Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Prior to my arrival in New Orleans, I submitted an application to Tulane's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. I applied with the idea that this would be my fall-back plan, since I hadn't received my Praxis scores (required test scores to teach in certain states) and wasn't confident that the teaching thing was going to happen. Over the following weeks of my move and my teachNOLA training, I went through a series of interviews and was offered a job as Program Manager in the Maternal and Child Public Health Leadership Training program (it's a mouthful, I know ). I attempted to work out a deferment with teachNOLA, because the position is grant-funded and, if the grant is not re-newed, will end in fall 2010. After much discussion, it was determined that I could not defer and that my choice was to either continue with teachNOLA or resign. The Tulane opportunity was one that I wasn't willing to pass up at this point in my life, so I accepted.

The program is exciting and the challenges are many; the job offers opportunities for me to teach and travel, and to do significant community outreach. A major focus will be enhancing the program in order to reapply for the next funding cycle of the grant - 2010 - 2015. I'm currently in the process of designing a public school component in which Master's and PhD students will visit science classes to teach about their professions and possibly mentor students. My envisioned focus is to lead students of NOLA public schools toward careers in public health and master's training at Tulane.

Many students I taught over the summer felt like they wanted to go to college but had no idea which college or what they might study or how to begin to figure those things out. How exciting would it be for them to have a mentor who helps guide them toward that goal with the possibility of a master's degree and a meaningful career at the end!