Public Health Curriculum
CompleteDegree@Simmons
The BS in Public Health curriculum is designed to help you grow as a confident and skilled advocate, capable of influencing a healthier, more educated public. The program’s interactive coursework covers emerging research, trends, and solutions that can act as long-term prevention of an issue on a widespread scale — like the eradication of disease.
Key Content Areas
A Simmons education will prepare you to think and lead within your area of focus and beyond. Our undergraduate experience includes courses in a variety of key content areas — such as science, culture, social history, and the arts — that represent different ways of thinking about the world and approaching complex topics. These learning opportunities within and across disciplines prepare our graduates to solve a wide range of challenges in their lives, careers, and communities.
Like many of our students who are continuing their academic journey with Simmons, you may have transferable credits that fulfill key content area requirements. Be sure to submit all academic transcripts for review — we accept up to 96 transfer credits.
Program Requirements
Below are the public health course requirements. As a student in this program, you will complete core courses plus a capstone experience — which can be your choice of an internship, independent research project, or thesis.
Public Health Course Requirements
| Course # | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PH 101 | Introduction to Public Health | 4 |
| BIOL 113 | General Biology | 4 |
| CHEM 110 | General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry | 4 |
| SOCI 241 | Health, Illness, and Society | 4 |
| BIOL 104 | Introduction to Environmental Science | 4 |
| BIOL 221 | Microbiology | 4 |
| SOCI 245 | Global Health | 4 |
| STAT 118 OR STAT 227 | Introductory Statistics OR Intermediate Statistics: Design & Analysis | 4 |
| COMM 312 | Health Communications | 4 |
| PH 201 | Introduction to Epidemiology | 4 |
| PH 345 | Health Systems & Policy | 4 |
| BIOL 246 OR SOCI 239 | Foundations of Exercise and Health OR Introduction to Social Research | 4 |
| Electives (2) | 8 |
Capstone Requirement
Students complete their capstone requirement by taking our Public Health Seminar in addition to one of the following: a one-semester internship, a one-semester research experience, or a two-semester thesis. All students will create a presentation and submit an internship paper, research paper, or research thesis as the final products of their capstone experience.
| Course # | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PH 347 | Public Health Seminar | 4 |
Capstone Option 1: Internship
| Course # | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PH 370 | Internship | 4 |
Capstone Option 2: Independent Research Project
| Course # | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PH 350 | Independent Study | 4 |
Capstone Option 3: Thesis
| Course # | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PH 350 | Independent Study | 4 |
| PH 355 | Thesis | 4 |
Graduate Study Opportunities
The Department of Public Health has matriculation agreements in place for master’s programs in public health with Boston University School of Public Health (Select Scholars Program) and The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Interested students should discuss these options with the chair of the Department of Public Health once enrolled in the program.