Minor in Global Public Health & the Common Good
Boston College offers an undergraduate minor and a range of courses in Global Public Health and the Common Good. Our entry-level courses are open to students from across Boston College and are designed to introduce students in any field of study to core concepts in public health.
Enrollment in the 6-course (18 credit) minor in Global Public Health and the Common Good is by competitive application submitted in the spring of the freshman or sophomore year. Students accepted into the minor have the opportunity to delve deeply into epidemiology, the core science of public health, and to pursue coursework and research in diverse areas of public health such as infectious disease epidemiology, the epidemiology of cancer, children’s environmental health, environmental epidemiology, nutritional epidemiology and refugee health. A distinctive future of the minor is its strong emphasis on the ethical, moral and legal foundations of global public health.
The minor provides opportunities for academic and experiential learning, reflection and service in the United States and overseas.
The minor in Global Public Health and the Common Good is open to students with career interests in medicine, nursing, environmental studies and public health. It will prepare students for postgraduate studies in public health (MPH and PhD) and enrich the education of students headed to medicine, dentistry and nursing. And because public health is highly interdisciplinary and intersects many fields of human endeavor, the minor is open also to students interested in law, economics, international studies, mathematics, physics, chemistry, the humanities, business, social work and education.
The minor in Global Public Health and the Common Good is composed of 3 required courses and 3 electives.
The required courses are:
- Public Health in a Global Society (PHCG1210, cross-listed as NURS1210)
- Introduction to Epidemiology (PHCG2120)
- Either Global Public Health Law (PHCG2130) or The Ethics of Global Public Health and the Common Good (PHCG3223, cross-listed as THEO3223)
Recognizing that public health is an eclectic field that draws insights and technologies from many disciplines, the approved electives span a wide range of schools and departments across Boston College. Additional courses at Boston College and in other institutions in the United States and overseas may be may be considered as approved electives subject to the approval of the program director and Associate Deans.
The goal of the minor in Global Public Health and the Common Good is to introduce students from a wide range of majors, disciplines and schools across Boston College to key concepts in Global Public Health. Program graduates will gain knowledge of:
- The theory, history and key issues in Global Public Health
- Epidemiology, the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease in populations – the core science of public health
- The social, economic and environmental determinants of health and disease
- The contributions of public health to the stability and well-being of modern societies
- The moral, ethical and legal foundations of Global Public Health
The minor is open to students interested in medicine, dentistry, nursing, environmental health and public health. It will prepare students for postgraduate studies in public health and enrich the education of students headed to medicine, dentistry, nursing, law, economics, international studies, mathematics, physics, chemistry, the humanities, business, social work and education.
The Global Public Health and the Common Good minor consists of 3 Required courses and a selection of 3 Elective courses.
Required Courses
- Public Health in a Global Society (PHCG1210, cross-listed as NURS1210)
- Introduction to Epidemiology (PHCG2120)
- Either Global Public Health Law (PHCG2130) or The Ethics of Global Public Health and the Common Good (PHCG3223, cross-listed as THEO3223)
In addition to the 3 required courses students are also expected to select 3 elective courses:
- Two Elective Courses from List A
- One Elective Course from List B
Note: Additional electives may be considered subject to the approval of the Program Director and Associate Deans. Students may also be eligible to take two elective courses from List B and one elective course from List A. Please contact publichealth@bc.edu for further information.
Students can use no more than one course to satisfy the requirements of both the Global Public Health minor and your major, another minor, or the University Core. So one of your classes may count towards both the requirements of the minor and your major, another minor, or the University Core, but the remaining classes that you take for the minor must be unique to the minor and cannot count towards your major, another minor, or University Core. In other words, you must take 15 credits that are only counting towards the requirement of the minor.
The only exception is for CSON students, for whom two population health nursing courses (NURS4260 and NURS4261) will count as electives. *CSON students are required to complete an additional assignment in NURS4260 if they use the course as an elective for the minor. Please contact the teacher of record of NURS 4260 for more information.
Note: The elective courses listed below may not be offered every semester or academic year. Please consult the Course Information and Schedule section of the Agora Portal for the most up-to-date course offerings. Bolded courses will be offered Fall 2022.
Carroll School of Management
MGMT2139 | Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship |
BSLW1113 | Climate Change Law & Ethics |
Connell School of Nursing
NURS4260 | Population Health Nursing Theory |
NURS4261 | Population Health Practice in the Community |
NURS5345 | Ecuador: Global Health Perspectives |
Lynch School of Education and Human Development
APSY3320 | Building Sustainable Communities |
APSY4151 | Health Psychology |
APSY6397 | Social Issues and Social Policy |
APSY7471 | Psychological Responses to Humanitarian Crises |
School of Theology and Ministry
TMCE7052 | Theological Bioethics: From the Basics to the Future |
TMCE7128 | Just Sustainability |
TMCE8072 | Human Genetics and Biotechnologies: Challenges for Science and Religion |
TMCE8159 | Catholic Healthcare: History, Contexts, Values, and Principles |
TMCE8518 | Global Health and Theological Ethics |
Law School
LAWS4501 | New Frontiers in Environmental Policy * |
LAWS4503 | Water Law and Policy * |
LAWS4505 | Climate Change Law and Policy * |
LAWS9326 | Bioethics and the Law Seminar |
*Students must take either ENVS2256 or PHCG2130 prior to enrolling in this course. In addition, students must be registered by the department. Please email publichealth@bc.edu for further information.
Morrisey College of Arts and Sciences
Biology
BIOL1440 | Sustaining the Biosphere |
BIOL2300 | Biostatistics |
BIOL5150 | Vaccine Development and Public Health |
Communications
COMM4465 | Health Communication |
Core
PHCG1701 Maternity and Science: Society, Culture, & Public Health |
Earth & Environmental Science
EESC1174 | Climate Change and Society |
EESC1187 | GeoScience and Public Policy |
EESC2297 | Environmental Hydrology |
ENVS2256 | Environmental Law and Policy |
ENVS3315 | Sustainable Agriculture |
ENVS3345 | Environment and Public Health |
Economics
ECON1151 | Statistics |
ECON2213 | Economics of Health Policy |
ECON2242 | Public Policy and an Aging Society |
ECON2273 | Development Economics |
ECON2275 | Economic Development: The Experience of El Salvador |
ECON2277 | Environmental Economics and Policy |
ECON2278 | Environmental Economics |
ECON2289 | Which is Better? An Economic Comparison of Health and Health Care in France, the UK, and the US? |
ECON3315 | Economics of Immigration |
ECON3317 | Economics of Inequality |
ECON3363 | Micro Public Policy Issues |
ECON3373 | Impact Evaluation in Developing Counties |
ECON3374 | Development Economics and Policy |
ECON3385 | Health Economics |
ECON3390 | Applied Health Economics |
ECON3391 | Economics of Energy and Development |
Philosophy
PHIL4320 | Philosophy of Mental Illness |
Sociology
SOCY1002 | Introductory Sociology for Health Care Professionals |
SOCY1073 | States, Markets, and Bodies |
SOCY1078 | Sociology of Health and Illness |
SOCY1096 | Aging and Society |
SOCY1097 | Death and Dying |
SOCY3373 | Sexuality and Society* |
Theology
THEO3222 | Bioethics and Social Justice |
THEO5498 | HIV/AIDS and Ethics |
Woods College of Advancing Studies
ADSB1904 |
Planetary Health |
APSY4050 | Public Health Practice in the Community (not currently offered) |
BIOL2320 | Case Studies in Epidemiology (not currently offered) |
PHCG3210 |
Contemporary Issues in Public Health (formerly NURS3210) |
NURS5350 | Global Healthcare: Meeting Challenges & Connections |
PHCG3120 | Cancer Epidemiology |
PHCG3300 | Global Health: Theory to Practice |
PHCG4140 | Children's Health and the Environment |
Connell School of Nursing
Nadia Abuelezam
Assistant Professor
Lindsay Horrell Camp
Assistant Professor
Joyce Edmonds
Associate Professor
Tam Nguyen
Associate Professor
Cassie Ryan
Clinical Assistant Professor
M. Colleen Simonelli
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Clinical Professor
Brittney van de Water
Assistant Professor
Law School
Mary Ann Chirba
Professor of the Practice
David A. Wirth
Professor
Lynch School of Education and Human Development
Rebekah Levine Coley
Professor
Maureen Kenny
Professor
Betty Lai
Associate Professor
James Mahalik
Professor
Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
David Burgess
Professor
Jaqueline Calderon
Visiting Scholar
Tara Casebolt
Core Fellow
Thomas Chiles
Professor and Deluca Chair of Biology
Lynn DiBenedetto
Associate Professor of the Practice
Ismael Ben Fofana
Assistant Professor of the Practice
Tara Pisani Gareau
Associate Professor of the Practice
Marc-Jan Gubbels
Professor
Philip J. Landrigan
Professor
Babak Momeni
Assistant Professor
Bryan Ranger
Assistant Professor
Kurt Straif
Visiting Professor
School of Social Work
Theresa Betancourt
Salem Professor in Global Practice
Kirsten Davison
Donahue and DiFelice Endowed Chair
Alethea Desrosiers
Research Assistant Professor
Summer Sherburne Hawkins
Associate Professor
Praveen Kumar
Assistant Professor
Erika Sabbath
Associate Professor
Catherine Taylor
Professor
Gautam Yadama
Dean
School of Theology and Ministry
Andrea Vicini, S.J.
Affiliate Member of the Ecclesiastical Faculty