UWM faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members gathered at the Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Oct. 13, to celebrate the national accreditation of the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health. The school learned this past summer that it had attained national accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health, making it the first accredited school of public health in Wisconsin.
(back row, from left) Associate Professor Amy Harley, Professor Paul Florsheim, Interim Dean Ron Perez and John Kersey of Zilber Ltd.; and (front row, from left) Milwaukee Public Health Commissioner Bevan Baker, Senior Public Health Specialist Elise Papke, Susan Lloyd of the Zilber Family Foundation and Provost Johannes Britz. (UWM Photo/Pete Amland)
During the festivities, remarks were given by Interim Dean Ronald Perez, Provost Johannes Britz, Susan Lloyd of the Zilber Family Foundation, John Kersey of Zilber Ltd., Bevan Baker of the Milwaukee Health Department and two Zilber faculty members, Associate Professor Amy Harley and Professor Paul Florsheim.
CEPH accreditation is a rigorous process in which peer institutions judge whether an applicant has met standards in more than 20 areas, including curriculum, research, community engagement, and faculty and student recruitment and retention.
The graduate-level Zilber School joins 58 other accredited schools of public health in the United States, a list that includes Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins universities. UW-Madison, the Medical College of Wisconsin and UW-La Crosse have nationally accredited public health graduate programs, but not dedicated schools.
