Planning Your Public Health Focus Area

PHS students design their own personalized focus area to explore a public health topic of interest in greater depth.

About The Focus Area Requirement

The focus area is your opportunity to tailor part of your Public Health Sciences major around your personal interests and career goals. You will choose a set of related upper-level courses that allow you to explore a specific aspect of public health in greater depth. This requirement highlights the interdisciplinary nature of public health and encourages you to draw connections across fields.

Examples of student focus area titles: 
  • Clinical Public Health
  • Community Health Education in Underserved Areas
  • Developmental Disabilities and Human Services
  • Economics of Health and Sustainable Development
  • Environmental Health Sciences and Policy
  • Environmental Justice
  • Epidemiology of Women’s Health
  • Equity-Centered Healthcare Management
  • Food Access and Justice
  • Gender and Sexuality
  • Genetic Epidemiology
  • Global Health Policy: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Addressing Disparities
  • Health Administration and Management
  • Health Care Policy and Informatics
  • Health Data Analytics and Management
  • Health Science Communication and Advocacy
  • Infectious Disease  
  • Mental Health and Psychology
  • Public Health Journalism and Advocacy

Your focus area must include at least 12 credits of 300-level or higher coursework. While the courses should clearly relate to the study of public health, they don’t need to be listed under the Public Health subject code. You’re encouraged to explore relevant courses across departments.

Focus Area Proposals must be submitted and approved no later than spring of junior year. Any junior without an approved proposal by March 15th will have a registration hold placed on their account. 

*New for Fall 2023*

As of Fall 2023, students will have the opportunity to learn about, reflect on, and workshop their focus area proposals during their Junior Year Writing course (PUBHLTH 323). Students may also choose to participate in one of the following:

  1. Attend a Focus Area Workshop lead by Peer Advisors. At the end of each workshop, there will be time available to meet with a peer advisor and submit the Focus Area Proposal. Workshops are offered once per fall and once per spring semester.
  2. Drop-in to the Peer Advising Office during their weekly hours to meet with a peer advisor and submit the Focus Area Proposal

Focus area proposals may be submitted after meeting with peer advisors, reflecting in PUBHLTH 323, or attending a workshop. Jesse Hunsicker will review the proposal and reach out with feedback or with approval. Students in the global health concentration have requirements in place of the focus area requirement.

As of Summer 2022 and Later: Chem 261, Chem 262, Chem 269, and Chem 250 cannot be used towards the Focus Area requirement for this major.  We no longer accept any course that is less than 300-level. (This applies to anyone in the major who has not received Focus Area approval yet.)

Ready to submit your Focus Area Proposal? Click this link!