Shorter Path to a Career in Public Health
Grinnell College students interested in working in public health can now begin their careers more quickly, thanks to a new cooperative degree program linking Grinnell and the University of Iowa’s College of Public Health.
The new program will enable Grinnell students from any major to earn both a B.A. degree and a Master of Public Health degree in five years, rather than the customary six.
Believed to be the first public health program of its kind involving coursework at two different institutions, the Grinnell-UI MPH program will begin admitting students in Spring 2015.
Grinnell College President Raynard S. Kington—a physician and public-health investigator who served as deputy director of the National Institutes of Health before coming to Grinnell in 2010—said the program reflects Grinnell’s strong commitment to providing a broad liberal arts education that prepares students “for the honorable discharge of the duties of life.
“I cannot think of a better or more timely collaboration,” Dr. Kington added. “This program will build on the breadth of Grinnell’s nationally known liberal arts curriculum and the depth of University of Iowa’s outstanding public health program. This is a paradigm for how nationally selective liberal arts colleges can partner with leading universities to provide students with an education that will enable them to make a real difference in the world.”
Starting in February 2015, Grinnell students from any major are welcome to apply for the program, which is administered by Grinnell’s Center for Careers, Life, and Service.
“Grinnell’s core value of social responsibility aligns well with the basic tenets of public health including social justice, equity and sustainability.” says Mary Lober Aquilino, Iowa associate dean for MPH and undergraduate programs. “The University of Iowa College of Public Health will benefit from the ability to draw from a diverse and highly qualified student group.”
Jim Swartz, Grinnell's Dack professor of chemistry and one of the faculty members who helped develop the cooperative degree program, noted that "Graduate study in public health, combined with the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of liberal arts education at Grinnell, will help prepare our students for a wide array of careers in public health. These include positions as policymakers, program administrators, epidemiologists or biostatisticians, among others."
“Some of these students major in biology or mathematics,” Swartz adds, “and others major in anthropology, or art, or some other field. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of Grinnell’s coursework — along with our individually advised curriculum and commitment to social justice — help prepare our students for careers in public health.”
Students in the cooperative degree program can move more quickly toward the master’s degree because some courses in the program satisfy requirements at both Grinnell and the University of Iowa. Students will complete the first four years at Grinnell, and then move to the University of Iowa College of Public Health for their final year.
More information is available:
- Grinnell College: Master of Public Health Cooperative Degree Program
- University of Iowa: Grinnell Bachelor of Arts to UI MPH – Undergrad to Grad.
Grinnell College has a long history of supporting cooperative degree programs. In the early 1950s, Grinnell became one of the first institutions to engage in a liberal arts college-university engineering cooperative degree program.