The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is a nonprofit, independent professional association that represents a diverse membership of health promotion and health education professionals and students in the United States and several international countries. SOPHE members work in businesses, schools, colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, health care settings, worksites, and in local, state, and federal government agencies. The society seeks to raise awareness of the connection between behavioral sciences, health education, health promotion, and the surrounding environment.
The society recently announced awards to several women in academia.
Amy Thompson, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, was honored with the Distinguished Fellow Award. It honors a scholar who has made significant and lasting contributions to the society and the profession of health education or public health demonstrated through exemplary scholarship and community service. Earlier in her career, Dr. Thompson was provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Wright State University in Ohio. Dr. Thompson is the former national president of the Eta Sigma Gamma Professional Health Organization and the Society for Public Health Education. She is a graduate of Central Michigan University and holds a master’s degree in public health and a Ph.D. in health education from the University of Toledo.
Elizabeth England-Kennedy, an assistant professor in the College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation at New Mexico State University, received the Dorothy Nyswander Health Equity Award. The honor recognizes an individual or group who embodies and promotes health equity through research, practice, and/or teaching. Her professional specialties include the intersections of health and culture, health equity, social and environmental justice, behavioral health, suicide and suicidality, and homelessness. Dr. England-Kennedy joined the NMSU faculty in 2020 after teaching at Rhode Island College. She received a master of public health degree from New Mexico State University and a doctoral degree in medical anthropology from the University of Arizona.
Angela Carman is an associate professor and vice chair of the department of health, behavior, and society at the University of Kentucky. She was honored with the Karen Denard Goldman Health Education Mentor Award. It recognizes a national SOPHE member in an academic or practice setting who has made a significant contribution to the preparation and/or performance of health educators and who has successfully forged the link between practice and research. Dr. Carman joined the University of Kentucky’s faculty in 2012. Her research interests focus on the practice of public health and include evidence-based intervention implementation, community engagement, public health accreditation readiness, and quality improvement. Dr. Carmen is a graduate of Berea College in Kentucky. She holds an MBA from Eastern Kentucky University and a doctorate in public health from the University of Kentucky.
Megan Williams is an assistant professor of health behavior at Texas A&M University. She won the M. Elaine Auld Horizon Award, which recognizes an early-career health educator who has distinguished themselves through leadership, creativity, involvement in the profession, and health education practice. Dr. Williams’ research focuses on analyzing college-level sexual health interventions and increasing access to sexual health services. Dr. Williams earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public health from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She holds a doctorate in health education and promotion from the University of Alabama.