Title: Student Involvement Committee
Author:
Derek G. Shendell, DEnv, MPH, & Tara McAlexander
Section/SPIG: Environment
Issue Date:
The APHA Environment Section’s Student Involvement Committee has had a busy spring-summer of activity! Led by the partnership of a professional/faculty ENV Section member and a student member (and, this year, a 2010 scholarship recipient and Student Poster Award First Prize Winner), we have maintained several efforts. First, we have conducted outreach with student members, current and new, and encouraged student applicants nationwide for our annual student travel scholarships. Second, we worked with ENV Section Program Planning Committee leadership regarding the abstracts submitted (back in February) for the Student Poster Award Session at the Annual Meeting.
In 2011, of nearly 20 applicants/inquiries, we have awarded 13 registration/travel scholarships, with 12 confirmed acceptances (plus early registration and membership renewal completed by mid-August). At a minimum, each student had their registration and membership renewal covered, ensuring they
were also members of the ENV Section (if they added other sections, then it was at their own expense). Also, in 2011, there will be 8-9 (not 10, due to some late withdraws) posters to be judged at the Annual Meeting by SIC co-chairs and former student scholarship recipients. The schools represented in 2011 include
multiple accredited schools of public health as well as accredited MPH programs and environmental science programs in the United States. These 12 students live across the nation, e.g., in Baltimore/Washington, D.C., California, Florida Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state. Please make an
effort to meet and interact with the students at ENV Section business meetings, social hours, the Expo booth and sessions. Former recipients (2009-2010) are now becoming active members of our Section, and have, for example, taken leadership positions in committees like Climate Change, Environmental Justice
and the SIC. The SIC co-chairs will attempt to have a meeting of students at the Annual Meeting — stay tuned!