Students

On May 17, Mailman students in sky-blue caps and gowns marched into the Armory Track and Field Center for the School's Commencement exercises. A total of 477 students received a Master's Degree; another 35 earned their doctorate.

In a stirring commencement address, Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH, president of the American Public Health Association referred to the old adage that when public health is working, it is invisible. "Refuse to be invisible," she urged the graduates. Take a visible stand. "Public health is synonymous with social justice and we can no longer have our fellow citizens less healthy because of the zipcode they live in, the size of their paycheck, or the color of their skin,” said Dr. Murray.

Student speaker Sheila Roher, MPH, struck a similar theme, urging her fellow graduates to speak up and communicate. "People live by stories," she said. We must use the "power of narrative" to get health messages across. At the same time, telling the stories of public health will bring a better appreciation of a vital field that is not well understood by the public it serves.

The ceremony also featured a video created by the American Public Health Association that envisions how, in one generation, the United States can become the healthiest nation (see below).

The ceremony closed with Dean Fried leading graduates through the Public Health Oath. It begins: "Health is a human right."