Alice Schumaker, Ph.D., has been named program director for the UNMC/UNO Master of Public Health Program, beginning July 1. Dr. Schumaker is associate professor in the School of Public Administration, College of Public Affairs and Community Service, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Dr. Schumaker has been involved with the MPH Program since its inception in 2000, having been a member of the core group of faculty who initiated the vision and proposal for the program. Dr. Schumaker currently serves as chairperson of the MPH Program’s Graduate Program Committee and Chairperson of its Instructional Program Committee. She teaches Health Policy and Strategic Planning at UNO and her research interests are health services administration, interorganizational networks and minority health issues. She has served as director of the NE Municipal Clerks Institute for the past 12 years.
Dr. Schumaker holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a master’s degree in public administration from UNO, and a master’s degree in pathology from UNMC. Before entering academe, she was a medical technologist with broad experience in clinical chemistry, microbiology and hematology. She also served as supervisor of immunology at the medical center
“This is an exciting time for public health in Nebraska,” Dr. Schumaker said. “With local health departments now located throughout the state for the first time in Nebraska’s history, plus the national attention on public health, we need people educated in public health. The MPH program, as a joint accredited program of UNO and UNMC, brings together outstanding scholars and students for the collective benefit of all.”
Dr. Schumaker is taking on responsibilities formerly held by James Anderson, Ph.D., chairman of the UNMC Department of Preventive & Societal Medicine. Dr. Anderson served for six months as interim program director after the program’s founding director, Magda Peck, Sc.D., completed her three-year term of service in December 2005. Drs. Peck, Anderson and Schumaker, along with Daniel Blanke, Ph.D., director of the UNO School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and B.J. Reed, Ph.D., dean of the UNO College of Public Affairs and Community Service, comprised the core faculty group that initiated the MPH Program.