Duke University could further its global ambitions after the Academic Council votes on the proposal for the Masters in Science and Global Health program at its next meeting Nov. 20. Assistant Professor of Medicine Dr. Chris Woods, who would be the program director, will answer questions from the Council before the proposal is put to vote.
"I like to think that at this point it will have support from pretty much across the diverse aspects of the Academic Council and we can move ahead," Woods said. "I would say [the approval process has] been entirely positive. The program is much better than it was at the outset."
The program will serve to increase Duke's global presence with expected field-experience opportunities in China, Haiti, India, Kenya, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda and other sites with which Duke's Global Health Institute collaborates. The program is expected to attract top national and international students and is yet another piece of Duke's internationalization effort to prepare students to work internationally to solve global problems, Provost Peter Lange said.
Students taking courses offered by DGHI have expressed interest in the program as an alternative to getting a degree in public health, saying the program was closer to their academic interests. They also said the program would be beneficial to the University.
"[The program] shows our commitment to internationalization, it shows our commitment to knowledge in the service of society," he said. "It allows us to make initiatives in areas of global health where we think we can really make a special contribution."
Senior Jessica Dreyfuss said she thought the degree was a natural step for the University considering the focus and certificate programs in global health offered to undergraduates.
Senior Jovana Pavisic said it also seemed to fit with the University's emphasis on international work.
"I think Duke is really trying to develop... itself into a civic engagement university that gets involved in international work, so I think [the program] definitely would be helpful in establishing that for Duke," she said.
The Academic Council is the fifth step in the approval process, which began April 23 when proponents of the program met with the Programs Subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Faculty. Pending approval from the Council, the proposal will then go before the Board of Trustees in December.
The proposal has remained unchanged throughout the approval process, thanks to initial discussions with the graduate school, said Lisa Croucher, assistant director for education and training for the Duke Global Health Institute. The program, however, has addressed suggestions from the various committees involved in the approval process. The program has already outlined what core and elective courses it would offer and identified the faculty that would teach these courses, Croucher said. The program would open to its first class of 10 students next Fall.
"I think the kind of degree that we have developed and are proposing couldn't really happen anywhere except at a place like Duke because it is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary program, and we have been and will continue to work closely with all the different schools and institutes at Duke in the development of this," Croucher said.
Carlos Tomasi, professor of computer science and a member of the Academic Council, said he thought the program was well-conceived and its directors highly motivated. He said even though he does not know much about global health, he supported the program-especially its interdisciplinary approach to the subject.
"It seems that a Masters in Global Health is not something offered, at least in this area, and it is clearly a multidisciplinary program... and there are not many programs that I know of like that," Tomasi said. "I think it would be a very positive thing [for the University]."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.