View past EPC agendas (Google Drive)

Purpose

The Educational Policy Committee (EPC) is an advisory body to the dean. The EPC shall be responsible for:

• Working with the dean to envision future directions for educational programs and policies.
• Making recommendations to the dean on proposed new degree programs, and the sunsetting of existing programs, via committee review and vote.
• Through the EPC representative to the Policy Council, reviewing and making recommendations on school-wide policies that are being discussed by the Policy Council. A “policy” is interpreted here as a set of rules and does not include guidelines, procedures, or practices.
• Regular review of existing courses and degree programs.
• Approval of proposed courses via committee review and vote.
• Serving as a forum for the exchange of information about education programs, pedagogy, and enhancing and supporting quality teaching.
• Other matters with import for the education of the school’s students and for instructors of the school’s courses.

Membership

The voting membership shall consist of one faculty member for each MPH “major” program, each graduate program, and each undergraduate program (preferably the program’s director for each of them), two student members (nominated by the SPH Student Senate), and one Graduate Program Coordinator (selected by the Graduate Program Coordinators). Voting members who represent more than one program cast one vote per program represented. Programs not directly represented with a voting member include integrated degree programs (e.g., 4+1), minors that do not have a corresponding major, and certificate programs. The Associate Dean of Education & Student Engagement and the school’s registrar (or their equivalents) serve as ex officio, non-voting members. The registrar serves as staff support for the committee. Other significant educational activities may be represented as ex officio, non-voting members, or as invitees to appropriate EPC meetings, as the EPC shall decide. The dean is ineligible to serve.

Appointments and Leadership

Appointments are made as described in the Bylaws. Vacancies in membership will be filled by the respective educational program or the Student Senate. The chair and vice-chair of the EPC each serve for one year. The chair appointment rotates through the four divisions in the following order: Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology & Community Health, Health Policy & Management. The vice-chair is selected from among the directors from the next division in the list; the vice chair becomes the chair in the next year. The EPC chair (or delegate from among the EPC members) serves as the EPC representative on the Policy Council. An EPC member may be re-selected as the Policy Council representative for additional years during their EPC term(s), consecutive or not.

Current Committee Membership

Voting Members

• Silvia Balbo (Environmental Health Sciences MS & PhD)
• Jeff Bender (Public Health Practice MPH)
• Zobeida Bonilla (Maternal and Child Health MPH)
• Stuart Grande (Public Health Administration and Policy MPH)
• Weihua Guan (Biostatistics MS/PhD)
• Karen Kuntz (Health Services Research, Policy & Administration MS & PhD)
• Kamakshi Lakshminarayan (Clincial Research MS)
• Jennifer Linde (Community Health Promotion MPH, Vice chair)
• Susan Mason (Epidemiology PhD)
• Ruby Nguyen (Public Health BA)
• Pete Raynor (Occupational Hygiene MS and PhD)
• Matt Simcik (Environmental Health MPH, Chair)
• Jamie Stang (Public Health Nutrition MPH)
• Katie White (Healthcare Administration MHA)
• Rachel Widome (Epidemiology MPH)
• Julian Wolfson (Public Health Data Science MPH)
• Rebecca Wurtz (Public Health Administration and Policy MPH)

Ex Officio Members

• Ellyn Buchanan, Director of E-Learning Services
• Ellen Demerath, EpiCH Division Training Committee Chair
• Emily Dunsworth, Assistant Dean for Recruitment & Enrollment
• Anne Marie Hotop, CEPH Accreditation Coordinator
• Sara Hurley, Assistant Dean for Learning Innovations
• Lauren Jones, Director of Diversity, Equity& Inclusion
• Quin Nelson, SPH Student Senate
• Jennifer Porter, Assistant Dean for Enrolled Student Experience
• Drew Smith, Scholarship Coordinator
• Sarah Summerbell, GPC Representative
• Mercedes Taneja, Applied Practice Coordinator
• Elizabeth Wattenberg, Associate Dean for Education & Student Engagement
• Stefanie Wiesneski, Director of Student Records, Curriculum, and Compliance

EPC Curriculum Subcommittee

The Curriculum Subcommittee is charged with providing leadership for the development and implementation of all new undergraduate and graduate courses and programs. The subcommittee will review program and course proposals for learning objectives to meet educational goals, content, instructional hours, competencies, integration of themes, provide oversight to ensure academic standards are met, review for overlap and redundancy, etc. The subcommittee serves in an advisory capacity to the SPH Educational Policy Committee to recommend approval, concerns, additional recommendations, etc.

Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month, from 9:30am to 11:00am via Zoom.

Subcommittee Composition

The Curriculum Subcommittee consists of program directors and directors of graduate studies representing the various programs, and SPH staff appropriate to the subcommittee’s responsibility.

Current Subcommittee Membership

• Zobeida Bonilla, Program Director, Maternal and Child Health MPH
• Sara Hurley, Assistant Dean for Learning Innovations
• Jennifer Linde, EPC Vice Chair and Program Director, Community Health Promotion MPH
• Quin Nelson, SPH Student Senate
• Sally Olander, Biostatistics MS and PhD Program Coordinator
• Matt Simcik, EPC Chair and Program Director, Environmental Health MPH
• Stefanie Wiesneski, Director of Student Records, Curriculum, and Compliance
• Julian Wolfson, Program Director, Public Health Data Science MPH
• Rebecca Wurtz, Program Director, Executive Public Health Administration and Policy MPH
• Kristin Chalberg, MHA Program Coordinator