Information for Medaille University Students →

Public Health Minor

Public health professionals around a table

Understand the Health Care System

The public health minor is designed to equip students with tools for bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to health priorities. Students in this program will learn the links between health and economic and social development, and be able to explore the health dimensions of their chosen field of study. Course concepts will be enhanced through hands-on experiential learning, providing students with an opportunity to engage in team-based problem solving. Completion of the minor will make students better informed consumers, advocates, and leaders of good health practice. They will have the skills to engage in community efforts toward the preservation and promotion of overall health, and in the prevention of disease, disability, and death. As the COVID-19 crisis has exemplified, public health is a global concern that will continue to have increasing importance.

Public Health Curriculum

The public health minor requires completion of a total of 18 credits in an interdisciplinary-style curriculum. Students will study courses in public health, as well as global health and epidemiology. Elective courses may be selected from a number of areas including, but not limited to, sociology, psychology, chemistry, microbiology, nursing and social work. Upon completion of the minor program, students will be prepared for graduate-level training, as well as careers in public policy, health administration, and health education, to name a few.

Careers

Students who complete the minor in public health will be able to apply skills from their major area of study to problems in public health in the fields of:

  • Health Communications
  • Health Informatics
  • Health Administration
  • Community Health Programs
  • Health Education

Flexibility

Students will develop core competencies for practice in the health professions, and will strengthen their candidacy for professional schools, or master’s level public health programs.

Experiential Learning

Students have opportunities to apply public health concepts to their major area of study through hands-on, service learning with community partners during both an Intro to Public Health course and a semester-long capstone project in a relevant area.

Quality

Public health faculty are not only accomplished Ph.D. academics, but also have established relations with public health agencies, health care institutions and health professional schools.