EIU Health Administration

About the Program

The Department of Public Health and Nutrition is made up of a group of faculty who are passionate about teaching, service and research — ours, and our students’. We actively encourage and assist students by involving them in professional development experiences, volunteer opportunities, and research projects. If you are looking for an academic home with dedicated academic advising for all students, an internship coordinator who facilitates internship identification, placement, and supervision, and faculty with interdisciplinary training grounded in practical experience, then you can stop looking. We are what you are looking for, and you are exactly the kind of student we love working with!

Our faculty facilitate student research and support student professional development with their personal time and resources so that students can present their research at university, regional, and national conferences, or participate in professional development training. Each spring, the Department takes an undergraduate team to the SOPHE Undergraduate Case Study Competition at the national convention. Our teams have won twice and placed twice more in the 12 years since the competition began.

All of our students complete a 320–clock hour internship as part of the academic program. Most of our students complete their internships either in east central Illinois, or close to wherever home is, but not all of them. Recent internship placements include:

• Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, Mattoon, IL
• Community HealthNet, Gary, IN
• Peoria Police Department, Peoria, IL
• NorthShore University Health System, Evanston, IL
• Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Richland, WA
• BJC School Outreach, St. Louis, MO
• EIU Health and Safety Office, Charleston, IL
• HOPE Fair Housing, West Chicago, IL
• Alzheimer’s Association of North Carolina
• Council for Drug Free Youth, Jefferson City, MO

Many of our students secure internships and jobs under the supervision of Public Health and Nutrition alumni, who can be found all over the United States, including at Riley’s Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis; Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX; Charles Schwab; State Farm Insurance; and various clinical practices and national health organizations. A few have even chosen to complete their internships with international organizations such as Unite for Sight. Check out this story about alum Laura Boldig’s experience: https://www.eiu.edu/eiu360/story.php?id=84362

If you are more interested in the management and administration side of healthcare delivery, then the B.S. in Health Administration is probably the right choice for you. Typically, students enrolled in this option prefer to be making the decisions and implementing the processes that ensure direct care providers have all the necessary resources to do their jobs, rather than working directly with health-related clients. Students complete the Business Administration minor as part of their curriculum, which meets admissions requirements for most MBA programs. Students in this option are also eligible to sit for the Certified Health Education Specialist exam in their last term of study.

If you want to work with individuals and communities to find ways to improve people’s health status, then the Community Health option may be the right one for you. Students are trained to evaluate and assess both individual and community health issues by examining risk factors, protective factors, available resources, community support for change, and characteristics of vulnerable populations. Students build on these analytical skills by developing program plans, including assessment and evaluation components. Students in this option are eligible to sit for the Certified Health Education Specialist exam in their last term of study.

For those of you who are more hands-on, First Responder types, or are most interested in ensuring that communities and organizations are prepared to handle any emergency or disaster situation, the FEMA-approved Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness option is a unique program ideally suited for you. The program is designed primarily for: (1) students who are interested in working in emergency management, and (2) students interested in first responder professions which require a bachelor’s degree for career advancement (firefighter, paramedic, police). While EIU does not offer Fire Science or Paramedical Services coursework, we work closely with the EMS Department at our local community college, Lake Land College, which has exceptional programs in both. And….the coordinator of Emergency Services Programs is an EIU Department of Public Health and Nutrition alumna!