SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga University’s School of Health Sciences announced that it will offer a Master of Public Health (MPH) for the first time beginning in the fall 2025 semester.
The university says the program will be fully online and is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skillset necessary to improve health and wellness across diverse populations.
Students in the program will take a “health-promoting” approach and learn to do work in preventing sickness rather than waiting to treat when it happens.
“It’s a look at the bigger picture. The upstream factors that shape health outcomes that may be outside a person’s direct control,” said Robin Pickering, GU professor and chair of public health. “This program focuses on social and political determinants of health and equity-like transportation, employment, housing, income and public policy. These things aren’t quick fixes.”
Pickering worked closely with several partners at Gonzaga for more than a year to make the new graduate degree a reality.
This multi-faceted program will address everything from infectious diseases within a community to vaccination hesitancy to matters of climate change. Students who graduate with a master's in public health will be well prepared to take on careers in government, hospitals, nonprofits, business and higher education.
The online MPH program will welcome its first students in 2025, exactly one year after the launch of the undergraduate degree in public health. The first cohort of students started classes in September 2024 and have said the addition of the major felt like finding the missing piece.
“For someone who is really numbers-driven, the idea that those numbers can have a broader impact and can help make life better for different corners of our country, our world, our communities, that’s science with a purpose," said GU senior Maddie Ediger. “It’s an affirmation that this is the path I want to be on.”
The university says the master’s program will guarantee small classes of roughly 10 to 15 people to ensure personalized attention is paid to all students.
Students in the program will be required to take 42 credits, consisting of 33 public health credits and nine electives, drawing from several departments across the university including nursing and organizational leadership.
GU hopes the program will join the School of Health Sciences’ nationally ranked master’s in nursing as another virtual and accessible option for furthering education for those ready to make a tangible impact on the world.
More information about the program's curriculum and how to apply can be found at Gonzaga's website.
