Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, Robert Black, Diane Griffin, Edward Miller and James Yager.

Guests: Drs. Cheryl Alexander, Sharon Krag, and Michael Trush; and Ms. Diane Glover.

Meeting Convened: Provost Knapp convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 827th meeting on July 13, 1999 were approved.

Remarks by the Provost: Provost Knapp welcomed Dr. Margaret Ensminger, presidentelect of the Faculty Senate, to the Advisory Board. He remarked that the University completed the 199899 fiscal year in excellent financial condition and that some reserve funds were set aside in each division. A number of capital projects are moving ahead and the University has received favorable attention in the press.

Dr. Knapp commented that the search for the director of the Applied Physics Laboratory is in its final stages, and that Dr. Ralph Fessler has been named interim dean of the School of Professional Studies and Business Education during the search process. A number of issues were discussed at a recent retreat of the deans and University leadership, including governmental relations, trends in research funding, information technology, and the Urban Health Initiative. An advisory committee is expected to make recommendations regarding Universitywide networking, and Dean Sommer is chairing a committee to improve business practices (especially as they relate to research) across the University. Recommendations for an Urban Health Institute have been drafted, and Dr. Knapp acknowledged the contributions of SHPH faculty in that process.

Remarks by the Dean: Dean Sommer commented that the proposal for an Urban Health Institute is quite broad, but that the resources now available to support it are limited. He suggested that starting with a small number of resources and staff, and raising funds for the Institute based on its initial successes will help insure it's ability to deal with larger issues. He then updated the Advisory Board on the status of funds from the Maryland Tobacco settlement, noting that a task force of the SHPH, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, and Hospital are developing a unified proposal to the State of Maryland for capital improvements and for tobacco use cessation and control.

Remarks by the Faculty Senate: Dr. Ensminger reported that the Faculty Senate spent the bulk of its first meeting of the year discussing the draft policy for new faculty tracks, and that most of the suggestions were of a minor nature.

Distance Education Update Dr. Lawrence announced that the position of Director of the Division of Distance Education was filled by Dr. Sukon Kanchanaraksa following a national search. Dr. Kanchanaraksa will serve as both director of the division and as academic director of the School's distance education efforts.

Thirtyseven internet MPH (iMPH) students began their course of study over the summer: 30 are new to the program and 7 are continuing students from the Graduate Certificate Program in public health. A retreat will be held to determine which additional courses should be made available in an internet-based medium, and to further discuss the possibility of academic tracks within the iMPH program. Dr. Lawrence commented that some fulltime or onsite students will elect to take internet-based courses to deal with course conflicts and to complement their inperson courses.

Other items

Department of Population and Family Health Sciences Academic Program Proposal: Dr. Cheryl Alexander joined the group, and commented that the underlying principles guiding the new Department in revising its academic program included an orientation toward human populations across the lifespan as well as an integration of existing programs from the former Departments of Population Dynamics and Maternal and Child Health. She noted that three new courses are being developed that form the core of the academic sequence for students and will involve faculty from both former departments. Each of the five program areas was described. All students will take the core sequence plus more indepth course work in one of the five program areas. Dr. Guyer commented that most of the students take more than the required courses, but that the program was designed to offer flexibility and tailoring to the students and their advisors. Dr. Steinwachs expressed hope that close ties develop between the health communications program area and faculty in Health Policy and Management working in related areas.

Dr. Ensminger, who was a member of the review committee of the Department of Population Dynamics, complemented the Department on its integration of academic programs and Dr. Guyer noted that the distinction between international and domestic health issues has been eliminated by the integration. After further discussion, the Advisory Board voted to approve the new academic programs proposed by the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences. The PhD program will be forwarded to the JHU Graduate Board.

Revisions to Faculty PPM1: This item was postponed to the October Advisory Board meeting at the request of the Faculty Senate.

Target Student Enrollments for the 2000-01 Academic Year: Dr. Sommer reminded the chairs of the discussion of developing targets for student enrollment for 2000-2001 was discussed in the spring as a result of declining numbers of fulltime students in the past 2 years. While the MPH program has been able to increase the number of students for 1999-2000, the number of departmental students has continued to decline. Each department was asked to develop a plan and goal for student enrollments in 20002001 for careful review and discussion at the October meeting of the chairs.

Dr. Sommer suggested that more aggressive marketing and/or increasing the yield of accepted students were both ways to increase the overall number of students. He suggested using enrollment figures from 3 years ago as a starting point. Changing the mix of students (e.g., MHS vs doctoral) is one approach. Increasing the number of nontraditional students (e.g., internetbased students) is another approach that will not seriously tax the physical capacity of the East Baltimore campus, but should be additive to our maximum possible enrollment on campus rather than replace it.

Report on ASPH Deans' Retreat: Dean Sommer reviewed several highlights of the ASPH Deans' retreat.

ASPH Document "Demonstrating Excellence in Academic Public Health Practice": This report was circulated in advance of the meeting.

Report on JHU President's Retreat: In addition to the information already reported by Provost Knapp and Dean Sommer, the status of the University regarding its Y2K readiness was reviewed. While the School and University are now documenting the strides made, individual faculty must think about their laboratory equipment and other small equipment and machines. Dr. Krag will remind every faculty member that it is their responsibility to ensure their individual equipment is Y2K compliant. Dr. Knapp noted that requests for documentation of Y2K compliance are being forwarded to each department.

Howard Hughes Fellowship Opportunities: This information was circulated in advance of the meeting. Two faculty have been nominated from the School.

American Journal of Epidemiology and opportunities sought by external publishers: Dean Sommer remarked that serious offers to publish the American Journal of Epidemiology (AJE) have been received from several external publishers. The relationship between the School, AJE and the Society for Epidemiologic Research are being carefully reviewed. A contract to transfer AJE publication to an external publisher is expected to be finalized by the end of September, with scientific and copyright control to remain at the School.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 1999 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated by dgips@jhu.edu