Founding dean of UTSA’s newest college aims to improve community health

MAY 27, 2020 — The dean of UTSA’s newest college began work this month and she’s hit the ground running. Medical sociologist, demographer and Mark G. Yudof Endowed Professor Jeralynn “Lynne” Sittig Cossman will lead UTSA’s advancement of human health as the founding dean of the College for Health, Community and Policy.

Cossman brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to UTSA. Prior to landing in San Antonio, she was the chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University, an R1 research-intensive university, where she oversaw curriculum and program development in a department of 1,000 students in criminology, sociology and anthropology. She also led the expansion of the department’s research infrastructure, including affiliating with multiple health science research centers, to support and provide funding opportunities for all doctoral students.

Cossman’s own research focuses on community health and health professionals. Her most recent research focuses on spatial concentrations of mortality and morbidity, the opioid epidemic and the Mountains of Hope cancer coalition in West Virginia.

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“We want to roll up our sleeves and work with the community to help them answer problems associated with health.”

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We asked Dean Cossman about her vision for UTSA’s newest college.

What attracted you to UTSA?

So many things attracted me to UTSA! I looked carefully at its mission and appreciated its urban- and Hispanic-serving foci. In particular, the College for Health, Community and Policy attracted me. The simple change to the typical preposition when we refer to colleges of something to a College for Health, Community and Policy made me realize that the administration and faculty, staff and students would all be part of this call to action.

We will work together to improve the community’s health via policy, and we have the disciplines in this college to be stronger in our collaborations. Beyond the university and college missions, I also looked at the strategic initiatives that had been developed for UTSA.

The university is on a very strong upward trajectory that will only briefly pause as we react to the challenges presented by COVID-19.

What are you goals as the founding dean for the college?

As dean, I want to start with a very inclusive planning process. These departments have never functioned together before. So we need to meet and discuss our collective goals and how we can reach them faster, better, stronger because we are working together.

In all, I would like to see us build interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs that are designed to send our students out into the community in health-related capacities—and from many perspectives.

I want to work with the faculty to grow our funded research portfolio using the existing research infrastructure from our center and institutes. I also want to make sure that our research is community-engaged, as noted in the college name.

We do not want to simply do “ivory tower” work, but we want to roll up our sleeves and work with the community to help them answer problems associated with health, health disparities, community engagement and policy approaches to resolving issues.

Why is it important to develop a research team with an interdisciplinary approach?

Bringing together a variety of perspectives always leads to stronger solutions. If you only examine something from a sociological approach (which is a macro-level approach typically) then you might miss some important components that psychology (which tends toward more micro perspectives) offers to understanding the same problem.

We cannot resolve health-related disparities in our community without understanding public safety (criminology and criminal justice), the policies that influence our health (like from public administration or public health) and the mindsets and daily realities facing the people in the communities (psychology and sociology).

We also have demography faculty who can bring in the even bigger picture of population dynamics and the role they play, as well as nutrition/dietetics and kinesiology faculty, who can look at health behaviors associated with eating and exercise. It is an incredibly unique opportunity to bring together brilliant scientists to understand the complicated issues surrounding health in the 21st century.

Most importantly, we will bring those research experiences back to the classroom for our undergraduate and graduate students to benefit from them.

How would you like HCaP to be viewed by prospective students and researchers across the county 20 years from now?

I would like us to be a role model for interdisciplinary engaged work. Since we are in the very early stages of beginning this work, it is sometimes hard to imagine what that might look like. I am anticipating extensive collaborations with other academic institutions in San Antonio, the nation and the world.

I’m also anticipating unique collaborations with agencies and community groups around the city, state and nation. I anticipate unique interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs that will train our students in many perspectives, making them better candidates for jobs and better employees when hired. I truly believe the sky is the limit with this college. 

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What do you do in your spare time?

I love to travel. Experiencing new cultures and new foods are two of my greatest pleasures. When I cannot travel to do so, then I love to read. I am very much looking forward to exploring Texas, since I have never lived here and really only visited as a conference attendee. There will be many experiences—culinary and cultural—to keep me busy for quite some time.

— Ingrid Wright

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