Major Requirements

The public health major consists of 13 units (previously 14 units), including six core public health courses, six electives, and STAT 113. 

Core Courses (6 units): The core courses provide students with foundational knowledge of public health.

• PH 216: Introduction to Public Health (1 unit)
• Global and Cross-Cultural Health CORE course (1 unit)
  • ANTH 243 (3072): Medicines and Meanings or
  • GS 264: Global Public Health: Critical Perspectives or
  • GS 268: Global Health & Justice or
  • PH 3002: Health Behavior & Promotion or
  • PH 3017: The Global HIV Epidemic
• Health Humanities CORE course (1 unit)
  • PH 225: Health Humanities: An Introduction or
  • PH 226: Health Humanities: Francophone Care or
  • PH 3086: Health Humanities: Narratives of the Body
• PH 230: Basic Principles of Epidemiology (pre-req: STAT 113 & PH 216) (1 unit)
• PH 231: Public Health Research Methods (pre-req: PH 216) (1 unit)
• PH 310: Social Determinants of Health (pre-req: PH 216) (1 unit)

Additional Course (1 unit):

• STAT 113: Applied Statistics

Cross-Listed Electives (6 units): six courses with at least one from each of the following 3 perspectives, and drawn from at least 3 departments. Public health-related independent studies, SYEs, internship credits, and/or GEOL 233: GIS count as electives without a ‘perspectives’ designation. See APR2 for list of courses. 

• Global and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Health - These courses require students to take a cross-cultural perspective on health and public health interventions, examining relations of power and structures of inequality operating at local and global scales.
• Critical Humanistic Perspectives on Health - These courses draw from the humanities, arts, and humanistic social sciences, requiring students to uncover and analyze diverse conceptions of health, illness, and the body and situate them in their social, cultural, and historical contexts.
• Scientific Perspectives on Health - These courses explore the scientific basis of illness, health, and well-being at the intersection of the mind, body, and environment.

Experiential Learning Component (ELC)

The ELC will provide students with an opportunity to gain public health experience that complements their coursework. Unless the experience is pre-approved, students should receive approval in advance by the Public Health Coordinator.  Majors must complete at least one of the following experiential learning options:

• Take a Community Based Learning (CBL) course with a public health-related placement.  Pre-approved courses include:
  • PH 3016: Experiential Learning in Public Health w/CBL
  • PSYC 413: SEM: Community Psychology w/CBL
  • SOC 246: Aging and Society w/CBL
• Carry out public health-related research (summer or semester).
• Complete an internship relevant to public health.
• Complete an internship, research, or community-based component relevant to public health as part of an off-campus program.

No additional credit is necessary to fulfill the ELC requirement. It can be fulfilled with opportunities listed above or with an alternative public health-related experience. Alternatives must be approved in advance by the Public Health Program Coordinator. Alternative experiences should typically involve a minimum of 50 cumulative hours and be at least six weeks in duration. 

Students are required to write an ELC Reflection Statement (400-500 words) on how the ELC relates to at least two PH Learning Goals (on the website) after completion of the experience. Students who fulfill the ELC with a pre-approved CBL course (listed above) do not have to submit an ELC Reflection Statement. 

Restrictions

1. No more than two approved courses from other institutions or University-approved study abroad/off-campus programs may transfer into your major. Permission from a Public Health Program Coordinator is required for transfer.
2. All courses, except STAT 113, taken from other institutions or off-campus programs can only count as electives for the major.