Overview
Online Degree Completion Options in Community Health and Emergency Management & Disaster Preparedness
Welcome to Public Health at EIU
The Bachelor of Science in Public Health offers flexible online degree completion options designed for working professionals and adult learners. Choose between Community Health or Emergency Management & Disaster Preparedness —both programs feature dedicated academic advising, an internship coordinator, and faculty with interdisciplinary expertise grounded in practical experience.
All Public Health majors complete an 6-semester hour, 240-clock hour internship in a setting aligned with their career goals. Faculty actively support student success through mentorship, conference presentations at university, regional, and national levels, and professional development opportunities.
Community Health Option
Who Should Apply? Students passionate about improving health outcomes by working directly with individuals and communities to identify solutions and drive positive change.
What You'll Learn: Students develop skills in assessing individual and community health issues—analyzing risk factors, protective factors, available resources, and vulnerable populations. You'll advance these analytical abilities by designing comprehensive program plans with built-in assessment and evaluation components.
Career Advantage: Graduates are eligible to sit for the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) exam in their final term.
Core Courses: Personal Health, Community Health, Foundations of Health Literacy, Research Methods, Human Diseases, Health Care Delivery Systems, Epidemiology, Health Behaviors, Planning Health Programs, Health Administration, Applied Health Communication
Elective Options: Health Citizenship, Motivational Interviewing, Cultural Diversity in Health, Human Sexuality, Women's Health, Drugs and Society, Health and Aging, Disaster Preparedness, Complementary & Integrative Medicine
Emergency Management & Disaster Preparedness Option
Who Should Apply? This FEMA-approved program is ideal for:
- Students pursuing careers in emergency management
- First responders (firefighters, paramedics, police) seeking a bachelor's degree for career advancement
Note: EIU does not offer Fire Science or Paramedic coursework. However, we have articulation agreements with Lake Land College's Paramedic and Fire Science Management programs. Contact Jasmine Ballard at Lake Land College to learn more or to have professional licensures transcripted.
Core Courses: Community Health, Research Methods, Disaster Preparedness, Health Care Delivery Systems, Epidemiology, Health Behaviors, Planning Health Programs, Health Administration
Elective Options: Choose from a wide spectrum of courses that complement your existing training and professional experience.
Degree: Bachelor of Science
Completion time: 120 Credit Hours
Internships:
Where do our students do their internships?
Anywhere they want to!
Our Public Health internship coordinator Dr. Nikki Hillier works collaboratively with students to identify internship sites and complete internship contracts, then supervises them throughout the experience.
Some of the places our students have been include:
- Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System
- Davita Health Care Partners
- Charleston Police Department
- Biomat
- American Red Cross
- Healthcare Consortium of Illinois
- Advocate Trinity
- Decatur Memorial Hospital
- Charleston Fire Department
- Piatt County Health Dept.
- Champaign-Urbana Public Health Dept.
- Silver Cross Hospital
- U.S. Army
- Chicago Housing Authority
- Kane County Health Dept.
- Governor's Environmental Corps, Springfield, IL
- Jersey Community Hospital
- Cederhurst Assisted Living
- Winnebago HD, Emergency Response, Rockford, IL
- Envision Health Care
- Peterson Health
- Glen Cardinal Hosptial, St. Louis
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
- Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Richland, WA
- Oak Street Health, Chicago
- Advocate Christ Medical Center
- Northshore University Health System, Evanston, IL
- CCPHD, Oak Forest
- Community Healthnet, Gary, IN
- FEMA
- Missouri Valley Regional Blood Center
- Alzheimer's Association of North Carolina
- American Diabetes Association, Chicago
- Arkansas Department of Public Health, Little Rock
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First-Year Students
Public Health job prospects are one of the fastest growing employment fields in the U.S. today, with projected job growth of close to 20% for the next 30 years. A degree in Public Health can position you to take advantage of those job prospects, and our mandatory 320 clock hour internship can help jumpstart your career.
Are you looking for a program that will allow you to get involved with your profession, with research, and with service as soon as you step foot on campus? Then look no further!
In the Department of Public Health & Nutrition, we are committed to helping our students grow in the profession, and that means from day 1. If you are interested in research, not only do we have a Research Methods sequence in our program, we have faculty who would love to work on independent research projects with you. Even if you are a freshman!
Are you interested in everything? So are we! Talk to our academic advisor Mrs. Harvey about the possibility of earning a double major or a dual degree, and pair our major with your other interest areas. Many of our students double major in psychology, health communication, or human services . Or....consider adding one of our many minors, including workplace wellness, nutrition, health communication, aging studies, non-profit leadership, psychology, sociology, pre-law, human services program administration, business administration, entrepreneurship.....the list is almost endless! You can put together a combination of major(s) and minor(s) to customize your degree program -- and STILL graduate on time!
Want even more value? We have a department honors program, and an Accelerated Master's Degree program that allows undergraduate students to start on their master's degree their senior year -- and double count those courses toward both their B.S. and their M.S. degrees.
Transfer Students
What is the most common question transfer students have?
"Am I going to be able to finish my degree on time?"
That's why we have our transfer students meet with one of our academic advisors during Transfer Orientation, if not earlier, so we can work with your to create a degree completion plan that fits your timeframe, your work and life schedules, and your financial requirements. Mrs. Amanda Harvey (AJHARVEY2@EIU.EDU) is the Public Health & Nutrition academic advisor, and works with all transfer students in Public Health, Health Administration, or Nutrition & Dietetics.
Transfer students who enter the program in their first semester of the junior year can usually finish all their coursework and their internship in 4 semesters. Some students need the full four semesters for their classes, and complete their internship in the summer. It all depends on what coursework you took at your previous school, and how many courses you are able to take each semester.
We also have the option to grant up to 12 s.h. of course credit through Prior Learning Assessment. If you have professional certifications/licensures, and the coursework related to your certification is not transcripted, talk to us about this option, which can save you up to a full semester of coursework.
Public Health job prospects are one of the fastest growing employment fields in the U.S. today, with projected job growth of close to 20% for the next 30 years. A degree in Public Health can position you to take advantage of those job prospects, and our mandatory 320 clock hour internship can help jumpstart your career.
Are you looking for a program that will allow you to get involved with your profession, with research, and with service as soon as you step foot on campus? Then look no further!
In the Department of Public Health & Nutrition, we are committed to helping our students grow in the profession, and that means from day 1. If you are interested in research, not only do we have a Research Methods sequence in our program, we have faculty who would love to work on independent research projects with you. Even if you are a freshman!
Are you interested in everything? So are we! Talk to our academic advisor Mrs. Harvey about the possibility of earning a double major or a dual degree, and pair our major with your other interest areas. Many of our students double major in psychology, health communication, or human services . Or....consider adding one of our many minors, including workplace wellness, nutrition, health communication, aging studies, non-profit leadership, psychology, sociology, pre-law, human services program administration, business administration, entrepreneurship.....the list is almost endless! You can put together a combination of major(s) and minor(s) to customize your degree program -- and STILL graduate on time!
Want even more value? We have a department honors program, and an Accelerated Master's Degree program that allows undergraduate students to start on their master's degree their senior year -- and double count those courses toward both their B.S. and their M.S. degrees.
