Environmental Public Health Concentration, Public Health Science, B.S.

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The Environmental Public Health concentration focuses on the intersection between human health and the environment, promotes human health and well-being, and fosters healthy and safe communities. Students learn fundamental concepts of public health, epidemiology, and research methods for public health, along with methods to map, analyze, and predict public health concerns. Environmental health is a key part of any comprehensive public health system. Practitioners in the field work to advance policies and programs that create healthier communities by reducing environmental exposures in air, water, soil and food, and work towards strategies and education that prevent widespread transmission of communicable and other diseases.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the Environmental Public Health concentration will use the scientific method in the context of environmental and public health investigations, including experimental design, analysis and critical evaluation of information, and integration of evidence from relevant sources; apply an interdisciplinary approach to analyze and propose solutions to environmental science and public health problems; and understand the interactions between human and the environment they are exposed to, including natural hazards, air and water pollution, global environmental issues, and use and conservation of Earth’s resources.

Specifically Environmental Public Health students will:

discuss the history and philosophy of public health.
use appropriate methods and tools to analyze public health data and will discuss the importance of evidence based approaches.
explain the science of human health and disease, and discuss opportunities for promoting health.
describe the socioeconomic, behavioral, biological, and environmental factors that affect human health.
describe the characteristics of health systems in the US as well as other countries
explain the basic concepts of, and responsibilities of government in, the legal, ethical, economic, and regulatory dimensions of public health policy
describe fundamental scientific principles related to environmental health
explain how the built environment influences human health and contributes to health disparities

Program Curricululm Requirements

Core requirements (11 courses, 35 credits)

PHS 2000 - Public Health in the United States 3 cr.
PHS 2010 - Fundamentals of Epidemiology 3 cr.
PHS 3000 - Environmental Health 3 cr.
PHS 3050 - Evaluation Methods in Public Health 3 cr.
PHS 4500 - Public Health Internship 3 cr.
GEOG 2400 - Introduction to Geospatial Technologies 3 cr.
BIOL 1200 - Anatomy and Physiology I 4 cr.
BIOL 1300 - Anatomy and Physiology II 4 cr.
PSY 1100 - Introduction to Psychological Science 3 cr.
SOC 2720 - Medical Sociology 3 cr.
EXSS 2400 - Health Promotion 3 cr. or
NURS 2300 - Health Assessment 3 cr.

Required General Education Courses

(8 courses, 24-25 cr)

MATH 1700 - Applied Statistics 3 cr.
EXSS 1000 - Health and Fitness 3 cr. or
EXSS 2060 - Exercise, Nutrition, and Heart Disease 3 cr. or
BIOL 1650 - Nutrition 3 cr.
PHIL 2001 - Medical Ethics 3 cr. or
PHIL 2500 - Contemporary Ethical Problems 3 cr. or
BIOL 3700 - Bioethics 3 cr.
SOC 1100 - Introduction to Sociology 3 cr.
ECON 1100 - Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics 3 cr.
POLS 1000 - United States Government 3 cr.
CHEM 1200 - Chemistry for the Health Sciences 4 cr.

Public Health Practice

(7 Courses)

PHS 4050 - Public Health Strategies 3 cr.
Select six courses from the list below*
SOC 2250 - Cultural Anthropology 3 cr.
SOC 2300 - Sociology of Aging 3 cr.
SOC 2440 - Urban Sociology 3 cr.
SOC 2500 - Race and Ethnic Relations 3 cr.
SOC 2510 - Peoples and Cultures of Africa 3 cr.
SOC 2520 - Drugs and Alcohol 3 cr.
PSY 1200 - Lifespan Development 3 cr.
PSY 2500 - Social Psychology 3 cr.
PSY 2665 - Health Psychology 3 cr.
PSY 2030 - Biological Psychology 3 cr.
PSY 2350 - Abnormal Psychology 3 cr.
PSY 3200 - Developmental Psychopathology 3 cr.
PSY 3500 - Psychology of Learning 3 cr.
PSY 3530 - Motivation 3 cr.
POLS 1500 - State and Urban Government 3 cr.
POLS 3000 - Public Policy Analysis: Case Studies in American Politics 3 cr.
ECON 2140 - U.S. Economic History 3 cr.
ECON 2500 - Economic Development 3 cr.
ECON 2550 - Urban Economics 3 cr.
ECON 2010 - Political Economy of Gender 3 cr.
ECON 3001 - Economics of Inequality 3 cr.
GEOG 3000 - Economic Geography 3 cr.
GEOG 3300 - Urban Geography 3 cr.
GEOG 3006 - Environmental Policy 3 cr.
GEOG 2006 - Water Resources and Society 3 cr.
GEOG 2600 - Environmental Science Data Visualization 3 cr.
GEOG 4000 - Geographic Information System 3 cr. or
GEOG 4003 - Geographic Information Systems II 3 cr. or
GEOG 4001 - Web GIS 3 cr.
GEOG 4500 - Remote Sensing of the Environment 3 cr.
PHS 2900 - Global Health (Study Abroad) 3 cr.
HMSV 2950 - Addictive Behaviors 3 cr.
Note: No more than three courses can be selected from any one discipline.

Environmental Public Health

7 courses

GEOG 1000 - Earth Systems Science 3 cr. or
GEOG 2003 - Environmental Geology 3 cr.
GEOG 2006 - Water Resources and Society 3 cr.
GEOG 3006 - Environmental Policy 3 cr.
GEOG 3300 - Urban Geography 3 cr.
GEOG 4000 - Geographic Information System 3 cr. or
GEOG 4003 - Geographic Information Systems II 3 cr. or
GEOG 4001 - Web GIS 3 cr.
BIOL 2700 - Medical Microbiology 4 cr.
SOC 2440 - Urban Sociology 3 cr.