Master of Public Health Accredited

School of Health Professions celebrates unique program

The Andrews University Master of Public Health (MPH) program received full accreditation from the Council of Education for Public Health (CEPH) on June 29, 2017. The MPH program started at the University in fall 2014, and the faculty of the Department of Public Health, Nutrition & Wellness have been working hard to ensure the program meets the strict standards of CEPH. Those standards included having a high percentage of faculty members in the department with doctoral degrees, a standard easily met by the department.

The program has been accredited for a five-year term, extending to July 1, 2022. Dixon Anjejo, associate professor and director of the MPH program, was the lead faculty member working toward the accreditation.

“Dr. Anjejo’s outstanding leadership is to be celebrated and commended,” comments Sherine Brown-Fraser, chair of the department. She also applauded the work of Maximino Mejia, associate professor; Padma Uppala, professor; Tanya Thomas, administrative assistant and Nicole Walker, graduate assistant, for their tireless work assisting Anjejo in his goals.

Brown-Fraser also offered specific thanks to Emmanuel Rudatsikira, dean of the School of Health Professions; Christon Arthur, provost; and Lynn Merklin, assistant provost in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, for their significant contributions to the accreditation process.

“A heartfelt thanks to the MPH Advisory Board and everyone in the department and the School of Health Professions," Brown-Fraser adds, "for their continued support and prayers.”

The MPH program is offered in an interactive online format and does not require any on-campus time.

“Public Health is the science of prevention using research-based solutions for effective health promotion and disease prevention using quantitative and qualitative methods,” says Fraser. “The MPH degree will prepare health professionals for service in their communities and their church by building knowledge and skills necessary to enhance and restore health to human populations while promoting healthy lifestyles.”

This program at Andrews is the first and only online MPH program in nutrition and wellness offered in the U.S. with the unique emphasis in vegetarian nutrition.

Overarching goals of the program include 1) preparing highly competent public health professionals to prevent disease locally, nationally and globally while developing and implementing evidence-based lifestyle solutions; 2) preparing MPH graduates to collaborate and engage in innovative research and; 3) providing health educational services to various communities in vegetarian nutrition education and wellness programs to improve health.

MPH core competencies include biostatistics, epidemiology, health behavior, health policy administration and environmental health.

According to SR Education Group, an Education Research Publisher founded in 2004, Andrews University is ranked #2 among universities offering quality MPH programs. This ranking is based on affordability, accessibility and academic quality.

“We are excited to not only have this accreditation, but to also be offering a quality program that no other school in the country has made available,” Fraser says. “We have some optimistic and bold objectives for this program, and we believe without a doubt that our team of professors and students will make these objectives a reality as we continue to let the Lord lead us.”

For more information about the MPH at Andrews, visit andrews.edu/publichealth, email publichealth@andrews.edu or call 269-471-3370.

Related Links

• Department of Public Health, Nutrition & Wellness
• School of Health Professions
• Bachelor of Science in Public Health at Andrews University
• Council of Education for Public Health