Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education

Admission to the Public Health Education program is separate from admission to Kennesaw State University. Students must meet the program requirements outlined below to pursue this degree. Students should declare the Public Health Education (PHE) Major-Interest through Owl Express > Student Records > Declare or Change Major/Minor. For more information, view the Office of the Registrar Registration Policies.

As a gated program, formal admission into the Bachelor of Science in Public Health Education program is based on the following criteria:

1. Completion of 30 overall course credits including a “C” or better in the following courses: WELL 2000, PHE 2000, and PHE 2100.
2. An Institutional GPA of 2.5 or higher (please note that maintaining a 2.5 GPA is required for continued program admission and entry into PHE 4750).
3. Completion of the online Public Health Education application form, which includes dept. referral, PHE involvement statement, and future career goal essay.

The required Bachelor of Science in Public Health Education program application materials should be completed in consultation with the student’s assigned academic advisor to review and verify academic records and to plan courses of study.

DEADLINES: 

• Fall Semester (October 1)
• Spring Semester (March 1)
• Summer Semester (August 1)

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General Education Core Curriculum (Areas A-E) (42 Credit Hours)
(see KSU Undergraduate Catalog)

Listing of requirements & Health and Nursing Majors: Students must take a two-semester laboratory sequence in either physics, chemistry, or biology. Students can choose from CHEM 1151/L & 1152/L, CHEM 1211/L & 1212/L, PHYS 1111/L & PHYS 1112/L, or BIOL 1107/L & 1108/L. See the individual degree program requirement section for majors with these requirements. Nursing majors are recommended to take CHEM 1151/L & CHEM 1152/L.

Lower Division Major Requirements (Area F) (18 Credit Hours)

• PHE 2000: Writing and Analysis for Public Health Education
• PHE 2100: Introduction to Public Health Education
• PHE 2400: Behavior Theory and Applications
• WELL 2000: Foundations of Health and Wellness
• HPE 2250: Functional Anatomy and Physiology
• HS 2300: Cultural Competence in the Human Services
  One additional hour from General Education Area D2 Program Requirements (42 Credit Hours)

Public Health Education Core (30 Credit Hours)

• PHE 3150: Applied Analytic Techniques in Public Health Education
• PHE 3400: Disease Prevention and Management
• PHE 3850: Fundamentals of Program Planning
• PHE 4200:Introduction to Community and Worksite Health
• PHE 4300: Environmental Health Issues
• PHE 4350: Methods of Public Health Education Research
• PHE 4500: Epidemiology
• PHE 4600: Program Implementation and Evaluation
• PHE 4650: Health Coaching and Patient Education
• PHE 4710: Introduction to Public Health Education Internship
• PHE 3330: Health Systems & Health Policy
  OR
• NURS 3330: Health Systems and Health Policy

Public Health Education Capstone (12 Credit Hours)

• PHE 4750: Public Health Education Seminar and Internship

Upper-Division Related Electives (9 Credit Hours)

Any 3000 - 4000 level courses with the following prefix: PHE, HPE, IHS, IPE, HS, NURS, SOCI, PSYC, COM, ORGC, TCOM

Free Electives (9 Credit Hours)

Any course offered by the university regardless of prefix.

Program Total (120 Credit Hours)

More information

Course and Academic Expectations

In addition to the specific course and program related expectations and requirements specified by each faculty member in their course syllabi, the PHE program upholds high expectations of PHE Major’s performance in the classroom and in all related academic,
departmental, professional, and field experiences. These expectations include but are not limited to the following:

Professional Dispositions

PHE majors are evaluated on their professional dispositions in every PHE related course in which they are enrolled. Dispositions reflect the values, commitments, behaviors, and professional ethics that demonstrate students’ behaviors toward the PHE Major, instructors, advisors, peers and other students, colleagues, communities, and the profession as a whole. Dispositions serve to guide as well as reinforce students’ learning, academic behavior and performance, as well as professional growth as future PHE practitioners.

The PHE and program-related faculty complete the disposition assessment either during (as warranted) or at the end of each semester (as warranted)—see below for Dispositions Rubric:

PHE Dispositions Rubric

What happens if a major receives a negative disposition evaluation?

PHE Professional Dispositions Scoring Guide: The minimal acceptable level on the Disposition Rubric is “L3 – Acceptable.” If a PHE Minor/Major is rated as a “L2 – Marginal” on any component of the Disposition Rubric in a course (either during or at the conclusion of a course as  warranted), the course instructor notifies the PHE Program Coordinator and student. The course instructor then meets with the student and PHE Program Coordinator (if necessary), to determine how to improve performance in future courses. If a PHE Minor/Major is rated as a “L1 – Unsatisfactory” on any component of the Disposition Rubric, a formal remediation plan is developed in consultation with the PHE faculty member, academic advisor (if applicable), PHE Program Coordinator, and the student for the following semester. The student may not be formally admitted to nor progress in the program until the remediation plan is completed and disposition concerns are effectively and consistently addressed.

PHE 4750 - Seminar and Internship in Public Health Education

12 credit hour capstone experience (2 Seminar credit hours and 10 Internship credit hours which includes 400 field-based hours) offered each semester for eligible PHE Majors.

• Internship Eligibility and Application Requirements
• Internship Application and Eligibility Form