Curriculum Overview
The Master of Public Health (MPH) program at ACHE offers two concentrations: Rural and Community Health and Nutrition. Designed as an online curriculum, this comprehensive 21-month (5-semester) program emphasizes a service-oriented approach to community health.
Delivered by our experienced faculty, the MPH program fosters collaborative discussions among educators and peers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Students will engage in an immersive learning experience that culminates in two key projects: a 120-hour Applied Practice Experience (APEx) and a Capstone paper.
The foundational courses of MPH will not vary but the electives offered may change slightly from year to year. Click here to view schedule.
Concentration in Rural & Community Health
The Public Health Rural and Community Health concentration prepares students to provide, evaluate and communicate guidance that improves individual and population-wide health outcomes.
The Rural and Community Health concentration is designed to teach the next generation of public health professionals how to promote health equity in their communities. Students enrolled in the MPH program take a common set of foundational classes designed to give basic skills and knowledge of public health concepts, along with concentration courses designed to deepen knowledge in Rural and Community Health.
Concentration in Nutrition
The Public Health Nutrition concentration prepares students with the skills to assess scientific evidence for nutritional guidelines and recommendations, evaluate how social, cultural, environmental and community factors affect dietary intake and nutrition-related outcomes in individuals, families and communities, and demonstrate proficiency in writing evidence-based, nutrition-related professional and consumer communications.
Students enrolled in the MPH program take a common set of foundational classes designed to give basic skills and knowledge of public health concepts, along with concentration courses designed to deepen knowledge in Nutrition.
Applied Practice Experience (APEx)
The MPH Applied Practice Experience (APEx) is a one-credit crucial 120-hour professional experience designed for graduate students to develop public health competencies while contributing to projects beneficial to an organization. It serves as an essential component of the Public Health graduate program, facilitating the integration of theoretical knowledge with practical experience through a collaborative effort between the MPH program and the participating organization.
The APEx acts as a laboratory where students can coordinate and expand their academic knowledge, skills, and professional experiences meaningfully and functionally.
Capstone
The Capstone is a two-credit culminating experience that requires students to demonstrate synthesis of foundational and concentration competencies into a comprehensive scholarly paper.
The completed capstone project must demonstrate a student’s mastery of competencies in their concentration, as well as their ability to integrate the competencies for foundational public health knowledge.