w Era of Excellence Department of Health Promotion Sciences Reducing health risks in indi- viduals, families, social networks, organizations, and communities is the goal of health promotion. This is accomplished at the De- partment of Health Promotion Sciences through the applica- tion of social and behavioral sci- ences, educational strategies and techniques and epidemiological methods. The Department strives to provide the knowledge and skills needed to succeed as public health professionals within local, state, national and tribal organi- zations. Dedicated faculty mem- bers work to expand the knowl- edge base of students in the areas of chronic diseases, communi- cable diseases, health promotion and disease prevention, exercise, nutrition, tobacco use, prevent- able injury, and more. Recent highlights include: • The Department’s Oklahoma Public Health Training Center received a one-year Presbyterian Health Foundation seed grant to develop a diabetes training program for community health workers. • Grant funding was renewed for the tenth consecutive year continuing participation in the Health and Human Services Region 6 Public Health Training Center. • The Department received a multi-year state contract funding a project headed by Professor & Chair Thomas Teasdale, Dr.P.H., utilizing CMS funds to provide training and skills to front-line staff at 120 Oklahoma nursing homes. The environment encompasses not only the air we breathe, the water we drink, and plants and animals used for food, but also shelter, modes of transportation and all of the other products and byprod- ucts of technology, including pollutants and waste materials. Understanding the human response to the environment as well as the response of the environment to the activities of hu- mans is at the heart of the mission of the Department of Oc- cupational and En- vironmental Health. The Depart- ment has developed flexible and diversified programs of graduate study, including the Master of Sci- ence degree in Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Health Sci- ences; the Master of Public Health degree in Environmental Health and Occupational Health; and the Doctor of Philosophy Degree, an advanced, research-oriented degree program requiring in-depth study of and research in a specialty area with the broad field of occupational and environmental health. Graduates are in high demand by employers in in- dustry, government, health care and other sectors. Recent highlights include: • Laboratory space was newly renovated, expanded and enhanced, providing for additional research opportunities within the Department. • Assistant Professors Jun Wang, Ph.D., and Evan Floyd, Ph.D., achieved national board certification as Certified Industrial Hygienists, expanding the Department’s CIH-certified full- time faculty. Floyd also was recognized with the College’s Faculty Teaching Award, and Wang received the College’s Public Health Student Association Teaching Award, as well as the American Industrial Hygiene Association Golden Seed Award for outstanding mentoring. • Occupational and Environmental Health doctoral candidate Marcio Bezerra, received the Best Student Poster Award for his session at the AIHA’s national conference and was awarded one of 50 national AIHA scholarships. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health work to tackle critical issues of public health,” said Dean Gary Ras- kob, Ph.D. The College is ranked number 6 in the Top 10 Colleges of Public Health nationwide by College Magazine; and the education of tomor- row’s public health professionals and scientists is at the heart of our mission. We constantly strive to advance and elevate public health education, recently expanding these efforts to the OU Norman cam- pus with the OU Board of Regents approval of a new bachelor’s de- gree in Public Health. The undergraduate program is a joint venture of the College and the OU College of Arts and Sciences. Each department also has earned distinction and forms a corner- stone of the overall strength within the OU Hudson College of Pub- lic Health.