Commending students, faculty, staff and alumni for their resilience, resourcefulness and efforts to help others, Dean Amy Fairchild reflected on the triumphs and struggles of the past year and looked toward the future in her 2021 State of the College address.
“What I saw unfold around me was nothing short of incredible. You rose up, to a pandemic, to systemic racism, to threats that have tested our university, our community, and the resources of our public health and health care systems like no other time in history,” Fairchild said.
“You found innovative and engaging ways to teach and to learn from your homes, to maintain a vibrant academic community. You surveyed the landscape and determined where your expertise and understanding could best serve the most people – especially those hardest hit.”
As dual national public health crises consumed so much energy, effort and attention, the college maintained its core purpose of helping the next generation of public health and health care administration leaders grow and flourish, she said.
“You made certain — and I’m especially looking to our stellar college staff here — that our students remained informed, connected and supported — that their educational journeys, while different, were not derailed and that their successes were celebrated.”
Fairchild discussed the breadth of experience the college community brought to help others navigate the pandemic and the uprising to dismantle systemic racism, and the expertise they applied to collaborative work with the state, schools and others. She praised advocacy efforts and research advances.
She celebrated a trio of new scholarships that celebrate diversity and equitable access to education — the Ruth Ella Moore, Dr. Amy Acton Future Leaders of Public Health and the Anna M. and Reverend Dr. Calvin A. Hood scholarships.
And she talked about reaching for more — including growing enrollment and more emphasis on online learning, building on the successful recent launch of the entirely online MPH Program for Experienced Professionals.
Fairchild focused much of her address on the goals established during the 2020 strategic planning process:
- Address public health challenges through nationally leading research to substantially increase the societal impact of the college
- Develop career-ready professionals through comprehensive and contemporary nationally ranked programs
- Partner with communities and health departments across Ohio and beyond to grow evidence-informed practices, reduce health inequities and improve population health
- Foster a culture of engaged connection, sustained through support and appreciation of a diverse college community
- Attract, engage and support top faculty, staff and student talent, enabling them to perform at the highest levels
- Advance growth and ensure financial sustainability to achieve the college’s aspirational goals
And she reminded those gathered on Zoom of the college’s north star in strategic planning — its carefully considered ambition statement: Nationally recognized as a trusted voice for public health, committed to enhancing our shared future as a leader in stewarding policies and practices that promote health, dismantle inequities and prevent disease.
Continuing a tradition she started at the college last year, Fairchild honored stand-out staff and faculty with a college coin she gives for exceptional service. In a year when coming together as a team has been particularly critical to surviving and thriving, this year’s recipients numbered almost 200. They included staff, faculty, students and partners from other units and colleges.
“Our Comprehensive Monitoring Team, which includes the Case Investigation and Contact Tracing Team, is a network of people from within our college and beyond who are passionate about public health. They have worked tirelessly to keep people on campus, in the classroom and out of the hospital through swift interventions to halt spread,” Fairchild said.
“Our CMT has done that through skilled and innovative data analysis and timely, creative, painstaking modeling. Our Case Investigation and Contact Tracing Team has done that job … through boundless commitment to caring for those with positive COVID-19 test results and their close contacts. By working closely with these students, faculty and staff and helping them to take the necessary steps to quarantine or isolate in the interest of containing the pandemic, you’ve done a service of immeasurable good.”
