Online Master of Public Health (eMPH) Curriculum

The community health and policy eMPH degree program consists of up to 48 credit hours of core public policy courses, electives, and additional required courses. Our curriculum ensures that all degree recipients are proficient in the community-focused work that undergirds the social mission of the institution while still meeting or exceeding the accreditation standards set forth by the Council on Education for Public Health. Additional requirements of the eMPH program consist of Applied Practice Experience and an Integrated Learning Experience.  These requirements ensure that students have the practical, research, communication and professional skills necessary to become leaders in the public health profession. 

Core Courses 

  • Biostatistics
  • Introduction to Environmental Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Health Administration Management & Policy
  • Social & Behavioral Aspects of Public Health
  • Fundamentals of Public Health
  • Research Methods
  • Community Health Assessment & Improvement
  • Health Program Planning & Evaluation           

Other Degree Requirements 

  • Elective Course(s)
  • Applied Practice Experience
  • Integrated Learning Experience
  • Campus Visit/Orientation

Foundational Competencies of the Program

  • RESEARCH: Students will be able to use quantitative and/or qualitative methods to address questions in community-based and public health research.
  • EPIDEMIOLOGY: Students will use epidemiological methods to study the etiology and control of disease and injury in populations.
  • ENVIRONMENT: Students will be able to describe environmental conditions that affect the health of individuals and communities, particularly underserved communities.
  • COMMUNITY: Students will use community assessment methods that take into consideration behavioral, social, and cultural factors to understand public health problems and identify holistic ways to improve health, particularly in underserved communities.
  • LEADERSHIP: Students will describe the use of program planning and evaluation to address health problems in communities, particularly underserved communities.
  • POLICY: Students will describe the impact of health administration, management, and policy on the delivery, quality, access and cost of health care for individuals, communities, and populations.
  • APPLICATION: Students will apply skills and knowledge in public health setting(s) through supervised experience(s) related to professional career objectives.
  • INTEGRATION: Students will integrate public health theory and skills acquired from coursework, practicum, and other learning activities into culminating experience utilizing research methodology with a thesis as an outcome.

Course Descriptions

Core Courses

MPH 500e Biostatistics (3 credit hours)
This course introduces various statistical methods used in public health management, research, and education. Students are trained in biostatistical data analysis and the interpretation of standard statistical packages. (Fall and Spring) 

MPH 501e Introduction to Environmental Health (3 credit hours)
This course introduces all students to the fundamentals of environmental health sciences. It is designed to enable students to recognize environmental health problems, initiate assessments, and communicate with other professionals and the lay public regarding environmental health issues. (Spring) 

MPH 502e Epidemiology (3 credit hours)
This course provides students with knowledge of patterns of disease occurrence in human populations and factors that influence these patterns. The course is designed to enable students to identify and use systematic procedures that are helpful in determining epidemiological relationships. Students will gain insight and be able to recognize situations in their public health practice where epidemiological principles are to be applied. (Fall and Spring)

MPH 503e Health Administration, Management, and Policy (3 credit hours)
This course provides an introduction to major issues in management of health programs and services. The course exposes students to an overview of theories of administration. Specific aspects of health service delivery, policy and management are explicated with emphasis on the role of the manager in contemporary health systems. (Fall) 

MPH 504e Social and Behavioral Aspects of Public Health (3 credit hours)
This course provides a survey of the socio-structural, cultural, micro-ecological, and personal determinants of human behavior. This core course provides students with a general appreciation of the central role that human behavior plays in the development and prevention of illness and in the promotion of health. Specific interventions targeted at African Americans are presented to illustrate these theoretical constructs. (Fall) 

MPH 505e Fundamentals of Public Health (3 credit hours)
The interdisciplinary foundation course for first-year MPH students is designed to improve their analytical and practical skills in the fundamental principles (values and ethics) and core competencies in domestic and global public health issues. The course integrates theory and practice as important characteristics of learning and includes presentations by public health professionals, films, site visits, case studies, and individual and group presentations of assigned projects. (Fall) 

MPH 506e Research Methods (3 credit hours)
This course is designed to provide an overview of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and provide practical experience for students to apply skills learned. Qualitative research methods will be taught and practiced as a way of further understanding the deeper meaning and context of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors within communities and as related to program design and outcomes. This course is designed to assist students with the Culminating Experience Requirement. (Spring)

MPH 510e Health Program Planning & Evaluation (3 credit hours)
This course introduces students to quantitative, qualitative, ethnographic methods of quality measurement and improvement in public health and economic evaluations of programs. Students will learn formative and summative program evaluation methods explore public health standards for conducting program evaluation and introduce student to the principles and practices of healthcare finance as it relates to economic evaluations of programs.

MPH 508e Community Health Assessment & Improvement (3 credit hours)

This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills that are required to assess and organize communities for health promotion interventions. Students will be introduced to principles of community health engagement as they begin to engage with your assigned community of concern. Students will consider social and other determinants of health as well as ways to enhance positive determinants and to mitigate negative determinants to optimal community health. Students will also learn ways to advocate on behalf of communities and to communicate appropriately with community leaders and residents.

Elective Courses

MPH 604e Strategic Planning in Health Administration (3 credit hours)
This course focuses on principles of strategic management and competitive analysis to support strategy development for health and healthcare organizations. This course will provide an understanding of how current business and management knowledge is applied to those organizations to promote future success andcompetitive advantage. Through examining contemporary theory and models, students will learn to assess and develop an organization's mission and vision. Students will perform an internal and external strategic assessment, evaluate competitive threats and responses, and develop organizational strategies and measures of success. Additionally, students will evaluate the decision-making approaches used to develop and execute the best strategies. Course instruction will blend the application of theory with practical applications. Through this approach, students will strengthen their knowledge of organizational planning in public health.

MPH 605e Principles of Public Health Leadership (2 credit hours)
The Principles in Public Health Leadership course introduces students to major theories and concepts of leadership and ways of applying these theories and concepts to public health issues. Thus, the course provides an opportunity for students to develop skills and to access resources that will further develop their own and others’ leadership abilities. Principles of Leadership will cover key topics such as major theories and models of leadership, leadership competencies, current public health issues and challenges, ethical issues in leadership, and approaches to change and leadership at the team, organizational, and community level.

MPH 603e Public Health Ethics (2 credits)
This course examines normative frameworks and ethical issues related to public health practice and policy. Public health policy is often the product of controversy. Scientific considerations blend with political and ethical conflicts in public health. Questions of autonomy, liberty, individual rights, power, coercion, justice, discrimination, stigma, community and the common good are central to public health policy and practice – and are therefore the basis for the core ethical challenges in public health.

MPH 514e Public Health Law (2 credit hours)
This course is designed to examine and offer a critical analysis of the confluence of law and public health to improve the effectiveness of public policy in enhancing the health of populations.

MPH 535e Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Management (2 credits)
This course is designed to introduce students to the administrative, management, clinical, environmental, and social issues relevant to emergency preparedness and the management of disasters at the local health department level. The course provides an overview of the fundamentals of emergency preparedness and disaster management at the local public health department level. It also describes and defines the support role of federal, state and county agencies in disaster recovery and mitigation. The role of local public health departments as it relates to leadership, organizational readiness, resource allocation, communications, information gathering and dissemination, and clinical and environmental interventions will be explored.

MPH 705e The Politics of Health Care Policy (3 credit hours)
The course has two primary goals – teach MPH students (1) that the formation of health care policy is a political exercise and (2) how politics – primarily the concern of politicians to be elected and re-elected – influences the formulation of health care policy.  By having a better understanding of and appreciation for the politics behind health care policy, MPH students will be more effective advocates for policies and programs they might support or champion over the course of their careers.   To that end, one of the key assignments of the class will be to write an outline and present to the rest of the class what ideal health care policy would look like. 

Description of Other Required Courses

MPH 690e Applied Practice Experience (3 credit hours)
Students complete a worksite experience (480 hours) at a public or private health service organization. Students apply classroom theory and competencies to practical situations in the field. This course also helps students identify needed job skills and possible work opportunities in their area of specialization. 

APE Learning Objectives - Students will be able to:

  • Apply public health theory, knowledge and skills in a practice setting.
  • Complete a defined project(s) in an area of public health practice including core public health functions such as needs assessment, program planning, program evaluation, policy development, educational campaign or applied research.
  • Relate principles of public health practice - organizational structure, local and organizational politics, program administration, community relationships, program coordination - to their defined project(s).
  • Demonstrate skills and knowledge in an area of interest not covered in depth elsewhere in their educational plan.
  • Demonstrate competence in a public health practice area(s).
  • Demonstrate leadership, teamwork, communication skills and creativity in the development of a public health practice activity.
  • Integrated Learning Experience: Thesis

MPH 691e Integrated Learning Experience (3 credit hours)
This course provides an opportunity for students to synthesize and integrate the knowledge base and competencies acquired in coursework and practicum and demonstrate this achievement through writing and presenting a thesis. The Thesis is supervised by a committee comprised of at least one faculty member, one public health practitioner, and an expert in the student’s field of study. Faculty use this experience as a mechanism to evaluate whether the student has mastered the body of knowledge and competencies needed for public health research and practice. Prior to graduation, each student must present their thesis in oral and written form.

ILE Learning Objectives – Student will be able to:

  • Demonstrate their ability to critically examine selected issues related to public health,
  • Review relevant scholarly and professional literature,
  • Write an analysis based on that review, and
  • Design and implement an original research study that contributes to the knowledge base of the public health profession.

Faculty

Core Faculty/Course Directors

Stephanie Miles-Richardson, DVM, PhD
Professor, Department of Public Health Education
Assistant Dean for Graduate Education in Public Health
Director, Master of Public Health Program
DVM – Tuskegee University, Veterinary Medicine
PhD – Michigan StateUniversity, Environmental Health

Elaine Archie-Booker, EdD, RN
Director of Community Engagement, MPH Program
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Education
EdD - University of Georgia, Health Education
MS - Georgia State University, Urban Health             

Gemechu Gerbi, PhD, MSc
Director of Public Health Research, MPH Program
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Public Health Education
PhD – Tuskegee University, Integrated Biosciences/Epidemiology
MSc – Tuskegee University, Epidemiology/Veterinary Science

Reinetta Thompson Waldrop, Dr.PH, MSHS, FACHE
Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Education
MSHS – Georgia Tech, Health Systems Management Engineering
DrPH – University of Georgia, Public Health