Public Health (minor)
The interdisciplinary minor in Public Health draws on a range of academic disciplines to prepare students to promote the health and well being of local communities within the US and around the world. The required and elective courses feature rigorous scholarship to engage diverse students with in-depth examinations of public health concepts, problems and solutions as they gain critical thinking skills. The primary goals of the Public Health program are as follows:
1. Encourage growth in each student’s understanding of health information and data, including the methods of discovering and investigating related evidence. Students will gain relevant practical skills, including how to research public health topics and analyze public health data. Students will be able understand how public health research informs individual and community preparedness for public disasters and health emergencies.
2. Provide students with a strong interdisciplinary foundation in the multiple determinants of health: the interconnectedness of physical, social, and environmental aspects of community health, such as the impact of policies, laws, and legislation. Students will engage different communities to promote public health: examples include active involvement in health promotion programs or in public policy processes. Ethics, including a focus on equity and justice, are included in this domain, focusing on questions where individual rights and preferences may be in conflict with what research shows is needed to protect the greater public good.
3. Prepare students to promote healthy individual lifestyle behaviors and positive community-level health programs which value multicultural perspectives and collaborations across diverse backgrounds. Students will utilize teamwork to carry-out projects and employ effective communication skills to disseminate findings, including using new and older types of media. Student will learn how university-community partnerships can strengthen the impact of health education, prevention and outreach programs.
| Required Foundation Courses (5 Units) | ||
| SOC 214 | (If not taken as Required Foundation Course, then may be taken as Lower-division Elective) | 4 |
| or SOC 321 | Medical Sociology | |
| UNIV 208 | Pre-Health Seminar | 1 |
| Electives (16 Total Units: 12 of the 16 Units must come from Upper-Division Electives) | ||
| BIOL 121 | Introduction to Cells and Organisms (Must be taken with 1-unit BIOL 123L or BIOL 124L) | 3 |
| BIOL 122 | Intro to Metabolism, Genes & Developmt (Must be taken with 1-unit BIOL 123L or BIOL 124L) | 3 |
| GEOL 152 | Introduction to Environmental Science (Must be taken with 1-unit GEOL 152L) | 3 |
| MATH 231 | Statistics for the Sciences | 4 |
| SOC 200 | Sexuality and Society | 4 |
| Upper-Division Electives (Maximum of One per Department) | ||
| BIOL 331/331L | Genetics and Genetics Lab | 4 |
| BIOL 482 | Selected Topics (Selected Topic requires pre-approval by Program Director of Public Health) | 2-4 |
| COMM 301 | Persuasive Communication | 4 |
| CRIM/SOC 370 | Deviance in U.S. Society | 4 |
| CRIM 410 | Substance Abuse | 4 |
| EXSC 303 | Nutrition | 3 |
| EXSC 461 | Exercise Psychology | 4 |
| PHIL 345 | Bioethics | 4 |
| POLS 414 | Environmental Law and Policy | 4 |
| PSYC 338 | Sport Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC 345 | Health Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC 482 | Selected Topic (Selected Topic requires pre-approval by Program Director of Public Health) | 4 |
| SOC 300 | Sexuality and Society | 4 |
| or SOC 200 | Sexuality and Society | |
| SOC 321 | Medical Sociology (If not taken as Required Foundation Course, then may be taken as Upper-division Elective) | 4 |
| SOC 421 | Applied Sociology: Becoming an Agent (If select health-related site) | 4 |
| SOC 492 | Internship (If select health-related site) | 1-2 |