CUNY Master Plan 2012-2016

MISSION PART FOUR
SPH shares this building with the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. This strategic colocation
provides an excellent opportunity to integrate social and behavioral sciences with public health
practice to address some of the most intractable health problems in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities
like East Harlem. Indeed, the school has embraced the community and is deeply immersed in its
concerns and activities via partnerships such as the East Harlem Assessment and Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) Mapping Project, a unique prevention and health promotion program; and Eat, Sleep, Play, a
health initiative that unites a team of faculty with expertise in obesity working with the Children’s Museum
of Manhattan to help children and families make simple changes in the areas of nutrition, sleep, and play to
build positive lifelong habits. In these and countless other collaborations, the SPH at Hunter College aims
to make a significant positive impact on the health and well-being of East Harlem within its first decade.
Other important indicators of the school’s growth and maturation are its full, five-year accreditation,
effective July 1, 2011, by the Council on Education for Public Health, and the amount of external awards
that the SPH’s faculty are securing for the school—more than one million dollars in grant support during
the 2010-2011 academic year.
Over the next four years, SPH at Hunter College will establish its reputation as the top location for
engaging in teaching, research and service to create a healthier New York City and promote effective, efficient,
and equitable evidence-based solutions to pressing health problems facing urban populations
around the world. To realize this mission, the SPH works with communities, nonprofit and private organizations
and institutions and government at all levels to build the capacities that help people lead healthier
and more productive lives. The ultimate goal of these activities is to improve the health of
communities in New York City and beyond.
Continuing Education
Continuing education—particularly as it relates to workforce development—has always been a crucial
component of the city’s economy. CUNY’s continuing education programs have also, historically, served
as a conduit to higher educational attainment and professionalization: individuals may begin by taking a
single non-credit course, complete additional coursework toward a certificate, and ultimately enter a
degree program. Today’s unforgiving economy has only reinforced the importance of lifelong learning—
the pursuit of skills and knowledge needed to advance in the workplace. This development has highlighted
the need for approaches to education that are relevant to changing demography, the marketplace,
and new technologies. CUNY’s non-degree programs—adult and continuing education and workforce
development—have always been a home for such new initiatives. In Academic Year 2010-2011 they
served more than 200,000 students. Although these programs are found on almost every CUNY campus,
one of the newest is a product of the integrated university.
CUNY Career PATH (Preparation of Adults through Training and Higher Education)
In September 2011, CUNY received a landmark grant totaling nearly $20 million for a three-year project,
Career PATH, to offer out-of-work adult New Yorkers and those who want to change or advance in
their careers a new way to retool for today’s job market. This grant, administered by the U.S. Department
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