PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Prairie View A&M was the first Historically Black College and University founded in Texas. Now, they're making waves once again by being the first HBCU in the Lone Star State to offer a bachelor's degree in Public Health.
“You don't know how happy I am because when I came to this school, that was the first thing I asked the current Director and she told me not to worry and that it was going to be put in place,” Public Health student Uche Stanley Chukwuemeka said.
The School of Public and Allied Health is set to help address the racial healthcare disparities amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Executive Director Angela Branch-Vital says she expects students to leave Prairie View A&M prepared and equipped to deal with health behaviors that affect the community.
“We have faculty who are experts in the field. We have faculty with backgrounds in public health, epidemiology, biostatistics and health behaviors," Branch-Vital said. "Those issues that deal with public health we have faculty that are qualified for that, we have capstone programs, we have internships”
There are currently 900 students within the program according to the executive director, with the goal of increasing that number by around 6% over the next five years, bringing their total number of students over 1,300.
“With the increase in numbers that we will have, we will make sure we have qualified faculty and students," Branch-Vital said. "We will not compromise our quality for quantity.”
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