Community Health Education
Join the frontlines to improve community health and address health inequity.
Bring your passion for social justice to the frontlines of efforts to address health inequities and improve quality of life for all.
Broaden your perspective on public health issues and learn how social, economic, and political factors interact to influence social change. Explore a range of topics aimed at the community health issues of historically marginalized and vulnerable populations — and strategize alongside fellow students and faculty to address them.
As a graduate student in UMass Amherst’s community health education program, you’ll gain the skills and knowledge to promote social change. Community health education at UMass has carved out a well-defined niche that distinguishes the program from that of other departments across the country. As the reputation of the faculty continues to grow, the program is rapidly becoming nationally and internationally recognized for developing advanced methods of community health promotion research and practice. The program's distinctive strengths are:
- A focus on historically marginalized and vulnerable populations
- A humanistic framework for health promotion
- Community-engaged research
- Innovative, culture-centered methodologies
Explore our programs
Jump in faculty research funding for the School of Public Health and Health Sciences from 2017 to 2022
Upon graduation, 100% of our graduates are fully employed or continuing with education and/or fellowships
Research Areas
As a former counselor specializing in addiction recovery, MPH student Sam Tarplin takes his experience and forges his own path in addiction research.
Benefits list
Degrees With Great Value
Receive the value of New England’s only publicly funded school of public health. Most graduates of the master’s programs go on to work in hospitals, clinical settings, nonprofits, and government agencies. Graduates of the PhD programs go on to hold research positions at leading institutions.
Cutting-Edge Research
Work with faculty on community-engaged research through the Center for Community Health Equity Research. Join the opioid intervention efforts of a $10-million Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) grant. And work on big data-driven projects examining health care legislation and policy.
Make a Difference in Communities
Make a difference as a public health professional in a variety of settings, from small nonprofits to large global health agencies, local health agencies to federal regulatory agencies, and as an educator or administrator from the community level to the major health care system level.
Alumni spotlight
In the Spotlight
“I chose UMass because of the tight-knit community and the amazing and supportive faculty. The School of Public Health and Health Sciences has provided me with many opportunities to practice public health and also join faculty in their cutting-edge research.”
Community stories
Chavon Hamilton-Burgess
Featured Faculty
Elizabeth Evans
Associate Chair, Department of Health Promotion and Policy
Focus on opioids and other substances of abuse; women’s health; life course; social determinants; health services utilization and outcomes.
Aline Gubrium
Program Head, Community Health Education
Focus on sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice; participatory digital, visual, and narrative research methodologies; health promotion
Kathryn Derose
Focus on community partnerships, health inequalities, immigrants, Latin America, mixed methods.
Krishna Poudel
Director, Institute for Global Health
Focus on HIV/STI prevention; health promotion and disease prevention; global health; evaluation of behavior change interventions
Susan Shaw
Director, Center for Community Health Equity Research
Focus on racial and ethnic health disparities, structural racism and health, gender and sexuality, community-based and participatory research.
In the News
Serving Vulnerable Populations through Community-Partnered Research
The UMass Amherst Foundation profiles Elizabeth Evans' community-partnered research promoting interventions to help people with substance abuse disorders.
SPHHS Faculty Named 2025-26 ADVANCE Faculty Fellows
Faculty members Elizabeth Evans, Chaoran Ma, Sarah Roelker, and Jasleen Singh have been selected to the 2025-2026 cohort of ADVANCE Faculty Fellows.
SPHHS Doctoral Students Receive STEM Leadership Fellowship
SPHHS doctoral students Shivranjani Gandhi, Godness Biney, and Ruth Appiah Kubi received STEM Leadership Fellowships from the UMass Amherst Graduate School.
Community Health Education
Addressing health inequity and improving community health for all.