Public and Community Health, A.S.

The mission of the Public and Community Health Program at LaGuardia Community College is to contribute to the well-being of individuals, families and communities. Our program is designed to provide solid foundation in the principles, theories and skills needed to be effective in public and community health professionals who promote the values and ethics of working with diverse populations and respect the dignity of all individuals, families and communities.

Program Philosophy
The Public and Community Health Program is dedicated to providing foundational and experiential learning opportunities to engage students as proactive learners and to preparing them to be life-long learners.

• Students are encouraged to become critical thinkers, learn inquiry and problem solving, and embrace global perspectives.
• The program emphasizes integrative and reflective learning from experience and building foundations and skills for lifelong learning.
• The curriculum fosters the integration of theory and practice to develop the essential oral, written and digital communication abilities necessary for success in 4-year programs and beyond by integrating assignments that explore, demonstrate, and apply the knowledge, skills, techniques and values of public and community health professionals

Hybrid Learning and ePortfolio
Many of the courses in the Public and Community Health Program are offered as hybrid and will meet for two hours at a time. Students are expected to complete online learning assignments on their own time by given deadlines. Hybrid learning and ePortfolio help foster personal and professional growth in preparation for transfer.

Program Design
The curriculum for Public & Community Health (PCH) program has been designed to align with the curriculum suggested by the League for Innovations in Community Colleges and Public Health (CCPH) Project Recommendations for Public Health Programs www.league.org/ccph. The recommendations for general education courses in the PCH program include the background domains suggested by the Council for Education for Public Health Accreditation (CEPH) and the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), specifically:

• Math/Quantitative Reasoning: Students should have an introduction to basic statistics.
• Science: Biological and life sciences, and the concepts of health and disease
• Social and Behavioral Sciences: Foundations of social and behavioral sciences.

Public and Community Health Handbook

In support of the LaGuardia’s mission to educate and graduate its students to become critical thinkers and socially responsible citizens, the College has undertaken a team approach toward advising, designed to support you in your major from orientation through graduation.

Your Advising Team is made up of faculty, professional and peer advisors. They will guide you at every step during your college career. They are ready to help you:

• Explore your major
• Select introductory and advanced courses
• Connect you with campus support services
• Prepare an educational and career plan

Visit the Advising page to learn more about when to get advised and how to prepare for an advising appointment, and check out the Advising Calendar for information sessions, events and more.

Career Profile

Public health and related fields are among the fastest growing employment sectors in the NY region and nationally, with an estimated 250,000 new workers needed nationally by 2020. More than 25% of public health workers have retired in the past decade and only 20% of the current workforce has formal training in public health. With the retirement of individuals without formal educational training in public health, those with AS and BS degrees will be prepared to replace them and thereby respond to the workforces needs.

This broad definition of the public health workforce definition includes some categories of workers who are not included in standard enumerations, such as those employed in the occupational safety and health in industry, unions, and government; those engaged population-focused health education work on behalf of community based organizations (heart disease, cancer, or diabetes) as well as large health care systems; and lastly, those employed by both governmental agencies and other health settings.

Official public health agencies are the most common employers of the nearly 500,000 identifiable public health workers in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, national employment of health educator and community health workers is projected to grow 13 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. New York State and the New York City metropolitan region rank in the top three in the nation for employment for community health workers and health educators. Growth in employment will be driven by efforts to improve health outcomes and to reduce health care costs by teaching people about healthy habits and behaviors and utilization of available health care services.

Explore career possibilities on Career Connect.

Transfer Opportunities

Visit the Articulation Agreements page to learn more about transfer opportunities.

Current Students
Log in to My LaGuardia to review your Degree Audit to find out what classes to take. Have questions about using Degree Audit? Visit LaGuardia's Degree Audit page for tutorials and how-to guides.

Prospective Students
Review the curriculum.

Please note: Students will be held to the program and degree requirements of the year that they enter the College, unless the student changes their major in a different academic year. In that case, the student will be held to the current year requirements as listed in the catalog. Learn more.

Degree Map
Use the Degree Map and DegreeWorks to assist in academic planning and creating your own graduation plan in ePortfolio. See a full list of Flexible Core courses on the Pathways page.

For information about this program’s retention and graduation rate visit the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment website page.

Public and Community Health Information Sheet