Mission Statement

Mission

The mission of the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine (SPHCM) is to promote better health, prevent illness and injury, and ensure more efficient and cost-effective health care services, through education, research, service.

Goals

To fulfill its mission, the SPHCM has the following goals:

　

To advance knowledge in the public health sciences;

　

　

To train able and effective public health practioners;

　

　

To train highly competent researchers in the public health sciences; and

　

　

To promote health through involvement with communities

　

We believe that the most effective way to support our teaching and service is through a strong emphasis on research. This is reflected in our goals and in the interdependence of our objectives for achieving them.

We intend to achieve our goals through meeting the following objectives:

　

Recruit and retain outstanding faculty in the range of disciplines and specialties appropriate to our mission;

　

　

Recruit graduate and undergraduate students of the highest academic capabilities who are committed to public health;

　

　

Provide a multicultural setting for public health learning;

　

　

Maintain and improve excellent graduate and undergraduate programs that allow us to produce knowledgeable and effective public health practitioners and researchers;

　

　

Develop new programs in response to new technologies and advances in the public health sciences;

　

　

Develop the infrastructure to support state-of-the-art research;

　

　

Compete successfully for research funding in the public health sciences;

　

　

Increase research and training links and activities with regional research centers, state and local health departments, and other UW schools;

　

　

Develop and sustain formal links with a wide variety of community organizations; and

　

　

Disseminate findings to the public health community.

　

Measures for determining our success in meeting these objectives are listed the table below:

Objectives Measures
Recruit and retain outstanding faculty in the range of disciplines and specialities appropriate to our mission
Increase success in recruiting first-choice candidates
Maintain low turnover rate of existing faculty
Recruit graduate and undergraduate students of the highest academic capabilities who are committed to public health
Maintain or increase ratio of application/offers
Maintain or increase GPAs and GREs of accepted applicants
Increase number of accepted students who enroll
Recruit students with a strong interest in public health
Provide a multicultural setting for public health learning.
Increase diversity of faculty and students -- by geographic area (state, national, foreign), ethnicity, and gender.
Maintain and improve excellent graduate and undergraduate programs that allow us to produce highly competent public health practitioners and researchers.
Maintain or increase student and alumni satisfaction with curriculum and faculty
Maintain or improve high student and peer ratings of courses and teaching
Maintain or increase GPAs of admitted students
Maintain low drop-out rate of students
Develop new educational programs in response to new technologies and advances in the public health sciences
Offer new courses to reflect changes in the field
Develop new teaching approaches (e.g., distance learning)
Develop new degree programs/tracks
Develop the infrastructure to support state-of-the-art research
Increase amount of staff, space, equipment, and dollar support devoted to faculty who compete for grants
Compete successfully for research funding in the public health sciences
Maintain or increase number of grants/contracts and grant dollars
Increase % of faculty who are principal investigators
Increase research and training links and activities with regional research centers, state and local health departments, and other UW schools
Maintain or increase joint recruitments and appointments with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Group Health Cooperative, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Children's Hosptial and Regional Medical Center, Seattle-King County Health Department, and other UW schools
Maintain or increase number of grants/contracts, grant dollars, and co-authored publications with colleagues at affiliated institutions
Maintain or increase number of joint courses and co-sponsored symposia
Develop and sustain formal links with a wide variety of community organizations
Increase links with state and local health departments
Increase number of interactions with community organizations
Increase co-sponsored symposia with community organizations
Increase faculty service activities with community organizations
Disseminate findings to the public health community
Increase number of publications by faculty and students
Use School's media plan to increase visibility of School's service to the community and other activities
Increase number of web sites
Increase number of presentations
Increase number of citations in the media