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Undergraduate

Public Health

The Public Health minor program at Saint Martin’s University is designed for students from a variety of disciplines who wish to augment their major by exploring the key components of public health.

Why Saint Martin's University?

A Saint Martin’s University student who earns a minor in Public Health will live out the university core values of faith, reason, service, and community, by being committed to making a positive difference in the lives of others by working to address health disparities and improve the health of the population.  

Program outcomes:

  • Identify the history, philosophy, and core functions of public health 
  • Describe the methods and tools of public health data collection, use, and analysis
  • Describe causes and risk factors for major areas of public health focus
  • Describe the legal, ethical, economic, and regulatory dimensions of public health policy
  • Discuss major local, national, and global health challenges
  • Outline approaches for assessing and controlling environmental hazards that affect community health 

Public Health Requirements

Coursework in the Public Health minor includes foundational courses in Public Health, Statistics, Epidemiology, and electives chosen to broaden the student’s knowledge of public health issues including policy, health disparities, nutrition, environmental health, global health, and applied sciences relevant to public health.

The Public Health minor provides applied health content for students seeking admission to dental, medical, pharmacy, physical therapy, and other professional schools. Graduates with a Public Health minor are well situated for graduate studies in psychology, sociology, social work, public health, and related fields.

The Public Health minor consists of 9.0 required credit hours and 12.0 credit hours of electives.

Foundation Courses

  • PBH 201: Introduction to Public Health
  • PBH 301: Fundamentals of Epidemiology
  • Statistics course: MTH 201 -OR-   BIO 301 -OR-  BA 201

Elective Courses (choose 12 credits)

  • COR 140: World Language
  • BIO 121: Human Biology with Lab
  • BIO 141: General Biology with Lab
  • NUR 203 or EXS 203: Human Nutrition
  • PLS 151: Politics of US Public Policy
  • SOC 102: American Social Problems
  • PSY 343: Health Psychology
  • NUR 310: Health Policy
  • PSY 353: Drugs, the Family, and Society
  • ENV 330: Climate Change
  • SJ 370: Social Action
  • SOC 301: Child Welfare
  • SOC 440: Death, Dying, Grief
  • BIO 251/351: Microbiology
  • BIO 352: Advanced Microbiology
  • BIO 375: Genetics
  • SOC 302: Sex, Race, and Disability
  • TRM 400: Trauma: Theories, Ethics, and Impacts
  • PBH 210: Global Health
  • PBH 310: Population Health Management
  • PBH 390: Internship
  • PBH 395: Topics in Public Health

Learn more details in the Academic Catalog 

Public Health at a Glance

Program Type
Minor
Campus
Main (Lacey)
Type of Instruction
In Person
School
College of Arts and Sciences
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College of Arts and Sciences

Spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences, and characterized by an educational environment that is both rigorous and supportive, the College of Arts and Sciences offers 20 undergraduate major programs and 20 minor programs.

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