The Field

Public Health has been defined as what a society does collectively to ensure the conditions for people to be healthy. The Public Health Sciences major prepares students for entry-level positions within the public health field, teaching health in the public school system, or graduate studies. The interdisciplinary curriculum has been designed to be flexible enough to prepare students for the many diverse opportunities present in the health and medical fields, and because of the diversity of these occupational possibilities in public health, the courses taken depend upon the type of career the student desires.

Among the public health services performed by public health personnel are:

• Monitoring health status to identify community health problems.
• Diagnosing and investigating health problems and health hazards in the community.
• Informing, educating, and empowering people about health issues.
• Mobilizing community partnerships to identify and solve health problems.
• Developing policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.
• Enforcing laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
• Linking people with needed personal health services and ensuring the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable.
• Ensuring a competent public health and personal health care workforce.
• Evaluating effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services.

Many positions in the field of public health utilize the skills needed to perform these services.