Minor in Public Health

Chemical bonding, structure, properties and reactivity applied to organic and biochemical compounds. Includes basic metabolic processes with application to medicine and health. Lecture/Lab Hours: Three hours lecture; one hour recitation; three hours laboratory, weekly. Notes: Meets the Nursing requirement in Chemistry. This course is also required for some Kinesiology and Physical Education programs. Approved for Core Curriculum Science credit. Grade Mode: A, N.

Structures and properties of biomolecular components of cells, including proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleotides, nucleic acids, vitamins and coenzymes, kinetics and mechanism and regulation of enzyme action in biological systems. Notes: BIOS 111 and 113 are recommended. Grade Mode: A.

Principles of metabolic processes; mathematical treatment of bioenergetics emphasizing major concepts and problem solving. Lecture/Lab Hours: Three hours lecture. Notes: BIOS 111 and 113 are recommended. Grade Mode: A.

Key theories, models and macro concerns in development, and historic overview of the practice of relief and development. Exploration of topics such as poverty, gender, human rights, debt, nationalism and economic development, globalization, and transformational/holistic development. Provides a broad survey of development concepts, trends, and challenges.

Overview of historically fundamental and currently relevant topics/concepts that have influenced how public health is addressed on a large scale and at the community level. Topics will be presented as addressed in a contemporary manner by public health practitioners.

This course introduces the student to the discipline of health education and health promotion. Health education comprises consciously constructed opportunities for learning involving some form of communication designed to improve health literacy, including improving knowledge, and developing life skills which are conducive to individual and community health. Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health. Students will examine the concepts of health and wellness, determinants of health behavior, and elements in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation in population-based health care.

This is an introductory course in public health and allied health fields to provide a foundation in key epidemiologic concepts. Principles and methods used to investigate the distribution, determinants, and prevention strategies for disease in human populations. The approaches of epidemiology in estimating the burden of disease; in making inferences about cause of disease; and in evaluating primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies are presented.

This course describes the need for assessment and program planning in community and global health with specific emphasis on strategies/methods used. Strategies for conducting community assessments using community-based participatory approaches to identify factors affecting the health and well-being of population and community health are studied. Students examine health systems across and within countries, including the social, economic, cultural, and political forces and their influence on health outcomes. Organizations, programs, and practices are considered across health issues in a global setting.

This course examines theoretical constructs that underlie explanations for health-positive or health-destructive behaviors and programs to address these. Behavioral theory related to health education, promotion, planning, and assessment in various communities. Health disparities, current health practices, and relevant health-related research and current topics will be covered. Students will learn theory-based approaches to public health and health promotion. Critical analysis of existing models and future needs of the field is encouraged.

This course surveys the environmental factors that affect the health and safety of a human community. Topics include causal links between chemical, physical, and biological hazards in the environment and their impact on health, and the genetic, physiologic, and psycho-social factors that influence environmentally compromised health outcomes. The course integrates public health strategies with concepts of sustainability and mitigation of environmental risks.

This course focuses on building character for global health leadership and understanding the value of cultural humility. Students will learn how to be a strong leader, assess organizational dynamics in the US and other countries, and create a culture of honor for international partnerships. This course helps students integrate leadership and administration in public health within the framework of current health policy.

This course focuses on ethical theory and current ethical issues in public health and health policy, including resource allocation, the use of summary measures of health, the right to health care, and conflicts between autonomy and health promotion efforts. Student will participate in small group discussions evaluating ethical principles in current health care issues and public health policy.

This course is a survey of the delivery of health care in the United States with relevant comparisons to systems internationally. This course will discuss the historical growth and development of the U.S. health care system. Grounded in an understanding of factors determining health, a framework for understanding and assessing the health care delivery system will be reviewed including evolving challenges to the current system. Review of the American health care system will also include the roles of state and federal governments, the role of health care providers, and the potential impact of health care reform on the future of the American health care system.

This course explores qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods in public health research. Students will learn how to apply appropriate research methods in different career paths within public health. Research projects will allow students to focus on their methodological approach within an area of interest, such as a career as a public health specialist, surveillance coordinator, outbreak investigator, health education specialist, program designer, field epidemiologist, and more. Research methods and theory are brought to life as students apply their knowledge and gain the experience needed to prepare them for successful careers in public health.

This course discusses current public health issues and research topics relating to 21st-century challenges and threats, lessons learned, and best practices to strengthen public health systems and enhance public health readiness and preparedness.

This course highlights the complex interactions between global health, law and human rights, emphasizing the use of human rights in public health thinking and practice

This course addresses global communicable infectious diseases and their biology, epidemiology, environmental risk factors and control efforts. The course emphasizes the detection, spread, control, and prevention of infectious disease in tropical and developing countries. This is essential training for practitioners of global public health. Using the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, and their successors, the Sustainable Development Goals, the class will explore the prevalence, burden and prevention of HIV, TB and malaria. The course will also cover successful, completed, and ongoing infectious disease eradication campaigns, and discuss why these are necessary to promote and ensure global health equity.

This course focuses on current health issues that are affecting various populations and demographics in the United States and around the world. More specifically, students will examine the public health issues of the past, present, and future and observe how these issues have shaped the practice of epidemiology. Students will also use an ethical decision making model to critic epidemiological studies involving human participants.

This course explores the impact of these measures on the design, conduct, and analysis of epidemiologic studies by examining applications of molecular tools. Students learn theoretical concepts in molecular epidemiology and the use of biomarkers in epidemiologic studies. Class topics include basics of molecular epidemiology, potential uses and limitations of biomarkers, sample collection and storage, issues in epidemiologic study design and analysis, and discussion of specific research examples involving molecular markers. We also discuss the ethical issues arising from the use of advanced molecular tools in medicine and epidemiology.

This course reviews the epidemiology and available methods of prevention for a series of prominent noninfectious diseases. In the first part of the course, chronic disease such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension and a general discussion of cancer are discussed. Students present material on a variety of other diseases of their choosing in subsequent sessions.

This course is an intensive introduction to public health emergency preparedness and response and covers a number of topics, including the role of public health in disasters; intentional mass threats; emergency operations planning and exercises; and infectious disease emergency readiness.

This course is an introduction to cancer epidemiology, highlighting current statistics (in incidence, mortality, and survival) and cancer risk factors (including host and environmental factors). Strategies for cancer prevention and control in the general population and within disproportionately affected populations will also be presented. Additionally, this course will encourage critical thinking about these concepts, covering the use of biomarkers and some controversies on cancer epidemiology research. Students will increase their knowledge of cancer epidemiology and obtain skills needed to interpret and critique research studies in the field of cancer epidemiology.

This course covers an analysis of the government institutions and processes that affect health policy in the American context. The course has two primary goals: (1) to explore how the institutional arrangements of American government work with respect to the development of health policy; and (2) to review several health-policy case studies and identify lessons from them. The course explores fundamental challenges that face all health policymakers—whatever country or its level of economic development—and the array of policy instruments that can be deployed to address them.

Study of topics related to kinesiology in areas such as exercise science and allied health care. Notes: May be taken more than once with a different topic.

Supervised, professional fieldwork in a community-based health context. Areas covered may include medicine, clinical, bench, or applied research, health care, health promotion, health education, health administration, global health, health policy, health advocacy, health research, epidemiology, community and environmental health, pharmacology, toxicology, governmental or non-governmental agency work, pastoral, missionary and/or church health, or similar areas. Grade Mode: C.