"We are honored to receive the SEMILLAS grant. This award acknowledges Lehman College's ongoing commitment to promoting Latino student success and creating a pipeline to higher education for young people in the community we serve, and beyond."
Dr. Elder, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, and Director at San Diego State University, CA, speaks about how in 2006-07, Latinos earned 3 percent of all PhDs conferred in health professions and related clinical sciences. The mission of the Center for Behavioral and Community Health Studies (BACH) is to improve health through research, application and evaluation of principles and programs related to health promotion, disease prevention, and behavior change in community settings, with a special focus on the Latino community. In the past 11 years, 7 Latino students working in BACH have received their PhDs, and three of these are tenured/tenure track professors. Another 7 post-MA Latino graduate students are currently working toward the PhD in Public Health or Psychology. In the 6-year history of the health behavioral doctoral program, over one third of all students have been Latino, probably the highest such concentration in any comparable program in the USA. To date, no Latino student has dropped out of the PhD program.


"We are honored to receive the SEMILLAS grant. This award acknowledges Lehman College's ongoing commitment to promoting Latino student success and creating a pipeline to higher education for young people in the community we serve, and beyond."
-Dr. Ricardo R. Fernandez, President, Lehman College

