Public Health Major brings disciplines together

Many students come to F&M to study biology or government. Soon they will be able to blend both passions with the new public health major.

The idea for the new major began when several students were introduced to public health in the first-year seminar on tuberculosis taught by Dick Fluck, associate dean of the faculty, in the fall of 1999.  

According to Fluck, most students had never heard the words public and health together, but had been interested in studying just that. In the tuberculosis seminar, they found a name for their passion, which translated into hard work and enthusiasm. 

Originally, public health was being considered as an additional track of the public policy program, which allows students to double-major in public policy along with other disciplines, such as sociology, business, government, or economics. However, after growing interest from students and faculty, Kirk Miller, professor of biology and chair of the soon-to-be public health department, and Joseph Karlesky, professor of government, decided to pursue a more substantial Public Health program. 

After what Miller described as endless meetings and talks, the faculty voted to pass Public Health as a major.

Spring semester, many departments will begin to offer new public health courses, including health economics with Sean Flaherty, professor of economics; introduction to public health and epidemiology with Miller and a health policy seminar with        Karlesky. 

The new major will give way to more opportunities for students throughout the local community in the form of various projects. One of these undertakings is theater professor Carol Davis’ Nepal Health Project, which showcases how a task, like teaching Nepalese women hygiene through performing arts, requires expertise in both dynamics of government and principles of            medicine.

For many, the new major will epitomize the essence of a liberal arts experience. By combining biology and government under one major, students will be exposed to a whole new spectrum of how problems can be solved by approaching them from various perspectives, something Karlesky believes is essential.  

“Bringing the strengths of [a science and a social science] to a common problem is what attracts me to the field,” Karlesky said. 

With incessant debate on national health care, the major could be described as long overdue. Eight students from the class of 2009 were admitted to graduate school for public health. Nevertheless, program heads do not specifically intend to prepare students for public health, but instead give them the tools to succeed in a variety of fields, such as law, medicine, and even writing. 

With the collaboration and unfading determination of both students and faculty, the new Public Health major is now becoming a reality for the F&M community.

First-year Ambuj Suri is a contributing writer. His e-mail is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .