The College of Public Health requires students to earn a minimum of 120 hours for the Bachelor of Public Health with a cumulative grade-point average of 2.75 or higher. In addition, students must earn a grade of C or better in all major-required courses. Students will need to complete the following coursework to complete the requirements for the Bachelor of Public Health degree.
The BPH program has four overall student learning outcomes. In order to demonstrate achievement of these outcomes, the BPH program faculty have developed competencies which students demonstrate through coursework and a culminating experience.
(PLO 1) Demonstrate Knowledge of Public Health from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
(PLO 2) Show Competency in Ethical Issues, Social Responsibility, and Problem Solving Using Evidence-based Concepts in Core Public Health Areas
(PLO 3) Show Competency in Relationship-building and Team Dynamics to Plan and Promote Public Health and Reduce Health Disparities
(PLO 4) Apply Theories and Concepts to Communicate the Interconnectedness among the Physical, Social, and Environmental Aspects of Population Health
The UK Core is the University of Kentucky’s general education program. For the complete UK Core requirements, see the UK Core section Undergraduate Bulletin, http://www.uky.edu/registrar/content/uk-core. The courses listed below are required courses that also fulfill UK Core areas.
Intellectual Inquiry in Arts and Creativity
Choose one course from approved list
Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities
Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
*CPH 201 Introduction to Public Health
Intellectual Inquiry in the Natural, Physical, and Mathematical Sciences
*BIO 103 Basic Ideas of Biology (or higher)
Composition and Communication I
CIS/WRD 110 Composition and Communication I
Composition and Communication II
CIS/WRD 111 Composition and Communication II
Quantitative Foundations
* MA 109 College Algebra OR MA 111 Introduction to Contemporary Math (or higher)
Statistical Inferential Reasoning
*BST 230 Statistical Literacy in Public Health
Community, Culture and Citizenship in the USA
*GRN 250 Aging in Today’s World
Global Dynamics
Graduation Composition and Communication Requirement
CPH 470 Public Health Capstone
The Bachelor of Public Health is a selective program that requires students to complete the following pre-major courses with a 3.0 GPA before moving forward to the Public Health major requirements.
CLA 131 Medical Terminology from Greek & Latin
Requirement of B or higher
*MA 111 Introduction to Contemporary Math OR MA 109 College Algebra (or higher)
*Please note, that 15 credits of the pre-major requirements may be utilized for UK Core hours. A student’s elective credits will vary depending on how many courses are used as UK Core requirements.
Major requirements introduce students to the core functions of Public Health. All students in the BPH program take the following Public Health major-required classes and must earn a grade of C or better:
CPH 310 Disease Detectives: Epidemiology in Action
CPH 320 Foundations of Environmental Health
CPH 330 Health Analytics I
CPH 350 Introduction to Health Systems and Policy
CPH 440 Foundations of Health Behavior
CPH 455 Public Health Practice and Communication
CPH 476G A Sick World: Global Public Health in the Early 21st Century
CPH 255 Public Health: Careers for a Healthy World
Guided electives are intended for students to tailor the BPH to their specific interests. Students must complete the stated amount of credits in additional Public Health, Natural Science, and Social Science courses and must earn a grade of C or better.
Students choose at least 18 credit hours at appropriate levels of public health courses not otherwise required for the degree.
No more than 2 at the 200-299 levelCPH 202 Public Health through Popular FilmCPH 203 Sexual HealthCPH 241 Health and Society: A Global Perspective
No more than 2 at the 300-394 levelCPH 309 Health, History, and Human DiversityCPH 315 Chronic Disease EpidemiologyCPH 318 Global Cancer EpidemiologyCPH 345 Food Fight: Public Health and NutritionCPH 351 Population Health and Crisis ManagementCPH 352 Public Health and Social MediaCPH 365 Special Topics in Public Health
Unlimited from the 395-level or aboveCPH 395 Independent Studies in Public HealthCPH 423 The Health of KentuckiansCPH 441 Tobacco and the Public’s HealthCPH 450 Managing Health Services Orgs to Improve Population Health
Students choose at least 6 credit hours of 200+ level courses from the following departments:
Anatomy (ANA)
Biology (BIO)
Chemistry (CHE)
Physiology (PGY)
Pharmacology (PHA)
Physics (PHY)
Students choose at least 9 credit hours of 200+ level social science courses from the following departments:
Anthropology (ANT)
Geography (GEO)
Sociology (SOC)
Free electives offer students flexibility in their studies. Students may choose any university course to complete the minimum 120 hours required for graduation. Most students in the BPH program have approximately 30 credit hours of free electives in their degree. Students may choose to use these courses to take prerequisites necessary to apply to professional programs such as Medicine, Dentistry, or Pharmacy; as requirements for a minor or certificate; or by taking a mix of courses of interest from various departments.
Regardless of how a student chooses to structure their free electives, these courses offer a unique way to meet the required hours for graduation.
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See the BPH on UK's Academic Exploration Tool.
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The University of Kentucky College of Public Health is undergoing a review by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) for re-accreditation. Part of this process includes the invitation to provide third-party comments. Anyone, including students, alumni, employers, community partners, etc., is allowed to share relevant information about the college directly with CEPH. If you would like to provide input to CEPH to inform their review, send your comments to submissions@ceph.org by May 4th, 2025.
