Dear SPH colleagues:

Happy New Year! I am really excited to officially begin as dean of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) at the start of 2024! I accepted this position with one overarching goal in mind: to advance SPH as the exemplar for how public health research, education, and practice should operate for maximum effect on local, national, and global scales. I am confident that, together, we will achieve this goal.

Over the past few months, I have met with many SPH faculty, staff, students, alumni, and UMN partners. Everyone has been extremely helpful and welcoming. Our community is doing amazing work. The school’s outstanding research, education, commitment to social change, and focus on advancing health as a human right are a large part of what drew me here.

Over the next several months, a major focus of mine will be on meeting with more members of the community. I would like to learn more about you and your work, your experience at SPH, and your dreams for the future. This truly is a special place and we are uniquely positioned for impact. As a school, we will need to build a social consensus around our shared idealistic and realistic goals; this will help us advance our mission to achieve health equity for all.

I would also like to express my profound thanks and gratitude to Tim Beebe, who served as interim dean from February 2021 through December 2023. Tim has been generous with his time, thoughts, humor, and insights as I’ve moved toward joining the school as dean. His work in areas that include philanthropy, finance and operations, communications, student services and alignment, and his commitment to advancing the Strategic Plan for Antiracism (SPAR) has set SPH up for a successful transition. Specific accomplishments under his leadership include the launch of innovative academic programs including the undergraduate major in public health and the new MPH in Public Health Data Science. He was also instrumental in securing funding to launch the SPH Cannabis Research Center. Tim will be spending the upcoming months working on the UMN Center for Learning Health System Sciences, as senior advisor of the Community and Collaboration Program at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and developing and refining courses in health policy and management.

To commemorate the start of a new semester, please join me for coffee and bagels on January 17, 9-11 a.m. in the Mayo building main lobby on the 3rd floor. And stay tuned for many more opportunities to gather as a community and to meet for updates, input, and discussion.

Thank you for your support as I begin my tenure as your dean. I look forward to hearing from you and to partnering with you as we chart the path forward.

With gratitude,

Melinda Pettigrew
Dean, School of Public Health
Mayo Chair in Public Health