North Carolina Environmental Health State of Practice Committee

The NC Environmental Health State of Practice (SOP) Committee started in 1981 as a joint venture by the UNC School of Public Health and the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources and successfully coordinated by The North Carolina Institute for Public Health, Office of Continuing Education, School of Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC.
This award-winning program provides post-graduate level, continuing professional education and work force development to environmental health personnel from across North Carolina and nearby states.

The award winning NC State of Practice (SOP) Committee has, since 1981, designed, developed and delivered more than 575 workshops providing over 300,330 hours of professional, post-graduate continuing education for environmental health specialists and related public health professionals from across North Carolina and nearby states.  The NC State of Practice Committee is one of the oldest and most successful practitioner-based committees for the improvement of workforce development in North Carolina. We also expect to continue sponsoring or cosponsoring web-based courses, video conferencing and other conference and face-to-face technical training programs.

During fiscal 2006-2007, the NC SOP Committee delivered courses in professional technical skills and professional skills development, including statutorily required training at sites all across North Carolina. Courses were sponsored or cosponsored by the NC Institute for Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health and more than 45 state and local agencies and institutions.  This year over 100 volunteer faculty instructors from local, state, national and university agencies taught more than 9565 participant hours to more than 620 specialists.

The North Carolina Environmental Health State of Practice (SOP) Committee is responsible for statutorily required training for all NC environmental health specialists in NC environmental health law, as well as shared responsibility for training for authorization in the Lead program, the Child Day Care program, and--coming in July of 2008--the new Private Wells authorization programs. The State of Practice Committee has won several awards and commendations, including the prestigious National State Health Directors’ Association award for innovative and cooperative work between state and local agencies.

For more information contact Richard Dideriksen, phone 919/966-1104, fax 919/966-5692.

In Cooperation with:

• Office of Continuing Education, The North Carolina Institute for Public Health, School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
• The NC Division of Environmental Health
• NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources
• NC State Board of Sanitarian Examiners
• and more than 25 state and local professional agencies and institutions.