The 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. requires 63 credit hours beyond an appropriate master’s degree (90 credit hours without a qualifying master’s degree). Students who enter with a master’s degree are required to earn a minimum of 48 credits of course work and 15 credits of dissertation work. 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.

For information regarding deadlines and requirements for admission, please see the Guide to Graduate Admissions.

In addition to the minimum admission materials required by the Graduate School, applicants should submit:

• A statement of purpose, not to exceed two single-spaced pages, that includes:
  • Your research interests, how they developed (including how your volunteer, work, and personal experiences led to your interests), and who on our faculty you would be interested in working with and why.
  • Your career goals.
  • Why UNC Greensboro is a good fit for you and why you are a good fit for UNC Greensboro.
• Three letters of recommendation. Your reference providers are required to write a letter on your behalf in addition to filling out the required form. We also recommend that at least one of your letters of recommendation come from a professor or course instructor.

For best consideration, materials should be provided by December 1, 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: 63 credit hours (90 credit hours without a qualifying master's degree)

The Ph.D. in Community Health Education requires 63 credit hours beyond an appropriate master’s degree (90 credit hours without a qualifying master’s degree). Students who enter with a master’s degree are required to earn a minimum of 48 credits of course work and 15 credits of dissertation work. 

Entering doctoral students who have not completed one or more of the Public Health Core or Health Education Core courses must complete these courses as part of their program in addition to the minimum 63 credit hours (HEA 758 is required for all doctoral students).

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Profession Core (12-30 credits)
Public Health Core (0-9 credits) 1
HEA 704	Quantitative Methods	3
HEA 707	Determinants of Health	3
HEA 710	Epidemiology Methods	3
Health Education Core (3-12 credits) 2
HEA 718	Assessment and Program Planning I	3
HEA 721	Public Health Theories and Strategies	3
HEA 726	Evaluation Methods	3
HEA 758	Advanced Theoretical Basis for Community Health Education 3	3
Professional Development (9 credits)
HHS 703	Teaching Undergraduates in Health and Human Services	3
HHS 750	Professional Development Seminar	3
Select at least one course (3 credits) from the following:		3
HEA 701	Promoting and Protecting Health through Entrepreneurship
KIN 798	Doctoral Seminar in Grant Writing
Research Core (21 credits)
Foundations (3 credits)
HEA 751	Foundations of Research for Public Health Education	3
Methods (18 credits)
HEA 705	Qualitative Methods in Public Health	3
HEA 752	Quantitative Methods in Public Health	3
HEA 765	Advanced Program Evaluation in Public Health Education	3
Select at least three courses (9 credits) from the following: 4		9
CST 602	Engaging Communication Scholarship II
ELC 764	Introduction to Qualitative Inquiry: A Social Justice Approach
ERM 731	Structural Equation Modeling in Education
ERM 732	Hierarchical Linear Modeling
ERM 750	Case Study Methods in Educational Research
ERM 768	Survey Research Methods in Education
ERM 780	Intermediate Statistical Methods in Education
ERM 781	Design and Analysis of Educational Experiments
HDF 756	Advanced Research Design in Human Development and Family Studies
HHS 749	Applied Multiple Regression
NUR 701	Statistical Applications for Nursing Research
NUR 702	Statistical Applications for Nursing Research II
NUR 703	Qualitative Methods for Nursing
PSC 503	Survey Methods for Policy Research
PSY 609	Statistical Methods in Psychology I
PSY 610	Statistical Methods in Psychology II
SOC 618	Advanced Data Analysis
STA 645	Nonparametric Statistics
STA 670	Categorical Data Analysis
STA 676	Sample Survey Methods
TED 738	Mixed Methods Research Design in Curriculum and Instruction
Electives (15 credits)
Select 15 credits from the following: 5		15
HEA 712	Management of Community Health Organizations
HEA 722	Social Epidemiology
HEA 725	Advanced Community Health Projects
HEA 735	Topics in Community Health Research
HEA 740	Global Health Issues
HEA 762	Gender and Health
HEA 776	Problems Seminar
ERM 767	Foundations of Educational Measurement Theory
KIN 745	Seminar: Social Psychology and Physical Activity
PSC 620	Urban and Regional Development Policy
Dissertation (15 credits)
HEA 799	Dissertation	15
Total Credit Hours		63

¹

Public Health Core courses may be waived with an accredited M.P.H./M.S. degree or related degree.

²

HEA 718, HEA 721, and HEA 726 may be waived with an accredited M.P.H./M.S. in Health Education or Health Education-related degree. HEA 758 is a required course for the Health Education Core.

³

HEA 758 is required for all doctoral students.

⁴

Students should work with their advisor and committee to select course work complementary of expected dissertation method needs. Additional methods courses taken beyond the required courses may count as part of elective requirements.

⁵

The list provides examples of possible electives. Elective choices should be made under the advisement of the student's doctoral program committee. A minimum of 6 credits of HEA courses is required. Additional methods or professional development courses taken above those required may be counted toward elective requirements.