Educators From Around the World to Attend Allegheny Global Health Institute

Allegheny College’s Global Health Studies program will host more than 75 faculty and administrative colleagues from around the country and the world to participate in the Teach Global Health: 2017 Summer Institute for Undergraduate Curriculum Development and Course Design for three days starting on Monday, June 19.

The institute is being held in collaboration with the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Great Lakes Colleges Association, the Consortium of Universities of Global Health, Child Family Health International, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the highly competitive private foundation which awarded Allegheny $1.5 million to develop a robust undergraduate program in Global Health over the past five years.

Allegheny Global Health Studies has been one of very few programs in the country, and the only liberal arts institution, to offer an undergraduate major and minor in Global Health Studies since 2012, though the number of majors offered in programs around the country is expected to grow. With the number of Global Health Studies graduates increasing yearly, Allegheny continues to be a leader in this nascent field. Prompted by enthusiastic reviews from the 2015 Summer Institute, and requests from colleagues across the country, the workshop will return this summer to continue strengthening the field of undergraduate global health education.

The College has also invited to the workshops select high school educators to encourage the promotion of knowledge and interest of this new field. This opportunity is designed to introduce high school educators to the value of liberal arts education and the unique interdisciplinary offerings at Allegheny.

Global Health Studies is viewed as a growing area of professional development for students interested in health-related fields. According to the World Health Organization, it is anticipated that the global health workforce will decline by almost 13 million individuals by 2035, with a deficit of 250,000 workers in the United States alone by 2020. Allegheny had about 150 students as Global Health Studies majors or minors in May 2017.

The three-day workshop is designed for faculty at undergraduate-serving institutions to share experiences and best practices, evaluate curricular programs and assessment tools, and participate in workshops designed to refine course and curricular materials that strengthen students’ learning.

Participants will include faculty, staff, and administrators who are interested in the role of global health as a “rich learning tool to prepare undergraduate students for complex, highly inter-connected and globalized world as both professionals and educated citizens.

“Liberal arts-focused institutions are uniquely positioned to address the interdisciplinary complexities of global health issues,” said Dr. Caryl Waggett of Allegheny’s Global Health Studies program. “At the same time, there are numerous challenges to educating undergraduate students in this field.”

The goals of the Summer Institute are to:

* Discuss the strengths of various educational models and institutional structures to enhance student learning, such as majors / minors, certificates, and different programmatic homes

* Explore the challenges posed by experiential learning for undergraduate global health students (such as domestic and international experiences, ethical engagement with communities, and assessment tools to evaluate student, institutional, and community measures of “success”)

* Share effective teaching models, work together with other participants on course development, collaborate with other institutions and community partners for experiential programming, and leverage the skills and experiences of our colleagues

In 2015, Allegheny faculty hosted 44 participants and facilitators representing 25 institutions, of which 23 were domestic and two were overseas, at its previous Summer Institute in teaching undergraduate global health.