5X’s College of Public Health has received accreditation from the Board of Councilors of the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). The five-year span is the maximum term the college could have achieved as a first-time applicant.
To earn the accreditation, the college met a set of rigorous quality standards in the areas of teaching, research and service. Accreditation also affirms that the faculty of the college are highly qualified to equip students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in a health career.
“Achieving full accreditation from the CEPH is an outstanding achievement, and I am so pleased that our College of Public Health undergoing its first accreditation review achieved this standard of excellence,” said Kent State President Beverly Warren.
The Council on Education for Public Health has only accredited about 50 schools of public health in the United States.
“Prospective employers of our public health graduates can expect our students to be properly trained to fill the positions they need to achieve their mission and goals,” said Todd Diacon, Kent State’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
Graduates of the College of Public Health are already distinguishing themselves in the health and public health sectors. Two recent graduates of the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) program have been hired to serve as health commissioners at local health departments in Northeast Ohio. Other graduates have filled important positions with area employers such as Cleveland Clinic, Summa Health System, Aultcare, Lubrizol and numerous local health departments. Other graduates have gone on to pursue advanced studies in some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our students,” said Sonia Alemagno, Ph.D., dean of Kent State’s College of Public Health. “I am also proud of our faculty and staff who worked so tirelessly over the past six years to build a college that is now recognized as a leader and innovator in public health education.”
Kent State’s College of Public Health was founded in 2009, and currently has more than 600 undergraduate students and more than 250 graduate students. The Council on Education for Public Health is an independent agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit schools of public health.