Professor Gary Rotto teaches at San Diego State University in the Health Management and Policy division. This semester he taught Public Health 648, a graduate-level course on Health Policy. Professor Rotto set up an opportunity for his graduate students to simulate a policy day at Sacramento. The class discusses policymaking at all levels of government, federal and state levels, and at the local level. The course emphasis is to learn the legislative process within the state of California and to read, review, analyze and advocate for a bill while following the bill’s path throughout the semester. Professor Rotto wants to make this experience come alive, so the students prepare for a mock advocacy day. He turned the offices of the faculty of the School of Public Health into simulated legislators’ offices in Sacramento. He brought in some current and former staffers, district directors, chiefs of staff, and others to help with the simulation.
Students each were provided a different bill that they followed. They prepared background information and were put into teams with three meetings to attend. The students enjoyed the opportunity to meet with professionals working in the field and the chance to make advocacy come alive. Professor Rotto noted: “It’s not just something that they’ve written up, but it’s something that they’ve studied and taken on.”
For this academic year, Professor Rotto received a fellowship from the Darlene Shiley Honors Faculty Fellowship Award. The committee was impressed with his pedagogical innovations and curriculum and enrichment experiences that allowed students to understand the course material within a relevant and meaningful context; Dr. Rotto created an interdisciplinary course on pandemics and how to survive and thrive throughout. The fellowship recognizes that Professor Rotto provides qualitatively superior learning experiences, emphasizing student participation and initiative. With issues explored in greater depth and breadth, making interdisciplinary connections wherever possible, he thrives in this challenging pedagogical context which promotes intellectual curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. This course is heavily focused on American and European responses to pandemics. With the fellowship that he has been granted, Professor Rotto is hoping to go to Vietnam to have a conversation with some of the health policy professionals there about policy implementation during the pandemic.
