The Master of Public Health in Health Promotion program prepares students for careers in a variety of public health areas. The MPH program can be completed in as little as 2 years, or stretched out and completed at a part-time pace. Most courses are offered in the late afternoon and evening between the hours of 4 and 9pm.

Students progress through 9 core MPH courses, 3 concentration-specific courses, and 4 elective courses. Students also participate in a 3-credit applied practice experience at a public health agency of their choosing. Students also complete an Integrated Learning Experience project.

MPH core courses include topics in biostatistics, epidemiology, social and structural determinants of health, behavior change counseling, environmental health, health policy and management, and research methods and program evaluation.

Students also complete coursework in the health promotion concentration with topics in chronic disease epidemiology and prevention, innovations in healthcare and public health, and intervention mapping.

Students plan their coursework to meet personal learning objectives and career goals by completing four electives from disciplines such as Anthropology, Fitness/Wellness, Nutrition, Psychology, Educational Psychology, Sociology, and Applied Indigenous Studies.

Courses include innovative uses of service learning activities, simulation, and case studies, so that students don’t just learn about public health, they learn how to apply these concepts into real world settings.

Mission

To train a highly qualified public health workforce through teaching, community service and scholarship to improve public health through practices, policy changes, leadership and management work, and creative interventions in Arizona with a focus on rural, tribal, and border communities.

Vision

To improve health, well-being and quality of life in Arizona with a focus on rural, tribal, and border communities.

Goals

1) Teaching Goal:
Provide students with hands-on learning experiences, mentoring, and opportunities for leadership development to promote health equity, the needs of marginalized communities, tribal communities and/or rural communities.

2) Community Service Goal:
Work with community partners to identify and address public health needs and provide students with opportunities to gain hands-on experience in community-based projects; Support partnerships that engage students, staff and faculty in community service and provide expertise to support community organizations in meeting the needs of regional populations.

3) Research Goal:
Engage faculty, staff and students in scholarship partnerships with public health agencies and community partners to address regional public health needs; Conduct research and provide students with opportunities to work on research related to health equity.

4) Student-focused Goal:
Train students to become culturally immersed, aware, knowledgeable, and skillful public health practitioners.

A Master of Public Health degree provides graduates with the opportunity to improve the health and well-being of their community and beyond. Public health professionals explore public health challenges and propose solutions that are specific to the population affected. They conduct community needs assessments, develop and implement public health programs to address those needs, and evaluate the programs to determine effectiveness.

A graduate degree in public health strengthens depth of knowledge and builds competence in the skills necessary to be effective in the public health field. More experience and graduate degrees lead to higher salaries within the public health field. Employees with MPH degrees often manage public health programs, staff, and budgets.

Public health careers typically fall into one of the following six categories:

• Food, nutrition, and health (visit our MPH Nutrition program site, for more information)
• Health leadership and management
• Epidemiologic and biostatistical methods for research
• Global environment sustainability and health
• Health systems and policy
• Aging and public health

Check out this list of 100 career ideas in public health.

Learn more about careers in public health and salaries.

Baccalaureate degree Applicants must hold a baccalaureate degree from a four-year college or university, or its international equivalent with a 3.0 GPA or better in any subject. The baccalaureate degree can be in any subject.

Required pre-requisite courses

Prior to applying please complete the following pre-requisite course:

1 semester of an intro or basic statistics course

Students who have not completed the pre-requisite course prior to submitting their application will still be considered for the program as long as the applicant can demonstrate proof of enrollment in the course. (Upload a screenshot demonstrating course enrollment to the application.)

Students with an outstanding pre-requisite course must demonstrate that they completed the course with a C or better prior to the start of the program. Students will be dropped from the program if the pre-requisite course is not complete, or if a C or better was not earned, prior to the start of the program.

A pre-requisite course completed more than 10 years prior to the application deadline may need to be retaken.

Each year, for admission to the program in the following Fall, the priority deadline is January 15th. If a student applies by January 15th, they should expect to hear back by the end of February. If any places in our programs remain after the applications are considered that met the priority deadline then applications that are submitted between January 16th and April 1st may be considered to fill any remaining openings. If a student applies between January 16th to April 1st, they should expect to hear back by the beginning of May. International applicants: Applications submitted after January 15 will not be evaluated for admission, please apply to the next available admission term.

The MPH Health Promotion program can be completed full-time in 2 years, or spread out over a longer period of time at a part-time status. Find the course plan here.

To apply, visit the SOPHAS website to start the NAU MPH application. The application opens on August 12th. The priority application deadline is January 15th. Applications that are submitted between January 16th and April 1st may be considered to fill any remaining openings. Questions? Contact us at (928) 523-8471 or email christopher.moreno@nau.edu.

Program cost

Tuition

Learn more about up-to-date tuition, fees, and estimated living expenses for all NAU graduate programs.

Financial aid

The NAU Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid can help students apply for Direct Unsubsidized Loans.

Scholarships, fellowships and awards may also be available. Visit the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies website and hover over Resources in the navigation bar for more information.

Graduate assistantships are sometimes available within the department, depending on available research funding. The MPH Director will send a survey to applicants to gage interest in department assistantships following the program application deadline. Students who complete the survey will be contacted if awarded a Health Sciences Department Graduate Assistantship.

College level assistantships are also available. Learn more about current assistantship openings.

Students will be placed in a single site or agency for an 120 hour applied practice experience in a public health setting. Students are eligible to complete the HS 608 Public Health Applied Practice Experience course once they have completed a minimum of 75% of their MPH core courses. For full-time students, this means the earliest that they can complete the APE is the summer after their first two semesters.

Applied practice experience activities may include assisting agency staff with various tasks, and working independently on assigned projects.

Students are required to complete extensive paperwork requesting permission to enroll in HS 608 (to complete the applied practice experience) at least 1 semester prior to the semester they wish to enroll in the course. The documents the student is required to fill out prior to the applied practice experience invite the student to carefully think through the type of experience that will best align with their career goals, preparing them for work in the public health field.

Students will be able to select an agency they wish to work with or ask for assistance from the Academic Program Coordinator, Intermediate to find an agency that aligns with their career goals and interests. The Academic Program Coordinator, Intermediate contacts an agency representative to ask if they are willing to take an intern.

Once a site has been identified and permission has been granted from the agency overseeing the Applied Practice Experience, the student works with their agency preceptor to select at least three CEPH core competencies and two additional CEPH core competencies or MPH-Health Promotion competencies they wish to achieve for their Applied Practice Experience while working with the agency.

During the semester that the student completes the 3-unit applied practice experience, students complete pre-planned tasks and deliverable products to demonstrate attainment of their selected CEPH competencies.

Possible applied practice experience placements include (but are not limited to):

• Coconino County Public Health Department
• Flagstaff YMCA
• Pinnacle Prevention
• Northern Arizona Healthcare Employee Wellness
• Native Americans for Community Action
• North Country Healthcare

Each student completes a graduate project, the Integrated Learning Experience, that aligns with their chosen public health concentration.

As part of the first year MPH coursework, students learn how to write a project proposal and learn methods to support their ability to plan a project.

Students identify a public health agency and the Integrated Learning Experience is planned out to benefit or support an agency.

MPH students should coordinate with a public health agency and develop a project that benefits the agency. Students will also have a faculty member mentor from the Department of Health Sciences. Students can develop their own Integrated Learning Experience project and propose the project to an agency and faculty member with similar interests.

The final project is submitted in the Spring semester Graduate Seminar class in the form of a submitted written product and an MPH Conference presentation.

Q: Is this program offered online?

A: Yes, we now offer this program online and you can learn more information about the Online MPH Health Promotion program by clicking here.

Q: Do I need to have an undergraduate degree in public health to be eligible for this program?

A: No, your bachelor’s degree can be in anything. The only requirement is that you have a bachelor’s degree and that you have taken an intro/basic undergraduate-level statistics course (or passed the AP Statistics Exam).

Q: How many hours of public health experience is required to apply?

A: None. While gaining experience in public health prior to applying will certainly help you determine your fit within the profession, public health experience is not a requirement to apply.

Q: How do you evaluate applicants? What do you look for in applicants?

A: Applicants are evaluated based on their GPA; writing ability (as demonstrated in the personal statement); general fit for the program based on career goals and interests; previous experience managing multiple commitments; interest, experience and readiness to serve underserved communities; and letters of recommendation.

Q: Can I count previous courses taken from other institutions towards my degree?

A: Up to 9 credits may be transferred from another master’s degree, however, these requests must go through several levels of approval and stipulations apply. Learn more about the university policy regarding graduate course transfers.

Q: Are there assistantship opportunities or other opportunities for funding?

A: There are a few graduate assistantships offered at NAU and prospective students are encouraged to check the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies website assistantship list frequently during the semester they are applying. Check current “at large” assistantship openings at the bottom of the Graduate Assistantships page. There are very few graduate assistantships currently offered within the Health Sciences Department. However, students can apply for TA and RA positions that provide hourly pay (no tuition waiver).

Student Spotlight

Anika Martin

Anika Martin is from Honolulu, Hawaii. She graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Health Sciences: Public Health from Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Fall 2018. When she’s not working or studying, Anika enjoys going to the gym, exploring new places to eat, and finding new recipes to cook. After graduation, Anika plans on conducting community outreach and implementing health and wellness programs to better the health statuses of marginalized communities in Hawaii. Her graduate research project focused on identifying the perceptions of sexual education among LGBTQIA+ undergraduate students at NAU. Anika’s favorite part of the NAU Master of Public Health program, is the faculty and staff members for their continuous support and mentorship. The quality of education provided from all staff and faculty members was described as  exceptional! She also mentions that the Flagstaff community, although very different from what she was used to growing up, was an amazing experience she would never trade for anything in the world. Feel free to contact Anika with and ask her questions about her experience in the program at abm253@nau.edu.

Christopher Moreno

Christopher (Chris) Moreno was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned his bachelors degree in public health and a minor in biology from Northern Arizona University. Chris has many interest areas within public health including: epidemiology, climate change and health, sustainability, mental health, and complementary and alternative medications. His hobbies include hiking, running, rock climbing, and playing disc golf in his free time.  After graduation, Chris hopes to gain experience by working in an epidemiology fellowship. His interest in epidemiology is specifically on emerging and infectious diseases, intersecting with climate change and wishes to pursue this career path. His favorite part about NAU’s MPH-Health Promotion program is the boundless opportunities for career, educational, and personal growth provided by the program and the amazing faculty. Feel free to contact Chris with questions on the program or his experience at cpm228@nau.edu.

Omar Gomez

Born in Oaxaca, Mexico and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona, Omar is deeply focused on immigrant health promotion. Currently he works as a graduate research assistant investigating occupational health risks among Latina housekeepers and was previously involved with initiating contact tracing in Coconino County led by DrPh. Samantha Sabo. Omar plans to apply to medical school and use his experience in public health to support health access for marginalized communities.