Current Opportunities
NSU offers the following academic programs focused on areas of study and practice related to public health:
Plans
Master of Health Informatics (proposed)
Norfolk State University Receives $5M to Develop New Master's Program
NSU’s 2021 Six-Year Plan to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) describes the following ideas for new programs in public health and related fields.
The College of Science, Engineering and Technology would develop a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Health Information Management to launch Fall 2024/2025. The Health Information Management degree program would be affordable as there are no extraneous costs to the standard university tuition and fees. The governance of patient data and information (medical records have transition from paper to electronic) increasingly requires the HIM profession to incorporate the roles of data scientists and data managers into its scope of practice to ensure data analytics and digital transformation is appropriately managed. Thus, abilities in health information science, coding skills, leadership, data, and informatics facilitate the expanding secondary use of patient data. Digital equity ensures that a person, regardless of race or ethnicity, may access and effectively use information technology to access his/her medical record.
NSU is well-positioned to leverage public and private funding to establish its role as a community- inspired academic and economic engine in public health spaces locally and nation-wide. Our initial approach will focus on developing a foundation of academic programs, research initiatives, community engagement and more that would serve as a cornerstone for an historic, proposed School of Public Health (SPH) with ODU and EVMS. These proposed academic programs are intentionally focused on equity to prepare public health professionals and produce research and scholarship that is transformational for the health and wellness of underserved communities. Academic initiatives provided by NSU would include:
NSU's Master of Public Health (MPH) program would offer a concentration in health equity serve as part of the academic foundation of the new SPH to launch in fall 2022. The curriculum would integrate core expectations established by the field (via CEPH accreditation) and align with the knowledge, skills and attitudes graduates will need to be effective. More specifically, the health equity concentration would include courses required for the Certificate in Health Equity, e.g., social determinants of health, community-based research for health equity and interdisciplinary approaches to population health and wellness challenges.
A joint MSW / MPH program between NSU’s Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work and EVMS would prepare professionals in this region to effectively practice at the intersection between public health and social work. This program would build on current collaborations between the two programs that reflect the complex nature of health issues that affect our communities.
NSU’s Certificate in Health Equity would provide an opportunity for public health professionals who have earned a bachelor’s degree to build or enhance their ability to play a role in identifying health and wellness disparities and advancing health and wellness equity. These graduate level courses would also serve as an entry point to public health degree programs for college graduates considering a public health career.
One focus of NSU’s public health initiatives is to offer programs that help build diversity, equity and inclusion in the public health workforce. NSU’s Certificate in Public Health Leadership would help professionals who have earned a college degree to build or enhance knowledge and skills related to leadership in public health organizations, e.g., cultural competency, communications, ethics and human resource management.