accessed November 18, 2011.