College of Public Health Receives Donation from the Wagner Foundation

Carruth Wagner, MD, influenced the lives of countless people throughout his distinguished career in the United States Public Health Service.  Dr. Wagner established the Carruth J. Wagner, MD Foundation to support charitable causes, especially those related to medical, nursing, and public health education. 

Jennifer Spilker, the President and Chief Executive Officer, visited the college and the ETSU Eastman Valleybrook Campus on behalf of the Wagner Foundation.  The Foundation has made an important gift that will provide substantial support for graduate students with financial need to work on “real world” challenges. 

Dean of the College of Public Health, Dr. Randy Wykoff said, “We are deeply appreciative of the generosity of the Wagner Foundation, and honored that they would consider supporting students in the ETSU College of Public Health.”  The college anticipates the award recipients will work on a variety of “low resource” issues at the ETSU Eastman Valleybrook campus.  Dr. Wykoff added, “Dr. Wagner’s career was characterized by a deep commitment to the needs of people in low-resource settings across the country and around the world. We hope to honor his legacy by assuring that our students have the capacity to continue that commitment.” 

The ETSU Eastman Valleybrook campus is a facility donated to East Tennessee State University through the generosity of Eastman Company.  Public Health students studying at Valleybrook participate in “Project EARTH” through which they are confronted with a variety of “real world” situations that require creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork and innovation to make an impact in low-resource settings.