The Department of Public Health offers a BS in Public Health (BSPH) with three concentration areas, a Master of Public Health (MPH), and a Minor in Occupational Health & Safety (OHS). BSPH students choose from among three professional concentration areas of study: community health education (CHE); healthcare administration (HCA); or occupational health and safety (OHS). The MPH program offers one concentration in Health Promotion, Policy, and Leadership, which is delivered in a hybrid format with evening classes. The Minor in OHS provides foundational study in workplace and public safety, serving as an excellent complement to major programs in Engineering, Construction, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and similar fields of practice.
The field of Public Health includes a wide variety of agencies, professionals, and programs that encourage healthy behaviors and create conditions to support human health. Public Health has three primary aims: to prevent injury and illness, protect the health of the public, and promote healthy behaviors, policies, institutions, and infrastructure. These aims are achieved using methods that embody the professional values of harm prevention, health equity, social justice, evidence-based science, and community problem-solving.
Students can expect to be involved, via classroom and field experiences, in areas that address significant issues within a selected concentration. Examples include health program planning, health communication strategies, community engagement, health care access, quality improvement, organizational development, injury and illness prevention, health management, workplace safety, epidemiology, research methods, and many other topics related to modern Public Health practice.
