The Integrated Learning Experience requires the student to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in coursework and other learning experiences and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates some aspect of professional practice. The course will be taken by students who have not completed their project or thesis ILE. Prerequisites: GSPO 5304, GSPO 5307, GSPO 5309, GSPO 5310, GSPO 5311, GSPO 5313, and GSPO 5334.

Independent Study (V 1-6)

This two credit hour course applies an active, participatory approach to help public health and health care professionals learn how to better communicate more effectively both in written communications and oral presentations. Students will work in small groups to critique and peer review each other’s written assignments as well as practice oral presentations. The course focuses on selecting written and oral communication strategies for a diverse range of public and professional audiences, with further attention to cultural competence in targeting messages to specific populations.

This course is intended to introduce students to key concepts of law and ethics as applied to public health. It seeks to demonstrate, with both current and historical examples, constraints in public health decision making and actions. This course will help students identify and appropriately assess legal and ethical issues that underlie the field of public health.

This three-credit hour course focuses on the behavioral sciences and their influence on public health. As a core course, this is an overview and introduction to social and behavioral health theories and issues-briefly covering several aspects of the behavioral sciences such as: individual, community, organizational, and social impacts on health and population health status; cultural competence; effective communication strategies; and engagement of rural and urban communities using theory-informed models.

This course is intended for students majoring in the area of Social Behavioral Sciences. The focus of this course is on the use of behavioral science theories in the development of interventions to change individual or group behavior. We will briefly cover many aspects of the behavioral sciences, including individual, community, organizational, and social impacts on health.

This course will introduce students to basic epidemiology used in Public Health practice. Students will learn to describe, measure, and analyze public health problems. They will practice outbreak investigations and learn about epidemiological research designs.

This course is an overview of the major areas of environmental health and provides students with an understanding of hazards in the environment, the effects of environmental contaminants on health, and various approaches to address major environment health problems. Areas of emphasis are environmental epidemiology, toxicology, agents of environmental disease and policy and regulation.

This course presents competencies surrounding public health policy formation. The main focus will be on the policy issues in the U.S. health care system, but some global health will be explored. The course will include application of principles of policy formation, development, budgeting, implementation, evaluation and analysis. An historical overview of seminal health policy events in U.S. history is also explored through competing stakeholder dynamics.

This course will introduce students to basic biostatistics as used in public health practice. Through the utilization of SPSS software, students will learn how to analyze quantitative data. Additionally, students will learn to interpret their statistical analysis results in order to describe, measure, and analyze public health problems. Applications of these interpretations will be useful in several avenues of public health including research and policy making. Prerequisite: Leveling exam will be given to incoming students.

The objective of this course is to expand upon the basic concepts of statistical reasoning developed in GSPO 5311 (Introduction to Biostatistics) to selected applications of biostatistical analysis: simple and multiple linear regression, contingency table analysis, logistic regression, and analysis of variance. The course also includes introductions to survival analysis, repeated measures data, and nonparametric methods.

This introductory course will explore the history of public health, the successes and challenges faced by public health practitioners over the years, and the current trends in public health in the United States. Students will learn the core competencies of public health and the essential functions of public health, and how public health is practiced in the United States.

Students will go through the process of intervention development, starting with an assessment to understand determinants of health and behavior through mapping of determinants, development of strategies, methods, and preparing for evaluation. Students will work in small groups on a complex public health problem developing an intervention to address that problem. Course Prerequisite: GSPO 5304.

This three-credit course provides an overview of theory and practice of leadership and management as applied to public health. Public health managerial concerns such as leadership, strategic planning, decision making, negotiations, and budget and resource management, will be introduced in this course. This course is intended primarily for MPH students with little or no previous graduate-level academic preparation in leadership and management.

This three-credit course applies an active, participatory approach to help public health and health care professionals learn about the regulatory environment as well as the normative ethics of conducting public health research as well as how to better communicate more effectively in written and spoken communication.

The practicum is an integral component of professional training in public health, enabling students to observe from professionals in the field. The practicum also allows students to apply theoretical learning toward achievement of practical goals and skills while under the supervision of a preceptor and a practicum advisor. Prerequisites for the practicum are GSPO 5304, GSPO 5307, GSPO 5309, GSPO 5310, GSPO 5313, and GSPO 5311.

Students will learn the basics of public health program evaluation. Combining the CDC Framework for Program Eval with theory-based eval principles, students will learn to engage stakeholders, describe public health programs, design evaluations, gather credible evidence, and justify conclusions to ensure maximum use of evaluation findings for program stakeholders and evidence based public health programming. Prerequisites: GSPO 5305 and GSPO 5311

The culminating experience requires the student to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in coursework and other learning experiences and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates some aspect of professional practice. The student will choose between three alternative culminating experiences. The first option is the research thesis. The topic will be decided by the student and student advisor. The second option is a public health project which will be reported to the faculty both in writing and oral presentation. The third option is a comprehensive exam.

This class focuses on social, behavioral, and environmental contributors to population health and well-being. The course will include analysis and discussion of the data, methods, and research ethics relevant to social epidemiology, and students will be expected to develop and refine population based solutions to complex social and structural factor that impact population health. The course examines how structural bases and social inequality impact health at the local, national, global level, and considers how issues of cultural competence are relevant to addressing health dipartites.

This three-credit hour course focuses on rural health issues and their influence on public health. This course will delve deeper into these challenges, addressing the specific physical and cultural characteristics of rural areas that make them so different from their urban counterparts. Additionally, this course will address epidemiological methods to assess rural health issues such as ethical principles and environmental hazards. Students will be challenged to interpret results of data, assess population needs specific to rural communities, propose strategies to build coalitions using partnerships. During the course of study students will apply systems thinking tools to research public health issues, solving skills to identify interventions and present findings both in writing and using oral presentations. They will also look at public health program planning from a community-focused lens and focus on overcoming specific barriers that are driving disparities in rural areas. Prerequisites: GSPO 5304, GSPO 5307, GSPO 5311

This course is designed to cover the basic concepts of toxicology, including an examination of major classes of pollutants, mechanisms of toxicity and the relationship between human disease and exposure to environmental chemicals. This course also applies these concepts to effects on general and susceptible populations, risk communication and public health practice.

This course will explore issues of global health and public health responses to those needs.

This class deals with public health practice at the community, organizational, and political levels and Community Based Participatory Research methods. We want you to feel comfortable with all of these levels, and would like you to be able to work on health issues at all levels. In this class you will learn how to select qualitative methods and how to do them (focus groups, photo voice, key informant interviews, nominal group process). In this class you will develop a community based project, intervention, or program.

The course will provide the student with an in-depth understanding of public health delivery systems across the globe. Topics will include: historic development, organization and characteristics of the U.S. public health delivery system as compared to other countries’ public health delivery systems. Comparative effectiveness research and Quality Improvement techniques will be used to draw comparisons about current payment and reimbursement systems; healthcare accrediting agencies; functions and organization of providers; organization of health information management to optimize patient care in many different countries. Prerequisites: GSPO 5411 and GSPO 5310.

This three-credit hour course will cover topics of temporal or special interest which are not being offered as part of the Master of Public Health degree curriculum. Experimental courses may also be offered as special topics courses and subsequently proposed as a regular course.

The Integrated Learning Experience requires the student to synthesize and integrate knowledge acquired in coursework and other learning experiences and to apply theory and principles in a situation that approximates some aspect of professional practice. The student will choose between three alternative integrated learning experiences. The first option is a research thesis. The second option is a public health project. The third option is a comprehensive exam. The fourth option is a capstone course. Prerequisites: GSPO 5304, GSPO 5307, GSPO 5309, GSPO 5310, GSPO 5313, and GSPO 5411.