MeTa Series
MeTa 10
MeTa 10 will be held on March 9, 2023. Poster presentations begin at 4 p.m., with panel discussions beginning at 4:30.
Additional details will be posted later this semester.
Held each fall and spring semester, the MeTA Series brings students, faculty, staff and alumni together. The “Meet and Talk” social mixer includes networking with public health leaders, breakout sessions, fun activities, raffles and prizes.

MeTa Series 9, Fall 2022
GETTING JOB READY POST PANDEMIC

Cristy T. Jones is a second Year Ph.D. student studying educational administration and policy at the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia. As a K-12 education policy researcher, Cristy’s primary research interests are the impact of equity and inclusion programming on retention and recruitment, the professional development and adult learning of district administrators and school board members, and how the adult learning of school personnel impacts student growth outcomes in urban school districts. She is also the Founder and Principal Consultant of CTJ Equity Solutions, a consulting firm in South Fulton, Georgia that provides career coaching, grant writing, non-profit management consulting, and small business development consulting. Cristy’s long-term career aspiration is to become a college president. Originally a native of South Fulton, she received her Bachelor of Arts in international studies from Spelman College in 2017 and a Master of Public Administration with a Non-Profit Management Certification from Cleveland State University in 2020.
GRAD SHOOL 101: WHAT TO CONSIDER

Erin McDonald is a Technical Analyst and a U.S. Air Force Veteran. She is an undergraduate student at the GSU School of Public Health. Erin has experience working in the fast-food industry, the military, retail, early childhood development and in the healthcare system as a Labor and Delivery Registrar. The skills Erin has gained along the way have equipped her to contribute to the public health world. Erin’s passions are education, planting, music, beauty and wellness.
MATERNAL & CHILD HEALTH

Background and History of the MeTa Series

Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah, Founder and Chair of MeTa Series
The MeTa Series was launched in 2018 by Dr. Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah, Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Behavioral Science, in response to former dean Dr. Michael Eriksen’s desire for the creation of an environment within the School of Public Health where students and faculty can interact outside the classroom. The MeTa (Meet and Talk) Series is a social mixer that brings students, faculty, staff, and alums together every semester in a social forum to get to know one another and to network. MeTa Series activities include fun ice-breaker games, team events, breakout sessions with leaders from the public health community, raffles, prizes, and refreshments. Dr. Armstrong-Mensah is assisted by a committee of students, faculty, and staff to plan a MeTa Series event every semester.
MeTa Series is backed by research conducted on the effect of student-faculty interaction on the college experience, which shows a positive influence of faculty on the cognitive development of students and on student overall satisfaction with their college experience (Kuh & Hu, 2001; Astin, 1993; and Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Additionally, the researchers found that interactions that were characterized as friendly had the most significant impact on student outcomes. They also found that the frequency of friendly student-faculty interaction positively affected overall satisfaction with students’ college experience. The outcomes that were most affected were intellectual outcomes, as opposed to personal/social outcomes (Endo & Harpel, 1981).
MeTa Series Goals and Objectives:
- To create an informal academic platform, environment, and forum for students and faculty to interact
- To facilitate and boost student-faculty connectedness and, in the process, create a sense of community
- To positively influence student cognitive development
- To enhance student satisfaction with their college experience
- To create an environment that enables students to get to know faculty in the School of Public Health beside those who teach them and vice versa
- To encourage student-faculty discourse outside the curriculum, but on topics relevant to public health
- To create a pathway for students to obtain first-hand information from faculty on career paths, options, and opportunities
- To create a pathway for students to obtain mentorship and information from faculty on campus opportunities to augment their formal course of study and future careers
- To allow students to identify and talk with faculty whose field of concentration they are interested in outside of class
- To allow students to obtain diverse information on several issues from faculty in one place and within a short span of time
- To allow students to establish links with faculty for potential present/ future collaboration in research or academic activities
Student Committee Members






Faculty Committee Members

Jacque-Corey Cormier

Adrienne King

Barbara Yankey
Contact
For more information on the MeTA series, please contact Dr. Elizabeth Armstrong-Mensah at earmstrongmensah@gsu.edu.