Annual Report Feb 16 2021

Diversity and Inclusion
Subtitle of Article
Author: Emma Freestone
Inspired by the events and
movements of 2020, BYU
Public Health professors and
students worked together to
create committees to support
diversity and inclusion within the
programs.
The BYU Master of Public
Health (MPH) Diversity and
Inclusion Committee includes
Dr. Jeff Glenn as a Faculty
Advisor, and MPH students
Cyrille Kouambo, Gwen
Kleinhenz, Janaya Brown, and
Lily Kim as committee members.
The vision of the committee is
that, “embracing diversity will
bring richness to the learning
environment and prepare
students for future public health
careers.” The committee has
three chairs: Applicants and
Admissions, Cohort Unity and
Inclusion, and Professional
Preparation.
The Applicants and Admissions
chair focuses on encouraging
a variety of students to apply
to the program. Kleinhenz
explained, “This includes
students from out of state and
students with different religious
viewpoints, culture, upbringing,
or socioeconomic statuses.”
The chair does this work by
attending career fairs, guiding
new students, and answering
their questions.
The purpose of the Cohort
Unity and Inclusion chair is
to help each student feel that
they belong in the cohort.
14
Brown said, “The goal is to
make sure that everyone in the
MPH program feels like they
have a voice, are heard, have
something to contribute, and
can bring their strengths to the
table.” This is accomplished with
activities, events, discussions,
and collaboration with the
curriculum committee.
The Professional Preparation
chair was created with the
intent of helping students learn
about cultural competence
and translate those skills to the
workplace. Kouambo said, “This
subcommittee’s work is to build
a spirit of togetherness and a
culture of competence.”
This work is done
through a series es of
lectures, activities, ities,
and curriculum to
enhance student
effectiveness as
future public health
professionals.
The committee
members are
already seeing
the benefit
of focusing
on these areas
within the
program. “If we
can promote the
diversity of the
student body as
a whole, it adds ds
to a greater
learning
environment,”
said
Kleinhenz.
“Working
with different
people
helps me open my mind more
to different ideas, which is
important, going out in the
world to be a public health
professional. That’s why I’m
excited about this committee.”
Kim added, “As a professional,
we have to broaden our
perspective to diversity, so this
committee is really important to
our department as well.”
Kouambo brought the insight
that, “As members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints, our mission
is to serve, and as public health
professionals, we are also going
to serve, so we have the same
mission in both situations. For
this reason, we should always
be ready to look around us
and try to help.”
The Diversity and
Inclusion
Council for the Department
of Public Health includes
MPH alumni, Gina
Dorsan and Paola
Donoso, and Drs.
Carl Hanson, Evan
Thacker, and
Cougar Hall.
Dr.
Hanson
explained
that the
purpose of
the
council is
to “Enhance
representation from
underrepresented
groups, and develop
a stronger, more
culturally
competent
environment.” In
2020, the
council
worked to create
a climate
survey