May 16, 2024  
2024-2025 University Catalog 
    
2024-2025 University Catalog

Public Health, Environmental Health Concentration, M.P.H.


(Major Code: 12141) (Acdemic Plan Code: 557315MPHS)

Admission to the Degree Curriculum

Applicants seeking admission to public health concentration areas leading to either the Master of Public Health or Master of Science degree should contact the School of Public Health requesting appropriate descriptive materials. Detailed application instructions can be obtained from http://publichealth.sdsu.edu.

Students who do not fully meet the requirements for admission with classified graduate standing may be considered for conditionally classified graduate standing upon recommendation of the admissions committee and the graduate adviser.

Advancement to Candidacy

All students must: (1) meet the general requirements for advancement to candidacy as described in Requirements for Master’s Degrees ; (2) satisfactorily pass a faculty evaluation of the progress that they are making in their graduate course of study; (3) complete the core courses, P H 601 , P H 602 , P H 603 , P H 604 , P H 605  have a grade point average of at least 3.0 and no grade less than a B- in each core course completed; and (4) have completed at least 12 semester units of approved public health coursework.

In addition, the student must be recommended for advancement to candidacy by the faculty of the School of Public Health.

Specific Requirements


In addition to meeting the requirements for classified graduate standing and the basic requirements for the master’s degree as described in Requirements for Master’s Degrees , the student must complete an officially approved course of study of not less than 51 units (57 units for students in Health Management and Policy) including:

In Addition


In addition, six units of an integrated learning experience P H 797  (3), P H 799A  or P H 797  (3), P H 798  (3), must be included in the program. The product for the P H 797   (3), P H 799A   is a thesis published in the SDSU library. The product for the P H 797   (3), P H 798  (3) is a written product that is a manuscript (Environmental Health concentration), a manuscript or capstone project (Epidemiology concentration), a manuscript, management project or written exam (Health Management and Policy concentration), or a manuscript, capstone project, or systematic literature review (Health Promotion and Behavioral Science concentration). If the product is not complete at the end of the semester when enrolled in P H 798 , a grade of RP will be entered for P H 798  until the product is approved.

All concentrations require six units of field placement, except for students with 3 or more years of professional experience in the field of public health, a waiver of three units of P H 750A  or P H 750F  (3) may be obtained with approval of Graduate Advisor.

Up to nine units of graduate credit may be accepted in transfer, with the approval of the graduate adviser. For students who have completed the Certificate in Public Health (Academic Plan Code 557389ACTS), up to 15 units will be accepted for transfer to the MPH degree.

In special circumstances, the graduate adviser may approve one course not on the list of prescribed electives. The substitution must be approved prior to enrollment in the course.

Prescribed Electives


A minimum of nine additional units selected with the approval of the adviser from:

Culminating Experience


A six unit culminating experience consisting of:

Plan A


The product for the six unit Plan A culminating experience is a thesis published in the SDSU library.

Plan B


The product for the Plan B P H 797  (3), P H 798  (3) is a written product that is a manuscript (Environmental Health concentration), a manuscript or capstone project (Epidemiology concentration), a manuscript, management project or written exam (Health Management and Policy concentration), or a manuscript, capstone project, or systematic literature review (Health Promotion and Behavioral Science concentration). If the product is not complete at the end of the semester when enrolled in P H 798 , a grade of RP will be entered for P H 798   until the product is approved.