The Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) Program provides three competency-based concentrations in the sciences of public health. All students will develop professional competencies by enhancing their knowledge, skills and understanding of the five core areas of public health. In addition, concentrations in public health practice, health education & promotion, or public health administration & policy allow students to tailor their education to their career goals. Students obtain and further develop public health professional skills needed to improve the health of populations.

Mission

To provide an excellent, competency-based, interdisciplinary education that prepares public health leaders who preserve and promote health in our global community.

Vision

To improve health for all through our commitment to innovative education, scholarship, service, and advancement of public health.

Values

• Excellence: Demonstrate outstanding performance in all teaching and learning, research, and service activities.
• Integrity:  Demonstrate the highest degree of moral and ethical behavior.
• Diversity: Value the unique and various backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs of our faculty, staff, students, and communities we serve.
• Social justice: A commitment to improving health and reducing health disparities.
• Community: A commitment to community partnerships that promote student learning, professional growth, and enhanced public health practice.

Goals

• Educational goal: Use innovative and rigorous teaching and learning strategies to prepare a diverse student body with the competencies necessary to be leaders in public health.
• Service goal: Serve communities locally and globally through workforce development activities, community engagement, service, and leadership.
• Research goal: Advance public health knowledge through innovative, interdisciplinary research.
• Administrative goal: Operate and enhance a CEPH-accredited MPH program that supports faculty, staff, and student excellence and upholds the mission of Des Moines University.

Objectives

Educational Objectives

• Each of the eight public health competency domains will be addressed across the five core courses [Basic Statistics and Research, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Occupational and Environmental Health, Public Health Administration and Management, Epidemiology].
• 100% of graduates will attain 70% or higher in all eight MPH competency domains.
• 90% of students who take the CPH exam will pass.
• 90% of all MPH courses will receive a student course evaluation with a mean value of 4.0 or higher (1=poor, 5 = excellent).
• 80% of all MPH graduates will report “yes” the program helped them develop entry-level competency in public health.
• 80% of all alumni will rate themselves as “exemplary” or “proficient” on the public health competency self-assessment.
• 80% of employers surveyed will report MPH graduates as “exemplary” or “proficient” in public health practice.
• 50% of MPH courses will include content and assessment linked to the cultural competency domain.
• Each year, at least two MPH program faculty will participate in at least one interdisciplinary education offering of Des Moines University students.
• Instructor peer-reviews to support continuous quality improvement will occur every other year for all faculty (core and secondary).
• Each year, the MPH program will offer at least two global health electives to support the global health initiatives of Des Moines University.

Service Objectives

• 75% of MPH core faculty will serve on at least one external service committee or project per year.
• 75% of MPH core faculty will deliver health education / promotion presentations to external (non DMU-MPH) audiences each year.
• 100% of student internships and capstones will result in students sharing core public health content with external stakeholders.
• The MPH student club will participate in at least one service-learning experience per year.

Research Objectives

• 50% of core faculty will engage in research collaborations with external academic partners each year.
• 50% of core faculty will engage in research collaborations with community partners each year.
• 50% of core faculty will publish at least one peer-reviewed article each year.
• 15% of MPH graduates will have participated in public health research through extracurricular activities or through course work.
• 100% of graduates will complete the “Responsible Conduct of Research” training.
• 80% of faculty research projects will involve student collaborators.

Administrative Objectives

• 100% of core faculty will attend at least one professional development activity in their field of expertise per year.
• The program, in collaboration with partners across the university, will provide at least one professional development activity per year to all faculty.
• Annually review a program-wide curriculum map that is the basis for curricular modifications and curricular improvement initiatives.
• Support the diversity initiatives of Des Moines University by awarding at least two diversity scholarship awards per year.
• Convene an advisory committee at least three times per year as a mechanism for stakeholder and community input into the program’s operations.

Program Requirements

To be eligible to apply for admission to the Master of Public Health program at DMU, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution.  Typically, applicants must submit entrance exam (e.g., GRE) scores during the application process; scores no older than five years are preferred.

Additional information regarding admission to the program can be found on the MPH Program Admissions Requirements website.

Program Application Process

Application to the Master of Public Health program is accepted through the Schools of Public Health Application Service (SOPHAS).

Detailed information regarding the process can be found on the MPH program admissions website.

Applicants will receive a response to their application status after files have been reviewed by the Admissions Committee.

A student may request up to 12.0 hours of graduate credit from a previously-attended, accredited institution. The request should be submitted by completing the MPH Transfer Credit Request form.  Approved transfer credits will be entered on the student’s permanent record by the Registrar’s Office. Additional information is outlined in the MHA/MPH Transfer Credit policy.

Curriculum Overview and Outline

The MPH program offers concentrations in three areas, Public Health Practice, Health Education & Promotion, or Public Health Administration & Policy. Students must complete 46 total credit hours that include 25 credit hours in the Public Health Core, 16 credit hours of concentration core, and 5 credit hours of culminating experiences.

Program Outcomes

To review the program’s outcome statistics (e.g., graduation rates, employer surveys, assessment outcomes, etc.), please visit the program’s outcomes webpage.

Technical Standards for Admission, Academic Promotion and Graduation

A candidate for the Master of Public Health degree must have abilities and skills (referred to as “technical standards”) in three areas: communication; intellectual, conceptual, integrative, and quantitative abilities; behavioral and social attributes. The University is committed to complying with the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act, recognizing that certain minimum technical standards must be present in all students seeking a health care degree. Reasonable accommodations will be provided when supported with appropriate documentation, but in all cases, candidates and students must be able to demonstrate performance of these standards in a reasonably independent manner.

1. Communication: Candidates and students must be able to communicate effectively and respectfully, both verbally and in writing, in the English language to elicit information from and provide information to faculty, fellow students, and health care professionals to ensure high functioning collaborative teams.
2. Intellectual, Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities:  Candidates and students must have the ability to accurately measure, calculate, reason, analyze, synthesize, problem solve and think critically. They must also have the ability to participate and learn through a variety of modalities including but not limited to classroom and on-line instruction, small groups, team and collaborative activities. Candidates and students must be able to concentrate, analyze and timely interpret data and make decisions within areas in which there is a reasonable amount of visual and auditory distraction. They must also perform these functions in a timely manner.
3. Behavioral and Social Attributes: Candidates and students must possess the emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities in order that they may exercise good judgment in the completion of their duties as members of the health care team. Candidates and students must be able to tolerate stressful workloads; adapt to changing environments; display flexibility and learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in graduate field based learning/internships; and to be free of impairment due to substance abuse. Integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest, and motivation are all personal qualities that will be assessed during the admissions and educational processes. Students must be accepting and non-judgmental of individuals whose spiritual beliefs, culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic background or sexual orientation differ from their background.

Accommodations

The University encourages application by qualified individuals with disabilities who meet these technical standards either with or without reasonable accommodations.  Requests from candidates and students for reasonable accommodations in meeting the technical standards will be reviewed and considered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).  CTL is the University department that reviews requests for student accommodations.  For additional information about the process for assessing an applicant’s compliance with the Technical Standards, contact the CTL.

Use of an intermediary may be permissible in performing some physical maneuvers or data gathering, but must not substitute for the candidate or student’s interpretation and judgment.  The use of a trained intermediary, a person trained to perform essential skills on behalf of the candidate, or a person used such that a candidate’s judgment must be mediated by someone else’s power of selection and observation, is not permitted.

Technological compensation can be made with respect to certain technical standards, but candidates and students should be able to perform these standards in a reasonably independent manner.  

Process for Assessing Compliance with the Technical Standards

Candidates are required to attest at the time they accept an offer to matriculate that they meet the applicable technical standards, and thereafter must attest on an annual basis, as a student, that they continue to meet the standards. These standards are not intended to deter any candidate or student who might be able to complete the requirements of the curriculum with reasonable accommodations.

Required Courses

Public Health Practice Concentration

Health Education & Promotion Concentration

Public Health Administration & Policy Concentration

Required Courses under Previous Catalogs

Required courses for students matriculating prior to 2018-2019:

Elective Courses

6.0 credit hours of electives are required for students matriculating prior to 2018-2019.

Any course offered in the M.H.A. curriculum may be taken to fulfill M.P.H. elective credit requirements.

Graduation Requirements

A student is scheduled for graduation after successful completion of all degree requirements and upon recommendation of the program faculty for graduation. Students must have a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 to be eligible for graduation.  All students graduating from the MPH  program are required to submit a graduation petition form prior to their intended graduation date.  Students must submit this form and pay all fees in order to receive their diploma.