{"id":47532,"date":"2004-06-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-06-21T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/"},"modified":"2022-08-28T21:43:02","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T02:43:02","slug":"official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Official says now is right time for public health; State&#8217;s\nnew, only master&#8217;s degree in public health receives national accreditation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\"><p>The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska<br \/>\nat Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public<br \/>\nHealth Program. The program received national accreditation by the Council<br \/>\non Education for Public Health.<\/p>\n<p>Public health is focused on promoting, protecting and advocating for<br \/>\nthe public&#8217;s health. Public health addresses physical, mental and environmental<br \/>\nhealth concerns of communities and populations at risk for disease and<br \/>\ninjury. Professionals who work in public health focus on improving the<br \/>\nhealth of Nebraskans.<\/p>\n<p>The accrediting body awarded the degree program accreditation for five<br \/>\nyears, the maximum period allowed. Accreditation is voluntary.<\/p>\n<p>Magda Peck, Sc.D., director of the new UNMC\/UNO Graduate Program in<br \/>\nPublic Health, said this is a great time in Nebraska for a degree in public<br \/>\nhealth.<\/p>\n<p>This has been the right time for public health in Nebraska, Dr. Peck<br \/>\nsaid. The Master Tobacco Settlement invested money in new health departments<br \/>\nso that now every part of our state is covered. Then after 9\/11, and the<br \/>\nscares of bioterrorism, smallpox and anthrax, we were reminded that public<br \/>\nhealth officials are responsible for keeping the public safe. We need prepared<br \/>\nprofessionals beyond the physicians, nurses and fire departments and others<br \/>\non the front lines. We need public health professionals who can plan and<br \/>\neducate, evaluate and lead, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The program recruits students from across the state.<\/p>\n<p>We have students in our program from across the state, she said. We<br \/>\nhave begun to provide some of our core classes via distance education so<br \/>\nthat we can send our classrooms out beyond the Omaha\/Lincoln area.<\/p>\n<p>We feel the real impact will be felt certainly beyond the metropolitan<br \/>\narea. Its also our job to educate public health practitioners who will<br \/>\nserve rural Nebraska, Dr. Peck said. People can become healthier in rural<br \/>\nNebraska through prevention of obesity, injuries, heart disease, cancer.<br \/>\nWhen we keep people from getting sick in the first place, it may mean that<br \/>\nthey need to go to Omaha or Lincoln or Denver for specialty care a whole<br \/>\nlot less often.<\/p>\n<p>She said accreditation is a national stamp of approval.<\/p>\n<p>The degree will mean something no matter where in the world our students<br \/>\npractice, she said. It also means our program joined the dozens of others<br \/>\nin the country that meet a certain level of excellence.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Peck said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor, and Nancy Belck,<br \/>\nUNO chancellor, made the new degree possible.<\/p>\n<p>The program educates and trains students to become public health professionals.<br \/>\nAbout 40 faculty make up the program from the UNO and UNMC campuses, including<br \/>\nareas of medicine, nursing, public administration, social work, business<br \/>\nadministration, sociology, and health, physical education and recreation.<\/p>\n<p>Two specialties currently are offered &#8212; community health education,<br \/>\nwhich encompasses educating communities on what they need to know to keep<br \/>\nhealthy, and health administration, which includes educating and training<br \/>\nstudents to design and administer public health programs that use taxpayer<br \/>\ndollars wisely and efficiently.<\/p>\n<p>Since January 2002, more than 70 students have enrolled in the MPH programs<br \/>\nhealth administration or community health education tracks. Twelve more<br \/>\nstudents will earn their degree by the end of this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Dick Raymond, M.D., chief medical officer, Nebraska Health and Human<br \/>\nServices System, said the increase in depth and breadth of public health<br \/>\nis needed to drive health policy. Its important to have this resource<br \/>\nin the state. If this degree werent available in the state, Nebraskans<br \/>\nleaving the state to pursue this kind of degree might not have come back.<\/p>\n<p>The lay public may not fully understand what public health is but they<br \/>\nsee examples of it almost every day. Dr. Peck said public health is about<br \/>\ncreating the conditions necessary for all people to be healthy.<\/p>\n<p>There are people in Nebraska who are doing public health right now.<br \/>\nTheyre out working in hospitals or community action agencies or health<br \/>\neducation programs taking care of the needs of populations at risk. For<br \/>\nexample, we know that Nebraskans a have higher incidence of obesity, diabetes<br \/>\nand heart disease.<\/p>\n<p>We have great medical professionals providing excellent diagnosis and<br \/>\ntreatment, but who will educate the public about the steps we all need<br \/>\nto take so that people make healthier lifestyle choices? Who will design<br \/>\nand implement evidenced-based programs to address smoking cessation, second<br \/>\nhand smoke and children, and smoke-free environments? Who will work with<br \/>\nthe state legislature to help shape bills and laws that are based on public<br \/>\nhealth science and be in the public&#8217;s interest for healthier families,<br \/>\ncommunities and workplaces? MPH program graduates will be able to do this,<br \/>\nand more.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, call Valdeen Nelsen, MPH program coordinator,<br \/>\nat (402) 561-7586.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public Health Program. The program received national accreditation by the Council on Education for Public Health. Public health is focused on promoting, protecting and advocating for the public&#8217;s health. Public health addresses physical, mental [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Official says now is right time for public health; State&#039;s new, only master&#039;s degree in public health receives national accreditation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public Health\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Official says now is right time for public health; State&#039;s new, only master&#039;s degree in public health receives national accreditation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-06-21T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-29T02:43:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@unmc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UNMC Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\"},\"headline\":\"Official says now is right time for public health; State&#8217;s new, only master&#8217;s degree in public health receives national accreditation\",\"datePublished\":\"2004-06-21T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T02:43:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/\"},\"wordCount\":801,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/\",\"name\":\"Official says now is right time for public health; State's new, only master's degree in public health receives national accreditation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-06-21T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-29T02:43:02+00:00\",\"description\":\"The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public Health\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Official says now is right time for public health; State&#8217;s new, only master&#8217;s degree in public health receives national accreditation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"Newsroom\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"University of Nebraska Medical Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/unmc\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621\",\"name\":\"UNMC Today\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/strategic-communications\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Official says now is right time for public health; State's new, only master's degree in public health receives national accreditation","description":"The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public Health","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Official says now is right time for public health; State's new, only master's degree in public health receives national accreditation","og_description":"The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public Health","og_url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","article_published_time":"2004-06-21T05:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-29T02:43:02+00:00","author":"UNMC Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@unmc","twitter_site":"@unmc","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UNMC Today","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/"},"author":{"name":"UNMC Today","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621"},"headline":"Official says now is right time for public health; State&#8217;s new, only master&#8217;s degree in public health receives national accreditation","datePublished":"2004-06-21T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T02:43:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/"},"wordCount":801,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/","name":"Official says now is right time for public health; State's new, only master's degree in public health receives national accreditation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2004-06-21T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-29T02:43:02+00:00","description":"The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha recently received accreditation for its joint Master of Public Health","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2004\/06\/21\/official-says-now-is-right-time-for-public-health-statesnew-only-masters-degree-in-public-health-receives-national-accreditation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Official says now is right time for public health; State&#8217;s new, only master&#8217;s degree in public health receives national accreditation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"Newsroom","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#organization","name":"University of Nebraska Medical Center","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/overview-1.png","width":500,"height":153,"caption":"University of Nebraska Medical Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unmcedu","https:\/\/x.com\/unmc","https:\/\/instagram.com\/iamunmc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/UNMCEDU"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b7a10902696c45a5370b361e3a9ce621","name":"UNMC Today","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/strategic-communications"],"url":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/d1fe173d08e959397adf34b1d77e88d7\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74011,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47532\/revisions\/74011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}