Our Department’s Mission, Vision and Values
As part of the School of Public Health, the Department of Behavioral and Community Health's mission is to promote and protect the health and well-being of all people and communities throughout Maryland, the nation, and the world through innovative, theory-based research and discovery that strive to eliminate racial and social injustices and transforms public health practice and training to prepare the next generation of practitioners, researchers, and leaders in social and behavioral sciences.
Our vision is to be a leading social and behavioral science program that promotes physical, mental, and social health and well-being and demands health equity for all people in our local and global communities.
We value:
- Celebrating and promoting a culture of diversity and inclusion in the department
- Achieving greater strength through diversity and inclusion among all members of our school and communities
- Holding ourselves accountable to the underlying foundations of public health and the values of the communities with whom we work
- Supporting health as a human right and believing that everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Assessing and understanding the impact of our collective actions
- Thinking forwardly and acting innovatively toward disruption
- Expecting excellence, professional ethics, and personal integrity
- Designing interventions at all levels of the socio-ecological model to improve the health of all populations
- Participating in multidisciplinary collaboration to guide thinking and practice
- Committing to racial and social justice and equity as key principles guiding public health practice in all forms
- Understanding how to effectively apply social and behavioral theory to guide us on how to design evidence-based intervention strategies and effective public health programs
- Conducting transformational research that radically changes our ability to understand and address complex health problems and eliminate health disparities
- Ensuring transparency, contributing to collaboration, cooperation, and collective decision making
Our Degree Programs
Bachelor of Science, Public Health Practice
Accelerated BS/MPH Program
Master of Public Health, Behavioral and Community Health (Online Option Available)
Doctor of Philosophy, Behavioral and Community Health
Why I Chose Maryland
"Maryland stood out to me because of the location and how well I matched with the faculty's research interests. I really liked that the program had a diverse faculty and many professors had portfolios in tobacco research."
Connect With Us
Get in Touch WIth Our Graduate Program Directors
Brit Saksvig, PhD, MS
Associate Clinical Professor, Director of Graduate Student Services
bsaksvig@umd.edu
(301) 405-2491
Katherine Sharp
Clinical Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
ksharp1@umd.edu
(301) 405-2464
Dina Borzekowski
Director of Online MPH Program
dborzeko@umd.edu
(301) 405-8729
Katherine Sharp
Clinical Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
ksharp1@umd.edu
(301) 405-2464
