Culture, Community and Opportunity
To be fully engaged in the Dornsife School of Public Health (DSPH) and to do our best work, each individual in our community must be recognized, supported, and empowered.
Led by our Office of Culture, Community, and Opportunity (CCO), we strive to build and nurture an institutional culture where all students, staff and faculty feel more connected and valued. We acknowledge and encourage everyone to bring their whole self to their work to sustain our very best public health teaching, practice and research.
We collectively foster our school's mission to "advance health as a human right, improve population health, and eliminate health disparities through impactful research, integrative education, and meaningful partnerships with communities."
We strive to foster a culture of shared leadership and cross-collaboration to promote and enhance community.
About Drexel Dornsife's Office of Culture, Community, and Opportunity (CCO)
CCO's Vision for the School
We envision a transparent and equity-driven school where all students, staff, and faculty feel seen, heard, supported, and empowered.
CCO's Mission
To advance culture, connection, and community within DSPH by fostering cross-collaboration and shared leadership in an ever-evolving environment, facilitating the conversations and programming that move cultural change forward.
By the Numbers: CCO at Drexel Dornsife
55+
Shared Leadership Team members
5
Years of IDEA Fellowship cohorts
3
Strategic goals for 2025-2029
6+
Years of climate survey data
Our Core Initiatives
IDEA Fellowship
The
IDEA Fellowship funds and supports DSPH students to lead equity-centered research and advocacy projects alongside faculty and staff mentors. Our sixth cohort will begin in fall 2026.
CCO Journey and Milestones
In 2020, DSPH developed a school-wide Antiracism Action Plan. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant gave the school the resources to act on it. CCO was formally established in 2023 and is now one of six priority areas in the DSPH Strategic Plan 2025–2029.
| Year |
Milestone |
Description |
| 2020 |
RWJF–TAE Grant Awarded |
The grant continues health equity and organizational change work, originally implemented through an Antiracism Action Plan. The first Associate Dean is appointed.
|
| 2022 |
Health Equity Focus Groups |
Focus groups are conducted and analyzed to identify facilitators and barriers to health equity research at DSPH.
|
| 2022 |
CCO Office Established |
A new Associate Dean is appointed and a new office is established to strengthen culture, community, and opportunity within DSPH.
|
| 2023 |
Shared Leadership Team Established |
A team of students, faculty, and staff representing 14 DSPH units and departments is established to guide culture and equity programming.
|
| 2024 |
Defining Our Work |
The Shared Leadership Team spends eight months developing a shared understanding and collective definitions of the school's values.
|
| 2024–2025 |
Climate Survey |
The Office revamps and implements the annual climate survey to monitor and track morale, strengths, and challenges across the school.
|
| 2025 |
Office Revamp |
The Office is re-established and reorganized, with a new name, updated functions, revised IDEA Fellowship, and new mission and vision statements.
|
| 2025 |
Strategic Planning |
Culture, Community & Opportunity becomes one of six priority areas in the DSPH Strategic Plan 2025–2029.
|
CCO Team
-
Associate Dean for Culture, Community & Opportunity; Research Professor of Biostatistics; Director, Biostatistics Scientific Collaboration Center (BSC)
Leads CCO’s vision and strategy, overseeing the Shared Leadership Team and CCO’s integration into DSPH’s school-wide goals and the 2025–2029 Strategic Plan.
-
Jordan Wilson, MPH
Mixed Methods Researcher, BSC & CCO; Adjunct Professor, Epidemiology/Biostatistics
Leads data collection and analysis across CCO initiatives, including the annual Climate Survey and the peer-reviewed SLT study published in Frontiers in Public Health.
-
Nora Lee, PhD
CCO Program Manager, Assistant Research Professor of Epidemiology
Coordinates CCO’s day-to-day operations and programming, from IDEA Fellowship logistics to event coordination and stakeholder communication.
About CCO's Shared Leadership Team
The Shared Leadership Team brings together more than 55 students, faculty, and staff from every DSPH unit, center, and department. Members meet quarterly and in smaller working groups throughout the year, providing direct guidance on CCO’s initiatives, programming, and strategic direction within DSPH.
The Shared Leadership Team facilitates diversity of thought, perspective, and interest by intentionally bringing everyone to the table, ensuring each individual is seen and included, and that their perspective, recommendations, and input are valued and respected.
We collectively acknowledge that lasting equity work requires the people most affected by institutional culture to have a genuine role in shaping it. Learn more about CCO's Shared Leadership Team model in our peer-reviewed study:
Joshua, Lopez, Wilson, Owino, Love, Schinasi, Kaufman, Waetzig, Lovasi & Moore. “” Frontiers in Public Health, March 17, 2026. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1695469
“As a student, I was initially hesitant to speak up in rooms full of titles and tenure, but I quickly realized my perspective was not just valuable, it was necessary.
Working alongside people with different roles and backgrounds—not out of obligation, but because we all genuinely believed in the mission—showed me that meaningful change isn’t dictated from the top but forged through collective commitment.”
— Marie Owino, DSPH MPH Student & IDEA Fellow
Click to view a PDF of all DSPH units, departments, and centers that comprise the Shared Leadership Team:
Acknowledgements
Drexel Dornsife's Office of Culture, Community, and Opportunity (CCO) would like to acknowledge that we cannot do this work without the guidance and financial support of the Transforming Academia for Equity (TAE) grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Working closely with our TAE adaptive change specialist, we have established a foundation for this work and the CCO Office to support our school’s strategic planning, learning and engagement, and peer connection with other universities.
Contact CCO
Email: cco_dsph@drexel.edu
Phone: 267.359.6000
Address:
The Office of Culture, Community, and Opportunity
Dornsife School of Public Health
糖心Vlog
Nesbitt Hall
3215 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104