WSCC: From Framework to Implementation - A Decade of Progress

David A. Birch, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Health Science at The University of Alabama. He served as professor and department chair from 2011-2018. From 2001-2008 he served as professor and chair of the Department of Health Education and Recreation, Southern Illinois University Car­bondale. Dr. Birch is a past president of the American Association for Health Education (AAHE) and the Society for Public Health Edu­cation (SOPHE). He has served on the Board of Directors of AAHE, the American School Health Association (ASHA), the Foundation for the Advancement of Health Education, the National Association of Health Education Centers, and the SOPHE Board of Trustees. Dr. Birch has served in various leadership positions in national committees and task forces. He is currently a member of the editorial board of Health Education & Behavior. He is a former member of the editorial boards of the Journal of School Health, Pedagogy in Health Promotion-The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, the Ameri­can Journal of Health Education, and the American Journal of Health Studies. Dr. Birch is a Charter Fellow of AAHE and an ASHA Fellow. He has received the highest professional award from three organizations: the ASHA William A. Howe Award (2019), the SOPHE Distin­guished Fellow Award (2018), and the Eta Sigma Gamma Honor Award (2015) along with numerous other professional awards. He was the 2008 Ann E. Nolte Scholar in Health Education, Illinois State University. As a fac­ulty member at Indiana University, Dr. Birch received the Trustee’s Teaching Award and the Teaching Excellence Recognition Award.

Hannah P. Catalano, PhD, MCHES, is an associate professor of public health at Uni­versity of North Carolina–Wilmington (UNCW). She is an editorial board member for the Jour­nal of School Health. She is a member of the National Committee on the Future of School Health. She is also a member of the SOPHE Think Tank work group that provides strategic direction on the Institute for Higher Education Academy intended for teacher preparation programs and updates the SOPHE Model Toolkit for K-12 School Health Educators. She is a Founding Faculty Fellow of the UNC-UNCW Research Collaboratory in the College of Health & Human Services at UNCW. She founded and currently leads the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Research Collaboratory (WSCCRC) at UNCW, which is a unique initiative to engage college students in scholarly discussions around WSCC and to facilitate meaningful research on the model. She has served on the board of directors for the American School Health Association (ASHA) and co-chaired the ASHA Research and Pub­lications Committee. She previously served as a member of the National Consensus on School Health Expert Review Group. She is a former Future Leaders Academy Fellow of ASHA and NextUp Leadership Development Fellow of UNCW. She is a former health and physical education teacher at a Title I school. Her scholarship centers broadly around child and adolescent health, quality school health education, and the Whole School, Whole Com­munity, Whole Child model.

Rosemary Reilly-Chammat, EdD, is the associate director of school health and extended learning in the Office of Student, Community and Academic Supports in the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE). She has served in a variety of roles in RIDE over the past 10 years. In addition, she worked for 26 years in the Rhode Island Department of Health, leading a variety of efforts related to student health and health in schools. She is the past president of the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education and is on the board of the American School Health Association (ASHA). She received an ASHA Fellow Award in 2021.

Sue Baldwin, PhD, MCHES, FASHA, has worked as a health educator for more than 25 years designing, implementing, and evaluating health education programs and curricula. She has taught at the collegiate and high school levels for nearly two decades. Dr. Baldwin has been the Buffalo Public Schools district wellness coordinator for seven years and in 2020 was appointed the supervisor of health and physical education in Buffalo, New York. Under her direction the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) initiative was implemented across 60 schools. The program was awarded the 2019 American School Health Association WSCC District Wide Implementation Award, recognition from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a district site visit, and urban district recognition from ASCD for the district’s use of the WSCC model. Dr. Baldwin has received numerous awards for her work in school health. She received her bachelor’s from Gannon University, her master’s from Slippery Rock University, and her doctorate from Kent State University. Moreover, she completed a master’s in educational leadership and policy at SUNY Buffalo and obtained her school building and school district leader certifications in New York.

M. Elaine Auld, MPH, MCHES, is the chief executive officer, emerita, for the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). As SOPHE’s chief executive officer from 1995 to 2021 she oversaw the organization’s portfolio in professional preparation, professional development, research, publications, and advocacy. Over her more than 40-year career, Ms. Auld has published some 50 journal articles and book chapters on the profession’s role in community and school health education, health equity, national and international workforce development, and public policy. With regard to the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model, Ms. Auld was principal investigator on several Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreements that provided training and materials development for professionals, promoted the model as part of the National Task Force on the Future of School Health Education, and helped establish SOPHE’s School Health Teacher Education Standards used in credentialing.

Deborah A. Fortune, Ph.D., MCHES, is an associate professor in the Department of Health Education at North Carolina Central University and is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist. Prior to her current position, Dr. Fortune was the director of the National HIV and CSHE Project with the American Association for Health Education. She has been a faculty member at the following institutions: East Tennessee State University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Marymount University.

Dr. Fortune received her B.S. degree in Biology from Mississippi University for Women, her M.S. degree in Community Health Education from the University of Southern Mississippi, and her Ph.D. in Public Health Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Dr. Fortune has provided instructor training in comprehensive school health education (Growing Healthy curriculum and Teenage Health Teaching Modules), HIV/AIDS for African Americans, youth violence prevention, and cultural diversity in health education. Her research interests include HIV and sexual health among African American college women, youth violence prevention, professional preparation in health education, and faculty and youth mentoring. She has published and made numerous presentations on those topics.