Dr. Alicia Battle named associate dean for online programs

Dean Thomas LaVeist of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine has named Dr. Alicia Battle associate dean for online programs at the school, effective July 6, 2020.

Battle has been with the school for ten months serving as director of the school’s online Master of Public Health program in Community Health Sciences that launched in spring of 2019.

“Since her arrival, Dr. Alicia Battle has put tremendous effort into making the online MPH program a success,” said LaVeist. “Dr. Battle is a dedicated public health professional who has put students front and center throughout her career, and I know that she will bring the same level of success to all of the school’s online programs, both existing and those we intend to launch.”

Battle holds a Master of Science in Public and Community Health from Austin Peay State University and a PhD in Health Education from Southern Illinois University. She came to Tulane from Benedictine University where she planned, organized, and taught courses in both the online and on-ground programs, as well in China. She’s held both faculty and staff positions at Governor’s State University, University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine, Middlebury College, and, on a previous occasion, Tulane University as director of the university’s Alcohol Education initiatives.

“I believe that a culture of inclusive excellence both informs and encourages innovation.”

Alicia Battle

“I believe that a culture of inclusive excellence both informs and encourages innovation,” said Dr. Battle. “Under my leadership we will provide programs and services that cultivate equity-minded leaders who will advocate for healthy communities around the world. Our online degrees, certificates, and professional development modules will offer an exciting, interdisciplinary approach to public health with a focus on leadership and health equity. It is my intent to become the world’s preeminent source for online public health education.”

In addition to leading online programs at the school, Battle has also been actively involved in The Skin You’re In: COVID-19 and Black America, a multimedia project designed to bring about change in the unjust health gap that plagues African Americans, which includes the dramatic inequities evident in the impact of the pandemic.

The school is no stranger to online education having pioneered what was then called distance learning since the early 1990s. In addition to the community health degree, the school currently offers both online master’s degrees and graduate certificates in Disaster Management, Industrial Hygiene, Occupational and Environmental Health, and Occupational Health and Safety Management.