Masters of Public Health degree approved by Trustees
A Masters of Public Health degree was approved for creation by Central Michigan University Board of Trustees members at their Dec. 9 meeting.
The MPH is recognized as the flagship degree in public health and is designed to train public health care workers to address new and emerging health issues, particularly in rural and medically underserved areas. CMU will become the third university in the state to offer the MPH, joining the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.
President George Ross said the focus on underserved areas, which is also a focus of the College of Medicine, is the continuation of an effort that provides learning opportunities in partnership with physicians and hospitals in central and northern Michigan.
"We've always had strong emphasis on serving the complete community," Ross said. "I think its a reaffirmation of serving underserved areas, be they rural or urban."
Michael Gealt, executive vice president and provost, said areas of study will include epidemiology, environmental health, rural health, public health leadership, program planning, evaluation, and health policy and management. Graduates of the program will move on to careers as public health specialists or as health services managers.
Trustees made it clear that the new degree should be available widely through CMU's Global Campus. Gealt said the program will be accessible through Global Campus in its second year.
"When I think of Global Campus, I think of access first," Ross said. "It gives a reach outside Isabella County, a quarter of our student enrollment is in Global Campus. I see that growing. I think that is critically important, the number of high school graduates will decline in Michigan in the next eight years."
In the United States, the degree typically takes two-years of full-time work to complete. Based on the accreditation of the Council on Education for Public Health MPH or MSPH is not a clinical degree.
According to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public health, most hospital systems have MPH public health staff to study disease trends and help to combat hospital-acquired infections and immediately determine trends like flu outbreaks.
The degree will be under the College of Health Professions.
