Life After Accreditation: A Lecture on Partnering with FHS

Nadim Haddad

The Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) has been working for two and a half years on accreditation for its Graduate Public Health Program. Among other things, the work has entailed continuous improvement in curriculum construction and delivery. With this in mind, Nadim Haddad gave a lecture on November 16 in Van Dyck Hall as part of the FHS Seminar series. Haddad has been heavily involved in the accreditation process and his talk focused in that regard on several key issues in public health education.

Haddad's talk, entitled "Careers in Academic Practice Educators," explained how a proposed linkage between a group known as Academic Practice (AP) Associates and FHS could remedy some of the partially-met deficiencies identified by the accrediting body: the Council on Education for Public Health. Some of them include incorporating practice experience into the program for students; developing procedures that recognize faculty participation in 'service'; and preparing a mission statement with measurable objectives, targets, and timeframes.

The purpose of Academic Practice Associates, Haddad explained, of which he is general manager, is "to bridge academia with the practice world" and "translate academics into practice." The idea is to link AP Associates with faculty, staff, or students from FHS with host practice organizations, such as hospitals, other healthcare delivery facilities, or other universities. For example, a faculty member might be 'loaned' to a host organization for a week during the summer or take a leave of absence to work for a longer period. One of the advantages of doing service in this way is that AP Associates offers a way to measure this type of work, which is often difficult to do with service. Similarly, AP Associates could help place FHS students in settings that would provide them with important public health practice experience, making it an integrative culminating experience for them.

In conclusion, Haddad went through how partnering with Academic Practice Associates would provide FHS with the type of exposure needed to prepare mission statements, learning objectives, and core competencies that are regional and relevant.