Director of Health Promotion and Prevention Services (HPPS)

University Health Services (UHS) at Princeton University is a fully accredited (Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, or "AAAHC") health care facility.  Located in the McCosh Health Center and the Caldwell Field house, UHS provides comprehensive health services to more than 7,500 Princeton undergraduate and graduate students, and specialized services to Princeton University faculty, staff, and employees who experience work-related injuries and illnesses, or who require consultations regarding international and travel medicine.

UHS's mission is to enhance learning and student success by advancing the health and well-being of our diverse University community.  This mission is pursued and supports the University's purpose by using current knowledge of health and human development to guide responsive, high quality clinical, prevention, and consultation services.

The health services at Princeton have a long, rich heritage and have played an influential role in the emergence of the field of college health. In 1893, Princeton became the first American university to create a "student infirmary," serving students who were unable to care for themselves. In 1910, Princeton established itself as the first college or university in the United States to identify the subspecialty of college mental health (then called "mental hygiene") and create a distinct mental health service. In 1925, with the opening of the Isabella McCosh Infirmary, now called the McCosh Health Center, Princeton became the first institution of higher education to situate its overnight Infirmary alongside all other medical and health-related services for students. This integrated design has been a hallmark of Princeton's student health program-a brick and mortar embodiment of holistic, integrative care. The stage was thus set long ago for Princeton's health service to champion care for the "whole person." At present, the McCosh Health Center, along with its satellite health program (Athletic Medicine) housed in Caldwell Field House and Dillon Gymnasium, comprise the University Health Services (UHS).

Reporting to the Executive Director of UHS, the Director of Health Promotion and Prevention Services (HPPS) oversees a multidisciplinary team of health professionals focused on developing programs, policies, environments, and resources that support healthy learning communities and outcomes.  The Director adopts and champions an approach that addresses all interrelated levels of our campus ecology: these include individual, interpersonal, community, and environmental influences on health. The Director's leadership of the HPPS office is informed by this approach and guided by the tenets of health communications, health promotion, prevention, and the interrelated principles, programs, and activities that connect them.

Health promotion in higher education emphasizes the creation of supportive environments for students: This involves a portfolio of programs that optimize student learning and engagement in healthy living, the development of strong community values, and positive lifestyle choices. Health promotion interventions enhance student awareness, strengthen their ability to understand and respond to health challenges, support their efforts to adopt healthier behaviors, and create environments that keep students well and may help them flourish. The Director oversees the area's prevention activities: that is, working to reduce the development of risky health habits or harmful behaviors, and intervening to prevent illnesses from occurring, or at least slow their progression and spread. Balancing the best elements of health promotion and prevention, the Director brings a sophisticated conceptual and practical approach to college health care.

The Director oversees the application of theory-based, evidence-informed practice, promising or emerging practices, or expert consensus in prevention and early intervention strategies to target upstream risk factors and mitigate the effects of illness and injury.  Accordingly, the Director leads the HPPS office in applying and translating the principles of health promotion and prevention into cost-effective strategies that best serve our distinctive campus ecology. Although undergraduate and graduate students represent the area's primary focus, the Director recognizes that our University community is rich with important interdependencies and opportunities for modeling and learning among all campus groups, students, staff, and faculty.

In collaboration with other UHS personnel and University partners, the Director plays a key role in assessing, identifying, and proposing plans to address campus health trends and priorities: plans to strengthen protective health factors and amplify campus strengths, and reduce personal, campus, and community health risk factors.  Priority college health issues include: high risk drinking, psychological problems, stress and its consequences, mental health stigma and distress support strategies, and, mitigating power-based personal violence (such as incidences of sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, and stalking).

A member of the Executive Director's leadership team ("Directors Group"), the Director also serves as a health prevention advisor to senior leadership.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Area Leadership

• Provides overall area leadership and management of program goals and outcomes
  
• Supervises and mentors a team of 8 staff members, including SHARE (Sexual Harassment, Assault/Advising, Resources, and Education ) Office
• Hires, trains, manages, and evaluates all area staff; is continually assessing and determining area staffing needs
  
• Oversees the area's strategic planning process, plans, goals, priorities, and establishes measurable objectives-in alignment with the mission, vision, strategic direction, and priorities of UHS and its key partners
  
• Implements campus-wide programs and services that are informed by the best available scientific evidence and/or empirical research
  
• Utilizes knowledge of health communications theory and practice to inform the direction, methodology, and techniques applied to enhance the effectiveness of community outreach and education programming
  
• Oversees strategies for fostering student engagement in health promotion and prevention efforts
  
• Utilizes appropriate assessment techniques to evaluate health promotion and prevention programming-insuring mission accomplishment and high quality health services; uses findings to advise senior leadership and inform program and policy development
  
• Plans, administers, and manages the area's operating budgets

Organization-wide leadership

• Uses formal and informal organizational structures within UHS to integrate prevention services with medical and mental health services
  
• Consults with senior staff about public health initiatives and crises
  
• Is knowledgeable in the area of strategic planning and engages in ongoing implementation of UHS' three-year strategic initiative
  
• Provides expertise, in collaboration with other UHS areas, to develop, implement, and learn from staff engagement and student satisfaction assessments
  
• Provides central coordination of all UHS area alcohol-related programs, including
  the administration of online alcohol health education, "BASICS" (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention Program for College Students), and oversight of the University's Alcohol Coalition Committee ("ACC")
  
• Identifies outside funding opportunities for innovative programs and oversees preparation of related proposals for grants and contracts awards
  
• Disseminates and presents health trends and data to key campus stakeholders
  
• Advises senior leadership on health promotion and public health-related communications and communications strategies-including the application of emerging research on the effective use of social media to promote healthy behaviors
  
• Participates on the UHS Executive Director's leadership team ("Directors Group")

Campus-wide leadership

• Collaborates with key stakeholders on and off campus to develop, implement, and maintain comprehensive highly-visible, evidence-informed prevention efforts that achieve high-quality, and measureable public health outcomes
  
• Implements environmental strategies to promote good health, success, and prepares students to be informed health care consumers and community advocates
  
• Provides consultation, direction, and leadership for campus prevention initiatives that focus on the most significant risk factors for University students, including, alcohol and other drug use, mental health problems, stress management, and power-based personal violence, and mental illness
  
• Builds effective partnerships across campus to promote policies that support student health and well-being.
  
• Collaborates with campus, local, regional, and national resources to identify emerging health trends and able to adapt best available practices to address these trends and to deliver effective programs; serves as primary liaison with and planning secretary to the Healthier Princeton Advisory Board-a standing committee of University members and external experts who meet to support health and wellbeing at Princeton
  
• Coordinates, implements, analyzes, and reports on periodic population-based assessments of health status, needs, and assets of students (e.g., National College Health Assessment)
  
• In partnership with other University offices (e.g., Office of the Vice-Provost for Institutional Research), conduct environmental assessments of campus community health needs and resources

Core Competencies, Attributes and Key Skill Areas

• Is seen as a collaborative team player, an astute problem solver, and contributes to creative solutions with a style that promotes good will.
  
• Is widely trusted, seen as a direct, truthful colleague and is adept at creating win-win situations with a diverse group of students, employees, and partners
  
• Is excellent individual supervisor and knows how to cultivate and drive high functioning teams through frequent formal and informal communications
  Possesses exceptional written, digital, and oral communication skills; is an effective presenter and public speaker, and is knowledgeable about the field of health communications
  
• Demonstrates a strong commitment to cultural diversity and inclusiveness; highly attuned to the influence of cultural backgrounds, identity configurations, and gender on health behaviors
• Demonstrates confidence working and making decisions independently; while taking into account and staying attuned to  aligning with employees and key stakeholders

• Doctoral degree in related healthcare fields (strongly preferred), such as public health, health policy, health communications, population health, medicine, law, sociology, psychology, (e.g., Ph.D, MD, equivalent doctoral level)
  
• 7 to 10 years of progressively responsible, relevant experience
  
• Proven record of expertise in health communications
  
• Demonstrated experience in writing and success in securing grant-related funding
  
• Evidence of research and professional contributions (such as presentations at professional and academic conferences, publications, and other forms of scholarship)
  
• Experience working in a university health or a comparable healthcare system
  
• Knowledge of quality improvement principles, methodologies, and total work systems  (e.g., Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Lean Six Sigma, Baldrige)
  
• Knowledge of New Jersey statutes and federal regulations pertaining to health care organizations and higher education
  
• Actively participates in professional organizations in a leadership capacity
  
• Facility with website content development and website analytics
  
• Familiarity with relevant accreditation standards