Staff
Leah Tompkins
Interim DirectorEmail: letompki@uncg.edu
Leah Tompkins is the Associate Director of Operations and Online Program Coordinator for the Office of Academic Outreach. She began her career in distance education at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX while working towards Master's of Science in Health Education. Leah received a Bachelor's of Science in Health Promotion from Emporia State University in Emporia, KS and an Associate's of Science in Information Technology from Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS.
Leah assists potential students with pre-transfer transcript evaluation for students interested in completing their Bachelor's degree online through the Bachelor's of Science in Public Health Online Degree Completion program. She also advises many of the students in the program. She also coordinates marketing, course development, CMS management, scheduling, and many other aspects of the Office of Academic Outreach.
Catherine Parlier
AdvisorEmail: clparlie@uncg.edu
Catherine Parlier is an Advisor for the Office of Academic Outreach and an Instructor in Public Health. She received her undergraduate and her Masters degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Catherine assists potential students with pre-transfer transcript evaluation for individuals interested in completing their Bachelor's degree online through the Bachelor's of Science in Public Health Online Degree Completion program. She also serves as an adviser and instructor to many of the students admitted to the program.
Elise K. Eifert
Graduate AssistantEmail: ekeifert@uncg.edu
Elise Eifert received her Bachelor's degree in Health Education from Southern Illinois University and her Master's degree in Health Promotion from Indiana University. After graduation, she spent 4 years in Florida working as an Alzheimer's disease educator before returning to school to pursue her doctorate in public health education at UNCG. Her research interests involve issues related to healthy aging, caregiver health, and elder abuse. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist.
Elise is a graduate assistant in the Office of Academic Outreach and works with students in a variety of classes. In addition to this work, she also assists Dr. Eddy and Ms. Tompkins with projects involving the American Journal of Health Education. When she's not working, Elise is getting to know North Carolina and all it has to offer. She enjoys sports, the outdoors, reading, and volunteering.
Affiliate Members of OAO:
Beth Chaney
Dr. Beth H. Chaney is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. She received her B.S. in Biology and M.A. in Health Studies from The University of Alabama, and her Ph.D. in Health Education and Promotion from Texas A&M University (TAMU) in August 2006. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist. Dr.Chaney's research interests include survey development and the evaluation of distance education quality.
Dr. Chaney came to UF after serving as an Assistant Professor at East Carolina University. While earning her Ph.D. at TAMU, Dr. Chaney served as a Lecturer, Graduate Research Assistant, Internship Supervisor and Graduate Teaching Assistant, as well as Assistant to the Editor and Copy Editor for the American Journal of Health Studies.
Dr. Chaney serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Health Education. Dr. Chaney also served as a Co-guest Editor for International Electronic Journal of Health Education: Special Issue on Distance Education Models and Outcomes and serves as the Representative for AAHE on the development of a joint position paper with the Society of Directors of State Health, Physical Education and Recreation on quality assessment of distance education in k-12.
Don Chaney
Dr. J. Don Chaney is the Assistant Dean for Distance Education and Outreach in the College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida. He holds a Master of Science in Health Education and Promotion from Mississippi State University, a Ph.D. in Health Education and Promotion from The University of Alabama, and is a Certified Health Education Specialist. Dr. Chaney has held faculty appointments at East Carolina University (ECU), Texas A&M University (TAMU), and The University of Alabama (UA).
Chaney's research interests include the design of distance and continuing education courseware, the use of technological applications in health education and promotion, and the professional development of health educators. He has numerous publications and has conducted over 80 research presentations in these areas. While at TAMU, he directed the Office of Health Informatics which generated approximately 3 million dollars in revenue over his 4 year supervision. He has also served as Co-Director of the ECU Worksite Health Promotion program, Director of the Laboratory for Distance Education Research at ECU, and as Coordinator of The University of Alabama Master of Arts Program in Health Studies.
Amber Muenzenberger
Amber Muenzenberger received her B.S in Health in 2007 and M.S. in Health Education in 2008 from Texas A&M University. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist.
Currently, she is the Director for the Office of Health Informatics (OHI) at Texas A&M University. Amber began working with health distance education courses in the Summer of 2006 as a student worker within the OHI. She continued her work as a graduate assistant teaching web-based versions of HLTH 334 Womens Health and HLTH 236 Race, Ethnicity, and Health as well as coordinating technology initiatives within the OHI. She also interned at the Center for Distance Learning and Research at Texas A&M in the summer of 2008. Amber's interests include technology applications in health education, production of distance education courseware, and worksite wellness.
