2023 Institute for Higher Education Academy - Orientation

Dr. Benes is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of School Health Education at Southern Connecticut State University. She was previously the Program Director for Physical and Health Education programs at Boston University as well as serving as an Associate Clinical Professor at Merrimack College. Dr. Benes has multiple published articles in peer reviewed journals as well as a recently published textbook. She also presents at local and national conferences regularly and is actively engaged in service to the physical and health education professions as well as to the community. Dr. Benes' research interests include skills-based health education, equity & justice in health education, physical activity in schools, and enhancing school-based physical and health education programming. Dr. Benes is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), a certified Health & Well-Being coach, and is the President-Elect of SHAPE America.

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.