Public Health, MPH (Emergency Preparedness)

Master of Public Health Degree with a Concentration in Emergency Preparedness

University of Nebraska Medical Center

  • Fully Online
  • 42
    Credits
  • $597.00
    In-State
  • $597.00
    Out-of-State
  • Overview
  • Admissions and Requirements
  • Courses You’ll Take
  • Tuition & Fees

Program Overview

The online Master of Public Health (MPH) with a concentration in Emergency Preparedness is designed to prepare practice professionals in a world where emergency preparedness and response skills are increasingly essential to the public health infrastructure. 

The College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), already renowned for its expertise in bio-preparedness and biosecurity, is a leading researcher to establish evidence-based knowledge in the field.

Through coursework, students of the Public Health, MPH (Emergency Preparedness) program will: 

  • Explore events including natural disasters, intentional acts of terrorism and newly emerging infectious disease threats.
  • The course curriculum is designed to be reflective and inclusive of current and nationally endorsed competencies in emergency preparedness leadership, crisis communication, information management, practice improvement and planning and responder health and safety.
  • Benefit from a flexible online format with key emergency preparedness content structured and delivered through course curriculum based on the focus areas established by the Federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Career Outlook: The importance of preparing for and minimizing the risks from emergencies is increasing as new threats to populations arise.

Potential career options*:

  • Emergency Management Director
  • Emergency response Coordinator
  • Disaster reduction
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • Law enforcement
  • First response teams
  • Crime scene investigator
  • Red Cross Disaster Relief

*Career options outlined may require previous experience, licensure, certification or other designations.

The Master of Public Health Program (MPH) is a 42-credit hour, specialized professional master's degree program designed to prepare graduates for work in public health. Core courses are offered online and consistent with accreditation standards. The core curriculum focuses on the areas of knowledge critical to all public health practitioners. The concentration courses give students an in-depth study of discipline-specific competency areas. This value-based academic program will emphasize the areas of prevention, scientific knowledge base, and inter-dependency with other areas of knowledge and practice and social justice.

Concentrations: Students have the option to declare a concentration when applying for admission to the Master of Public Health program, or when establishing a plan of study. The concentration is reported on the student’s transcript.

Areas of concentration in the Master of Public Health program:

  • Maternal and Child Health (42)
  • Health Services Administration & Policy (42)
  • Health Promotion (42)
  • Epidemiology (42)
  • Environmental and Occupational Health (42)
  • Emergency Preparedness (42)
  • Biostatistics (42)

Admissions and Requirements

To be accepted to this program, you must have:

  1. A Bachelor's degree

  2. Taken the TOEFL

    (Only required if English is not your native language)

  3. A written personal statement

    The personal statement should be single-spaced, one page in length and describe the applicant’s: interest in and potential for contributing to the field of public health, career objectives and a self-assessment of personal skills and general preparation for succeeding in a public health graduate program.

  4. 3 letters of recommendation

    Applicants must submit 3 letters of recommendation from individuals who can speak to academic, practice and/or research abilities. Ideally, recommenders are recent professors, researchers or employers. Recent graduates (last 1-3) years should include faculty references among their 3 references. Employer and supervisor letters or recommendation are appropriate for those who may have graduated or have been employed in the workforce for several years, or for those who are a member of the armed services.

  5. Official transcripts from all previous schools

  6. Resume that includes employment history, professional experience/skills and volunteer/service experience.

  7. Note: The GRE requirement for the MPH program Fall 2021 application has been waived. However, applicants with a GPA below 3.0 are strongly encourage to submit GRE test scores if available.

  8. International Transcripts. All non-US transcripts must be evaluated by the World Education Service (WES) using their ICAP Course-by-course evaluation service.

NOTE: This program is authorized, exempt, or not subject to state regulatory compliance and may enroll students from all 50 states

To apply to this program:

  • Complete the online application. Use "School Designation" section in online application to select program and area of concentration you wish to apply .
  • Submit application fee.

Courses You’ll Take

Core Courses

Course NumberCourse NameCredits
CPH 554Emergency Preparedness: Response and Recovery3
An introduction to emergency preparedness concepts, focusing on disaster response-related concepts such as Medical Surge, Behavioral Health, and Mass Fatalities, in addition to short and long-term disaster recovery topics.
CPH 553Emergency Preparedness: Response3
An introduction to disaster response-related concepts such as Responder Safety and Health, Citizen Evacuation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Medical Surge among other topics.
CPH 550Emergency Preparedness: Prevention3
An introduction to emergency preparedness concepts such as the Incident Command System, The National Response Framework, agencies, infrastructures, and assets in place to plan for, and respond to emergencies.
CPH 514Planning and Evaluation3
This course is designed to prepare graduate students, professional students or fellows to apply multi-level evidence-based policy and program approaches to improve public health. The course will guide students through planning and evaluating the impact of public health strategies based on the reach, effectiveness, scalability, implementation quality, and sustainability of these approaches in complicated and complex systems.
CPH 500Foundations of Public Health3
This is an introductory survey course, which will ensure that all public health students, within their first full year of study, are exposed to the fundamental concepts and theories that provide the basis for the body of knowledge in the field of public health. This course will prepare students to work in public health with a sound theoretical, conceptual, and historical basis for their work.
CPH 631Emergency Preparedness: Protection3
An introduction to emergency preparedness concepts, in preparation for naturally occurring disasters, intentional acts of terrorism, and new emerging infectious disease threats. Students will explore Critical Infrastructure protection, agriculture, and food safety, surveillance and detection of biological agents among other topics.
CPH 529Capstone Experience3
The purpose of this course is to complete the capstone project. The capstone addresses a topic of public health significance and is evidence that the student can integrate skills and competencies from across the curriculum to conduct public health research and/or practice. Prior to registering for the course, students must identify a Capstone Chair from their department and form a committee to select foundational and concentration competencies to design a capstone experience appropriate to their educational and professional goals. Prerequisite: Completion of at least 36 credit hours that includes all required MPH core and concentration courses; formed capstone committee; proposal approved by capstone committee.
CPH 539Leadership in Advocacy3
This course incorporates public health leadership theory and practices that are grounded in biomedical and social science and sanctioned by public law. Also included is the politics of communities and organizations. Advocacy is emphasized as a key tool to secure funding and to help assure that local, state, and federal policymakers will adopt, implement and maintain important public health regulations, policies and programs.
CPH 528Applied Practice Experience 3
The purpose of this course is to provide all students with an applied, scholarly and mutually beneficial experience in a public health practice setting. This experience augments academic course work meets community needs and provides students with an opportunity to integrate and apply at least five foundational public health competencies. Students are expected to demonstrate mastery of public health principles, values and practice. All partner organizations must be approved by the Office of Public Health Practice. Applied practice experiences may involve governmental, non-governmental, non-profit, industrial and for-profit settings or appropriate university-affiliated settings. To be appropriate for applied practice experience activities, university-affiliated settings must be primarily focused on community engagement, typically with external partners. University health promotion or wellness centers may also be appropriate.
CPH 504Epidemiology in Public Health3
The objective of the course is to understand the application of surveys and research methodology in epidemiology, especially in the community setting. Theoretical aspects will be taught as an integral part of understanding the techniques of study design and community survey. Concepts to be covered include measure of disease occurrence, measures of disease risk, study design, assessment of alternative explanations for data-based findings, and methods of testing or limiting alternatives. Students will be expected to address an epidemiological question of interest to them, first developing the hypothesis and conducting a literature search, then developing a study design and writing, in several stages, a brief proposal for the study.
CPH 506Biostatistics I 3
This course is designed to prepare the graduate student to understand and apply biostatistical methods needed in the design and analysis of biomedical and public health investigations. The major topics to be covered include types of data, descriptive statistics and plots, theoretical distributions, probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, and one-way analysis of variance. A brief introduction to correlation and univariate linear regression will also be given. The course is intended for graduate students and health professionals interested in the design and analysis of biomedical or public health studies; not intended for Ph.D. students enrolled in the Biostatistics Graduate Program.

Tuition & Fees

Nebraska Residents

Per Credit Hour

Tuition
$597.00
Fees
$71.25
Total
$668.25

3 Credit Hours

Tuition
$1791.00
Fees
$213.75
Total
$2004.75

Out of State Residents

Per Credit Hour

Tuition
$597.00
Fees
$71.25
Total
$668.25

3 Credit Hours

Tuition
$1791.00
Fees
$213.75
Total
$2004.75
About Faculty

University of Nebraska online courses are taught by expert faculty who embody the qualities resulting from research experience and professional/field experience. Students learn from faculty with a variety of backgrounds, many of whom are published researchers in their fields. NU faculty who teach online do so in a way that optimizes learning within the online modality and because technology enables students to access education they may otherwise may not be able to pursue.

Application Deadlines
  • Fall SemesterJun 01
  • Spring SemesterOct 01
Council on Education for Public Health