Curriculum Overview
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is nationally accredited by CEPH and offers a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree with majors in Epidemiology or Public Health (with an area of focus in Health Behavior & Promotion).
Core Courses
All Master of Public Health students take core courses that provide foundational public health knowledge and skills on which other courses build.
| Code | Course |
|---|---|
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HK 408: Environmental Health
Hours: 4 |
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HK 410: Public Health Practice
Hours: 4 |
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HK 517: Principles of Epidemiology
Hours: 4 |
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HK 527: Biostatistics in Public Health
Hours: 4 |
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HK 530: Health Policy: United States
Hours: 4 |
Specialized Courses
After completion of core courses, all Master of Public Health students complete 15 to 18 credit hours towards their specialized area: Epidemiology major or Health Behavior & Promotion focus.
Epidemiology
Students in this major focus on developing strong analytical skills to research the distribution and determinants of disease and other health-related events. This major is STEM designated.
Health Behavior & Promotion
Students in this area of focus concentrate on developing knowledge and skills that are essential for promotion of health and prevention of disease in culturally diverse populations.
Professional Development Courses
In addition to Core and Specialization courses, all Master of Public Health students take a first-year professionalism seminar, complete an on-the-job Applied Practice Experience (APE), and construct a final Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) project that integrates knowledge and skills acquired throughout the program.
HK 534: Professionalism in Health Practice
The overall goal of this course is to introduce MPH students to concepts of professionalism and public service. These concepts directly prepare students for the MPH Applied Practice Experience (APE) and the MPH culminating experience, also known as the Integrative Learning Experience (ILE).
HK 535: Applied Practice Experience
Provides MPH students with planned, supervised and evaluated field experience in a public health practice setting where students will synthesize knowledge and skills acquired through the course of MPH study.
HK 536: Integrative Learning Experience
Provides MPH students an opportunity to synthesize, integrate, and apply knowledge and skills acquired in MPH coursework, through work on a project relevant to public health practice. Generally offered for MPH students in their last semester of study in the MPH program.
ELECTIVES
One of the advantages to earning an MPH at Illinois is the wide variety of courses we offer. We encourage students to investigate this variety and explore courses that cover topics important for public health, inside and outside the Department of Health & Kinesiology. Any graduate level course on campus relevant to the area of public health qualifies as an elective course. Please talk to your advisor for more detail.
Examples of Elective Courses
| Code | Course |
|---|---|
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HK 420: Community Health Assessment and Planning
Hours: 3 |
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FSHN 428: Community Nutrition
Hours: 3 |
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ECON 482: Health Economics
Hours: 4 |
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PHE 498: Public Health Engineering
Hours: 4 |
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ANSC 499: GM - Tropical Epidemiology
Hours: 3 |
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PATH 527: Parasitology/Epidemiology Seminar
Hours: 1 |
