Journal of American College Health

The Journal of American College Health invites you to submit an abstract for consideration in a special issue on “The Heritage and Excellence of HBCUs in Serving Underserved Populations in College Health.” The Journal provides information related to health in institutions of higher education in the United States.  The Journal of American College Health is intended for college health professionals: administrators, health educators, nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants, professors, psychologists, student affairs personnel, and students as peer educators, consumers, and pre-professionals.

Due to historical disparate access and treatment outcomes for African Americans, HBCU campuses have historically provided a safety net for the most vulnerable populations in their communities as well as the students attending their institutions. In 2013, Noonan, Lindon, and Jaitley highlighted the need to acknowledge HBCUs as “significant and underused resource[s] in the effort to achieve health equity.” HBCUs were initially founded to “teach and empower a population that was largely excluded from American higher education” and many “have launched various programs and initiatives that focus on improving the overall health and protection of the rights of members of the African American community” (Patterson, 2021). Recently, Price and Viceisza (2023) highlighted “[HBCUs] have built expertise at reaching out to disadvantaged, and their initiatives to do so have developed organically – in alignment with the institution’s mission – over time” which may “difficult, if not impossible, to replicate … in primarily White institutions.”

During the COVID pandemic, college health professionals elevated their national influence through work with the CDC to help guide the public health response for college campuses. These efforts further illuminated the disparities in college health for HBCUs.  It also demonstrated the critical need to disseminate the wisdom, knowledge and data from HBCUs with the greater college health community. This special edition of the journal is dedicated to creating a platform to elevate and disseminate the work occurring on HBCU campuses to help advance the health of students and historically underserved populations.

Select the special issue title "The Heritage and Excellence of HBCUs in Serving Underserved Populations in College Health" when submitting your paper in the Submission Portal.

The special issue is scheduled to publish in late 2024.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article