USM Master of Public Health Program Receives Impressive National Ranking
Thu, 10/20/2022 - 07:46am | By: Van Arnold
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Master of Public Health Degree program has earned a Top-10 national ranking by online resource guide EduMed in its Best Online Public Health Degrees for 2023.
USM is ranked No. 9 by EduMed, which assigned weights and rated schools based on a mix of affordability, support services, and online program availability metrics. Online program availability and overall affordability metrics received the heaviest weightings. The rankings also included data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and universities themselves.
Vickie Reed, Graduate Coordinator and Instructor in USM’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, notes that currently 125 students are enrolled in the MPH program, including online and traditional face-to-face formats. She said the recent ranking serves to validate the program’s mission.
“This recognition reinforces our faculty’s hard work and commitment to making our students competitive in the public health workforce locally, statewide, nationally, and in some cases, globally,” said Reed. “Over the past few years, our MPH international scholars have represented at least 10 countries whereby they can take their educational experience to expand public health practice to other nations.”
USM’s MPH in Health Policy and Administration is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health with has three emphasis areas: Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Health Policy & Administration, and Health Promotion & Health Behavior. The program is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to coordinate a wide variety of activities crucial to the effective and efficient delivery of health services and programs.
Health administrators are charged with coordinating various activities crucial to the effective and efficient delivery of health services and programs. The health administrator plans, organizes, coordinates, and supervises the delivery of services within health care organizations, including hospitals, medical group practices, long-term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, mental health clinics, insurance, and pharmaceutical companies.
When asked what factors help make USM’s program stand out, Reed pointed to “the diverse representation among the students in the program and the faculty teaching MPH courses.”
She explained that the program’s students stem from public health disciplines and various disciplines that may, or may not, be health-related from other colleges and universities.
“We also have students who transition from our undergraduate public health program to the MPH program,” said Reed. “MPH students span the U.S. and are enrolled in two of our 100-percent online programs; students on the east and west coasts, from the Midwest and the Gulf South, are represented in our student ranks. We also have several students with professional degrees in medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, and pharmacy enrolled in the MPH program.”
To view the EduMed rankings, visit: https://www.edumed.org/online-schools/public-health-degrees/#4-year-schools. To learn more about USM’s Master of Public Health program, call 601.266.5957 or visit: https://www.usm.edu/graduate-programs/public-health.php
About EduMed
EduMed.org set out in 2018 to support higher education in healthcare. Our free resource materials and expert-driven guidebooks help students find scholarships, financial aid and top degree programs in nursing, healthcare administration and dozens of other allied health disciplines. Since the site's official launch in 2019, EduMed.org has been featured by more than 100 premier colleges and universities across the U.S.