School of Public Health
OUR VISION
Where we want to be in the future:
Health equity in every community.
OUR MISSION
What we do on a day-to-day basis to
work toward that future:
Collaboratively create solutions for
healthier communities and equitable health systems through socially accountable,
community-centered and globally relevant education, research and service.
OUR PURPOSE
Why we are so committed:
To protect and improve the health and conditions of life in North Texas, the nation
and the world.
Goal 1
Elevate the School of Public Health as a socially accountable, community-centered and globally relevant institution for the advancement of health equity across the life course.
Robust collaborations with community and health sector partners are crucial for ensuring that our education, research and service efforts effectively address population health needs and promote health equity.
Objective 1a: Strengthen multi-sectoral partnerships for community-driven health solutions.
Key Result: Collaborate with community and health sector partners to identify pressing health challenges and inequities and build on our shared strengths to generate solutions.
Key Result: Establish the School of Public Health Community Corps and provide organizational support to advance community-driven solutions and workforce development.
Objective 1b: Expand participatory and community-driven development.
Key Result: Collaboratively develop and implement interventions addressing health inequities in North Texas communities and beyond.
Key Result: Integrate community and health sector input into educational, research and service efforts.
Key Result: Improve collaborative capacity to undertake community-driven solutions and workforce development.
Objective 1c: Support globally relevant efforts that target the underlying determinants of health and health disparities to catalyze transformative improvements in health.
Key Result: Align SPH education, research and service efforts with Whole Health, the U.S. Healthy People 2030 plan and U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.
Key Result: Engage global partners to advance co-learning, dissemination
Goal 2
Equip graduates to address pressing public health and health system challenges using community-centered approaches.
We are deeply committed to educating a critically needed public health and health systems workforce for North Texas and beyond. Our promise to our students is rooted in a transformative educational experience. Our graduates will not only gain conceptual knowledge but will be immersed in practical learning on real-world public health and health system level challenges. This practice-based approach ensures that, upon graduation, they will be competent, compassionate and community-centered professionals who are committed to advancing health equity in every community.
Objective 2a: Implement high-impact, evidence-based teaching practices in all programs and across the curriculum.
Key Result: Provide faculty development and training on state-of-the-art teaching methods that promote active learning to address real-world challenges of public health and health systems.
Key Result: Increase the implementation of evidence-informed educational practices across the curriculum.
Key Result: Expand internship and experiential learning opportunities beyond traditional settings to enhance career readiness.
Objective 2b: Refine curricula to reflect emerging challenges in public health, health systems and health policy, and address health inequities in our communities.
Key Result: Regularly assess emerging challenges in public health, health systems and health policy using a participatory framework based on principles of community engagement.
Key Result: Refine curricula to reflect global challenges in public health and health systems, accreditation alignment and evolving needs of the future workforce to better serve our communities.
Goal 3
Advance a transformative research agenda for public health impact and health equity.
In the words of the late Harvard professor and American historian Oscar Handlin: “Our troubled planet can no longer afford the luxury of pursuits confined to an ivory tower. Scholarship has to prove its worth, not on its own terms, but by service to the nation and the world.”
Objective 3a: Expand implementation, team science and community-partnered research activities.
Key Result: Strengthen collective capacity in implementation science research and community-based participatory team science research to enhance the uptake of evidence-based practices and increase their public health impact.
Key Result: Increase number of grant applications that align with the research strengths within SPH, focusing on implementation science research and community-partnered team science research in the following priority areas: health disparities, health systems, health policy, maternal and child health and substance use.
Objective 3b: Promote globally relevant research to catalyze transformative improvements in public health.
Key Result: Advance research partnerships to address health inequities and align with Whole Health, Healthy People 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals.
Key Result: Establish seed grants to support efforts that align with Whole Health, Healthy People 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals.
Our plan positions the School of Public Health as a socially accountable, community-centric and globally relevant institution that drives transformative change, works alongside communities and health sector partners, and addresses challenges for public health and health systems in the 21st century.
We invite you to join us in our mission to improve the lives of all the people we serve, and partner with us toward a healthier tomorrow, both locally and globally.
Now, we begin!
Background & History
From the beginning, the UNTHSC School of Public Health sought to provide critically needed public health education and research to the citizens of North Texas.
Interest in developing a program in Public Health in Fort Worth sprang from the efforts of community leaders and public health officials who saw the need for a strong link between academic health care and community practitioners in the North Texas region.
The hard work of these community leaders and university officials culminated in July 1995 when the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the institution’s request to offer a Master of Public Health Degree (MPH) in collaboration with the University of North Texas, Denton.
After several years of offering this degree, the Board of Regents authorized the University of North Texas Health Science Center to submit a proposal to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to create a School of Public Health and to request funds from the Texas Legislature to fund the school and its corresponding programs.
On December 1, 1997, the Association of Schools of Public Health (now the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health – ASPPH) accepted the University of North Texas Health Science Center’s Public Health Program as an affiliate member. Five years later, in June 2002, the School of Public Health was accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
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