2025-2026 Academic Catalog

Dec 05, 2025

2025-2026 Academic Catalog

Public Health, BA (PUBHEALTH-BA)

CIP Code: 512201

Program Description

The Bachelor of Arts in Public Health is an interdisciplinary degree designed for students interested in careers of public health education and advocacy. The degree also prepares students to pursue a graduate degree in public health. Graduates of the BA program are eligible to take the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES^®) exam.

The program provides coursework in public health sciences, health communication, program planning, and public policy. Collaborations with local public health agencies and healthcare organizations provide students with numerous opportunities to engage with health professionals and complete an internship. In addition, students have the opportunity to work as peer educators to promote campus well-being. All students complete a capstone project that demonstrates the culmination of career-focused skills.

Program Admission Requirements

Once the student has satisfied the following criteria, the student can be admitted into the Public Health degree program: completed at least 12 semester hours with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.25.

Program Learning Objectives

Students enrolled in this program will learn to:

demonstrate the ability to communicate public health information clearly and effectively in through a variety of communication channels both oral and written forms
evaluate public health information and ensure its accuracy and relevancy
differentiate, appraise, and relate public health information
explain the range of biological, behavioral, environmental, and social factors that influence patterns in population health outcomes
construct and evaluate messages and strategies that influence the behavior of various audience segments
describe and appraise the health needs of priority population for health behavior interventions

Program Learning Outcomes

As a result of their learning experience, graduates of this program can:

communicate public health information, in both oral and written forms, and through a variety of media, to diverse audiences
locate, use, evaluate and synthesize public health information
analyze the range of biological, behavioral, environmental and social factors that influence patterns in population health outcomes
design messages and strategies that influence the behavior of various audience segments
implement and evaluate population health interventions

For More Information

Program Requirements

I. Wright State Core: 36 Credit Hours

As a part of the requirements for a bachelor’s degree at Wright State University, all students must complete the Wright State Core, a general education curriculum. Most programs require 36 hours in the Core, some programs may require additional hours.

Specific Core classes in some of the Elements may be required by some majors. When this occurs, the specific Core courses required will be listed below. In Elements where a specific course is not required, students can choose any course from the Wright State Core Program Requirements.

First-Year Seminar: 1 Credit Hour

All students must successfully complete a First-Year Seminar during their first year. Transfer students who transfer 24 or more credit hours (post high school graduation) are exempt from this requirement and will need to satisfy one additional credit hour in the Additional Core Courses category.

UVC 1010 - First Year Seminar Credit Hour(s): 1 to 3

Element A - English Composition: 6 Credit Hours

First-Year Writing Course (3 credit hours)

All students must successfully complete ENG 1100.  Based on Writing Placement level, some students may be required to enroll in a corequisite course (DEV 0100). 
ENG 1100 - Academic Writing and Reading Credit Hour(s): 3
Second-Year Writing Course (3 credit hours)
ENG 2100 - Research Writing and Argumentation Credit Hour(s): 3

Element B - Mathematics, Statistics, and Logic: 4 Credit Hours

Based on Math Placement Level, students may need additional prerequisite or corequisite coursework in mathematics prior to enrollment in the required course below.

Required:

STT 1600 - Statistical Concepts Credit Hour(s): 4
or
STT 2640 - Elementary Statistics Credit Hour(s): 4

Element C - Arts and Humanities: 6 Credit Hours

Students will select two Arts and Humanities courses, with different course prefixes from the approved Wright State Core Program Requirements. One course must fulfill the History requirement.

History Requirement (3 credit hours)

Choose 1 course from the list below:
HST 1100 - Western Civilizations to 1500 Credit Hour(s): 3
HST 1200 - The West and the World since 1500 Credit Hour(s): 3
HST 1500 - Introduction to Greek and Roman Culture Credit Hour(s): 3
Arts and Humanities Course (3 credit hours)

Choose an additional Arts and Humanities course (a different prefix from what is chosen above) from the approved Wright State Core Program Requirements.

Element D - Social and Behavorial Sciences: 6-7 Credit Hours

Students will select two Social and Behavioral Sciences courses, with different course prefixes from the approved Wright State Core Program Requirements.

Required:

PPH 2000 - Global Health Credit Hour(s): 3 (IE, IW)
PSY 1010 - Introduction to Psychology Credit Hour(s): 4 and (IE, IW)
PSY 1010L - Introduction to Psychology Laboratory Credit Hour(s): 0 (IE, IW)
or
SOC 2000 - Introduction to Sociology Credit Hour(s): 3 (IE, IW)

Element E - Natural Sciences: 8-9 Credit Hours

Students will select two Natural Science courses, from the approved Wright State Core Program Requirements. At least one course must contain a laboratory.

Required:

Choose one of the biology courses listed below (4 credit hours):
BIO 1050 - Biology of Food Credit Hour(s): 4
BIO 1050L - Biology of Food Laboratory Credit Hour(s): 0
OR
BIO 1070 - Health and Disease Credit Hour(s): 4
BIO 1070L - Health and Disease Laboratory Credit Hour(s): 0
OR
BIO 1120 - Cells and Genes Credit Hour(s): 4
BIO 1120L - Cells & Genes Laboratory Credit Hour(s): 0
OR
BIO 1150 - Organisms and Ecosystems Credit Hour(s): 4
BIO 1150L - Organisms & Ecosystems Laboratory Credit Hour(s): 0
Choose one of the chemistry choices listed below (4 or 5 credit hours):
CHM 1020 - Elementary Organic Chemistry with Applications Credit Hour(s): 4
CHM 1020L - Elementary Organic Chemistry with Applications Laboratory Credit Hour(s): 0
OR
CHM 1210 - General Chemistry I Credit Hour(s): 3
CHM 1210L - General Chemistry Lab I Credit Hour(s): 2
CHM 1210R - General Chemistry Lab I Recitation Credit Hour(s): 0

Additional Core Courses: 3-5 Credit Hours

Students will select 3-5 additional credit hours from Elements A-E from the approved Wright State Core Program Requirements to reach the 36 minimum hours required in the Core. The hours required are dependent upon choices made in Elements D and E above. Unless specified by the student’s major, these are selected by the student. When a major has required courses in this area, the specific Core course(s) required will be listed below.

Additional Core Requirements

Within the 36 credit hours of the Wright State Core students must successfully complete the following:

One Global Inquiry (GI) course

Two Inclusive Excellence (IE) courses

One to two Integrated Writing (IW) courses. To meet degree requirements all students must complete a minimum of 3 IW courses by choosing either (a) 1 in the Core and 2 in the major or (b) 2 in the Core and 1 in the major. Students should check their major program requirements for courses that fulfill Integrated Writing.

Students who do not make choices within the 36 required hours of the Core to fulfill the GI, IE, and IW requirements will take additional Core hours beyond the minimum of 36.

II. Public Health Major Foundations Requirements: 24 Credit Hours

EES 3250 - Climate Change Credit Hour(s): 3
or
PPH 2100 - Climate Change and Health Credit Hour(s): 3 (IW)
PPH 1080 - Introduction to Public Health Credit Hour(s): 3
PPH 2200 - Disease Detectives Credit Hour(s): 3 (IW)
PPH 3200 - Data Management & Visualization Credit Hour(s): 3
PPH 3300 - Community Health Improvement Credit Hour(s): 3
PPH 4100 - Behavior Change Interventions Credit Hour(s): 3 (IW)
PPH 4200 - Health Organizations and Policy Credit Hour(s): 3
PPH 4980 - Public Health Capstone Credit Hour(s): 3

III. Additional Major Requirements: 31 Credit Hours

Required courses (12 credit hours):

HED 2850 - Comprehensive School Health Education Credit Hour(s): 3
HED 3850 - Foundations of Teaching Health I Credit Hour(s): 3
or
HED 4850 - Foundations of Teaching Health Education II Credit Hour(s): 3 (IW) *
or
PPH 2400 - Peer Education and Advocacy Credit Hour(s): 3
PLS 2120 - American National Government Credit Hour(s): 3
COM 4251 - Race, Gender and Health Credit Hour(s): 3 (IW) *
or
SOC 3600 - Social Inequality Credit Hour(s): 3
or
SOC 3620 - Race and Ethnicity Credit Hour(s): 3
Students will select 19 credit hours of 2000, 3000, and/or 4000 level courses with the following prefixes: ATH, COM, GEO, HED, KNH, OL, PLS, PPH, SOC, andl/or WGS.

IV. Communication and Analytical Skills Electives: 12 Credit Hours

Students will complete at least 3 credit hours from List A (Communications) and 3 credit hours from List B (Analytical). Students then choose from either list A or B or approved department substitutions to earn a total of 12 credit hours.

List A: Communication Courses

BIO 4080 - Writing in the Biological Sciences Credit Hour(s): 3
COM 1010 - Essentials of Public Address Credit Hour(s): 3
COM 2560 - Basic Media Writing Credit Hour(s): 3 *
COM 3660 - Advanced News Writing Credit Hour(s): 3
ENG 3000 - Business Writing Credit Hour(s): 3
ENG 3610 - Technical Writing Credit Hour(s): 3
FR 1120 - Medical French Credit Hour(s): 3
MKT 2500 - Principles of Marketing Credit Hour(s): 3 *
SPN 1120 - Medical Spanish Credit Hour(s): 3

List B: Analytical Courses

ACC 2010 - Accounting Principles I Credit Hour(s): 3
CS 1300 - Data Science for Everyone Credit Hour(s): 4 and
CS 1300L - Data Science for Everyone Lab Credit Hour(s): 0
CS 1180 - Computer Science I Credit Hour(s): 4 and
CS 1180L - Computer Science I Laboratory Credit Hour(s): 0
GEO 4410 - Cartography Credit Hour(s): 4
GEO 4430 - Geographic Information Systems Credit Hour(s): 4
GEO 4440 - Advanced GIS Applications Credit Hour(s): 4
MS 2040 - Introduction to Business Statistics Credit Hour(s): 3
MTH 2240 - Applied Calculus Credit Hour(s): 4
MTH 2300 - Calculus I Credit Hour(s): 4
PHY 1110 - Principles of Physics I Credit Hour(s): 4 and
PHY 1110L - Principles of Physics Lab I Credit Hour(s): 1 and
PHY 1110R - Principles of Physics I Recitation Credit Hour(s): 0
PHY 1120 - Principles of Physics II Credit Hour(s): 4 and
PHY 1120L - Principles of Physics Lab II Credit Hour(s): 1 and
PHY 1120R - Principles of Physics II Recitation Credit Hour(s): 0
PPH 4770 - Epidemiology and Community Health Credit Hour(s): 3
STT 2640 - Elementary Statistics Credit Hour(s): 4 (may not double count if chosen for Core)
STT 4300 - Biostatistics Credit Hour(s): 3

V. General Electives: 17 Credit Hours

Students must earn a minimum of 120 credit hours for a baccalaureate degree. If the total number of credit hours in the WSU Core (general education program) and the major requirements do not total at least 120 credits, students will choose additional courses (general electives) to meet the minimum required 120 credit hours. Students may choose from any undergraduate course in the Academic Catalog for which they meet the course prerequisites and for which they do not already have earned credit.

Students are encouraged to consider adding a minor, certificate, or microcredential.

Total: 120 Credit Hours

Notes:

*This course has a prerequisite that is not part of the program.

Graduation Planning Strategy

A Graduation Planning Strategy (GPS), also known as a four-year guide, is an academic tool showing one example of how a program can be completed in a certain amount of time. All Wright State undergraduate majors can be completed in four years with careful planning. Some programs may require summer coursework. Time to degree is dependent on many factors including student placement in mathematics and writing courses, CCP and AP coursework, transfer coursework, and other variables.

This GPS is valid for this year’s Academic Catalog only and is subject to change. This GPS is a recommendation only and your actual program may vary. Students should consult with their academic advisor on a regular basis and create a personalized plan to degree completion.

Public Health, BA (GPS)