The University of Montana issued the following press release:
The School of Public and Community Health Sciences now is the official name for The University of Montana's programs in public health.
The Montana Board of Regents recently approved the name of the school, which is housed in UM's College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences.
A 42-credit master's program in public health - the only one of its kind in Montana - is offered through the school.
The master's program focuses on the intersection of rural and global health issues, preparing professionals for public health research and practice in Montana, rural America and developing countries around the world.
The school also offers a 12-credit certificate in public health.
Distance-learning technology used by the school will allow practitioners throughout Montana to develop new competencies that address growing health problems facing the state, the nation and the world.
The first cohort of 10 graduate students started the master's program fall semester.
Professor Craig Molgaard serves as chair of the UM school. Molgaard has held several public health leadership positions and has spent many years dedicated to rural and international public health.
Most recently, he was chair and professor at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health in the School of Medicine at the University of Kansas, Wichita. While there, he played a central role in establishing and maintaining national accreditation for the school's master's in public health program.
Other educators in UM's School of Public and Community Health Sciences are:
Amanda Golbeck, professor, biostatistics. Golbeck has held the position of professor with tenure at the Department of Mathematical Sciences at San Diego State University, the Department of Public Health Sciences at Wichita State University and the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Kansas.
Kari Harris, associate professor. Harris serves as principal investigator and co-investigator on a variety of tobacco-related studies sponsored by organizations such as the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Research Prevention Foundation.
Curtis Noonan, assistant professor of epidemiology. Noonan is a principal investigator on a study of air pollution and asthma sponsored by the Health Effects Institute and co-investigator for a subproject for the newly funded Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center.
Senna Towner, program coordinator. Towner received a master's in science with an emphasis in health promotion from UM. Her work is dedicated to HIV education and prevention.
Further information about UM's public health programs is available online at http://www.health.umt.edu/pubhealth/.Contact: Dave Forbes, 406/243-4341.
Dave Forbes, 406/243-4341.
