Job openings and increased funding of public health initiatives have students clamoring for undergraduate majors in public health.  But as recently as 2008 only 16% of four-year institutions nationally were providing such opportunities. Today Regis College has announced it will be one of just a handful of higher education institutions in Massachusetts to offer undergraduate majors in public health.

Starting this fall, Regis College will provide students an interdisciplinary public health major within a strong liberal arts education.  Students will be able to focus on public health management (linking to Regis’ master’s degree program in health administration), nutrition, women’s health and biology. Internships are being developed in Massachusetts Department of Health , Boston Public Health Commission ,Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization.

“Students today are intensely interested in improving the world around them, not just the local community but globally,” said Regis President Antoinette Hays, PhD, RN. “These students are drawn to our longstanding emphasis on service to the community, which is reflected in Regis’ projects training nurses in Haiti, doing clinical work in Peru and, this summer, working at an AIDS clinic in Kenya. Through this exciting new public health major, undergraduates will be able to combine a liberal arts orientation with a world view of service that enables them to make a difference in people’s lives near and far.”

“In a world where infectious and chronic diseases, bioterrorism, health policy and health disparities are of continuous concern, the Public Health Major is ideal for students who want to be working at the forefront of emerging health and social issues,” said

Dr. Laura Burke, Director of the Program in Public Health.