CSUB filling the urgent need for public-health professionals

New public health degree approved for fall 2021

By California State University, Bakersfield

June 4^th, 2021

Responding to the region’s urgent need for public health professionals, California State University, Bakersfield will offer a new bachelor of science degree in public health beginning with the fall 2021 semester. The announcement follows a years-long comprehensive effort to build a public health program that will advance the health and well-being of our communities for generations.

“It is a guiding principle at CSUB that our curriculum, scholarship and research align with the needs of the communities we serve,” said CSUB President Dr. Lynnette Zelezny. “The pandemic has offered a sobering reminder to us that the work of public health professionals saves lives. I am grateful to our team at CSUB for their hard work in making this degree a reality so that the future graduates of this program can use their knowledge and compassion to improve the health and safety of local families.”

The launch of the interdisciplinary public health degree is funded by a $3 million Title V grant from the Department of Education, first announced last September. The grant includes support for activities that allow students interested in healthcare to learn about various jobs in the field and the educational paths to those jobs.

“The new public health degree is a real game-changer for CSUB and the greater Bakersfield community,” said Dr. Todd McBride, interim dean of the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering. “We have a great number of students coming to CSUB each year who have a strong desire to serve our community in a health-related profession. Now in addition to nursing and kinesiology, we have public health as an option. There is a tremendous need for public health professionals in Bakersfield and Kern County, and now instead of trying to recruit public health-degree graduates from out of the area we can produce our own.”

Establishing a new degree program included a multi-step approval process from the CSU Chancellor’s Office, President Zelezny and the university’s Academic Senate. With the announcement that the Chancellor’s Office approved the program this week, the public health degree is officially part of CSUB’s slate of degree programs.

“The addition of the new public health program is a tremendous step to filling vital public health-related positions with Kern County-raised individuals with a passion to make a difference in their own hometown,” said Brynn Carrigan, director of the Kern County Public Health Services Department and CSUB alumna. “As this COVID-19 pandemic has proven, public health plays an instrumental role in keeping our community healthy and safe.”

The new program will include courses from different departments on campus, including courses from all four CSUB schools. Two new faculty members have been hired for the program and three new courses have been created for it: a 2000-level course about careers in public health; a 3000-level course about current issues and core concepts in public health; and a 4000-level course where students will split their time in lectures and hands-on experience at a public health site for practicum hours.

“With the first two new classes, students will learn about various careers in public health, and foundational concepts of public health,” said Jane Ashley, assistant professor of nursing, public health nurse, and member of the grant’s leadership team. “After completing the interdisciplinary courses, students will have a culminating experience with their Senior Seminar course. In this course, they will get to take everything they learned and put it into real-world, on-site practice so they can feel fully prepared for any job they get after graduation.”

Joining the CSUB faculty to teach these courses are assistant professors Dr. Linh Bui and Dr. Andrea Lopez, both hired under the Title V grant. Dr. Bui, who will join the Department of Nursing, was previously a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and Sutter Health Center for Health Systems Research. Her research focuses on healthcare delivery reforms and innovations, especially for women, children, and people with mental illnesses.

“With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, public health is more relevant and critical than ever,” Dr. Bui said. “I am excited to contribute to the new bachelor of science degree in public health to support CSUB students in pursuing a public health career. This program will provide new public health professionals with the knowledge and skills to help improve the health of our local communities.”

Dr. Lopez will be joining CSUB in the Department of Kinesiology. Prior to joining CSUB, Dr. Lopez was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California, Merced where she conducted COVID-19 community-engaged research and outreach focused on increasing awareness and education.

“I’m very excited to join CSUB and help build a public health program that serves the needs of the San Joaquin Valley,” Dr. Lopez said.

CSUB filling the urgent need for public-health professionals

Though the ongoing pandemic emphasizes the importance of public health, Ashley said the need for public health professionals will continue well into the future. A needs assessment done while planning for the new degree showed local public health agencies regularly have jobs available and frequently have to recruit outside the region to fill those positions.

"The public health infrastructure is remarkably understaffed," Ashley said, noting the need has only increased since last March. “But even after the pandemic is over, we’ve identified there is a need for public health professionals in the county public health department as well as other healthcare and community agencies.”

In addition to working for Kern Public Health, those with degrees in public health could work in other health agencies or nonprofits. Ashley mentioned public health colleagues who work in health education, administer Medi-Cal programs locally, and write grants.

“Any kind of public program development would be a suitable area for someone with a public health degree,” she said. “Public health professionals can focus on research, education, public policy development, or working directly with people in the community who need them the most.”

The interest in healthcare jobs is strong at CSUB, where the nursing department is highly competitive and only able to admit about 60 students a year. With both the new public health degree and expanding opportunities for pre-health students, CSUB will be able to better serve its students, help them earn their degrees in four years, and prepare them for a future serving their community.

“I look forward to greeting our new public health students in the fall,” Dr. McBride said. “It will be a joyous occasion I can’t wait to celebrate when the first graduates walk across the stage.”