Health and Behavioral Sciences
Chair: Sara Yeatman
Undergraduate Program Director: Meng Li
Program Assistant: Anne Marie Summers
Office: North Classroom 3018
Telephone: 303-315-7157
E-mail: meng.li@ucdenver.edu
Mailing Address:
Program in Health and Behavioral Sciences
Campus Box 188, P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217-3364
Overview
Public health is working to protect the environment, identifying sources of illness in population groups, controlling disease outbreaks, evaluating the economic impacts of changing demographics, developing interventions to promote healthy behavior, and producing health policy legislation. Public health draws from a broad array of disciplines, such as the social and behavioral sciences, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, business, economics, statistics, epidemiology, law and biology, and each provides unique insights for the diverse set of activities involved in public health practice.
Undergraduate Information
In response to the tremendous career and research opportunities in public health, the Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), in collaboration with the Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), created an undergraduate major in public health. Most core classes for the public health major are team taught with one faculty member from the downtown campus (CLAS) and the other from the Anschutz campus (CSPH).
This degree is designed to accommodate as many student interests as possible. At CU Denver, we are committed to helping students develop their own individualized educational path; we strive to serve the needs of both the student who wishes to specialize in communication strategies for effective public health education campaigns, as well as the student who wants to hasten the translation of the latest bench science technologies into public health practice. To this end, the major consists of both BA and BS tracks.
Two options are available for the undergraduate major in public health: Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS). After completion of the program, students will have a broad background to serve as the foundation for a variety of career paths, such as immediate entry into public health positions, background training for a professional school (including but not limited to medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy or law school), or the pursuit of an advanced degree such as a master’s or Ph.D. in a range of social, behavioral or natural sciences.
Graduate Information
Please go to the Graduate catalog to read about our graduate programs.
Faculty
Professors:
Karen Spencer, PhD, Indiana University
David P. Tracer, PhD, University of Michigan
Associate Professors:
jimi adams, PhD, Ohio State University
Patrick Krueger, PhD, University of Colorado
Meng Li, PhD, Rutgers University
Ronica Rooks, PhD, University of Maryland College Park
Sara Yeatman, PhD, University of Texas Austin
Assistant Professors:
Jennifer Boylan, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Visiting Assistant Professors:
Jorge Ivan Ramirez, PhD, Michigan State University
Professors Emerita:
Debbi Main, PhD, University of Colorado
Research and Clinical Faculty:
Hyeyoung Oh Nelson, PhD, University of California Los Angeles
Jean Scandlyn, PhD, Columbia University
The mission of the health and behavioral sciences (HBSC) program is to apply social science theory and innovative research methods to critically address emerging issues in health. The program trains students to confront issues affecting the health of communities and populations by focusing on social determinants of health and diseases. These determinants can be more influential on population health than the health care system.
The program’s overarching framework integrates social, cultural and biomedical perspectives to understand the underpinnings of health and the conditions essential for its creation and maintenance. Students and faculty conduct interdisciplinary research on topics including emerging diseases, maternal/child health, substance abuse, health disparities and global health. Graduates are innovative researchers, effective educators and leaders directly engaged in the practice of public health.
Health & Behavioral Sciences (HBSC)
An in-depth study of selected social science perspectives/theories and their applications to population health. Topics will vary from semester to semester, with a particular emphasis on current, salient population health problems. Prereq: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with PBHL 4999. Max hours: 9 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 9.
Examines legal, ethical, and social issues that have come about with advances in human genetics. Topics include privacy, informed consent, discrimination, forensics, medical malpractice, and property rights. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Cross-listed with HBSC 7320, ANTH 6041. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
Appraise women's experiences and selected issues related to war-time service, including women's roles during war, gender-specific policies, military sexual trauma, reintegration, and effects of deployment on mental and physical health. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree major. Term offered: summer. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the Graduate School for approval. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 9 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 9.
Features presentations by core, affiliated and adjunct faculty; alumni; distinguished guest speakers; and students nearing completion of the dissertation. The goal is to expose students to cutting-edge applications of health-related social and biological science research and to introduce students to the research interests of core and affiliated HBS faculty, advanced students, and alumni who they might otherwise not have the opportunity to meet. Note: Required for ALL first and second year students but open to all graduate students and faculty. May be taken up to three times for credit. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Term offered: fall. Repeatable. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 3.
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
Typically Offered: Fall.
Covers the following subject areas: philosophy and epistemology of the social and behavioral sciences as they are applied in public health and health care contexts; historical perspectives of Western biomedicine and public health; crosscultural perspectives on health systems; class, ethnic, and gender correlates of health and sickness; critical perspectives on Western health and health care models; and the structure and organization of health care systems. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program or permission of the instructor. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program (HBSC-PHD).
Typically Offered: Fall.
Focuses on the interplay of biology, environment, culture, and behavior in the causes and exacerbation of disease. The course includes the following topics: health in environmental and evolutionary contexts; models of causation in biomedicine and other medical systems; individual, community, and population manifestations of health and disease; and biocultural interaction in disease process. Specific case studies drawn from contemporary health problems are used to illustrate in detail the nature of these processes. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program or permission of the instructor. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program (HBSC-PHD).
Typically Offered: Fall.
This course has four principal aims: (1) to provide students a working knowledge of research methodology as applied to field research efforts; (2) to enable students to apply research methodologies to areas of particular interest in the health and behavioral sciences; (3) to expose students to data manipulation techniques common to social science quantitative research; and (4) to teach basic research proposal development techniques. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program or permission of the instructor. Term offered: spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program (HBSC-PHD).
Typically Offered: Spring.
Much of the data collected in the social sciences is interview- and text-based. This course explores methods for collecting and analyzing these data and theoretical paradigms that underlie these methods. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
This course introduces students to multivariate regression methods - a set of statistical models that relate an outcome variable to a set of predictor variables. The course emphasizes understanding and applying regression models to address social science research questions. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program or permission of the instructor. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program (HBSC-PHD).
Population health is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that focuses on the social and behavioral determinants of health. This course helps students to navigate the assumptions and perspectives of the various disciplines that do population health research. To achieve this, the course draws on literatures from diverse disciplines on topics including the social, economic, environmental, behavioral, political, and cultural factors that shape health, disease, and healthcare access and utilization. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program or permission of the instructor. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program (HBSC-PHD).
Typically Offered: Fall.
The purpose of this course is to help students select and refine a dissertation research topic. Each student, through presentations and discussions of their work, will receive feedback from fellow students and the instructor, and will have an opportunity to improve written and oral presentation skills. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program and HBSC 7041 with a B- or higher or permission of the instructor. Term offered: spring. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program and HBSC 7041 with a B- or higher.
Typically Offered: Spring.
Examines the legal, ethical, and social issues that have come about with advances in assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Illustrates how lawyers, judges, bioethicists, legislators, and policy makers have addressed these issues. Prereq: Graduate standing. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate Level Students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program. Repeatable. Max hours: 8 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 8.
Restriction: Restricted to students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program (HBSC-PHD).
Additional Information: Report as Full Time.
This course introduces students to advanced multivariate regression methods (e.g., generalized linear models, survival models, hierarchical models). This course emphasizes the application of advanced regression methods to test social and behavioral science theories related to health. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program or permission of the instructor. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to students admitted into the Health and Behavioral Sciences program (HBSC-PHD).
Examines the roles of technology and society in the etiology and control/prevention of adverse health outcomes associated with releases of toxic substances. Examples come from experience and the literature on occupational cancer and reproductive hazards, occupational and environmental regulation of hazardous wastes, air, and water pollution. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Cross-listed with ENVS 6210. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
Examines how GIS is used throughout the health care industry and public health. Covers environmental health, disease surveillance, and health services research. Students critically review current literature and gain hands-on experience with GIS software. Prereq: GEOG 4080 or GEOG 5080, public health background, or consent of instructor. Cross-listed with GEOG 4235, GEOG 5235. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Provides a basic understanding of the methods used to study the effects on human health of exposures to physical, chemical, or biological factors in the external environment. The course explains the use of epidemiologic methods through a problem solving approach to investigating environmental health case studies. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. A basic statistics class is strongly recommended for optimal success. Cross-listed with ENVS 6230. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
Examines legal, ethical, and social issues that have come about with advances in human genetics. Topics include privacy, informed consent, discrimination, forensics, medical malpractice, and property rights. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Cross-listed with HBSC 6320, ANTH 6041. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
The process of determining the likelihood and extent of harm that may result from an activity or event. Topics covered are: hazard identification, dose-response evaluation, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. The subjects of risk management, risk perception, and risk communication are also discussed. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Cross-listed with CVEN 5494, ENVS 6200. Term offered: fall. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
Introduces the field of toxicology. Emphasizes the mechanisms by which chemicals produce toxic effects and the methods for assessing toxicity. Note: Designed for students in the environmental sciences and occupational health fields. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. One year of college chemistry and one year of college biology are strongly recommended for optimal success. Cross-listed with ENVS 6220. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
A flexible seminar format for dealing with topics of special interest in the health and behavioral sciences. Topics to be considered vary from semester to semester. Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree majors. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 9 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 9.
Restriction: Restricted to Graduate and Graduate Non-Degree Majors
Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the Graduate School for approval. Prereq: Admission to the Health and Behavioral Sciences program. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max hours: 30 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade with IP
Repeatable. Max Credits: 30.
Additional Information: Report as Full Time.
Public Health (PBHL)
Course focuses on the principles, tools, and population approach of social epidemiology as it relates health to race, gender, and class. Contemporary topics in public health will be used as case studies to illuminate principles and tools both in lecture and in recitation sections. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Denver Core Requirement, Social Sciences.
Restriction: Restricted to Freshman level students. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Restriction: Restricted to Freshman level students
An overview of the discipline and practice of public health. Includes the history of the field, its population perspective, emphasis on prevention, tools and techniques. General principles of the field are illustrated through contemporary public health case studies. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 4 Credits. GT: Course is approved by the Colorado Dept of Higher Education for statewide guaranteed transfer, GT-SS3.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: GT courses GT Pathways, GT-SS3, Soc Behav Sci:Hmn Behav, Cul; Denver Core Requirement, Social Sciences.
This course examines current issues in population growth, fertility, mortality and migration throughout the globe; introduces basic demographic tools; encourages critical thinking about the causes and consequences of population change. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Denver Core Requirement, International Perspectives.
An in-depth study of selected social science perspectives/theories and their applications to population health. Topics will vary from semester to semester, with a particular emphasis on current, salient population health problems. Repeatable. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.
Introduces the basic concepts of public health and epidemiology, including assessment of disease in the community, the study of causation and association of disease with lifestyle and environmental risk factors, as well as related special topics. We recommend coursework in college algebra or higher as preparation for this class. We have found that students who take this class before completing their math requirements are at a distinct disadvantage in this course, which is math-intensive. Therefore a grade of C or higher in MATH 1110 or equivalent is strongly recommended. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 4 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Surveys core issues contributing to racial or ethnic minority differences in health status. Historical and contemporary U.S. health and social policy, including the areas of environmental health, sexual and reproductive health, children and immigrants, are examined. Cross-listed with ETST 3002. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
The focus of this course is on human sexuality using a public health lens, examining a number of sexual health issues and their relationship to individual, familial, organizational, and social-level influences. Additionally, we will focus on identifying both primary prevention and intervention approaches to reducing sexual risk factors and increasing healthy behaviors. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This introductory survey course focuses on the human health implications of environmental exposures. Topics include pathways of exposure, toxicology, risk assessment, regulations, and policy development. Additionally, environmental equity, ethics, globalization, international perspectives, climate change, sustainability, and activism are considered. Prereq: PBHL 2000 or 2001 with a C- or higher. Note: Students will not earn credit for this course if they have already earned credit for PBHL 2020. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: PBHL 2000 or PBHL 2001 with a C- or higher
Provides an overview of the field of health promotion, including an introduction to key theories and methods, as well as exposure to the breadth of programs and diversity of settings through several case studies. Includes attention to health behaviors as contributors to current public health problems and community-based approaches to health promotion in addressing them. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Health policies may have a profound effect on quality of life. Accessibility, cost, quality of health care; safety of food, water, and environment; the right to make decisions about our health; these issues are vitally tied to health policies. This course provides a framework for understanding the social, political and economic dimensions of health policy. Prereq: PBHL 2000 or 2001 with a C- or higher. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: PBHL 2000 or PBHL 2001 with a C- or higher
Introduces the multi-factorial nature of human health and well-being. Considers the influences of biology (genetics), behavior, environment, culture and social determinants, and health policy on the nature of disease and health problems from an integrated perspective. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Examines health and illness for individuals, families, and societies from multiple international perspectives, focused on topics such as traditional vs. Western medicine, characteristics of healers and therapeutic relationships, and stigmatized segments of society and their health status. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course discusses current research on decision making/behavioral economics, as well as its application to individual well-being and public policy. You will gain insights on how and why people can be irrational in their daily decisions. Cross-listed with ECON 3050 and PSYC 3050. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course takes a social and public health--as opposed to medical, biological or psychiatric--approach to understanding mental disorder and society. Course addresses historical definitions of mental illness, social patterns of mental disorder and treatment and experience of mental illness patients, focusing on the U.S. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Avian flu, disaster relief, aging populations and primary health care are key issues in a world where diseases cross borders rapidly, but health care resources may not. Examines improvements in global health, growing inequalities and social justice in health. Prereq: PBHL 2000 or 2001 with a C- or higher. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: PBHL 2000 or PBHL 2001 with a C- or higher
Surveys trends and determinants of sexual and reproductive health around the globe and in the United States. Examines the social and behavioral determinants of sexual and reproductive health and the influence of policy. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course introduces students to urban health and the various factors of the physical, social and health environments that affect well-being and vulnerability of communities and neighborhoods in cities. Note: This course will include a weekly collaborative assignment, a high-impact educational practice, that foster student engagement with active and problembased learning. Although not required, it would be helpful for students to have completed a 2000-level course from the undergraduate program in Public Health. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course provides a broad overview of the interdisciplinary field of public health aging, ranging from individual attitudes and beliefs about aging to policies that aim to maximize health and well-being among older adults. A key focus is on the diversity that exists among older adults and the promotion of healthy aging for all by examining changes to social, behavioral, and biological functioning with age. Note: Although not required, it would be helpful for students to have taken a 2000-level course in public health. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Explores the relationship between human migration, voluntary and forced, and social organization and culture in the modern world. Case studies include pastoralists, foragers, refugees, immigrants, sojourners, and settlers and their impact on health, culture, identity, ethnicity, tradition and nationality. Cross-listed with ANTH 3200. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course covers key issues in population health and emphasizes how sociological perspectives both challenge and augment biomedical perspectives on health and health care. We also discuss the social causes and consequences of race/ethnic, sex, and socioeconomic disparities in health. Cross-listed with SOCY 3440. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Experiences involving application of specific, relevant concepts and skills in supervised employment situations. Prereq: Students must have junior standing and at least a 2.75 GPA and must work with Experiential Learning Center advising to complete a course contract and gain approval. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 9 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 9.
Prereq: Junior standing or higher and at least a 2.75 cumulative GPA
Explores topics in public health. Topics will vary from semester to semester, with a particular emphasis on current topics. Prereq: Junior or senior standing or permission of instructor. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Within a limited period of time, middle and low income countries have experienced dramatic changes that affect the length and quality of peoples' lives. The health indicators for each country reflect a rich and meaningful context within interacting systems of economic, social, cultural patterns, and environmental and social justice. Analysis and contrast of public health indicators such as the millennium development goals develop an understanding of the complexity against a background of change. Prereq: Junior or Senior standing or permission from instructor. Cross-listed with URPL 6349. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Introduces applied methods of public health, including: analyzing community-level assessment data, developing a casual model for selected health outcomes, maximizing community participation in the assessment process, developing assessments as a team, and setting the stage for effective intervention and evaluation. Prereq: Upper division standing, a course in statistics, and an introductory course in epidemiology (HBSC 4001, 5001). Cross-listed with HBSC 5021. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Qualitative, ethnographic tools for practical applications in public health, including methods of direct observation, informant interviews, focus groups, structured ethnographic methods, rapid assessment and participatory action research. Basic analytic strategies, including review of computer software, coding and data display techniques. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course explores social inequalities in physical and mental health, the illness experience, the healing professions, health policy, relations between providers and patients, and the structure, access to, and financing of health care organizations, with some cross-national discussions. Prereq: PBHL 2000 or 2001 with a C- or higher. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: PBHL 2000 or PBHL 2001 with a C- or higher
Evolutionary medicine is a relatively new approach for understanding patterns of human health and disease. In this course, students will learn how human evolutionary history has shaped our susceptibility and resistance to both chronic and infectious diseases. Prereq: ANTH 1303. Cross-listed with ANTH 4060 and 5060. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: ANTH 1303
The purpose of this seminar is to provide students with an understanding of how historical, psychosocial, environmental, and to some degree, biological and genetic factors contribute to inequality in health and health care. Course Prerequisites: PBHL 4040, PBHL 3001, PBHL 2051 with a grade of C- or better. Repeatable. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.
Prereq: PBHL 2051, 3001, and 4040 with a grade of C- or better
A travel-study course that provides students the opportunity to work on global health issues in the context of a supervised internship experience. In addition to a formal internship placement or directed research opportunity, students attend formal lectures and participate in seminars devoted to addressing those health issues most relevant to the country in which the course is being taught. Prereq: Junior or Senior standing or permission from instructor. Cross-listed with ANTH 4080/5080. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Psychotropic drugs, both legal and illicit, are a predominant part of our everyday lives. This course examines their use and meaning within cultures, and the social, political and economic issues that surround their production, use and misuse. Prereq: Junior or Senior standing or permission from instructor. Cross-listed with ANTH 4090/5090. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Offers students the opportunity to integrate, synthesize and apply concepts learned throughout the core curriculum of the public health major to real-world issues. The course involves extensive writing and small group presentations on the epidemiological, global, social, environmental, and policy dimensions of current problems in public health. Prereq/Co-req: PBHL 2000 or 2001 and all or all but one of PBHL 2020 or 3020, PBHL 3001, PBHL 3030, PBHL 3070, PBHL 4040 with a C- or better. Students must enroll in that remaining course concurrently with PBHL 4099. Term offered: fall, spring. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq/Co-req: PBHL 2000 or 2001 and all or all but one of PBHL 2020 or 3020, PBHL 3001, PBHL 3030, PBHL 3070, PBHL 4040 with a C- or better, and take that remaining course concurrently with PBHL 4099.
Public health views family violence from a prevention perspective. Our exploration of child abuse, intimate partner violence, and other forms of family violence will complement other disciplinary approaches by focusing heavily on the community and social factors that contribute to abusive relationships. Theories of power and coercion and approaches to researching these issues will be analyzed and discussed through our exploration of the various forms of family violence. Prereq: Junior or Senior standing or permission from instructor. Max hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Prereq: junior standing or higher
Provides a foundation for a critical analysis of HIV/AIDS in global context, concerning topics such as disease, the body, ethnicity/race, gender, sexuality, risk, addiction, power, and culture together with a set of ethnographic texts that explore the epidemic's impact. Cross-listed with HBSC 4200. Term offered: summer. Max Hours: 3 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
This course requires active independent learning based upon a written curricular outline and agreement with faculty in Public Health who supervise the student's work throughout the semester. Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS undergraduate advising office for approval. Permission of instructor required. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 4 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 4.
Students will engage in original research projects supervised and mentored by faculty. Students must work with faculty prior to registration to develop a proposal for their project and receive permission to take this course. Note: Students must submit a special processing form completely filled out and signed by the student and faculty member, describing the course expectations, assignments and outcomes, to the CLAS undergraduate advising office for approval. Term offered: fall, spring, summer. Repeatable. Max Hours: 6 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 6.
This course is reserved for CU Denver faculty-led study abroad experiences. The course topic will vary based on the location and course content. Students register through the Office of Global Education. Prereq: Upper division undergraduate standing and permission of instructor. Repeatable. Max Hours: 12 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 12.
An in-depth study of selected social science perspectives/theories and their applications to population health. Topics will vary from semester to semester, with a particular emphasis on current, salient population health problems. Prereq: Junior or senior standing or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with HBSC 5999. Repeatable. Max hours: 12 Credits.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Repeatable. Max Credits: 12.
Prereq: junior standing or higher