To advance student success we propose to enhance the advancing experience of our undergraduate students by expanding hours to see an adviser. We propose to facilitate the transfer of students from community colleges and to work closely with the co-admission or dual enrollment office at PSU. We have expanded a new track in Aging Services with the B.A./B.S. in Health Studies. We would like to maintain and expand our capstones offerings to enhance service learning opportunities to our students. Lastly, we will seek interdisciplinary partnerships such as the ongoing collaborations with the departments of Biology, Sociology, Social Work, and Urban Studies among others to expand in learning and engagement activities for undergraduate students.

The Portland Bridges to Baccalaureate program is an NIH funded proposal between Portland Community College and Portland State University to increase the number of underrepresented minority student pursuing careers in biomedical and behavioral research

The School of Community Health proposes to assess the feasibility of a doctoral program in areas of departmental and institutional strengths such as Urban Health, Sustainability, and Community Engagement. This will be the only degree in the nation structured to blend core rigors of public health, community-based participatory research and sustainability. The proposal will take advantage of ongoing curricular revision in the Master of Public Health degree to better take advantage of existing courses, areas of emphasis in advocacy, aging, physical activity, health behavior, and integrative health. It also enhances student opportunities who are currently engaged in two dual degree programs with the School of Urban Studies and the School of Social Work, MPH/MURP, and MPH/MSW respectively.

The School of Community Health has taken the leadership to represent the College of Urban and Public Affairs as a World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Urban Health Sustainability. Moreover, the Institute on Aging has received a gift from the JFR Foundation to continue work in Global Aging as part of the Aging Matters Initiative. The School has engaged with the Department of Sociology and the School of Social Work to propose an interdisciplinary center on global health research that is currently evaluated for internal funding through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Other academic collaborations with the Department of International Studies at PSU and Peace Corp will be examined. The School has had 2 faculty with Fulbright fellowships supporting sabbatical work, and currently partners with OHSU and OSU international health academic programs.

Preliminary discussions with the faculty, Office of Extended Programs, and other Academic Units will be carried out to investigate the possibility of offering a limited number of courses completely or partially online.