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Annual Minority Health Conference and William T. Small Jr. Keynote Lecture
About William T. Small, Jr.
MSC @ Student Affairs website
History of the Caucus and Conference, in video
Minority Student Caucus Alumni Network
To join the Minority Student Caucus listserv send a one-line email to (listserv@unc.edu)
with the text:
subscribe minoritycaucus
your-first-name your-last-name
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| The
Minority Student Caucus was founded in 1971 by a group of African American students
who gathered in John Hatch's living room. They were troubled by the lack of attention to
health disparities (then referred to as minority health), the lack of support for Black students,
the near total absence of Blacks on the faculty, and the low representation of ethnic minorities
among the students. The Caucus was intended
as a vehicle for bringing their concerns to
the attention of the School's Administration and for working to
attract more Black students to the School.
Initially called the Black Student Caucus, in the late 1970s the Caucus changed its name to Minority Student Caucus
and welcomed American Indian, Asian American, and Latino students.
[Some of the history is recounted in recorded interviews with John Hatch (coming soon),
Bill Jenkin (view), Victoria Motley Washington
(view), and Geni Eng (coming soon).
The Caucus founded its annual Minority Health Conference in 1977
and has conducted it nearly every year since then. The Caucus also works
with the School administration on initiatives to link to the
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, especially in North
Carolina, and to institutions serving other minority groups. |
Leadership
The
Minority Student Caucus is led by an Executive Board elected annually
by all Caucus members. Officers - Co-Presidents, Secretary,
and Treasurer - and other E-Board members serve one-year terms.
For its first quarter century, the Caucus received support and advice from William T. Small, Jr. (the Caucus actually played a role in Dean Small's coming to the School as a minority student recruiter in 1971). Following Dean Small's retirement in 1999, Aundra Shields became Assistant Dean for Students and worked with the Caucus. After Aundra's departure, her successors Felicia Mebane and then Charletta Sims-Evans became the Dean's Office advisers to the Caucus. Victor Schoenbach (Department of Epidemiology), who assisted the
Minority Health Conference planners beginning in 1991, was invited to serve as faculty adviser to the Caucus in 2005/2006. Chandra Caldwell (Department of Epidemiology), who had informally counseled/advised Caucus members and officers since she joined the Epidemiology staff, was later named a staff adviser to the Caucus. Trinnette Cooper, coordinator for diversity programs and recruitment in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health is the current Dean's Office adviser.
Executive Board Members for 2020-2021
Co-Presidents:
- Eliana Armora, Doctoral student, Department of Health Behavior (meet Eliana)
- Snigdha Peddireddy, Masters student, Department of Health Behavior
Co-chairs for the 42nd Annual Minority Health Conference:
- Rachel Singley, Doctoral student, Health Policy and Management
- Shewit Weldense, RN, Masters student, Health Policy and Management
Treasurer:
- Zamantha Granados, Health Behavior
Secretary:
- Aditi Kamat, Global Health
Social Chair:
- Sophie To, Health Behavior
TRIAD Co-Chairs:
- Eduardo Hernandez, Health Behavior
- Trevor Hamlett, Nutrition
Education and Community Action Cochairs:
- Brandon Adams, Global Health
- Vanessa Amankwaa, Health Equity
Publicity
Chair:
- Juhi Chinthapatla, Nutrition
Historian:
- Maleka Walker, Health Behavior
(Biographies and photos)
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Links
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Last updated 8/31/2016, 9/1/2016, 10/6,24/2016, 2/3/2018, 1/16/2020, 8/12,15/2020, 12/26/2020, 12/29/2023 by Vic Schoenbach
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