B.S. in Public Health

Bachelor of Science in Public Health: Overview

Summary

The B.S. in Public Health is an undergraduate degree program offered by the School of Public Health and Information Sciences (SPHIS) in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S). The program is designed as a hybrid of two educational approaches to preparation for employment and lifelong learning and development:

  • A liberal arts approach todevelop students who are proficient in acquiring, analyzing, and applying knowledge in general through a specific focus on public health
  • A professional approach to develop students for entry-level positions in the public health workforce

The degree requires a minimum of 124 credit hours, typically distributed as follows:

  • First level (60 credit hours)
  • General education courses, including PHPH-101 Introduction to Public Health--SB (34)
  • Foreign language (6)
  • Electives in Humanities or Social Sciences at the 300-level or above (20)
  • Second level (64 credit hours)
  • Required core public health courses (28)
  • Required supporting courses, which may optionally include the five core courses required in the dual bachelor-MPH degree program (27)
  • Open electives (9)

The second level of the curriculum is in four modules, with the first three also designed to be offered as stand-alone minors:

  • Policies, People, and the Environment
  • Community, Culture, and Health Equity
  • Global Health
  • Practice of Public Health

Admission to the program is open at the start of undergraduate studies and at anytime thereafter provided the student is able to schedule a program of study to meet the degree requirements within six years following undergraduate matriculation.Students must maintain an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher to remain in the program and to enter the second level. To remain in the second level, students must also maintain a GPA of 2.8 or higher in the required core public health courses and the required supporting courses. (The dual bachelor-MPH program has additional GPA requirements, which are described in its curriculum.)

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B.S. in Public Health

B.S. inPublic Health

All degrees require the completion of the University-wide General Education Program; see the General Education requirements and the courses that fulfill them. Some General Education requirements may be met in the requirements for the major or supporting coursework, in which case additional electives may be required to complete the minimum hours for the degree.

General Education / Cr Hrs
General Education (including PHPH-101 Introduction to Public Health--SB) / 34
Minimum Total / 34
General Programmatic Requirements / Cr Hrs
Foreign Language (completion of the second semester of a single foreign language; hours will vary depending on language taken) / 6
Electives in Humanities or Social Sciences at the 300-level or above
(in addition to courses counted toward General Education) taken in years 2,3, and 4 of standard degree cycle / 20
Total / 26
Public Health Coursework / Cr Hrs
Core Public Health Courses / 28
  • PHBS- 400 Policy, People, and the Environment
/ (3)
  • PHBS- 401Lab for Policy, People, and the Environment
/ (1)
  • PHBS- 405 Community, Culture, and Health Equity
/ (3)
  • PHBS- 406 Lab for Community, Culture, and Health Equity
/ (1)
  • PHBS- 410 Global Health
/ (3)
  • PHBS- 411 Lab for Global Health
/ (1)
  • PHBS- 420Practice of Public Health
/ (3)
  • PHBS- 421 Lab for Practice of Public Health
/ (1)
  • PHBS-425 Data Management and Analysis Lab I
/ (2)
  • PHBS-426 Data Management and Analysis Lab II
/ (2)
  • PHBS-430Public Health Seminar (4 semesters at 1 credit hour each)
/ (4)
  • PHBS-491Senior Thesis I (CUE)
/ (2)
  • PHBS-491Senior Thesis II (CUE)
/ (2)
Required Supporting Courses** / 27
Open Electives / 9
Minimum Total / 64
** Required Supporting Courses / Cr Hrs
Statistics-related course (e.g. BIOL-350) or PHST-500 / 3
Health Communications or PHPB-501 / 3
Epidemiology related course or PHEP-501 / 3
Environmental Health related course or PHEH-500 / 3
Health Management related course or PHMS-500 / 3
Public Health Biology (BIOL-360) / 3
Six additional hours of public health-related electives / 9
Minimum Total / 27

Total Credit Hours:124

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B.S. in Public Health

Second Level Coursework
Junior (3rd) Year / Senior (4th) Year
Semester 1 / Semester 2 / Semester 3 / Semester 4
Course / CrHr / Course / CrHr / Course / CrHr / Course / CrHr
PHBS-401 Policies, People, and the Environment / 3 / PHBS-405 Community, Culture, and Health Equity / 3 / PHBS- 410 Global Health / 3 / PHBS- 420 Practice of Public Health / 3
PHBS- 402 PPE Lab / 1 / PHBS- 406 CCHE Lab / 1 / PHBS- 411 GH Lab / 1 / PHBS- 421 PHP Lab / 1
PHBS- 430 Public Health Seminar / 1 / PHBS- 430 Public Health Seminar / 1 / PHBS- 430 Public Health Seminar / 1 / PHBS- 430 Public Health Seminar / 1
Statistics-related course
or
*PHST-500 Biostats / 3 / Health Communications
or
*PHPB-501 Health Promotion / 3 / Epi-related course
or
*PHEP-501 Epi / 3 / Mgmt-related course
or
*PHMS-500 Health mgmt / 3
Environment-related course
or
*PHEH-500 EOH / 3 / Public health-related elective / 3 / PHBS-491 Senior Thesis I (CUE) / 2 / PHBS- 492 Senior Thesis II (CUE) / 2
Public Health Biology
or
open elective if already taken / 3 / open elective / 3 / Public health-related elective / 3 / Public health-related elective / 3
PHBS-425 Data Management and Analysis Lab I / 2 / PHBS-426 Data Management and Analysis Lab II / 2 / open elective / 3 / open elective / 3
Semester credit hours / 16 / 16 / 16 / 16

* Course for students in Bachelors-MPH program

Courses in red are new courses that need to be fully developed, including incorporation of i2a.

Courses in blueare sets of courses that need to be identified from existing undergraduate courses in other units.

Courses in green are existing courses.

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Public Health Minors (17 credit hours each)

Policies, People, and the Environment
  • PHBS- 401 Policies, People, and the Environment (4)

  • PHBS- 410 Public Health Seminar (1)

  • Environment-related course (3)

  • Mgmt-related course (3)

  • Health communications (3)

  • Related elective (3)

Community, Culture, and Health Equity
  • PHBS- 402 Community, Culture, and Health Equity (4)

  • PHBS- 410 Public Health Seminar (1)

  • Health communications (3)

  • Epi-related course (3)

  • Mgmt-related course (3)

  • Related elective (3)

Global Health
  • PHBS-403 Global Health (4)

  • PHBS- 410 Public Health Seminar (1)

  • Environment-related course (3)

  • Epi-related course (3)

  • Health communications (3)

  • Related elective (3)

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