Elizabethtown College has recently announced a new public health major for undergraduate students. The interdisciplinary program will be part of the School of Public Service, along with other majors such as legal studies, political science and sociology.
Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities by researching disease and injury prevention, promoting healthy lifestyles and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases.
“Public health is about serving communities and meeting public needs. Many of the jobs in public health are with government agencies and other traditional ‘public service’ sectors,” Chair of the department of politics, philosophy and legal studies and Dean of the School of Public Service Dr. April Kelly-Woessner said.
Faculty and staff at Etown work with consultants to figure out potential majors and programs that the College can offer in order to appeal to as many students as possible, which is especially important as college admissions become more and more competitive. Kelly-Woessner explained that a public health major stood out to her for a number of reasons.
“[A public health major] builds on the mission of the College to educate for service and meet the needs of our communities, builds on the existing expertise of our excellent faculty, who were already teaching many of the courses in the program and the demand for jobs and promising salaries for graduates in our region,” Kelly-Woessner said.
A unique aspect of the public health major is that it is available as a bachelor of arts (B.A) degree and a bachelor of science (B.S.) degree. Students who choose to complete the B.A. degree approach the issue from a public policy perspective and take more courses in political science, communications and sociology. These courses will prepare students for careers in advocacy, policy work and program administration in government and non-government agencies. Students completing the B.S. degree focus on the science behind health and the spread of diseases in individuals and populations and take courses in biology and data analytics. Students who will take these courses will be prepared for graduate programs in public health and working in research laboratories. However, students in either degree will take many of the same courses. They will also each complete an independent research project analyzing an issue related to public health.
With the current COVID-19 pandemic, public health is more important and relevant than ever. Not only would public health majors be researching the COVID-19 virus and creating a vaccine, they would also be developing public policy, such as social distancing procedures and mask regulations, to prevent the spread of the disease. However, the curriculum for the public health major will not change in the foreseeable future.
“The curriculum will be relevant long after the current pandemic. Individual behaviors have collective outcomes and therefore we need broad, coordinated efforts to address public health concerns. That is where public health majors are needed,” Kelly-Woessner said.
The first class that will be able to major in public health will enroll in 2021 or next fall. The admissions office is reporting growing interest among prospective students, according to Kelly-Woessner.
