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.