Integrative Learning in US Undergraduate Public Health Education: Effective High-Impact Practices, Volume II

Book excerpt: This Research Topic is Volume 2 in the Integrative Learning in US Undergraduate Public Health Education: Effective High-Impact Practices series:Integrative Learning in US Undergraduate Public Health Education: Effective High-Impact Practices Undergraduate public health degree programs have flourished over the last decade in the United States; from 1995 to 2016, for example, the number of related undergraduate degrees awarded annually increased almost ten-fold, from around 1,300 to nearly 13,000. The Council on Education for Public Health established initial accreditation criteria for standalone baccalaureate programs in 2013 in tandem with these increases and in 2015, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health launched the Undergraduate Public Health and Global Health Education Network to advance undergraduate public health education. In parallel, the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) launched the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative in 2005 to champion the importance of a liberal education “for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.” Through the Educated Citizen and Public Health initiative, AAC&U has advocated for undergraduate public health education as a model of a practical liberal education.