Undergraduate Minor

Public health is an exciting field that concentrates on assuring and improving population health, and protecting against threats to health. Public health covers a broad range of disciplines and issues, including such topics as environmental pollution, access to health insurance, avian influenza, bioterrorism, and obesity. The minor can serve as a precursor to further study in public health, other health professions, or any fields in which the health of persons and populations is a relevant concern. In addition, public health is of interest for its own sake, as a component of a rigorous liberal arts education.

Requirements

The minor in public health requires 20 hours of course work plus one prerequisite course in statistics of four or more hours. The courses may be taken in any order. All courses in the minor are also available as electives to any interested undergraduate.

Prerequisite (minimum of 4 credit hours)

One introductory course in statistics (Statistics 135, 145, or equivalent) must be taken before or concurrent with the required course in epidemiology. No other prerequisites are required for the minor or for any of the required courses in public health.

Required courses (16 credit hours)

PUB HLTH 400 Introduction to Public Health (4 hrs., Autumn, Spring)
PUBH-EPI 510 Introduction to Epidemiology (4 hrs., Autumn, Winter)

Any two of the following three courses (the other may be used as an elective):

PUBH-EHS 530 Current Issues in Environmental Health (4 hrs., Winter)
PUBH-HBHP 520 The Role of Behavior in Public Health (4 hrs., Spring)
HSMP 550 Health Care in America (4 hrs., Spring)

Electives (minimum of 4 credit hours)

Any letter-graded course in the College of Public Health available for undergraduate credit is acceptable as an elective (i.e., courses graded pass/fail or S/U are not eligible). Courses from outside the College of Public Health that have a focus on analytic methods or issues related to population health may also be approved as electives. A list of courses already approved for this purpose is provided below, and others will be added as they are approved.

Students or academic units may propose additional courses for inclusion in the minor. These will be reviewed by the Office of Academic Programs in the College of Public Health and approved as appropriate. Courses used as electives in the public health minor may not also be part of the student's major.

For more information or approval of course selection for the minor, contact:
Office of Academic Programs
M006 Starling Loving Hall
320 West 10th Avenue
Columbus OH 43210
Phone: 614-293-3907
E-mail: cph@cph.osu.edu
Web: http://cph.osu.edu/

Approved Elective Courses for the Public Health Minor

Any letter-graded course in the College of Public Health available for undergraduate credit may be used as an elective in the minor (i.e., courses graded pass/fail or S/U are not eligible)

Approved elective courses from other units:

ALLI MED 665    Understanding the Aging Process (3 hrs)
ALLI MED 668    Prevention and Wellness in Aging for Hlth Professionals (3 hrs)
ANTHROP 301    Modern Human Physical Variation (5 hrs)
ANTHROP 597.04    The Molecular Revolution: Heredity, Genome Mapping & Genomania (5 hrs)
ANTHROP 640.05    Biology of Senescence (5 hrs)
EARTH SCI 203    Environmental Geoscience (5 hrs)
EARTH SCI 411    Water Security for the 21st Century (5 hrs)
ENTOMOL 460    Economic Entomology and Insect Pest Management (5 hrs)
ENTOMOL 661    Medical Entomology (5 hrs)
ENTOMOL 762    Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (3 hrs)
HISTORY 366.01    Global Environmental History (5 hrs)
HISTORY 366.02    American Environmental History (5 hrs)
INTL STDS 532/AED ECON 434    Food Security and Globalization (5 hrs)
INTL STDS/PLNT PTH 455    Bioterrorism: An Overview (5 hrs)
INTL STDS 555    The Development and Control of Weapons of Mass Destruction (5 hrs)
MICRBIOL 301    The Biology of Pollution (2 hrs)
MICRBIOL 509    Basic and Practical Microbiology (5 hrs)
MICRBIOL 520    General Microbiology I (5 hrs)
MICRBIOL 636.01    Food Microbiology Lecture (3 hrs)
MICRBIOL 636.02    Food Microbiology Laboratory (3 hrs)
MICRBIOL 665    Environmental Microbiology (3 hrs)
PHILOS 230    Political and Social Philosophy (5 hrs)
PHILOS H580    Ethical Conflicts in Health Care Research, Policy, and Practice (5 hrs)
PHILOS 630    Advanced Political and Social Philosophy (5 hrs)
PSYCH 597.01    Drugs, Behavior and Mode
PUBH-EPI 615    Field Epidemiology (3 hrs)

Approved courses for the statistics prerequisite requirement in the Public Health Minor:

Standard courses:
Statistics 135 or 145

Acceptable alternatives:
Agricultural Education 387
Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics 205
Animal Sciences 260
Economics 433
Geological Sciences 245
Horticulture and Crop Science 260
International Studies 443
Psych 321
Social Work 570
Sociology 549
Statistics 133, 218, 245, 428, 520, 528