We want our students to feel fully engaged with the field of public health, no matter which track suits their career goals. Reflecting this, the core curriculum delivers a comprehensive perspective of the field’s principles and practices, presenting a versatile foundation to explore the science-leaning health promotions track or strengthen your leadership skills studying health administration.
While completing your Basic Skills and General Education requirements, you’ll allocate some of your courses toward experimental biology, statistics, professional ethics, critical writing, anatomy, and physiology. These subjects assist you with excelling in the major’s core courses (27 credit hours). You’ll be introduced to the field’s pressing issues, principles, and research methodology for assessing health behaviors and problems and discover how healthcare is delivered, including through the use of technology and the structure of the U.S. healthcare system.
Branching out into more policy-relevant subjects, the core covers public health practices at local through national levels, helps expand your multicultural competence, and touches on epidemiology. In the process, you’ll see how cultural, socioeconomic, and ethnic variables affect healthcare delivery, how diseases are distributed, and the methods organizations use when tracking an outbreak through a community.
At this stage, required fieldwork serves as a counterpoint to the classroom. Your assignment is designed to provide greater insight into public health’s practical applications and help you build connections to start your future career or make the decision to attend graduate school.
You’ll then specialize your knowledge based on how you see yourself empowering communities and promoting public health:
- Health Promotion Track (18 Credit Hours): Delve into specific population health concerns, with emphasis placed on aging and chronic illness and their respective care needs, while learning the theories and applications of health behavior change. This track further encourages you to think about revolutionizing health education and the delivery of services and how to design, implement, and evaluate health promotion programs.
- Health Administration (20 Credit Hours): You’ll gain an understanding of general business concepts while being exposed to the operational aspects of the healthcare system. In the process, you’ll become familiar with accreditation standards, relevant legislation, and regulation and find your leadership style to sustain and improve organizational functioning.
Review the program’s structure and all course descriptions.
All students attending SVSU must complete a minimum of 124 credit hours to graduate. Along with all general education requirements, students enrolled in the Bachelor’s in Public Health degree program must select a complementary minor.
