A Practicum Program for UNC Graduate Students in Public Health

Program description | Timeline | Past practica | Current practica | Application process

Program description

One student's experience Master's Student Meghan Lewis says one of the highlights of her time at UNC was a summer 2011 practicum as a Public Health Leader in Practice with Cabarrus Health Alliance, in Kannapolis, N.C. Lewis worked with Barbara Sheppard, the program director of the Healthy Cabarrus Initiative, a partnership certified by the North Carolina Governor's Task Force for Healthy Carolinians. Read more about Meghan's experience as a Public Health Leader in Practice.

NCPHLP Partners

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

NC Institute for Public Health

NC Area Health Education Centers

NC Association of Local Health Directors

NC Public Health

NC Public Health Foundation

The UNC-Gillings School of Global Public Health and its partners are pleased to introduce a new student practicum/internship program designed to increase opportunities for residential graduate students in the school to gain practice experience via academic credit-bearing field practica in local public health agencies in North Carolina.  This initiative has unique characteristics that will distinguish it from a typical field practicum while still meeting current departmental practica requirements.

• Students and host agencies will be selected via a formal, competitive application process.
  • Practica will take place for 6-10 weeks (at least 200 hours) in the summer between the students' first and second years of their graduate program.
  • Students will be required to include a recommendation form and letter from a faculty member in their home department.
  • A host agency may be either an individual local health department (LHD), a regional consortium of LHDs, or the state health department.
  • A specially-appointed Application Review Committee will review the students' applications and review the agencies' opportunity submissions, and will make the student/agency "matches".
  • Preceptors will interview prospective students (likely by telephone) before final selections are made.
• Students will receive a stipend to participate in the program.
  
• Upon selection, students will apply to live in housing subsidized via agreement with the NCAHEC system whenever possible.  When AHEC housing is not possible, the host LHD will assist the student in identifying housing.
• Students will participate in up to three required public health leadership seminars/workshops, led by the Workforce Development staff of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH), prior to departing for their field assignment.
• Upon completion of their summer practicum experience, students will be required to complete a culminating report or paper, according to the requirements of their home department.

2012 Timeline

Past and current practica

NCPHLP practica from 2010 and 2011

Application process

The NCPHLP Program welcomes applications from students from all backgrounds, and especially encourages students from under-represented communities to apply.