Master of Public Health

This course is a detailed study of the public health system in America, to include national, state, and local public health policies, implementation, providers, and structures. The course addresses the system’s strengths and weaknesses, and it looks out into the future to address looming issues in the first quarter of the 21st Century.

This course is an introduction to basic concepts of statistics as applied to public health. Major topics to be covered include statistical models, distributions, probability, measures of central tendency, measures of variability, percentiles, sampling, correlation, standard scores, and tests of significance.

The study and analysis of a variety of environmental problems, issues, and exposures emphasizing the interrelationship between humans and the myriad environmental concerns.

This course reviews the conceptual, empirical, and theoretical contributions of the Social and Behavioral Sciences as they contribute to an understanding of health and illness.

This course teaches the student to design their own empirical research, and evaluate the research of others, in any of the sub-fields of public health. The course begins with an introduction to the field of public health. It introduces the philosophy of social science and several theoretical approaches used in public health. The course then concentrates on teaching the details of public health research design. The course takes the student step-by-step through qualitative, comparative, and quantitative research design and analysis methods.

This course is a study of the forces that now shape, and will shape, health care in the new millennium. The emphasis is on administration. It also provides the student with a summary of the skills necessary to be an effective administrator in this evolving industry. Additionally, it details the various elements that exist in the current system, so as to provide the departure point for new ideas, proposals and restructuring under both voluntary and involuntary (legislated) provisions.

This course provides a graduate level study of epidemiologic concepts and approaches to population problems in public health. It covers a wide spectrum of topics, to include outbreak investigation, test properties, and study design. The course will provide understanding of disease and disease transmission, rates and proportions associated with different forms of outbreak, and epidemiological risk management methods and measures.

This course focuses on the analysis and resolution of complex environmental management issues. Environmental Management investigates the use of management tools and strategies to resolve complex environmental problems and controversies, including application of adaptive management, structured decision-making, and negotiation principles, and incorporating stakeholders, economic drivers, and the human element. Environmental leadership, collaboration, and conflict resolution will be emphasized, with due consideration to the use of sound scientific data in environmental decision making. Students will be expected to use critical thought, innovation, and creativity to formulate an adaptive management plan for a highly controversial environmental issue or policy as their course final project.

This course is a qualitative and quantitative study of the public and private economic costs and effects of environmental programs, industrialization, regulation, and international and national environmental policies, among other issues.

This course presents an introduction to the dynamics of ecosystems and the effects of toxic substances on its living and nonliving components, and incorporating human health issues and concerns. Students will examine the regulatory framework for environmental contaminants issues and detail the federal regulations, policies, and guidelines under which current environmental remediation is done. A key aspect of the course will be the application of risk assessment principles through case studies to gain an understanding of how to develop remediation plans and restoration alternatives that meet or exceed established regulatory guidelines.

This course consists of a collection of classic and contemporary readings in Organizational Development covering a broad range of topics including interpersonal relations, motivation, decision making and group behavior in organizations. Included are experiential exercises that give students an opportunity to practice their skills and cases that allow students to draw on their own experiences to apply the concepts and theories in managerial situations. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of the leader.

This course covers the major administrative theories that drive macro-level public behavior. It will begin with a consideration of the broad significance of the study of public organizations for individuals in modern society. It will then examine how theorists and practitioners have sought to develop more formal perspectives on public management. It will examine those ideas that are of greatest relevance to the construction of an integrated theory of public organizations. The progression of the course follows the evolution of administrative theory from the pioneering work of Weber, Taylor and Woodrow Wilson to current theories regarding the “New Public Management.”

This course is designed to give the student an in-depth understanding of the roles that government and the consumer (the patient) can, and do, play in the ever-evolving health care industry. This course places special emphasis on politics and ethics and the results when they clash, as well as how politics and ethics form the mental attitudes of decision makers. This course is rich in information on the various political and ethical dilemmas facing the patients in the new millennium.

This course is an analysis of public health program planning, implementation and evaluation, with examination of consumer participation, data collection, consultation, negotiation, training, budgeting, and writing program reports.

This course will investigate ethical issues in public health through discussion of case studies and applicable ethical theories.

This course is designed to give the student a working understanding of the financial and economic elements of health care. The course will give the student the required tools to express past and present results and analysis, as well as future predictions. This content is critical to the efficiency of the practitioner, educator and administrator, as well as the understanding by the patient, of the economic and financial forces at work in a huge, complex industry.

This course is designed to provide the student with the major legal justification for the structure and functions of the U. S. health care system, as well as the leading cases which are the foundation for the logic, principles and policies of the operation of that health care system. Additionally, the course provides the legal principles underlying proposals for changes to the system. The course also covers the rationale for decisions made in this vast, dynamic industry.

This course examines several different countries’ public health systems to uncover similarities and differences between and among them. Addressed in this pursuit are the political, economic, service, expense, and other major issues associated with the many different forms that public health takes around the world. Inherent in this course is discussion of the various public health tradeoffs that are made in all societies based on limited resources and competitive priorities.

Graduate level independent study of an approved topic. Prerequisites: Graduate Public Health Program major, or permission of the instructor. Requires a minimum of 150 hours of graduate level work for class credit.

This course focuses on the analysis and resolution of complex environmental management issues. Environmental Management investigates the use of management tools and strategies to resolve complex environmental problems and controversies, including application of adaptive management, structured decision-making, and negotiation principles, and incorporating stakeholders, economic drivers, and the human element. Environmental leadership, collaboration, and conflict resolution will be emphasized, with due consideration to the use of sound scientific data in environmental decision making. Students will be expected to use critical thought, innovation, and creativity to formulate an adaptive management plan for a highly controversial environmental issue or policy as their course final project.

This course is a study of the major legal, regulatory, and policy framework that encompasses environmental programs and projects in the United States and with international political, commercial, and non-governmental institutions. The primary learning approach used in this course will be case studies.

This course is an advanced study of environmental issues from a moral and philosophical approach. Issues raised in the course and through student research and writing will include: the moral obligation or lack thereof, to preserve and protect the environment; the ethical presumptions that underlie environmental policy; the traditional theories of moral philosophy applicable to contemporary environmental problems; and the potential for a new concept of the relationship between humanity and nature.

The study and consideration of global environmental and climate change are of increasing significance to society. In this course, students will examine the evidence for and causes of global environmental change and will analyze potential impacts on environmental policy and society. Emphasis will be on the implications of environmental change for environmental managers, including management decision-making, the adequacy of the current regulatory framework in addressing these problems, and the effect on future policy and legislation.

This course is intended to give the student practical experience in public health. This practicum is spent in an appropriate program, under the guidance of an administrator qualified by education and/or experience. Development and utilization of original activities is stressed, and periodic progress reports are required. Students may take the practicum after all other courses are completed.

This course is intended to serve as the capstone experience for the Master of Public Health student. A variety of topics will be covered relating to the practice of the public health professional. Topics such as leadership, systems thinking, public health competencies, professionalism, and continuing education will be covered in this class.Students may take the seminar after all other courses and the Public Health Practicum are completed.