Global Public Health Minor

The minor in Global Public Health offers WPI students an opportunity to explore factors that impact the health of populations around the world. Students interested in the minor should meet with faculty associated with Global Public Health as early as possible in their academic career. They will be assigned a minor advisor after completing a minor declaration form. 

The Global Public Health minor consists of two units of work distributed in the following way: 

1. 2/3 unit Global Public Health Core courses from this list: 
   1. STS 1200 Fundamentals of Global Health 
   2. ID 2100 Disease Detectives: An Introduction to Epidemiology 
   3. Or an Independent Study (ISU) approved by the Global Public Health Steering Committee 
2. 3/3 unit Global Public Health Electives. 2/3 unit of these electives must be at the 2000 level or higher. These may be selected from among global public health related courses in humanities, social sciences, life sciences, engineering or business (see below). These may include: 
   1. 1/3 unit Great Problems Seminar course (FY 1100) that has a Global Public Health focus and the approval of the Global Public Health Steering Committee 
   2. any course listed below among Global Public Health electives or courses approved by the Global Public Health Steering Committee. 
3. 1/3 unit Senior Seminar in Global Public Health (STS 4000). This seminar may be taken concurrently, or any time after a Global Public Health Experience (for example, a Global Public Health -focused IQP or MQP (see below)). With the approval of the Global Public Health Steering Committee, the seminar may be completed as an independent study. 
4. Global Public Health Experience. All Global Public Health minors require an ‘experience’ in global public health that is educational in nature and equivalent in length to at least one WPI term. Example experiences include global public health related IQPs and MQPs, or activities such as internships, service learning or significant volunteer work accompanied by a reflective writing assignment. The Program Steering Committee Chair must approve this experience, prior to the student undertaking it, by signing the ‘Global Public Health Experience Approval’ at the bottom of the Application for the Global Public Health Minor. 

WPI policy require that no more than one unit of course work can be double counted toward other degree requirements. Thus, students may count three courses for the minor to fulfill other degree requirements as long as one unit of the minor does not double count. In other words, students must take STS 4000 and two other courses for this minor that do not count for another degree requirement.

Global Public Health Minor Electives: Below is a list of examples of relevant courses, which students can choose from to fulfill their Global Public Health elective requirements. Students will take 1 Unit (at least 2 of the 3 courses must be at or above the 2000 level) from the list below or courses approved by the Global Public Health Steering Committee.