Minor in Public Health

General Requirements

A minimum of 22 credit hours in public health coursework, including a minimum of 9 upper-division credit hours, are required for the minor. All coursework applied to the minor must be completed with a grade of C- or better; no pass/fail work may be applied. The grade point average for all public health coursework must equal 2.00 (C) or higher.

Students will be allowed to apply no more than 9 credit hours, including 6 upper-division credit hours of transfer work towards a minor in public health.

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

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

Elective Courses in Public Health - Minimum 6 Credits

Six credit hours of public health electives. At least one course (at least 3 credits) must be at the upper-division level, and at least one course (at least 3 credits) must be from outside of the student's major.

Electives by Category

  • ANTH2600 (3) Plagues and the Human Response from Past to Present
  • ANTH 4605 (3) Anthropology of Neuroscience
  • ANTH 4610 (3) Medical Anthropology
  • ECON 4646 (3) Topics in Health Economics (depends on topic)
  • PSYC 4021 (3) Psychology and Neuroscience of Exercise
  • PSYC 4541 (3) Special Topics in Psychology - Social Science (Prevention Science: Promoting Positive Youth and Adult Development; Science of Happiness; Sports Psychology)
  • PSYC 4606 (3) Advanced Topics in Social Psychology (Social Psychology of Health Promotion; Discrimination and Health)
  • SOCY 1022 (3) Social and Ethical Issues in U.S. Health and Medicine*
  • SOCY 3032 (3) Social Epidemiology
  • SOCY 3045 (3) Sociology of Death and Dying
  • SOCY 3052 (3) Medical Sociology
  • SOCY 4052 (3) Social Inequalities in Health
  • SOCY 4062 (3) Suffering and Care in Society
  • EBIO 3400 (4) Microbiology
  • ECON 4646 (3) Topics in Health Economics (depends on topic)
  • GEOG 4692 (3) Climate Change and Health
  • GEOG 4772 (3) Food and Power
  • GEOG 4852 (3) Health and Medical Geography
  • GEOG 3782 (3) Environmentalism, Race, and Justice OR ENVS 3034 (3) Foundations of Environmental Justice OR HONR 4075 (3) Environmental Justice OR PHIL 2140 (3) Environmental Justice
  • HIST 2830 (3) Disease and Public Health in Global History
  • SOCY 4007 (3) Global Human Ecology
  • ANTH 4060 (3) Nutrition and Anthropology
  • EBIO 3590 (3) Plants and Society
  • ENVS 3535 (3) Intermediate Environmental Problem Analysis: Topical Cornerstones (Food and Environment; Water-Energy-Food Nexus)
  • GEOG 4772 (3) Food and Power
  • HIST 2830 (3) Disease and Public Health in Global History
  • IPHY 2420 (3) Introduction to Nutrition OR IPHY 3440 (3) Clinical Nutrition
  • IPHY 4420 (3) Nutrition and Human Performance
  • PHIL 2260 (3) Philosophy and Food
  • SOCY 4117 (3) Food and Society
  • APRD 4010 (3) Strategic Health Communication
  • EBIO 3630 (4) Parasitology
  • HUMN 3200 (3) Fictions of Illness: Modern Medicine and the Literary Imagination
  • IPHY4041 (3) Global Health and Disease
  • IPHY 4780 (3) Sleep, Circadian Rhythms, and Health
  • MCDB 3160 (3) Infectious Disease
  • NRSC 4420 (3) Genetics of Brain and Behavior
  • PHIL 1160 (3) Introduction to Medical Ethics
    • or PHIL 3160 (3) Bioethics
  • PSYC 2012 (3) Biological Psychology
  • SLHS 1010 (3) Disabilities in Contemporary American Society
  • SLHS 3014 (3) Hearing Loss Epidemiology
  • SPAN 3080 (3) Spanish Health Professions
  • WGST/JWST 4200 (3) Religion and Reproductive Politics in the United States

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