Bachelor of Arts in Public Health

General Requirements

Graduating with a BA in Public Health will require meeting the Arts & Sciences requirements as well as the curriculum presented below, consisting of at least 40 credit hours, with a minimum of 22 at the upper division level, passed with a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher. Grades of C- or better will be required in all courses a student is using to satisfy the requirements for the major. Additionally, students must meet the requirements for graduation from their other school or college, if doing a double degree. Students should take note of when and if courses have prerequisites that are not part of the Public Health Major.

Major and Minor FAQ

Fundamentals of Public Health - Required Courses - 10 Credits

GEOG 2692/IPHY 2692(3) Foundations in Public Health*
*Must be taken before GEOG 3692 and IPHY 3490

GEOG 3692(4) Introduction to Global Public Health

IPHY 3490(3) Introduction to Epidemiology

Bioethics - 3 Credits

One of the following:

PHIL 1160(3) Introduction to Medical Ethics

or PHIL 3160(3) Bioethics [has prerequisites]

Introduction to Biology Course - 3 Credits

One of the following:

EBIO 1100(3) Biology and Society

or EBIO 1210(3) General Biology

or MCDB 1150(3) Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology

Introduction to Statistics Course - 3-4 Credits

One of the following:
*courses with significant prerequisites are listed last

EBIO 1010 (3) Introduction to Statistics and Quantitative Thinking for Biologists

or GEOG 3023(4) Statistics for Geography

or IPHY 3280(4) Introduction to Data Science and Biostatistics

or PSCI 2075(3) Quantitative Research Methods

or SOCY 2061 (3) Introduction to Social Statistics

or MATH 2510(3) Introduction to Statistics [prerequisites include Algebra]

or PSYC 2111(4) Psychological Science I: Statistics [prerequisites include Algebra]

or STAT 2600(4) Introduction to Data Science [prerequisites include Calculus]

or ECON 3818(4) Introduction to Statistics with Computer Applications [prerequisites include Calculus]

or ANTH 4000 (4) Quantitative Methods in Anthropology

Capstone Course - 3 Credits

PBHL 4142(3) Internship Capstone

  • This 3-credit capstone internship course provides students with practical experience at an approved public health agency. Intended for seniors or advanced juniors who are interested in getting hands-on experience in public health work. Students must complete at least 160 hours over one semester (16 weeks) in health education, program implementation and/or evaluation.

or PBHL 4242(3) Capstone in Public Health: Career Exploration in Public Health

or PBHL 4342(3) Public Health Capstone: Honors Thesis

or PBHL/PSYC/GEOG 4542(3) Public Health Capstone Research Methods: Environmental Interventions to the Mental Health Epidemic

  • This course will introduce students to interdisciplinary research methods in public health, with a focus on environmental interventions to address mental health. Robust data shows that spending time in nature can positively impact mental health. This course will teach students about the many phases of the scientific research process through doing; students will work in small groups to do their own research project throughout the semester on a pre-picked topic that can change from year to year.

Elective Courses in the Domains of Public Health - Minimum 18 Credits

Students must complete an additional minimum of 6 courses (4 of which must be at the 3000 or 4000 level). One elective must be from Social and Behavioral Health and one from Environmental Health. The other 4 electives can come from either of those lists or from the list of Other Public Health Courses.

Elective Courses by Category

ClassFall 2025
ANTH2600 (3) Plagues and the Human Response from Past to PresentNo
ANTH 4605 (3) Anthropology of NeuroscienceNo
ANTH 4610 (3) Medical AnthropologyYes
PSYC 4021 (3) Psychology and Neuroscience of ExerciseYes
PSYC 4541 (3) Special Topics in Psychology - Social Science (depending on the topic that year)Yes
PSYC 4606 (3) Advanced Topics in Social Psychology (select topics)No
SOCY 1022 (3) Ethics and Social Issues in U.S. Health and MedicineYes
SOCY 3032 (3) Social EpidemiologyNo
SOCY 3045 (3) Sociology of Death and DyingNo
SOCY 3052 (3) Medical SociologyYes
SOCY 4052 (3) Social Inequalities in HealthYes
SOCY 4062 (3) Suffering and Care in SocietyNo
ClassFall 2025
EBIO 3400 (4) MicrobiologyYes
EBIO 3630 (4) ParasitologyNo
ENVS 3535 (3) Intermediate Environmental Problem Analysis: Topical Cornerstones: Health and the Built EnvironmentNo
GEOG 4692 (3) Climate Change and HealthYes
GEOG 4772 (3) The Geography of Food and AgricultureNo
GEOG 4852 (3) Health and Medical GeographyNo
GEOG 3782 (3) Environmentalism, Race, and JusticeNo
OR ENVS 3034 (3) Foundations of Environmental JusticeYes
OR HONR 4075 (3) Environmental JusticeNo
OR PHIL 2140 (3) Environmental JusticeNo
SOCY 4007 (3) Global Human EcologyNo
ClassFall 2025
HIST 2830 (3) Disease and Public Health in Global HistoryNo
HUMN 3200 (3): Fictions of Illness: Modern Medicine and the Literary ImaginationYes
IPHY 2420 (3): Introduction to NutritionYes
IPHY 4041 (3) Global Health and DiseaseNo
IPHY 4780 (3) Sleep, Circadian Rhythms, and HealthNo
MCDB 3160 (3) Infectious DiseaseNo
PSYC 2012 (3) Biological PsychologyYes
SLHS 1010 (3) Disabilities in Contemporary American SocietyYes
SLHS 3014 (3) Hearing Loss EpidemiologyNo
SPAN 3080 (3) Spanish for Health ProfessionsYes
WGST/JWST 4200 (3) Religion and Reproductive Politics in the United StatesNo
ClassFall 2025
ANTH 4060 (3) Nutrition and AnthropologyYes
ECON 4646 (3) Topics in Health Economics (depending on the topic that year)Yes
IPHY 3400 (3) Nutrition for IPHY MajorsNo
IPHY 3440 (3) Clinical NutritionYes
IPHY 4420 (3) Nutrition and Human PerformanceNo
NRSC 4420 (3) Genetics of Brain and BehaviorNo

Petition for Courses to be Approved for PUBH Major/Minor/Certificate

The purpose of this form is to submit a course that is not currently part of the Public Health Program (be it the Major, Minor, or Certificate). This could be a new course, a transfer course from another institution, or a course that is exclusively taught as part of a Study Abroad program. If you are a student transferring into CU Boulder, please contact the Transfer Office.

Electives in Public Health

Students may only use three courses (up to 9 credits) from outside of the CU Boulder campus for the BA degree in Public Health. For the minor in Public Health, only one elective can be from an institution other than CU Boulder.

For a course from outside of CU Boulder to count as an elective for the BA in Public Health or the minor in Public Health, it must do one of the following:

  • Be counted as equivalent to a course on the current list of approved electives that are taught at CU Boulder. Equivalency of these courses will be done by the department that teaches that course at CU Boulder OR
  • Meet the following criteria:
    • Cover a topic of relevance to public health, which means that it is addressing a health outcome at the population level (not solely the individual level) and discussing determinants beyond just biological determinants (to include potentially environmental, social, political, economic, or behavioral determinants) This can be from a historical or current perspective. AND
    • Have a public health rather than a medical focus such that it is more about prevention rather than treatment of health outcomes (or if there is a treatment focus, that it addresses treatment as a means of prevention which applies in the case of infectious diseases) AND
    • Discusses health equity (including health disparities/inequalities/inequities, unequal exposures, environmental injustice, or structural violence) in some way.

Criteria for Course Approval for PUBH Major/Minor/Certificate