Department of Health

Master of Public Health

Dr. Lynn Carson
College of Health Sciences
West Chester University
West Chester, PA 19383
610-436-2138
lcarson@wcupa.edu

Featured MPH Alumni

MPH students and applicants are encouraged to contact our alumni. Our alumni will answer questions about their experiences as a student in our MPH Program. They will also provide information about their current employment and how our MPH Program prepared them for their new jobs or opportunities for advancement in their current jobs.

Community Health

Emily Kronenberger

Emily K

The Master of Public Health (MPH) program at West Chester University (WCU) opened a whole host of new opportunities for me to work in the communities that I care about and to improveaccess to health education and services for people within those communities, so that they can be empowered to lead fuller and healthier lives. After being accepted to the Community Health Track and upon taking my first class at WCU, I knew that I had found a “home” in which I could grow as a student and emerging professional, enhance my learning, and develop my skills in the field of public health, while building invaluable relationships with mentors, faculty, and colleagues. In addition, I initially encountered what would turn out to be an inspiring and ongoing dialogue throughout the MPH program about the practice of ethics within the field.

While studying at West Chester, I was continuously impressed with how deeply all of the faculty members within the university’s Department of Health were invested in our success as students and future members of the public health workforce. This was evident through their dedication to teaching core competencies and standards, preparing us for professional credentialing such as the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) exam, and creating and sharing many opportunities for students to participate in research and other professional development activities. The emphasis on collaboration and providing culturally competent public health services through a community health lens was also heavily focused upon in many of the program’s learning components. While completing my MPH, I was fortunate to have been exposed to new community health challenges and opportunities through hands-on learning and group-based work, including within the Program Planning, Transcultural Health, Program Administration, Applied Learning Experience I and II, Program Evaluation, and Research Methods courses.

WCU in its entirety comprises a vast learning environment, in which students in the MPH program are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities for professional development in many of the other departments and agencies on and off-campus. Since graduating in August of 2010, I have successfully passed the CHES exam and I currently work as a public health professional and Health Educator at Princeton University, where I serve with a comprehensive team to design, implement, and evaluate health promotion programs for students, faculty, and staff members. I am also responsible for managing the peer health advisor program, in which I supervise over eighty student volunteers who provide campus support to their fellow undergraduate students. In the future, I plan to build upon the training and education I received in the MPH program and continue my public health studies at the doctoral level.

I firmly believe that the training and preparation I received as a student at West Chester has played an instrumental role in helping me to begin and develop my career in the public health field, and I continue to reflect on my past experiences and learning there in order to inform my decision-making every day and to practice the highest level of ethical leadership. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the faculty who provided mentorship and support in a challenging and engaging learning environment, to the colleagues and fellow students who turned into friends, and to all of the members of the WCU community who contributed to my overwhelmingly positive experience as a student in the MPH program.

Emily J. Kronenberger, MS, MPH, CHES, WCU Class of 2010

Contact: emilykronenberger@gmail.com