Department: Community Nursing
Sustainability Research Interests: Health, well-being, population health and survival, safe food, water, air and environment.
Projects: I have completed a small exploratory study of environmental health risk perceptions among New Bedford parents; have worked with the sustainability committee since 2001, and taught in the first Topics in Sustainability course in the spring of 2007. Most recently, I worked on the joint proposal for the National Children's Study through NICHD with Umass Medical Center and the UMD College of Nursing.
Related Courses: NUR 485/585 Environmental Nursing
Why Are You Involved With Sustainability?: One of my research interests is environmental health and the synergism between the health of the people and the health of populations led me to work with the university initiative. A second area of my expertise is global health. We all share a world that is in need of sustainable solutions.
Related Links: The National Children's Study
Profile: Jeanne Leffers involvement with the sustainability program can be traced back to it's origin. She has been working with UMD faculty and staff since January of 2006 and has put a lot of hard work into the program. The recent growth in interest from the student body is partially due to people like Leffers.
Leffers served on the first Topics in Sustainability teaching team at UMD and has been involved with the program since the first sustainability retreat for faculty. "I have always been concerned about sustainability, or not only the planet, but of populations and programs," said Leffers. Everyone involved in this program wants to make a difference.
Sustainability is comprised of so many things, it's spectrum is endless. "The topic of sustainability captures a broad prospective and allows for many disciplines to work well together," said Leffers. She claimed it didn't take much to reach a consensus on a common goal.
"Without a great deal of meetings, our first team presented a well coordinated course since we were all able to focus our expertise toward a common goal," she said. The team must be thriving, because more people are becoming involved with the program every year. These individuals are looking into the future.
Leffers has obtained both her masters and her doctorate from Brown University from Providence Rhode Island. She has extensively researched global and environmental health. The sustainability programs auspicious beginning is partially due to Leffers contributions.
Leffers hopes to see the major grow into a major focus of education and "permeate the work both in and out of class in each college on campus."
