Public Health Major
The Center-Established Major in Public Health is comprised of ten courses (11 for students pursuing a thesis). These courses fall into five categories: 1) Foundations in Public Health (3); 2) Public Health Methods (1); 3) Structural Inequality (1); 4) Interdisciplinary Electives (4); and 5) Capstone/Thesis (1;2). Successfully completing this course of study will result in a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Capstone or Thesis
Capstone or Thesis (1 course for capstone or 2 courses for thesis): Public health majors must complete a major original project during their senior year. This project can be public health policy, program/intervention, or research focused. This project may take the form of a capstone (CIS 495), which is a one-semester project supervised by a single faculty member, or a thesis (CIS 495 and CIS 496), which is a two-semester project supervised by two faculty members. Public health majors must work with their advisor(s) to design a project of appropriate depth, rigor, and originality for either one semester (for a capstone) or two semesters (for a thesis). Only students who complete the thesis are eligible to graduate with honors in the major.
Notes
Transfer credit for no more than two courses may be used without express permission of the advisor and DPH chair.
Introduction to Public Health (PBH110) and the Public Health Interdisciplinary elective must be taken at Davidson College.
Introduction to Global Health (PBH 280) and Introduction to Epidemiology (PBH 292) require permission of the chair to be taken for credit elsewhere.
Courses may only apply towards one requirement.
Additional courses with substantial public health relevant content may count for the Structural Inequality and Interdisciplinary Elective requirements at the discretion of the chair.
Interdisciplinary Minor Requirements
Those planning to declare a public health minor must schedule a meeting with the department chair.
Introduction to Public Health (1 course)
PBH 110 Introduction to Public Health
Introduction to Epidemiology OR Introduction to Global Health (1 course)
PBH 280 Introduction to Global Health
PBH 292 Introduction to Epidemiology
Elective in Department of Public Health (including x-posted & listed courses) (1 course)
PBH 130 Sociobiology of Health and Illness
PBH 232 - Introduction to Environmental Health with Community-Based Learning (=ENV 232)
PBH 233 - Introduction to Environmental Health with Laboratory-Based Learning (= ENV 233)
PBH 234 Genes, Environment, and Health
PBH 244 - Child Psychopathology (=EDU 234 and PSY 234)
PBH 250 Public Health Methods
PBH 251 - Health Disparities in the U.S. and Beyond
PBH 262 - Antiracist Physiology and Medicine (=BIO 262)
PBH 305 Public Health and Film
PBH 306 - Public Health Ethics
PBH 309 - Water and Health
PBH 354 - Medical Rehabilitation and Disability (=PSY 354)
PBH 370 Nutrition, Bodies, and Health
PBH 373 - Food and Nutrition Policy
PBH 395-0 Public Health and Film
PBH 395-A Current Issues in Public Health
PBH 395-B Public Health Ethics
Structural Inequalities Elective (1 course)
AFR 270 - Racial Capitalism and Reproduction
ANT 305 Racism
ANT 235 Debunking Race
BIO 262 - Antiracist Physiology and Medicine
GSS 101 Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies
GSS 360 Transgender Studies
ENG 271 /ENG 494 Disability in Literature and Art
ENG 374 - Picturing Disability
PBH 251 Health Disparities in the US and Beyond
PBH 354 - Medical Rehabilitation and Disability (=PSY 354)
PBH 370 - Nutrition, Bodies, and Health
SOC 102 Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality
SOC 205 Race and Ethnic Relations
SOC 217 Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
SOC 234 - Sociology of Mental Health
SOC 236 - Sociology of Disability
SOC 247 Global Development and Underdevelopment
SOC 250 Housing
SOC 382 Men and Masculinities
Interdisciplinary electives (2 courses, in 2 categories)
Category A: Humanities
ARB 250 Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East
ART 320 Art and Compassionate Care
CLA 224 Medical Etymology
DAN 140 Movement Lab
ENG 110 Graphic Medicine: Drawing Disability
ENG 110 Literature and Medicine
ENG 271 /ENG 494 Disability in Literature and Art
ENV 160 Environmental Justice
HIS 228 - Modern Bodies: Gender, Sex, & Race in France
HIS 243 Native Women
HIS 267 Health & Society in Africa
PHI 120 Applied Ethics
PHI 215 Ethics
SPA 407 - Medicine and Gender in 20th Century Spain
Category B: Natural Sciences
BIO 151 - Use and Misuse of Data in Biology
BIO 209/CSC 209 Bioinformatics Programming
BIO 217 - Insects and People
BIO 218 Human Form and Function
BIO 230 The Host-Pathogen Interaction
BIO 240 Biostatistics
BIO 261 Neuroscience of Exercise
BIO 262 - Antiracist Physiology and Medicine
BIO 269 - Genetics, Disability, and Gender Identities
BIO 360 Biology HIV/AIDS
BIO 365 Biology of Cancer
BIO 368 Health Care Issues in Zambia
BIO 391 Maternal and Fetal Health
BIO 392 Medical Biotechnology
BIO 397 - Biology of COVID-19
CHE 351 Pharmacology
CHE 374 Medicinal Chemistry
CHE 450 Seminar in Organic Chemistry (Chemistry of Drugs and Abuse)
CSC 110 Data Science and Society
CSC 210/MAT 210 Mathematical Modeling
CSC 353 Database Systems
CSC 362 Data Visualization
MAT 105 Introduction to Statistics
MAT 341 Mathematical Statistics
PHY 125 - General Physics with Calculus I: Studio (Integrated Laboratory and Lecture)
PHY 225 - General Physics II: Studio (Integrated Laboratory and Lecture)
Category C: Social Science Elective
AFR 270 Racial Capitalism and Reproduction
AFR 200 Research Methods in Africana Studies
ANT 219 Reproduction and Childrearing
ANT 305 Racism
ANT 271 Human Ecology
ANT 272 Forensic Anthropology
ANT 277 Ancient Food and Foodways
ANT 235 Debunking Race
ANT 340 Medical Anthropology
ANT 360 Anthropology of Development and Environmental Sustainability
ANT 371 Ethnographic Writing
ANT 374 Methods in Forensic Anthropology
ANT 381 Traditional Asian Medical Systems
COM 280 Intercultural Communication
EDU 280 Introduction to Educational Policy
EDU 290 Oral History: Problems, Perspectives, & Possibilities
EDU 320 Growing up Jim Crow
EDU 340 Education in African American Society
EDU 371 Critical Race Theory
GSS 101 Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies
GSS 201 Feminist and Queer Theories
GSS 360 Transgender Studies
GSS 440 Matters of Life and Death: Biopower and Necropolitics
POL 180 - Introduction to Policy Analysis
POL 182 - Introduction to Political Science Research Methods
POL 207 - Family and Justice
POL 225 - US Public Policy
POL 228 - US Environmental Politics and Policy
POL 241 - Comparative Public Policy
POL 347 - Politics of Development
POL 381 - Philanthropy and the Non-Profit Sector
PSY 220 Health Psychology
PSY 231 Abnormal Psychology
PSY 234 Child Psychopathology
PSY 241 - Child Development (=EDU 241)
PSY 245 - Psychology of Aging
PSY 280 Human Neuropsychology
PSY 314 Clinical Psychology Methods
PSY 303/BIO 331 Behavioral Neuroscience
PSY 354 Medical Rehabilitation and Disability Seminar
SOC 102 Race, Class, Gender & Sexuality
SOC 110 - COVID-19 and Society
SOC 205 Race and Ethnic Relations
SOC 217 Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
SOC 232 - Medical Sociology
SOC 234 - Sociology of Mental Health
SOC 246 Modern Families
SOC 247 Global Development and Underdevelopment
SOC 250 Housing
SOC 265 Population and Society
SOC 382 Men and Masculinities
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