Public Health Minor

Being Health Literate

Human health impacts our individual biology as well as the natural, built, and social environments in which we live, work, and play. The ability to integrate a health perspective is important not only in our personal lives but it also strengthens disciplines beyond traditional health-related and clinical fields.

A minor in public health introduces students to public and population health principles and research methodologies. Students can integrate public health perspectives into many careers like allied and professional health fields, graduate programs in biology and physiology, as well as law, the social sciences, policy, and engineering.

Being a Community Partner

Advocating for and implementing better water and sanitation systems in underserved communities or creating a marketing plan centered around making healthier food choices are some of the ways a minor in public health can serve the community. With a minor in public health from Michigan Tech, students will learn how to determine community needs, develop or enhance plans based on those needs, and effectively partner with stakeholder groups to implement solutions-based programs. Over the past 15 years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance academia plays in teaching these skills. In 2002, an Institute of Medicine report recognized the need to better educate the public health workforce and partners that play key roles in the health of our communities who are not in traditional public health positions.

As COVID-19 has made abundantly clear, the health of our neighbors and our environment, whether globally or next-door, affects the health of each one of us. Our community's health impacts every part of our society. We cannot separate health from any of our fields, but must instead learn how to integrate a health perspective into your chosen careers.

Kelly Kamm
Kelly Kamm
Assistant Professor, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology

Requirements

Courses listed are relevant to important domestic and global public health specialties such as health promotion and communication, health disparities, public health microbiology, environmental health, and health policy. Public health topic courses are organized to suggest relevance to specialties; students may take any combination of the courses although KIP 2600 and KIP 4740 are required within the Core Requirements.

Students must complete 18 credit hours as detailed below, with at least 9 credit hours at a level of 3000 or higher. Minors will be awarded based off of the official Banweb Audit.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of the Public Heath minor, students will be able to:

  1. Apply a public health approach to identify and address complex health needs in populations
  2. Assess the biologic, social, behavioral, cultural, political, and environmental factors that promote or inhibit health equity in populations.
  3. Apply ethical principles of research and public health to the design or evaluation of existing or proposed public health programs, policies, or interventions.
  4. Demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of public health by examining the contributions of different disciplines (including the student’s chosen major field) to protect and improve the health of global or domestic populations. 

Required Public Health Basics (6 credits)

KIP 2600 is offered during the Fall semester only. KIP 4740 is offered during the Spring semester only.  

Required Public Health Topics (6-7 credits)

Students select any combination of 6 to 7 credit hours from the courses listed below.

Elective Coursework (5-6 credits)

Students select an additional 5 to 6 credit hours from these course or additional courses above.