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Program Description

Full Description

The Master of Public Health degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences provides students with an interdisciplinary approach to improve health in populations across the life course. Students learn to apply theoretical principles to design, implement and evaluate effective programs that include behavioral and environmental approaches. Graduates are able to design and evaluate public health interventions intended to improve health for families, workplaces, communities and other settings.

The active research of the college’s faculty — particularly in the areas of childhood obesity, violence and injury prevention, substance abuse prevention and chronic disease prevention — provides students the opportunity to work on large-scale externally funded prevention research. Students are prepared for careers in health promotion; program design and evaluation; and prevention program development for state and local health departments, workplace health promotion programs, hospitals, international health agencies, mental health centers and non-profit organizations.

Students have the opportunity to declare the to become a licensed chemical dependency counselor in Ohio.

Admissions

For more information about graduate admissions, visit the graduate admission website. For more information on international admissions, visit the international admission website.

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university
• Minimum 3.000 undergraduate GPA on a 4.000-point scale¹
• Official transcript(s)
• Goal statement
• Résumé
• Two letters of recommendation
• English Language Proficiency - all international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions to waive) by earning one of the following:²
  • Minimum 79 TOEFL iBT score
  • Minimum 6.5 IELTS score
  • Minimum 58 PTE score
  • Minimum 110 DET score

¹

Students with less than a 3.000 GPA will be considered for conditional admission.

²

International applicants who do not meet the above test scores will not be considered for admission.

Application Deadlines

• Fall Semester​
  • Priority deadline: March 15 (international student)
    All application materials (including applicable fee, transcripts, recommendation letters, etc.) submitted by this deadline will receive the strongest consideration for admission.
  • Rolling admissions (domestic student)
• Spring Semester​
  • Priority deadline: August 15 (international student)
    All application materials (including applicable fee, transcripts, recommendation letters, etc.) submitted by this deadline will receive the strongest consideration for admission.
  • Rolling admissions (domestic student)
• Summer Term
  • Rolling admissions (domestic student)

Learning Outcomes

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

Evidence-based Approaches to Public Health

1. Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.
2. Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context.
3. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate.
4. Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy or practice.

Public Health and Health Care Systems

1. Compare the organization, structure and function of health care, public health and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
2. Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community and societal levels.

Planning and Management to Promote Health

1. Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities’ health.
2. Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs.
3. Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention.
4. Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
5. Select methods to evaluate public health programs.

Policy in Public Health

1. Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence.
2. Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
3. Advocate for political, social or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
4. Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity.

Leadership

1. Apply principles of leadership, governance and management, which include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration and guiding decision making.
2. Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.

Communication

1. Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
2. Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation.
3. Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content.

Interprofessional Practice

1. Perform effectively on interprofessional teams.

Systems Thinking

1. Apply systems thinking tools to a public health issue.

Program Delivery

• Delivery:
  • Fully online
  • Mostly online
  • In person
• Location:
  • Kent Campus

Accreditation

Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)