Public Health - B.S.P.H.
| COLLEGE: | College of Public Health |
| DEPARTMENT: | 208 Schwartz Center Tel: 330-672-6500 E-mail: publichealth@kent.edu Web: www.kent.edu/academics/publichealth |
| DESCRIPTION: | The Bachelor of Science in Public Health comprises five concentrations: Environmental and Occupational Health, Global Health, Health Care Administration, Health Promotion and Education, and Pre-Clinical Professions: Dentistry, Medicine, Osteopathy, Veterinary Medicine. The Environmental and Occupational Health concentration prepares students to help reduce the burden of human illness that results from natural and man-made environmental exposures. The courses train students for a challenging, dynamic, and interdisciplinary career focused on public health risks associated with human invasion of the environment. Students learn the use of risk assessment to effect policy change, along with the administration and enforcement of environmental and public health laws. Graduates typically enter the public health workforce at local, state and national levels. They also work in academic institutions, private industry and for international health agencies. The Global Health concentration in the Bachelor of Science in Public Health program aims to educate students in identifying and working to address the critical public health and human needs of diverse, underserved and vulnerable populations locally and globally. Students learn the need for multidisciplinary (biological and social sciences) approaches and cooperation to address the major global public health problems. Students have the opportunity to focus on a specific aspect of global health, e.g. HIV/AIDS, health policy, health disparities, health education, environmental health, nutrition, through various elective groupings. The Global health concentration prepares students to work at entry level positions in public health with local, regional, national or international public health agencies in both public and private sectors. The Health Care Administration concentration prepares students for entry-level positions in health care management and establishes a foundation for graduate work in health policy and management. Students analyze national and local public health infrastructure, evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of health care delivery and explore the legal and ethical issues of health care administration. Graduates enter the health care workforce as finance managers, compliance officers, patient navigators, insurance specialists and other health care managers. The Health Promotion and Education concentration focuses on the social determinants of health behaviors. Such behaviors include alcohol, tobacco, other drug use, exercise, physical activity, injury and violence and sexual activity. Prevention approaches address community-level strategies to promote healthy behaviors, including media, policy and education initiatives. Students typically work in the public sector in social service agencies or non-profit agencies. There is also a demand in the private sector as large corporations actively promote healthy lifestyles among employees as a means of increasing productivity and lowering health care costs. This concentration is also offered 100 percent online. The Pre-Medicine, Dentistry, Osteopathy concentration includes preparatory courses for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) and the Dental Admissions Test (DAT) and other professional schools are covered as a part of the Kent Core, public health core requirements, concentration electives and general electives. The overall curriculum of the B.S.P.H. program focusing on biological, social and economic determinants of health, prevention and control of diseases, introduction to biostatistics and public health research, makes this program highly desirable for professional schools. These unique features of the program open up new opportunities and offers competitive advantages for students seeking to enter into clinical medicine. |
| CAREER OPPORTUNITIES: |
Health educators held about 62,000 jobs in 2006. They work primarily in two industries with 20 percent working in State and local government and 53 percent working in health care and social assistance. In addition, a small percent of health educators work in grant-making services and social advocacy organizations. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS: |
General Admissions for New Freshman: Students most likely to be admitted and succeed at the Kent Campus are those who have graduated with at least 16 units of the recommended college preparatory curriculum in high school, who have achieved a cumulative high school grade point average of 2.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), and whose composite ACT score is 21 or better (980 combined critical reading and math SAT score). For more information on admissions, visit the admissions website for new freshmen. General Admissions for Transfer Students: Generally, a transfer applicant who has taken 12 or more semester hours with a college cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale may be admitted. An applicant who has taken fewer than 12 semester hours will be evaluated on both collegiate and high school records. For more information on admissions, visit the admissions website for transfer students. |
| GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS |
Minimum 121 total credit hours. Minimum 39 upper-division credit hours. Minimum 2.0 GPA cumulative and in major. |
| LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT: |
Yes, for Global Health concentration only |
| STUDY ABROAD/AWAY OPPORTUNITIES | There are many Study Abroad/Away Opportunities, for more information contact the Office of Global Education. |
| PROGRAM FEE: |
None |
| GRADUATE PROGRAMS |
Public Health (M.P.H) |
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