Public Health-related Majors
Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Health Policy
This major has 13 required courses and 4 foundational courses. It is a Bachelor of Arts major that satisfies the Social Science requirement of the Rochester Curriculum.
- Key goals for this major:
- Understand health policy as it relates to the organization, financing, and provision of health care in the U.S., including its history;
- Demonstrate how the principles of statistics, economics, and political science apply to health policy;
- Understand the current situation relating to population health (including environmental health), private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, long term care, and mental health at the Federal, State, and local levels, both public and private; and
- Understand how to apply the principles of health policy analysis to population health (including environmental health), private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, long term care, and mental health at the Federal, State, and local levels, both public and private.
Requirements of the Major (prerequisites in parentheses):
| A. Foundational Mathematics and Economics Courses: | ||
|---|---|---|
| MTH 141-143 | Calculus I-III (or MTH 161-162) | (none) |
| ECO 108 | Principles of Economics | (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 (6 courses): | ||
| ECO 207 | Intermediate Microeconomics | (ECO 108) |
| ECO 230 | Economic Statistics (or PSC 200 Applied Data Analysis) |
(MTH 141 conc.) |
| ECO 236 | Health Economics | (ECO 207) |
| HIS 305 (W,H) | Health Policy and Politics | (none) |
| HLS 116 | Introduction to the U.S. Health System | (none) |
| PM xxx (W) | Community, Environment, and Health Policy (or PSC 243 Environmental Politics) |
(none) |
| D. Electives (2 of the following, 1 of which must come from Health Services Research and Policy): | ||
| I. Health Services Research and Policy | ||
| PSC 237 | Domestic Social Policy | (none) |
| PSC 245 (H) | Aging and Public Policy | (none) |
| PSC xxx | Health Law (or PM xxx Health and Public Policy) |
(none) |
| PM 221 | U.S. Health Care System | (none) |
| PM 445 (W) | Introduction to Health Services Research | (none) |
| PM 448 (H), (W) | Health Policy Analysis | (none) |
| HIS 287 (W) | History of International & Global Health | (none) |
| II. U.S. Politics | ||
| PSC 105 | Introduction to American Politics | (none) |
| PSC 209 | Interest Groups in America | (none) |
| PSC 211 | Public Opinion and Voting | (none) |
| PSC 231 | Money and Politics | (PSC 105) |
| 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. The registration rules for new or existing College courses are determined by their respective home departments. | ||
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”.