Bridging liberal arts and pre-health professions students: Public health in Portland State University's general education program

Despite the growth in allied health professions and expanding public health education infrastructure, few undergraduate students receive public health training. The Institute of Medicine has recommended that "all undergraduates to have access to course work in public health," but only a limited number undergraduate public health programs exist and those that do may be underenrolled because of students' lack of familiarity with the field. Experience teaching in the University Studies program at Portland State University shows how general education courses can both introduce the public health field to students and enrich the experience of students who have already chosen a health-related major. Interdisciplinary sophomore-level courses are fertile ground for addressing public health learning goals developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. Supplemental small-group “mentored inquiry” sessions provide for hands-on practice and the cultivation of learning communities within the class. This collaborative experience along with the mix of students from across the university spur student learning on public health issues like community assessment, quantitative analysis, and social justice. The challenges to continuing this work include building learning communities and fostering field engagement in online courses, and assuring that instructors have adequate training to design syllabi and facilitate discussions that incorporate public health perspectives.