The College of Health and Urban Affairs has established the Robert Stempel School of Public Health in memory of the longtime faculty member.

The School was created with $1 million gifts from the Starr Foundation and the Stempel Foundation. The $2 million total will receive a 75 percent match from the state to create the Robert Stempel Foundation to support activities in the new School.

Stempel joined the faculty in the Department of Public Health in 1991 and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1995. He was responsible for developing most of the courses in the Master of Public Health epidemiology track and was well known and respected for his graduate-level courses on AIDS Epidemiology, Behavioral Epidemiology, and International Public Health. In his teaching, he drew from his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer with the Tuberculosis Program in the Federation of Malaysia (1967-69), as a foreign service reserve officer evaluating U.S. Agency for International Development programs in Vietnam, and as a Disease Control Specialist in New York City and San Francisco.

"Bob was a very good epidemiologist who had strong interactions with his students," said Virginia McCoy, professor of Public Health. "He spent a lot of time with his classes and developed information that made epidemiology come alive to students. He was a great mentor of students. ...We're very proud of the legacy that he leaves through the School of Public Health."

Webster, Darrow, and Stempel

Stempel received his B.A. in Psychology from New York University in 1969, his M.P.H. from the University of Hawaii in 1983, and his Dr.P.H. from the University of California in Berkeley in 1989.

"Bob Stempel was loved by his students, respected by his colleagues and was always ready to help others with his time and resources," said Andrew Miracle, professor of Public Health. The creation of the Stempel School of Public Health is a fitting legacy. Through this entity Bob will continue to inspire students and faculty while the School will provide a mechanism for improving public health care here and around the world."