Program Goals

The San José State University MPH Program strives to provide stimulating and practical graduate education, offered through distance and campus modalities, in the foundations of public health and the specialized skills of community health education. Our program goals are to provide:

1.  A program environment that honors diversity, civility, honesty, collaboration, engagement, respect, and ethical practice.

2.  Learning that integrates theory, practice, evidence, and lived experience over time, from different sources, and in new ecological contexts.

3.  Contributions that advance the body of knowledge and resources in community health education and public health through community-based faculty and student scholarship.

4.  Leadership and active participation that contribute to the growth and development of the health education profession.

5.  Continuous engagement of the talents, enthusiasm, resources, and imagination of our program's faculty and students in collaboration with community partners in projects and service activities that contribute to eliminating health disparities and promote social justice.

6.  An integrated program of instruction, research, and service, carried out in close collaboration with a diverse network of community programs and practitioners. Our ultimate goal is public health and social justice through planned, organized, and empowering community efforts.

Program Outcomes

In recognition of the increasing cultural diversity of the state of California and regions beyond, our MPH program is committed to training culturally competent health educators whose backgrounds and skills reflect our changing demography.   The program's eight outcome objectives encompass the areas of professional responsibility delineated by the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing, Inc., and are informed by CEPH accreditation criteria, the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for improving public health professional education, the Association of Schools of Public Health MPH Core Competency Development Project, and the National Health Educator Competencies Update Project.   They were revisited, revised, and reaffirmed in spring 2012.

Specifically, the MPH program trains health education practitioners who are able to:

1.  Analyze and research emerging trends, priorities, and assets to predict future individual and community health needs and opportunities based on historical foundations, societal changes, and current evidence, and to communicate their implications for public health and health promotion policy and practice

2.  Apply concepts and theories of behavior, education, systems, complexity, communication, and ecological frameworks to design, plan, implement, evaluate, and disseminate health education and health promotion interventions and policy in accordance with public health objectives, community needs, and organizational and community goals

3.  Provide technical assistance and act as a health education resource across a broad range of settings to promote community health through community building and organizing with identified stakeholders, including community members, consumers, health practitioners and health care providers, policy and decision-makers

4.  Apply administration principles and skills to manage human, fiscal, capital, and social resources when administering health education strategies, interventions, and programs

5.  Apply quantitative and qualitative data analysis principles and skills to community health education and promotion

6.  Apply the principles and skills of effective inclusive and multicultural communication when working with individuals, groups, organizations, and communities from diverse cultures and backgrounds

7.  Advance public health practice and the health education profession by drawing upon historical and contemporary contributions of the field and applying principles of social justice

8.  Adhere to standards for ethical practice and research based on their personal values and mission statements, institutional mandates, and the Code of Ethics for the Health Education Profession, in order to apply them to fields of public health and community health education.

These eight outcome objectives encompass the areas of professional responsibility delineated by the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing, Inc., and are informed by CEPH accreditation criteria, the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for improving public health professional education, the Association of Schools of Public Health MPH Core Competency Development Project, and the National Health Educator Competencies Update Project. They were revisited, revised, and reaffirmed during our MPH Core Faculty Retreat held in Spring 2012.