American Magazine: August 2014

NON-PROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE PAID
BURLINGTON, VT 05401
WASHINGTON, DC 20016-8002
PERMIT NO. 604
Address Service Requested
For information regarding the
accreditation and state licensing of
American University, please visit
american.edu/academics.
THE BACKGROUND
Public health problems span the history of human civilization: Water pollution
spawned the spread of communicable diseases among early civilizations. The Romans
wrestled with waste disposal. Fourteenth-century Europeans contended with a plague
propagated by rodent-borne fleas. Centuries later the issues have changed (from
smallpox to sugary soda), but the demand for innovative solutions is greater than ever.
Public health is one of the hottest disciplines in higher ed: the Association of Schools
of Public Health estimates that 250,000 new health workers will be needed by 2020.
Causes, cures, and disease prevention extend beyond biological complexity to
dozens of disciplines, including one of professor Blake Bennett’s areas of study: the
built environment. Assistant director of AU’s Public Health Scholars, an intensive,
three-year bachelor’s program that will graduate its first cohort in 2015, Bennett teaches
Urbanization and Public Health, a course that explores urban design, environmental
science, and public health to understand how neighborhood walkability and mixed-use
development affect residents’ quality of life.
THE CHALLENGE
To reduce obesity and air pollution, Healthville, USA, wants to promote walking, biking,
and mass transportation among its citizenry. Drawing on concepts of urban design, land
use, and housing density, offer suggestions to get residents out of their cars and onto
bikes and buses. (Hint: think about sidewalks and green space, the cost and availability
of parking, and traffic patterns.)
Go fact to fact
WITH AU’S PEOPLE IN THE KNOW AT
AMERICANWONKS.COM/QUIZZES.
THE DETAILS Submit suggestions to magazine@american.edu by September 15
to be entered to win a six-month subscription to Politics and Prose Bookstore’s
Book-a-Month Gift Program.
Congratulations to George Siehl, CAS/MS ’62, who aced last issue’s final exam.