Public Health-related Majors

Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Epidemiology

This major has 15 required courses and 2 foundational courses. It is a Bachelor of Arts major that satisfies the Social Science requirement of the Rochester Curriculum.

  • Key goals for this major:
  • Understanding of the theories, concepts and skills required to assess population health;
  • Familiarity with methodologies used to examine factors associated with the development and prevention of disease;
  • Development of the basic tools necessary for analysis of data applicable to public health outcomes.

Requirements of the Major (prerequisites in parentheses):


A. Foundational Mathematics Courses:
MTH 161-162 Calculus IA and IIA (or MTH 141-143) (none)
B. Common Core (5 courses):
PH 101 Introduction to Public Health I (none)
PH 102 Introduction to Public Health II (PH 101)
PH 103 Concepts of Epidemiology (none)
STT 212 Appl. Stat. for the Biological and Physical Sciences I (none)
PHL 228 or
PHL 225
Public Health Ethics or Medical Ethics (none)
C. Specific Core Requirements (7 courses):
PM 414 (W) History of Epidemiology (none)
PM 415 Introduction to Epidemiology (PH 103)
PM 494 (W) Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases (PH 103)
PM 451 (W) Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases (PH 103)
STT 216 Appl. Stat. for the Biological and Physical Sciences II (STT 212)
MTH 218 Intro. to Mathematical Models in the Life Sciences (MTH 162)
PM 412 Survey Research (none)
D. Electives (3 of the following, 2 of which must come from Epidemiology):
I. Epidemiology
PM 413 (H) Field Epidemiology (PM 415)
PM 418 (W) Cardiovascular Epidemiology (PM 415)
PM 442 (W,H) Nutritional Epidemiology (PM 415)
PM xxx (W) Environmental Epidemiology (PH 103)
PM 494 Community-Based Participatory Research (PH 101, 102)
BST 465 Design of Clinical Trials (BST 463 or
equivalent)
EES xxx Spatial Analysis (none)
II. Statistics
MTH 201 Introduction to Probability (MTH 162)
MTH 203/
STT 203
Introduction to Mathematical Statistics (MTH 201)
STT 221W Sampling Techniques (STT 212, 203)
STT 222
(2 credits)
Design of Experiments (STT 212)
STT 226W Introduction to Linear Models (STT 212, 203)
E. Upper-Level Writing Requirement:
Students will be required to register for two upper-level writing courses within this major. The courses designated with (W) have writing requirements that would satisfy the Rochester Curriculum’s upper-level writing requirement. Students would register for the “W” section; for each PM (W) course there will be a cap of five students registering for the writing component.

Honors Program:

Students are offered the possibility of an honors degree by completing a minimum of twelve credit hours in courses designated by the public health program faculty as “honors courses”. These courses must include at least one advanced course designated with (H) and eight credit hours of independent study during which an adequate Senior Thesis or research project is completed. The eight credit hours of independent study are in addition to the number of credits required for the major.

Distinction Program:

This major will offer a distinction program in which the terms “distinction”, “high distinction”, and “highest distinction” will reflect the quality of performance in the major. A GPA of at least 3.40 will qualify for “distinction”; a GPA of at least 3.60 will qualify for “high distinction”; and a GPA of at least 3.80 will qualify for “highest distinction”.

Top