WEB-BASED MASTER'S OF PUBLIC HEALTH OFFERED AT EMORY


The information superhighway will serve as the classroom for much of the coursework being offered in a new master's of public health being offered at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University. More than half of the instruction, assignments and exams for the school's Career Master of Public Health will be conducted on-line, says CMPH Coordinator Peggy Hines.

Regular admission deadline is Feb. 14 for Fall 1999 class. Special extended admission deadline for the first class of this program is July 1, 1999.

Faculty and staff at the school chose the nontraditional format to suit a specific, nontraditional group of potential students: professionals with five to 10 years of experience in public health-related fields who will continue to work full-time while pursuing the degree. The 42-credit hour degree is designed to be completed in about two and a half years.

Students need not live in Atlanta since they will be required to visit the Emory campus only twice a semester over long-weekend sessions. The on-campus sessions are designed to orient students to new ideas, provide quality time with fellow classmates and afford opportunities for networking with faculty and other invited leaders in the field of public health. Skill-building workshops in communication and presentation skills, negotiation techniques and report writing will also be offered.

"The coursework, both on and off campus, is designed to provide students with hands-on experiences and new skills to address contemporary public health issues while requiring minimal time away from their places of employment," Ms. Hines says.

Between the two on-campus sessions each semester, students will receive all instruction and complete all homework and tests using Elearn, the school's web-based learning environment.

The Elearn site includes weekly postings from instructors, reference materials, recorded lectures with corresponding slide presentations, discussion boards for asynchronous communications and chat rooms for real-time discussions.

The new CMPH degree complements the school's Graduate Certificate program in Public Health, a CDC-funded distance learning initiative.

Core curriculum for the CMPH program includes courses in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health, Health Policy and Management or Biostatistics. Students will also take skills-based classes across multiple disciplines that will include coursework in Informatics, Program Evaluation, Surveillance, Health Care Financing, Evidence-based Health Care, Community Needs Assessment and Emerging Technologies for Public Health Workers.

For information, contact Ms. Hines at 404/727-3358, mhines2@sph.emory.edu or write to her at the school at Emory at 1518 Clifton Rd., N.E., Atlanta, GA 30322.

CMPH information also is available at http://www.sph.emory.edu/CMPH.