Elizabeth Dunn, DrPH, MPH, CPH

Instructor II, College of Public Health

Contact Info

• Office: CPH 2134
• Academic Email: eadunn2@usf.edu
• Academic Phone: (813) 396-9403
• View My C.V. | View My Website

Education

Specialization

• Community Resilience & Local Capacity Building
• Food System Resilience & Humanitarian Food Supply Chains
• Disaster Preparedness for Vulnerable Populations
• Refugee Resettlement & Migration
• International Humanitarian Assistance & Mass Care
• Human Security & Anti-Human Trafficking
• Continuity of Operations & Business Resilience Planning
• CERT Leadership, Volunteer Coordination & Community Engagement

Biography

Dr. Elizabeth Dunn joined the University of South Florida College of Public Health in 2012 and currently serves as an Instructor II, supporting the Community Engaged Homeland Security and Emergency Management undergraduate program. She teaches courses in international humanitarian relief, disaster management, and homeland security, with an emphasis on applied learning, experiential education, and community-engaged practice designed to prepare students for careers in public health preparedness and emergency management. Her professional background bridges business management, program development, public health, international economic development, post-conflict recovery, and local disaster preparedness initiatives. Her scholarly interests focus on disaster management systems, vulnerable populations, community engagement, disaster food systems, and interdisciplinary collaboration to strengthen community resilience. She is also committed to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), particularly experiential and service-learning approaches that connect academic learning with real-world impact. Beyond the classroom, Elizabeth serves in several leadership roles, including co-lead of the FEMA National Experiential Learning and Leadership (ELL) in Emergency Management Special Interest Group (SIG), Track Lead for Community Preparedness and Resilience for the National Homeland Security Conference (NHSC), Director of the USF Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and Vice-Chair of the Board for the Society for Critical Operations and Preparedness Engineering (SCOPE). Through these roles, she works to strengthen preparedness, expand community resilience, and promote collaborative approaches to disaster management and humanitarian response. Her contributions to teaching, community engagement, and applied practice have been recognized through multiple awards, including the Hillsborough Systems Thinker Award (2024), Global Education Faculty Award (2022–2023), Outstanding Community-Engaged Teaching Award (2022), and the College of Public Health Excellence in Teaching Award (2020). Most recently, she received the 2025 Best Plan, Report, or Study Award from the American Planning Association Florida Chapter Sun Coast for her applied research and practice contributions. Elizabeth is passionate about teaching and mentoring students and is committed to preparing the next generation of public health and emergency management professionals through innovative, practice-driven education.