CONCURRENT DEGREE: ENIVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS - YOLANDA SANCHEZ
Yolanda Sanchez is combining an MS in Environmental Health with an MPA from the Evans School of Public Affairs. With her MS thesis adviser, Associate Professor Matthew Keifer, she examined the time patterns of asthma hospitalizations in the Yakima valley, a center of Washington’s tree fruit industry.
As a third-year student, she is working as a research assistant (RA) with Clinical Professor Michael Silverstein in assessing policy options (the federal OSHAct and at the state level) for the future of workplace safety and health, specifically in agricultural safety and health. Her assessment includes a critical look at regulation through time and evaluating whether or not the current model is modern enough for 21st century workplace safety and health. She finds her RA job interesting because it is "a great mix of Environmental and Occupational Health and Public Affairs" that allows her to draw key concepts from both programs.
Sanchez was one of the first students to enroll in the concurrent degree program. She has two pieces of advice for concurrent degree students: to talk with their advisers and other faculty about funding for the additional third year (MS students are typically funded for only the two years spent earning their MS degree) and to take a mix of DEOHS and Evans classes throughout graduate school.
She also warns that the autumn quarter tends to be class heavy, as both the School of Public Health and Community Medicine and the Evans School of Public Affairs offer many required classes that quarter.
Still, she believes, from a student prospective, that the "doability" of finishing two programs in three years is solid. She found she could apply skills from both programs in most classes and in her thesis. She sees a great benefit to adding the MPA to an MS or MPH for students who are interested in working in the government or nonprofit sectors. The MPA emphasizes communication, strategic planning, and budgeting skills that seem to be sought by employers, she says.
Sanchez became interested in environmental injustices and health disparaties as an undergraduate. In order to influence environmental and health policy, she saw a need for a specialized degree with a strong scientific background and a policy emphasis. "As a Chicana scientist, I hope to play a part in leading underserved communities through policy protection," she says.
Sanchez has been politically active throughout her graduate school career. She won the School of Public Health and Community Medicine’s annual Martin Luther King Award for 2006. The award cited her passion for environmental justice and her commitment to increasing the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds in the fi eld of Environmental Health. She serves as a graduate diversity recruiter for the UW Graduate School and is the student representative to departmental faculty meetings.