In General Campus News
In General
SCHOOL OF GENERAL STUDIES AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MAILMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH ESTABLISH DUAL BA-MPH DEGREE PROGRAM By Christina Gray The School of General Studies at Columbia University (GS) and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health have launched an educational partnership that will enable qualified students to complete in five years both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree. Starting in Fall 2021, this dual-degree— or ‘4+1’—program presents a unique opportunity for Columbia undergraduates to obtain an MPH, usually a two-year program, at an accelerated pace. “We are delighted to announce this innovative collaboration with the Columbia School of General Studies, which is part of Columbia Mailman School’s continued commitment to educate leaders who will work to protect and improve the health of people everywhere,” said Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health. “We look forward to welcoming the School of General Studies’ exemplary students and enabling them to jump start their work in public health, a field more vital than ever as we enter the post-COVID world.”
4
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GENERAL STUDIES
Students in the Columbia University School of General Studies can apply to the “4+1” program in their junior year. Upon acceptance they will spend the fall semester of their senior year enrolled at Columbia Mailman, where they will participate in the challenging, multidisciplinary MPH Core Curriculum. Students will then return to Columbia GS for the spring semester of their senior year to complete their bachelor’s degree. After the student graduates from GS, they will matriculate at Columbia Mailman full time to complete a practicum and a year of course and thesis work to earn their MPH degree. “As a public health professor and researcher, I am thrilled to offer this unique opportunity to our students, helping them apply their diverse experiences and unique perspectives in pursuit of better and more just public health outcomes for all,” said Lisa Rosen-Metsch, PhD, Dean of the Columbia University School of General Studies. “The Mailman School of Public Health was an ideal match for our School and this partnership is a timely continuation of our ongoing leadership in undergraduate, dual-degree education.”
Skip Bailey, former GS Director of Educational Financing, may be retired, but he has not slowed down. “I’m not bored at all,” he said during a recent phone call. In between periodically advising the Office of Educational Financing team at GS, he was elected treasurer of his village in Delaware, where he relocated soon after transitioning from his full-time position at Columbia in the summer of 2019. “I’ve gotten to know our neighbors through our assembly meetings on Zoom,” he said, explaining that the village does not have a mayor, nor representatives, but is governed by the town assembly. In addition to remodeling the home he shares with his wife Bev, a cellular and developmental biologist, Mr. Bailey has been cultivating a new career doing voiceover work. His projects have included recording five videos for the Columbia University Center for Veteran Transition and Integration (CVTI) and about 15-20 voiceovers for a new CVTI project. Ultimately, he hopes to take his voiceover work to a professional level.
