Diversity Committee
Committee Co-Chairs:
Many health policies, health education/promotion programs and epidemiological studies are focused on the disparate health outcomes of ethnic minority groups. Given this context, it is imperative that the public health workforce reflects the population in which it intends to serve. The primary purpose of the Diversity Committee is to ensure the APHA Student Assembly (APHA-SA) puts forth a concerted effort to the establishment of a diverse public health field. The strategies necessary to accomplish this goal are twofold, which include, but are not limited to:
- Recruitment and maintenance of a diverse APHA-SA student membership; and
- Development and implementation of programs, initiatives and activities that address the multicultural competencies needed by future public health professionals.
Diversity Campaign: "The Public Health Workforce"
The APHA Student Assembly is continuously looking for ways to increase the number of students who join our national organization. Equally important is the diverse backgrounds (cultural, educational and career experience) that our students represent.
The Diversity Committee, as one of the APHA Student Assembly's 11 standing committees, recognizes the need to reach out to underrepresented students in the public health field. Through our 2003 survey, we found that students of color, males, undergraduates, part-time students and students from non-accredited, non-traditional and allied health schools throughout the nation have traditionally been underrepresented in the field. For this reason, the Diversity Committee has initiated a campaign to highlight the diverse array of professionals from many of these underrepresented groups on the "Public Health Workforce" section of our website.
Diversity Committee Fact Sheets
Diversity Committee Objective 1.1
To promote systematic policies and organizational capacities that ensure the APHA-SA remains ethnically diverse. The Diversity Committee will accomplish this objective by means of the following specific strategies:
- Collaborating with the Communications Committee to select culturally relevant and appropriate printed materials and website content;
- Periodically monitoring the APHA-SA membership process and program attendance rates to evaluate the percentage of students of color who join and/or participate;
- Composing a written plan for initiatives that aim to increase the number of ethnic minorities that pursue career opportunities and/or advanced degrees in the public health field; and
- Ensuring that the APHA-SA board remains diverse (i.e. gender, ethnicity) and offer varying background experiences that contribute to a well-rounded organizational infrastructure.
Diversity Committee Objective 2.1
To identify culturally relevant research opportunities that examine health disparities and promote scholarly discourse on the sociocultural factors that predict health outcomes for all interested APHA-SA members. The Diversity Committee will accomplish this objective by means of the following specific strategies:
- Developing a resource network through collaboration with the National Mentoring Program and the Public Health Student Opportunities (PHSO) to provide members with the social, academic and professional resources necessary to address varying health issues related to a cultural plural society; and
- Utilizing web resources to provide background and promote dialogue on a variety of topics related to disparate health outcomes.
Diversity Committee Campaign: Recruit and sustain the membership of a diverse student body
2004 APHA-SA Diversity Survey Results
For more information, the Diversity Committee Co-Chairs.
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Last Update 03/23/2007 15:00:38 -0400 (EDT)