|
The Master of Public Health (MPH) is the primary professional degree in the field of public health. The MPH degree is intended for students who plan careers as practitioners and leaders in one or more of the fields of public health.
The MPH degree will require a total of 56 quarter units comprising of required and elective coursework. The proposed curriculum meets the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) criteria by offering 34 units of coursework common to the MPH degree. This coursework is divided amongst each of the five core public disciplines: epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health sciences, health policy and management, and social and behavioral sciences and is required regardless of focus area. The remaining 22 quarter units comprise discipline-specific required courses and electives.
The MPH curriculum also includes a “practicum experience” which allows students to gain practical experience working on a project related to their area of interest and/or career goals in public health. The practicum includes working with an agency/organization on an approved project, writing a final report and giving an oral presentation. Projects may be program evaluations, case studies, research, policy analyses or descriptive studies. The MPH program’s location near the state capital allows for numerous practicum sites.
For information on the MPH degree program for health professionals currently conferred through the UC Davis School of Medicine please see http://mph.ucdavis.edu/
UC Davis currently offers doctoral and masters of science degrees via Graduate Groups in epidemiology, biostatistics, and environmental health sciences. Students in the proposed School of Public Health may eventually receive doctoral and masters of science degrees in each of the five core areas.
Joint degrees are a logical extension of the multidisciplinary nature of public health, and the collaborative efforts of different units on the UC Davis campus. The public health component of a joint degree could be an MPH or a PhD. Joint degrees will likely include the following existing UC Davis degrees:
- MD (Medical School)
- DVM or MPVM (Veterinary School),
- JD (Law School),
- MBA (Management School)
- MS or MA (Letters and Science).
U.S. Peace Corps collaborative program:
In addition to all of the joint degrees mentioned above, UC Davis has the opportunity to develop a collaborative degree program with the U.S. Peace Corps program. The campus already has a Master’s International Program that combines masters’ degrees and Peace Corps service for agriculture and preventive veterinary medicine. Students in a UC Davis School of Public Health program would initially complete the standard core curriculum for an MPH degree over one academic year. They would then complete a two-year assignment in the Peace Corps, which would include a practicum project. On return, they would have one to two quarters in which to take electives and complete their practicum report and presentation.
Undergraduate courses in public health are currently taught by faculty in the Department of Public Health Sciences.
The undergraduate minor in public health will consist of 20 units of coursework and will include at least three required courses: Seminar in Public Health, Principles of Epidemiology, and Health Services Administration. Remaining units will be in electives relevant to public health as approved by the student’s minor advisor. Courses in the five major public health disciplines required for the MPH degree may also be used.
Students continuing into the MPH or doctoral program will receive credit for these courses, allowing further time for electives during their graduate education.
The proposed School of Public Health also includes plans for the establishment of an undergraduate major within three years of opening its doors.
Recognizing that the standard traditional academic day schedule is effectively impossible for the great majority of working professionals, a program is being developed parallel to our daytime courses. The requirements and coursework for the MPH degree for working professionals will be identical to that for traditional academic day students, however, the course schedule will involve late-afternoon, evening, and weekend classes with concentrated offerings occurring on a monthly basis (e.g. one three-day weekend per month). We also anticipate that distance education will be critical for working professionals to complete coursework and provide flexibility. Over the last year we have gathered extensive input from the public health practice community that will be used to design courses and create a format that best meets the needs of working professionals.
The proposed School of Public Health will also offer certificate courses and continuing education for working professionals:
- A certificate program would involve approximately three to six courses in an identified curricular area and would be ideal for persons wishing to improve their skills in certain areas. Courses successfully completed for the certificate program could subsequently be applied toward the MPH degree program.
- The continuing education course program would serve persons who wish to take specific courses. Participants could take these courses with the traditional academic day students through UC Extension or through the working professional curriculum (evening and weekend classes). Courses successfully completed for the continuing education course program could subsequently be applied toward the certificate or degree program.
|
