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2024-2025 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog

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Public Health

Housed in the School of Interdisciplinary Health within the College of Health Professions.

Website: gvsu.edu/grad/mph

Degree Offered

Master of Public Health

Emphases

  • Epidemiology
  • Health Promotion

The Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) program focuses on coursework and community-based, high-impact service learning to provide advanced service and care that includes health promotion, disease management and education, or epidemiology to communities and groups across the life span.

The M.P.H. program emphasizes evidence-based practice, critical thinking, and problem solving through rigorous research inquiry and project-based work. The program is designed to develop knowledge and skills necessary to prevent and manage complex health issues. Graduates of this program are prepared for direct roles in public health and to be leaders in improving population health through a diverse range of roles across multiple industries including local, state, and national sectors, nonprofit organizations, government, and research.

The M.P.H. program consists of 48 credit hours of coursework in a diverse learning environment that includes hybrid options and on-campus, face-to-face coursework that requires active and immersive, community-based learning. Students complete a 200-hour practicum experience which may be completed in a variety of settings including local, state, national, and global settings. In addition, students complete an individualized research project (or thesis option) as a culmination of the program.

Highlights of this program include an efficient completion time of 20 months as a full-time student, a comprehensive program offering two emphasis areas of choice: health promotion or epidemiology, and 100 percent community-based learning in every course throughout the public health curriculum.

Mission

To transform students into public health leaders through application of practice-based skills.

Philosophy

Advancing health by empowering future leaders, enhancing preventive practices, and promoting social justice.

Values

The following values support the Master of Public Health program and align with the university and College of Health Professions strategic goals:

  • Community engagement
  • Interprofessional practice
  • Professional and ethical behavior
  • Cultural humility and inclusiveness
  • Respect for diversity
  • Excellence in teaching, scholarship, and practice

Accreditation

The M.P.H. program at GVSU is fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). CEPH accreditation assures students enrolled in institutions of higher education, which offer public health degree-granting programs, have programs that meet and maintain rigorous standards for teaching, research, and service. CEPH accreditation requires a rigorous self-study process by GVSU to assure that its proposed M.P.H. program will meet, monitor, and evaluate its adherence to providing quality teaching, research, and service for its curriculum and curricular areas of core concentrations. Further, CEPH assures prospective employers of graduates from accredited M.P.H. programs that these graduates have met the required competencies to be deemed as qualified to seek gainful employment in the range of public health occupations*.

*Council on Education for the Public Health. (2011). Accreditation Criteria for Public Health Programs (amended June 2011). CEPH: Washington, D.C. Retrieved from ceph.org.

Minimum Number of Hours in Program: 48

Admission

Students will be chosen for acceptance into the M.P.H. program based on the following program requirements:

  • A minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for undergraduate coursework is required. A bachelor's degree is required, in a health-related field is preferred.
  • Written recommendations from at least two individuals who are in positions to attest to the applicant's successful completion of the program. An academic reference as well as a health care professional reference is preferred.
  • Resume
  • Personal Essay. A written statement that addresses the following questions: What would make you an excellent candidate for the Grand Valley State University M.P.H. program? What are your expectations for a future career in public health?

Considerations

  • The Application Review Committee reserves the right to require additional information it deems appropriate, a second writing sample.

The following university requirements must also be met:

  • A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education.
  • GVSU Graduate Application.
  • Thirty-dollar application fee. Note: Students who have previously paid an undergraduate or graduate application fee to GVSU do not need to pay this fee again.
  • Official copies of transcripts from the undergraduate degree granting institution of higher education, sent directly from those institutions to the GVSU Admissions Office. Note: We do not require official transcripts from Grand Valley.
  • Test scores from the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), or IELTS (International English Language Assessment Battery) for applicants whose native language is not English. Only original score reports will be accepted.

Retention and Termination

Grounds for Probation

  • A final course grade below a 2.7 (B-) in a 500-, 600-, or 700-level course.
  • A final grade below a 2.0 (C) in a 500- or 600-level course.
  • A cumulative graduate level GPA less than 3.0 (B) after completion of 12 hours of graduate level coursework (i.e., at the end of semester one).
  • Evidence of unethical or illegal behavior while matriculating as a student in the M.P.H. program.

Practicum Experience

Students will not be allowed to participate in practicum experiences if there is a reason to believe that they are unprepared for this type of experience. Sufficient reasons include:

  • Probationary status.
  • Questions about the student's ability to safely work in the health care field.
  • Evidence of unethical or illegal behavior.
  • Medical or psychological conditions that could endanger the safety of the student or the patients entrusted to them, or that prevent the student from fully participating in the practicum experience.
  • Problems identified with professional abilities may result in a student being regarded by faculty as unprepared for practicum. With the assistance of faculty, the student must resolve the problem area prior to the practicum assignment.
  • If a student does not satisfactorily complete the core coursework, he/she may not progress to the thesis/project or practicum courses.

Dismissal from the Program

Any one of the following items may constitute grounds for dismissal from the program:

  • Failure to complete required remedial work at the required level.
  • Failure to complete items required in a remediation contract.
  • Final grades that result in probation during two consecutive semesters.
  • Failure to demonstrate "continued competency" of past course content.
  • Evidence of unethical or illegal behavior while matriculating as a student in the M.P.H. program.
  • Cumulative graduate GPA of less than 3.0.

Program Location

Practicum experiences can be within Michigan, other select states, or globally during the final year of the M.P.H. curriculum.

Program Requirements

The following programs are available:


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