Procedure for Executing Affiliation Agreement with an Organization

  1. Review list of active Practice Sites to make sure intended site is not already signed up.
  2. Provide site with URL for the Affiliation Agreement (template)
  3. See information below for the Prospective Practice Site.
  4. Action to follow:
  1. Site accepts Agreement template without change.
  1. Student collects the following information and submits to SPHIS MPH Coordinator
    Judy Hollkamp, email :
  2. Official name of site.
  3. Name and address of site contact person for contractual matters.
  4. Name, title, phone number, and email address of site person signing agreement.
  5. MPH Program Coordinator will prepare and submit the affiliation agreement to UofL HSC Contract Management to begin the electronic approval process.
  1. Document is reviewed by UofL legal counsel. If approved, then it is forwarded by legal counsel to SPHIS MPH Program Director and School Dean for electronic approval.
  2. HSC Contract Management scans document with UofL signatures to practice site for signatures.
  3. Site representative signs the copy and emails back to HSC Contract Management.
  4. Site retains a signed copy for its records.
  5. HSC Contract Management notifies MPH Program that documents are fully executed.
  6. Student is notified of document approval.
  7. Student proceeds to next practicum assignment.

Information for the Prospective Practice Site

Becoming a Practice Site partner of the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences is an opportunity to have public health students work at your organization as part of their educational experience. The students do this as part of our Master of Public Health degree program, or MPH.

The MPH program is a two-year program requiring 44 credit-hours for completion; graduates of the program receive a Master of Public Health degree. We strive to have our MPH students front-line participants in the evolution of public health by learning both the foundations of public health theory and practice and new ways to think about and manage health information to protect the public’s health. Depending on their interests and program concentration, they may assume jobs in public health agencies, such at the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, or in other health care organizations such as hospitals and clinics, or in research organizations conducting health services research.

An important part of the curriculum is to gain real-world experience in an organization like yours. It doesn’t cost you anything, and you get to have a graduate student mentored by our faculty and working part-time on mutually agreed-upon activities on site at your organization.

The part of the curriculum I’m referring to is called the practicum and happens during the entire second year of the two-year MPH program. A student will spend about two days a week for approximately 7-11 months on site working on tasks that your organization, the student, and the MPH program agree on.

Here’s what your organization will be asked to do:

  • Sign a standard agreement that describes the terms and conditions of the partnership, including everyone’s responsibilities.
  • Identify a site mentor who will be the primary supervisor of the student.
  • Provide any needed guidance, supervision, and assistance to the student in doing his or her designated tasks.
  • Participate in regular meetings with the student and faculty mentor to review progress and plans.
  • Fill out a brief form evaluating the student’s performance.

Here’s a brief description of how things will work in our partnership:

  • Your organization and its activities and interests are listed in a restricted database for MPH students to use.
  • MPH students who are interested contact your organization about taking their practicum there. Your organizational needs and the student’s interests will determine the specific tasks. Please be aware that we cannot guarantee that any student will select your site in any particular year.
  • The student and his or her faculty mentor work with your organization to define a suitable experience that everyone agrees on.
  • The student develops a Learning Contract that describes work schedules, supervision, objectives, deliverables, timelines, and other details.
  • The Learning Contract must be agreed to by the student, the site mentor, and the faculty mentor.
  • The student conducts the project, writes a project report and makes an oral presentation. You will be asked to critique the report, and you will be invited to the oral presentation.

There are more details but this is basically the whole deal.

Q:What sorts of tasks and activities are possible?

A:Any task or activity that is relevant to public health. Relevance to public health is more inclusive than might first be thought. For example, a project dealing with some aspect of hospital infections is public health. Public health is an expansive area that extends beyond what most health departments do.

Q:Can a student’s experience be part of a larger project?

A:Certainly, and with a large project, two or more students may choose to work on it.

Q:What areas are your students likely to be interested in?

A:Students doing a practicum have already declared their concentration in one of five areas:

  • biostatistics
  • environmental and occupational health
  • epidemiology
  • health promotion
  • health management

So their interests will be in one of those very broad areas, but often projects don’t fit neatly into on category or another.

Q:Will we be asked to grade the students?

A:Not directly. You will be asked to fill out an evaluation form that will be used by the faculty preceptor in determining the student’s grades.

Q:What happens if we find out that our partnership isn’t working?

A:Our agreement has exit clauses in case things don’t work out and can’t be resolved. We do require that any students working at your site are able to finish their practicum since successful completion is required for graduation.

Version 8Page 1 of 1June 13, 2017