TTUHSC Public Health Program Receives Accreditation

• By Suzanna Cisneros
• July 19, 2018

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Masters of Public Health (MPH) program received accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health.  Theresa Byrd, DrPH, associate dean and chair of the TTUHSC Julia Jones Matthews Department of Public Health, said the program now is accredited until 2023.

“We are really excited,” Byrd said. “This was a lot of work, and several of the faculty really dedicated themselves to making this happen. Our next step is to develop our first doctoral program, which we hope to have approved and ready to accept students in 2020.” 

Located on the Lubbock and Abilene campuses and administered by the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Julia Jones Matthews Department of Public Health offers the MPH degree program both face-to-face and online. In addition, the department offers an online certificate in public health.

The training emphasizes public health competencies and the integration and application of those competencies to public health practice. The MPH provides students with the knowledge, skills and values needed to succeed in public health careers. The department also has two dual degree programs, M.D./MPH and MPA/MPH (in approval stages) and is developing others. There have been 56 graduates from the program, including 38 MPH students and 18 M.D./MPH students.

“We are proud of our students and we know they will accomplish great things,” Byrd said. “We also are grateful for our supportive administration, especially President Tedd Mitchell who has been committed to getting public health programs at TTUHSC, and Dr. Brandt Schneider, dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, who worked closely with us during the process.”

The Council on Education for Public Health is the nationally recognized accrediting body for schools of public health and public health programs. The TTUHSC MPH program is the first school or program to undergo the accreditation process under the council’s newly revised guidelines.

 

A submission for approval for the establishment of the TTUHSC MPH program was made to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and approved October 24, 2013. The first MPH class began in September 2014.

For more information about the TTUHSC MPH program, visit http://www.ttuhsc.edu/gsbs/publichealth/default.aspx.