Public Health Minor

Both the College of Arts & Sciences and Sargent College offer minors in public health in conjunction with the School of Public Health. These two minors are identical except for two courses as noted below.

Students must complete a minimum of 20 credits for the public health minor. This is achieved by taking three required courses (Introduction to Public Health, a course in Biostatistics and a course in Epidemiology) which count for 10–12 credits, at least 8 credits in public health electives and an additional elective (2–4 credits) from the approved list (see below). Students must earn a grade of B– or better in PH 510 Introduction to Public Health and a C or better in the remaining courses.

There are no specific prerequisites, other than those specified for some of the elective courses. It is recommended that students take PH 510 prior to taking the public health electives. Students can take the biostatistics course or the epidemiology course prior to, or at the same time, as PH 510. The general elective can be taken at any time. Freshman and sophomores must contact the course instructors for permission to take the course, even if there are no prerequisites.

Students in the public health minor at the Boston University College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College must be aware that courses which have been applied toward an undergraduate public health minor cannot be counted towards a graduate degree in public health, even if the courses are in excess of the credits required for a bachelor’s degree at Boston University. In addition, the 500-level courses from the School of Public Health may not be applied towards a graduate degree at the School of Public Health.

The following three courses are required (10–12 credits):

  • SPH PH 510 Introduction to Public Health

One of the following statistics courses:

  • CAS MA 115 Statistics I or
  • CAS MA 213 Statistics I or
  • CAS PS 211 Introduction to Experimental Design or
  • SPH BS 701 Elementary Biostatistics or
  • SPH BS 703 Biostatistics

One of the following epidemiology courses:

For CAS students:

  • SPH EP 711 Introduction to Epidemiology or
  • SPH EP 712 Epidemiologic Methods

For SAR students:

  • SAR HS 300 Epidemiology

A minimum of 8 credits from the following list of public health electives:

  • SPH EH 765 Survey of Environmental Health or
  • SPH EH 708 Introduction to Environmental Health (For the MPH program EH 765 is required for Environmental Health Concentrators; others generally take EH 708 to fulfill the core requirement.)
  • SPH PM 702 Introduction to Health Policy and Management

For SAR students:

  • SAR HP 353 Organization and Delivery of Health Care in the U.S.
  • SPH LW 751 Public Health Law or
  • SPH LW 707 Essentials of Public Health Law (For the MPH program LW 751 is required for students concentrating in Health Law; others generally take LW 707 to fulfill the core requirement.)
  • SPH LW 740 Human Rights and Health
  • SPH MC 705 Safer Sex in the City: From Science to Policy
  • SPH MC 725 Women, Children, and Adolescents: Public Health Approaches
  • SPH PH 506e International Health at the World Health Organization (4 credits, meets in Geneva, Switzerland)
  • SPH PH 507e Controversies in International Health (4 credits, meets in Geneva, Switzerland)
  • SPH PH 511 Pathogens, Poverty, and Populations: An Introduction to International Health
  • SPH PH 709 The Biology of Public Health
  • SPH SB 721 Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Health

Note: Other SPH courses can and may also be approved to fulfill the requirement for 8 credits of public health electives. To seek approval contact the Assistant Dean for Education at SPH.

One additional general elective

One additional general elective (2–4 credits) either from the public health electives, from the general electives (see list) in Anthropology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Biology, Business Administration, Chemistry, Cognitive & Neural Systems, Communication Studies. Economics, Exercise Studies, Human Physiology, International Relations, Journalism, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, or Women’s Studies, or another approved SPH course.

General Electives

The list of general electives may be expanded to include other relevant courses. Other courses can be considered for approval by Wayne LaMorte, Assistant Dean for Education.

  • CAS AN 210 Medical Anthropology
  • CAS BI 114 Human Infectious Diseases: AIDS to  Tuberculosis
  • CAS EC 371 Environmental Economics
  • CAS EC 387 Introduction to Health Economics
  • CAS EE 275 Introduction to Quantitative Environmental Modeling
  • CAS EE 425 Environmental Policy Analysis and Modeling
  • CAS EE 430 Environmental Pollution and Control  Technology
  • CAS GE 520 Risk Assessment
  • CAS MA 116 Elementary Statistics II
  • CAS MA 214 Applied Statistics
  • CAS PH 150 Introduction to Ethics
  • CAS PO 241 Introduction to Public Policy
  • CAS PO 341 Comparative Public Policy
  • CAS PO 544 Interest Groups, Public Opinions, and the Policy Process
  • CAS SO 104 Introduction to Sociology: Health and Illness
  • CAS SO214 Sociology of Healthcare
  • CAS SO 521 Epidemiology: Social Determinants of Population Health
  • SED HE 522 Community Health
  • SED HE 523 Applied Nutrition
  • SED HE 539 Health and Exceptionality
  • ENG BE 400 Undergraduate Special  Topics in Biomedical Engineering
  • SAR HP 252 Health and Disability Across the Lifespan
  • SAR HS 201 Introduction to Nutrition
  • SAR HS 251 Human Nutrition Science
  • SAR HP 412 Abnormal Behavior in Rehabilitation
  • SAR HP 500 Helping Skills

For additional information, view the website or contact:

Wayne LaMorte, MD, PhD, MPH
Assistant Dean for Education, Boston University School of Public Health
Office Location:
Medical Campus, School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, Talbot 4
wlamorte@bu.edu