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WMU's Bachelor of Science in Public Health will prepare you to focus on primary prevention of population health issues in community settings, like what was experienced with the COVID-19 public health pandemic, the current opioid crisis, or other issues like gun violence, substance use disorder, disease prevention, environmental health issues, and many other health-related issues.
Support structure
Our program utilizes a cohort model, where you go through the entire program with same group. You'll find yourself instantly part of a team with a built-in support network. Our classes are small, which means you'll get plenty of one-on-one interaction with your faculty and advisors.
Career preparation
The curriculum is built on and fits national health education certification standards. You will be prepared to sit for the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) exam during your senior year. Additionally, 95% of students are employed in a position that utilizes their degree within one-two months after graduation.
What is public health?
Public health is a growing field that addresses health at a population level. It's different from clinical medicine that focuses on individual patients or clients.
Public health looks at groups of people to understand widespread health issues and develop interventions to improve health.
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Top 25
The WMU Bachelor of Science in Public Health has recently been identified by bachelorsdegreecenter.org as being one of the top 25 undergraduate public health programs in the country, and only one of two Michigan-based universities being recognized on the list.
Curriculum and Questions
Curriculum
You must complete 81 credit hours in the public health program: 51 core credits, 12 cognate credits, and a minor or 18 credits of electives. The BSPH curriculum sequencing chart illustrates your pathway through these requirements. WMU also works closely with most community colleges in Michigan, providing a clear public health transfer path directly from community college to WMU. Here is one example.
Course descriptions Curriculum Sequence
Questions?
If you have questions, contact Jill Hamilton in the CHHS advising office or Dr. Robert Bensley, BSPH Program Director, to learn more about this exciting major.
Real-World Experience
Real-world experience is built into the public health curriculum at WMU. Our majors have worked in public health departments and non-profit agencies while in school, so by the time you graduate, you’ll have hundreds of hours of practical public health experience on your resume.
Because of that real-world experience, our graduates often compete with MPH grads in today’s job market.
Recently, seven of our public health students were welcomed to share communication plans that address current public health topics with epidemiologist, Kim Kutzko, at the Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services Department. To read more about what the students did in this great opportunity, please follow the link: Bridging academia and public health: A semester of collaboration | Western Michigan University.
Professional Development
The bachelor’s degree in public health at WMU is focused on your professional development. Because our cohorts are small, we are able to find and provide funding opportunities to support your professional growth. We believe that part of that process involves presenting your research at state and national conferences. Other professional experiences include internship opportunities in the public health field, both on and off campus. Some of the internship experiences previous students have had are:
- Facilitating workshops on reproductive health (contraception, STI prevention, etc.).
- Creating digital health communication materials.
- Making care kits of educational materials for the surrounding Kalamazoo communities.
- And many more!
This kind of engagement is often reserved for students in master’s degree programs. But at WMU, it’s available for you.
International perspective
WMU’s B.S. in Public Health will take you places. Our faculty have lived, taught, or worked in different countries around the world, from Europe to Africa to Central America.
Knowing how public health works around the world helps us teach an international perspective on public health here at WMU. We offer several study abroad opportunities so that you can see firsthand how public health concepts play out globally. One such travel abroad opportunity is a 3-week immersion into exploring public health and healthcare systems in South Africa taught by one of our public health professors.
Presidential Scholar Recipient
Logan West is a graduate of WMU’s Bachelor of Science in Public Health program. Her public health interests include maternal & child health, nutrition/food security, and public policy. She attended WMU for four years and experienced the benefits of the CHHS community firsthand through her role as a Student Ambassador for the College of Health & Human Services. She is currently the Nutrition and Health Programs Manager at South Michigan Food Bank.
The annual Presidential Scholars event honors Western Michigan University's outstanding undergraduate students. The Presidential Scholars are chosen by the faculty on the basis of academic and/or artistic excellence in their major programs, as well as their overall promise of success.
