The highly selective, demanding undergraduate majors in Global Public Health (GPH) allow CAS students to choose a course of study that is a combination of public health and an academic discipline housed in the College (GPH is not a stand-alone major) while providing them with instructors and courses drawn from the entire University. This unique structure responds to the ever-increasing demand for interdisciplinary public health practitioners both in the US and abroad. The coursework is integrated with experiential learning and study away requirements to ensure that students are broadly trained and uniquely prepared for a variety of careers.
The majors’ global public health courses are offered by the NYU School of Global Public Health (708 Broadway; 212-992-6741; https://publichealth.nyu.edu/). GPH delivers truly interdisciplinary public health education at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral level. It builds on the global reach of NYU’s unique Global Network University, draws strength from the entrepreneurial spirit of NYU’s many talented faculty and students, and serves as a conduit for groundbreaking research and education that advances and promotes equitable health for all.
This major draws on the Department of Sociology’s strength in theoretical creativity and substantive empirical research on important social issues. Global Public Health/Sociology graduates may go on to a diverse array of careers in law, health, public administration, and social service, as well as further graduate study in sociology, public health, or related disciplines.
Honors Program
Majors who meet the requirements for College Honors and who maintain an overall and major GPA of 3.65 are eligible to apply for admission to the honors program in Global Public Health and Sociology during their junior year. Students will be notified and invited to apply when the application window opens, usually in March or April.
The honors sequence consists of two 4-credit seminars (8 credits) taken during senior year. These courses (SOC-UA 950 and 951, Senior Honors Research Seminars) are intended to guide students in researching and writing the honors thesis. Both seminars may also be counted as advanced Sociology electives.
Admissions
New York University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions supports the application process for all undergraduate programs at NYU. For additional information about undergraduate admissions, including application requirements, see How to Apply.
Program Requirements
Students in this combined major must consult with the director of undergraduate studies or other departmental adviser in Sociology to work out a course plan, especially as this major requires students to study away for one semester. The major requires fifteen 4-credit courses (60 credits), which must be completed with a grade of C or higher (courses graded Pass/Fail will not count).
The foreign language requirement is satisfied upon successful completion through the intermediate level of a language. This may be accomplished in fewer than 16 credits, but those credits must then be completed as elective credit.
2
UGPH-GU 10 Health and Society in a Global Context is the prerequisite or corequisite for UGPH-GU 20 Biostatistics for Public Health, UGPH-GU 30 Epidemiology for Global Health, UGPH-GU 40 Health Policy in a Global World, and UGPH-GU 50 Environmental Health in a Global World.
3
Electives not listed require departmental approval.
4
Due to major residency credit requirements, two additional electives should be taken from Sociology (SOC-UA) and one elective to be completed in GPH. Students may petition for other combination upon advisement.
Undergraduate Experiential Learning in Global Public Health
4
Elective
4
Elective
4
Elective
4
Credits
16
Total Credits
128
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will:
Understand key concepts in the field of sociology, including class, status, capitalism, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, culture, power, stratification, rationalization, anomie, alienation, etc.
Understand the key ideas of leading sociological theorists, including Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Du Bois, and others.
Demonstrate knowledge of the ways in which the field of sociology complements or intersects with other scholarly disciplines.
Analyze data and employ both qualitative methods (ethnography, interviewing, archival research, and experiments) and statistical methods to conduct rigorous investigations of a wide range of social institutions and phenomena.
Recognize key historical milestones in the development and evolution of the field of public health with examples from both the US and international contexts.
Describe and assess the biological, social, environmental, and structural determinants of health by applying interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies.
Explain key data analytic techniques and epidemiologic concepts for measuring disease occurrence and frequency and how the information obtained from these measures is used to assess the health of populations.
Apply public health promotion and prevention concepts to engage in collaborative and culturally relevant public health activities.
Connect public health concepts to disciplinary practice in the field.
Policies
Policies Applying to the Combined Major in Global Public Health and Sociology
SOC-UA 950 and 951 (Sociology Honors Seminars, only for students pursuing the honors track) do not count toward this major's requirement of one advanced seminar (numbered SOC-UA 93#). Any substitution for the advanced seminar requirement in the major must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies in Sociology.
The Honors Seminars may, however, count as Sociology electives for the major.
Any SOC-UA electives not listed on the curriculum tab will require departmental approval to count toward the major. Please reach out to the Department of Sociology for more information.
Students must complete at least half of the credits (30 credits) for the major with CAS (-UA) residency credits, or with transfer courses that have been approved and accepted as Sociology courses by the department.
All students must meet the minimum residency requirement of 64 credits in CAS (-UA) coursework to earn the degree. Courses in Global Public Health do not count toward satisfying this requirement. To ensure that all students earn 64 CAS credits, at least two of the three combined major electives must be taken in Sociology and no more than one in GPH. Students may petition for other combinations after consultation with the department.
General Policies Applying to the Combined Global Public Health Majors
All majors must study away for one semester.
Students plan their programs of study with the director of undergraduate studies in the chosen CAS department.
CAS students are allowed to count 24 credits from the other schools of the University toward the baccalaureate degree. Four of the six core UGPH-GU courses required for the combined GPH majors are treated as liberal arts courses and therefore do not count against the 24-credit allowance: UGPH-GU 10, 20, 30, and 50. (These four courses are exempt from the 24-credit rule both for declared GPH majors and also for CAS students who simply take one or more of them as electives.) The two required GPH core courses UGPH-GU 40 and 60 are not exempt from the 24-credit rule, and together use up 8 credits of each student's 24-credit allowance. Any other UGPH-GU courses besides 10, 20, 30, and 50 will also count against the 24 credits. Students may request additional non-CAS, non-liberal arts credits beyond the 24-credit limit through the College Advising Center, 25 West 4th Street, 5th floor; 212-998-8130.
No UGPH-GU courses can count toward the 64 credits that internal or external transfer students are required to complete in CAS (-UA) courses.
Students must earn a C or better in all courses for their combined major and maintain a 2.0 major GPA. Courses graded Pass/Fail cannot be counted toward the major.
The GPH tracks with Anthropology, History, and Sociology all satisfy the College Core Curriculum requirement in Societies and the Social Sciences. However, the two GPH concentrations in Science do not satisfy the Core's science requirement. No UGPH-GU course can exempt students from any Core requirement.
Transfer Student Policies Applying to the Combined Global Public Health Majors
Transfer students to CAS must complete at least half of their entire combined GPH major at NYU, with at least half of the CAS coursework required for the major completed at NYU. In addition, GPH stipulates that transfer credit cannot be used for more than one of the six core GPH requirements (the other five must always be completed at NYU). UGPH-GU 60 Undergraduate Experiential Learning in Global Public Health can never be satisfied with transfer credit.
Applicants to schools of the health professions who are pursuing one of the science GPH majors must complete at least five of the required prehealth science courses at NYU in order to be eligible for a committee interview and letter from the CAS Preprofessional Advising Center.
Some transfer students may therefore be required to complete more than half of their GPH major at NYU to satisfy these policies, regardless of transfer coursework presented.