School of Public Health

Craig Molgaard, Professor and Chair

The School of Public and Community Health Sciences is an interdisciplinary program that offers the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree and a Certificate in Public Health (C.P.H.). The program is designed to prepare individuals for public health practice who can effectively address the challenges of rural and global health. Predominantly on-line, web-based instruction allows both traditional students and working professionals to pursue a degree or certificate. This program addresses current and forecasted needs for graduate education in public health. The program’s focus on rural and global population health problems assists in promoting improvement in the health of the people of Montana and throughout the world.

Special Degree Requirements

For the M.P.H. degree, all students must successfully complete 42 graduate credits, including 36 required core credits and 6 elective credits. The following core courses are required:

  • PUBH 510 Introduction to Epidemiology
  • PUBH 520 Fundamentals of Biostatistics
  • PUBH 530 Administration and Management in the U.S. Health Care System
  • PUBH 535 Health Policy
  • PUBH 540 Social and Behavioral Sciences in Public Health
  • PUBH 550 Program Evaluation and Research Methods
  • PUBH 560 Environmental and Rural Health
  • PUBH 570 Ethical Issues in Public Health
  • PUBH 580 Rural Health Issues in a Global Context
  • PUBH 591 Practicum
  • PUBH 593 Professional Portfolio
  • PUBH 599 Professional Paper

M.P.H. students may take 6 or more elective credits of courses offered from the School of Public and Community Health Sciences or from other departments in order to create a plan of study that tailors the learning experience to the needs of the student. PUBH elective courses include:

  • PUBH 512 Neuroepidemiology
  • PUBH 515 Public Health Genetics
  • PUBH 595 Special Topics
  • PUBH 596 Independent Study
  • PUBH 597 Research

For the Certificate of Public Health, students must complete any 12 pre-approved credits from the above list of core courses. Approval of a specific 12 credit program is part of the Certificate of Public Health admission process.

Courses

G = for graduate credit. R after the credit indicates the course may be repeated for credit to the maximum indicated after the R. Credits beyond this maximum do not count toward a degree.

Public Health (PUBH)

G 510 Introduction to Epidemiology 3 cr. Offered autumn. Principles and methods of epidemiologic investigation, descriptive and analytic epidemiology techniques, disease frequency, risk determination, study designs, causality, and validity.

G 512 Neuroepidemiology 3 cr. Offered spring odd-numbered years. An overview of the fundamental considerations of the history, scope, and methods of neuroepidemiology as a subfield of epidemiology. Specific neurologic diseases and injuries will be studied as to distribution and risk factors, as well as the relationship to international public health.

G 515 Public Health Genetics 3 cr. Offered autumn. Basic principles of genetics and genomics, application to public health practices and research. Includes issues in public health genetics such as informed consent, screening for genetic susceptibility, and ethical, legal and social implications.

G 520 Fundamentals of Biostatistics 3 cr. Offered fall. Introduction to the basic vocabulary, concepts, and methods of biostatistics. Provides an introduction to how biostatistics works. Topics will include descriptive statistics, probability, random variables, probability distributions, statistical inference, chi-square analysis, linear regression, and correlation.

G 530 Administration and Management in the U.S. Health Care System 3 cr. Offered autumn. The U.S. healthcare system including the rural system. Organization, management, evaluation, and finance.

G 535 Health Policy 3 cr. Offered autumn. The intersection of international, federal, state, and local health policy and informatics. (Also can be satisfied by PUBH 595 Health Policy: Informatics, taught on-line as Health Care Informatics by the Health Care Informatics Department at Montana Tech.)

G 540 Social and Behavioral Sciences in Public Health 3 cr. Offered spring. Behavioral and social factors relevant to the identification and solution of public health problems, principles of health behavior change, applications, and assessment of interventions.

G 550 Program Evaluation and Research Methods 3 cr. Offered summer odd-numbered years. Prerreq., PUBH 510 or equiv. and consent of instr. Historical, conceptual, values, ethics, and socio-cultural aspects of community-based research, building partnerships, working with diverse populations, developing a research proposal and participatory evaluation.

G 560 Environmental and Rural Health 3 cr. Offered spring. Relationship of people to their physical environment, how this relationship impacts health, and efforts to minimize negative health effects.

G 570 Ethical Issues in Public Health 3 cr. Offered summer even-numbered years. Focus on the values and moral issues that underlie U.S. public health policies. Course examines ethical decision making in arenas such as policy development, research, environmental health, occupational health, resource allocation, and genetics.

G 580 Rural Health Issues in a Global Context 3 cr. Offered summer. Prereq., 15 core credits and consent of instr. Analysis of public-health themes. Focus on rural concerns and transnational influences. Includes human rights, health equity, mobile and vulnerable populations, and transnational competence.

G 591 Practicum 3 cr. Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., admission into the M.P.H. program and consent of instructor. Semester long, supervised graduate practicum in a health science setting, followed by an oral defense.

G 593 Professional Portfolio 3 cr. Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., admission to the M.P.H. program and consent of instructor. Integrates the student’s practice experience and knowledge gained through course work, practicum, and possibly professional papers and research with the goals and learning objectives of the M.P.H. program into a portfolio. Students will present and defend their portfolio to illustrate their growth as a professional public health practitioner at the end of their M.P.H. program

G 595 Special Topics Variable cr. (R-12) Offered intermittently. Experimental offerings of visiting professors, experimental offerings of new courses, or one-time offerings of current topics.

G 596 Independent Study Variable cr. Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., admission to the M.P.H., program and consent of instructor. Supervised readings, research, or public health practice.

G 597 Research 3 cr. Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., admission to the M.P.H. program and consent of instructor. With the guidance of their faculty advisor, students will develop a written proposal specific to the goals of their research project, and carry out the project.

G 599 Professional Paper 3 cr. Offered autumn and spring. Prereq., admission to the M.P.H. program and consent of instructor. Students will write and submit an original research paper to a peer-reviewed public health or medical journal. Students may also fulfill the professional paper requirement by presenting a conference paper or conference poster to a local, regional, or national \meeting.

Faculty

Public Health Core

Professors

  • Amanda L. Golbeck, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 1983 (Biostatistics); M.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1979 (Statistics); M.A.,, University of California at Berkeley, 1977 (Anthropology)
  • Craig Molgaard, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 1979 (Anthropology/Health and Medical Sciences); M.P.H. University of California at Berkeley, 1982 (Epidemiology); M.A., University of California at Berkeley, 1976 (Anthropology) (Chair)

Associate Professors

  • Kari Harris, Ph.D., The University of Kansas, 1998 (Behavioral Psychology); M.P.H., The University of Kansas School of Medicine, 1997; M.S., Central Washington University, 1992 (Organizational Development)

MPH Program Faculty

Professors

  • Peter Koehn, Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1973 (Political Science)
  • K. Ann Sondag, Ph.D., Southern Illinois, Carbondale, 1988 (Health and Human Performance)
  • Willard O. Granath, Ph.D., Wake Forest University, 1982 (Biological Sciences)
  • Janet L. Finn, Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1995 (Social Work and Anthropology)
  • Tom Seekins, Ph.D. University of Kansas, 1983 (Department of Psychology and the Rural Institute)

Associate Professors

  • Jean T. Carter, Ph.D., The University of Arizona, 1997; Pharm.D., The University of Arizona, 1993 (Pharmacy Practice)
  • Kimber Haddix McKay, Ph.D., University of California at Davis, 1998 (Anthropology)
  • Elizabeth Putnam, Ph.D., University of Texas-Houston, 1989 (Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences)
  • Gilbert Quintero, Ph.D., University of Arizona, 1998 (Anthropology)

Assistant Professors

  • Duncan Campbell, Ph.D., Washington State University, 2003 (Psychology)
  • Bryan Cochran, Ph.D., University of Washington, 2003 (Psychology)
  • Curtis Noonan, Ph.D., Colorado State University, 2000 (Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacy Practice)
  • Robin Saha, Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2002 (Environmental Studies)

Research Associate Professors

  • Ann Cook, Ph.D., The University of Montana, 2001 (Research, Psychology)

Research Assistant Professors

  • Nikole Cronk, Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006 (Research, Public Health)
  • Meg Ann Traci, Ph.D., University of Montana, 2000 (Rural Institute)
  • Tony Ward, Ph.D., University of Montana, 2001 (Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences)
  • Lawrence L. White, M.H.A., St. Louis University, 1970 (Health Administration, School of Public and Community Health Sciences

Project and Research Directors

  • Donna Bainbridge, Ph.D., Boston University, 1990 (Rural Institute)
  • Kathleen Humphries, Ph.D., the University of California at Davis, 1995 (Rural Institute)
  • Rosemary Hughes, Ph.D., University of Houston, 1989 (Rural Institute)
  • Craig H. Ravesloot, Ph.D., University of Montana, 1995 (Rural Institute)

School of Public and Community Health Sciences Faculty Affiliates

  • Elizabeth Ciemins, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley, 2003; M.P.H., University of California at Los Angeles, 1994 (Research director, Center for Clinical Translation Research, Billings Clinic.)
  • Lawrence Edward Firsch, M.D., Harvard Medical School, 1971; M.P.H. University of Washington, 1995 (Associate Professor, Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine and Pharmacy; Executive Medical Director for Patient Safety and Quality, Vancouver Island Health Authority, British Columbia, Canada)
  • Suzanne Reid Hawley, Ph.D., Loma Linda University, 2002; M.P.H., Loma Linda University, 1999 (Assistant Professor) and MPH Program Director, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.
  • Steven D. Helgerson, M.D., University of Washington School of Medicine, 1973; M.P.H., University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine (State Medical Officer, Montana Department of Health and Human Services.)
  • Lolem Ngong, M.P.H., University of Kansas School of Medicine-Witchta, 2001 (WESTAT Contractor, Centers for Disease Control land Prevention, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination)
  • Angelia Paschal, Ph.D., Kent State University, 2003; M.Ed., University of Mississippi, 1992 (Assistant Professor, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Witchita, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health)
  • Lisa Pascopella, Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1993; M.P.H., University of California at Berkeley, 1999 (Research Administrator and Faculty, FJ Curry national Tuberculosis Center, University of California-San Francisco)