Some more photos.
TU Public Health Major
Taylor Miller was planning on making the switch from majoring in Biology Pre-Medicine to Public Health in the fall of 2011.
“Since Taylor doesn’t offer a nursing program, this would have almost been a way around it. You could even (become) a nurse practitioner or physicians assistant, which is what I was considering at one time,” Miller said.
He was talked out of it by a professor who told Miller that he would be more marketable with Biology Pre-Medicine. But, part of him wonders what it would be like to major in Public Health.
He will never get the chance to discover what it’s like. The Public Health major was widely advertised, but where is it?
Until the spring of 2012, Mark Biermann, Phd, served as Taylor’s Dean of the School of Natural and Applied Sciences.
In April 2011, Biermann said, “We have so many students who come to Taylor that have a heart for service and who are interested in health-related fields and interested in health care,” according to the Taylor website.
Implementing public health also stayed true to Taylor’s brand. “It was a different way of approaching healthcare … and we have a lot of graduates involved in public health and doing some remarkable things,” said Stephen Mortland, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing.
Taylor’s program was anticipated to have two tracks of focus, one on urban public health issues and another on international health issues. The estimated launch of the major was the fall semester of 2012. However, many issues prevented its launching. One was the construction of the Euler Science Complex which overwhelmed the majority of the School of Natural and Applied Science’s time, and detracted from efforts for the Public Health major, according to Mortland.
Another reason was the inability to find someone to spearhead the major. Taylor had multiple applicants, and was using two sources to find candidates. However, no candidate was a perfect match. “We had a candidate come in…but after the review it was determined that she wasn’t the right fit for the position,” said Mortland. However, he continued, “It wasn’t an absolute roadblock,” said Mortland.
Meanwhile, the transition to a new provost and the resignation of Dr. Mark Biermann provided additional obstacles. “That’s when we knew that (launching the major) was very much on hold,” said Mortland.
The funding needed to launch the major is still available, according to Mortland. He also says that students can still prepare themselves to do public health, as only two classes needed to be added at Taylor in order to create the major.
Anna Goeglein, a sophomore, is one of those students. She still intends on doing public health, so she is marketing herself in order to effectively do so. She began attending Taylor last year as a Biology Pre-Med major, but upon discovering Taylor’s interest in launching a public health major she decided to change.
“A Public Health major … is a merger between culture and healthcare systems and how they affect each other, which is why it originally appealed to me,” said Anna. Because Taylor has not launched the major, Anna is currently a Psychology and Developmental Economics double major.
Her plan is to learn the economic and cultural aspects of Public Health through her studies in Developmental Economics, and learn about research via Psychology. Last school year, Anna took biology and chemistry courses in order to make herself more marketable for graduate schools.
This past summer, Anna worked in Quito, Ecuador to experience third-world medicine. She lived with a host family, and partnered with short-term missions teams.
“When short term teams would come with doctors, those were by far my favorite weeks. We would backpack around Quito with medicine” She continued, “It further solidified that that’s what I want to do.”
Anna’s passion for public health has not effected her view of Taylor. She values the opportunity to use the numerous other majors and classes Taylor offers in order to compete against other undergraduate public health majors.
Love in the Black and White.
On January 13, Planned Parenthood tweeted “[Retweet] if you think #prochoice is #sexy!” Planned Parenthood is, according to their website, “the leading advocate for reproductive health care in the United States today.” Merle Hoffman, the founder of Choices, a major abortion center in New York City, said recently that “Abortion is as American as apple-pie,” The Christian Post released statistics that stated one out of three women will have at least one abortion. Even more, “in some American neighborhoods, the number of abortions far exceeds the number of live births,”
My first reaction to this implementation of normalcy towards abortion, was horror. In fact, I was determined to write a strongly worded article that reflected my rage, to create a bandwagon of pro-life supporters, and to bring awareness to the idea that things like murder, should never become okay. However, as I sat down at my laptop to write this article, I am honest in saying, my opinion changed.
To be clear, I am strongly pro-life. God values all life, and therefore so should I. However, I don’t believe in this case, whether abortion is taking the life of a child is the issue. Where the issue lies, in my opinion, is the trend of blacklisted sins, suddenly becoming “American as apple pie.” Where did we slip up? Did we blink, and open our eyes to a whole new society? When did it become cool to have an abortion?
This question also applies to other actions and lifestyles that used to be unaccepted in society. Now, former blacklisters are becoming widely accepted. Gay marriage, for instance, is now more widely accepted. Pollingreport.com reveals that in an AP-National Constitution Center Poll for adults nationwide, 58% believed that gay couples were entitled to the same rights as a heterosexual married couple. 38% believed that the government should distinguish between couples, and 3% were unsure. When did our majority turn so quickly?
Although, while writing this article, I couldn’t help but ask myself, is this me? Am I numb to the things Christ is so explicitly clear on in the Bible? Am I not only numb, but accepting of actions and lifestyles so unlike those of Jesus? Are we as the Church getting so caught up in loving others, that we have forgotten to hate the sin?
As Christians, we are called to love as Christ loved us. God is also a forgiving God, and no sin causes one to lose a chance at redemption. Therefore, it is very important that we do not hate those who have had abortions, struggle with homosexuality, and like us, commit sins everyday. However, last time I checked, loving on someone did not mean accepting their sins as favorable. Isaiah 5:20 warns “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
Therefore, what are we to do? We need to find the fine line of loving the sinner, and hating the sin. After all, we are all sinners. Although this may be difficult, it is necessary. The Bible says to not fall into the trap of fools, but to be wise and follow the commands of Christ. This is entirely possible to love others, and still stand for what we believe in. Abortion should not be as “American as apple pie”, but rather, should love.
(c) Katy Backode 2012
