Degrees and certificate

Health Behavior and Health Education

Degrees and certificate

A degree from the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education offers guidance in becoming a highly effective analytical practitioner or the next generation of faculty members and researchers. We offer a Master of Public Health (MPH), a dual master's degree with the Department of City and Regional Planning, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Department Chair Jo Anne Earp with 2009 MPH Grad, Rebecca Cashman

Master of Public Health (MPH)

MPH/MRP Program in Health Behavior and Health Education and City and Regional Planning

Overview

PhD Program

MSPH/PhD Program

Certificate in Interdisciplinary Health Communication

Master of Public Health (MPH)

MPH students are trained as analytic practitioners. The job skills they acquire include learning how to:

plan, develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate public health programs,
design interventions to prevent illness and injury, manage chronic disease and improve the community and environmental conditions that affect health,
apply theory and scientific evidence in a way that maintains values of social justice and respect, and
collaborate in diverse cross-cultural, community and organizational settings.

A hallmark of the program is intensive field training. MPH students expand their professional skills and competencies learned in the classroom to the realities of working with organizations and the communities they intend to serve by completing an individual 200- to 400-hour practicum in the summer after their first year in the program, and by completing a year-long capstone course that engages organizations or communities during students' second year in the program. Students further synthesize and apply this learning by completing a written comprehensive examination, additional coursework tailored to their interests and a capstone deliverable (i.e., a product that individual students produce, as negotiated between the student and the organization they are working with).

Master's Program Director - Laura A. Linnan, ScD, CHES

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Joint master's degree(MPH/MRP)

Dual Master's Degree in Regional Planning. This dual degree program is offered jointly by our Department and the Department of City and Regional Planning. MPH/MRP graduates apply behavioral and social science methods to problems of public health and government and to the interdisciplinary union of engineering and design with behavioral and social sciences. Students complete both degree programs in three years by applying some courses toward the requirements of both degrees and not completing the 400-hour HBHE practicum. Students must apply to each degree program separately.

Masters Program Director - Laura A. Linnan, ScD, CHES

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctoral training in Health Behavior and Health Education addresses critical domestic and global public health issues. Doctoral students acquire skills needed to better understand public health problems and to develop, evaluate, and disseminate effective interventions.

The program emphasizes:
- understanding social and behavioral science theories as they apply to health,
- applying theory to public health research,
- mastery of research methods,
- understanding the principles and practices of health behavior and health education,
- conceptualizing public health problems at multiple levels and within diverse cultural contexts,
- devising interdisciplinary solutions and intervening where possible to address health disparities.

Associate Professor Mike Bowling, Jennifer Gierisch (PhD, HBHE, 2009), Department Chair Jo Anne Earp, Caryl Feldacker (PhD, HBHE, 2009), and Professor Susan Ennett, at 2009 Graduation Ceremonies.

Training is accomplished through mentoring, a newly updated course curriculum that integrates the most up-to-date information, themes and approaches available, and practica and research for the dissertation. Students entering the program are matched with academic advisors who share their interests. They complete two years of coursework and practica designed to enhance knowledge and professional skills. Doctoral students have myriad opportunities to collaborate in research with faculty and through nationally recognized centers affiliated with the School, including the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Injury Prevention Research Center, and the Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Doctoral students have many opportunities to teach in the Department's master's program.
Contact Linda Cook, Student Services Manager, for more information.

This program is renowned for preparing students in intervention science in a variety of areas. Throughout both my MPH and PhD, I received excellent preparation through coursework in behavioral theory, research methods and intervention development. I also gained practical experience through a number of research assistantships and a community diagnosis field placement. . . The program also offered me opportunities to grow my writing skills though developing several manuscripts, a book chapter and my dissertation research. I received excellent mentorship, essential for any student's productive growth.

--Jennifer Gierisch, PhD, 2009

[Doctoral Program FAQs]

Doctoral Program Director - Susan Ennett, PhD

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Doctoral Training for the MSPH/PhD Degrees

Beginning with the admissions cycle for the 2009-2010 academic year, the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education announces a new doctoral degree track for students who have a bachelor's degree but have not yet earned the Master of Public Health ( MPH ) or other related master's degree. Students in the new degree track will earn the Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) degree before completing the requirements to receive the PhD.

The new doctoral training track joins our PhD training program, which is designed for students who have already earned the MPH or other related master's degree. Both training tracks are for students who intend to follow research careers that address understanding of health-related behaviors contributing to critical domestic and global public health problems and development, evaluation, and dissemination of interventions to ameliorate those problems.

MSPH/PhD applicants who would also like to be considered for the MPH program must complete a separate application and pay an additional application fee.

[Download flyer]

Doctoral Program Director - Susan Ennett, PhD

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Please contact the Department's Student Services Manager for more information

anderpe@email.unc.edu

To enhance your UNC experience, the Department offers numerous ways for students to finance their education, get involved in volunteer service activities and participate in various student organizations.

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Last updated October 21, 2009