Tributes to Lorraine - Meg Landfried

Hi, I'm Meg Landfried. I am a faculty member in Health Behavior and the MPH Practicum Director.

I've been overseeing MPH practica for 18 years, which is a really long time. However, Lorraine has me beat on time spent on shepherding students through what is arguably one of the most complex (students would say stressful) and yet transformative components of the MPH program.

There are hundreds of students who have benefited from Lorraine's practicum guidance. As one recently shared, "Dr. Alexander was instrumental in helping me approach the practicum search and application process. I was very daunted, and she provided support and resources that helped me ultimately succeed on obtaining a strong practicum experience in my subfield of interest. She was timely in replying to my questions, concerns, and frustrations, and provided sound advice with great professionalism."

I've also benefited tremendously from Lorraine's responsiveness, wisdom, and integrity.

Folks who know me know that I love feedback and I can always count on Lorraine to provide input whether on something as big as making the transition from eight practicum programs to one or as detail-oriented as edits to the learning agreement template.

She's generous with sharing lessons learned, asks questions that help promote quality and rigor, and is a creative problem-solver.

From resource constraints to evolving levels of student preparedness, we’'e navigated a lot of MPH Practicum challenges together.

In all my years knowing Lorraine, she has been steadfast in her commitment to helping maximize the benefit of the experience for both our students and our community partners – all while ensuring we are compliant with accreditation criteria.

Lorraine, thank you for countless contributions to the MPH practicum program. I will miss your office pop-ins and student stories. I hope there are many Lego plant builds in your future.