Indiana University of Pennsylvania is actively enrolling students for its new Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health and new PhD program in Counselor Education and Supervision following today's formal approval of the programs by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors. Students may begin work in these courses of study in fall 2017.
With these two new programs, IUP offers a total of 13 doctoral programs, 35 master's programs, and more than 130 bachelor's degrees.
“IUP is very pleased to have these two new programs approved by the Board of Governors,” IUP President Michael Driscoll said. “IUP's expert faculty members spent hundreds of hours of work to design and implement leading edge programs to serve current and growing needs of Pennsylvania and beyond. Thanks to them our graduates will be well prepared for success.”
The program in Public Health is interdisciplinary, leveraging faculty, existing coursework, and infrastructure from three IUP colleges: Health and Human Services, Humanities and Social Sciences and Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Students in the major may focus in three academic areas: Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Environmental and Occupational Health, and Behavioral and Mental Health. Faculty in more than 20 different departments contributed to the development of the program.
“We believe that the nature of the Public Health program and the variety of options for study will allow for a great deal of collaborative learning and will prepare students to enter the field immediately after graduation or go on to a competitive advanced degree program,” IUP Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Timothy Moerland said. “The PhD program builds on IUP's already existing strengths in the Department of Counseling, and meets a very unique and critical need for counselor educators. Both of these programs are wonderful additions to IUP's academic offerings.”
The degree in Public Health is designed meet a growing commonwealth workforce need in public health and related health care fields. Students will study the science of human health, the epidemiology of infectious and chronic diseases, as well as the complications of the United States and global health care systems with regard to access and ethics of the disparities in health care delivery.
Professional jobs related to public health are projected to increase in number from 2014 to 2024 by at least 23 percent. The U.S. Department of Labor and Statistics predicts that by 2016 the need for counselors and those that train them (PhD counselor educators) will increase by 34 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
The new PhD program is housed in the Department of Counseling and builds on the intensive 60-credit-hour practitioner degree in counseling. It is one of the first doctoral programs in the nation to meet the newly adopted 2016 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) doctoral standards.
The curriculum is based upon the most current Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs standards with a high focus on scholarship and research.
The intent of the PhD program is to prepare doctoral level counselor educators who are equipped to enter academia or positions of leadership with a specialization in scholarship, supervision, and teaching.
IUP's strong network of relationships with hospitals, nursing agencies, public and private practice offices, rehabilitation centers, wellness clinics, government agencies, and human service agencies will provide students with a diversity of options for field experiences.
For more information about IUP's program in Public Health, visit the Public Health Program website.
Find out more about the PhD program in counseling at the Counseling Department website.