Course Description
Core Course Descriptions
| Number | Title | Description |
| 510 | Introduction to Epidemiology | Principles and methods of epidemiologic investigation, descriptive and analytic epidemiology techniques, disease frequency, risk determination, study designs, causality, and validity. |
| 520 | Fundamentals of Biostatistics | Introduces basic vocabulary, concepts, and methods of biostatistics. The goal is to provide an introduction to how biostatistics works. Topics will include descriptive statistics, probability, random variables, probability distributions, statistical inference, chi-square analysis, linear regression, and correlation. |
| 530 | Public Health Administration and Management | Overview of public health and health care systems; organizational structures, functions, authorities, policies and procedures; programmatic budgeting, operations, and prioritizations; program performance reporting and improvement; grants and contracts; informatics; human relations and negotiation; management and leadership; and business planning. |
| 535 | Health Policy | The evolution and intersection of international, federal, state, and local public health policy. |
| 540 | Social & Behavioral Science in Public Health | Behavioral and social factors relevant to the identification and solution of public health problems, principles of health behavior change, applications, and assessment of interventions. |
| 550 | Program Evaluation and Research Methods | Covers purpose statements, standards, study designs, sampling, measurement, methods for data collection and analysis, interpretation, and report preparation. Models of evaluation described, and similarities and differences between research and evaluation methods explored. (Prereq PUBH 510 and consent of instructor) |
| 560 | Environmental & Rural Health | Relationship of people to their physical environment, how this relationship impacts health, and efforts to minimize negative health effects. |
| 570 | Ethical Issues in Public Health | Focus on the values and moral issues that underlie U.S. public health policies. Course examines ethical decision making in areas such as policy development, research, environmental health, occupational health, resource allocation, and genetics. |
| 580 | Rural Health Issues in a Global Context | This course focuses on rural concerns and global influences on public health. Students will become familiar with trends in global health, global health policies, players, priorities, human rights, health equity, and mobile and vulnerable populations. Students will be introduced to health research methods and design, which will be used to analyze rural and global health issues. The class will emphasize the science and art of epidemiology across diverse rural populations. Students will explore when and how to apply epidemiological strategies to answer specific health questions. |
| 594 | Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) | Integrates the student’s practice experience and knowledge gained through course work, APE, and possibly professional papers and research with the goals and learning objectives of the M.P.H. program into a portfolio. The ILE should be completed in the final year of the student’s program. Offered credit/no credit only. |
| 595 | Applied Practice Experience (APE) | Semester long, supervised graduate practicum in a health science setting, followed by an oral defense. The final product of the APE is a portfolio that includes at least two distinct products, as well as an oral presentation. Students must have completed 12 credits of core courses prior to enrolling for the APE.Offered credit/no credit only. |
Elective Course Descriptions
| Number | Title | Description |
| 511 | History & Theory Epidemiology | This course covers the basic science of public health. Major schools of epidemiology from the Greek, Italian and English traditions will be compared and contrasted Basic concepts and terminology will be introduced and major pandemics used to illustrate the evolution of the field. |
| 515 | Public Health Genetics | Basic principles of genetics and genomics, application to public health practices and research. Includes issues in public health genetics such as informed consent, screening for genetic susceptibility, and ethical, legal and social implications. |
| 525 | Multicultural & Native American Public Health | Provides general overview of multicultural issues within the United States and specifically within Montana. The course will provide overview information abouth health disparities within the nation and how these disparities disproportionately impact ethnic minority populations. Montana's largest minority population is Native Arnerican tribal conrmunities. As a result, much of the course will incorporate advanced knowledge and topics relating to regional health disparities facing Native American communities. |
| 590 | Research | With the guidance of their faculty advisor, students will develop a written proposal specific to the goals of their research project, and carry out the project. |
| 591 | Special Topics | Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics. Previous topics have included Global Health and Epidemiology of Infectious Disease. |
| 592 | Independent Study | Supervised readings, research, or public health practice. |