Ensign College of Public Health is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof. Stephen C. Alder, as its President.
The announcement was contained in a release signed by the Chair of the Board of Governors of the School, Dr. Lynette Gay.
Prof. Alder’s appointment follows the retirement of the inaugural Dean, Dr. Christopher Tetteh, and will in this new capacity as Head of the school, be responsible for spearheading the overall running of the institution.
His appointment marks a new transitioning of the school to a leadership model that replaces the role of Dean with a College President and an Academic Head of Program.
Commenting on his new appointment, Prof. Alder noted, “I am honored to be named as the President of the Ensign College of Public Health. I look forward to working with you as we continue to build ECOPH into a world-class institution committed to improving health and wellness of communities in Ghana, West Africa and around the world”.
He also acknowledged the invaluable contributions of Dr. Tetteh during his tenure as inaugural Dean, and lauded his excellent pace-setter role and commitment to the vision of the school.
Prof. Alder paid warm tribute to ECOPH’s Founder, Dr. Lynette Gay, and reminded all who hold a stake in the school, including staff, faculty and students, thus, “our charge is to pursue the vision Dr. Lynette Gay has challenged us to achieve- to improve lives by educating professionals committed to service that improves public health, to engage in research and innovation that expands the science and practice of public health, and to partner with communities and organizations to ensure that the knowledge we gain is used effectively”.
Prof. Alder’s appointment is effective March 1, 2017.
About Prof. Stephen C. Alder
Stephen C. Alder, Ph.D. serves as the President of the Ensign College of Public Health and as a Member of the Board of Governors. He is also a TGH Morton Endowed Professor and Vice Chair of Family and Preventive Medicine and Chief of the Division of Public Health at the University of Utah.
He holds adjunct appointments at the University of Utah in Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Health Promotion and Education. He oversees the graduate program in Public Health at the University of Utah Asia Campus in Incheon, South Korea.
He is a Past President of the University of Utah Academic Senate and is an affiliated faculty member of the Honors College, where he is the advisor for the Global Health Scholars program. Professor Alder is part of the Collaboration and Engagement Team of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science.
He started with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in 1995 as a founding member of the Health Research Center and has been active in various forms of clinical and population-based research since that time. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Environment and Behavior and Family Ecology, with emphases in statistics and research methods, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Promotion and Education with a focus on Community Health.
Professor Alder is a President Emeritus of the Association of Accredited Public Health Programs and was a member of the Framing the Future Task Force: The Next 100 Years of Public Health Education which was sponsored by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.
He also serves as an Accreditation Site Review Chair for the Council on Education for Public Health. Professor Alder’s scholarly emphases include global public health, community engaged health development, public health workforce development, managing the health of populations and globally-networked higher education in public health.
