Master of Public Health Virtual Information Session

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll give everyone just a second to get logged in and make sure your volume is turned on. And for those of you who are joining us live, so again, just we'll give you a couple of seconds. Thank you so much for being here.

All right. Well, thank you all so much for joining us today. My name is Jen Radwanski, and I'm the Associate Director for Graduate Admissions here at Stockton University. And we are so happy to have you joining us, whether it is live or if you are watching our recording that we have for you. Thank you. Either way, I just want to share a couple of items with you all before we get started. First of all, I want to share that the Masters in Public Health is one of our newest programs here at Stockton University.

And it is growing very quickly, which we're very excited about. And so this is an exciting time for us to share more information about this program with you. But I do want to tell you that at this time we are not currently accepting international applications, but we do have many other programs that you can apply for if you are an international candidate. So we thank you for taking the time for looking into this program and would be happy to share with you more information about some of our other programs that would be available to you. The second item is, is if you are joining us live, I also want to share.

That we do have a chat feature in this live webinar and you'll notice that on the right hand side of your screen. But we do ask that you save all questions for us till the end because more than likely we will cover your questions throughout the presentation. But if we don't, we will take all of those questions like I said at the very end of our presentation. So with that being said, I'm going to turn things over to my colleague, Doctor Stephanie Griffin, who is the program Chair for a Masters of Public Health. And go ahead Stephanie, take it away.

OK, you can hear me fine.

Yes.

OK. Thank you for the introduction and for having me here today, Jenna, I appreciate it. The faculty, staff and current Stockton Public Health students are excited to share information about our MPH program.

With the audience here today and I look forward to answering any questions anyone has at the end of this brief talk. So with that, we'll go ahead and get started.

And I am driving the slide bus. There we go. So I would like to begin by introducing a subject near and dear to my heart. If you're new to the field of public health, it might help to start with the definition. So what is public health? Public health can be defined as the art and science of preventing disease and promoting quality of life by working with communities, private and public organizations, and society at large.

Unlike A clinical model of healthcare, public health focuses on protecting the health of populations, identifying root causes and societal influences on health, and engaging stakeholders to promote the greater well-being and vitality of all who are potentially impacted.

The Stockton Masters of Public Health program will provide students with the foundational skills, education, research, experience and service in public health settings, including state and county health departments, nonprofit agencies, hospital population, health offices, Wellness centers, and academic institutions. The American Public Health Association describes the diverse setting and sectors of our economy open to public health majors and practitioners from conducting scientific research.

Educating about health people in the field of public health work to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy. That can mean vaccinating children and adults to prevent the spread of disease, or educating people about the risks of alcohol and tobacco.

Public Health sets safety standards to protect workers and develop school nutrition programs to ensure kids have access to healthy food. Public health works to track disease outbreaks, prevent injuries, and shed light on why some of us are more likely to suffer from poor health than others.

The many facets of public health include speaking out for laws that promote smoke, free indoor air and seatbelts, spreading the word about ways to stay healthy, and giving science based solutions to problems.

Public health saves money, improves our quality of life, helps children thrive and reduces human suffering. Public health professionals serve in a wide variety of settings across many sectors of our economy to advance and promote the health of the public. Some examples include hospitals, healthcare organizations we have to 1st responders, state, and we work in state and local health departments. You will find public health professionals working in schools as health educators.

They are in academic settings, government agencies, and private institutions, working as scientists and researchers. They work alongside A diverse population of allied professionals, including social workers, nutritionists, community planners, epidemiologists, public health physicians and nurses, occupational health and safety professionals, sanitarians, and public policymakers.

The Stockton, MPH is based on a collaborative interdisciplinary approach. We bring together clinical and non clinical aspects of prevention and improvement of health through societal efforts. Our vision is healthy people thriving where they live, work, learn, play and worship. Graduates of our comprehensive evidence based program will serve people in communities and improve lives at the local, regional, national and global levels.

The mission of the Master of Public Health program at Stockton University is to promote public health with an emphasis on HealthEquity and social justice. We develop public health practitioners and leaders who collaborate with, advocate for, and empower the communities they serve.

The MPH program prepares students to serve as evidence based practitioners and leaders in the dynamic and collaborative field of public health. The curriculum is based on the core competencies, competencies of public health. These include Biostatistics and epidemiology, environmental, Health Sciences, health policy and management, social and behavioral sciences, communication and leadership, program planning and diversity, equity and inclusion.

This is a 42 credit hour program and courses are offered in an online or hybrid format at the full time or part time enrollment.

Students are required to complete an applied practice experience or internship.

Which typically includes 200 contact hours with their internship supervisor. Students will be eligible to enroll in the applied practice experience after they have completed at least 21 credits within the MPH program.

The applied practice experience provides real world application of current issues and practices in public health and can take place in settings including community based organizations, healthcare organizations, academic settings, non governmental organizations or government agencies among others.

I am currently serving as the MPH Academic Program Chair here at Stockton, and I have the pleasure of working with a tremendous team of faculty and staff who are dedicated to student success.

Out of the 11 faculty teaching in our MPH program, eight are full time faculty and our College of Health Sciences. All 11 have extensive academic and applied public health experience, working with diverse populations in a wide range of settings.

We are so fortunate to have experts and esteemed professionals teaching in our program. But it is also important to note that our faculty are active researchers and scholars in public health. They have so much to share with our students, and they do so in a way that demonstrates Stockton's guiding principle of putting students first.

The MPH program will seek accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health, also known as SAFE.

This is the nationally recognized body that establishes the rigorous standards and oversight for public health programs and schools at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Safe accreditation helps assure a full range of certification and employment opportunities are available to our graduates. The accreditation process includes a multi level review and ensures we meet nationwide standards developed by public health practitioners and academics. We have designed our MPH program to meet the accreditation standards and are already working toward our initial application.

Stockton offers small class sizes and the flexibility students need today to meet and balance all aspects of their busy lives.

With online and hybrid courses offered either full time or part time, students have a lot of control about the pace with which they move through the program. We offer competitive tuition rates compared to other MPH programs in New Jersey. Our program provides a well-rounded education that sets graduates up for success. As practitioners and leaders in public health, our faculty are supportive with a focus on and dedication to student success.

Absolutely. Can you hear me? OK, awesome. So with this, this is where Stephanie and I kind of work together on this process. Stephanie is the content expert as the program chair and the one that would you be seeing, you know, in the classroom setting and working with it through advising. What we do here in graduate admissions is help our candidates with the application process. And so on the slide here, you'll see the requirements to apply for this program so you can come and join us. So it does require a completed bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.

A cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0 from that bachelor's degree. And I will highlight that when you're applying that we will need to receive all transcripts from any institution you attended. So if you attended a an institution A2 year institution and got your associates degree will need that transcript as well as your four year institution. And again if you transferred from another four year institution, we would need all of those transcripts sent to us and we recommend sending those electronically and the instructions to do so.

Are on our website of how you can e-mail those to us directly.

There are a number of prerequisites for the program, and you can see those on our website too. And in those courses you do have to have a minimum of AB.

For to complete your application on top of those items that we've mentioned with the prerequisites, there is an essay that formulates once you have completed your application or you've submitted the $50 application fee. So you won't be able to see that until that application fee goes through. But that essay will populate for you the prompt for that essay.

There are three letters of recommendation that are required and all you need to do is put in your recommenders e-mail addresses into the application.

We do suggest that you reach out to your recommenders first. Let them know that you're doing that so that they can look forward to seeing that e-mail come through. Please make sure you also type that e-mail address incorrectly. It's a little bit easier just to make sure it's all right from the very beginning instead of having to go back and and correct that. And we're looking for recommenders who can speak towards your academic success, so maybe even though you maybe have known your next door neighbor for 20 years.

They may not necessarily be able to speak to your ability in the classroom, and that's really what we're looking for. So someone from you know, your current employer, a former professor, again, someone who can speak to how you will excel in the classroom.

And then lastly, we mentioned the transcripts, but we'll also need a copy of your resume that will be uploaded in a PDF format. We do have rolling admission and at this time, we are currently accepting applications for fall of 2024. The priority deadline for that is July 1st of 2024. And if you have questions about this application process, we encourage you to reach out. Myself or the rest of my team here in graduate admissions would be happy to help you. We'll make sure you have our contact information at the end of this presentation to do so as well.

A few other things and and Stephanie and I will tag team this slide as well. But in particular direct entry is an option if you are a current Stockton student or you have recently graduated within the last year. There are some very specific coursework outlines that you'll need to have accomplished at the undergraduate level and also have an overall GPA of a 3.25 or a program GPA of a 3.5. And that is a different application, that application if you meet the requirements and we want you to look at that very specifically before starting your application.

But with that application, you do not need your letters of recommendation. Your application fee is waived, and it's a It's just a much shorter process for you because you've currently just been at Stockton and been successful in the in the academic setting.

With that, a new portion that we have is our dual degree program and this is a new new initiative that we're very happy to offer to undergraduate students as well. Stephanie, do you want to talk about a little bit further?

Yes. So super exciting that we've gotten both the direct entry and the dual degree options up and running in such a short period of time. This again is a new program. So that that's very, very cool.

So at this time, we're going to go ahead and turn things over to to you all for any questions that you may have. And so you'll notice the chat feature on the right hand side there. Go ahead and type any questions you have. And again, if you are joining us from a recording standpoint because we do have some live people and then we are recording this to share with others who may not have been able to attend, I'm going to go ahead and share our contact information and jump right to it.

So you'll see Doctor Griffin's contact information there if it's program specific. If it is admission specific, you can reach out to us at grad school at stockton.edu.

So we'll give everybody just a couple of seconds there. One of the things I want to highlight in this program, I know Doctor Griffin had a specific slide talking about the faculty in this program and I've gotten to know many of them over my time here at Stockton. And they are really wonderful when you talk about a group of caring individuals who are really looking out for their students, making sure.

That they're having a wonderful classroom experience as well as hands on experience within the field, you know with professional organizations and things like that. This program does an exceptional job with that. And I think that's one of the highlights of this this program in particular. And although we don't have a ton of data as we had mentioned earlier because this is a brand new program. What I can say is that the folks that I've talked to have been, they've really enjoyed the program and and enjoy that you know that that the faculty who are contributing to this program.

I figured I would share that little bit there.

So someone had asked who do we reach out to regarding the dual degree option And you can reach out to Doctor Griffin directly and so her her contact information is right there on the screen, so please feel free to do so.

Someone was asking about if they have a 2.8 GPA from their bachelor's degree degree but have internship experience. Is it possible for their, you know, application to still be evaluated? Stephanie, do you want to talk about that one a little bit further?

That's perfect.

Great. So again, you'll see the contact information there and that is a perfect example of every situation is different and we'd love to be able to assist you through that process. So please don't hesitate to to to ask lots and lots of questions as you go through this process. That's what we're here for. And we'd much rather ask you all those questions now as you're preparing for the application then finding out later on, you know that there's something we could have talked you through and assisted you with. So I think that's just a great example.

I think you're pretty good at that, I think. I think you definitely get an A+ in that that.

Play.

Absolutely.

Awesome.

Call.

Excellent. Glad you could join us as well. The last piece I just want to add to you that Stephanie made me think about this is when you were mentioning you know the the, the size of our institution and the size of this program and the ability to be able to reach out. It's also a highlight to to mention the resources that are available to students because of that as well. And so counseling services and health services and the ability to participate in events and activities on campus and use of the library and all of that is included in your graduate education.

Once you've been accepted and so there's lots of really great perks in addition to having that one-on-one ability to talk with faculty that you can do more even outside of the classroom as well if your schedule permits. And so that's a pretty awesome opportunity too. So I wanted to just just thought about adding that. So with that, I don't believe we have any additional questions. So I just wanted to thank you all for joining us today and taking the time to you again.

Join in with us in the chat and join us live or to join us virtually. But either way, please reach out with any questions you have and we hope to see your application soon. All right. I hope you all have a great day. Take care.

Yep. Thanks. Thanks to you as well. Take care. Bye everyone.