BA.GH - Global Public Health
Scott Carlson (program director)
Global health is an interdisciplinary field that draws on public health, clinical medicine, anthropology, political economy, sociology, history and more. Thus, the global health curriculum is interdisciplinary in nature and provides students with both a common core curriculum and the opportunity to pursue depth in a related area of interest. Global health focuses on understanding how political, socioeconomic, and environmental factors affect health domestically and internationally. While life expectancy and health outcomes in many populations have dramatically improved as a result of advances in public health measures and technological innovations, these gains have not been distributed evenly around the world. Global health focuses on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide.
Required for a major: The Global Health major requires a minimum of 32 credits in core courses, including GH 101, GH 301, GH 401, ANTH 208, BIO 151, HIST 292 or HIST 239 (ST: Plague & Pandemic Disease), GH 255, POLS 330, and BIO 256 or SOC 350 or PSYC 350. In addition, students are required to take at least 16 credits from one of the following tracks. At least 8 of those track credits must be at or above the 200 level.
Track 1: The Science of Disease and Wellness
ANTH 102: Biological Anthropology
BIO 152: Principles of Biology: Cellular and Molecular Biology
BIO 190: Clinical Microbiology or BIO 243: Microbiology
BIO 201: Genetics
BIO 255: Human Physiology
ENVS 175: Intro to Geographic Information Systems
ENVS 250: Sustainability, Systems and Solutions
HES 126: Human Performance Nutrition
PSYC 241: Psychology of Health and Illness
SCI 240: Pathophysiology
(7 of the 12 courses in this track have prerequisites, although BIO 152 serves as the final prerequisite for BIO 201, BIO 243 and BIO 255)
Track 2: Global Health Policy and Systems
ANTH 303: Consumerism and Sustainability: An Anthropological Perspective
DS 120: Introduction to Data Science
ECON 262: Development Economics
ECON 362: International Trade
ENG 130: Literary Ventures: Superpowers and Disabilities or ENG 244: Literature and Disability
ENVS 175: Intro to Geographic Information Systems
INTL 230: Introduction to International Studies
POLS 132: Global Politics
POLS 247: Social Policy
SW 304: Social Welfare Policies, Programs, and Issues
(6 of the 11 courses in this track have prerequisites)
Track 3: Society, Culture, and Human Health
IDS 345: Constructs of Race and Racialization
ANTH 205: Religion and Culture
IDS 333: Rhetoric of Identity and Difference
HIST 239 (ST: Plague & Pandemic Disease) - provided it is not used to fulfill the core requirement REL 232: God, Self, and the Afterlife
SOC 261: Social Conflict
SOC/IDS 468: Gender, Globalization and Development
SPAN 341: Spanish for Medical Professionals or SPAN 350: Practical and Professional Uses of Spanish
SW 204: Human Behavior in the Social Environment I
IDS 331: Gender, Health and Medicine
(8 of the 10 courses in this track have prerequisites)
Track 4: Foundations of Public Health
This track is based on a recently completed 4+1 articulation agreement between Luther College and the University of Iowa, and enables students to be accepted to the Master of Public Health (MPH) program during their junior year at Luther College. All students seeking this Track must contact the Global Health Board for advising and application assistance. Tuition fees for all graduate-level courses at The University of Iowa will be covered by Luther College, but students are responsible for all non-tuition fees, and for tuition related to the undergraduate level Fundamentals of Public Health course.
Students completing the Foundations of Public Health track must complete the following requirements:
A. University of Iowa Courses:
1) The undergraduate level Fundamentals of Public Health (3 cr) course. This will be waived for all students who have completed GH 101.
2) 3-4 graduate-level courses (9-12 credits) from the University of Iowa’s School of Public Health program. Options available are:
a. Intro to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (fall, online, 3 cr)
b. Global Environmental Health (fall, online,3 cr)
c. Intro to Biostatistics (fall or spring, online, 3 cr)
d. Epidemiology I (fall or spring, online, 3 cr)
e. Intro to Public Health (fall, spring, or summer online, 3 cr)
f. Intro to US Healthcare (fall, spring, or summer online, 3 cr)
B. Luther College: in addition to the required core courses, Global Health majors must complete a total of 16 credits in one of the tracks. For the Foundations in Public Health track, students must complete at least 1-2 additional courses from any of the existing Global Health tracks.
No more than 3 courses may count toward 2 majors if a student is double majoring. Since double dipping between majors cannot be tracked by the advising software, students must familiarize themselves with the double-dipping rule and consult regularly with the Global Health program director and their advisor in order to track their major attainment goals. Writing requirement fulfilled by taking GH 401 and completing the global health e-portfolio (tracked in courses with GH designation and via advising).
Global health majors are encouraged to identify electives that will advance the development of skills relevant to their particular career goals. Recommended areas include modern languages, writing, oral communication, geographic information systems, graphic design, and web programming.