The Department’s Ph.D. in Community Health Education is designed to engage doctoral students in an active learning environment that prepares them academically and professionally to conduct significant public health research and advanced practice.  Graduates of the doctoral program take roles as researchers, academics, and public health leaders and professionals committed to social change and to facilitating the resolution of public health outcomes important to the community and field.  The Ph.D. in Community Health Education requires 66 semester hours beyond an appropriate master’s degree (90 semester hours without a qualifying master’s degree).  Students who enter with a master’s degree are required to earn a minimum of 51 hours of course credit and 15 hours of dissertation credit.  The department’s faculty have a strong base in approaches that embrace the social ecological framework and are committed to community engaged interaction and research.

The educational objectives of the Ph.D. program are to:

• Provide an ecological perspective of health and the related advanced theory important in preparing students for careers in practice-based research. 
• Prepare students to function as leaders in community-based prevention research in academic, research, or public health organizations.
• Provide experiences to ground students’ research in the problems and issues facing public health education practitioners and policymakers.
• Provide research experiences designed to develop the technical, conceptual, and communications skills required for independent research.

Assessment of courses or experiences applicable to the degree occurs at the time of admission into the program. The student’s doctoral program committee will work with each candidate to develop a course of study within the framework of the program and informed by the student’s personal interests, past course work, and professional experiences.

In addition to the minimum admission materials required by The Graduate School, applicants should submit a description of work experiences and a written statement of research and professional goals. In this statement, identify at least 2-3 faculty members with whom you would like to work.  For best consideration, materials should be provided by December 2nd although strong students will be considered on a rolling basis until the class is filled. Admission is for the Fall only and applicants can be admitted as either full-time or part-time students.

Degree Program Requirements

Required: 66-90 credit hours

Entering doctoral students who have not completed one or more of the public health or health education core courses must complete these courses as part of their program in addition to the minimum 66 credit hours.