National Public Health Week officially begins April 1, 2024, with a full week of in-person and online events aimed at promoting the efforts of the public health community.

Multiple campus and public health groups will present events during the week, including Delta Omega and the Public Health Student Alliance. These events are centered around presenting the main topics of public health and promoting career opportunities for students. 

Tracy Figurella, the senior external relations officer at the College of Public Health, works as an event coordinator and handles publicity for National Public Health Week. She said one of their biggest events for the week is their career fair. 

“If somebody has an interest in working in the area of health, we’re gonna have at least 20 different organizations there to talk about opportunities within their organization,” Figurella said.

Other events throughout the week focus on career opportunities, including a resume workshop, advice on what to do with a public health degree, advice to begin a career in public health and a tour of the Kent City Health Department. 

Figurella said the events touch upon a variety of topics important and interesting to all kinds of students, including mental health, sustainability, built environments, gun violence and how AI can prevent obesity.  

“We try to plan a very diverse set of events, so covering many of the various topics that are important to our community and like PHSA, our student organization, of course they have the pulse of the students,” Figurella said. “We take a lot of pride in making sure that we’re covering a lot of depth and breadth of topics.” 

There are no costs for attending any event, and the events are open to all students, not just those in public health. Figurella said she hopes to see a lot of students in attendance. 

“We look forward to seeing students from all across campus visiting virtually or in person,” she said. 

John Engoglia is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].