MPH Program on the Worcester Campus
Curriculum Effective Fall 2023
Starting in Fall 2023, there will be changes in the MPH curriculum.
The MPH degree will still require 42 credits or 14 3-credit courses, as outlined below. These requirements are for students starting Fall 2023, or later. If you started the program before that, please contact us for details regarding your curriculum. The required core courses are offered every fall and spring semester. The Practicum and Capstone can also be completed during the two summer sessions. Our curriculum will be the same as that of the Public Health Practice online program.
Required Core Courses (27 credits)
SPHHS 605 - Health Equity & the Foundations of Public Health Practice: The purpose of this course is to introduce you to graduate level public health practice through a health equity lens. Together with SPHHS 615, this course will allow you to grapple with
important questions of racism, justice, and health to understand the many complex factors that contribute to the health of our nation and its peoples. You will be encouraged to think about the ways in which you will accomplish the mission of public health (i.e., assuring the conditions in which everyone can be healthy) through critical self-reflection of your own perspectives on the health of the population.
SPHHS 606 – Leading Change: Policy, Advocacy, and Ethics: The purpose of this course is to give students a foundation of knowledge and skills necessary to function in roles that advance justice, equity and the public’s health. This practice-oriented course will build upon learning from SPHHS 605 and 615 to focus on how public health workers move towards and achieve the core functions of public health.
SPHHS 615 Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Part A: Description, Estimation, and Exposures: This course is designed to give you an integrated introduction to epidemiology and biostatistics. These two disciplines are closely related and together they provide public health workers with the skills needed to investigate disease and determine its effects in the population, and what its possible causes may be, as well as how to generate and evaluate evidence that will help with these goals. We will be working in a hands-on way to learn to use the tools of epidemiology and biostatistics to describe populations, estimate the impact of disease, and evaluate the effects of exposures.
SPHHS 616 Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Part B: Evidence, Threats, and Action: This course is designed to provide an integrated introduction to epidemiology and biostatistics. These two disciplines are closely related and together they provide public health workers with the skills needed to evaluate threats to the evidence they and others have collected, as well as how to design interventions to help improve public health. We will be working in a hands-on way to learn to use the tools of epidemiology and biostatistics to assess threats to evidence, design interventions, and assemble the tools from across the public health curriculum by designing a public health program.
HPP 624 Research Methods: This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of research methods in public health which involves the developing research questions that will answer the problem under study; reviewing the literature; selecting the appropriate methodology; methods of obtaining reliable and valid data; and identifying suitable statistical tools. Students will gain skills to help them conduct their own research and to critically evaluate research conducted by others.
ENV 565W Environmental Health Practices: This course will introduce students to the complex field of environmental health and to important features of the physical, chemical, biological and global environments that affect the health and well being of communities. The course will cover traditional areas of concern, such as air and water pollution and hazardous waste, as well as emerging and contemporary problems relating to the global environment. Students will learn about methods for and approaches to the assessment, prevention and control of environmental health problems.
HPP 642 Leadership in Public Health (required course as of September 2020)
The course and field work focus on leadership theory, development, and competencies of contemporary public health leaders. Integral to the leadership role is the application of health policy leadership.
SPHHS 698W Worcester Practicum (please refer to section on the MPH Practicum Guidelines)
HPP 681 Final Culminating Project (please refer to section on the Culminating Experience Guidelines)
Elective Courses (15 credits) Students are allowed 5 elective courses and have the flexibility to choose the electives best suited to their interests and professional goals.