Proposal 21-20

The University Senate of Michigan Technological University
Proposal 21-20

Proposal for Minor in Public Health

(Voting Units: Academic)

1. Date
29 January 2020

2. Proposer Contact Information
Kelly Kamm, Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology
Email: kbkamm@mtu.edu

3. Introduction
The proposed minor in public health will be offered through the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology (KIP). A minor in public health will introduce students to public and population health principles and research methodologies. This will help students preparing for careers in allied and professional health, graduate programs in biology and physiology, as well as students in law, social sciences, policy, and engineering integrate public health perspectives into their field.

4. Rationale
Human health is impacted by our individual biology as well as the natural, built, and social environments in which we live, work, and play. Thus, the ability to be health literate and able to integrate a health perspective is important in disciplines beyond traditional health-related and clinical fields. In the past 15 years there has been a growing recognition of the importance academia plays in teaching these skills. In 2002, an Institute of Medicine report recognized the need to better educate the public health workforce and partners that play key roles in the health of our communities who are not in traditional public health positions.¹ A subsequent report expanded that call for public health education, recommending that “all undergraduates should have access to education in public health”. ² This widespread need to understand population health and health impacts was further highlighted when, in 2011, the U.S. federal government adopted a “Health in All Policies (HiAP)” strategy. A HiAP approach recognizes the importance of considering health across all fields in both the public and private sectors. The proposed public health minor will introduce students to the growing field of public health and the need to include a population health perspective in many of the university’s existing degrees. Furthermore, the proposed minor is in line with other recent health education initiatives implemented on campus (e.g. CMU-MTU Physical Therapy Partnership) to help address the shortage of healthcare workers in medically underserved areas of the U.P.

Access to undergraduate training in public health is growing nationwide. In 1992, less than 800 students graduated with a baccalaureate in a public health field and by 2012 that number increased to nearly 6,500 students.³ The number of schools awarding these degrees has also seen immense growth, increasing nearly 4-fold in the last 20 years.³ Data showing the growth in minors in public health are not published, but it is likely similar and may be more impressive, given that a minor generally requires fewer institutional investments. The growing interest in health-related fields among Michigan Tech students, existing student populations in fields that are inherently health-related (such as engineering fields designing and building healthy and safe communities), and the University objective to advance our nation’s health all support development of a minor in public health at Michigan Tech.

KIP is particularly well suited to support public health education at Michigan Tech. As the science of human movement, kinesiology includes the science of exercise and physical activity, a critical component to improve and maintain health and well-being.⁴⁵ The American Kinesiology Association states it is imperative to include “content that explores in detail the relationship between physical activity participation, health and well-being” in undergraduate kinesiology curricula.⁶ A minor in public health supports this trend and exposes students to professional and graduate opportunities for applied kinesiology in the context of community and population health.

The curriculum proposed for this minor are based on guidance from the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.⁷ These guidelines for implementing undergraduate majors and minors recommend specific learning outcomes and encourages universities to offer interdisciplinary programs that focus on their strengths and existing resources.

5. Details
I. Title of Minor
Minor in Public Health

II. Catalog Description and Learning Objectives
Students completing a minor in public health will strengthen their understanding of how individual, social, political, and environmental issues influence the health and well-being of local, national, and global populations. This minor will introduce students to the systematic public health approach to define and address health needs at a population level and reduce health disparities within and between communities. Students will learn how to address complex health problems and promote healthy behaviors by integrating different disciplines into a public health system, reflecting the US public health strategy of “Health in all Policies”.

This minor is expected to draw students from a variety of pre-health professional and health-related disciplines across the university. Additionally, many other disciplines not traditionally viewed as ‘health-related’ impact the health and well-being of our communities in their applications (e.g. water and sanitation systems in underserved communities; marketing healthy choices), thus these majors could be complemented by a public health minor.

Learning Objectives. Upon successful completion of the Public Heath minor, students will be able to:

1. Apply a public health approach to identify and address complex health needs in populations.
2. Assess the biologic, social, behavioral, cultural, political, and environmental factors that promote or inhibit health equity in populations.
3. Apply ethical principles of research and public health to the design or evaluation of existing or proposed public health programs, policies, or interventions.
4. Demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of public health by examining the contributions of different disciplines (including the student’s chosen major field) to protect and improve the health of global or domestic populations.

III. List of courses
Students must complete 18 credit hours as detailed below, with at least 9 credit hours at a level of 3000 or higher.

Required coursework. Students are required to take both courses listed in Table 1, and two of the courses listed in Table 2, for a total of 12-13 credit hours.

Elective coursework. Students select an additional 5-6 credit hours (total 18 credit hours) from Table 3 or additional courses from Table 2 (beyond the required selection). Courses listed are relevant to important domestic and global public health specialties such as health promotion and communication, health disparities, public health microbiology, environmental health, and health policy. Public health topic courses are organized to suggest relevance to specialties; students may take any combination of the courses listed. Other courses may be substituted for elective credits with the approval of the advisor for the minor. Substitution requests must be made in writing and clearly document the relevance of the proposed course to public health.

Table 1. Required Public Health Basics

Table 2. Required Public Health Topics

Table 3. Elective Public Health Topics

IV. Prerequisites not listed in the minor

6. Advising
Kelly Kamm, Assistant Professor in Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology, will advise students who choose to enroll in this minor.

7. New Course Descriptions
Life-course Health in Global Populations (KIP 4060/SS 4060) is a proposed course included in this proposal. The specialty field of a new faculty hire (Kelly Kamm) and existing faculty allows for the development of this course. The course will be co-taught and co-listed between KIP and Social Sciences. The course will be submitted to the binder process in Fall 2020 and be offered beginning in 2021-2022 academic year. Life-course Health in Global Populations will combine theories and methods from epidemiology, public health, development, and geographic information science to understand spatial and temporal determinants of health and their impact on the health of populations in low- and middle- income countries.

8. Estimated Costs
No additional costs will be associated with the minor at this time. Except for the new course described above, all required and elective courses are currently taught on a regular basis and have existing capacity. If necessary, KIP will explore options to increase enrollment capacity for key courses.

9. Learning resources
The university library resources are adequate for the needs of the proposed minor. Current electronic journal subscriptions include key public health related journals. No additional equipment is needed for the proposed minor.

10. Planned Implementation Date
Fall 2020

February 5, 2020