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Demonstrating Excellence in Practice-based Teaching for Public Health is a report intended to provide a resource for practice-based teaching of public health and includes a brief explanation of terms and practices, as well as suggestions on methodologies for implementation. No comparable resource currently exists that assists faculty and practice partners to recognize, implement, and promote practice-based teaching. This article summarizes findings from the report, including an explanation of practice-based teaching, its guiding principles, practical approaches, and recommendations on sustaining and advancing partnerships for professional public health education and training.

Governmental public health activities in the United States have evolved over time as a result of two forces: the nature and perceived importance of threats to the population's health and safety, and changing relationships among the various levels of government. Shifts toward a more state-centered form of federalism in the second half of the twentieth century weakened key aspects of the governmental public health enterprise, including its leadership and coordination, by the century's end. These developments challenge governmental public health responses to the new threats and increased societal expectations of the early twenty-first century.Many are the exercises of power reserved to the States wherein a uniformity of proceeding would be advantageous to all. Such are quarantines and health laws. 1 Thomas Jefferson, 1807T h e f e d e r a l i s t s ys t e m of American government, marked by the distribution of responsibilities among its national, tribal, state, and local components, is an essential contributor to our public health aspirations. Each component contributes in various ways, and to varying degrees, to assessing, addressing, and assuring conditions in which people can be healthy. Although constitutional and legal frameworks define the basic functions and roles of the various levels of government, an even more complex web of intergovernmental relationships characterizes the operational aspects of federalism. 2 These operational relationships influence the ability of the overall governmental public health enterprise to protect and promote the health of the public.To a large degree, the organization, financing, and delivery of public health ser-

When the Great Flood of 2008 hit towns across Eastern Iowa, officials from the University of Iowa shut its operations for a week, relocated and evacuated students and community residents, and suffered damage to over a dozen buildings. This study is a qualitative assessment of the experiences and perceptions of twelve university officials involved in the response and management of the disaster. Major themes are presented according to phases of the Disaster Management Cycle. During the preparedness phase, an established all-hazards plan as well as specific annexes for flooding and pandemic influenza proved to enhance community response to the flood. However, training university clientele across a large organization to execute these plans and respond to future disasters is not an easy task. The content and effective means for delivering these trainings are areas for further research. During the response phase of the flood, officials swiftly expedited a business continuity plan to assure that personnel were paid during the university closure. However, enforcing a policy to avoid coming to work during the closure was challenging. Thus, future work must be done to determine and implement effective disaster communications that relay clear messages about roles and responsibilities. Now, in recovery, the university must rebuild its infrastructure and consider potential mental health issues. Lessons learned from the Great Flood of 2008 provide the opportunity to self-assess and prepare universities for disasters in the future.

This article describes one effort to develop management tools that will help public health administrators and policy makers implement comprehensive public health strategies. It recounts the ongoing development of a methodology through which the Essential Public Health Services can be related to public health budgets, appropriations, and expenditures. Through three pilot projects involving: (1) nine state health agencies, (2) three local health agencies, and (3) all local jurisdictions and the state health agency in one state, a workable methodology for identifying public expenditures for comprehensive public health programming has been identified.