| The Minority Student Caucus was founded in 1971 by a group of African American students
who gathered at John Hatch's house. 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 the Minority Student Caucus and welcomed American Indian, Asian American, and Latino students.
Some of the history has been recounted in multiple interviews and presentations with some of the key participants, including MSC founders John Hatch and Anita Holmes (who presented the history of the founding of the Caucus at the 2021 Annual Minority Health Conference), past presidents Bill Jenkins and Victoria Motley Washington, and other prominent leaders, such as Geni Eng and David McCoy.
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 and served in that role until beginning phased retirement in 2015. 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 and served in that role until about 2019. Trinnette Cooper, coordinator for diversity programs and recruitment in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, was the Office of Student Affairs advisor through June 2022. Patsy Polston, assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior and a past Caucus co-president, became the faculty advisor to the Caucus in 2021.
Executive Board Members for 2022-2023
Co-Presidents:
- Asia Carter (she/her), MPH student, Department of Health Behavior
- Kiara Tompkins (she/her), MPH student, Department of Health Behavior
Co-chairs for the 44th Annual Minority Health Conference:
- Rhea Jayaswal (she/her), BSPH student, Department of Nutrition
- Callia Cox (she/her), MPH/RD internship, Department of Nutrition
Treasurer:
- Steven Houang (he/him), MSPH-PhD student, Department of Health Behavior
Secretary:
- Rami Darawsheh, BSPH student (and biology), Department of Health Policy and Management
Social Chair:
- Alex Simpson (she/her/hers), MPH student, maternal, child, and family health
TRIAD Co-Chairs:
- Mykela Moore (she/her), BSPH student, Department of Health Behavior
- Damion Williams (he/him), BSPH student, Department of Health Policy and Management
Education and Community Action Co-chairs:
- Taya Westfield (she/her), MPH student, Department of Health Behavior.
- Galilee Ambellu (she/her), BSPH student, Department of Health Policy and Management
Publicity Chair:
- Gisella Tellys Lie (she/they), MPH health behavior concentration
Faculty advisor:
- Patsy Polston (MSPH 2011, PhD 2015, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering), assistant professor, Department of Health Behavior
(Biographies and photos)
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