Master of Public Health (MPH)

Mission

The Graduate Public Health program at UT provides quality education and leadership to promote health in human populations through interdisciplinary instruction, research, and community service.

Vision

The MPH program is recognized for its empowerment of students pursuing public health careers which focus on community health improvement.

Program Values

• Respect—To engage in experiences that obligate a person to take responsibility for the public’s good, to recognize human dignity, and to value the worth of individual and collective behaviors
• Holistic Consideration—To emphasize a socio-ecological systems approach for understanding and promoting optimal health and well-being of individuals, families and communities
• Excellence—To commit to the highest quality in teaching-learning and in practice.
• Collaboration—To advocate networking, partnering, consensus building, and participatory approaches for improving population health
• Diversity—To recognize the benefits of diverse ethnic and cultural perspectives and prepare culturally competent public health professionals
• Equity—To promote equality of opportunity for individuals, families, and communities

The MPH program is administratively housed in the Department of Public Health, which is one of eight academic departments in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Within the department, the MPH Academic Program Committee (MPH/APC) includes the MPH faculty representatives from each concentration of study plus the dual MS-MPH program, the MPH field practice coordinator, and a student representative from each concentration of study. The committee provides program governance, curricular direction and integrity, and academic policy development. Student representatives have full discussion and voting privileges with all academic matters except review of applications for admission. To ensure MPH graduates are prepared to enter a competitive workforce, public health practitioners from various public health and health-related organizations are regularly invited to committee meetings to offer suggestions on skills, knowledge, and attitudes that MPH graduates should possess in today’s market. For example, the program evaluation core course is a curricular addition that grew out of workforce speaker input.

The University of Tennessee MPH program is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), which is the nationally recognized accrediting body for this discipline. In late June 2016, the council officially notified the MPH program that accreditation has been extended for seven years, which is the maximum term possible.

Accreditation was first achieved in 1969 with the MPH program becoming the first outside a school of public health to receive this recognition. Since 1969, the program has been successful in securing extensions of accreditation through a self-study and review process that requires approximately two years to complete.

Program accreditation offers substantial value to students, alumni, faculty and the university because of the distinction offered. This recognition of quality, consistent with that of other accredited MPH programs, indicates that the professional preparation offered at UT has met the criteria defined by the council. These criteria have become more rigorous over time, requiring extensive documentation.

Our 2016 CEPH Self-Study Report is now available. Contact Associate Professor Kathleen Brown if you have any questions.

In August 2011, the Department of Public Health signed a memorandum of understanding with the Knox County Health Department to create Tennessee’s first Academic Health Department (AHD). The purpose of the AHD is to bridge public health practice and academia. Read more about the UT-Knox County AHD here.

The Department of Public Health fosters working relationships between academicians and practitioners to participate in leadership development. In 1995, these efforts were formalized by co-establishing the East Tennessee Public Health and Preventive Medicine Forum. Other member organizations are: the Knox County Health Department, the East Tennessee Regional Office of the Tennessee Department of Health, the UT Department of Family Medicine, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine, and the UT College of Nursing.

Since 1985, the MPH program has been an institutional member of the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR), formerly the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine. Within the APTR organization is a council of graduate programs in public health. The council includes more than eighty MPH programs which are located outside schools of public health. Directors of MPH programs assemble as a council twice each year to exchange information and work on mutual issues of interest.

Click here for more information about the Applied Practice Experience (APE)  requirement for the MPH program.

Integrative Learning Experience (ILE)

The written comprehensive examination provides an Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) that is required of all MPH students.  The exam is offered during a five-hour period three times each year. To secure a faculty recommendation of “pass” on the exam, students must successfully respond to two application problems or case studies with essays that reflect an integration of knowledge and inquiry skills acquired through coursework.  In addition, they must complete satisfactorily a multiple-choice examination covering application of core public health concepts and required coursework in the concentration of study.  The university permits students one opportunity to retake the exam in the following semester.