A practicum is an individualized, mentored, experiential learning opportunity that serves as a bridge between a student’s academic training and applied public health practice.  The goal of the MPH practicum is to provide students the opportunity to use knowledge and skills acquired in the academic program in a practice setting, under the direction of a supervisor who is a health care practitioner. The practicum also affords an opportunity to apply competencies that are combined with a student’s academic coursework.

The MPH curriculum requires students to complete a minimum of 150 hours of practical fieldwork experience in a public health practice setting. The practicum is intended to be a mutually beneficial experience for both the student and the organization.

A qualified preceptor must commit time to supervising a student throughout the experience and provide feedback on the student’s work. The preceptor should have knowledge of the project area and work with the student to develop the practicum project in order to guide a student throughout the process. Preceptors should hold an MPH, preferably, or another related graduate degree. The site supervisor cannot be the student’s current faculty advisor or regular work supervisor. 

A site supervisor should contact the Master of Public Health Practicum Coordinator, Dr. Karen Niemchick, at [email protected] to express interest in hosting a GVSU MPH student for practicum and to begin the process of completing an Affiliation Agreement prior to the initiation of a student’s practicum experience (if necessary).

A site supervisor should identify a project for students to complete, with several objectives to be completed for consideration. This can be done along with a student in mind, or in request of a student to fill a specific need for the organization.

Affiliation agreements are required for all practicum sites. An affiliation agreement is a legal document spelling out the responsibilities of and between the practicum site and the university. It is an agreement between institutions, not individuals. The agreement is essentially a risk management document that protects all parties should difficulties arise throughout the practicum.

Students should begin a practicum after the completion of the appropriate core coursework and after receiving approval from their faculty advisor. The practicum should be scheduled when best suited to meet the student and participating organization's needs, primarily in year 2 of the student’s coursework.

Students who have fulfilled the following compliance criteria will be eligible for the practicum:

• Good standing and appropriate coursework completed
• Departmental faculty advisor approval
• Bloodborne Pathogens training completed
• Training on Ebola and/or contemporary virus(es) threat completed
• HIPAA Training completed
• Program Compliance Completed
• CITI Training Program completed (must be valid through the practicum period)
• Attended GVSU MPH Practicum Bootcamp
• Completed and signed MPH Practicum Learning Agreement

A practicum site should provide resources and/or material assistance as necessary. While compensation is not required, many students would welcome a paid practicum, if available. Compensation for the practicum varies significantly by the type of organization, project, and location. Students can be compensated at an hourly rate or by a stipend.

The practicum experience is ideally project-based and allows students to work alongside public health professionals to solve real-world problems while enhancing their own skills and networking in the field.

Practicum activities and objectives vary in accordance with the practicum site’s needs and the student’s interests and learning objectives.

Examples of practicum activities include:

• Coding or recoding data
• Conducting a literature review
• Curriculum development
• Data analysis
• Database management
• Development of social marketing materials
• Evaluation (planning, instrument development, reporting)
• Formative research (interviews, focus groups, surveys)
• Grant writing
• Implementation of a health intervention
• IRB application development, submission, and/or renewal
• Program planning
• Qualitative data collection
• Quantitative data collection
• Questionnaire/survey design
• Report writing