Deborah Beete

I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, formerly part of the Department of Public Health Sciences. In addition to my faculty position, I am the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program Director.

I began teaching at UNC Charlotte as an adjunct instructor in 2012. I primarily taught HLTH 3101: Foundations of Public Health, the undergraduate introductory public health course required of pre-public health majors, and public health minors.

In 2018, I began my employ as a full-time lecturer at Charlotte where, for the first few years, I taught in both of the Department of Public Health Science’s undergraduate programs, Public Health and Health Systems Management (HSMT). I also served as an HSMT academic adviser. Now, as the MPH Program Director, my teaching responsibilities are solely in that program. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer and  won the UNC Charlotte Award for Teaching Excellence in 2023.

I started my public health career working as a research assistant (read: sex interviewer) on an HIV prevention intervention project for African American women. My 20+ years as a public health practitioner centered program development and implementation, evaluation, and grant writing. Though I am not a researcher, my interests include public health pedagogy, public health practice, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and other topics in sexual health/sexuality. I completed my undergraduate education and Master of Public Health (MPH) at Columbia University in New York City and a Master of Divinity (MDiv) at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. I am originally from New York City and am a first-generation person from the United States of Caribbean descent.

I am committed to making learning more meaningful for today’s student and am on a lifelong learning journey to help me become a better teacher.