PROFESSIONAL  BACKGROUND  OF  DR.  JOHN  KOWALCZYK

• Early Public Health Professional Background
  • Environmental Health Degree (B.S.) Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI
  • County Health Department regulatory work in environmental health; work was with food sanitation inspections for compliance and enforcement; design, inspections, and approvals of septic/drainfield systems; wellwater supplies; nuisance and pest control; swimming pool sanitation and compliance; school health surveys; and other general environmental health programs
  • Worked for two Michigan county health departments (Macomb Co., Mt.Clemens, MI and Washtenaw Co. Ann Arbor, MI) and for the University of Michigan's Environmental Health and Safety Program
  • Worked for Meijer Inc. a large midwestern supermarket chain as Corporate Sanitarian in the Detroit (MI) market area conducting training, sanitation audits, and pest control management
  • Master of Public Health Degree (MPH) University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI

• Culinary Arts Professional Background
  • Teaching culinary arts at four community colleges in Michigan
  • Classes included Food Sanitation Microbiology, Restaurant Menu Design and Promotion, Restaurant Supervision, Food Labor Cost Control, Nutrition, Layout and Design, and other restaurant management program courses
  • Catering experience with weddings, graduation parties, banquet and dining management; pastry chef by avocation

• Mid-life Professional Background
  • PhD interests in alcohol prevention, health education, learning styles, and health behavioral change 
  • Earned a PhD in Health Services, with a focus on health education and health behavior from Walden University, Minneapolis, MN.  Walden is a PhD long-distance education program and a good way for a professional to earn a doctorate without going to a traditional institution for on-campus studies. 
  • Taught three years at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI in the Environmental And Industrial Health program as a fulltime temporary faculty teaching general environmental health courses.
  • After the 3 year stint as a professor, I moved into university administration serving as the program director for a unique and nationally recognized academic support program called the Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) Program.  This program is designed to assist underprepared/underserved/low academic achievers to attain better grades in their courses.  To enable adequate funding of this program, I successfully wrote and obtained 5 state of Michigan grants each more than $100,000 each year, and also attained a very competitive federal FIPSE grant to disseminate our successful SLA model to four partner institutions around the country.  This 3-year grant was worth a half-million dollars!
  • After completion of the PhD degree, I chose to pursue academic teaching again and accepted a fulltime teaching position with the University of Minnesota Duluth campus in Duluth, Minnesota in 2003 in the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Department in the Community Health Education Program.
  • Another area of professional interest is international public health as I like to travel and visit other countries.  I have visited Kiev, Ukraine twice under the auspices of Blossoming Rose in Cedar Springs, Michigan.  Blossoming Rose is a humanitarian organization dedicated to the Cherynobol radiation victims and to the Jewish folk who are trying to return to their home roots of Israel.  I did research for the organization studying the health care delivery of Ukraine compared to the US.  Health conditions in Ukrarine are quite deplorable, especially after the destruction of the communist regime in the early 1990s.

• Summers 2005 & 2006- I did volunteer service work with Global Service Corps (GSC) out of San Francisco, California.  GSC is a NGO (non-government organization) with an established program in HIV prevention in Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa.  I spent seven weeks working with local community groups conducting HIV prevention programs.  I also developed a new initiative for GSC conducting Nutrition and HIV training.  As most HIV patients cannot afford ARV medicines, the only way to improving the quality of life is through a more healthy nutrition and diet program.  We adopted the theme "Food is Medicine" to teach people about healthy eating, a balanced diet, getting more vitamins and minerals in the diet, and how to alleviate some of the common complications of HIV that cause malnutrition and malabsorption of their food.

• Consulting Professional Background
  • Owner, Culinary Consulting Services- a restaurant consulting business specializing in plan review design and kitchen layout; sanitation inspections and audits; employee and management training and certification with National Restaurant Association's Serv Safe Food Safety Program
  • Clients have included Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurants, Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon, Little Caesar's Pizza, Domino's Pizza, Wayne Out-County School District, and numerous privately owned restaurants

See also Dr. John Kowalczyk Resume Page

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