Hello and welcome to the Master of Public Health Program website! I am the Director the Master's of Public Health Program at Des Moines University and I am extremely pleased to offer you this curriculum.

This is a generalist program which requires the completion of 45 credits, with 38 credits earned in core courses and 7 credits of electives. Our core courses provide students with a solid foundation of public health knowledge. We recommend that students complete the Block 1 courses before undertaking Block 2 courses, with the Overview of U.S. Health Care, Basic Statistics and Research, and Survey of Human Health and Disease being three of the most important courses to take at the beginning of your MPH.

Curriculum at a glance

The electives we offer change frequently to reflect current public health issues. The most recent MPH calendar lists the electives. These are some of the electives that we have offered:

Health Promotion and Health Education, 3 cr.
Grant-Writing, 3 cr.
Global Health, 3 cr.
Bioterrorism, 2 cr.
RX for Survival (Global Health), 2 cr.
Geographic Information Systems, 2 cr.
Introduction to Research, 1 cr.
Intimate Partner Violence, 1 cr.
Applied Epidemiology, 1 cr.
Excellence in Public Health, 1 cr.
Seminar on International Internship, 1 cr.

lectives are offered every semester, and students have great flexibility in what courses they choose to fulfill these electives. One 3-cr. MPH elective and one 1-cr. MPH elective are offered every term. Students may also choose to take MHA (Master of Health Care Administration) classes for elective credit.

MPH courses are offered either face-to-face during evenings and/or weekends. We also offer many classes online or independent study. We have made the commitment that every core course will be offered at least once per year, and that each course will be made additionally available online at least once every other year. Students can complete their MPH entirely online, or on-campus, or through a combination of taking both online and on-campus classes. In fact, 100% of the 2007 graduates completed their MPH through a combination of online and on-campus classes. The schedule for course delivery can be found listed on the course calendar.

Graduates find employment in many areas, including state departments of public health, local boards of public health, national public health programs, and private agencies. In our 2007 Graduate Survey, 94% of MPH graduates were employed full-time. We provide links to many job opportunities through our MPH student portal.

Thank you for your interest in our MPH program. Good luck in all your endeavors!

DMU Public Health Program, Director
Wendy Ringgenberg, Ph.D.