Aug 25, 2025  
2025-2026 Franklin & Marshall College Catalog 
  
Catalog Navigation
  Catalog Home
  The Integration of Academic and Residential Learning
  Academic Calendar
  The Franklin & Marshall Curriculum
  Cooperative Programs of Study
  Certificates
  Majors and Minors by Department
  Course Offerings
  Special Academic Opportunities
  Educational Support Services
  Academic Policies and Procedures
  Admission to the College
  FERPA
  My Portfolio
HELP
2025-2026 Franklin & Marshall College Catalog

Public Health Joint Major

Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Majors and Minors by Department

Public Health is an interdisciplinary major that offers a core program of study, and a selection of concentration tracks in Biology, Government, or Sociology. Students in our courses study the health of communities and how it can be affected by community-based action. We study the burden of disease, the principles and history of public health and how to measure health, health in the context of human rights, how to measure and improve health systems, the influence of culture on health, and the organizational actors in local, national, and global public health. We draw on the science underlying health in human communities and examine the use of such knowledge in a political arena that is central to getting things done.

The mission of the Public Health major is to educate F&M students in public health from the perspective of the liberal arts, with particular attention to the analysis of public health problems from multiple perspectives and with tools from multiple disciplines and with emphasis on theory and history.

Public health is linked to the formulation and implementation of public policy, thus connecting natural and social sciences and government at its core. Public health incorporates an international perspective. We encourage and guide students to ask broad questions of meaning, to challenge assumptions and structures, to ponder ethical questions, to evaluate the effectiveness of solutions to problems, and to develop a deep moral intelligence surrounding public health.

The program offers a common set of seven core courses for all public health majors, and additional courses in one of three concentration tracks.

Public Health Program Faculty

Professor Emily Marshall, Chair
 

Members of the Public Health Program Committee

Kirk Miller
B.F. Fackenthal, Jr. Professor of Biology

Marco Di Giulio
Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature

Clara S. Moore
Professor of Biology

David Ciuk
Associate Professor of Government

Biko Koenig
Associate Professor of Government

Ryan Lacy
Associate Professor of Psychology

Emily Marshall
Associate Professor of Sociology and Public Health

Ashley Rondini
Associate Professor of Sociology

Amy Singer
Associate Professor of Sociology

Zohra Ansari-Thomas
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Public Health

Hollie Tripp
Assistant Professor of Government and Public Health

Christina L. Abbott
Teaching Professor of Psychology

Stephanie Stoehr
Biosafety Officer and Teaching Professor of Biology

Nicholas Bonneau
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Health

Heather Hoffmann
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Health

Additional faculty not on the program committee also contribute to this program.

Joint Major Requirements:

A joint major in Public Health consists of eight courses: the seven Public Health Core courses plus one PBH elective in addition to eight courses in the joint major or program. Approval of the chair of the Public Health program for the joint major rationale and courses is required. Some recent joint majors with Public Health include: American Studies; Art History; Business, Organization, & Society; Psychology; and Public Policy.

Required Courses:

Off-Campus Study:

Public Health majors, with careful planning in discussion with their advisors, often study abroad or off-campus. The off-campus study programs most frequently attended by students majoring in Public Health are:

School for International Training (SIT)

Danish Institute for Study Abroad/Institute for Study Abroad (DIS)

Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA)

Return to {$returnto_text} Return to: Majors and Minors by Department