The SHM Perspective - School of Health Management

History of SHM

Posted on May 1st, 2013 by Dr. Adler | Faculty Perspective, School News | Join the conversation!

SHM started as an experiment in change by expanding the educational opportunities offered at ATSU in a non-traditional way. The question posed, would it be possible to change a culture of traditional education in an institution that was already over 100 years old, and assimilate a totally new way of presenting educational material into a family of schools that were growing, providing and sometimes competing among themselves? This is how the fully online School of Health Management started.

In November 1998, I had the unique opportunity to be the Founding Dean of the School of Health Management, from its beginning an all online school, which offered three master’s degrees: Public Health, Health Administration and Geriatric Health Management. Establishing a completely new school, designed around accepted educational principles, but presented in a remote format created a challenge unlike any I have experienced. With thirteen months of intensive planning, a presentation before the regional accrediting body (North Central) and the faithful and untiring help of Judy Booth, and Jim LeBaron, SHM accepted its first students in December 1999.

In addition to Mrs. Booth, and Mr. LaBaron, I was fortunate to have two Program Directors, Dr. Mike Samuels, and Dr. Michael Creedon as subject experts to guide the school in its curriculum planning, development and implementation. By designing the three degrees around a “core curriculum” of common courses, enrollment was front loaded to provide a good number of students in our start-up years. As students completed core courses, they branched into program specific courses to complete their chosen degrees. Additionally, SHM offered program specific “certificates” to students who did not desire an advance degree.

Because SHM offered master level course in popular areas of study, and because there was no on-campus requirement for attendance, other institutions were interested in placing their students with ours taking online courses. These articulation agreements with other colleges/universities aided SHM with initial enrollments and contributed to its financial success early on.

SHM has since, expanded to offer doctoral degrees and an on-campus Public Health program which competes with the best in the country. SHM has continued to grow to a viable and significant contributor to the educational experiences of many ATSU students seeking health management degrees, unlimited by geographic boundaries. Congratulations to SHM, I wish you the best and continued future successes.

D. Kent Mulford, DO, MBA, Founding Dean.

The Power of Touch

Posted on March 1st, 2013 by Dr. Adler | Building Community, Faculty Perspective | Join the conversation!

There is no denying we live in an incredibly high tech world. We can chat face to face with people across the globe with just the touch of a button. We can post our inner most thoughts for the world to see with just a click of the mouse. As I think about the high tech world in which I live, that lets me connect with so many more on a daily basis, how could I possibly feel alone at times.

The human being is not a solitary creature by creation. We thrive on being with others. Before technology, the “others” we were with were family, neighborhood, town, community, etc. Over the years, as technology has advanced, we are able to connect almost instantly with others farther away and our impact on the world has grown exponentially. But in the process we have lost something simple, the power of touch, the ability to “be” with one another.

I am grateful that I have the ability to reach out with a question via Twitter and get an almost immediate response – albeit only 140 characters. Facebook keeps me connected with friends I haven’t seen in decades. Skype lets me see and talk with my mom while she winters in warmer weather. I can Google anything and get information. But you know what? I miss the power of touch. There are some days I just need a hug, or need to give a hug, and that is really hard to do virtually.

I don’t think I am entirely alone on this one.

As you embark on your online journey here at SHM, remember that there is a real “live” person on the other side of that computer screen. As faculty, we are here to guide you, be here for you, answer when you reach out, whether it is virtually or in person. It is important to remember in our high tech world that we are still human and need human interaction. Don’t be shy about picking up the phone and talking to your instructor or your fellow classmates. Don’t be shy about using your webcam, it is the next best thing to being in the same room with the person you are talking with.

Even when we can’t be physically together in the learning environment, it’s important that we remember the human on the other end of the communication avenue we are using. When interacting virtually, we can forget that we are interacting with someone who has feelings, may have had a bad day, is facing an unknown struggle, is afraid they won’t measure up, etc. It is easy to dismiss someone’s opinion when you can’t see them, or they don’t seem “real” to you. Be mindful that when you read a discussion posting or blog in a classroom, there is a real live person writing it. If you don’t agree with something that is written, be respectful. I’m willing to bet that when the person was writing out his or her thoughts, it wasn’t intended to provoke a negative response. You are embarking on an educational experience that centers on the human being. We are all so different, with different opinions – but we are all alike in that we are human and believe it or not, even in this virtual environment we live in – we need each other.

So, while technology allows us to connect over long distances, remember that our closest connection is through being human and remembering the “human” on the other side of the screen. Doing so will help you to realize that you aren’t alone during this academic journey, that you have support, sounding boards, comrades, community, etc.

Kathy Adler

ATSU SHM

Associate Dean Academic Success and Assessment

Getting Your MPH at ATSU SHM

Posted on February 1st, 2013 by Dr. Adler | Student Perspective | Join the conversation!

Hello ATSU-SHM Blog Readers,

My name is Brian Moore, and I’m a graduate of the Masters of Public Health (MPH) program at A.T. Still University-School of Health Management (ATSU-SHM) and a current osteopathic medical student at A.T. Still’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM). When I heard SHM was developing a blog to share our stories with readers, I had to jump on the opportunity to discuss my experiences with SHM and ATSU as a whole. I admittedly didn’t know much about SHM when I applied, but soon realized that the great education I was receiving there would supply me with a great wealth of knowledge to use as a future physician. I had been accepted to medical school at ATSU-KCOM, set to start in the fall of 2010, leaving a year in between graduation from my undergraduate school and medical school. I wanted to stay educationally engaged, so I enrolled in the MPH program at SHM, planning to take a few classes and stay “fresh” and engaged. As I spoke with my admissions coordinator at SHM, I quickly realized the value in earning a degree in public health and the application it would have on my future career as a physician. So I changed my enrollment status to full-time and even asked for special permission to take extra classes each quarter in order to complete the program in a little over a year, And in the Spring of 2011, I completed the program and received my MPH degree.

So why do I feel SHM was so great and the MPH degree was so valuable to my education? An education in public health will empower any healthcare provider with knowledge for their tool bag to provide better care for all of their patients. The founding school of the university that is now called A.T.Still University is Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, KCOM. KCOM is also the founding school of osteopathic medicine worldwide. One of the key tenets of osteopathic medicine is the concept that physicians shouldn’t look just at a single symptom or body region, but rather look at the patient’s body as a whole, a collection of all body systems and regions, that acts in harmony. This philosophy is at the backbone of public health too. The art of medicine is often focused on treating individual patients, whereas public health aims to look at the health and wellness of a population. So where cancer cells will impact the health of an individual person in medicine, public health looks at the impact that a disease outbreak will have on a city, state, or even nation. I found that the philosophies and concepts taught in the MPH program at SHM intertwine and complement the global ideals within the various schools of ATSU. And I think that this umbrella approach to medicine will make me a better doctor, understanding not just the roles of cells and body systems within my patient, but knowing how the health of my patient will affect those around him or her.

SHM was a great place for me to gain this education and learn from others. At the beginning of each new class, there would be an online forum aimed to introduce ourselves to each other. It was so amazing to see all the walks of life from all the students at SHM. I had several classes with medical students, residents, people already working in public health, high school and college teachers, and even a sailor from a nuclear submarine. Rather than re-hashing the reading assignments in our online discussions, we’d often get on tangents talking about how the weekly topic was perceived in our life experiences. For example, in a human resource management course, we were asked to read a chapter on the application, recruitment, and hiring processes seen in healthcare. Our discussions would often start talking about the reading from the text, but would evolve to discussions of what we had seen in our careers and lives. It was so great to not only learn from our teachers and our textbooks, but to learn from each other and help each other learn from our collective achievements and failures. My favorite classes at SHM were Public Health Policy and Politics, and Death and Dying: Life and Living. These classes helped me learn so much about healthcare, patient care, and most importantly about myself and my own thoughts, opinions, and feelings.

One last thing that I appreciated about SHM is the willingness of the professors and administration to discuss potential career options within each degree program. Drs Michael Samuels and Don Altman, department chairs for the MPH program and MPH-dental program respectively, both volunteered their personal time to speak with SHM students about the MPH program and what an MPH can do for you in terms of career options. It was so great to learn of all the ways that an MPH can advance a career in direct patient care and more importantly outside of direct healthcare. The MHA and DHEd programs had similar online seminars for students as well. It was so great to learn of all the ways an MPH can be used and the strengths that come with an education in the various areas taught within SHM. I am so thankful for everyone at ATSU-School of Health Management for helping me through my educational journey and for empowering me to learn about public health and its implications in my future career. I think that if you’re interested in health education, health administration, or public health, you should seriously consider applying to A.T. Still University-School of Health Management. And if you’re interested in virtually any other career in in healthcare, you should look into the other schools of ATSU, which are all excellent. I am a proud ATSU-SHM alumnus and am so thankful for the opportunity to become an alumnus of ATSU twice over in two years.

Best of luck to you in whatever path you choose to travel!

Brian Moore, M.P.H. (’11), OMS III (’14)

Building Community in Higher Ed

Posted on January 1st, 2013 by Dr. Adler | Faculty Perspective | Join the conversation!

How do we measure community in higher education?

When I joined the School of Health Management in 2010 I had one principle concern—effective collaboration, cooperation, teamwork, and community (that’s all the same concern). I live here, she lives there, he lives way over there, my students are in every imaginable time zone, and I had never heard of Kirksville. The previous institution I taught for, a traditional brick and mortal university, represented a physical community comfort zone and it was difficult to step away. I ate lunch with my co-workers, sat in conference rooms during committee meetings, and had my own parking space. I simply wasn’t sure how this could work in a virtual environment because I value community in higher education.

Fast forward to now…

Have you ever noticed those “suit whisperers” that are needed at important political functions? In the movies, presidents and prime ministers and monarchs have a person whose function is to whisper “that’s Tom Scheiffer, Ambassador to Japan, and his wife Julia” and “here comes Mary Fallin, unmarried, she’s the governor of Vermont, you met her daughter Courtney last year” into the ear of the host. And the idea here is certainly understandable. In some circumstances there are simply too many people that are too geographically diverse for a reasonable person to process.

Somehow ATSU and the School of Health Management have figured this out. Without any extra effort on my part I could be our suit whisperer. “That’s Dr. Konecny, she lives in Kentucky and runs triathlons” or “be extra nice to Rebecca Emlund, her husband knows karate”. I feel more comfortable and more connected with the students, faculty, and staff at ATSU than any traditional position I’ve had in the past. And my friends and family ask how that can be.

My answer starts and ends with a culture of community from the top down. It’s much more than the meetings or the emails about policy—it’s Andy Kottwitz posting a picture of a swing set his family put together and Jamie Carroll sharing an award-winning photo illustration and Dr. Blowers contacting me for no other reason than to say “hello”. Lunch-and-learns, birthday cards, rockstar Fridays, slideshows from the medical garden, quotes from our founder Andrew Taylor Still and a barbeques at the deans’ house during graduation…are these common characteristics of other online colleges?

So how do we measure community in higher education? A recent study published in Educational Technology Research and Development suggests we compare like experiences between traditional and online settings. So I believe my study based on personal experience is complete. We have created a fully functioning and relatively complete community here at ATSU and there is but one thing left to do—keep it up. Join our network on Google+, attend open sessions online, engage your classmates or coworkers outside the confines of minimum expectations, and give back to a community that offers quite so much. As our dean often asks, what have you done to make our community special this week?

Joshua Bernstein

Assistant Professor Health Education

ATSU SHM

Application Tips

Posted on December 1st, 2012 by Dr. Adler | Admissions | Join the conversation!

Helpful Application Tips

Have you always wondered why some applicants are admitted and others aren’t? What makes some applications stand out from others? Use the following tips to ensure the application you submit puts your best foot forward.

Start your application early: This will help you avoid last minute delays on paperwork or any problems that may arise.

Use an appropriate email address: cutecat84@hotmail.com may be a true reflection of who you are as an individual but it isn’t the best way to be taken seriously academically.

Be an individual: The essay is your opportunity to set your application apart from the others. Everything else is just data but an essay is your chance to show who you are. Take your time and don’t forget to proofread. Follow the directions carefully and make sure to answer each question completely but concisely. Remember the admissions committee has a huge stack of essays to read so if the maximum is 1000 words and you have written over 2000 words all you are doing is showing you can’t follow directions. Making the reader angry is not a good way to set your application apart.

Resume: Make sure your resume is up-to-date. Don’t submit a 4 page essay. An essay should be 1-2 pages at most and include work over the past ten years. Don’t include the dog walking gig you had 15 years ago but also don’t forget to include the current position you are in.

Pay attention to deadlines: Deadlines are not just suggestions they represent the final day to submit an application. Late materials may not make it to the admissions committee. An incomplete application is unlikely to garner acceptance.

Be honest: Lies always have a way of coming out. A good example of this is the recently fired CEO of Yahoo. This was not only embarrassing for him but gave his credibility a hit.

Stay in contact with admissions: Each student is assigned an enrollment counselor. Stay in touch with this person. Just because you know you put something in the mail doesn’t mean it was received. Contact your enrollment counselor and make sure it made it to the office and into your file; they are here for you every step of the way.

Don’t take short-cuts: Make sure you have filled out the application in its entirety. Nothing says uncommitted applicant like an incomplete application. Show that you are committed by ensuring that all sections are filled in where appropriate.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions: The University employs enrollment counselors for the sole purpose of answering questions. Never be afraid you are asking too many questions or that your questions aren’t important. The answer to the question you neglected to ask may have held the information that keeps you from gaining acceptance.

Proofread: Not just the essay but the entire application. Don’t rely on computer automated spell check. The computer didn’t write your application so it may see no difference between the word you used and the word you meant to use but it may have a huge impact on the point you are trying to make.

Don’t hide your past mistakes: Everyone makes mistakes the important thing is to show that you have learned from them and the things you have learned you will carry with you to ensure the same mistake isn’t repeated. A frequent example on a graduate application is a low undergraduate GPA. The admissions committee realizes that one number is not an accurate indicator of future success. Use the low GPA essay section to explain why your GPA was below a 3.0 and what you will do to guarantee success at ATSU. Maybe it was a decade ago and since then you have become a more mature person taking on huge projects at work. Maybe you had one bad semester and were never able to dig out of the hole. Whatever the reason, be honest.

Try, try again: Just because you aren’t accepted the first time you apply doesn’t mean you aren’t qualified. There are a limited number of spots in each program each quarter. Every quarter we are forced to turn away qualified applicants simply because there are too many to choose from. It can’t hurt to try again. Applying to SHM is much easier the second time around. We already have your transcripts on file and the application fee is waived. Take some time to review your essay and make sure your resume is up-to-date. Consider submitting new references and contact admissions to get help submitting a new application.

Christy Baughman

ATSU Enrollment Counselor