ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE
With respect to representation, students expressed that interacting with peers and professors of similar backgrounds was ben- eficial and could assist with student recruit- ment and retention. One student specifically applauded her program for including under- represented students in the admissions pro- cess, which could help attract a more diverse student population. Students conveyed that having a student body and faculty made up of people from dierent backgrounds—along with support systems to help students navi- gate settings—is crucial. At a faculty level, students suggested incen- tivizing inclusion eorts and rewarding fac- ulty members who champion diversity. Giving recognition on the tenure ladder or increasing salaries for such eorts could create a culture of inclusion that naturally fosters diversity at all levels of the institution. Even after initiatives have been developed, students emphasized the importance of com- munication among departments across a given university. They noted that there must be buy-in and coordinated eorts from every level of the university and program to ensure that a diverse population of students not only exists but also feels included. One student stated that actively connecting incoming stu- dents to relevant cultural a nity groups, such as a Black Student Union, can be helpful. For more general recruitment efforts, students suggested academic reform and outreach. They felt that exposure to environ- mental health coursework in related disci- plines, such as public health and medicine, could bring more people to the field. One student explained how the mandatory envi- ronmental health coursework for all public health graduate students in her program was removed, decreasing overall knowledge and
exposure to environmental health among the students. Another noted that environmental health coursework is oered at her univer- sity by other public health departments but is not branded as such, so many students are unaware that it can be its own field. Students also recommended implementing or increas- ing outreach to high school students specifi- cally in environmental justice communities to increase their representation in the field. Discussion and Conclusion From this project, we have identified sev- eral areas of improvement that inform rec- ommendations to increase diversity in the environmental health workforce. These recommendations include providing better financial support to students in the form of guaranteed research funding and year-round stipends for graduate students, as well as peer mentoring to help students navigate cultural differences and identity-specific challenges in their program. Additionally, faculty members should be rewarded for championing diversity, and students from diverse backgrounds should be included in the recruitment and admissions processes. More generally, introducing environmental health topics into broader disciplines such as public health programs or high school sci- ence programs could increase overall aware- ness and interest in the field. As one of the first initiatives to better understand the moti- vators and deterrents of diversity in environ- mental health, our case study introduces the importance and value of obtaining student input to gain a greater understanding of issues that students from historically margin- alized populations experience. It should be noted, however, that due to the limited sample size of our study, this
list of recommendations is by no means exhaustive. Future studies should include a larger sample size, as well as college or high school students, to better gauge poten- tial influencers of interest in environmen- tal health. Oering remuneration for their time might help with both recruitment and retention of listening-session partici- pants. Future studies should also explore the relationship between increased diver- sity of environmental health students and increased diversity of the environmental health workforce. Moreover, initiatives should be created to disseminate the recom- mendations of our study and the findings of future related studies to environmental health schools and programs. Given the disproportionate prevalence of environmental justice issues in underrepre- sented populations and the emphasis that the environmental health field places on com- munity involvement, it is crucial to take more steps to increase student diversity. Imple- menting policies to attract and support stu- dents from historically marginalized popula- tions might help diversify the environmental health workforce and subsequently reduce barriers to healthcare for more people. These steps could result in improving overall public health across the U.S. Acknowledgement: This project used fund- ing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Corresponding Author: Sanjana Boyapalli, Research Assistant, Johns Hopkins Bloom- berg School of Public Health, 200 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21231. Email: sboyapa2@jh.edu.
References
American Public Health Association. (2019). Addressing environ- mental justice to achieve health equity (Policy No. 20197). https:// www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy- statements/policy-database/2020/01/14/addressing-environ mental-justice-to-achieve-health-equity Collins, K.S., Hughes, D.L., Doty, M.M., Ives, B.L., Edwards, J.N., & Tenney, K. (2002). Diverse communities, common concerns: Assess-
ing health care quality for minority Americans . The Commonwealth Fund. https://bit.ly/40DRqdY Gerding, J.A., Landeen, E., Kelly, K.R., Whitehead, S., Dyjack, D.T., Sarisky, J., & Brooks, B.W. (2019). Uncovering environmental health: An initial assessment of the profession’s health department workforce and practice. Journal of Environmental Health , 81 (10), 24–33. https://www.neha.org/Images/resources/JEH6.19-Feature- Uncovering-EH.pdf
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Volume 85 • Number 9
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