Public Health and Environmental Studies

07/28/2025

Graduation Campfire for PHES Students!

07/09/2025

Blugold student, Jamie Orozco (Poly Sci and English), skillfully integrates disparate perspectives (Jim Boulter, PHES and Jenn Smith, BIOL) to craft a fascinating article with compelling implications for public health and urban biology - driven by climate and global change - all in the context of Latin American and Latinx studies! This was inspired by a recent journal article in Science Advances, "Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization, and human population."

Getting used to rats is a big part of urban living. Cities like New York have even incorporated these animals into their landscape and iconography. Having

06/19/2025

Public Health Major Emma Friesth is seen here documenting noise improvements on the Banbury Place rooftop. After receiving multiple offers, Emma is choosing the University of Nebraska for her MPH in biostatistics!

05/22/2025

Extraordinary UWEC alum Jacob Schafer speaks about the transformative experiences he had as an ENPH researcher and as a student engaged in campus organizations. He later received a MS in Epidemiology (in Scotland) and has since travelled the world as a force for improving public health!

Jacob Schafer alumni Q&A, public health career

05/19/2025

So proud of our Public Health (and Economics) graduate, Eliza Zahn, who is one of UWEC's Fulbright recipients! She'll be heading to rural Spain to teach English in the immediate future. But we're excited to see where her exciting career will take her!

Fulbright recipient returning to Spain to teach

04/24/2025

We are proud of MPH student Kaia Hollingsworth who also competes on the UWEC women's hockey and lacrosse teams. After assisting on a goal in the Blugolds's 22-5 win over Stout, Kaia was honored along with other graduating seniors.

03/28/2025

Students of Dr. Briana Rockler and collaborator Dr. Eric Jamelske will present their compelling research on increasing childhood nutrition and local food consumption at farmers markets in the Wisconsin capitol rotunda on April 2nd! This is a part of the annual event "research at the rotunda" in which UW students share their research with state legislators. Congrats!

Blugolds to present projects at Research in the Rotunda

03/27/2025

Dr. Briana Rockler was featured on WEAU News 13 (along with Health Department Director Lieske Giese) in this reporting on the most recent Wisconsin county health data update https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data/wisconsin/eau-claire. Great to see our faculty as trusted sources of information in the community!
https://www.weau.com/2025/03/24/officials-speak-eau-claire-county-health-study/

Officials speak on Eau Claire County health study

02/20/2025

Proud of our PHES students on the track and in the classroom!

02/06/2025

PHES is so pleased for the creation of this center to advance and elevate environmental studies and sciences on our campus. Glad to contribute our programs and efforts!

Center for Environmental Research and Scholarship launches at UWEC

01/17/2025

As our time in Costa Rica comes to an end, we spent our final day enjoying the warm weather at the ocean. After the beach, we then headed back to San Jose to gather for a pizza night to celebrate and reflect on our global health learning experience together. It was a great trip!

01/15/2025

We started day 8 in Costa Rica learning all about the history of La Asociación de Mujeres Organizadas de Biolley (asomobi) from one of the founding members, Laura. Asomobi is comprised of 36 members who harvest, process, and package premium coffee from the region. Traditionally, the coffee business in Costa Rica has been in the hands of men, never women. Therefore, the fact that these women have taken the risk to establish a small business that today enjoys success in a remote, rural community is part of what makes this an interesting and unique place to visit. We also visited with a local coffee producer, Mari, who showed us her finca, or coffee plot and invited us into her home. She explained how picking the berry when it is red is crucial to achieving a quality roast. Then, we toured the coffee mill at asomobi and learned the milling and roasting process. The resilience of these women was amazing, hearing how they started with nothing and now have a successful business employing many others as well as bettering the health of the community was inspiring! They were also wonderful hosts and kept us well fed! We ended the day with a lecture on planetary health and contemplated its importance for the future of global health. It was a great day!