Public Health Major

Public Health Major

Use science to positively impact the common good in a field that needs passionate people now more than ever. See the real and immediate lasting impacts of your work. Gain research skills, intercultural awareness, and interdisciplinary approach in a field that is interdisciplinary itself. 

Through internships and two emphases within the major, faculty will help prepare you to make decisions about your future career. Public health is perfect for students who are interested in many different things—whether you have a specific goal in mind, or want to move around in your field, public health gives you the opportunity to specialize or try out different options. 

Our program offers two specializations:

  • Environmental health. This unique track utilizes EMU's strong environmental science tradition, preparing you for fields like entomology or epidemiology.
  • Computer programming or data analytics. This specialization will help you develop good data science skills, something highly sought after in today's scientific world.

However, in public health, you can work in any number of different specialties. These are only a few:

  • Community development
  • Refugee resettlement
  • Health education
  • Environmental science
  • Lab research on diseases
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Career Options

The above data was drawn from ONet and is intended for informational purposes only.

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BS in Public Health Curriculum

A major consists of 59 to 62 semester hours.

Foundational Public Health and Science Courses (31 SH)

  • BIOL 145 Nutrition - 4
  • BIOL 173/174 Concepts in Biology - 5
  • BIOL 205 Microbiology OR *BIOL 327 Advanced Microbiology - 3 
  • CHEM 105 Chemistry for Life Sciences AND BIOCH 152 Human Biochemistry - 2 OR CHEM 223 General Chemistry I - 4 
  • NRSL 350 Health Care Policy - 4 OR NURS 515 The Health Care Delivery System - 3 OR HCML 220 Healthcare Policy - 3
  • NURS 432 Community Health - 3 
  • NURS 436 Population Health Colloquium - 2
  • PH 175 Introduction to Public Health - 3
  • *PH 231 Foundations of Public Health Immunology - 3
  • *PH 356 Epidemiology - 3

Statistics & Research Design (9 SH)

  • SOC 336 Methods of Social Research - 3
  • STAT 120 Descriptive Statistics - 2 OR or *STAT 150 Data Visualization - 2
  • STAT 220 Inferential Statistics - 2
  • STAT 230 Regression and ANOVA - 2

Social Justice & Ethics (11 SH)

  • BIOL 485 Faith Science & Ethics - 2 OR  *ENVS 325 Environmental Ethics - 2
  • PXD 375 Globalization and Justice - 3

Choose two courses from the following:

  • *PSYCH 382 Health Psychology - 3
  • SOC 201 Sociology of Health - 3
  • *SOC 430 Environmental Justice - 3

Environmental Health Track (7 SH)

  • *BIOL 364 Entomology: Vector Biology & Control - 3
  • *ENVS 365 Environmental Risk and Policy - 2
  • *ENVS 372 Toxicology for Public Health - 2 

Data Analytics Track (10 SH) 

  • CS 145 Introduction to Programming - 2
  • CS 155 Programming in Python - 2
  • CS 265 Databases and Information Management - 2
  • *CS 460 Big Data Analytics - 4

Practicum (1+ SH)

Choose one of the following:

  • Computer science internship
  • Biology internship
  • WCSC semester

 

Minor in Public Health Curriculum

A minor in consists of public 17-19 semester hours.

  • PH 175- Introduction to Public Health - 3
  • NURS 432 Community Health - 3 OR Public Health Policy (NRSL 350 - 4 or NURS 515 - 3)
  • BIOL 205 Microbiology - 3 OR BIOL 327*
  • *PH 231 Foundations of Public Health Immunology - 3 OR *PH 356 Epidemiology - 3
  • PXD 375 Globalization and Justice - 3
  • *BIOL 364 Entomology: Vector Biology & Control - 3 OR *ENVS 372 Toxicology for Public Health - 2
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