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Chapter 3 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION
One of the major missions of the founders of the National Association of Sanitarians (NAS) was the education of sanitarians. The early volumes of The Sanitarian reveal the dreams and commitment of the early leaders of NAS. Walter Mangold recounted the "keen need of training for untrained sanitarians" when he summarized the first seven years of NAS. He described the short courses or institutes sponsored by the California Association of Sanitarians and, in particular, a course conducted at the Univer sity of California, Berkeley, in 1936. The most significant progress in environmental health education was made after World War II. Educational qualifications for sanitarians were defined by public health practi tioners and educators; recommended curricula were developed through a series of conferences, and a number of undergraduate curricula were started.
Undergraduate Curricula
A. Harry Bliss (UCLA) conducted a survey in 1948 to determine what practicing sanitarians regarded as the basic knowledge and skills that should be included in an undergraduate curriculum for new sanitarians. Thirty-eight subjects were identified, including bacteriology, public speaking, public relations, chemistry, English composi tion and public administration. Prior to World War II, three universities (Rutgers, Utah State and Washington State) offered undergraduate programs for study in the sanitary sciences; however, the number of graduates from these programs was very small. In the four year period following the war, 13 universities started undergraduate programs in sanitary sciences which were variously located in colleges of arts and sciences, medical schools, schools of public health and agricultural colleges. Leaders in the professional movement realized there was a need for curriculum guidelines for this developing area of professional educa tion, and the American Public Health Association's Engineering Section interested the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in this need. The Foundation sponsored the Working Con ference on Undergraduate Education in Sanitary Science held in Battle Creek, Michigan in April 195 I at which a model curriculum was developed and recommendations made covering faculty and facilities, field training and student recruitment, guidance and placement. While there were ups and downs in the academic area over the next 25 years, NAS and NEHA led the promotion of workshops and conferences relevant to environmental health education. In 1962, NEHA received a contract from the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) to conduct a conference to consider the capabilities of sanitarians to deal with disasters, with special reference to academic preparation. This information was needed by Jerry Michael and his group at PHS and was of equal value to NAS in promoting undergraduate education for sanitarians. Joe O'Brien, a training officer at PHS, chaired the workshop. The group reaffirmed the need for educational programs to provide a broad prepara tion in the biological, physical and social sciences and discouraged specialization in specific areas of environmental health during undergraduate studies. In fact, they recom mended a reduction in the number of semester hours for sanitary science and public health courses from the number recommended by the Kellogg conference. Such a reduc tion would permit more time for study in the basic natural and social sciences. Economics Laboratory, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota and Dr. John Wilson hosted a curriculum conference in St. Paul in 1964, cosponsored by NAS. This conference reexamined the Kellogg recommendations in light of new developments in public health •
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