News Release

UM School of Public Health recognizes 229 degree candidates from the class of 2004 and presents annual awards.

May 14, 2004 press release from the University of Michigan School of Public Health

At this year's convocation ceremony held in the Michigan Theater on April 30, 2004, 229 degree candidates from the School of Public Health class of 2004 were recognized in person. Noreen M. Clark, dean of the school, presided, noting that class members came to the school not only from the U.S. but also from Guyana, China, Taiwan, Nigeria, Kenya, Canada, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Korea.

B. Joseph White, Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor and Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, delivered the convocation address. Dr. White told the degree candidates that they have the potential to become heroes via their careers in public health. "All it requires is an obsessive sense of mission, a capacity for outrage that can’t be extinguished, a vision of a better world, and persistence that is measured in decades.”

Remarks on Behalf of the Students

A tradition at SPH convocation is for graduating students to address their classmates and guests.

Rebecca Danhof, co-president of the Public Health Student Association, said, "As we enter the public health arena, there is much work to be done. There are people who don’t have clean water, children who aren’t being immunized, restaurants that don’t meet safety standards, individuals who aren’t able to obtain healthy nutritious foods, and inequalities in access to affordable health care."

In her remarks, Portia Jackson, of the Public Health Students of African Descent, noted that "the successes of public health we celebrate today were once considered society’s irreconcilable challenges," adding, "let us look at today’s problems in that light."

Chasity Wellnitz, co-president of the Public Health Student Association, addressed fellow classmates as "friends for life," predicting that "when future classes stand here at graduation they will note the accomplishments made by us, the class of 2004."

Patricia Hernández, a representative of the student organization La Salud, read the International Declaration of Health Rights.

Award Presentations

David Jongwoo Choi presented the 2004 Excellence in Research Award to Jerome Nraigu, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, describing him as "one of the pioneers in work on lead pollution and lead poisoning" whose "research has greatly influenced national and international policies on toxic contaminants in the environment."

Yuh-Shan Cathy Huang presented the 2004 Excellence in Teaching Award to Peter Jacobson, Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy. "Students appreciate Dr. Jacobson's open-door policy and ability to introduce his students to real-life cases currently vexing the courts, health policy makers, patients, and providers," she said. Applauding his legendary sense of humor, she noted that Jacobson had "titled his recent book about the intersection of lawyers and health, Strangers in the Night."

The Gene Feingold Diversity Award was presented posthumously to Professor Emeritus Gene Feingold. Professor Feingold's widow, Dr. Marcia Feingold PhD '83, accepted the award. In presenting the award, Professor Richard Lichtenstein noted that Dr. Feingold spent much of his life working to end poverty and racial discrimination, and that the school would miss this remarkable friend and colleague.

An MPH degree was awarded posthumously to Mary Angela DiGiovanni, who was killed in car accident in January 2003.

Contact: Terri Mellow, Director, Office of Communications
Phone: (734) 764-8094
E-mail: twm@umich.edu

Michigan SPH Convocation 2004

Dean Noreen Clark & speaker
Joseph White

Student speaker Portia Jackson

Faculty research and teaching award winners Nraigu & Jacobson

Dr. Marcia Feingold receiving the Gene Feingold Diversity Award from Professor Richard Lichtenstein on her husband's behalf.