 Gail P. Barker, PhD , was selected to receive the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health Award for Outstanding Teaching for 2008. The annual award includes a one-time stipend, and was presented to Dr. Barker by MEZCOPH Interim Dean Iman Hakim on April 16, 2008 during the University of Arizona’s Awards of Distinction Ceremony at the Student Union Ballroom. Dr. Barker is an Assistant Professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, a Clinical Assistant Professor, Pathology, for the College of Medicine and serves as the Co-Director of Administration and Finance for the Arizona Telemedicine Program, a program that provides clinical services and continuing education to health care providers around the state, particularly in rural areas.
Image at right: Dr. Barker in the classroom.
At the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health, Dr. Barker teaches CPH 569, "Fundamentals of Health Budgeting and Financial Management." So far she's taught this course in the Fall semester of 2007 and Fall 2006. It is a three-hour course designed for Master's-level students.
 Business Plans, Budgets, and Financial Statements
In today's working climate students who will be managers in non-profit organizations need some first-hand knowledge of how to review finances, she says, and they need solid financial experience to succeed. CPH 569 is a very applied course, grounded in practical reality: students pick a non-profit organization, and then have to assess its financial health. In learning about their selected organization, they get to explore all aspects of non-profit finances. The course has a heavy workload including individual and group work. "It's an intensive class, but I hope students find it rewarding" she said. In this course, there is particular focus on three basic skill sets:
- How to read and understand financial statements, a crucial skill, which can reveal the overall financial health of an organization.
- Constructing a detailed business plan.
- Creating a budget for a non-profit organization.
The course has a heavy workload including individual and group work. "It's an intensive class," she said, but students say it is also very rewarding.
The course is the only one of its type in the College of Public Health. As part of the course, Dr. Barker also teaches business ethics to students. "Everything is not always black-and-white" she said. "It's the shades of grey that can get you in trouble!"
This Is Not Spam
Doug Taren, MEZCOPH's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, sent Dr. Barker an email early this year to inform her of the award which began jokingly with "This is not spam!". Then as she kept reading she felt "absolutely stunned" to find out she was selected for the MEZCOPH Outstanding Teaching Award. "I must have read his email again twelve times that day. Receiving this award is the highlight of my whole year! It is a privilege to teach this class."
Student Successes
One way to measure the success of an instructor is to look at the success of the students: three of the students who took CPH 569 in the Fall of 2006, the first group to have taken her class, have contacted Dr. Barker to thank her for the class, and especially the skills involved in reading and understanding an organization's financial statements. These students are now in the workforce and some are serving on non-profit boards. It is very gratifying to her to know that her students are applying their knowledge in their careers.
Thank you, Dr. Barker, for your hard work, dedication and leadership in the classroom at The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health!
Additional Information
Teaching Award Selection
To be selected for the MEZCOPH Award for Outstanding Teaching, a faculty member's Teacher Course Evaluation (TCE) scores are evaluated by Douglas Taren, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and the faculty member must be nominated by a supervisor, faculty colleague, or staff member. Specifically:
- The faculty member's teaching evaluation scores must be within the top 20% of MEZCOPH faculty members, with regards to unweighted Teacher Course Evaluation (TCE) scores. TCE scores are obtained from evaluation forms that students fill out at the conclusion of each semester.
- Letters of support must be submitted from faculty member(s) that provide an assessment of the nominee's teaching by identifying the strengths of course content and instruction; and a discussion of how the faculty member promotes MEZCOPH students' professional growth and development toward distinction in public health research, reaching, and practice as it relates to the role of the nominee.
- Letters of support from MEZCOPH student(s) must be submitted that provide information on how the faculty member has provided mentoring both inside and outside of the classroom.
Links and Resources
- Arizona Telemedicine Home Page. Learn more about the program that Dr. Barker works with, which provides clinical services to persons in rural areas and also provides continuing education to health care providers.
Written on June 9, 2008. Please send comments and corrections to Loretta McKibben.
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