I Criterion - Mission, Goals and Objectives Criterion I
The school shall have a clearly formulated and publicly stated mission with supporting goals and objectives. Expected Documentation 1. A clear and concise mission statement for the school as a whole. 2. One or more goal statements for each major function by which the school intends to attain its mission, including instruction, research and service. 3. A set of measurable objectives relating to each major function through which the school intends to achieve its goals of instruction, research and service. 4. A description of the manner in which mission, goals and objectives are developed, monitored and periodically revised and the manner in which they are made available to the public. 5. Assessment of the extent to which this criterion is met.
Criterion I - Mission, Goals and Objectives 1. Mission Statement
The mission of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health is to enhance quality of life by improving the public's health. As part of an urban campus of a land-grant university, the school is dedicated to protecting and improving the health and well-being of the people of metropolitan Chicago, the state of Illinois and the nation. The school achieves these goals by educating scientists, professionals and the general public; conducting research to develop solutions to public health problems; collaborating with related academic programs; and providing public service, in an environment of cultural diversity among students, faculty and staff. These activities focus on: 1) analyzing the nature and extent of health and illness in society; 2) identifying and analyzing causal mechanisms affecting health; 3) developing and evaluating disease/injury prevention and health promotion strategies; 4) developing and evaluating innovative healthrelated programs; and 5) providing leadership in the health policy process. Vision Since its establishment by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illlinois in 1970, the School of Public Health has developed a full program of high-quality public health education, research and service. During the next decade, the school will refine and enhance its programs. It also will assume a more prominent leadership role among U.S. schools of public health in innovative training of public health professionals, advancement of scientific knowledge, practice and policy of public health, and service to the community and the profession. The development of the school will be achieved through the following general strategies: Sustaining and enhancing existing areas of acknowledged excellence. Strengthening underdeveloped existing programs that are central to the school's mission and to this vision. Capitalizing on selected emerging opportunities for excellence. Offering high-quality, innovative educational programs that are relevant and accessible to public health professionals. Integrating public health practice and community service with academic and research programs. Interacting more effectively with other schools and colleges of the university.
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2-3. Goals and Objectives
The school's mission and vision are achieved through unified (schoolwide) and programmatic (divisional) goals measured across the domains of education, research and community service. Through the strategic planning efforts, the faculty determined that our goals should focus on select areas of substance. These include: environmental and occupational aspects of public health, gerontology, health promotion and disease/injury prevention, health services and health policy studies, and maternal/child and women's health. A. Unified Goals 1. Education Provide a high-quality educational experience in an academic environment of excellence. a. Improve teaching. Objectives: 1) 2) Implement a teaching evaluation program (teaching portfolio). Use formative evaluation components to enhance teaching. Increase emphasis on faculty development. Provide opportunities for faculty to attend short courses which will enhance their expertise both in the classroom and in their research. Provide opportunities for training in new classroom (and research) technologies Develop a mentorship program for junior faculty. Encourage and support the development of a mechanism whereby faculty can obtain practice experience. 3) Ensure equitable distribution of teaching load.
b. Review and enhance curriculum. Objectives: 1) Continue to evaluate the core competencies/learning objectives and make changes to core courses and other aspects of the curriculum, if and when appropriate, in response to these evaluations (e.g., MPH student and graduate surveys and the course evaluation questionnaires). Continue review of content and quality of course offerings through the Committee on Educational Programs. Review and enhance, if needed, the newly developed course evaluation system. 2
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Continue efforts in establishing new and improving existing joint degree programs (e.g., with criminal justice, nutrition, Kent Law School, MD/MPH, MBA/MPH, and MPH/MSN). Develop more interdisciplinary courses that can be cross-listed with other colleges on campus.
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Increase diversity among students and faculty. Objectives: 1) Increase the school's visibility in communities of underrepresented minorities through the newly developed office of community, government and alumni affairs. Continue identification of prospective students through the Health Career Opportunities Program. Continue support of minority students through school-based scholarship funds such as the Loretta Pratt Lacey Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Latino/Hispanic Scholarship Fund as well as through universitysponsored scholarships such as the Graduate College Diversity Fellowship and the Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship. Continue retention of admitted students through monitoring by advisors and faculty, and referral, if appropriate, to support and counseling services. Give consideration in all faculty hires to increasing the proportion of underrepresented minorities. Actively recruit minority candidates in all searches. In conjunction with the campus, when appropriate, ensure that solid faculty retention efforts are made for faculty from underrepresented minorities.
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Provide educational opportunities for both the public health work force in Illinois and other health care professionals. Objectives: 1) 2) Develop a Core Public Health Certificate Program, including the six core public health courses in an on-line modality. Develop an additional four, short (modular), skills-based noncredit courses targeted to those interested in enhanced training in skills-based methodologies (e.g., Analytical Skills in Public Health) and leadership training (e.g. Leadership in Public Health Practice). Develop an MPH program at an additional location (College of Medicine, 3
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Rockford), available in both traditional classroom and online formats, for health care professionals who want this degree or medical students wishing to pursue the MPH as a joint degree. 4) 5) Develop an Executive MPH in health policy and administration. Increase linkages with the MPH (nonaccredited) program at the Springfield campus and, subsequently, with the Illinois Department of Public Health.
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Select and retain well-qualified faculty. Objectives: 1) 2) 3) 4) Successfully recruit top choices of faculty search committees. Work with other units on campus to enhance our faculty through opportunistic hires. Continue to apply our recently developed rigorous promotion and tenure criteria. Continue to work with the university administration to provide competitive salaries, including addressing salary inequities and competing offers.
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Promote a stimulating intellectual environment throughout the school. Objectives: 1) 2) Use the newly developed "University Hour" to provide opportunities for schoolwide and/or divisional seminars. Develop a mechanism and find resources to bring nationally and/or internationally known figures in public health to the school for schoolwide seminars. Develop an annual "open house" event during Public Health Week where faculty discuss their research activities. Increase schoolwide participation in student MPH capstone presentations. Increase schoolwide participation in student thesis and dissertation oral presentations. Continue the Dean's Forum, monthly a presentation on research conducted by SPH faculty and students.
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2. Research Support a scientifically rigorous program of public health research, which includes both applied and theoretical emphases. a. Support the campus goal of achieving AAU status. Objectives: 1) Increase research and training grant proposal submissions. 2) Increase the proportion of submissions to federal agencies. 3) Increase the number of doctoral students and postdoctoral graduates. 4) Nominate faculty for important national committees. 5) Nominate faculty for appropriate awards and prizes. 6) Increase support for faculty proposal preparation. b. Support enhancement of health policy, health services and health promotion research. Objectives: 1) Develop a Health Policy Research Center. 2) Increase faculty proposal submissions through the newly established Health Research and Policy Centers, which are campuswide, policy-oriented research centers. c. Promote interdisciplinary research. Objectives: 1) Encourage research centers supported by the SPH to continue collaboration with other campus units. 2) Instruct both UIC and SPH leadership to continue to act as a catalyst in the development of interdisciplinary projects. 3) Develop a database of faculty research and community service efforts. Reports generated from this database can be distributed to other units on campus promoting the development of new research and/or service partnerships.
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3. Community Service Support linkages and collaborations with communities and public health agencies. a. Increase links to communities. Objectives: 1) Continue to increase linkages with grass-roots (community) organizations. 2) Support, and participate in, the campus's Great Cities Institute, which focuses on interdisciplinary applied research in the greater Chicago community. 3) Support programs such as the Maternal and Child Community Health Science Consortium, the Illinois Public Health Leadership Institute (IPHLI), for Maternal and Child Health Leadership that focus on community linkages. 4) Continue efforts in providing technical assistance to community-based public health related organizations. b. Increase links to health departments. Objectives: 1) Continue to increase mutual educational, work/study and research opportunities with local and regional health departments, including the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Public Health. 2) Increase linkages to other midwest states and their health departments (e.g. Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin). B. Programmatic Goals 1. Community Health Sciences Overarching divisional objectives: 1) Enhance linkages with public health and other community organizations and agencies to facilitate classroom field experiences, field practica, technical assistance, and jointly planned research projects or grant applications. Evaluate the MPH curriculum and strengthen doctoral programs. Continue to develop linkages across CHS tracks. Continue to provide professional education for public health workers in the region/state through the Public Health Leadership Institute and other activities. 6
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a. Enhance gerontology. Objectives: 1) Develop and teach new high-level courses in the gerontology curriculum. 2) Provide leadership on campus through the Center for Research on Health and Aging to foster funded research within the center. 3) Continue to involve community and local agencies as participants in aging and health promotion research. b. Enhance maternal, family and child health. Objectives: 1) Develop and teach courses to enhance the reproductive, perinatal, child, adolescent and women's health curriculum. 2) Renew the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) training grant for five years, through 2004. 3) Coordinate MCH-related assistance activities. research, teaching and service/technical
4) Develop a research center of excellence in focused areas of maternal, family and child health. 5) Strengthen MCH to be self-sustaining beyond the MCH training grant. c. Enhance health education and promotion. Objectives: 1) Develop and teach new high-level courses in the health education and promotion curriculum. 2) Continue to involve community and local agencies as participants in health promotion research. 3) Provide leadership on campus through the Center for Health Behavior Research and the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Center of the Health Research and Policy Centers (HRPCs) to foster health promotion research activities.
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2. Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences a. Undertake a thorough examination of the curriculum and research focus of this division. Objectives: 1) Successfully recruit a new division director. 2) Carefully evaluate the suggestions made by the external review panel and determine how to address and implement them. 3) Support modernization of the division with new faculty hires. b. Increase support of teaching laboratories. Objectives: 1) Hire a full-time laboratory safety manager. 2) Increase budgetary allocations...