Admission Requirements

Applicants must possess an undergraduate or graduate degree from a regionally accredited institution. The applicant should follow instructions for General Requirements for Admission to Graduate Study as shown above.

A cumulative undergraduate GPA of a least a 3.00 or better on a 4.0 scale is required.

The Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree program provides 2 concentrations to prepare students to identify and propose solutions to a variety of environmental conditions that affect the health of minority, rural, and disadvantaged populations at disproportionate rates. Linkages between the high morbidity rates due to heart disease, cancer, strokes and adverse environmental factors such as livestock rearing, farming practices, food handling, industrial contaminants, will be studied with sensitivity to cultural, regional, and ethnic differences. Graduates of this degree program will be capable of pursuing further study in environmental health or related fields, conducting research in the discipline, managing community health agencies, and/or providing community-based leadership designed to educate and empower citizens to form partnerships in the interest of improving the overall health of their communities.

Students seeking admission into the MPH program must have completed the following courses or their equivalent prior to admission:Biology I, Chemisty I and II, Organic Chemistry I and II, College Algebra and Elementary Statistics. This is in accordance with our accrediting agency National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council  (EHAC) which states that:  “Curriculum requires that the students are required to have skills and knowledge of natural sciences including biological sciences, chemistry and other sciences.”

The total minimum hours required for Master of Public Health in Environmental Health or Agricultural Epidemiology is 45. Students may choose between the 6-credit hour thesis and the 6-credit hour non-thesis option (field experience) option as their Capstone project:

Non-thesis option: M.P.H.

Students may choose to complete a Field Experience (6 credit hours= 300 hours of field work [50 hours field work=1 credit hour]) as the non-thesis option as well as fulfillment of all core and concentration course requirements leading to a total of 45 credit hours. A written report, oral presentation, and portfolio for the field experience are required and evaluated by a field experience evaluation committee.

Thesis Option: M.P.H.

Student may choose to complete a research thesis (6 credit hours = 300 hours of field work [50 hours field work=1 credit hour]) as fulfillment of the capstone of the course in addition to all core and concentration course requirements leading to a total of 45 hours. A written report, oral presentation and bound Thesis Research document are required and evaluated by the Thesis Committee

Each student who will write a research thesis are encouraged to focus on a subject realted to public health or agricultural epidemilology for research early in his or her candidacy. With the help of his or her academic advisor, the student must choose three or more advisors as a thesis committee by the time 18 hours of graduate study have been completed. At least one of these advisors must be a faculty member in the student’s graduate degree program and one should be responsible for directing the research project that the student is involved in. The graduate program department head should approve the three advisors chosen for this purpose, with final approval from the Graduate Dean.

A student will register for thesis credit (see appropriate listing) after a meeting with the program coordinator to discuss and decide on a thesis research topic and convene a committee to advise the student throughout the thesis process. If at any time the student wishes to change the make up of the thesis committee, a request stating the reason for the change must be submitted in writing to the program coordinator, and the change must be approved by the Graduate Dean. If a thesis committee member requests to be removed from the committee, a substitute must be approved by the graduate program department head with the final approval from the Graduate Dean.

A student who has received an “incomplete” on the thesis and has completed all other requirements is required to enroll and pay the required fees for three credit hours in any subsequent semester that he/she returns to remove the incomplete. Such students are ineligible for thesis consultations and use of library facilities during any interim period when they are not officially enrolled. The student will still be required to complete a Capstone project (either Field Experience or Thesis) before being approved for graduation.

The thesis is considered complete when it is unanimously approved by the thesis committee, when it is approved by the Dean of the Graduate College, when it is in the format specified in the Fort Valley State University Thesis Template, and when documentation is presented reflecting binding requirements are met and paid for.

Undergraduate Prerequisites

It is recommended that students seeking admission into the Master of Public Health degree program have completed the following courses or their equivalents prior to admission. Students who have not taken these courses as undergraduates may take them as co-requisites with graduate-level courses with permission of the faculty advisor or other measures may be advised to increase the student’s success in graduate science and statistics classes. This requirement is part of the accreditation for our program by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC).

BIOL 1104K Biological Science 4 hours
CHEM 1211K Principles of Chemistry I 4 hours
CHEM 1212K Principles of Chemistry II 4 hours
CHEM 2221K Principles of Organic Chemistry I 4 hours
CHEM 2222K Principles of Organic Chemistry II 4 hours
MATH 1111 College Algebra 3 hours
MATH 2113 Elementary Statistics 3 hours