Are you interested in health issues? Do you have a passion for helping others? If so, our public health major is for you. Our Public Health bachelor’s degree focuses on prevention, impact, equity, and justice for people and communities. It addresses the root of health disparities. With a public health degree from Ball State’s College of Health, you will be out in the community advocating for health issues, analyzing the data, developing programs, and communicating best practices.
Credits
Major Courses: 75
- Required Coursework: 57
- Electives: 12
- Internship: 6
Our dedicated and highly trained faculty provide engaging and interactive interprofessional experiences across multiple health-related disciplines in the College of Health. Public health students explore the diverse domains of public health, including health communication, social and behavioral sciences, health policy, advocacy, program planning, environmental health, epidemiology, and biostatistics.
Your public health degree from Ball State makes you a well-prepared and distinctive applicant for entry-level public health positions with state and local public health departments, nonprofit agencies, worksite health promotion programs, health companies, and health care settings or to begin an advanced program of study.
Majoring in Public Health at Ball State
The curriculum for our bachelor’s degree in public health is comprised of core requirements and electives. Students enrolled in the public health program will also gain hands-on, real-world experience through an internship, to be completed prior to graduation. View the program check sheet here.
- The underlying science of human health and disease including opportunities for promoting and protecting health across the life course.
- The determinants of health including socio-economic, behavioral, biological, environmental, and other factors that impact human health and contribute to health disparities.
- The foundations of biological and life sciences and the concepts of health and disease.
- The history and philosophy of public health as well as its core values, concepts, and functions across the globe and in society.
- The concepts of population health, and the basic processes, approaches, and interventions that identify and address the major health-related needs and concerns of populations.
- The basic concepts, methods, and tools of public health data collection, use, and analysis and why evidence-based approaches are an essential part of public health practice.
- The concepts and applications of basic statistics and identifying and applying the principles of basic statistics.
- The fundamental concepts and features of project implementation, including planning, assessment, and evaluation.
- The basic concepts of public health-specific communication, including technical and professional writing and the use of mass media and electronic technology.
- The fundamental characteristics and organizational structures of the U.S. health system as well as the differences in other countries.
- The basic concepts of legal, ethical, economic, and regulatory dimensions of health care and public health policy, and the roles, influences and responsibilities of the different agencies and branches of government.
Public Health has its own student organization, Eta Sigma Gamma, a health education honorary organization. Our students create health-related programming and experiences for Ball State students and the Muncie community.
As one of our students, you will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience helping solve real-world problems while earning course credits through immersive learning projects. Our department’s faculty members have previously coordinated projects tailored to our own field, but you will also have the chance to work collaboratively with students and faculty from other programs around campus.
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Undergraduate Research Opportunities
with Faculty Mentors
“Early in my undergraduate studies, I began work on an extracurricular research line of inquiry focusing on key health behaviors associated with preventing or reversing chronic disease development in emerging adults. I worked alongside Dr. Kotecki for 2 years. He provided constructive feedback in a supportive way. Our research findings have been presented at national conferences and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
I discovered that you understand your field much better if you understand not just what is known but how it came to be known. My research findings with Dr. Kotecki not only provided a knowledge-to-action framework to advance Public Health but challenged my mind and trained me to think in new ways.”
– Maurita Greene, BS, CHES®
On top of the dozens of funding options offered through Ball State’s Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, our department awards scholarships to our own students. Find a scholarship.
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Ready to Apply?
Admission to Ball State is selective, and we carefully evaluate all applications on an individual basis. Applying for admission is easy. Use our convenient, comprehensive, and secure online application.
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Want to Learn More?
The best way to get a true feel for Ball State is to spend some time here, so we encourage you and your family to schedule a campus visit. Take a tour, attend an information session, meet with a professor in our area, and ask plenty of questions. Or if you’d rather speak to someone directly by phone or email, please feel free to contact us.