Advanced MPH Online
All Advanced MPH Online program students are required to complete an Applied Practice Experience (APEx.) The APEx is a vital part of the service-learning process allowing students to address domestic and global issues across all areas of public health practice. Through the APEx, students focus on community engagement projects and provide host organizations with valuable services, and/or research expertise that relate directly to the ongoing mission and activities of the site and that meet the defined healthcare needs of the site’s surrounding community. Each student’s APEx projects are:
- thoroughly planned in consultation with a faculty advisor and site supervisor;
- monitored on site;
- evaluated by the student, site supervisor, and faculty advisor.
In the Advanced MPH Online program, APEx projects are individually selected and tailored to meet student needs with the focus, substance, and approach varying by student. The APEx may include work in administrative, research, or clinical settings, or participation in ongoing health education, research, or program activities. Because most students in this program are working professionals, it is possible to develop an APEx project related to one’s current employment. There is also the potential to establish an APEx project within one’s local community, or to work on a project remotely either in New York City or elsewhere.
Regardless of the setting and specific project, students are required to produce a minimum of two non-academic work samples that demonstrate attainment of at least five competencies (three foundational and two program specific). Examples of acceptable work samples include: project plans, grant proposals, training manuals, lesson plans, surveys, videos, podcasts, presentations, spreadsheets, web sites.
Scheduling/Time Requirements
The Advanced MPH Online program allows significant flexibility for completing an APEx project. Many students choose to work on their APEx in the summer between the first and second years of the program, or to begin a project over the first summer and conclude the work during the fall of the second year of the program. Still others may choose to complete the APEx in the summer after second-year course work has been completed. It is expected that Advanced MPH Online students will devote a minimum of 140 hours towards an APEx project. This is usually accomplished by working 15-20 hours per week during the summer months, or approximately 10 hours per week during a 14-week semester.
Completion and Evaluation
Once the APEx project concludes, students submit an APEx Completion Form. The form enables students to upload their APEx deliverables and to identify the competencies demonstrated through their work. Once students submit the APEx Completion Form, it is forwarded to their faculty advisor for review. The Faculty Advisor then evaluates the students’ APEx work samples to verify that identified public health competencies have been achieved. Once approved by the faculty advisor, the APEx Completion Form is sent to Enrollment Services to confirm the APEx requirement has been fulfilled. Students are advised to submit the APEx Completion Form at least two months prior to their anticipated degree conferral date (mid-March for May conferral; mid-August for October conferral).