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Lasell University
Lasell University

School of Health Sciences

B.S. in Public and Community Health

Doctor with stethoscope around neck and arms crossed

Public and Community Health

The major in Public and Community Health degree program is to provide students with the necessary skills and training to facilitate programs and disseminate information pertaining to issues related to healthcare. The study of public health is a multidisciplinary enterprise that requires educational contributions from the natural sciences, social sciences, mathematics and the humanities.


Program Features

The program features many extracurricular opportunities to give students leadership/team experience and portfolio material. These experiences include:

  • Coursework focuses on the use of laboratories and connected learning to reinforce theory and concepts learned in the classroom.
  • Students will also be eligible to apply for the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) certification that is supported by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing.

What You'll Learn

From your first day, you’ll take courses in your major and advance towards graduation with a yearly plan. Not sure what classes to take? We’ll help you create the perfect plan. 

Learning Outcomes

The following goals and learning outcomes delineate what we strive for students to achieve upon completing the major program of study in Public and Community Health.

  • Demonstrate a comprehensive level of knowledge in the concepts of public health.
  • Demonstrate a strong understanding of how public health applies to individuals, communities, and society overall.
  • Demonstrate the ability to communicate health information to a diverse audience.
  • Demonstrate the ability to apply qualitative and quantitative reasoning skills.

For a complete list of courses and learning outcomes, view the Academic Catalog >>


Accelerated Master's Program

Save time and money — earn your graduate degree in just 1 year with the Accelerated Master's program. Learn more and how to apply >>

Undergraduate alumni return to Lasell for second (or third!) degrees 
Read their stories >>

Career Success in the Public and Community Health Industry

Students pursue careers in community health, healthcare management, public health, and more.

Our students have gone on to have careers in:

  • Community Health Worker
  • Public Health Professional
  • Healthcare Management

 

 

 

 

Request more information about the Public and Community Health Major:

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BIO101 - Principles of Biology I (KP)

This is an introductory lecture and laboratory course in biology to develop an appreciation for the patterns and functions that characterize living organisms. Emphasis is placed on cellular biology. Topics include: the chemistry of life, cell structure, and cell metabolism (respiration, photosynthesis, protein synthesis.) Co-requisites: BIO101L.

BIO102 - Principles of Biology II (KP)

This lecture and laboratory course is the second semester of a year-long introductory biology sequence which explores the scientific study of life. Topics include introductions to Darwinian evolution, principles of inheritance, evolution & immunity, and a survey of human body systems & homeostatic mechanisms. The laboratory provides an environment for active learning to support understanding of concepts presented in the course. Prerequisite: BIO101 with a C or better. Corequisite: BIO102L.

BIO340 - Research Methods

This course covers research concepts in the healthcare and fitness industry including the logic of experimental and correlational designs, issues of control, sampling, measurement of variables, ethical issues in research, use of online professional search procedures, and writing in APA style. Students engage in various aspects of the research process culminating in a research paper on a discipline specific topic. Prerequisite: MATH 208

BIO420 - Field Experience in Health Science

This is an off-campus experience in a hospital, clinic, corporate, university or commercial setting, as appropriate. Concepts, theories, and practices learned in the classroom are applied in a supervised setting. Students must successfully complete at least 200 hours of field experience in addition to written assignments. Prerequisites: BIO 211, BIO 340 and Permission of Program Chair.

BIO430 - Health Science Capstone

The capstone course prepares students to engage in research at the graduate level and to create an opportunity for students to apply various concepts and theories attained throughout the curriculum. The content of this course focuses on opportunities for undergraduate research. Students will develop an original research question, with focus on methodology, data collection and statistical analysis. Prerequisite: BIO 340 with a C or better.

BUSS224 - Org Behavior in the Global Workplace

In this course, students study individuals and their interactions within group settings as they affect efficiencies in diverse business organizations. Group dynamics and intergroup dynamics are emphasized in relation to productivity and work satisfaction along with the examination of specific aspects of organizations that influence behavior on a global scale. Areas covered include structure, leadership, and change as they affect a multitude of cultures. Teaching modalities include case studies and role-playing. This is a writing intensive course.

COM212 - Intercultural Communication

This course examines communication issues that arise from contact between people from different cultural backgrounds in everyday life, social encounters, and business transactions. Interdisciplinary approaches are applied to the study of how verbal and nonverbal presentation, ethnic, gender, and cultural differences affect communication. The course provides exercises in participation, analysis, and criticism of interethnic and interracial communications in small group settings. Students examine factors of international communication such as the cultural, economic, political, and social influences and the role of communication in affecting social change in a wide variety of cultures and countries. Prerequisite: COM101 or SOC101 or PSYC101

HS101 - Human Services: Systems & Skills

This course encourages an examination of one’s own value system, motivations and interests in relation to the wish to pursue a career working with people. Students are introduced to the history and development of the field: the concept of the social welfare system; resources and services offered by a range of community agencies; a model to understand social and psychological problems; and interventions to address social needs interventions range from individual case management and counseling to community organizing and planning. The course highlights a social justice basis for human service work. A 10-hour service learning requirement enables students to examine their interests and apply the concepts learned in class.

HS210 - Case Management & Counseling

This course introduces students to interviewing skills used by counselors and case managers and to the types of counselor responses that can be effective in human services work. Students learn to assess clients and interventions at the micro, meso and macro levels and explore issues of professional ethics and values. Students also examine cultural contexts as they impact the client, counselor, and client-counselor relationship. Some of the contexts may include race, class, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and immigration status. The course relies heavily on in-class exercises. Prerequisites: PSYC 101, HS 101 with a C or better.

MATH208 - Statistics

This is an introductory course in descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics include: data analysis, and graphical methods of describing data, measures of central tendency and variability, probability, the normal distribution, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, and regression analysis. Prerequisites: MATH 106 with a grade of C or better or demonstrated competency through placement testing and ENG 102.

PHLT205 - Health Promotion & Disease Prevention

This course will serve as an introduction to the discipline and profession of health education for disease prevention and health promotion. Students will examine the concepts of health & wellness, the determinants of health behavior, national health status, the history of health education and health promotion. Students will be provided with the necessary skills for the development, delivery, and evaluation of health programs to targeted populations.

PHLT303 - Epidemiology

This course introduces and provides a platform for application of the concepts and methods of population-based epidemiology. As students study the patterns and determinants of disease in different populations, they will address topics such as the behavior of disease, measurement of disease frequency, uses of statistical methods to describe the health of populations, study design in epidemiology, bias in disease investigation, and associations between risk factors & disease outcomes. Pre-requisite: MATH208 (with C or better)

PSYC101 - Psychological Perspectives (KP)

In this course, students learn to think like psychologists as they study classic and contemporary topics in human behavior, feeling, and thought. Students learn to apply psychological perspectives of thought, including biological, cognitive, sociocultural, humanistic, psychodynamic, and behaviorist, to better understand the human experience. Students will learn to use these perspectives to explore how individual behavior is influenced by and influences one’s biology, family, community and society. Topics may include human development, personality, psychopathology, human relationships, language, memory, perceptual processes, and intelligence, among others.

PSYC201 - Psychology of Drugs & Behavior

The course examines the relationship between drugs and behavior, including evidence about the effects of drugs on the brain. Several classes of drugs, including chemically or psychologically addictive substances, psychoactive and therapeutic agents, as well as recreational drugs, are examined. Drug use is related to psychological variables such as personality structure and interpersonal relationships, and theories of addictive processes and factors influencing drug use are examined, as are treatment strategies. Prerequisite: PSYC 101.

PSYC205 - Human Sexuality

This course is designed to introduce factual information about gender identity and gender role theories, sexual preference and sexual orientation, and psychosexual development. The course examines issues related to research on human sexuality and behavior, as well as sexual education, sexual disorders, and societal impacts on sexuality. Students are challenged to think critically about many issues surrounding human sexuality and all of its manifestations. Prerequisite: PSYC 101.

SOC212 - Wellness & Society

Wellness is seen as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.”* This course explores the social dimension to wellness (or health and illness). Both health and illness vary across times and cultures – and are related to how we define “normal”.? Wellness is also closely related to our position in society; social identities such as socio-economic status, race and ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation impact our life chances, lifestyles, access to care, and attitudes towards health and illness. In other words, this course approaches health and illness from a sociological (rather than philosophical or ethical) perspective.??*?Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948. The definition has not been amended since 1948.