Master of Public Health

Immersions

Students are required to attend two immersions–one on the Simmons campus in Boston and one in the US-Mexico borderlands region of Arizona–for a total of three credits during their time in the program. Students are responsible for all immersion travel, program, and accommodation expenses.

• Boston: This three-day immersion will take place in Boston, Massachusetts, home of Simmons University. Throughout the immersion, students will be exposed to Boston as their classroom, learning about the city’s history of race and racism and how it is reflected across the urban landscape of transportation, education, employment, healthcare, and other institutions. Various tools will be used to analyze impacts of racism and oppression on health in the local context. Students will learn from local organizers, public health professionals, and advocates about ongoing local and national models of racial justice as core endeavors toward health equity. The Boston immersion is typically offered prior to the Fall semester.
• Arizona: This experiential course invites students to the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, a short distance from the U.S.-Mexico border, on traditional Tohono O’odham lands. Students will have the opportunity to learn from local community partners, examine innovative community-driven models of development and social justice, and engage in a hands-on service project. Through these experiences, students will appreciate both the challenges and promise of this unique geopolitical landscape. The Arizona immersion is typically offered prior to the Spring semester.

For the Boston immersion, students are responsible for arranging accommodations and travel. For destination immersions, students are responsible for arranging travel while accommodations and on-ground logistics will be provided through our program partners.

Health Equity Change Project

In the final two terms of the program, students complete a Health Equity Change Project, which combines the practice and culminating experiences required of MPH degree recipients into a single opportunity. During the Health Equity Change Project, students will:

• Choose a local health inequity that is meaningful to them to be the focus of their project.
• Analyze this inequity to understand the issues surrounding it and points of intervention.
• Identify and partner with an organization that addresses health inequity in their community.
• Design a project proposal that will address that health inequity.
• Implement and evaluate their project in close collaboration with their host organization and community partners.
• Develop a final portfolio featuring their applied public health skill set and attainment of program competencies.

Traditional

• Designed for aspiring and rising public health professionals
• Complete in as few as 24 months
• Complete 42 credits across six terms
• Permitted to work during the program — most students work full time but scale back or find some flexibility with their employer when they begin their Health Equity Change Project

Accelerated

• Designed for highly motivated students who can dedicate themselves to their degree on a full-time basis
• Complete in as few as 15 months
• Complete 42 credits across four terms
• Not permitted to work/be employed during the program
• Starts annually in the May term 

The MPH program at Simmons provides students with practical, hands-on opportunities during which they work with real communities to examine and address public health issues that matter to them. Students can shape the following research opportunities around their passions, career goals, and interest areas:

• During the Health Advocacy, Community Organizing, and Innovation course, students partner with an organization and participate in community organizing and/or advocacy through a 20-hour service-learning experience.
• As part of the Community-based Participatory Research for Health Equity class, students work with community liaisons and leaders of their choice to develop a small-scale, mixed-methods research study.

Our admission committee takes a holistic approach when evaluating each candidate for the program, valuing prior community experience and a passion for improving health equity. To apply to the MPH program at Simmons, students should first review the application requirements and deadlines.