Teaching Awards 2007

Public Health’s Bass finds balance in her role teaching students about real-world health issues

Bass

(Photo by Joseph V. Labolito / Temple University)

As the public information coordinator for West Virginia’s HIV/AIDS program in the late 1980s – when little was known about the virus – Sarah Bauerle Bass gave presentations at venues including nursing homes, schools and businesses. It wasn’t an easy job — she was spat on at a coal mine and faced a judge who did not want to be within 500 yards of an HIV-infected individual.

Despite a rough start, Bass knew that she had found her love for the field. Today, the public health assistant professor draws from these experiences and others to thoroughly prepare public health undergraduate students for the “real world.”

Under Bass’ leadership, Temple’s undergraduate public health program has grown 125 percent over the past four years and the curriculum now serves as a national model for colleges and universities seeking to implement public health courses on the undergraduate level. She also is the advisor of Eta Sigma Gamma, the undergraduate public health student society.

“I love the undergraduates. They have a passion for getting ahead and they know that they need the education to do it,” said Bass, winner of a 2007 Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence. “They don’t feel a sense of privilege. That’s very inspiring to me. You really watch these kids grow.”

Balancing the roles of “part parent, part mentor, part drill sergeant, part entertainer, part disciplinarian,” she teaches a course that includes a challenging capstone project where students prepare a full grant proposal, which can exceed 75 pages.

“She really puts you at ease and helps you through the process … the capstone project just seemed like a series of papers,” said KiChe’ Tate, a 2006 graduate who will begin a master’s in public health this fall at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Outside the classroom, students find they can turn to Bass for their problems, and she’ll refer them to the right resources if she cannot help out. Bass captures her overall teaching approach in an old Chinese proverb: “A teacher for a day is like a parent for a lifetime.”

“She actually cares about the actual person, not just the student. She is one of the most caring and compassionate people that I know,” Tate said, recalling a time when Bass eased her apprehensions about coming back to class after a surgery.

Her colleagues agree that Bass goes above and beyond for her students.
“Sarah is deeply devoted to her students. She listens to them, sets high expectations, and treats them with respect,” said Alice Hausman, chair of the Public Health Department. “Her life work is communication – so being a great teacher fits in with everything she does.”

Bass has been awarded the College of Health Professions’ Excellence in Teaching Award (2006) and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Liberal Arts (Department of Women’s Studies, 1998). Bass received her doctorate in community health education and her master’s in public health from Temple, and her bachelor’s degree in radio, TV and film from Northwestern University.

— Anna Nguyen