Two-course sequence (798, then 799) open only to senior philosophy majors in the University Honors Program, the philosophy department honors-in-major program, or by special permission from the department. All senior thesis candidates must have a proposal approved in the spring of their junior year and a thesis adviser assigned by the chair of the department before registering for 799. Students must orally defend their theses before the department. (See department guidelines for further details).

A graduate level course which provides fundamental concepts of the behavioral sciences as they illuminate public health. Since public health practice is the application of physical, biological and behavioral knowledge to living societies, a firm understanding of human social organization and behavior is essential. Individual and community responses to prevention, identification of symptoms, diagnoses, treatments, chronic ailments and rehabilitation are discussed. In each of these areas, the course explores the interaction between community, family, patient, and health care provider.

This course will provide an overview of legal systems as they relate to public health by addressing the legal basis needed to practice public health, enforce compliance with public health regulations, manage public health programs, and organizations. Core elements will be introduced such as, elements of law, legal practice, reasoning, negotiation, and their applications with public health, i.e., limitation and authority of state governments and agencies in matters affecting the publics' health will be discussed.

This course provides a 16-week long opportunity for students to synthesize, integrate, and apply the skills and competencies they have acquired during enrollment in the MPH Program and apply them to a public health problem or project in a professional public health practice setting. Students are expected to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the organization (not including preparation time) exploring how that organization deals with a particular public health issue and working on a project for that organization. In addition, students present the findings of their work in a poster session following the conclusion of the course. This public health experience is conducted under the direction of a faculty member and a community public health mentor. This class meets one hour prior to the regularly scheduled core and elective courses in the MPH Program.