2023 Institute for Higher Education Academy - Monday

Rachael Dombrowski, PhD, MPH, designs, implements and evaluates multilevel interventions to advance social justice and improve community health. Dr. Dombrowski is a faculty member of California State University San Marcos where she conducts community-based participatory research, including program development and evaluation within the Midwest and nation-wide. Dr. Dombrowski serves as an evaluator for the Best Food Forward school-based nutrition supports intervention, and recently conducted an assessment of over 300 grocery stores for the Great Grocer Project. Prior to working in academia, Dr. Dombrowski spent over 10 years directing and evaluating several multilevel interventions focused on policy, systems and environmental change within schools, communities, hospitals and corner stores in suburban Cook County and Chicago, Illinois. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago (PhD) and the University of Michigan (MPH). She has worked in the public health field for over 15 years.

Mrs. Hackett is the Project Director for the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program federal cooperative agreement, a nationwide community-based program to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities in cooperation with the CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO). She has over 40 years of experience of public experience with 27 years in Chronic Disease and Health Promotion program development and implementation including nutrition, cardiovascular disease prevention, gerontology, injury prevention, women’s health, HIV/AIDS awareness, health education, physical activity and program integration. Ten (10) years in maternal and child health. Work has included over 30 years’ experience working in State and local health departments and  10 years’ experience working in non-profit sector three of which was as an Executive Director. Her experience is extensive in the areas of Policy, Environment, and Systems (PES) Change; providing technical assistance and capacity building; planning, organizing and directing programs; development, implementation and monitoring of federal categorical grants and community-based grants; and, fiscal management including budget preparations, and resource allocation. 

Mrs. Hackett has a Master of Science Degree (SM) in Public Health Nutrition from the Harvard School of Public Health (Boston, MA) and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pre-Medicine from Bennett College (Greensboro, NC). She is a Certified Public Manager (CPM) (Rutgers, The State University in New Brunswick, NJ), and a Certified Master Trainer in Chronic Disease Self-Management (As instructed by Stanford University Patient Education Research Center. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Ministry Degree from Payne Theological Seminary. 

Dr. William Potts-Datema currently serves as Interim CEO of SOPHE. He has served in education and public health for 42 years, including service from local to international levels. He has held several national leadership positions including Chief of the Program Development and Services Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health, Director of Partnerships for Children’s Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, and Executive Director of the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education in Washington, DC.

Bill serves as President of the Foundation for the Advancement of Health Education, Secretary-Treasurer of the National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), and board member of Action for Healthy Kids, CATCH Global Foundation, and Missouri State University Alumni Association. He previously served on the international boards of ASCD (formerly, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) and the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE); the national boards of the American School Health Association (ASHA), American Association for Health Education (AAHE), National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, and SOPHE; and as chair of the national board and a founding board member of Action for Healthy Kids. He also currently serves as the United States representative for the UNESCO Chair – Global Health and Education.

He holds a Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of Georgia, and Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Education degrees from Missouri State University. Bill has presented in 48 states and 12 other nations, and he has authored and contributed to several publications. He is a fellow of ASHA and AAHE and a member of Delta Omega national public health honorary society and Eta Sigma Gamma national health education honorary society.

Holly Hunt, MA, is Chief of the Healthy Schools Branch in the Division of Population Health (DPH), at CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). The School Health Branch leads chronic disease prevention activities specific to children and adolescents in schools with a focus on obesity prevention, nutrition and physical activity, and management of chronic conditions. With a long history of working across education and public health agencies, the School Health Branch provides rich partnerships and expertise for implementing public health practices in schools.Ms. Hunt leads innovative projects in research application, evaluation, and program and professional development. Prior to joining the Branch, Ms. Hunt served as the Deputy Director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH), responsible for the overall management of Division operations and establishing effective working partnerships with key national, federal, and nonprofit organizations working to improve the health of youth. Ms. Hunt joined CDC in 1997 and has served as the Associate Director for Policy, Evaluation, and Legislation, Director of Science Education, and as a Project Officer to CDC-funded national, state and local school health projects. Before joining CDC, Ms. Hunt served for seven years as an HIV Prevention Education Consultant in the Kentucky Department of Education, responsible for the development and implementation of statewide HIV prevention and school health programs, professional development, and community partnerships to promote the health of school-aged youth.

Melissa Fahrenbruch, MEd is the Program and Professional Development Team Lead in the Division of Population Health’s School Health Branch, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Melissa earned a BS in Education from the University of Nebraska, and a master’s in educational leadership from Doane College. She has over 25 years of experience in the education field as a teacher, coach and as a high school principal. Her school health expertise led her to Kansas and was the Director of CDC’s Coordinated School Health Program in the early 2000s. She then moved to Atlanta to serve as a Project Officer of that program which led her to her current position as team lead. Melissa currently oversees two school health cooperative agreements for states and national organizations and is the lead for internal and external professional development events for CDC staff and funded partners.

Sarah Lee is team lead for the Research Application and Evaluation Team, with the Healthy Schools Branch, Division of Population Health at the CDC. Her team focuses on chronic disease prevention and management in schools, providing scientific expertise and leadership on pertinent documents, surveillance systems, and CDC school health programs. Sarah earned her M.S. in Community Health Promotion from the University of Montana, and her PhD in Exercise and Wellness Education from Arizona State University. Sarah has authored over 40 manuscripts, reports, book chapters, and commentaries. Throughout the pandemic, Sarah served in numerous deployments to CDC’s COVID-19 emergency response as the team lead for the Community Guidance team and the Deputy for the Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force. She has been at CDC for 18 years, all of which have been dedicated to improving school and student health.

Marlene Tappe is Professor and Former Chair, Department of Health Science at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she has served since 2005.  She has some 40 years of experience in school health education and has served as an expert and advisor to many CDC and HHS initiatives and publications. Dr. Tappe received her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois-Champaign, and her undergraduate degree from Minnesota State University in school health education and physical education.

Dr. Bonni C. Hodges, a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and Professor in the Health Department at SUNY Cortland, has been working in school and community health for over 30 years. She has a particular interest in the intersection of school and community health practice. She has published in such journals as Health Promotion Practice, the Journal of School Health, American Journal of Health Education, and the Health Educator. She was the director of the 5-year School Health Systems Change Project and is currently Co-Director of the Institute for DIII College Athlete Wellbeing and Athletic Leadership. She eaned a B.S. in physical education/athletic training from Ithaca College, a M.S. in exercise science from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D from the University of Maryland-College Park.

Dr. Kandice Porter is a Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education at Kennesaw State University. For over twenty years, she has taught health education methods coursework in a HPETE P-12 program. Currently, she is working with the GADOE to train professionals to develop curricula aligned with the newly approved Georgia Standards of Excellence for health education.