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Departmental Honors in PHS

Departmental Honors Program

Departmental Honors allows students the opportunity to explore their chosen area of interest in greater depth, with the guidance of a faculty mentor. The foundational goals for the Departmental Honors program are:

  • to allow students the opportunity to explore their chosen area of interest in greater depth and with greater personal ownership;
  • to extend the departmental or disciplinary vision into individual student work in new and creative ways; and
  • to facilitate mentorship and scholarly guidance from a faculty adviser.

Admission

Scholarship and research are encouraged at the undergraduate level. Students who meet the qualifications should explore adding the honors program to their undergraduate major. Students who are not PHS majors and are involved in the Cohen Honors College, should contact the PHS department for permission to enroll in PHS honors courses, as appropriate.

  1. Status as a PHS major;
  2. An overall GPA of 3.500 in all major coursework;
  3. A one-page, double-spaced letter describing reasons for applying to the honors track, goals and potential benefits to participating in the program; and
  4. Agreement by a PHS faculty member to mentor the final project.

Send admission letter to PHS@wichita.edu with the subject line PHS Departmental Honors Application.

Program Requirements

  1. Maintain a 3.500 cumulative GPA in all major coursework;
  2. Be a participating member of the Health, Education, Advocates for Leadership, Teamwork, and Humanity (HEALTH) student organization or Exercise Science Student Organization (ESSO);
  3. Maintain a portfolio of assignments, activities and reflections throughout the honors track;
  4. Complete and present a mentored scholarly activity during the last year of the program by enrolling in a 1-3 credit hour of PHS 501H Field Research in Public Health Science or 3 credit hours of EXSC 595H Human Performance Research Honors; and
  5. Enroll in and complete the honors assignments with a minimum of 12 credit hours of PHS or EXSC coursework selected from the following options:
PHS course options
Course Title Hours
HP 408H Adaptive Leadership Honors 3
PHS 325H Epidemiology Honors 3
PHS 344H Culturally Informed Healthcare Honors 3
PHS 356H Foundations of Healthcare Policy, Law & Ethics Honors 3
PHS 410H Health Communication Honors 3
Exercise Science course options
Course Title Hours
EXSC 313H Exercise and Sport Nutrition Honors 3
EXSC 440H Concepts in the Prescription of Exercise Honors 3
EXSC 461H Biomechanics of Human Movement Honors 3
EXSC 490H Physiology of Exercise Honors 3
EXSC 541H Seminar in Strength and Conditioning Honors 3

Student Projects

Dawna Raehpour completed her field research at Hunter Health Clinic in Wichita, Kansas. She assessed Hunter Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center and Indian Health Services provider organization, against national equality benchmarks scoring criteria. Deliverables included an executive summary detailing evaluation of scoring criteria and recommendations for addressing gaps in organizational capacity for recognition.

Saniya Ahmed completed a project evaluating culture and language diversity education in the obstetrics curriculum at Wichita State University School of Nursing. She interviewed the instructor, assessed didactic content using national nursing competencies and recommended strategies for implementing culture content into education. Deliverables included a summary of evaluated criteria and evidence-based recommendations for continual curriculum improvement.

Kari Coster completed a research project called Policy Engagement Among the Midwestern Public Health Workforce. In collaboration with faculty, investigated the engagement and involvement of the public health workforce in public health policy. A short survey was distributed to a convenience sample of participants via email through the professional public health associations of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. The survey was designed to assess the current policy engagement activities of the public health workforce. Following the survey, data were analyzed for trends regarding policy engagement, elected official knowledge, professional organization involvement, and policy experience in study participants. These results will inform future training topics to meet the needs of the Midwestern public health workforce. Among the 130 respondents, most were local public health staff from Kansas, but there were also students and practitioners from both state, local and academic public health. Deliverables included creating an academic poster for presentation at a conference.

Samuel Schmidt completed a research project called Analysis of Undergraduate Preparation for Medical School. This study explored the preparation that current medical students and residents received prior to attending medical school. Key informant interviews were conducted with up to ten current medical students in the Wichita area to assess their preparation for medical school. Following the interview the answers were analyzed and themed. These results will inform future students on activities and coursework relevant to preparing for medical school. Results will be shared through a variety of formats including poster presentations at conferences.

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