Public Health
Marc Adams
About this opportunity
The Bachelor of Science Public Health is for students who wish to shape society in order to improve public health. Students learn how to prevent the spread of disease and impact community design to cultivate healthier behaviors.
Public health is the practice of preventing disease and promoting good health within groups of people in communities or countries. The BS in public health is a practical, hands-on program that prepares graduates to make an impact in health care on a local and global scale. Coursework is designed around five pillars of public health:
- Environmental health
- Epidemiology
- Ethics
- Global health
- Rural and urban health
The Bachelor of Science in public health pairs well with the health education specialist certificate, the health care policy and delivery certificate, and the hospice and palliative care certificate, each offered by the College of Health Solutions.
Thesis
The Honors Thesis project is an excellent opportunity to gain experience conducting original research under the advisement of a HEHP faculty member. A topic for your thesis usually emerges from an aspect of an introductory course that sparks your interest and/or is the result of a collaboration between you and a faculty member with their research. This topic becomes more refined as a depth of knowledge is developed in negotiation with your faculty thesis director. Most thesis projects involve quantitative field- or lab-based research. Often faculty members have secondary datasets that students can use to examine a topic. Students can also collect and analyze original data and qualitative data.
Please reach out to your FHA, Dr. Marc Adams (marc.adams@asu.edu), to help you identify eligible HEHP faculty doing research in your area of interest.
Academic Preparation
Students are encouraged to start engaging with honors enrichment contracts and hands on learning early in their academic career. While in the program, students engage in an internship that gives them practical experience in the public health workforce. Students will earn automatic honors credit for the course- POP 444 Population Health Field Experience.
All Barrett Honors students are must complete a thesis prep workshop prior to enrolling in thesis credit (492 or 493). The session is designed to make certain each student has been informed about the process, expectations, and deadlines.
Recommended Timeline
We strongly encourage HEHP majors to begin planning their thesis project by the fall of their junior year at the latest, particularly if you would like to be engaged in research during the summer before your senior year.
After completing the information session, the following steps are required:
- Meet with the Faculty Honors Advisor to discuss your areas of interest.
- Consult with faculty to find a thesis director.
- Form a thesis committee with a minimum of two members; the director (who must be a regularly appointed lecturer or professor) and one other committee member with expertise in the area of interest, after consultation with the director.
- Develop a thesis prospectus in collaboration with your thesis director and submit it within the timelines identified by Barrett Advising.
- Complete the thesis work with collaboration from the committee. Expectations regarding what constitute a thesis project vary among faculty members and will be conveyed by your thesis director. However, the thesis project will require either independent development of a project with written documentation of the project rationale, method of development, primary data collection, and results and discussion of the project OR completion of a secondary analysis of an existing dataset with similar components.
- The thesis project defense must be scheduled and held according to Barrett timelines and all committee members must be present at the defense. Defenses may be held virtually.
Other Honors Opportunities
Honors enrichment contracts allow students to enhance the academic experiences in their classes. Contracts are created on a case-by-case basis. Examples include: interview a professional about their career, shadow a professional, help develop new course materials, or help modify an entire course. Honors contracts are negotiated with faculty members at the start of the class session.
Tips
- Explore Barrett Resources: Barrett has excellent online resources outlining the Honors Thesis projects.
- Attend a Thesis Workshop: Barrett also arranges several workshops throughout the semester to help you get started with your thesis and to de-mystify the thesis process.
- Talk to CHS Faculty: Faculty have experience mentoring students on the Honors Thesis and can guide you through the process and advise you what they might expect.
- Review Past Thesis Projects: Barrett Honors College has a digital repository of completed thesis projects. These are an excellent resource to help plan the structure of your document.
- Attend Thesis Defenses: Every student publicly presents thesis outcomes as part of a defense. Attending a defense before you do your own will help you prepare and give you a sense of how to present your outcomes as well as the kinds of questions you might expect.