Earlier this month, Falk College honored the five faculty and two staff members who are retiring this year for their contributions and dedicated service. The honorees included Thom deLara, Dennis Deninger, Donna Fecteau, Eric Kingson, Eileen Lantier, Dianne Seeley and Michael Veley.

Professors Dennis Deninger, Bernard Appiah and Joey Merrin were honored with Falk College Faculty of the Year awards for their outstanding teaching, scholarship and internal and professional service contributions in 2024.

Meet the two Syracuse University Scholars from Falk College and the 10 Falk College Scholars, who discuss their most memorable experiences at Syracuse, their impact at Falk and Syracuse, and their advice for incoming students.

The Public Health Department announced its Class of 2024 undergraduate and graduate award winners.

Katherine McDonald, professor of public health, will be honored with the Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction Award at this year's One University Awards ceremony.

A research team that includes Public Health professors Bryce Hruska and David Larsen is studying how place-based community factors contribute to, or protect against, an elevated risk of firearm violence in certain ethnic neighborhoods. The team’s findings may help shape Syracuse’s I-81 Viaduct Project.

The third “Falk in D.C. Career Exploration” trip this past fall to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., had a new twist: For the first time, the trip included separate tracks for health/human services and sport-related careers as the 27 students who participated represented all Falk College programs.

Falk College boasts a robust, collaborative research community in which students play an active role. Danny Baris (sport analytics), Sarah Dellett (nutrition science) and Mingxuan (Jessica) Li (public health) are three Falk students who have been recently honored for their research achievements.

According to a ground-breaking study led by David Larsen, professor and chair of public health, wastewater surveillance is a potent tool in understanding COVID-19 transmission within school settings and can help manage the public health response to COVID in schools.

Katherine McDonald, Ph.D., has been named senior associate dean for research and administration in Falk College, where under her leadership with the Office of Research Development “the College has experienced steady growth in research activity by every measure,” says Dean Jeremy Jordan.

David Larsen, professor and chair of public health, is in Austria for the Spring 2024 semester after he received a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to teach and continue his wastewater surveillance research at the Medical University of Innsbruck.

According to a Syracuse University research team led by postdoctoral researcher Dustin Hill, testing wastewater for COVID-19 provides a better forecast of new COVID hospital admissions than clinical data. That information will help hospitals for planning and resource allocation when new cases surge.

Professor of Public Health Dessa Bergen-Cico, coordinator of the addiction studies program in Falk College, is the co-principal investigator of a research project that’s exploring how the combination of AI and mindfulness-based practices can help people in treatment for opioid use disorder.

Grace Brashears is a double major at Falk (HDFS and public health) who was recently named the youngest executive director in the 10-year history of OttoTHON, Syracuse University’s 12-hour dance marathon that raises money for Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital.

The International Drug Policy Academy, which was co-developed by public health professor Dessa Bergen-Cico, is one of several unique opportunities for students to obtain global experience that exposes them to new ways of thinking about substance abuse and addictive behaviors.