Four School of Public Health faculty receive university Milestone Award
In 2025, four School of Public Health faculty received Milestone Awards from San Diego State University, celebrating 10-plus years at the university. The recipients, Penelope Quintana (30 years), Esmeralda Iniguez-Stevens (15 years), Kenneth Calvert (10 years), and Judith Harbertson (10 years), are recognized for their hard work and commitment to SDSU and the School of Public Health.
Calvert is a professor who graduated from SDSU in 1983 with a degree in environmental health. Before becoming a part-time lecturer at SDSU, he would give occasional presentations at SDSU on solid and hazardous waste management. At the time, he served as chief of the Site Assessment and Mitigation Division of the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality.
For many years he has taught undergraduate courses in environmental health and food safety. In spring 2026, he will conduct a new course on environmental protection that will address, in part, the political and social state of public health, he said.
“Some day, I’ll need to be put to pasture, but not today,” he said.
Harbertson is a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at SDSU. She began her career in San Diego as a researcher in immunology at the Scripps Research Institute during the early 2000s. She initially came to SDSU hoping to make a career pivot, pursuing a master’s in epidemiology.
When she returned to SDSU as a professor, she had a newfound appreciation for how the university supports its students, from various resources to a commitment to students’ learning and career goals. In her courses, Harbertson aims to support her students by incorporating her own experiences.
“Being in the public health field has enriched my life in substantive ways and I want to share that with my students and encourage them to pursue those types of opportunities also,” she said.
Over their tenures at SDSU, Calvert and Harbertson have both learned to manage the ebbs and flows of teaching. But their fulfillment from working with students, whom they both admire greatly, has kept them engaged throughout the years.
“I have been very impressed with the students I have gotten to know and everyone comes to this school with such a unique experience and perspective,” Harbertson said. “Everyone has an important contribution to make that is unique and can't be replicated by another.”
Calvert described not only an increase in the number of students during his time at SDSU, but also a growing commitment to public health among them.
“Students today are as bright, engaged, and capable as any generation I’ve known,” he said. “I view my teaching as an investment in their future and I can’t think of a better way to spend my time.”
Even though both their careers in public health have spanned multiple decades, Calvert and Harbertson feel their excitement for public health reinvigorated from teaching, which both plan to continue in the near future.
