By: Mira Garin
Four undergraduate, masters, and doctoral student groups in the School of Public Health were awarded grants from the San Diego State University Student Success Fee (SSF).
San Diego State University’s undergraduate student chapter of Friends of Médecins Sans Frontières (student board pictured, right) was awarded funds towards a service trip to take 20 student members to Antigua, Guatemala during the week of spring break. The SSF covered their round-trip flights, breakfast and dinner daily, living accommodations, private transportation to and from the airport/volunteer sites, as well as tours of the local area.For more information about the group, click here.
Students for Public Health (S4PH) is an undergraduate student organization committed to preventing, promoting, and protecting the students at San Diego State University and the community at large. The group was awarded funds for “Sexploration,” a series of workshops meant to destigmatize masturbation and encourage creativity, pleasure, and self-exploration. They were awarded an additional award to host an educational trip to Washington, DC called “A Ticket to Success: Networking in Washington DC.” During the week of spring break, 23 students had the opportunity to network with national public health organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control’s Washington Office, National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH). For more information about S4PH, click here.
Three second-year students in the Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) at San Diego State University (SDSU) and University of California, San Diego (UCSD) who acutely recognized that “the value of formal and informal mentorship [in academia] cannot be overstated” were awarded funding from the SSF to invite scholars and public health professionals who are black, indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC) to share their experiences navigating academia and the professional world with graduate students. This four-part lunchtime speaker series aims to foster an environment that better retains and supports students of color in public health and academia. “White scholars have benefitted from exclusive opportunities to connect and have had flows of insider information for generations,” wrote the group’s founding members Alana Lopez, Carrie Nacht, and Marina Katague (pictured below, left to right). “We saw a need to create a group to build community amongst BIPOC scholars to subvert that norm…. and find resiliency as we as grad students continue to navigate these spaces, which often feel specifically designed to prevent our success.” In the second half of each meeting, students are encouraged to engage with the speakers directly by asking questions that they find personally meaningful.
The School of Public Health Graduate Student Council was awarded funding from the SSF for a three-part presentation series highlighting various health disparities impacting our nation to kickstart National Public Health Week. The theme of this year’s spring speaker series focuses on the global perspectives of various health disparities, touching on reproductive rights, human rights in a post-pandemic world, and the effects of climate change. Scholar-activist Marlene Fried led the first event on Reproductive Justice. The two upcoming events will be held on Zoom and led by Rajat Khosla, Director of the United Nations University International Institute of Global Health, on April 4th at 7pm and Rupa Basu, the Chief of Air and Climate at the CA Environmental Protection Agency, on April 6th at 1pm. “We’re very excited to have a diverse speaker lineup who each bring a unique perspective on the field of Public Health,” said Student Council President Najma Osman. “Hope you can join us!”
For more information on the Student Success Fee, click here.
