Northeastern Illinois University’s Master of Public Health (MPH) program will now offer two concentrations—Public Health Promotion and School Health—beginning Fall 2021. The Department of Health Science and Physical Education will also offer a School Health Graduate Certificate, which can be fully completed online. This is in addition to the Public Health Graduate Certificate the department has previously offered.
“NEIU has a long history of serving teachers in the Chicagoland area,” Professor and Public Health Graduate Programs Coordinator Jennifer Banas said. “These new concentrations and certificates with online components are an important step in being able to serve professionals who may not otherwise be able to attend on-campus classes at Northeastern.”
Though applications for the graduate programs are closed for Fall 2021, Banas encourages all graduate students interested in the MPH or graduate certificate programs to apply to be a graduate student-at-large. Alternatively, prospective students can apply to these programs this fall and begin taking courses in January.
“Students can transfer up to nine credit hours into the MPH and certificate programs,” Banas said. “So, if a student begins as a graduate student-at-large, they have the opportunity to take a course or two and make sure the program is right for them before they fully enter into a graduate program.”
Banas also noted Northeastern’s public health programs emphasize research-driven, community-based approaches to public health with ongoing attention to improving health equity. Education, social marketing, health promotion programming, policy and research are among the strategies taught.
“School health is public health,” Banas said. “Our new MPH School Health concentration and School Health Graduate Certificate support this idea and recognize that the best health practices start at an early age. If, as a society, we’re going to seek to improve health equity, schools are a good place to start implementing change. Northeastern’s public health programs take a holistic approach to public health and pair in-class learning with hands-on, real-world experience.”
In addition to the new MPH offerings, Northeastern’s Master of Social Work program added a specialization in School Social Work. The Master of Business Administration program also added seven concentrations: General Business, Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Global/International Business, Information Technology and Public Health.
The deadline for graduate student-at-large applications is Aug. 15. Those interested in Public Health programs and would like more information can contact Banas at j-banas@neiu.edu.
