SPH Faculty Contribute to Second Book on Teaching Public Health.
Cover of the book Teaching Public Health Vol. 2.
SPH Faculty Contribute to Second Book on Teaching Public Health
Released April 7, Teaching Public Health, Vol. 2 features insights from 51 public health experts—including nine SPH faculty, two alumni, and a current student—to address the evolving needs of public health educators and learners.
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally transformed public health and higher education in the United States.
Historically a behind-the-scenes operation, public health was thrust into the spotlight as stay-at-home orders spread across the globe. During these unprecedented shutdowns, the public became more aware of health inequities, governmental public health organizations embraced digital technologies, and local officials were pressed to increase the speed and frequency of communications. Meanwhile in higher education, the pandemic accelerated the adoption of new learning modalities as universities rapidly shifted to online and hybrid forms of instruction.
To address both the opportunities and challenges ushered in by this new era, associate dean for education Lisa Sullivan and former dean Sandro Galea have collaborated on a second volume of their 2019 book Teaching Public Health. Released April 7, Teaching Public Health, Vol. 2, contains 28 all-new chapters dedicated to the examination of what it means to teach public health today.
“We designed a second volume, not to replace or update the first, but to address new topics that we needed to urgently address in our teaching,” says Sullivan. “These topics—racial justice, science communication, data literacy, and more—were shaping our field and our teaching in real time. Thus, we aimed to bring experts into this project who could share strategies and promising practices with colleagues who were searching for support.”
As chair of the steering committee for the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s (ASPPH) Framing the Future 2030: Education for Public Health (FTF2030) initiative, Sullivan has actively grappled with questions about the future of public health teaching for the past several years. The reports resulting from the FTF2030 initiative, released in 2024, aimed to realize a “resilient educational system for public health” that serves the committee’s vision for “health equity and well-being for everyone, everywhere.”
Teaching Public Health, Vol. 2 not only serves to complement ASPPH’s FTF2030 initiative, says Sullivan, but it also builds on the popularity of SPH’s Teaching Public Health symposia, hosted annually since 2018 and now archived in the School’s Public Health Conversation (PHC) portfolio. The seven installments of the symposia held to date have regularly drawn hundreds of participants to explore a range of topics related to public health teaching, including health equity, transformative education models, and writing and communication.
In 2022, Jennifer Beard, clinical associate professor of global health, added to SPH’s growing collection of pedagogical resources with the publication of her book Teaching Public Health Writing, which focuses exclusively on effective public health communication.
Naturally, Beard was one of the first experts Sullivan and Galea invited to contribute to Teaching Public Health, Vol. 2. She wrote Chapter 5. Mentoring Student Writers in Our Public Health Courses.
In total, Sullivan and Galea engaged 51 public health experts to author the book’s 28 chapters, including seven other SPH faculty, two SPH alumni, and a current Boston University student.
Chapter 5. Mentoring Student Writers in Our Public Health Courses
Jennifer Beard, clinical associate professor of global health
Chapter 6. Teaching the Essentials of Data Science: The Need for Sound Data Management Practices
Kimberly Dukes, research associate professor of biostatistics
Chapter 7. Teaching Public Health Law
Joan Cole Densberger, adjunct professor of health law, ethics, and human rights
Chapter 11. Teaching by Example: Community Engaged Research and Organizing.
From left: Alina McIntyre (SPH‘17); Madeline Scammell, professor of environmental health; and Xi Yu, doctoral student in educational studies/math & science education at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
Chapter 12. Creating Spaces of Experimentation, Equity, and Belonging in the Public Health Classroom.
From left: Candice Belanoff, clinical associate professor of community health sciences; Yvette Cozier, associate dean for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice; and Adriana Black (SPH‘17)
Chapter 13. Public Health Education for All: Promoting Accessibility of Public Health Education Across the Life Course.
Emily Goldmann, clinical associate professor of epidemiology
Chapter 14. Here! Rethinking Attendance and Engaging Students.
Sophie Godley, clinical associate professor of community health sciences
“Clearly, our amazing BUSPH faculty feature very prominently in this book,” says Sullivan. “For me, my colleagues are my inspiration. I am proud to be part of our teaching faculty alongside such caring, passionate, dedicated, [and] innovative teachers.”
It was important for this volume to address learner and educator wellness alongside curriculum and pedagogy, says Sullivan. “Burnout is a real issue. We wanted to offer support and resources to teachers and administrators to prevent it.”
A chapter on preventing burnout, authored by colleagues from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, begins by presenting data suggesting that burnout may be even more prevalent among faculty than previously believed with 64% of faculty respondents to a survey having reported feeling burned out due to their work. The authors go on to offer practical strategies and provide a range of digital resources for learning more.
Ultimately, Sullivan hopes that readers come away from the book refueled with a renewed passion for teaching. She credits her own amazing teachers, such as the late SPH professor Ralph D’Agostino, for helping launch her career.
“I can only hope to offer my students a fraction of what he gave me,” Sullivan says. “A great teacher can literally change the course of someone’s life.”
