Public Health, Graduate Certificate

In addition to University Requirements:

• Complete individual plan requirements.

Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the Graduate Certificate in Public Health is to prepare students for professional practice in public health, providing specific skill development in health policy and management, environmental and occupational health, epidemiology, and the consideration of social and structural determinants of health when planning public health interventions. This graduate certificate program prepares students for careers in public health and can support career advancement for individuals who are already employed in the public health field. Residents of Native American reservations and other rural communities are best suited for the Graduate Certificate Program in Public Health.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.
• Compare the organization, structure, and function of health care, public health, and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
• Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities, and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community, and societal levels.
• Assess population needs, assets, and capacities that affect communities' health.
• Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs.
• Design a population-based policy, program, project, or intervention.
• Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
• Discuss the policy-making process,2 including the roles of ethics and evidence.
• Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
• Advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
• Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity.
• Apply leadership and/or management principles to address a relevant issue.
• Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.
• Apply a systems thinking tool to visually represent a public health issue in a format other than a standard narrative.

• “Resource management” refers to stewardship (planning, monitoring, etc.) of resources throughout a project, not simply preparing a budget statement that projects what resources will be required.
• This competency refers to technical aspects of how public policies are created and adopted, including legislative and/or regulatory roles and processes, ethics in public policymaking, and the role of evidence in creating policy.
• This competency refers to the ability to influence policy and/or decision-making, such as through stakeholder mobilization, educating policymakers, etc. The ability to argue in support of (or in opposition to) a position, as in a standard debate, is not sufficient. Students must produce a product that would be part of an advocacy campaign or effort (e.g., legislative testimony, fact sheets, advocacy strategy outline, etc.).
• Such principles may include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration, and guiding decision-making.
• “Negotiation and mediation,” in this competency, refers to the set of skills needed when a common solution is required among parties with conflicting interests and/or different desired outcomes. Such skills extend beyond the level of negotiation required in a successful intra-group process; effective communication within a work group or team is more closely related to competency 12.
• Systems thinking tools depict or map complex relationships, demonstrating, for example, how component parts of a system interact with and influence one another. Examples include causal loop diagrams, systems archetypes, network analyses, and concept maps. Logic models and evidence tables are not sufficient to address this competency.