The Major

The Public Health Sciences major is designed to provide students with a broad-based education that is well grounded in the Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and in the core areas of Public Health.

Students take courses in four domains: Mathematics or statistics courses; foundation courses; public health core courses; and courses chosen from focus areas related to public health. The required public health courses are designed to introduce students to the five recognized public health core competencies: Community health education; health policy and management; environmental health sciences; epidemiology; and biostatistics.

Requirements 

1. Mathematics or Statistics courses: MATH 121 or higher or one of the following statistics courses—PSYCH 240, RES-ECON 212, STATISTC 111 or 240.
2. Foundation courses: a minimum of 9 credits required from the Natural Sciences and 9 credits required from the Social Sciences/Humanities. Courses must include at least two disciplines from within the Natural Sciences and two disciplines from within the Social Sciences.
   1. At least three courses (9 credits) from the following or equivalent courses:

      BIOLOGY 105 (BS) - Biology of Social Issues
      BIOLOGY 106 (BS) Human Biology
      BIOLOGY 151 (BS) - Introduction to Biology I
      BIOLOGY 152  (BS)- Introduction to Biology II
      BIOCHEM 100 - My DNA
      CHEM 110 (PS) - Gen Chem for Health and Allied Health (do not take Chem 110 if you plan to take Organic Chemistry)
      CHEM 111 (PS) - Gen Chem-Sci I
      CHEM 112 (PS) - Gen Chem-Sci II
      ENVISCI 101 - Introduction to Environmental Science
      ENVISCI 214 - Ecosystems, Biodiversity & Global Change
      FOOD-SCI 101 - Food and Health
      FOOD-SCI 150 (BS) - The Science of Food
      GEOGRAPH 100 (PS) - Global Environment Change
      KIN 100 (BS) - Introduction to Kinesiology
      KIN 110 (BS) - Human Performance & Nutrition
      KIN 270 - Anatomy & Physiology I with lab
      KIN 272 - Anatomy & Physiology II with lab
      MICROBIO 160 (BS) - Biology of Cancer and AIDS
      MICROBIO 310 – General Microbiology
      NUTR 130 (BS) - Nutrition for a Healthy Lifestyle
      NUTR 140 (BS) - Nutrition, Weight and Fitness
      PHYSICS 131 (PS) - Intro to Physics I with lab
      PHYSICS 132 (PS) - Intro to Physics II with lab

   2. At least three courses (9 credits) from the following or equivalent courses approved by the student’s academic advisor:

      ANTHRO 104 - Culture, Society and People
      ANTHRO 205 - Inequality and Oppression
      ANTHRO 208 (G, SB) - Human Ecology
      ANTHRO 312 - Medical Anthropology
      ANTHRO 397RR - Disease Ecology
      COMM 226 - Social Impact of Mass Media
      COMM 288 - Gender, Sex & Representation
      ECON 103 (SB) - Introduction to Microeconomics
      ECON 104 (SB) - Introduction to Macroeconomics
      ECON 105 (SB,U) - Introduction to Political Economy
      ECON 203 - Intermediate Microeconomics Theory
      ECON 204 - Intermediate Macroeconomics Theory
      ECON 308 - Political Economics of the Environment
      EDUC 202 (SB, U) - Social Issues in Intergroup Relations: Exploring Social/Cultural Differences…
      EDUC 210 (I, U) - Social Diversity in Education
      EDUC 229 (SB,G) - International Education
      GEOSCI 102 - Human Landscape
      LABOR 240 (SB) - Labor and the Global Economy
      NURSING 210 - Human Growth & Development from a Lifespan Perspective
      PHIL 164 - Medical Ethics
      PHIL 170 - Problems in Social Thought
      POLISCI 101(SB) - American politics
      POLISCI 111 (SB,G) - Comparative Politics
      POLISCI 171 (SB) - Introduction to Political Theory
      POLISCI 181 (SB,U) - Controversies in Public Policy
      POLISCI 203 (HS) - American Political Thought
      POLISCI 219 (SB) - State and Local Politics
      POLISCI 220 - Public Administration
      POLISCI 252 (SB,G) - Globalization, Governance & World Order
      POLISCI 253 - International Environ Politics and Policy
      POLISCI 280 (SB) - Public Policy
      POLISCI 317 - Massachusetts Politics
      PSYCH 100 (SB) - Introduction Psychology
      PSYCH 305/EDUC 305 - Educational Psychology
      PSYCH 350 - Developmental Psychology
      PSYCH 355 - Adolescent Psychology
      PSYCH 360 (SB) - Social Psychology
      PSYCH 365 - Psychology of Aging
      PSYCH 380- Abnormal Psychology
      SPP - Inequality in the US: Prisons, Schools & Jobs
      SPP - Policymaking for Social Change- Inequality in the US
      RES-ECON 102 (SB) - Intro to Resource Economics
      RES-ECON 121 (SB,G) - Hunger in a Global Economy
      SOCIOL 103 (SB,U) - Social Problems
      SOCIOL 105 (SB) - Self, Society & Interrelations
      SOCIOL 106 (SB) - Race, Sex, & Social Class
      SOCIOL 107 (SB, U) - Contemporary American Society
      SOCIOL 110 (SB,U) - General Introduction Sociology
      SOCIOL 220- Sociology of American Culture
      SOCIOL 222- (SB, U)- The Family
      SOCIOL 224 (SB,U) - Social, Class, and Inequality
      SOCIOL 244 (SB, U) - Sociology of Immigration
      SOCIOL 261 (G) - Population Studies
      WGSS 187 (I, U) - Gender, Sexuality and Culture
      WGSS 201 - Gender and Difference: Critical Analyses
      WGSS 285 (SI, U) - Intro to the Biology of Difference
      WGSS 291E - Feminist Health Politics
      WGSS 295M - Politics of Reproduction and Mothering
      WGSS 295P - Policing, Protest, and Politics: Queers, Feminists, and #BlackLivesMatter 
      WGSS 297B - ST-Race, Gender, Sexuality and Science

3. Public Health Courses
   At least 35 credits are required.
   1. The following courses are required:
      SPHHS 150: Great Challenges for Public Health and Health Sciences
      PUBHLTH 129 - Healthcare for All
      PUBHLTH 301 - Principles of Community Health Education
      PUBHLTH 203 - Intro to Environmental Health Sciences
      PUBHLTH 223 – Intro to Biostatistics
      PUBHLTH 323 - Public Health Communications (Junior Year Writing requirement)
      PUBHLTH 224 - Epidemiology of Public Health
      PUBHLTH 494CI - Capstone Course, open to seniors only, must complete 323 and 224 before enrolling

   2. Only one General Education course can be applied to a PUBHLTH department class to fulfill the major requirement.  

   3. An additional 9 credits in Public Health at the 300-599 level.
      • Take nine credits of PUBHLTH courses numbered 300-599.
      • No more than six credits of Independent Study (PUBHLTH 396) and Internships (PUBHLTH 398) can be used to fulfill this requirement but it is not required. Up to nine independent study or internship credits can be applied to the major. Applications and instructions for receiving credit for internships and independent studies can be found online.
4. Focus Area related to Public Health Courses

   At least 12 credits are required from courses at the 300 level or above. Pre-approval from an advisor is required before courses are able to count toward the focus area. Fill out Focus Area Proposal Form. Course material must be relevant to the study of public health. Details for this requirement and suggestions for public health related majors/minors/certificates can be found on our website:

http://www.umass.edu/sphhs/public-health/current-majors/degree-information-and-requirements