{"id":1900,"date":"2026-11-11T21:09:28","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T21:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/institute-advancement-community-health\/?p=1900"},"modified":"2026-11-11T21:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T21:15:15","slug":"training-the-next-generation-of-community-engaged-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/institute-advancement-community-health\/2026\/11\/11\/training-the-next-generation-of-community-engaged-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Training the Next Generation of Community Engaged Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Melissa Charles<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

How do you train someone to work with<\/em> a community rather than for<\/em> one? Developing that collaborative mindset requires both intention and experience. Furman\u2019s Institute for the Advancement of Community Health (IACH) approaches this challenge through deliberate, hands-on learning. IACH pairs students with over 150 community partners who help undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students understand community health while driving impact.<\/p>\n

Beyond the Classroom<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Rebecca Haffen starts every student conversation with the same question: what have you done and what do you like to do? From there, she builds an experience as unique as each student.<\/p>\n

As associate director of health career education and experiential learning at IACH, Haffen supports undergraduates through diverse experiential learning opportunities. She helps students explore health careers, find mentors and secure internships. Her goal is to create a well-rounded foundation for students as they explore community health.<\/p>\n

Students who engage with IACH span over 27 different majors. Despite their diverse backgrounds, Haffen sees consistent growth across the board. Students build collaboration skills, genuine empathy and confidence.<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Harvey \u201927 studies business marketing and communication studies on the pre-law track. She came to Haffen looking to connect her career ambitions with community impact. Harvey completed an internship with the Office of Legal Affairs at the Prisma Health Corporate Office. There, she analyzed contract systems, drafted accessible training materials and supported contract reviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore my internship, I was set on going into business law,\u201d Harvey said. \u201cBut after being exposed to all the areas within the Office of Legal Affairs, I am now extremely interested in pursuing a career as a healthcare attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Agyabeng \u201927, a health sciences major, accepted an internship with the George I. Theisen Family YMCA in Travelers Rest. Agyabeng coached sports leagues, developed training programs for clients and supported the Parkinson\u2019s program. Working with diverse age groups strengthened his communication skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the future, I believe I am more inclined to be in a field where I work with patients with age-related diseases,\u201d Agyabeng said.\u00a0These students gain far more than logged internship hours. They leave changed by the experience.<\/p>\n

That first taste of community work often leads to a bigger step. For some students, that step is graduate school.<\/p>\n

From the Classroom to the Field<\/strong><\/p>\n

For students ready to go deeper into community health, Furman’s Master of Science in Community Engaged Medicine<\/a> (MS-CEM) offers a different kind of graduate experience. IACH partners with the 12-month program, which places students directly inside community organizations across Greenville. Students spend 12 to 15 hours a week doing real work alongside partners.<\/p>\n

Loretta Crowley, director of education at IACH, oversees the community partnerships for the fieldwork component of the program. Fieldwork is a core part of the MS-CEM program and provides students with a rich, robust experience where they can make an impact.<\/p>\n

“Fieldwork placements give students a unique opportunity to learn firsthand about the remarkable work being done to improve community health,” said Crowley. “We see this engagement as truly bidirectional. Students gain a hands-on, high-impact learning experience while also contributing meaningfully to the capacity of the organizations they serve.”<\/p>\n

Students bring those experiences back to their cohort, where they share stories, compare challenges and build a collective understanding of how community health actually works across sectors.<\/p>\n

IACH is also involved in the graduate classroom. Jody Teel, research scientist at IACH, teaches the Healthcare Seminar on Community-Engaged Medicine<\/a>. This yearlong course examines how social and structural factors influence health outcomes and how evidence-based, community-driven strategies can create lasting impact.<\/p>\n

Learning does not stop at the master\u2019s level. Even seasoned researchers start by listening to the community.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Community as Curriculum<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Traditional postdoctoral programs pair postdocs directly with a principal investigator. Through community engaged research approaches, IACH provides postdocs with an opportunity to collaborate with both academic and community principal investigators. Community members, civic leaders and nonprofit partners all contribute to the postdoctoral training program.<\/p>\n

Megan Richmond, postdoctoral training coordinator at IACH, collaborates with researchers and faculty across South Carolina to build an experiential curriculum that guides recent doctoral graduates and early-career professionals through community-based participatory research. Fellows spend a year learning how research and partnerships translate into community action.<\/p>\n

Postdocs review current literature, present at national conferences and engage with community members. They facilitate focus groups, gather data and learn how to build trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIACH is very focused on that portion of community engagement that is defined by the community and that community members can directly see the impact of it,\u201d Richmond said.<\/p>\n

This collaborative model enriches research data while teaching postdocs how to frame shared research questions. The fellowship attracts scholars from multiple disciplines who want to connect high-level research to community priorities.<\/p>\n

Kinsey Meggett served as an early IACH postdoc funded through the American Heart Association in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Meggett understood science but wanted to understand the individuals behind the science. At IACH, she conducted interviews, co-facilitated focus groups, analyzed policies and collected data.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity-driven research is application-based learning,\u201d Meggett said. \u201cIt is difficult for a textbook or an article to capture the application of this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meggett later expanded her work to the national level, connecting community organizations and universities.<\/p>\n

Abass Babatunde, also supported by the American Heart Association, works alongside LiveWell Greenville. With a background in data analytics, Babatunde wanted to learn more about the people and experiences behind the numbers he studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis experience has broadened my understanding of what it means to be a researcher,\u201d Babatunde said. \u201cThis fellowship is helping me combine analytical skills with community partnerships so that my research is both rigorous and responsive to people\u2019s needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other fellows focus on how policy and community systems shape everyday health. Partnering with LiveWell Greenville, Jake Long studies how public policy influences health outcomes. Drew Bonner supports the AMPLIFY project with LiveWell Greenville, analyzing policies around food security and healthcare access.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to community health and health policy, because I wanted to make an impact on the communities like my own, at a systems level, so that other young people growing up would not have to live in environments that would negatively impact their health outcomes,\u201d Bonner said.<\/p>\n

A Lasting Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The professionals IACH train today will carry this work into clinics, courtrooms, classrooms and community centers across the region and beyond. Their paths will look different, but their foundations will not. IACH has equipped them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to enter those spaces prepared to partner with communities, not simply serve them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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