Community Health Education, Ph.D.

UNC Greensboro’s Ph.D. Program in Community Health Education emphasizes community-engaged research in public health and health education. Specific attributes of the program include:

• An emphasis on preparing doctoral students for careers in academia, where they will have the capability to train new generations of professionals and conduct original research.
• An emphasis on understanding, through research, the behaviors and contextual factors that contribute to healthy populations, including strategies to reduce health disparities, changes in health policies, and innovative individual and community-level interventions.
• The use of a socio-ecological perspective for understanding the health of populations and broad determinants of health.
• A commitment by faculty to work in partnership with professionals, agencies, and community members to address the priorities emerging out of public health practice and the experiences of communities.

Our approach to research and teaching/learning in this doctoral program should accelerate the translation of new knowledge into practice in other ways as well. For example, findings generated by research teams (students, faculty, community partners) will have immediate implications for improving the undergraduate and master’s curricula that prepare practitioners.

Program Distinctions

• The Ph.D. in Community Health Education is ranked #8 of the 15 Best Ph.D.s in Health Education by College Rank.
• The PHE program is ranked #78 nationally and #3 in NC by the U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Graduate Schools rankings for 2020 and 2021. 

Faculty members Dr. Sharon Morrison, Dr. Bob Strack, and Dr. Jennifer Toller Erausquin are renowned experts leading educational efforts for COVID-19 awareness.

The Student Experience

Students work closely with faculty members and community partners to design and implement research studies designed to facilitate the resolution of public health outcomes that are important to the community and the field.

After Graduation

Program requirements are designed to prepare students, both academically and professionally, to conduct and disseminate rigorous research and to teach in academic settings.

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• Admissions