MPH Practicum
The Colorado School of Public Health is committed to providing students with practical experience in public health settings. The MPH practicum experience is intended to support student growth, both personally and professionally while connecting and contributing to community needs. The experience is intended to provide students an opportunity to develop professional skills by leading a project in a public health setting that contributes to an unmet need of the host site.
Practicum Prerequisites:
In order to sign up for a practicum experience students must do the following:
1) Successfully complete the Foundations of Public Health Course
2) Successfully complete one -year of academic requirements
3) Gain approval of their concentration director
Practicum Resource Guide
Capstone Experience
The Capstone experience includes a Capstone project or research paper, class work that builds presentation skills and requires reflection on competencies acquired throughout the MPH program, and oral and poster presentations at the Public Health Forum.
Goal: The goal of the Capstone experience for MPH students is to connect all aspects of the curriculum, including seminars, lectures, course work, independent studies, projects and direct experiences to establish an understanding, appreciation and working knowledge of public health practice and, specifically, how their chosen areas of concentration enhance public health practice in Colorado, the nation and the world.
Rationale: Students may see courses or other structured learning opportunities conducted in the confines of a specific syllabus and a short dedicated time frame as independent sessions and may store away the skill sets acquired during these structured sessions only to use them again under limited circumstances. However, it is the intent of the MPH program that each course and skill set be presented and practiced to complement and enhance others and, consequently, not stand alone. Individual courses are necessary to establish basic knowledge and skills in small enough bites that they can be absorbed and practiced, often in isolation. While the practicum provides an opportunity to observe the broad spectrum of public health knowledge and skills in practice, the Capstone project provides the opportunity for the student to link the theory, philosophy and knowledge from courses with real-life observations from the practicum to develop a program, policy or other concrete product relevant to public health in the student’s area of interest and future practice.
To learn more about the Capstone Experience, download the Capstone Experience Guidelines (PDF).