There are also events for alumni each year that encourage networking and which include students. Among these events are a new student reception, career education day, and alumni receptions in key cities across the country which are hosted by the Dean. Alumni are essential to the public health practice curriculum, which is another responsibility of the Office of Alumni and Community Affairs. The office facilitates the involvement of alumni in practice courses providing opportunities for them to teach, serve as preceptors, or advise in applied research activities conducted for practica and theses. The school, in turn, provides professional development opportunities for alumni including career counseling, job search assistance, professional networking opportunities, and program and workshops for professional growth and development.
Alumni have an important role in providing input to school policy.
Our thanks to Travis Hedrick, Ph.D., M.P.H. '77, Immediate-Past President of the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health, for presenting us with this shield and its historic background. The coat of arms incorporated in our current publications was adopted by the department in May 1996. The upper portion of the school's arms is the same as that for the Yale University School of Medicine. These are from the arms of Elihu Yale, the East India merchant and benefactor after whom Yale College is named. The upper arms consist of an ermine field, white with small black stylized tails and the red cross of Saint Patrick, called a saltire.