Dr. Hanifa Denny becomes dean at Indonesian university

Dr. Hanifa Denny, a PhD graduate of the USF College of Public Health, has been elected dean of the College of Public Health at Diponegoro University in her home town of Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. She was chosen Nov. 27 from among seven candidates.

Denny earned her bachelor of science in public health at Diponegoro. She later earned a master of public health at the University of the Philippines in Manila before getting her public health doctorate and a graduate certificate in social marketing at COPH. She also holds graduate certificates from Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany, the National Institute of Working Life in Stockholm, Sweden, and the University of the Philippines.

Denny’s COPH studies were centered in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, and all three of her degrees are in environmental and occupational health concentrations.

Since earning her USF COPH doctorate, Denny has been teaching at Diponegoro as an associate professor of occupational health and directing public health undergraduate studies.

She also has been principal consultant for the Directorate of Occupational Health and Sports with the Ministry of Health in Indonesia, president of the Indonesian Public Health Union, vice president of the Indonesian Professional in Occupational Health Management Union. She is an occupational and safety consultant tovarious private-sector enterprises and hospitals and a speaker at World Health Organization and Institute of Medicine global occupational health partnership events.

Denny’s work has brought her a good deal of recognition, not the least of which is a Satya Lencana medal from the president of Indonesia. She also has received a James P. Keogh Scholarship from the American Public Health Association and Diponegoro University’s Distinguished College of Public Health Alumni Award.

During her USF years, she received a Student International Research Scholarship and a Student Honorary Award for Research and Practice (commonly known as the SHARP Award) from COPH and a Government Student Professional Council Award from the university.

Among the career goals she named in a Monday Letter graduate profile, Denny expressed a desire to be a director of occupational health at the World Health Organization. She applied last fall to become an expert in occupational health for the informal sector at the WHO office in Geneva, Switzerland, but canceled her candidacy for the position upon learning of her appointment as dean.

The COPH at Diponegoro annually serves about 4,000 students, of which undergraduate enrollment comprises 70 percent of the total. The college employs 70 full-time and 20 part-time faculty members and has an administrative staff of 60. The rapidly growing doctoral program, which had nine students last year, has received 30 applications this year. In 2013, the school received its second five-year accreditation, along with an “A” rating, from the Indonesian Accreditation Body for Higher Education.

Among her duties as dean, Denny will appoint the school’s graduate and undergraduate program directors.

“With the dean position along with my presidency in the Indonesian Public Health Union,” Denny said, “I am optimistic about being able to have a significant role in Indonesian public health.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.