Graduate Student Handbook

1 Introduction

Purpose of this handbook

This handbook is designed to provide details on graduate study in the College of Public Health at The Ohio State University. It should always be read as a complement to other publications at of university policies and procedures, including the following:

  1. Graduate School Handbook. This is the primary source of policy and procedure guidelines for all graduate students.
  2. The Office of the University Registrar website. This website contains course registration fee, and insurance information, as well as a synopsis of important rules, the academic calendar for the current and future semesters, and a wide variety of other useful information.
  3.  The Ohio State University Course Bulletin and Schedule of Classes (available at: http://buckeyelink.osu.edu/). The Bulletin is the principal source of information on course content, format, and prerequisites, and the Schedule of Classes gives the information necessary for course registration each term.

Students are responsible for understanding and applying their programs to the information contained in these sources, as well as the supplemental information in this handbook. Specific questions should be raised with the student’s faculty advisor.

 

The Ohio State University College of Public Health profile

Year Founded: School of Public Health founded 1995 within the Ohio State College of Medicine. Established as a free standing College of Public Health in 2007. First Master of Science degree in Preventative Medicine was conferred in 1948.

Ranking and Accreditation: 29th of all Schools of Public Health, MHA program ranked 8th in nation. The College of Public Health is fully accredited by the Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH).  MHA fully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation Healthcare Management Education (CAHME).

Overview: The profession of public health focuses on population-based prevention of human illness and injury, promotion of healthy behaviors, and intervention and remediation to control escalation of the identified issues and problems. Relative to graduate and professional education and training, doctoral and master degrees are currently offered by the College of Public Health at The Ohio State University. In addition, an undergraduate bachelor of science degree and a minor are offered by the College. The profession of public health has many disciplines that are similar in core practice, but different in approaches to practice public health. The degree programs offered by the Ohio State University College of Public Health offer a variety of specializations.

Enrollment: Approximately 415 graduate students, approximately 230 Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) students, and approximately 140 undergraduate minor students.  Approximately 2500 alumni.

Divisions:

  • Biostatistics
  • Environmental Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Health Behavior and Health Promotion
  • Health Services Management and Policy

Centers:

  • Center for Health Outcomes Policy and Education (HOPES)
  • Center for Public Health Practice (CPHP)

Degrees and Specializations offered:

  • Bachelor of Science in Public Health with two interdisciplinary specializations: Public Health Sociology and Environmental Public Health (with the College of Arts & Sciences)
  • Master of Public Health with seven specializations: Biomedical Informatics (with the College of Medicine), Biostatistics, Clinical Translational Science (with the College of Medicine),  Environmental Health Science, Epidemiology, Health Behavior & Health Promotion, Veterinary Public Health (with the College of Veterinary Medicine). A Master of Public Health Program for Experienced Professionals is also offered.
  • Master of Science with four specializations: Biomedical Informatics (with the College of Medicine), Biostatistics, Environmental Public Health (with the ESGP program), and Epidemiology 
  • Master of Health Administration
  • PhD with five specializations: Public Health Biostatistics (offered jointly with the Department of Statistics), Environmental Public Health (with the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program, ESGP), Epidemiology, Health Behavior & Health Promotion, and Health Services Management and Policy
  • Undergraduate Global Public Health Minor, Undergraduate Epidemiology Minor, Undergraduate Public Health and the Arts Minor
  • Graduate Minors in Biostatistics, Health Services Research, Occupational Safety and Health and Public Health Behavior and Health Promotion. 
  • Graduate Certificates in Biostatistics, Global One Health, Environmental Public Health Risk Assessment, Health Services Research,  and Occupational Safety and Health.
  • Graduate Interdisciplinary Specializations in Obesity Science and Global One Health
  • Combined Degree Programs and Dual Degree Programs

 

Summary of Program Goals
Program Goals
MHA

 

MHA graduates will have the knowledge and skills for management and policy positions in health services careers.

MPH

 

MPH graduates will have the knowledge and skills for general and specialized applied public health practice, both in the public sector and in private sector careers related to population health.

MS

 

MS graduates will have the knowledge and skills to participate in basic and applied research and have the foundation to enter into a research-oriented career.

PhD

 

PhD graduates will have the knowledge and skills to design and conduct independent high quality research and communicate complex information in public health.