The Master of Public Health program is for both students with a bachelor’s degree and health care practitioners holding advanced professional degrees and/or two years of full-time, health-related work experience in a public health  or health care setting.  Students in this track take 43-55 credit hours.  The number of credit hours will be determined before admission by examining students’ education and professional experiences.  Students are taught to understand factors that affect health behaviors and to develop and evaluate behavioral interventions that promote healthy lifestyle changes.  Emphasis is placed on both qualitative and quantitative approaches in the evaluation of health promotion programs. Full-time students can generally complete the program in four to five semesters depending on number of credit hours needed.

Depending on the number of credit hours, some students may be required to complete an internship and/or do a major project (prepared under the direction of a Health Behavior faculty member).  The internship is three-credit-hours and done following the completion of core course work.

 Students completing a major project can choose from four options:

1.      a data-driven research paper (for those who intend to continue in research careers;

2.      a paper that describes a comprehensive theory-based intervention plan;

3.      a paper that describes a program evaluation plan; or

4.      a comprehensive literature review of a specific public health behavioral problem.

Admission:  Applicants should have a strong academic record and meet the minimum requirements for admission to the School of Public Health. 

Curriculum:  In addition to the MPH core requirements which includes the Integrative Experience, students take 12 hours of health behavior track courses, 9-12 hours of electives, 0-9 hours of Public Health selectives, and a 3 hour internship.  Part of the Public Health Selective requirement is the completion of a major project as described above. 

Coursework			Credit Hours
MPH Core (including the Integrative Experience)			19
BST 600	Biostatistics for Public Health		4
ENH 600	Fundamentals of Environmental Health Sciences		3
EPI 600	Introduction to Epidemiology		3
HB 600	Social and Behavioral Science Core
HCO 600	Introduction to Public Health Systems and Population-Based Health Programs		3
MCH 695	The Public Health Integrative Experience		3
Departmental Track Requirements			12
HB 624	Advanced Theory and Practice in Behavioral Science		3
HB 630	Health Communication: Theory and Practice		3
HB 641	Research Methods in Behavioral Science		3
HB 643	Health Program Evaluation		3
Behavioral Science Electives			9-12
Public Health Selectives			0-9
BST 619	Data Collection and Management		0-3
HB 699	Master’s Level Project Research		0-6
Internship			3
HB 697	Internship		3
		Total 43-55