The Indiana University School of Public Health–Bloomington (SPH‐B) invites applications for the position of Chair for a newly reorganized department, Health & Wellness Design. This exciting opportunity is well suited to a visionary and a dynamic leader who will work with the school to achieve a revitalized vision of the department to promote health by design and then work with the university to bring that mission and ethos to fruition. In this context, design refers to all those macro-level elements humans create, from businesses, to parks, to transportation systems, to buildings and cities, to policies, to online spaces, and yet other elements still that can affect health. This forward-thinking individual will contribute multidisciplinary perspectives, conceptual and methodological diversity, research leadership, and mentoring strengths to the department's efforts toward academic excellence in research, as well as teach approaches for human-centered design that contributes to disease prevention to improve public health in Indiana and beyond. The successful candidate is a leader who will elevate the department into rigorous science, attract new hires, and generate enthusiasm among his or her faculty. Located on the flagship campus of the Indiana University system, SPH-B has more than 200 faculty in five departments. Indiana University is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) and boasts numerous resources available to SPH-B faculty. This 12-month appointment would ideally start January 1, 2021, although the starting date is negotiable. For best consideration apply prior to August 1, 2020; however, applications will be accepted until the position is full.
The Department of Health & Wellness Design focuses on processes aimed at infusing health, happiness, and well-being into organizational structures, programs/interventions, and experiences through research, education, and service. As health needs and challenges evolve, the power of design to enhance human health have never been more relevant. The world in which we live contains many factors that affect our health, by intentional design or lack thereof. The department studies innovative approaches, methods, and strategies to enable optimal quality of life for all through the covenants of public health including a commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, as well as population level impacts. Areas of emphasis include behavioral health economics; policy; empathetic leadership, human-centered design and management; lifestyle technology and informatics; and social entrepreneurship. The Department of Health & Wellness Design strives to educate and prepare the next generation of leaders who will act as change agents in a variety of settings where people live, work, govern, play, and learn with an end goal to maximize the human experience and empower people to live-well. For example, the department's tourism, hospitality, and events management program helps to prepare students for business-oriented fields with a health promotion lens. We aim to contribute to the design of communities for healthy aging. Similarly, other curricula of the department prepare students to lead and manage multiple settings, such as parks, community spaces, and government to enhance health and wellness. This may include subjects such as health policy and financing, experience management, program and facility design, wellness education, quality of life, sustainability, etc. Students earning degrees from the Department of Health & Wellness Design will go on to work in fields as diverse as businesses, health care management, tourism and hospitality management, state and local parks and recreation, government public health, nonprofit organizations, universities, and research centers. Central to their work will be the knowledge, skills, and abilities to create a positive impact on population health through chosen systems of delivery.