Public Health Minor

Explore what influences health and how you can make a difference

The public health minor gives you a broad and practical understanding of how policies, environments and behaviors affect population health. You'll learn how public health systems work across local, state and national levels, and gain tools to address real-world challenges — from chronic disease to climate change.

Complement your major with skills in health promotion, data analysis, health communication and systems thinking. Whether you're interested in healthcare, education, social work, or policy, a background in public health adds value and purpose to your career path.

This minor is available on OSU’s Corvallis campus and online through Ecampus.

Add this minor

Should I add the public health minor?

This minor pairs well with majors such as:

• BioHealth Sciences: Strengthen your preparation for clinical careers or graduate programs with population-level health knowledge.
• Kinesiology: Understand the population-level impact of physical activity and chronic disease prevention.
• Nutrition: Add context around food systems, health behavior and policy.
• Human Development and Family Sciences: Strengthen your ability to support families and communities.
• Political Science and Sociology: Apply a systems-level perspective to social issues and health equity.
• Psychology: Connect mental health with broader public health challenges.
• Business or Economics: Gain insight into healthcare systems, policy and population health trends.

Start your path toward a master’s degree

Whether or not grad school is on your radar, the public health minor sets you up for success. If you choose to pursue Oregon State’s Accelerated Master of Public Health program, you can apply up to 13 credits from the minor toward your MPH. That means you’ll save time and money while building a strong foundation in public health.

Eligibility requirements

All majors, except public health majors, may add the public health minor.

• Have a minimum OSU GPA of 2.0
• All courses must be taken for a letter (A-F) grade
• No more than two attempts at any course or pre-requisite
• Have a minimum C- grade in any course or pre-requisite

Required courses

The following courses must be completed satisfactorily to fulfill the public health minor.

* designates a Bacc Core course

⁺ designates a Core Ed course