As colleges and universities increasingly recognize the connection between behavioral health and student success, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has issued a report calling for a new level of awareness and collaborative action by college presidents and trustees to address college student alcohol and drug use.

A School of Public Health professor has made a $1.15 million gift to support the Global Health Initiative, hoping that it will “supercharge” student engagement in the school's the burgeoning international service, research and education opportunities.

Concerns about safety can discourage youth of color, particularly girls and those in low-income neighborhoods, from engaging in “active transportation,” like walking, biking or taking public transportation, according to new research from the University of Maryland School of Public Health published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

On Wednesday May 22, thousands of faculty, staff, family and friends gathered to celebrate the 675 graduates of the School of Public Health at the UMD Xfinity Center. The SPH class of 2019 included 32 doctoral, 83 master's and 542 bachelor's recipients.

Dean Boris Lushniak presided over the ceremony, reminding students that “commencement” is the beginning of their path to “doing good in a world that needs a lot of good.”

New research by University of Maryland School of Public Health Assistant Professor Jessica N. Fish is the first to explore disparities in high-intensity binge drinking by people of different sexual orientations. The research, published in LGBT Health, found that sexual minority women were two to three times more likely than sexual majority women to engage in high-intensity binge drinking, and sexual minority men were equally as likely or less likely than sexual majority men to engage in high-intensity binge drinking.

University of Maryland Professor Emeritus Robin Sawyer died on Jan. 21 in Charleston, S.C., following a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. The UMD community will celebrate his life and legacy at a memorial service Friday, Feb. 1 at 1 pm in the Memorial Chapel on the College Park campus.

Dr. Sawyer, who taught tens of thousands of students in his popular human sexuality course over the years, was known for his quick wit and compassion. UMD alumni from several generations recognize him as one of their most important mentors and favorite professors.

Young women in sub-Saharan Africa are at a disproportionately high risk for HIV infection.

Engagement in transactional sex may contribute to this increased HIV prevalence according to a new report published by UNAIDS with STRIVE, a research partner consortium, which addresses the Structural Drivers of HIV/AIDS.

A group of six University of Maryland students, accompanied by Behavioral and Community Health Research Professor Dina Borzekowski and UMD affiliate and master educator Tina Lipscomb, traveled to Sierra Leone in June to continue the work that the UMD Public Health Without Borders group began back in 2014. The ten-day trip was the fourth visit of UMD students to Calaba Town, a community on the Western coast near the country’s capital of Freetown.

The Spring 2018 SPH faculty and staff assembly included plenty of great news about school and department-level accomplishments, and laughter and good cheer during the faculty and staff awards.

Dean Boris Lushniak spoke warmly about this being the culmination of the SPH ten-year anniversary celebration, highlighting the various celebrations that happened over the course of the academic year. He noted that the SPH commencement ceremony, happening this Saturday, May 19th, will mark the end of our anniversary year and the start of our second decade. 

The Gamma Zeta chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health is pleased to announce its 2018 inductees. At the induction ceremony and awards reception on May 14, 2018, Dean Boris Lushniak and Principal Associate Dean Dushanka Kleinman inducted 16 students, seven faculty members, five alumni and one honorary member, Mr. Mark Luckner. The ceremony also recognized student research poster winners from each department of the school.