Physical Activity & Public Health
Practitioner’s Course on Community Interventions
September 14-18, 2024

Description

This 4-day course is for practitioners who are involved or interested in policy, systems, and environmental approaches to promoting physical activity in communities. We welcome practitioners from diverse backgrounds and fields, including but not limited to public health, urban planning, parks and recreation, extension services, education, and community development/outreach. Course topics include public health models for physical activity promotion, evidence-based and best practice intervention strategies, policy and environmental supports for physical activity, program evaluation, and partnership development. The course incorporates practical field learning and both one-on-one and small group interaction with leading experts. Practitioners apply their learnings to developing and receiving feedback on an action plan to address a specific issue related to physical activity and public health in their home/work community. The faculty for this course is composed of nationally known public health practitioners and researchers.

Course Director: Sara Wilcox, PhD, Professor, Director, Prevention Research Center, University of South Carolina

Faculty

Faculty for the 4-day course consist of national leaders in public health promotion of physical activity and include:

Amy Eyler, PhD – Washington University in St. Louis
Mark Fenton, MS – Tufts University
Andrew T. Kaczynski, PhD – University of South Carolina
Jay Maddock, PhD – Texas A&M University
Jennifer Roberts, DrPH – University of Maryland
Ken Rose, MPA – U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Testimonials

Here’s what past participants have said about the Practitioner’s Course on Community Interventions.

Key strengths and most useful parts of the course were allowing us to make action plans for our community as it allowed us to apply what we learned the past few days.

The course connects the participant to world renowned faculty and a diverse group of practitioners that I feel will always answer a phone call or email! I’m grateful for this experience!

The course was AMAZING – excellent resources, well-organized, diverse participants, and excellent instructors- and I feel privileged to have participated. I imagine several years from now, I will use the tools learned here. I will work on my plan this year (improving community engagement with focus groups, walk-audit, and connectivity) and possibly

Excellent faculty. Great setting/location. Very conducive to physical activity. Good opportunities to network.

The faculty seemed genuinely interested in my work and I appreciated that! They were all very open to answer questions and talk about ideas!

The course was AMAZING and I feel privileged to have participated. I imagine several years from now that I will look back at this as a watershed event in my career. One of the unique strengths of the course was that it was useful to practitioners on very different levels — from newcomers to the field to those who are experts in their own

I’ve been giving everyone I know (family, friends, coworkers, neighbors!) glowing reviews of this course and how inspiring I found it. This will definitely impact my professional activities in a positive and lasting way.